Halloween 2011

My Halloween decorations are pretty much finished. They won't be completely finished until the day after Halloween when I take them down because I will continue to add stuff and rearrange if I run across other things that I like.

I'm not decorating my whole house because there's just too much of it. House, that is. I've decided to keep most of my holiday decorations confined to my foyer for a couple of reasons. One is because I just plain can't afford to buy or make enough stuff to decorate the whole house and even if I could there's just too much effort involved in that.

Another reason is because foyers are just stupid rooms. They are a complete waste of space. The house I grew up in had a foyer the size of a bedroom. My mother had a huge display case in there that held all her creepy dolls and there were other knick knacks and dust catchers that no one but the paperboy ever saw because no one used our front door. Waste o' space.  I've decided to make the best of my wasted space by using it as a holiday display area.

Here is what my foyer looks like on a daily basis...right now anyway. That mirror was hanging there when we moved in so I just went with it. Everything else is either thrifted or handmade.

Here are some of decorations I gathered up to use. I bought the little pumpkins at the Dollar Tree and the black roses came from the 99 Cent Only Store. The larger pumpkin on the floor and all the other stuff are things I already had.

As I was looking for things to use I asked my daughter if she could think of anything we had around the house that could be considered creepy or Halloweeny. She said, "Everything you've bought in the last year". I could have been insulted but instead chose to pat myself on the back for subconsciously planning ahead.

Here is the finished-for-now product. It's not nearly as elaborate as some of our past Halloween decorations but we're not having a party and will be lucky if we get even one trick-or-treater so I'm just decorating for me. It makes me happy.

I started out by painting the pumpkins white, which I did while the "Painting the Roses Red" song from Alice in Wonderland was on a continuous loop in my head. I would have preferred to use a creamy white but I just couldn't justify buying it when I had half a gallon of $5.00 Oops Paint that would work fine. It's white but it has a greenish cast to it which I decided I could live with.

 
These Dollar Tree pumpkins are made from a dense foam that you can carve, which I have no desire to do. They're perfect except for the seam around the middle which I could have sanded off but it wasn't that big of an issue so I just left it.

After the paint dried I went on a scavenger hunt in my art room for doo dads. I found ribbon, beads, corsage pins and tulle.

This little ceramic pumpkin just screams Tim Burton, isn't it fabulous?! I found this at the 99 Cent Only Store and I bought two of them but dropped one while I was painting it. They're ceramic. It shattered. But I kept the funky stem which will show up on something else someday I'm sure.

After it dried I just left it plain and put a cross fridge magnet in front of it. I think it works.

This is a cheesy lighted jack-o-lantern that came from K-Mart according to the faded price sticker on the bottom. I can't remember the last time I was in a K-Mart so I'm pretty sure this guy has been suffocating in my attic for at least 10 years.

I didn't intend to use any jack-o-lanterns this year but there he was and he was free so I figured I could make him work. I removed the light thing, painted him white, then stuffed him with some black satin scrap fabric. He looks kind of funny perched up there on the pedestal all by himself so I need to find some more big pumpkins to keep him company. I need a couple of ravens too but I can't find any for less than $7 and I don't want to pay that much for something that's going to get all narfed up outside.

I used one of Martha Stewart's bat templates to make these out of plain black cardstock. I probably should have taken down that floral garland thing but I have it wrapped around the mirror just exactly the way I want it and I'm afraid if I take it down I'll never be able to get it right again. Am I the only one who does that?

I printed out some labels that I found on the internet and put them on random bottles and jars that I already had. A bottle of wine became Life Renewal Potion and an old baby food jar full of rusty nails became Bed Bug Poison.

I printed the labels from several sites on the internet that offer free Halloween printables. I can't remember exactly where each specific one came from but a couple of good places too look are The Graphics Fairy and Love Manor.









 







If we do happen to accidentally get a trick-or-treater or two, they will be the lucky recipient of one of these cardstock coffins full of Twizzlers. I still have a few more of these to make but they're very simple thanks to this pattern from Martha Stewart. Again. She does Halloween well, what can I say? It's a Good Thing.

I can't remember if I blogged about this little disaster or not. It's a toilet paper roll covered with hot glue and a tea light on top. It's supposed to look like a creepy drippy Halloween candle. To me it looks like a toilet paper tube covered with hot glue blobs. Maybe I just need to paint some dimension into the glue. Anyway, I'm using it for now until I decide whether to keep it or toss it.

I didn't spend a lot of time on the roses, basically just stuck them in a vase thing. Actually, that vase thing is what our wedding cake topper was sitting on so it's practically vintage too.

The Halloween Book is one of my most favorite things in the world. It was a collaborative book project that Donna Joy put together several years ago. You should visit her blog at World of Joy and follow her on Pinterest too because she's always up on the latest trends in the mixed media art world. And she's funny which makes it easier for me to forgive her for looking just a Barbie doll.

These are just some more random pictures of the table. On the table I put two shelf things that I bought on clearance at Target years ago and never got around to using. After Halloween I will find a good place to hang them so I can get my $4 worth out of each one.

I used some old books to fill up space and a piano roll that I bought at an antique store in Lafayette. There's nothing really creepy about it but it looks old and sort of matched the theme.

Here's the before and after:

I think it'll do.