Blog Parties

Friday, October 29, 2010

Eek! I'm finally ready for Halloween. Almost.

We have finally reached the end of my Halloween decorating. I have drug this out for over a month. That is what is called "milking it". But isn't that what we bloggers do? Or would that be what farmers do?

Anyhoo, today should be my last Halloween decorating post. At least for this year.

This is the tray that sits on top of an old white trunk I have in my family room.

I made this cute little sign by printing out the free printable I found over at Keep Calm and Carry On. She actually found the original at House of Smith's, but she changed it up a bit. I placed it in a 25 cent thrift store frame that I painted Oil Rubbed Bronze & then shabbied up a bit.

I can't remember where I found this spider leg candle holder. But I think it was only a couple of dollars. I added some spider trim to one of my battery operated candles. Just like the ones I did on my mantel.

Under this glass cloche I placed one of my lace covered pumpkins sitting on top of a candle holder. I sort of explained how I made the lace covered pumpkin in this post. The "Boo" came from Tai Pan Trading. Added some Spanish moss.

Under another glass cloche I have an artichoke finial. I just added some Spanish moss & the skeleton. Both the skeleton & the Spanish moss came from Dollar Tree.

Behind my couch & to the right of my trunk I have this table.

I painted a silver pedestal tray that I had found at the thrift store, black. Added a tombstone, skeleton, skull & Spanish moss, all from Dollar Tree. Covered it up with another cloche. The bottle came from a thrift store. I added a Halloweeny label I found off the Internet. The little Witch sign in front came from Tai Pan Trading, as well as the creepy cloth I used to cover the table.

The Spooky sign I made last year. You can find out how I made it but checking out this post.

On this side of the table I added another Halloweeny label to another old bottle I had. I added black candles (from Michael's) to my iron candelabra. I made a cloche out out a cheese dome. It sits on top of a base I picked up at Big Lots last year for 99 cents. It was originally silver, but I just painted it Heirloom White & distressed it. I added a black glittered skull & Spanish moss from Dollar Tree.

At the end of my kitchen cabinets sits this little cabinet. I added some black lace fabric (left over from the 5 yards I purchased at Tai Pan Trading). The cloche on the left has a tombstone from Dollar Tree. A lot of my Halloween decor this year came from Dollar Tree. Can't beat the prices.

To this white ironstone plate, I added some glitter stickers I picked up at Michael's.

Another tombstone and a black glitter crow I made finish off this vignette to give it some spookiness.

I made the black wreath by recycling one I made in the spring. You can read all about I how I did it on this post.

And finally the last thing I haven't shown you yet, is my china hutch.

I didn't even have to change out my white dishes. I just added some paper & stickers to spookify it.



Google is such a great source for finding all kinds of stuff to use for decorating.

In my apothecary jars I added some skulls from Dollar Tree and some vampire fangs from Michael's. I already had the number balls.

I added a spider web sticker from Michael's on a couple of my pitchers. And then added a skeleton.

The "BOO" letters came from The Graphics Fairy. I just love you gals who share free stuff.

More cheap stickers from Michael's.

The bottle labels came from Kristine McKay Designs. What did we ever do before blogging, Google and the Internet in general?

I know you may have already seen parts of my china hutch. But today is the first time I am sharing the whole thing.

If you want to know how I made the above projects. You can see them by visiting Fast, Cheap & Easy Halloween decor.

And in case you missed any of my prior Halloween posts. You are in luck. I have put together some collages with links to the original posts.

Frugal Halloween Decor. You can see who I made the lace covered pumpkin & where I got the Halloween labels for the bottles.


Thrifty Halloween. This is the only spot in my family room that has "orange" in the decor.

My Halloween Mantel. My mantel prior to adding the Happy Haunting banner.

Even my wall is looking Spooktacular. Find out how you can spookify your wall by just using a printer & paper. And some fabulous free art.


My Spooky Kitchen Wall. Use seasonal paper plates for a cheap way to decorate.


Holy Batwings, I made a Batmobile. A cheap & easy way to dress up your light fixture.



More Halloween decorating with Freebies. Using stuff you already have and more free Halloween art I found from other bloggers.



Along Came a Spider Tablescape. Easy craft projects to dress up your Halloween table.

Happy Haunting. See how adding a banner to my mantel made it look spooktacular.

I hope that you have enjoyed my Halloween decorating and projects almost as much I have. Being lazy & broke has made me so much more creative this year in my decorating.

Now if only my front porch & yard were decorated for Halloween.

Well there is always tomorrow!



Linking to:

Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors

Weekend Wrap Up @ Tatortots and Jello

Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Halloween Categorically Crafting Show @ Someday Crafts

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Happy Haunting!

I can't believe that Halloween is in 4 days & I still haven't posted all my Halloween decor. Yikes! I'm running out of time.

Sorry that I haven't posted in about a week. I was out of town for about 3 days. Went up to San Jose to my cousin's wedding. It was great getting to see my cousins and their families.

The wedding & reception was fabulous. However, my hubby got sick while we were gone and now I am sick. So I haven't felt like posting anything.

Today I want to show you this super easy banner that I made to dress up my Halloween mantel.

I just adore it.

I wish I could take credit for coming up with it. But I'm not that creative. I actually found the link to this fabulous banner download at Sassy Sites. She posted links to a bunch of free Halloween printables.

This banner was made by Moselle, she is a website/blog/portfolio designer and you can find her Happy Haunting bunting/banner download here.

I downloaded the free printable to my computer & then printed it out onto white cardstock.

Cut out each triangle, punched holes on either side & strung it on jute string from the Dollar Tree.

Fast, easy & cheap.


My 3 prerequisites for this years Halloween decorating.

I love the addition of it to the mantel. And if you missed my original post about my Halloween mantel (pre Happy Haunting banner), you can check it out here.

I am planning on putting together a recap of all my Halloween decorating and projects either tomorrow or Saturday. I may even throw in some new stuff I haven't posted about too. So be sure to check back.

And Happy Haunting this weekend!




Linking to:

Transformation Thursdays @ The Shabby Chic Cottage

Hooking Up with HOH @ House of Hepworths

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Along Came A Spider

It's been too long since I did a tablescape. Mostly because I normally do the tablescape on the dining table located in my living room. Less traffic there, so the table stays nice.

But a little while back my hubby brought home his latest project to work on. Which is rebuilding a baby grand piano. So right now, the keyboard to said piano is sitting on the table I normally decorate.

So if I want to decorate a table, I now have to use the one in my family room/kitchen area. I actually love this table more than the one in the living room. It's just the family room/kitchen table is normally piled high with stuff.

But I decided to clean it off & decorate it for Halloween. Plus I wanted to show off the number plates I picked up at Target a few months back.

The table & chairs were actually my Great Grandmother's. I think they are from the 20's or the 30's. They sat in my parents shed for about 20 years before I rescued them a few years back. Unfortunately, it was in bad shape. But hubby & I fixed her up. I wish I had taken before photos. You would be amazed at the transformation. Someday I will do a post & show better photos of this beautiful table. But that would mean I would have to dust the bottom portion, which is a pain. And hubby does need to redo the top again.

That is why I covered it with this spider web lace. I picked up this fabric from Tai Pan Trading back in September. It came in a package of 5 yards for $12.00 (on sale). I made a table cloth with part of the fabric. I used this same lace to cover a couple of my pumpkins.

On top of the spider web lace I placed this skull damask table runner I had picked up at Kohl's. I got it on a 50% off sale, plus I had a coupon for additional 30% off. Got to love Kohl's. The only thing that would have made this runner better for this tablescape is if it had spiders instead of skulls. But I do have skull plates stashed away in the attic from last Halloween that will go perfectly with this. But you will have to wait until next year. At this point, I'm not getting down my old Halloween stuff.

I've been so crafty this Halloween. I don't normally make things, but being broke is quite a motivation. I made this black spider web out of black card stock. Martha showed me how. Martha's was better, of course. But then, she is Martha.

I was going to put glitter on mine, but got too lazy.

I did glitter up some plastic spider rings. Placed some on my candelabra.


I didn't use any name cards as this table setting is for my own family of four. I just assign them numbers.

The spider web napkins came from Home Goods. I think they were $5.00 for four napkins. Right in my price range.

When I first saw the number plates at Target, I knew I had to have them. It took me awhile before I actually broke down & purchased them. I wanted the number canisters too, but they were too pricey, so I passed. The salad plates were more affordable.

I did make these spider web votive holders. They were left over from my parents 50th wedding anniversary a few years back. And no, they didn't have the spider webs on them for my parents anniversary party (in case you were thinking, "What kind of people have spider webs at a 50th wedding anniversary party?"). I just added the spider webs for this Halloween. I used a toothpick & white glue to draw on a spider web. Then I covered the glue with black glitter.

Looks like I need to brush off some more glitter. This was such an easy project.

I was on a roll making spider webs. I decided to make more. I picked up a dry erase pen from Dollar Tree & drew spider webs on my little glass hurricanes. Best part, it wipes right off after Halloween. Love it!!!

I placed the smaller glass hurricane inside a larger one. The smaller ones came from Dollar Tree last year. The larger glass hurricanes came from Walmart about 5 years ago. I think you can still find both at both stores.

I then used candle stickum to stick the hurricanes on top of a large crystal candlestick to give it some height.
The large candelabra in the middle I've had for years. It was originally silver, I painted it white & then distressed it. Added some acrylic crystals and garland. The black tapers came from Michael's. The glass tray below is actually the top portion of a cake pedestal. It broke off the base & I've been too lazy to glue it back together.

That is not entirely true. I did use E6000 glue but it did not hold. I need something stronger. Until then. I'm using it as a tray.

I'll shut up now & just let you look at photos.






I did use 2 glittered spider rings on the base of each goblet. I like how it gives it a little spooky bling. I love the look of glitter, but it gets everywhere.

Well I hope you enjoyed my tablescape. I always have grander plans, but then I get too lazy, or procrastinate too long. So you seem to get the watered down version of my vision.

But I'm still happy with the watered down version. I hope you are too. Let me know what you think.



Linking to:

Tablescape Thursday @ Between Naps on the Porch