Frugal Halloween Decor

I started my Halloween decorating. And I am so excited.

I just love Halloween. However, I don't love climbing up into the hot attic to retrieve my old Halloween stuff. And I don't love spending money on new stuff.

Well, I do love spending money on new stuff. It's just I don't have any money to spend this year. So what's a lazy, poor girl like me to do?

Time to think frugally. So I started with decorating a shelf in my family room. I already had most of the items on hand. And it didn't require me going into the attic.

I did pick up this orange faux pumpkin at Dollar Tree. A dollar is pretty frugal, wouldn't you say? I decided that I wanted to do a black & white Halloween in my family room this year. So orange just wasn't going to do. So I spray painted the pumpkin Heirloom White.

But it was a little plain.

So I decided to cover it with some black spider web lace that I had. I had purchased 5 yards of this lace at Tai Pan Trading last month for cheap. It was like $2.00 a yard (with my 25% off). I cut a square of lace 20 inches x 20 inches. I then clipped a small slit so the stem of the pumpkin could poke through. I then wrapped the pumpkin with the lace & taped it at the bottom

You heard me right, I just taped it at the bottom. I was planning on hot gluing it, but I was too lazy to track down my glue gun, so I taped it instead, just to see what it would look like. And it worked. At least for now.

I already had the wood pedestal to place the pumpkin on. I had picked it up at the thrift store last year. All I had to do was paint it black. I also bought the crow at Dollar Tree. I just love how the lace covered pumpkin turned out.

Next I decided these bottles needed some spookiness added to them.

These 3 bottles have been sitting on this shelf for a few months now.

I found these cool labels on flickr. I saved the ones I liked to my computer & then printed them out, cut them out & taped to the bottles. Tape has been my best friend with these projects.

This bottle is Twisted Twigs. I placed a bunch of twigs from my weeping willow tree in this bottle.

I really liked this witch hazel label as it reminds me of my Grandma. She always had us put witch hazel on mosquito bites whenever we were visiting her & got bit.

This one is for graveyard dust. I was going to put some ashes of some sort in here. Just haven't gotten around to doing it.


One last look at my frugal Halloween shelf. I spent less than $3.00 decorating this shelf. I'm pretty happy on how it has turned out. But knowing me, I'm sure I'll tweak it between now & Halloween.

Hopefully I will have more Halloween decor to share with you next week. I may even venture up into the attic & get down my old Halloween crap. But then, I might not as it is suppose to be in triple digits this weekend.



Linking to:

Tabletop Tuesdays @ A Stroll Thru Life

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm

Making Monday Marvelous @ C.R.A.F.T.

Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors

Weekend Wrap up Party at Tatertots and Jello

Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest

Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home

Halloween & Fall projects @ Living It At Home

I finally got it done!!!

Did I tell you that I was the queen of procrastination? Well I am. And here is proof.

See this bare wood trunk? I've had it for over 15 years. That is fifteen years!!!! 15!!!

I purchased it from JC Penney online in it's unfinished state for about $100.00 plus free shipping. I had always planned on painting it. But year after year, after year, after year, it sat in it's unfinished state. Getting dirtier, and dirtier and dirtier. You get the picture.

If not, here is the proof of how dirty it got. Fifteen years is a long time to go neglected.

I finally decided enough was enough. I had procrastinated this project long enough. Plus I had a little motivation from Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors. She is having a "Gitter Done" party this week. So I had to "gitter done".

So I got to work getting hubby to sand it down for me to get rid of the 15 years of neglect. Looked like new when he was done sanding. Too bad I didn't take a photo.

Then I started painting it white. Did you notice that I said that I started painting? Hubby didn't like the sloppy way I was painting, so he took over. Works every time! I'm good at getting other people to do my work.

Once it was all painted white. I thought it needed something (it was really hubby). He suggested we add a wood applique. I thought it was a great idea. Why didn't I think of that? So off to Home Depot we went.

This is the one we picked out. They don't have much of a selection. I think this was our only option. We glued it on the front and added some new wood plugs as a few had gone missing over the years. Painted the brass handles ORB and had hubby finally put them on. I then distressed and antiqued the entire trunk (yes, I did do this part of the project).

And here is the pretty lady now.

I'm pretty happy on how it turned out. What took me so long?

The wooden applique was just what this trunk needed. Thanks honey for suggesting it!

The back.

The handles were originally brass and had never been put on the trunk. I spray painted them Oil Rubbed Bronze (ORB). Much better than brass.


This was a pretty easy project. Why did I procrastinate it so long? If I had known how fabulous it was going to turn out, I would have done this years ago. Like fifteen!!!!

On top I placed a little vignette of some thrifty finds.

The subway art tray came from Target a few months back. I got it on clearance for around $10.00. Clearance has to be one of my favorite words.

I would love to travel to all these places some day. The only ones I have seen are the Golden Gate Bridge, Big Ben, Vatican, Roman Colosseum (hubby's favorite), and the Eiffel Tower (my favorite). Someday I hope to see all the rest.

The urn was a recent thrifty find from an antique store in Riverside, CA. It was only $2.00!!!

My fleur de lis finials also got a mini makeover. They were originally brown and came from Dollar Tree for a buck each. I spray painted them Heirloom white & then antiqued them. I love how they turned out.

I still need to make a burlap runner for the top of the trunk. I hope that I don't procrastinate that too much longer. Knowing me, burlap will be out of style by the time I get around to it.

Thanks for stopping by & taking a look at my long awaited trunk makeover aka: "Gitter Done" project. And I hope that I won't procrastinate the next project as long. Do you have a project you have procrastinated? Can you beat 15 years?



Linking to:

Hot flashes.

Experienced some hot flashes at our house last night. I missed it all. And at my age, that is hard to do.

Let me explain.

My son & I were driving home from work when I got a phone call from hubby. He said "I have some good news, some really good news and some bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" I said "the good news".

Then he said "The good news is that you know that ugly pampas grass bush that I hate? Well, it's gone." "The really good news is, the house is not." "And the bad news, well there was a little fire".

FIRE!!!! I hate those words. Nothing scares me like fire.

When I got home, this is what I found.

It seems someone set our pampas grass on fire, which then set the fence on fire. What we don't know is, who it was, or if it was on purpose. My guess is someone tossed a cigarette butt while either walking or driving by. I reallyneed to call Sherlock Holmes. Especially if Robert Downey Jr is the Sherlock Holmes that shows up. He can put out my fire anytime.

Sorry to get sidetracked. This is what pampas grass is suppose to look like (ours looked like this but bigger).

This is what it looks like now. And did you see our fence? It's black!! Or is it Oil Rubbed Bronze? I love black & ORB, but this is a bit too much. It was already about to fall down prior to the fire.

Lucky for us, the neighbor across the street on this side of our house (we live on a corner lot) had just gotten home from work & saw the bush on fire. He alerted hubby. Luckily hubby was home. Normally he wouldn't be home at that time of the evening, but last night he was.

Hubby had to use the garden hose from the back yard to try & put the fire out over the fence as it was the only one long enough to reach.

The fire started to burn through to the back yard side of the fence. Hubby said there was a lot of smoke. And he was only wearing shorts.

A lot of the neighbors came running to help, but since the only hose that was long enough was in our back yard, they had to throw buckets of water onto the burning bush from their side. If hubby hadn't been home, no one would have been able to get to the hose in the back yard. And I shudder to think what would have happened.

The fire department came but hubby already had the fire out. They just chopped down the rest of the bush to make sure it wasn't still burning. I really hated that I missed seeing the sexy firemen.

Poor hubby, he did inhale a lot of smoke. Took him to the doctor, but he will live. Doctor gave him an inhaler of some sort. He was happy.

Maybe I should get him a fireman's hat as an award for saving our house.

He is my hero.

My own sexy fireman.

Smells like a bonfire at the beach at our house now. Too bad I don't see the ocean when I look out through the big hole in the fence. I can dream.

Of course, every window and door in the house was open when the fire was happening. Hopefully the house will air out soon.

I'm just so thankful that hubby was home at the time of the fire. If not, our house probably would have burnt down. The fire was traveling down the fence towards our house by the time hubby started putting it out. And the pepper tree had started to burn as well. Could have been a real disaster.

And I'm so thankful for our neighbors who alerted hubby and called the fire department.

Just wish that I had been there to see it all. Then I could have had some real cool fire photos for the blog. And photos of some sexy firemen.

Now if only I hadn't just raised our homeowners deductible to $1000. Oh well. You live and learn.

At least the fire got rid of the big ugly beast (pampas grass). Too bad the ugly agave plants didn't burn as well. I guess I shouldn't be greedy.

And finally, what did we learn from this little experience? Hubby needs a longer hose. At least now I know what to get him for our anniversary.



Linking to:

My Easter Mantel

I guess I better post my Easter mantel since Easter is in 2 days. The photos are not the best as I had to take them at night. And I'm always in a hurry, so I don't always take the best shots. But they will suffice.

I did a lot of layering this time.

The left side. The botanical rose prints at either end I got at Goodwill for $3.00 a piece. I love them.
The old mirror in back is my hubby's. I've been wanting to hang it on the wall like forever, but the lazy procrastinator in me hasn't done so. So I thought I'd just sit it on my mantel. I then layered an old frame in front of the mirror. This frame I picked up at a thrift store a few years back for about $5.00. It was gold until last week when I spray painted it Heirloom White. I antiqued it with watered down brown craft paint. I don't have any glaze. I'm happy with how it turned out. The "Happy Easter" sign in front is from TJ Maxx last month (my only new purchase this year). The foil bunnies are from Marshall's last year.

Here is the other botanical rose print from Goodwill. The smaller frame is from a thrift store. I got it for 25 cents as it didn't come with glass or back. I actually bought 3 of them. They were gold. I painted them Heirloom White & then antiqued them with watered down brown craft paint as well. I will probably make them into chalk boards. But for now, I'm liking them empty. The two topiaries I picked up from an antique mall in Temecula last year for $5.00 each.

Here is a close up of the engraving on the smaller frames.

And a close up of the larger ornate frame. I was tickled pink on how this turned out.

I loved these foil bunnies when I saw them last year.

I had to make them mine.

I hope that you liked my Easter mantel. I find it thrilling to decorate on the cheap, I mean frugally. How about you?

Happy Easter!!



Linking to:

Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest

Show and Tell Fridays @ My Romantic Home