A "spirit"ed Halloween!!!

Studs and I just wanted to wish all of you oodles and oodles of "spirit" this Halloween.

{Go Spartans!!!}

I can hardly wait for the adult part of Halloween to begin...and it's called "pilfering the candy after the kids are in bed".  In fact, I'm so excited I even wrote a cheer about it.

"C.A.N.D.I.E that's the way we spell candy.

Candy, let's eat candy!"

Nine Cheap and Simple Projects for Getting you House Halloween Ready

This post if for all of you die hard Halloween fans!

You may or may not know that Fall is my all time favorite season and Halloween is my all time favorite holiday.

When my kiddos were smaller and life was a little less hectic, I used to start decorating for Halloween August 1st.  I would hold off on decorating the outside of the house until Labor Day weekend, but the inside was usually decked out two or three months before the actual day.  And now that the kiddos are starting to get a little older, I have big plans for Halloween.  It may not happen this year, but it will happen...mark my words.  The goal is to wrangle up enough friends to put on our own production of "Thriller".  Picture this...a thick layer of fog all over the ground, with the tops of gravestones barely visible.  Then...BAM, all of  a sudden Michael Jackson's "Thriller" starts playing and from everywhere bodies start rising from the fog, methodically and uniformly twitching to the beat of the music.  Ahh, wouldn't it just be the coolest!!!  One of these Halloween's in the near future, it will happen...and it will be EPIC!

Anyway, back to the point of this post.

For whatever reason, the changing of the seasons get me as giddy and excited as a school girl.  I find myself burning pumpkin scented candles, watching "Gilmore Girls" and searching for fun new Halloween crafts to set the mood.  So, I thought I'd share a few ideas for getting your house perfectly "haunted" for Halloween.

Make your own potion bottles

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All this project requires is some empty bottles, black spray paint and some handwritten labels.  I've also found some printable "potion labels" on pinterest that are really cool.  And be sure to present them on an old vintage platter...readily accessible at most thrift stores.

Make a Spooky Halloween Village

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By simply painting some craft store birdhouses with black spray paint, you create an eerie Halloween village.

Make your own Spell Books

This was a little DIY project I did a few years back.  You can go here for the original post.  All it took was some old books, a brown paper bag, Modge Podge and some Halloween themed scrapbook paper.  My kids think these are so cool! 

Make a Super Cheap Halloween Wreath

This is another cheap and simple DIY project I came up with a few years ago.  All you need are some old book pages, an old picture frame and some hot glue.  Go here for the original post.

Make a Super Cheap Halloween Garland/Bunting

All you need for this project is some old book pages, leftover fabric or ribbon and a printer.  Go here for the original post.

Make some Tattered Drapes for the Porch or Inside the house

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Using inexpensive cheesecloth, you can create a perfectly haunting entrance to your front door or around your interior windows.   Ooh Eeee Ooh!

Make some "Halloween" Terrariums

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Using old pickle and jam jars, a stick from the yard and some moss you can create these creepy terrariums for super cheap.  

Create A Creepy Art/Photo Gallery

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Blacken out the eyes on all your family photos using a black dry erase marker on the glass.  When Halloween is over, you can just wipe of the ink.

Give your Porch to The Birds

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Instead of the typical haunted cemetery, why not create a haunted forest using some branches and dollar store crows instead.

All right, bring on the Trick-Or-Treaters!!!

Make it Monday...fun, festive, fall inspired pillows from $4 dish towels.

All righty.  

Time for two of my very most favorite things ever...throw pillows and Fall...well, Halloween technically.

So, in lieu of my Fall fever, I've decided to dedicate today's Make it Monday post to...Halloween!

The other day whilst wandering around TJ Maxx I came across these...

A super chic set of Halloween dish towels for under $4.

I knew right away they would make the perfect Halloween throw pillows.

They were extremely cheap {about $2 a piece} and super quick and easy to make...my favorite kind of project.

I resorted to another one of my past Make it Monday projects...DIY pom pom's!  I wasn't kidding about a Pompocalypse.  They are seriously addicting.  Just know once you start, you won't be able to stop.  There will be pom pom's everywhere.  AHHHH.  

 Well, if you love Halloween as much I, today is your lucky day.  In addition to a free Kensie product of your choosing for my giveaway, I will also be giving away this set of Halloween pillows to the lucky winner.  Yes, BOTH pillows.  It doesn't get any better than that right...unless, Edward the vampire {or Jacob for you wolfies} hand delivered them himself.  

So, if you haven't entered my giveaway yet, now's the time...only a few hours left.

And, no worries if you don't win...just run out to your closest TJ Maxx and grab some towels and make your own.  You'll be the envy of book club for sure.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

  

Dollar Store Di-cuts

Long time no post, lovely peeps.

I'm sorry for my absence, but I'm happy to be returning to you {shingle} free and feeling much, much better.

I'm not sure what it's like in your {neck-o-the-woods}, but here in SLC the mornings and evenings are getting quite brisk...almost like fall is coming. 

And to celebrate this impending transtion of seasons, I have a couple easy, inexpensive and festive projects to share.

I happened to come across some of these lovelies at the dollar store the other day.

They are but simple paper di-cuts.

But look at some of the awesome things you can do with these babies.  I had so fun looking for ways to deck my {fall} walls with these.

Fun and Festive Fall Wreaths {nice alliteration eh?}

Festive silhouette art

surprise silhouette lampshades

{now you see him}

{it looks even better when the room is pitch black}

{now you don't}

Spooky silhouette bookcases

It's fun to look around and see unexpected surprises like these staring back at you.  I'm all about gaudy Halloween decor, but sometimes it's nice to incorporate something a little more subtle and sophisticated.

I spent a total of $2 on all of these projects {$1 on the spider dicuts and $1 on the owl dicuts...12 dicuts included in each package}.  I used existing lampshades and picture frames and the materials needed for the wreaths I already had on hand.  Not to shabby,eh?

That just goes to show, that you don't have to spend a lot of money to get your house Halloween ready.  Let the haunting begin!!!

Here Comes {Halloween}!

My project/things I really wanna do list continues to grow, while funds seem to keep shrinking. {Studly and I just had to replace the hot water heater. I would have postponed this $3,500 investment and used the money for more important things...like throw pillows {you could buy a lot of pillows with that kind of dough} and lumber, but the constant seepage of water from said water heater onto the basement floor made it a little difficult to overlook.

So, since the budget is a little thin currently, I have had to resort to inexpensive projects...and by inexpensive I mean {free}.

Wanna see what I've been up to?

I have been wanting to make a "vintage" style garland for awhile and came up with this super simple, super cute, super cheap version.

I made one for a friend using black lace that I had in my craft supplies and pages from an old book I had from previous projects. I'm old school when it comes to my lettering...I don't have a fancy paper cutting/di-cutting machine or anything like that, so I just picked a font off of the computer {Algerian} and printed the letters onto my book pages {which I strategically taped onto a piece of printer paper...old school remember}.
Turned out all right, no?



After I made hers, I decided I wanted one too. I was out of lace, so this time I used pieces of scrap fabric tied together.

I found the cool vintag-y pumpkin image online and used it to divide my words. I love how simple and classy they are...just the right amount of "festiveness" for my dining nook. Best part though, they were free and took only minutes to make.

I figured since I had the book pages and glue gun already out I may as well make some paper wreaths to accompany the garland.

I started out using black lace again and a spooky, cat image.

I still had some time on my hands so I made a second one using glitterized bats and little black gem for the center.

I still had some time on my hands so I made a third. This one is my favorite of the bunch. I used an old frame with a festive greeting, printed from the computer, which I embellished with more glitterized bats and glued it to the wreath with crap loads of hot glue. It turned out fan"freakin"tastic, if you don't mind me saying so.



The frame is actually made out of plastic instead of wood, so it's fairly lightweight. I'm thinking a solid wood frame would be to heavy to work for this project.



And again, the best part about these wreaths is that they cost me nothing, just a little of my time.

After finishing all of these projects I had to see how they would look in their new home...the porch.



This just goes to show, that you don't need expensive equipment {though it doesn't hurt} or a lot of money to create cool things. You'd be surprised what you can come up with limited supplies. As the old adage goes "poverty breeds creativity". Okay, so I just made that up, but it works. Happy crafting!

Another "Spook"tacular Halloween Giveaway

Howdy peeps. In case you didn't notice, September is almost over and it is offically fall. That means it's time to get your freak on...I mean in the Halloween sense.
As you know I am already hosting my own "freaky"tastic Halloween giveaway which you can all enter by clicking here, but I wanted to let you all know about another "spook"tacular giveaway over at Cosmogirl's Emporium. Wanna see what's up for grabs? Okay.










I'm wet from all the drool right now.
And I don't mean to be rude, but I hope I win. If you want a chance at winning these "preciouses" head on over to Comsogirl's Emporium pronto. The winner will be announced tomorrow!