Halloween Hoopla: Halloween Wreath

I needed a quickie little Halloween wreath, so I whipped up this little baby:

It only required a few ingredients & a few simple steps: 

• Metal wreath form (from Michael's)
• Ribbon of various colors: the bigger, patterned ribbon came from Michael's - I used 1 spool of each type. The filler ribbon came from my previous visit to the Dollar Tree (otherwise known as DT) - 1 spool of each color - purple, black, & orange.  I cut lengths of ribbon from each spool, & tied/knotted them through the middle two "rings" of the wreath. The wreath form was comprised of 4 separate concentric "rings". This helped my ribbon supply to stretch further, & you couldn't tell once the ribbon was all added. I tried to make the ribbon look kind of haphazard-like & spidery for a Halloween-ish effect.
• White tinsel garland (has spiders on it also, but you can't really see them - also from DT). I felt lazy & didn't want to tie on more ribbon, so I just weaved this throughout the ribbon to fill in any "bald spots" & make it look fuller (including the outer "rings" of the wreath form). Talk about lazy, I actually did this step while the wreath was hanging from my front door right before the trick-or-treaters hit!  
• Finally, I hung a felt spider web (actually a placemat, I think, which also came from DT) directly behind the wreath from the over-the-door wreath hanger. No, they are not attached, although it gives that illusion.  

So, there you have it.  Simple, quick, Halloween wreath.  I did have some inspiration from Pinterest: 

                   

However, I know mine didn't turn out quite as good as these.  Oh well, worked in a pinch!

Happy Halloween! 

Halloween Hoopla: Simple Dollar Tree Finds

The Dollar Tree is such a fun place. I mean, really! Especially if you are looking for a few little touches to complete your holiday festiveness. And of course, everything really is $1!  I have gone so crazy in there before, I ended up spending an amount of money that I was embarrassed about...

Anyway, I found this skull head (sorry, I neglected to take a before picture), so here it is after I embellished it with some colored glitter glue that I found there to give it a little extra "sparkle" (3 colors of glitter glue for $1!)

  

I know, there is only so much that can be done with a plastic head - unless you follow the pathway of Martha Stewart & pour glitter on the whole thing... but, I didn't feel like getting messy with the glitter, nor being Martha, so I made due with the glue thing. 

This skull thing fit perfectly in my cake stand, so there it went to sit & stare at me from my buffet.  

Not a very good picture I guess, as it appears to be staring at the ceiling... but really, I swear it was staring at me!  

I also found some little rubbery/plasticky spider things that I shoved in one of my apothecary type jars that I got from Goodwill.  Unfortunately, it didn't come with a lid, but hey, it cost all of 2 bucks (you can also see it behind the skull head above).

I also got another plastic skeleton-man that I pulled apart, let my kids attack with the red glitter glue, & then shoved in another hurricane-type jar. I think the red gives it a nice bloody-like touch.

A few other finds: the crows, cute little spiders & spooky sign, which I hung with ribbon from my favorite upcycled frame that I interchange with whatever-holiday/season-it-happens-to-be decor. 

I also got these 3 glass vases to copy an idea that I found as inspiration while browsing Pinterest, but originally from our friends @ BHG. I think also the cute little ghost candle holder came from there last year, as did the ingredients to make my skull-heads-in-a-jar. Just left it all in there & stored it away. I guess I'm lazy that way. 

Anyway, it's always lots of fun at the Dollar Tree!

Accidental Pottery Barn Knock-Off

I was browsing through Pottery Barn online, and I noticed this:

I think it was for sale in the fall sometime, but now when I look back it says "no longer available", so I'm not sure exactly how much it sold for.  Knowing Pottery Barn, probably like 40-60 bucks or something, which is an awful lot for an oversized "wall basket".

I was so excited to realize that I had accidentally made a Pottery Barn knock-off without even realizing it!  During the summer I was at a garage sale, and ran across 3 rather unattractive large, flat, brown basket-type thingys, the ones that look like they were on your aunt's wall in the 70s.  Well, since they were only asking $2 for all of them, I decided to grab them because a little voice in my head told me maybe I could use them somewhere.  (Unfortunately, I did not take a before picture).  I took some black spray paint that I already had, (FREE), and lightly sprayed them so some of the brown still showed through (actually my short cut to not have to sand to "distress").  I think it turned out really well, for costing only $2!

Here is my after picture:

And all 3 of them sitting on their new home in my living room:

This big, beautiful piece of furniture is what we keep our tv in (can you see the tv light through the doors?)  This piece was FREE from my husband's uncle.  I have no idea how old it is, but it was a wardrobe which they made into tv armoire.  And I couldn't be happier to have it!

So the moral of the story of this story is don't be afraid to snatch something up if it catches your eye.  Chances are, it has potential!