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: Craft Pumpkins

Ever wonder how to dress up those plain white-ish craft pumpkins you can find at Michael's or (insert name of any other craft store)?

Here's a quick tip to give them a little glam:

Before: blah-blah white

After: va-va-voom!

This metallic paint I also picked up at Michael's (champagne gold), & I love the finish it has. Not too bronze, & not too gold.  I also love how they shimmer in the light. I just painted 1 quick coat to give it a weathered finish.  I still may add a little brown glaze to the creases, but I haven't decided yet.

Now the pumpkins all dressed for the ball, & ready to be interchanged in Fall, Halloween, & Thanksgiving decor!

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!

Halloween Recap

For my first post, (even though it is after Thanksgiving... oops!), I thought I would take a brief look back at some of the spooky creations around my house that contributed to our 2010 Halloween memories:

Front of our house (complete w/ faux fall foliage)

More faux fall foliage (hey, they don't die!)

Love my purple bats from Big Lots! (50% off end of last season!)

Gravestones from Dollar Tree ($1 each!)

Close-up of mini-Jack

Needed something to replace the recently demised hanging plant...

Festive Display

Ewww, pumpkin guts!

Saving the seeds for roasting

Finished!

Spooky Display

Close-up of my Halloween Project, all "ingredients" from Dollar Tree!

Happy Halloween!

What are Your Halloween memories?