Halloween Centerpieces

** Sorry about the quality of the pics.  Not that I was the best photographer before but I lost my camera cord in the move and had to take all of these pictures with a cell phone.**  

In the spirit of All-Hallows-Eve (ummm, maybe my most favorite holiday ever), I created some super spooky, super simple centerpieces that I think you might enjoy.  I pulled together a lot of items that already existed in my various craft/holiday bins (I feel like there are so many things that can become a "Halloween decoration" simply by adorning them with spider webs) but acquired some new elements that I absolutely fell in love with and had to share.  The ghostly pictures that I found on Gizmodo are extremely creepy but if you read the article, you'll find that the story behind them is actually pretty neat.  I downloaded the pics from the website and then printed them out at Walgreens.  Sadly, there is an error on the web page and only two of the photos will work but still, they are too good to pass up.

I found the picture frames at T.J. Maxx and while I bought them for a girls' only spa night, they actually work perfectly for the spooky centerpieces.  I bought the roses at Aldi for $3.99 and spray painted my formerly gold candelabra black.  I used a black table cloth and covered it with a piece of scrap lace.  All-in-all, the centerpiece on the left cost me under $8 (in new materials) and I was thrilled that I was able to reuse items that were purchased for other parties. 

For the next two flower arrangements, I used white hydrangeas (I'm fairly sure that's what they are called.  I had to look it up.  I usually call them the fluffy white flower balls), orange roses and pumpkins which were all purchased at Trader Joe's for a little over $15.00.  Once again, I reused some materials from earlier projects, then went crazy, absolutely crazy, with the spider webs.

I hope everyone has a WONDERFULLY haunted and spooktacular Halloween!!  It is time for me to get the rest of my costume together..

Ohhhh man, I LOVE this Holiday!!!

   

Haunted S'More Treats

We were having some friends over for a little festive fall gathering this past weekend and since I now have a backyard, I wanted to fulfill my lifelong dream of sitting with friends on hay bales, around a bonfire, drinking wine.. like they do in the movies (granted, I feel like this is how all Horror movies start but it still looks like they are having a good time, you know, before they are hunted down by a crazed lunatic). 

And apparently, I'm not the only one with this dream :) 

(Note: I just had to say that not only does he love his PetSmart Fall Sweater but he was super excited for the Hay Bale Photo Shoot, so I don't want any emails about how I tortured my dog by dressing him up and making him pose for pictures.  He LOVES it... well maybe not loves it.. but he sure loves the treats I give him afterwards!!) Since it is absolutely outrageous to sit by a fire and NOT eat S'mores, I made some goodie bags so everyone could enjoy a little fireside treat.

  They were extremely cheap (and easy) to make even though I told people I slaved over them for days :)  Shame, I know. 

To make 35 treat bags, you will need :

• 1 bag Hersey's candy bars - $2.29 (Target)
• 2 bags Reece's Peanut Butter Cups - $4.58 (Target)
• 1 package of 50 cellophane gift bags - $3.99 (party store)
• 2 boxes Graham Crackers - $4.98 (Aldi)
• 2 bag Marshmallows - $1.98 (Aldi)

For a grand total of :

 $17.82 (before taxes, of course). 

**I made the tags in Microsoft Word and saved the templates here if you want to use them**

Hopefully, we will get a couple more nice days before the "Winter of the Century" hits us...  fingers crossed, I definitely need to use these hay bales a couple more times!! 



Etsy Shopping to Pass the Friday

Sooooo, I spent my morning perusing Etsy for things that I would purchase if I actually had some extra money, you know, just laying around.  It was awesome.  However, since I spent all of it on tile, paint and a functioning toilet (granted our upstairs toilet works just fine, I just have to manually push the plunger back down so it fills the tank back up with water.. no big deal....oh and it's red...with an owl on it), my credit card must stay in my wallet.  Below are some items that I fell in love with and hopefully, some of you might find them adorable as well.  That way, you can purchase them and then let me borrow them!  Kidding :)  Kind of...   

• Wire Wrapped Earrings... Perfect for any weddings or a sophisticated date nights out.    
• I find Feather Earrings to be super cute for Fall and I really want a pair...  Although, there were a couple more styles that I liked from this person but she isn't really wearing a shirt in those photos and well, that's just a little awkward.   
• I'm not sure if it is a real thing but I definitely going through some sort of skull phase.  It could be that Halloween is quickly approaching but I am seeing earrings/purses/scarves with skulls on them and snatching them up.  So naturally, these Day of the Dead Earrings would be amazing...  Oh, and these as well.  I'm not sure if one can have too many pairs of skull earrings... ask me in December.
• My forementioned skull scarf would look AMAZING tied onto this leather handbag.  One should always purchase a $200 leather bag to accompany a $9 scarf, yes? 
• I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to borrow this Love Birds Necklace from anyone I know (I really did a complete scan of all friends and couldn't come up with any S and J's... sad face) however, this would make a wonderful gift.. hint, hint, wink, wink, wink...    
• Clearly this coat is amazing.  I would need to start wearing fluffy, short dresses though... hmmmm defintely worth it.  
• The super artsy posing by the elephant is throwing me off but I think this poncho would be adorable with jeans and some sassy riding boots (I might have gotten distracted by something and wandered over to Zappos for a bit).   
• Maybe it's because it comes in orange or maybe it's because I've been watching too much Gossip Girl.. No idea why but I really want a cape like this. 

Hope your Friday is going as fast as mine :)  Happy Fall Shopping!!