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!! 



Some Easy Fall Fun

The fact that I have recently been MIA is not due to my crafting laziness.  I promise!!!  Nor, is it the fact that I've gotten take out almost every day for the past 3 weeks.  Well, I have, but the reason is far greater than my unwillingness to get near a stove.  My current home remodel has taken up ALL of my time (that, and this little thing called work) so I have not been able to do/blog ANYTHING.  I have, however, been daydreaming of things I want to do once I've set fire to all of my paint brushes and am finally moved in and settled to the new place.  So here they are, some fun things I want to do this Fall, in no particular order...  

1. Make my own Ravioli from scratch and learn how to make homemade Pierogies (this will require some assistance from my delightful, little, Polish friend Michelle :)...  I know this isn't a typical "Fall" activity but I can finally turn my stove/oven on without turning my house into a sweat lodge, so I say it counts.    
2. Knit a new winter scarf.  I've been learning to knit and feel like it's time to up my game.  My dog has enough blankets.    
3. Enjoy some hot Apple Cider Donuts while sitting in my yard (weather must cooperate, not too cold, not too warm.. looking for the perfect brisk day... let's make it happen Skilling).
4. Have a Ghost Adventures viewing party since the new season is kicking off on Friday, September 23.  Nothing gets me in the Halloween mood quite like Zack Bagans and his amazing hair gel and graphic tees.  If you've never seen the show before, then I urge you to tune in to check it out (with an open mind, of course).  I promise you wont be disappointed (fyi: you might find yourself making side comments throughout the whole episode, ala Mystery Science Theater, but that's where half the fun lies).  
5. Get a side job so I can purchase this ultimate Fall sweater.  I love me some "sweater weather" and this one just looks so incredibly cozy.  But, I can be practical and order this comfy cableknit which is more in my price range.  
6. Drink some Hofbrau Oktoberfest from the one liter stein that I carted back from Munich after college.  Due to its extreme weight and the lengthy distance I carried it, it has been decided that this mug really needs to see more action.  
7. Finally, finally, finally make my dog a Halloween costume.  I have no idea what he will be yet, but this year, I am making sure it happens. 

I feel like 7 is a random number to end on but I ran out of ideas... if I come up with anymore good ones (during a fit of spacing out at work) I will make sure to add them to the list!  Ohh man, I am so ready for the Fall. 

Mummy Bottles

It is NEVER too early to plan for Halloween!!  Granted, this is coming from a girl who has an entire shelving unit in her garage comprised of tubs containing Halloween decorations.  But still, it is never to early to get ready for the most spooktacular holiday, ever.  This little project happened to be a bit of a challenge because I tried a couple different ideas (that clearly didn't turn out) before I came up with this one.

My first idea was a take on this gem, which I found while I was perusing Pinterest.  I wanted to paint the bottle black and decorate it with spider webs, so I could make a spooky flower vase.  However,  the idea of the crafting challenge was to only use items that I had lying around the house and clearly, after several attempts of trying, I realized I did not have the right kind of paint.  I will revisit this idea though and let you know how it worked with puffy paint and spray paint.

So, in order to cover up the bad paint job on the bottle (trust me this looks a lot worse in person than in the picture) I decided to turn my spider vase into a mummy vase.  

I started off by using an old piece of scrap fabric to make the mummy wrap.  I cut slits into the fabric, each about an inch apart and then ripped the fabric to make the strips.

After, I pulled the loose strings on each strip to give the edges a nice fray.
This part can get a little tedious but it is definitely worth it because the strips look really cute when you're done.


Next step was to knot all of the ends together, this way I had one long piece of fabric to work with rather than a bunch of smaller pieces.
I kept the knots as small as I could because I knew there would be several on the bottle and didn't want it to be overwhelming.

Time to start the mummification process.  Since the fabric is slightly transparent, my first layer was designed to cover the whole bottle,
then I just wrapped the following layers around the bottle in a rather haphazard manner.

I finished by tying the loose end to one of the preexisting knots and bingo-bango, I had a mummy on my hands.

The cherry on top, if you will, was to give this little sucker some eyes. I used some construction paper to cut out the eyes and attached them with the sticky photo squares.  

I decided to make my mummy a family, because he/she seemed so lonely, so I wrapped up my two mini bottles of Sutter Home wine (don't even ask why I have those in my liquor cabinet.  Apparently, I feel like I am going to experience a wine crisis and will need to open up the mini bottle to hold me over until I can get my hands on a real bottle) and added them to the mix.

I can't decide whether I should turn the larger bottle (aka former vodka bottle) into a vase or refill it with booze/mixer for the Haunted Bar (this is the bar that will replace the current liquor cabinet in my home, come Oct 1 of course).  Ah, such a big decision!  Thankfully, I  have some time to figure that out.  One thing I do know is that I am definitely going to decorate a bottle of wine/six pack of beer/bottle of booze like this for Halloween.  It would make a Boo-tastic (Sorry, I couldn't resist :) gift for someone.