Fun Halloween Decor

Happy October!!  It's time to get out the fun Halloween Decor and make your house festive for the holiday.  My front porch is already decorated with my Pumpkin Topiaries and a few fun pumpkins I got from our local craft store, but I needed something that said "October."  Our family does celebrate Halloween, but not the "scary" Halloween.  For us, it's about dressing up in a FUN costume and getting to eat lots of candy and having fun with friends.  We do not promote the scary, mystical or demonic side of Halloween. 

So you can see my delima when decorating my new house.  I wanted something that went along with the holiday, but not anything scary or witch-like.  I came up with a few things and I wanted to share them with you in case you wanted an alternative to the "commercial" Halloween Decor.

Here are a couple of items I thought up:

Boo Door Decor

 

Milk Jug Goblins

 

Let's start with the Boo Door Decor first!
The thing I REALLY like about this is that most of the supplies came from the dollar store! This was a VERY inexpensive decoration to make!  I always start there when I want to decorate my home, because it's the cheapest!!

 

Supplies:

2 Craft Floral Rings

 Wooden Letter B (you can make this from cardboard if you want)

Crate Paper in Black, White and Orange

Modge Podge

Stapler/Staple Gun

Hot Glue Gun

3 Buttons

Ribbon

Scissors

 

 

How to:

First, Cut a long strip of Crate Paper.  Then place a little bit of Modge Podge on the back of your letter.  Place one end of the crate paper onto the modge podge.

 

 

Wrap the paper around the letter.  Don't worry about making it pretty.  The texture is what you are going for, and the beauty about Halloween decorations is that the messier they are, the more festive they look.  It's all about the character. :)

 

When you come to the end of your paper strip, and then end of your wrapping, just make sure it finishes on the back side of your letter.  Take some Modge Podge, dab a little on the back of the letter where your strip will land and gently press to seal.  You can also apply a layer of glue on top of the paper as well.  Continue to cut long strips and wrap the letter until it is all covered with paper.  I decided to alternate the colors of my letters.  Black, white, black. 

Here's what they look like all "wrapped."

 

 

Notice the messy "B." :) "B"eautiful! Now take some orange crate paper and fold, crumple or twist to make any kind of "flower" you want.  Staple it onto the letter where you want your "accent".

 

 

Again, don't worry about being pretty, you're going to pretty much cover it up anyway.  Now, hot glue your button to the center of your "flower" to cover up the staple.

 

 

Try to mix the colors, white button on the black letter, black button on the white letter.  If you have a spider, or a pumpkin or any other cute "trinkets" you could use those instead of buttons.

 

Now to attach your letters together to form your word! Take your ribbon and staple it to the back of the letters.  Start with the top "B" first. 

 



 

Then decide where you want your "O"s to go in relation to your "B" and staple the ribbon accordingly on the back of all letters. Now lay it out and look at what you've made!

 

 

To hang it on the door, I did need to make a bow to tie in the loop and onto my wreath hanger on my door.  It wasn't hard, just a simple bow.  What do you think?  Please leave your comments below!

 

 

 

 

I think it looks great on my porch with my pumpkins!

 

 

NOTE: Only attempt this if you have a screen door that will protect the paper from the elements.  Otherwise, you may end up with a very sloppy mess.  Messy is festive, but sloppy is just tragic. I guess you could go ahead and put a layer of Modge Podge over your entire letter to seal it from the elements, but you may loose some of your texture of the paper.  I don't know, I didn't try.

 

Next let's take a look at how to make the Milk Jug Goblins -
I do have to confess, this is not an original idea.  I saw it first on Pinterest.  To see the inspirational post from another blog, click here.

 

Supplies:

Empty clean dry milk jug (different shapes look best)

Black Magic Marker

Scissors

Flameless LED Candle

 

How To:

Take your marker and draw a cute or fun face on one side of your jug.  I didn't even worry about taking the label off, because no one is going to see the back of your jug.  Then cut a hole in the back of your jug so that you can access the candle.  If you don't want to put a light source in your jug, don't worry about this step.  Then turn on the candle and place it on your porch or table.  If you don't have a flameless candle, then you can use Christmas lights or glow sticks to light your jug.  Just make sure your hole is big enough in the back to put a strand of mini lights inside.  You can use the icicle lights and a LOT of jug goblins to create a fun atmosphere if you like.

 

 

I cut off the tops of my jugs too, just for a more fluid look.  I plan to add several more to my porch as we use up the milk during the month.  I think they are cute and add to my decor as well. :)

 

 

 

Fall Mantle

I just LOVE Fall!! It's my favorite season of the year!  Partly because my birthday falls in this season, but also because the weather cools off, the leaves change and I can wear clothes that will cover up my body more and hide all the weight I gain from the Summer cook outs. I mean, let's be clear! :)

To celebrate this wonderful time of year, I have started to decorate our home! AND since our New Home has a beautiful fireplace!! I can decorate the mantle!! I searched Pinterest over and over (as any great decorator does) for ideas and finally came up with this!!

 

Isn't it adorable! I of course don't have a lot of money to spend on decorating, but wanted to be festive, so here's how I did it!! This entire mantle cost me only $20!!! I know what you're thinking...HOW?! Well, let me tell you

 

I picked up the old window at a garage sale for $8, bought a dollar store grapevine wreath for $1 and some leaves/berries at Wal Mart for $0.97 each (2 bunches).  The cute sunflower I got on sale at Hobby Lobby for $1.  (I know, fall hasn't even begun yet and they have stuff on sale) All this = $12, clearly the most expensive stuff on my mantle. :)

 

 

To make the wreath, I just pushed the leaves and berries into the grapevine wreath to make it a little more full and voila...an adorable mantle-sized wreath. No hot glue needed. I then embellished it with the bling sunflower! Gotta have some bling somewhere in this all boy house! :) To attach it to the window, I just took some twine I had and taped it to the other side of the window.  You could also use ribbon if you prefer.

 

 

The candle sticks I had, but got the leaves that are laying on the mantle and pumpkins/gourds from my sister who is living with us.  I bought this for her as a birthday gift one year.  I also got these on after the season clearance for something REALLY cheap...sorry sis. :) Also, accompanying the mantle foliage are 2 more bunches of $0.97 flowers from Wal Mart.

 

 

On the other side of the mantle, I picked up these candle holders at Target just a week or so ago on clearance for $3 each! I originally got them to stuff Christmas ornaments in for the upcoming Christmas season, but couldn't wait to use them.

 

 

I stuffed the bottoms with left over leaves from the bunches and some acorns from our front yard.  The acorns were supposed to go all the way around the candles, but they and the candles are too big, so I had to settle for what I could see from the front. :)

 

Now my favorite part! M and I went walking with G on our way to school yesterday and found so many sticks on our way.  I needed some height to the mantle, so find an empty vase and there you go! This will also transition really well into my Halloween mantle that will debut next month!!

 

 

The Fall Banner, I made out of stuff I already had: scrapbook paper, ribbon, tape and contact paper. I just thought the mantle needed a little more warmth.

 

 

So, breakdown:

Window - 8

Wreath - 1

Leaves/Berries for Wreath - 2

Sunflower - 1

Candle holders - 6

Mantle Flowers - 2

Acorns - FREE

Sticks - FREE

Vase - FREE

Fall Banner - FREE

 

Total cost of Mantle Decor = $20

 

Cost of enjoying a season of festiveness = PRICELESS! :)

 

 

 

Want to know how to make the cute Fall Banner?! Click here!!

 

 

 

Easter Wreath

So I really wanted to incorporate the cross for this wreath and since it's only up for the season of Easter, I wanted it easy but simple.  I used the same grapevine wreath from my Spring Wreath and just removed the decorations to decorate it for Easter!  This wreath cost me $0 since I used supplies that I already had laying around the house!

Supplies:
Ribbon
Cardboard
Paint
Marker
Hot Glue

How to:
Trace a cross onto a cardboard box.  Then paint in the design and colors of your choice.  I raided my boys' craft paints and decided to use some polka dots. After the paint is dry, use a permanent marker to write the phrase of your choice.

I used a lot of ribbon for this design.  I actually used 2 different types of ribbon and cut them into 2 pieces.  Wrap the first piece starting at the top clockwise around the wreath.  When you reach the top again, glue the pieces together. Repeat with the smaller ribbon right on top of the larger ribbon.  Then take your second piece of larger ribbon, starting at the top and wrap the wreath counterclockwise.  Again, glue at the top, at repeat with the smaller ribbon.

Hot Glue the cross to the top and bottom of the wreath in the center and hang on your door or mantle! :)

Spring Wreath

So here is my Spring Front Door Wreath.  I had a lot of fun making this one.  Again, the idea came from Pinterest and I just gave it my touch.  This wreath cost me a little more than the $5 wreaths on my blog because I had NOTHING on hand, but since then, I've been able to reuse the supplies for other wreaths, so I'm happy!

Supplies:
Grapevine Wreath
Chip Board Letter
Spray Paint
Silk Flowers (mine are from the dollar store)
Wire Cutters or Scissors
Ribbon
Hot Glue

How To:
The most important thing to do first is to figure out where you want your flowers.  Cut them off from each bunch using scissors or wire cutters at the joints keeping as much stem as possible.  Then start placing them in between the vines to put them in place.  They will fit very nicely without glue and then you can arrange them and take them out and re-use the wreath again and again!

After the flowers are in place, tie your ribbon at the bottom.  I changed the color of the ribbon to a white one after I took the picture of course.  I think the white looked better.

Then spray paint your chip board letter.  I used a gold glitter spray paint, but you can't see it in the photo.  Hot glue your letter onto the wreath and you're done!  I hope yours turns out great!

4th of July Wreath

Okay, this is one of my favorite wreaths I've made!  I got the idea off of Pinterest and used another blogger's website for the tutorial.  You can view her step by step process here.  Sorry, I made the wreath before the blog, so there are not specific pics from me.  I made mine from coffee filters and cocktail napkins from the dollar store! So again, another $5 wreath!! :) I also got the wreath base from the dollar store! I think it looks great on my red door!  And it really stood out from the street!

My Fall Door "Wreath"

So I needed to spruce up our front door decor and had to take our 4th of July Wreath down, so I decided to whip this little one up.  I hope you like it! It literally only cost like $5 to make it, including the frame I got at a garage sale!  And of course, since nothing is permanent, you can change it whenever you like!!

Supplies:
Chip board Letter
Twine
Masking or Painters Tape
Frame
Twigs from your yard
Pine cone from your yard
Random silk flower
Floral Wire
Ribbon

How to:
Take the twigs, pine cone, and flower and attach them to the frame with floral wire.  No gluing needed!!  Then wrap the chip board letter in the twine.  Use tape to attach the last bit of twine to the back of the letter and then attach to the frame with the ribbon.  That's it! You're done and have a cute decoration for your front door! :)