Faux Wooden Shelves are done!

So I made 4 of these. 3 large and one shorter one. Thank you Angie for the inspiration I just LOVE them. Below is a sample of one of the shelves with the witch jars and a few other items tucked inside. The little black drawer piece is an old jewelry box I picked up at a local thrift store for eighty cents... under a buck, sprayed it black and was lucky enough for it to crackle on it's own. Notice the twisted wand up on the top shelf.


24 days to go until our bash.....

Voodoo Bottles

So I started playing around with the Voodoo bottles in my lower level china cabinet last night to get a feel on how I wanted to display them, and photograph them since I am thinking of listing a set or two of the labels on etsy or one of the other online sites, thought I would share. I used vintage white spice jars that I painted with a flat black like the rest of the bottles on the shelf, I think they turned out quite nice and I am very pleased with the look...27 days to go...

However, this am we had a minor set back, while taking boxes out of storage in the garage, we discovered we have been invaded by field mice this year... I sat and sobbed for about an hour this am as I watched JT set fire to a slew of boxes and decorations in the burnpile that have been completely ruined RIP decorations you will be sadly missed...... I am fearful of how many more we will lose.....

Scarecrow Contest

So we went back to Donzell's today to see if they finished the rest of their displays, not only did the finish their displays, but they had a fall festival going on, too bad it was pouring down the rain. The above photo shows peanut with a couple of our favorite scarecrows.


Online photo above of our chandelier inspiration this year....


Step one of creating our chandelier, still need to add the twigs, and some bats... maybe another reaper to the other side too.


Advertising outside "we deliver in the dead of night" "plants guaranteed to die"

Creeping to the Finish Line

So I spent a few hours this evening working on the shelves for my witch kitchen. I ended up at a screeching halt when I ran out of black paper. I did however manage to get the rest of the cardboard applied to all of the shelves minus the back because I found it easier to cover the back cardboard with black paper on both sides before it is attached to the shelving unit, learning lesson from the first shelf. After I run out for more black paper on Friday, I will have them all wrapped up ready for paint the next day we have. Fall has come and hit fast with overcast, high humidity, rainy weather in Ohio.

Meet Louise... she has been hanging on my kitchen light fixture for about 2 months now, she has been my "inspiration" for this years "Season of the Witch" party... when I finish the shelves she is going to get a wardrobe makeover, and move a little more creepy for the dark holiday.

If you have a Pat Catan's craft store, RUN don't walk they have this sign and another that says "Trick or Treat" they are almost 30" wide and about 7 inches tall, wooden and retail for only $2.97 each! Perfect for decorating or as thank you gifts for some of your "Best Witches"

Coffin Table

Local Halloween entrance way to Donzell's in Akron Ohio, I especially liked the coffin table with the vampyre under glass effect. The gargoyle cement statues were exquisite.


Ghoulish bats in the gauzy branches above

Graveyard

The nursery had their graveyard set up outside today. I was tickled at some of the epitaphs on the tombstones, they were quite clever... the grave digger was pretty spooky even in the daylight... BRING on the dark holiday!

the column work has to be from an estate it wasn't foam, it was all concrete, marble and iron... stunning.

Planning for Pumpkins with Peant

So we toddled off to a local flower nursery today to start scoping for pumpkins. Elaina aka Peanut didn't find any today to her liking, but none the less the scenery was nothing shy of spectacular again this year... they are almost done setting up all of their dark holiday displays, I will check back later this week...

CHECK out this one mom....


these were my favorite today... stunning little green gems.....

speckled little gems

lost in the husks....

A store bought costume???? Quick someone pull the dagger out of my heart....

So I have gone to great lengths to allow my children to pick out their annual haunt attire since they were old enough to say yes and no...usually I am able to customize my own costume around theirs, for instance on year Elaina was Dorothy from the "Wizard of Oz" I was able to be the wicked witch.....we were all pirates and wenches one year, and 2 years ago Elaina was Ariel from Disney's the Little Mermaid" I was Ursula the sea witch... (see a reoccurring theme here....)? We scour the second hand stores for great fabric finds and plot out our ideas well in advance. It is a little more work, but so worth the outcome in the end... and the memories we are creating at the same time working together.

This year... something has gone drastically wrong.. in my best Bill and Ted's Adventure voice... "Something is array at the Circle K" my sweet innocent beautiful 8 year old daughter has announced to the world that she wants to be Padme from Star Wars.. o.k., I think I could deal with that... doesn't exactly match the whole Season of the Witch party theme I was planning on... but I could make a killer Darth Vader for trick or treat at least right??? Then slip into something a little more complimenting my cauldron for our party. So I start researching photos.. planning and my wonderful, sweet, highly opinionated 8 year old announces, NO I just want you to buy this one.. online.... sigh.... I caved... hopefully this is not the end of an era.....


so here I go, "suck it up mom" is what I keep hearing my inner self taunting me with... not my idea of Halloween.. but in the end, she will make the best Padme ever....somebody quick pull the dagger out of my heart.....

Meet the Frankenstein's

At our annual card party in January friends of ours presented Jerry and I with these amazing papermache bobble heads. They stand about 18" tall and are hand painted. They are simply adorable and I can't wait to use them this year. It wasn't until mid June when I finally packed them up for storage and I just cannot wait to get them back out.

While browsing today I came across a matching Dracula at the Grandinroad site... ordered and patiently awaiting his arrival.

Witch's Kitchen Shelves

I have managed to collect all the supplies needed for my witch's kitchen shelves. 3 metal bookcases from the thrift store total cost $25, one roll duct tape $1.87, three rolls of masking tape $2.70, acrylic paint on hand and cardboard from the pile in the garage FREE , lastly, black roll paper $9.00... wish me luck....

Potion, Spell and Voodoo jars in Progress

My hands are tea stained, my lower level has been turned upside down and is serving as my "workspace" corks, bottles, labels, glue, gadgets and more... photos are some "in the works" projects....above is my first attempt at Jellyfish stingers... unhappy with the amount of "stingers" hot glue strands in the bottle will most likely redo the bottle... the jar is an old glass McCormick spice jar.
Dried Tapeworms is a bunch of multi colored yarn strands-no need for a cork, they are not going anywhwere.
my first try at a Dragon embryo in a jar... gone bad... so I think this one is going to be labeled "Experiment Gone Wrong"

Spice Rack I picked up at yard sale for a buck, sprayed the rack with flat black paint. Need to get the labels done... Left to Right
Blue-laundry detergent will be Ghost Tears
Purple-hair gel will be Goblin Slime
Pink-robbed some glittery body spray from my 8 year old will be Essence of Fairy
White -is clear aloe with pearl beads inside, will be Infatuation
Dark blue is Distilled water and lots of blue food color will be Squid Ink
Red is corn syrup with red food color will be Dragons Blood


My first attempt at Voodoo Jars....simply flat black spray and some old corks. The center bottle is an old vinegar bottle that I sprayed the lid black and glued on a little plastic skull $1 for a bag of 9 at the Dollar Tree store. I salvaged the netting bag the skulls came in and wrapped it over the bottle of the bottom then secured it with wrapped twine up the neck. Inside is a package of black slime that I found in the toy section of the Dollar General store the label for this bottle will be Essence of Death... I just LOVE the way the slime slides around in the jar.


Another old spice rack waiting on labels, my version of a poison apple under glass, some more old bottles and what nots...

Instant Monster in a Jar

I have seen a few versions of this type of bottle/jar on the web and decided to try my luck in creating my own. I adapted Deadspider's style of label making to create my own label... some poly fill, a disassembled foam bead candle ring, a set of eyeballs cut from an old teddy bear, some twine, a plastic skull, and a large glass pickle jar that I flat black sprayed the lid and wala....

I will say... when my 8 year old sproglet entered the room and saw the teddy missing the eyes she screamed in horror... then proceeded to tell me "now he is going to bump into walls" they eyeless teddy has taken refuge on her bed again...sigh.... I heart her....I guess it is a good thing I didn't cut off his head....

Brain Hemorage

While continuing to search for interesting cocktails and recipes for our upcoming haunt I came across this recipe for a simple shot that boasts to taste like peaches and cream. All you need is


1/2 - 3/4 oz. Peach Schnapps
Float 1-2 Tbl. of Baileys on top
Drop 1 tsp of grenadine through the Baileys.

a little bit of magic and this ghastly simple cocktail should send screams through the crowd don't you think????

Creepy Boarded Up Windows

After finding this article today from Haunt Project I sent out the oldest Sproglet to Home Depot to get the foam sheets I would need to complete the windows on the front of the house this year. I already had the brown paint and velcro.... simply and easy enough that I might just have the teenager put them together.

Blood of the Undead Cupcakes

ok, so these were originally made for the DVD release of the movie 'Twilight' by Retro Bakery but you could always order them for your Halloween Hoopla if you are in the Las Vegas area or try to recreate them in your own little "neck" of the woods... Image Source

And a little Candy-Corn Inspired Decoration....

Image Source

On a Candy Corn Roll......

It's latin name is Justica rizzini, but it is affectionately called the Candy Corn Plant.

So, it's pretty easy to see why it's called a candy corn plant, but you don't want to eat these little treasures, apparently they are kind of bitter, and not very good for you. Image Source

It is officially Candy Corn Season

Bought my first bag of those tempting little bits of sugary pleasure last week and forgot about them... however today I have managed to gorge myself on them within the first 10 minutes of finding them stashed away. I am not a huge fan of candy corn, only one day the season is good enough for me. I usually end up tossing out the bag or putting the rest in a storage baggie with the intention of using them to decorate cupcakes for one of the sproglets school events. Unfortunately I more often forget about the rest of them. This year, I have found a new use for the rest of those lil' buggas... boxer treats... here is Dempsey's reaction to his first little candy corn... he licked it for an hour, it wasn't until Lola tried to take it from him that he actually ate it... I guess he was trying to figure out how many licks to the center of it......

Dog Breed Pumpkin Stencils

Ok, so while standing in line at the market yesterday I saw something that sparked my interest about dog breed free stencils for pumpkin carving this year... I burnt the link into my memory and thought I would pass it along to you from the Better Homes & Gardens magazine site today... can you guess which one I am sure my family will be carving??? Not exactly spooky, but right up our alley.... there are 29 different stencils, hopefully you will find the breed of your choice.