Halloween Decorations

The last time I decorated for Halloween my son was five months old.  He's now a 2nd grader.  It's been awhile. 

 It is hard to decorate when you are living in an apartment and all your decorations are parked across town in a storage unit.  You have to really want to decorate to make that work.  

This will be our third Halloween in our home and what with one thing and another I was too lazy to put forth any great effort at putting up Halloween decorations.  But now that my son is 7... well, it was important to him this year.  So I hauled out the tote of  fall decor, blew the dust off it and was excited to find I actually already had quite a bit more then I remembered.  

But I also started working early enough that I finished some projects I've been meaning to get around for the past several years.

#1-  Pottery Barn Halloween Countdown Calendar @ Ucreate:

This was the tutorial that was posted the first time I visited Ucreate and I fell in love with it immediately. I had very good intentions, but every time I remembered that I wanted to make it was already half way through October and I would think, "Next year for sure!"

I am especially proud of the fact that I free hand cut everything but the orange squares on this puppy! (I did those with a rotary cutter and mat.) I also decided that for the amount of work that was going into it I wanted to make sure that it would last, so I embroidered around each shape, sewed on buttons and then added another backing square of felt to hide the stitching and make it more durable.

My kids have enjoyed watching me work on each square and today we picked out the cute skeleton guy (you can see him sticking out of #6 on the top picture) for our marker.  I just hope they'll be good about taking turns each day.

#2- Fabric Pumpkins @ Sunshine In My Soul:

This project was also the Create With Me September project @ Ucreate.

Mine came out rather square, but I actually like that because one of our favorite Halloween books is "The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin".

Our basket of holiday books and a teddy to snuggle up with and read one.

#3- Lighting:

This was my sister's idea, and I can't remember where she said she saw it. But it is so awesomely simple.  One strand of lights and one package of the mini cupcake liners that come in so many fun holiday themes.  Poke a tiny hole in the middle of the wrapper and pop your light through.  

It only costs a couple of dollars and you can change to Thanksgiving without having to completely dismantle your mantle! :)

#4- My dollar store wreath:

Less then $10 for all the materials. I just picked out some fall leaves in colors I liked and some sunflowers because they are so happy.  Then whacked them on to a cheap wreath base with some hot glue.  The scarecrow is actually not attached to the wreath, but just to the storm door behind it.  That way I can change the accent if I ever get bored with it with out having to make a whole new wreath...  clever, huh?

not really... just an afterthought. :)

#5-  My awesome new sign.

This was a gift from my dad and sister who have a wicked sense of humor.*

*It's funny to us because my husband became handicapped about four years ago and now walks with the aid of forearm crutches.  Hey, if you can't laugh at your life then what's the point?

I didn't want it to be lost in my ridiculously messy flower beds so I got a plastic trick or treating cauldron, filled it with gravel so it won't blow over, and stuck the sign and the leaves into a piece of styrofoam. 

It's been fun having our decorations up and getting us into the Halloween spirit.  I am glad this is a tradition that's being rekindled at our home. It feels good to make some magic for my children.