excuses, excuses

I have been missing in action in a big way. I can't even promise that I am back fully yet but I'm working on making a comeback. We have had illness upon illness that I believe I have mentioned before...mono x 3 kids, flus, nasty colds that linger forever that make your head split and light your lungs on fire when you cough (can I please just get rid of this?), etc., etc. My home feels like the sick ward of a hospital.

Throw into the mix a 15 1/2 year old daughter with permit in hand that begs to be taken out driving. Every spare minute she wants to be out on the road and my nerves are only capable of handling so much. If I survive her learning to drive I plan to throw the biggest "I survived" shindig known to man. Teenage driving is not for the faint of heart.

Plus Christmas festivities abound. We have hit a few parties, holiday concerts and dinners as time and health have allowed while trying to decorate our own house with all it's Christmas trimmings.

For those interested in checking out the fireplace decor read on...

I have weird theme issues when it comes to holiday and party decorating. I have to have a story in my head or a reason why the decor looks the way it does. My thoughts for this years decor was our family gathering around the fire on a cold winters night, cuddled up to read our favorite books. I can hear all the "aaah, how sweet" comments now. It makes you gag I know but I have to have a story.

Here is the fireplace mantle decorating breakdown...

Garland. I tend to take my abundance of cheap crapola and layer it with some nicer stuff just like I did for Halloween. Here I used the super cheap, doesn't really look like living greenery, green garland. I found mine at Michaels. I layered it with a more expensive garland that was priced at $30. Yikes, too big for my budget. But, yes Virginia there is a Santa and he made the good people at Michaels mark down the garland of my dreams by 50%. I can handle $15.

I also added snow because nothing says "stay in and read by the fire" like a bunch of the cold white stuff. We've got no real stuff here in sunny Southern California so my snow was imported in from Michaels (I'd like to add that I am in no way affiliated with Michaels I just spend all of my husbands paycheck there) Need snow too? It comes in a bag ready to be thrown around your home making a big gigantic mess that doesn't just stay on the mantle. It's fun really. Your kids will love you. Go get some.

It's Christmas - we need stockings. I pulled our snowflake ones out of the box and hung those puppies up grinning that they matched my cold theme and were green (I decided to stick with an all green, white, silver color palette) To add the reading part of my theme to the stockings I painted cheap brown kraft cardstock stencils white to add each of my children's initials to their stocking.

I wanted the letters to be a glossy white but spray painting them wasn't working for me - too much curling of the stencil. To solve the problem I ran a quick coat of white craft paint over each stencil and then once dried I spray painted my high gloss white paint over them.

To add more of a reading vibe I ripped out pages of an old dictionary (hit your thrift stores people) and cut out a square to back each stencil. I'm a sucker for details so I searched for words that fit with my theme. Check me out...

"arctic"...brrr, cold. I think I want to read by the fire

"family circle"...it would be so much nicer to read by the fire with my family

"chimney sweep"...hopefully the chimney sweep cleaned out our fireplace so we can read by it. Ok, so that one is a stretch but the words chimney sweep made me happy and they seemed to fit the theme in a Mary Poppins celebrating Christmas type of way.

"jingle"...it's Christmas, we people jingle all the way this time of year.

You were impressed with my attention to detail weren't you. In your mind you have crowned me the queen of detail haven't you?!?! I'm guessing my crown is going to be yanked from my head rather quickly when you take a look at my dictionary page "flowers" My idea was to add some more reading theme goodness to my mantle by throwing in some paper "flowers" but take a look at this little beauty. Something about that word doesn't scream the holiday to me. (Click on the picture to supersize if you can't read the word)

Add some more stencils to spell out joy

and add a 6 because there are 6 of us in family and we all like to read by the fire on a cold winters night - see how I stick to my theme?

There you have it. Hopefully I can get my sick, teen age driving stressed self back to blogging more regularly to bring you more of our Christmas decor and other party related jive.

beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Look at this winning piece of brass.  You can say it's ugly - it won't hurt my feelings.  

I picked it up at my favorite store...Goodwill.  Who needs a fancy party decor store when you have Goodwill a few miles away, not to mention 3 other thrift stores in the same area.

Yes, the price says $49.99.  Not sure who priced this beauty at that but they were smoking something.  I could see the swan that this ugly duckling would become but I wouldn't even have paid $50.  Lucky for me it was "half off green tag" day and I picked this up for $25.  I realize some would say that is still steep but remember I saw what it could become and $25 was a steal.
It was a leap of faith though - this thing is really beat up.  The previous owner did some repair work?!?!  I'm not sure what product they used to get this piece to stick on but I have to say it looks like a wad of chewed up gum.  I have steered clear of touching this part of the candelabra - it grosses me out.
I bought a few supplies and set to working miracles on my brassy beauty.  Once can of 99 cent spray paint from Lowes.  I did a jig when I found 99 cent spray paint - the perfect price for Halloween decor since I don't need anything fancy.
$4 battery operated taper candles that flicker.  Let me tell you why I love these particular ones from Big Lots (is Big Lots a national chain?)  Most battery candles like this are a whole unit - candle and candle holder - these are separate so the candle can sit in any taper candle holder you have - like a big, ugly, shiny brass candelabra.
A couple more things about the candles...yes, I needed 14 of them that came to a total of $56. Perhaps a bit pricey but they are safe.  I could have never pulled off this Halloween prop with real candles.  They'll last forever.  Taper candles would have been less but they'd burn down and need to be replaced far more often (and like I already mentioned...unsafe, the fire department would be here shutting down my decorating)  Finally, the cost is less than a real or artificial Christmas tree which people buy every year.  It's no secret that I love Halloween so having a Halloween "tree" makes sense.  ALL my reasons make sense and hopefully my husband thinks so too when he reads this post and sees how much I spent on candles.

Back to the project.  I hit the candelabra with some black spray paint but didn't do full coverage - I just wanted to tone down the gold goodness.  After looking at these pictures I see that I need to hit it with some more paint towards the bottom - I'll get on that today.

I also added the candles, minus one - I need to fix the holder as soon as I can find some chewing gum :)
Then I grabbed one bag of Creepy Cloth, again from Big Lots.  This is the same cloth that I used on my mantle and staircase.
Drape the candelabra with the cloth - ripping , tearing and cutting where necessary.
Add some moss.  This dried moss is the perfect Halloween accessory - it makes any scene look creepy.
The finished candelabra during the day (with a pumpkin thrown in to keep the empty candle spot warm while waiting for the candle)

It's not much to look at - it's better than it was before but the daytime is not when this lady shines...

nighttime baby, that's her glory moment!

I love her!  Her Halloween glow makes me happy.  She reminds me of the candelabras that meet you in the line at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion right before you enter your Doom Buggie.

I have one more thing to add but for the most part this trash to treasure is done.  I am concerned about the empty space at the bottom of the candelabra - it needs something to ground it and make it into more of a scene but I haven't come up with any great ideas - anyone? Anyone?

where's the beef (netting)

Is anyone even old enough to remember that commercial?

I have moved my decorating efforts outside because lets face it - curb appeal counts (even on Halloween)  I've been working on spider webs.  If you love Halloween than the product I'm about to share is for you - it is one of my favorite Halloween products of all time.

Check out these webs...

Some close ups too...

I still have lots to do to cover the house but I couldn't wait any longer to share these webs.  The product used is beef netting.  I believe it is used to wrap big 'ol cuts of meet - like the hanging kind that you would find in Sam the butcher's shop (man, I love the Brady Bunch)  Now I might be wrong on the beef netting's uses so don't use my answer on Jeopardy but I think I'm right - 80% sure I'm right.

Beef netting is used for lots of commercial haunts like Knott's Halloween Haunt (Knott's Scary Farm, for the locals) I think it's great for commercial haunts as well as home haunts because it has a more graphic bunch then the stringy webbing that comes in a bag that we all buy for a couple bucks.  Now don't think I'm bad mouthing the stringy stuff - it has it's uses - sometimes you need the effect of the thinner webs (but I do have a better option for that too coming in a later post)

But getting back to the beef netting...

You can find the beef netting at Trenton Mills.  It may be available elsewhere but Trenton Mills is where I have purchased mine - they are easy to work with and I have been beyond happy with them.  When I first purchased mine years ago it only came in a 20 lb roll and cost just under $100 with shipping.  That may seem like a crazy amount of money for spider webs but I am still using that same roll 6 years later and probably have a couple more years before I'm out.  When I first bought it I don't think they understood how many people use it for Halloween now they make smaller rolls that cater to the home haunter/Halloween party thrower.

It comes in a big roll.  As you unroll it you see that the beef netting comes as a tube.  You need to cut down the side of the tube to get one flat piece of netting.  Then you tack it up - I use a staple gun when tacking to my house.  Once you have stretched it where you want it (you stretch it a ton because it works better that way) you take a pair of scissors, exacto knife or other sharp object and slice away.  I sometimes stretch it even more after I have cut holes and slits.

The amount of cutting is up to the individual.  I happen to think it looks better with more cuts of varying sizes but some prefer fewer cuts.  Check out this photo gallery on Trenton Mills site to see how others have used the netting.

If you decide to go this route with your webs I'd love to see your results so send pictures my way.

spooky stairs

Although the house is still not completely decorated for Halloween there are a few more areas of the house that are taking on the holiday spirit.

Here is our banister...

I used essentially the same elements that I used on my mantle but with a couple additions.  I added a garland of black silk leaves.  I believe I found it at Michael's or Big Lots - where I purchase most of my decorating supplies (as well as Thrift stores and garage sales)  Decorating does not have to be expensive.

I also added extremely cheap black garland that already had orange lights running through it.  I want to say I paid like 3 or 4 dollars for the stuff and it is the super cheesy garland - black, shiny and puffy but it works because I layer it with so many other elements.  It adds bulk to the garland that in turn makes the garland look substantial AND expensive.  I have gotten lots of compliments on the garland and questions like where I bought it - if I bought it as is it would be expensive but layering all the inexpensive elements gives me the look of spending money on decor at a fraction of the cost.

It is hard to photograph all the black so lots of the garland is lost but hopefully you get some idea.
Excuse the knight that is hiding in the picture - he has not been prepped yet for the holiday. He just got taken from his Halloween box with no where to go yet.

The urns are plastic and were discounted a few years back after the holiday.  I added some black flocked twigs and leaves and threw some pumpkins on top.  
The effect at night with the glow of the lights and jack-a-lanterns is awesome.  I love to have my house all aglow with Halloween spirit.

the goblins were hung by the chimney with care

Have you ever thought about the serious lack of Halloween carols?  I have, because that's how my brain works - spending inappropriate amounts of time thinking about nonsense things.  

But anyway...

I have had to decorate here a little there a little because of my busy October schedule.  Here are a few pictures of my fireplace mantle (I'll follow up in the next day or two with other Halloween hot spots in my home as I get them all done)

The pictures don't provide a ton of detail but you can get the idea.  The decor is rather simple. Here's what I used...

black cheesecloth - dye your own or buy it.  It is often referred to as spooky cloth when you buy it packaged at the store.  I have found mine at Michael's and Big Lots.  I am sure any craft store will have it.  Take some scissors to it and shred that baby up.  I used tape to keep mine situated on the mantle.

black twig-like garland - I tried to find a picture of the stuff online but no such luck.  This is garland that I found at Michael's that looks like thin black twigs with a little touch of purple glitter.

black Christmas garland - yes, I said Christmas.  This garland is from Michael's as well and it looks exactly like the super inexpensive green Christmas garland they sell it's just black instead of green.

a strand of flicker lights - I have a abnormal fascination with flicker lights in case you wanted to know some of my issues :)

Once that is all set up go to town with your creativity and with all the junk lying around your house.  What?  You don't have junk?  I can't be the only pack rack.  Look around your house and see what you've got.  
I used this glass pedestal bowl that normally holds our initials in it.  I threw some skulls in it and it works for Halloween
I added some candlesticks and lots of bottles.  The bottles are the easy part.  Spice bottles, salsa bottles, oil bottles, etc - do NOT throw them away.  I hold on to mine, add random things to them and slap a label on them to give them a creepy Halloween vibe.  you can always pick up great bottles at Goodwill and garage sales.

The labels aren't too hard to make on a computer especially if you keep them simple.  The ones I have made are a simple box outline with the ingredient written in a cool font.  To find a font that is right for you try Dafont or Font Space (both are font sites that I love and use frequently)

If you aren't feeling especially crafty and don't want to take the time to make your own labels then you must go here right now.  Seriously, go right now!  Johnny over at love Manor has created the most amazing labels - perfect for your Halloween decor AND they are free for you to download and use.

Amazing, right?  There are a ton more so if you still haven't gone here go there now.

Do you decorate your mantle for Halloween or are you a Christmas only kind of person?  I'd love to see your Halloween decor - leave a comment with a link to your Halloween hauntings. 

After our move to a new home in April I had pretty much decided that a Halloween party was NOT going to be happening this year.  The move took a lot out out of me, not to mention our cash flow has taken a beating with an increased mortgage payment.  

Where do I stand now?  The thought of not having a party is killing me - Halloween is my holiday! So while I jump back and forth between the should I or shouldn't I have a party question one thing has been decided...

party or not - the yard and house will be decorated!

Hence my reason for this post.  I know that I sometimes get all caught up in the decor that I forget some of the other aspects of a party/event that can help create the mood like lighting, music, scents, etc.

Lighting and music/sound are especially helpful when creating a Halloween atmosphere and the folks over at Skull and Bone have what has become my favorite Halloween lighting tutorial.

You really need to take a minute and go HERE to check out the info and look at their diagrams to see what lighting can do for your Halloween haunt.  

Halloween not your thing?  Think about how these lighting ideas can improve your next party.  

a "sweet" chandelier

I am now obsessing over Once Wed.  There are so many fun, new, creative ideas. I continue to find photograph after photograph.  Check out this little object of desire...

a DIY Rock Candy Chandelier - I know, right?  It's awesome.  Directions can be found here. This would be a great addition to a candy/dessert display.  Its also beautiful enough to serve as decor throughout a party area

never underestimate a balloon

I'm not big into balloon decor for parties but I fell in love with the balloon ceiling used for this Winter Wonderland party that I found at P is for Party.

Did I say yet that I'm loving the ceiling?

I was also excited to find Christi's blog, P is for Party.  Christi is a fairly new blogger so if you haven't visited her before stop by and tell her hi.  She has some great ideas and parties to share.

more marcie

Remember my post about Marcie.  She put together the ghostly table that I love.  Well now look what she has done.  

I am totally digging these glitter pedestals.  What do you think?  Probably too pricey, right?  

I thought they might be until I learned they were made from this...

and this...

That's right - paper plates and wooden candlesticks.  Brilliant idea!  I want these on my mantle for Halloween.  To get the directions head on over to Marcie's post and then get working on your own glittery goodness.

countdown to halloween is now...

Get your spook on!  Catchy, huh?

Here is an easy idea to give your ho-hum boring everyday house a little haunted style. Replace the pictures in your picture frames with Halloween images or other spooky feeling images. Granted, silhouettes aren't the spookiest of things but they did add to the over all feel we were going for last Halloween.  I found these Victorian silhouette dingbats (dingbat - name for a font that is pictures/images and not letters or numbers) at Font Space.  I also useDa Font.  Just type in Halloween in their search engine and see what comes up.  For the dingbats you might need to go specifically to that category before searching Halloween.

Can't find a dingbat you like?  Try spelling out words in your frames using a cool Halloween font.  I could use my four frames to spell help, boo!, eeek, fear - you get the idea.

My second idea for the day (yes, you get two ideas - what a bargain) is...Good Will and black spray paint are your friend.  Hit up your local Good Will or a similar store and find frames, candelabras, light fixtures, clocks, anything you like really and get some black spray paint on it - instant haunted house decor or in my case year round decor since the frames pictured below that were last years Halloween decorations are still up.  In case anyone is wondering I did take down the black plastic tile "marble" fireplace - I have to draw the line somewhere.

You would be amazed at what some spray paint can do.  I found a cheap plastic clock at Big Lots for $8 last week that I plan to hit with black spray paint and change the face to a 13 hour clock.  This will make a great haunted edition to my entryway.