This was super easy.  A little time consuming, but hey, I’m all caught up on Grey’s Anatomy now.  Silver lining, right?!  Little Monkey helped hang them and loved it.  I found the idea over at MADE.

Here’s the How:

Supplies:

– black cardstock

– Scissors

– Two episodes of Grey’s Anatomy (optional)

1)  I found a package of black cardstock (50 sheets) for less than $5 at Wal-Mart and it worked great.

2)  (Turn on Grey’s Anatomy, if desired.)  Fold you cardstock in half.  For my large bats, I folded the paper while it was horizontal.  I got two bats on one sheet.  For the little bats, I folded the paper while it was vertical (making a long skinny rectangle).  I got four bats on one sheet.

3)  I drew a basic bat shape on my first piece of cardstock and tweaked it till I was happy.  Then I cut it out and used it as my template.  Don’t spend the time tracing, just hold the template and wing it.  They don’t have to be perfect.

4)  Repeat.  And repeat… and repeat.  Times a billion.  Not really, but it’ll seem like it.  I did approximately 10 sheets of cardstock, 5 sheets of the big bats and 5 of the little ones.

5)  Hang on the wall.  I used some sticky tack I had, as it seems to do a little less damage to the paint on our walls.  Double stick tape would work too. 

Discuss bats with your two year old again and roll your eyes when he says, “Mom, I know.  You said that again tomorrow".  Then, smile a little because you know he remembers your little discussion about bats yesterday… or he can seen the future and you will talk about it all again tomorrow.

Krista

If you’ve been following October Spooktacular this month, you’ll know that I’ve got a little thing for witches this year.  Last year it was haunted houses.  Anyway, I don’t know where the idea came from.  It was one of those things that evolved slowly and I don’t know what started it all.  Thank you, pregnancy brain.  I was going to do this for our Dead and Breakfast Date and hang it in the window in our living room, kind of as a ‘Welcome Home’ to My Mr. Right.  But the sun was super hot that day and I wasn’t sure what the heat would do to the sticky adhesive on the back of my vinyl.  I really didn’t want to have to spend days and days scratching adhesive off our rented apartment windows.  So, this project moved to the refrigerator.

I get some of my vinyl from local sign companies and had a roll that still had about 4 feet left on it.  It was perfect for this project.  I rolled it out, vinyl side down, drew a rough sketch on the backing paper and then got out my trusty little scissors and started hacking the extra away to make my little (well, not so little) witch.  My roll was only 18” wide, so I had to piece the cauldron together, but everything else is one piece.  The bubbles were cut from the excess scraps.  I did have to cut a gap for the top piece and the bottom piece.  Call  me crazy, but I still intended to use our fridge.  I didn’t cut any out, I just started at the top, applied the vinyl and then cut it apart when I hit the bottom of the freezer door.  Then, I started right back up, just eye-balling the placement, on the top of the refrigerator door and worked my way down.  It took some patience, but I love the way it turned out.  And it’ll be easy to take down when Halloween is over.

Krista

When you think Halloween, I’m sure candles come up in your visual somewhere.  Dim, candle lit corridors in a creaky, eerie haunted mansion with bone-chilling stone walls that house a vampire waking from his death-like slumber for a night out and the cackle of the witch carefully tending her wretched-smelling, bubbling brew down in the basement can be heard to echo slightly into those empty, dark corners.  Ok, longest run-on sentence ever, but did you see candles?  Maybe not.  In any case, they are a popular item to include in Halloween decor.  But, you don’t just have to slap some candles out and call it good.  Here are three super easy ways to dress your candles up.

1.  For a quick and painless dress up, grab some vinyl and plaster in on your waxy canvas.  Use images, words or anything else you think would compliment your decor.

2.  Spray paint.  These candles take a little bit of prep, but the result is pretty cool.  I had intended to do this with red candles (so it would look like they were bleeding), but my Dollar Tree never had the red ones in stock.  I do like the white and black though.  A lot actually.  To get these beauties, simply spray paint your candle black.  Let it dry well.  Burn for approximately half an hour so the wax can drip down your candle.  These would look super cool next to an old “spell book” or witch’s potion bottles…

3.  Containers.  Put your candles in the containers and dress the containers up.  Ribbon, vinyl, glitter, paint, fabric… the possibilities are ENDLESS! 

What’s your favorite way to dress up a candle?

Krista

Hey party people!  Welcome to another edition of Weekend Wander, where you can lose yourself in the great blogosphere and come away with some awesome inspiration.  Some inspiring links from last week include:

  Thanks everyone and congratulations ladies.  Now, let’s get the fun started. Here’s the deal:
1.  Keep it family friendly.
2.  No commercial sites.
3.  Mingle!  No one likes a wall flower, and this is a party, after all.

Are you throwing a fun Halloween bash?  Do you want some cute (and easy and practically free) favors for your guests?  Or how about some yummy table centerpieces?  Well, check out these cuties. 

 

Here’s the How:
Sorry, there aren’t a lot of process photos, this project was kind of a two-hand deal.

Supplies-
–  Paint chip samples (hit up your local Wal-Mart, Lowe’s or Home Depot)
–  Wooden Skewers (got a big bag at Wal-Mart for $1)
– Hot glue gun
– Scissors or paper cutter
–  Filler Candy (I used candy corn, as it fit nicely between the small spaces)

1)  Begin by cutting your paint samples in half.  Mine had five colors on them and I just cut them right in half.  Otherwise your pumpkins will be really big (and take a lot of candy to fill).

2)  I poked holes in my paint samples near the middle at both the top and the bottom with a straight pin (like you use for sewing) and slid them onto the skewer.  Do all the bottoms first and then all the tops.  (I cut my skewers in thirds, eventually.  It’s easier to slide the paint chips on the skewers if you have the pointy end to help out.)

3)  Slide the paint chips up the skewer until you have the stem of the pumpkin the length you want it (the bottom of the paint samples should be approximately 1/3 of the way down from the dull end of the skewer).   Cut your skewer down just below the paint chips.  Use a small dab of hot glue on the end of the skewer to keep the paint samples from coming off.  You don’t need to have the glue on the paint chips.  If you do, arrange them into the pumpkin shape before you glue.

4)  If you haven’t already, fan out your paint samples so they make a circle.  Secure the top of the samples with hot glue to the skewer, if necessary.  Most of my pumpkins didn’t need glue on the top, but a few had a hard time holding their shape.

5)  Slide the paint samples apart just enough to stick the candy corn inside your pumpkin.  I found this to be the easiest way for me.  You could fill them before you push the tops of the samples onto your skewer.

You could also add some felt leaves and little green curly wires if you want to get real fancy… but, I didn’t have time.