Halloween Decor on the Cheap

October is nearly halfway over with and I am barely writing my first post. So sorry. :/ This month saw the one year anniversary of me becoming a "blogger!" YAY!!! Let me tell ya... I never thought I would get to have a friendship with ladies who are literally thousands of miles away from me. It has been a joy sharing my projects with you and getting to know you in the process.

Also... drum roll... later this month will mark the 29th year of my life! Surprisingly, I don't feel sad about entering the final year of my 20s. I am so ready to put that decade behind me. ;)

These little celebrations have me in quite the festive mood this year! Just look at the fun invitation I created for my birthday:

I used StoryBook Creator 4.0 and took a grand total of 5 minutes to complete it. Don't you love it?

I don't normally decorate my house for Halloween but I had an urge to do so this year. Nothing big and crazy... just some dollar store decor here and there. Like this sign:

This greets my guests as they enter our front porch. Sure the thing swings like a monkey at the slightest breeze, but I think it looks creepy cool. ;)

Once you enter the porch, you have a mixture of sweet and scary. No, I didn't plan this out. Besides, the mouse will only be up another 3 weeks and then the whole area will compliment each other. That autumnal pail will be up for at least another 2 months. That brown pail used to be a this color. Remember? I already had the spray paint and used autumn decor from last year. The mouse... ahhh... let me tell you about the mouse...

Those little guys are all over my house. EEEK! I saw Martha Stewart use them last year and I searched in vain all over for them.

Would you believe... I found them at the dollar store! A pack had about 16 of them! Sure, they aren't Ms. Martha, but I luv 'em.

My summer wreath also received a minor update. Again, I just used my fall items from last year. I love the black ribbon paired with a small pumpkin.

In addition, I love all the ideas I'm finding on Pinterest, but I need to step back from too much spending. We are preparing to tile again before the weather gets too cold. I can't wait! I want the guest bath and hallway tiled so we can start our kitchen reno. :D

I'll be posting again very soon with a product review. You'll see...

Halloween Mantle

It's the second most wonderful time of the year! Pumpkins, gourds, acorns, yellows, reds, oranges, and... CANDY CORN! I am ready for fall, ya'll! Even though it was a high of 90 today in my little nook of the desert, it didn't dampen my desire to decorate my mantle. Eeek!

I took it easy last Halloween and had very "kid-friendly" decorations here and there. This year, my 10-year-old is a bit braver and my 2-year-old... is... such a nut. Nothing scares her. She actually called the skulls I pulled out from storage "pretty." Yes, that's my silly willy.

I used all of last year's decorations and threw them together with projects I've done throughout the year. I only spent $4 for this mantle display. Vases are my favorite thing to use during ANY holiday because you can fill them with practically anything. For the sake of keeping costs down, I filled one with a candle I already had, but stuck some fall leaves in there to jazz it up a bit.

I have found many of my vases at GW and enjoy finding clever fillers for them. Take a look at this fun idea:

Those are black river rocks found at the dollar store. I've seen blogs where people paint these with chalkboard paint, then write things on them with a chalk pen. I was going to do that until I found out that was going to cost me almost $10. Instead, I bought a bag of black rocks ($1) and wrote on them with white-out (FREE). Yeah, buddy!

Remember my brassy, GW lantern I fixed up here? Well, it was quite lovely in our guest bath when I was aiming for a coastal feel. Now, it is holding spot for a scary skull...

Throwing in some more of my GW finds over the year, here is my finished Halloween mantle:

The only thing I purchased was the black crow, headstone, rocks, and the gray, torn material (each only $1). Not exactly "child friendly" but my weird kiddos love it. ;) This week, I'll be working on TWO Halloween wreaths. LOVE!

Linking up with: Amaze Me Mondays, Debbie Doo's, Keeping It Simple, Made By You Monday, Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, Good Life Wednesdays, Twice Owned Tuesdays, 20 Below Thursday, A Creative Princess, Freshman Friday

Burlap Table Runner

Fall is creeping up all over our home and my husband and I are loving it!

I had been wanting to do this project the moment I saw it done by this lovely lady, but figured it would get lost/ruined/damaged with the "big move." Now that things are settled and we're down to 2, count 'em, 2 moving boxes that need unpacking, I was finally able to tackle this super cute and inexpensive project.

Wait for it....

Be Still, My Heart!

Here is what you will need to make your own burlap table runner:

Scissors

Glue gun

Charcoal pencil OR exacto knife (I'll explain)

word or phrase printed in a font you like

burlap

For this project, I needed 6 feet of burlap from Joann's Fabrics, which came out to $1.50. I kept the length at 6 ft. to allow the table runner to hang off each end of our table. Width wise, I trimmed it down to about 16 inches. Next, I glued down the sides to make a nice, neat trim. You don't have to do this but my husband didn't like the sides looking "messy." I don't know, go figure, so I glued the sides down. Next, I printed out the word "blessings" because it reminds me of all the people in my life who have been such a blessing. Usually, those people are gathered around the table, so I printed that word in a font I loved. Here is where things get kind of tricky....

The lovely lady I stole this from was inspired by, traced the back part of her word and filled it in using a charcoal pencil. Then, she pressed the paper down firmly onto the burlap and rubbed across her word so that it became imprinted on the burlap. Well, when I tried this... nothing showed up. I tried rubbing with my hand, then a hard object, and then the edge of a glass... and only then did I see the faintest hint of a word.

Plan B: I cut out the letters with an exacto knife, placed the word onto the burlap, and colored it in using my charcoal pencil. Once I was done, I traced over that with a permanent marker to make it, well, more permanent.

I did the same thing to the other side. It was an easy project, minus the one hiccup, and I spent a total of $5.50. I already had the scissors, glue gun, and permanent marker, so other than buying the burlap, I had to also buy the charcoal pencil ($3.99 at Hobby Lobby).

Since we haven't unpacked our vases and other breakables, I threw together this centerpiece using small pumpkins (cuz I love 'em so stinkin much) and a large vine pumpkin from Target's dollar bins.

I am linking this to Allison's Link Party and Somewhat Simple







Goodwill Hunting

Happy Columbus Day!

I am celebrating this holiday by relaxing and recovering from my busy weekend. I took part in a neighborhood yard sale and attacked my out-of-control oleanders. The transformation of our yard is going to be a slow project, I'm afraid, and I hope it will be ready for reveal by next summer (because you can't really do much planting in winter months, even in the desert).

Speaking of yard sales though... I have found some great items that are perfect for warming up a home for the colder months.

mmmm. Cozy.

Nothing like some blankets in a basket by the fireplace to embrace autumn.

This particular basket, made of sea grass, was for $1.50. I like it better than my wicker baskets because those tend to break off tiny pieces. Stores are always selling these baskets, and you can usually purchase them for a couple of dollars at the end of season sales.

I also grabbed this beauty from a thrift store...

First, let me share that some of the things I love about autumn are the colors! The warm browns, reds, oranges just remind me of warm nights, cuddling up next to the ones you love. This ceramic vase ($10) is a beautiful warm red and I love the "aged" look it has around the top. I love how it goes with my pillows and brick fireplace.

Note:

Until we are fully unpacked, I'm sure most of my photos will be close-ups. That vase would look pretty silly if I showed you a full picture, complete with our bare (and smoke stained) fireplace. Which, by the way, does anyone know how to remove???

Another recent find was this tea light holder.

I am not one for tea lights (what's the point?) so I knew it wasn't going to be used for that. I was going to spray it with some ORB (oil rubbed bronze), but the black was just too pretty and perfect for some Halloween fun.

I removed the 4 hooks around the rim, gave it a cleaning, and...

added a cute pumpkin on top. I know... tough project. I think it took me a total of 4.2 minutes (and $1). *sigh* How do I ever find the time?

Anyway, I think it is adorable and super easy to pull together. Savers and Goodwill are always selling these tea light holders. I usually see them in a brass finish, but a quick spray paint can have them looking new again. Pumpkins are about as "Halloweeny" as we get. With two small girly girls kids, hanging ghosts, spiders and cobwebs isn't such a great idea.

The candle in the background was $4 from Michaels. They're getting rid of their autumn stuff and I grabbed my favorite pumpkin scent.

I snipped off a leaf from the garland I used for this project and tied it to the candle using some jute. This is my small cluster of autumn that sits in our guest bath.



New Uses for Old Things

Happy Wednesday!

Yesterday, the hubby and I took a break from unpacking and I was finally able to work on some of my projects.

Here is a random fact. I looove shopping at thrift stores. Sometimes I walk away empty-handed, while other times I find some great items that I can use in my decor. My daughter gets a kick out of them too because I always let her buy a toy. It's the one store she knows I won't turn her down for another doll. Seriously, at $1 for another Barbie... knock yourself out child.


Recently, I found a glass jar at my local Goodwill.

Nothing fancy, but for $2.99, it was exactly what I wanted for our bathroom! Target sells bathroom jars just like this one for $7.99. So, I couldn't give it up. I came home, washed it, and behold...

A simple Q-tip jar. I could have copied my favorite catalogs and filled the jar with some cotton balls, but seriously, I don't use cotton balls enough that they need to be easily accessible.


I also found this...

Ah! First, I need to apologize for the poor photo quality. I am praying for a new camera. *cough cough* My birthday *cough* is this month by the way.

This bronze metal tub was $3.99 and I knew I wanted it, but couldn't figure out what to do with it.

First, I thought I could fill it with magazines and stick it next to the couch in our living room. Then visions of my 1 year old pulling out the magazines and ripping out all the pages killed that idea.

Next, I thought, "this would make a really cool tub to store drinks for get-togethers." I was going to paint a pretty monogram on the front..... and then toss it in the garage for whenever we throw a party?

Nope. I wanted it to be used everyday. So, with some beady things and ribbon I already had, it became this:

Love it!! It's autumn, and warm, and orange, and pumpkiny, and all the things I love about October. Swoon.

I filled the tub with some floral foam I had and randomly stuck in the beady twigs. Then, I placed a foam pumpkin from Walmart inside and scattered some leaves around. The leaves were from an autumn garland I had and I just snipped off a few leaves. I think it needs a couple of pine cones in there as well. Easy peasy.

The pumpkin was $5, the tub was $3.99, the ribbon was from Jo-Ann Fabrics, and the beads I already had from Hobby Lobby. Total project cost: $8.99!

I am linking this post to Sarah's Before and After Party. Check out her blog.