Buy Costumes Order Arrived

Sometimes I wish that I lived closer to a lot more stores.  I grew up in central Jersey and there were at least 5 malls within half an hour of my hometown.  I now live in the heart of Texas and the nearest Target is 85 miles away.  Yes, we have a Walmart and a couple grocery stores.  There is technically a *mall* but it has less stores than I can count on both hands.  I end up ordering things online a lot because of these.  Ordering things online does sometimes gives you many more options and it's a whole lot easier to price comparison, but sometimes you just want to see what it is that you're getting.

For online shopping I recommend always using coupon codes and using Ebates or some other cash back option, like some credit cards offer.  If you haven't ever used Ebates it's pretty awesome.  It's free to sign up and then you go to their site before buying things from other sites and it will link you to the store you wish to shop at.  Then a percentage (advertised for each store) of your purchase gets credited back to you.  You can choose different ways to get your money back.  And no, I wasn't perked in any way to mention it.  I just really think it's a good deal.  Yes, you can refer people and get money, but I didn't provide any referral link.  So I'm not trying to make money off it, I just already have gotten back over $100 in a year.  I shop online a lot.

Well my newest online order arrived yesterday.  My newest Halloween order that is.  This one was from buycostumes.com.  (once again, not paid or perked...I just write about what I really do).  They do have some pretty good ideas for costumes, but I don't usually buy full costumes online...I usually make them.  I've gotten a wig from them before and it was nice and some dog costumes. I think I've ordered from them maybe 5 times before and I get emails, so I waited for a 20% off coupon to make this purchase.  I ended up having to pay for shipping, but it was only $6.99 and the 20% off was a much better deal.  You can only use one discount code. :(

First I got these pathway lights.  They are special lights meant for lining pathways.  I have an entire vision for my front path and I stumbled upon these.  They were $24.99, but they are individual lights spaced 3 feet apart.  I really wanted to line a pathway up my front path without having to turn on invidual battery lights every night and I had tried solar lights, but they work really well for the first hour, but dim pretty quickly after that.  They would work wonderfully in July, but not nearly so much in October.  (Yes, I actually do wait until the first weekend in October to put my decorations outside).

Next I got this little witch hat on a headband.  I found a picture of a giant adult tutu that would make the perfect witch costume.  So I really wanted to wear that costume to work.  So instead of getting a big huge witch hat, I wanted this little one. I wore my kitty cat ears from my Josie and the Pussycats costume from High School for several years to work.  I actually wore a whole costume last year (Ginny Weasley from Harry Potter) so I want to try to do that again this year.  I just have some limits since I work in a factory and must wear steel toed shoes...it limits things...steel toed shoes are not cute...no matter what.  Enough work ramble, back to the witch hat.  It is really quite cute, and a nice almost fascinator size.  The "veil" thing is a little strange.  It was more spread out tulle in the picture, but I think I can totally make it work.  It was $9.99.

I have a small obsession with creepy trees.  I wanted one last year.  I tried to spray paint a branch that fell on my roof to make it look like a creepy tree, but it just looked like a branch in a bucket.  I bought some lighted twigs last year too.  They also looked really sad.  So if I don't have one for outside yet, I wanted a little baby one.  This was my splurge at $29.99.  But he's a cute little creepy tree.

The last item I got were some spider picks.  They are for like cupcakes.  I was a little confused that they just came wrapped in bubble wrap and not in a package.  But we may just have to get washed really quickly.  They were $1.49 for 12 I think.  

Now I'm just trying to keep myself calm as I set off for a real shopping adventure this afternoon.  To the nearest place with real stores, you know a Target.  

 

Tombstones

Two years ago was my first Halloween in my house.  I love Halloween because of the chance to be someone you're not...in costume that is.  I like being scared just a little.  And I just really love pumpkins.  It may have something to do with being an October baby.  I only had one birthday party that was Halloween themed.  But Halloween has definitely grown on me more.  I think I'm just usually bright and happy and pink...it's fun to be dark and not so totally scary that one month of the year...that I let spill into two...or three...and even four a little bit.

Well since I had my house I wanted to decorate for Halloween.  Tombstones were a big debate for me.  I think graveyards are cool and creepy, but I live in a very religiously oriented town, and Halloween isn't the most celebrated.  The churches have fall festivals to discourage going door to door and begging for candy.  I decided I didn't care that much and I was going to make my own tombstones, however cursed I may be.

 
Supplies:

- 1 - 4'x8' sheet of 1/4 inch plywood

- Jig Saw

- Spray paint - lots of spray paint - solid colors and "stone look"

- 1/4" by 1" stakes

- Nail gun

- Wood glue

- Black Craft paint and craft paint brush

- Outdoor spray polyurethane

The first step was to draw out some tombstones.  I guess a pencil is required too.  But I just found some pictures online and tried to draw them out as best I could.  I got 9 tombstones out of my sheet of plywood.

I used my jig saw to cut them all out.  Quarter inch plywood is super easy to cut with a jig saw, so even though there were a lot of shapes and cuts, it was still really quick.

I was going to paint them outside, good thing to do with spray paint, so I bought really cheap tablecloths and tape the stapled them to my fence and then leaned the tombstones against the fence.

I did a base coat of a few different colors.  I had gray, brown, and black paint.  I used probably about 12 cans of spray paint in the end, so this is where this project can get really expensive really fast.

The final coat was the "stone look" spray paint.  This looks really really cool, but unfortunately it's not really meant for outdoors.  This would be why my tombstones don't look quite so good anymore.

The sayings on the tombstones are just painted on with craft paint.  I didn't come up with them on my own.  I found some online like "Ben Better" and "Myra Mains."  Some of the longer sayings my friend had come up with for me.  "Poetry," no matter how strange is not my forte.  

I used my nail gun and some wood glue to attach the 1/4" stakes to the backs of the tombstones.  I cut the bottoms of each stake to a point with my miter saw.  I have really, really dry ground, so I had to make some little mud puddles before I could use a rubber mallet to hammer each one into the ground.  the posts are about 4 to 6 inches long past the tombstones depending on their size.

This was my graveyard in 2010.  After it was all up I ended up spraying the backs of the tombstones with some black spray paint to protect it.  I also sprayed on a coat of outdoor polyurethane to protect the non-outdoor friendly stone look paint as well as the craft paint words. 

Here is the graveyard a year later in 2011.  I spread it out across my lawn a bit more.  You can also tell the drought that we had last year with my very brown lawn instead of green.  Though dead grass much more fitting for a graveyard.

I haven't decided the fate of the tombstones this year.  They are all piled up in my garage under my giant spider, but they are definitely a bit sad looking...they may get a refresher...or a replacement...

Halloween Damask Cardboard Bag

I like to encourage the wearing of costumes to my parties.  I love wearing costumes.  I love seeing other people's costumes.  I get ideas.  And more ideas.  Well to encourage wearing costumes I like to "advertise" a prize on my invitations.  Last year I had 3 categories, "Best Dressed," "Best Dressed Couple," and "Most Creative."  I haven't decided on the categories this year though, because I have a much smaller group of people coming.  I also plan on having a murder mystery type game that would have a prize as well.  So I was on the hunt for "containers" to put these prizes in.  I saw a pin on making fabric covered cardboard bins, but Halloween fabric is definitely not out yet.  While I was on a trip to Burke's Outlet one Friday (Friday is 15% off day) I found two of these cardboard-like containers.  

They were $4.99 each (plus that 15% off or $4.24) and I was thinking I would just cover them in fabric or paint them.  First thing I did when I got them home, was rip off the pink ribbon.  I tried to be as careful as possible, but i did take off some of the cardboard finish.

After thinking about it, I decided I liked the idea of keeping the design.  I do like the damask-like pattern, I think it can work with Halloween, like a classy spooky.  I really didn't want to have to paint over all that pink with a brush, that's a lot.  I went on the hunt for a paint pen.  I did finally find one that came in a set of 4 different colors, but the set was $10.  Unfortunately Walmart is the only craft store I get to choose from in small town Texas.  

 
So I started to just trace all of the pink with the orange paint marker.

 
It took a couple days of random tv watching time, but I got all the pink covered up with the orange paint.  It didn't seem to be smudging or anything either, which is usually a good sign.

I had been on the hunt for some orange felt, thinking I could use felt on the inside.  I knew paper would work, but I would need a pretty big sheet to cover the entire inside.  Even after looking as some online fabric sites, I only found orange felt in the little squares.  I decided to haphazardly try to paint over the inside pink with some orange craft paint.  And it actually worked.

So the last step was to replace the pink ribbon with an orange one.  I had some orange grosgrain ribbon left from last year's Halloween projects.  I just lined the ribbons up and cut.

I was thinking I would have to glue the ribbon on, but the glue from where I removed the old ribbon was still pretty sticky, so I was able to just line it back up and stick it on.  I'm not the best and fancy bows, but it appears to be tied well enough.

And here is the finished product.

And now I just need to figure out what will go inside the Cardboard bag.

Dollar General Shopping Excursion

I was bored most of the day today.  Bored means thinking about Halloween.  More like obsessing.  Unfortunately for me...and fortunately for them...I don't like to tell my coworkers about all my Halloween plans...the ones who I know are coming to the party.  The ones who I'm not even telling I'm writing this.  It makes me really excited when I can somehow manage to keep a secret, but it's not just the secret keeping, it's the moment when people walk into my house with no idea what to expect.  Instead of seeing the mystery behind the magic, they just get to see the magic.  The finished product.  No one wants to know what's going on to the burger behind the counter at McDonald's.  This is kind of the feeling that I have.  I want the people coming to the party to really be surprised.  So I do have a few people I tell, so I really was going a little Hallo-crazy as I say.  So I decided that I needed some Halloween intervention to settle my nerves and decided a shopping trip was in order.

 
I am planning a real trip this weekend, but for just a mini-trip I decided Dollar General was a good idea.  Cheap and quick.  Last year I went to Dollar General too late and they were very picked over.  I had to wait just long enough that school supplies are gone...school has started here after all..but not too long.  So $30 later here's what I got.

I picked out these plates.  A pack of 4 for only $1.  Unfortunately they only had 3 black packages.  The black ones had bats, but the orange ones were pumpkins.  I am planning an elegant sit down dinner at my Dead and Breakfast.  I wanted to get real plates.  I decided to pick these up more just in case I don't find the plates I really want.  And I can always hunt the other Dollar General in town for another package of black ones.

I also got these treat bags.  I like giving these out to the trick or treaters.  It's easier to have little bags all made up.  I try to be the good house that gives out awesome things.  Last year I think I gave out 8 little fun size bars in a bag.  These bags were 20 for $1 and I got 60, so I think that it should be enough.  I've only had 30 trick or treaters at the most.

Creepy cloth.  Lots of creepy cloth.  It's really useful for everything.  Curtains, partitions, lining hallways.  I bought some sheer curtains this year too, but since my walls are not black this year, I might need to throw it in a few other places.  At a $1 each, totally worth it.

A black lace spiderweb table cloth for $5.  I got one or two of these last year.  They look really good over white sheets as tablecloths.  I definitely spent more like $10 on one last year from Michael's, so I think it was a good deal.

I couldn't resist the candy corn dish.  I love candy corn.  I think it's one of my most favorite things about Halloween, which is saying a lot.  So for $2, I really couldn't resist.

I bought this picture frame for $3.50.  I have a plan for it.  Another Pinterest idea.  I really have been hunting for a frame with a thick border.  I found one in South Carolina I liked, but I really didn't have room in my suitcase.  I'll post on that after I hopefully make it work.

The googley eyes...they are part of a future project too.  At a $1 each, hopefully it works as well.  Oh, and I almost forgot the poster board under it all.  That was the main reason for the trip.  I just hope I can find a use for that too.

Dead and Breakfast

In my Pinterest searches I came across this awesome idea from Better Homes and Gardens.  It is a Dead and Breakfast yard sign.  I decided as soon as I saw this I was going to make this.  I also decided this was going to be my entire party theme.  Last year I had seen some of the repossessed faux real estate signs specifically for Halloween.  I thought about doing something like that, but since I had plenty of time, and way too many ideas running through my head...Dead and Breakfast it is.

Here is my take on the sign.

So how did I do it?  Not quite the same way they did, so here are my instructions:

Supplies:

- 1 - 1x6 board (about 8 feet)
- 1x4 piece of scrap (about 15")
- 2 - 1x3 pieces of scrap (about 16" each, 1x2 would work too)
- Porch railing (I got mine at Home Depot for about $20)
- Large porch finial (totally optional, but I think it finishes it nicely, I think $5 or $6)
- 2x4 scrap pieces (one piece was 24" and another at 6") 
- 2x8 scrap piece (about 15", but bigger is probably better)
- Whitish paint (I used Behr Exterior Paint and Primer in One in Linen White)
- Blackish paint (I used Behr Exterior Paint and Primer in One in Black Suede)
- Black Craft Paint
- Paint brush (I used a 1 1/2" Purdy angled brush)
- Craft Paint Brush
- 8 - Eye Hooks
- 8 - Chain links (you could use chain instead, the links were easier for me to work with)
- Saws (jig saw and miter saw)
- Drill and bits
- Screws (1 1/4", 2", and 3")

First thing I did was take a 1x6 board and cut it into thirds.  Mine was about 99 inches, so I did 3 at 33 inches.  I didn't need anywhere near that much.  This 1x6 came with my house, so I don't really remember how much one costs.  I lined the 3 up so they butted up against each other.

Then I picked a good versus bad side  I flipped them over so good side down.  I used the 1x3 pieces to hold the 3 boards together.  I screwed 2 screws per board per 1x3 just to be sure it would all hold together.  I used my Black and Decker cordless drill with my Ryobi speed load drill bits.  If you don't have one, you want one.  No unscrewing and screwing the chuck to get your bits out.  It's like snap in and snap out, super easy, super fast, especially when switching between bits.  I didn't counterset anything, it's not super important to be pretty.  It's going outside and it's decoration.

I flipped it back over and then drew my sign shape.  I free-handed it.  I have 2 sets of lines because I did the first ones and realized the sign was going to be way too big, well at least length-wise.  I just followed the lines again to make it smaller.  Making sure I didn't try to cut off my cross pieces.

I used my DeWalt jig saw to cut the sign out.  I didn't bother sanding or anything.  Once again, it's going outside for decoration.

Then I decided to paint the sign.  I went with the exterior whitish color that I had, which was Linen White from Behr.  It's the paint on the outside of my house.  I didn't really want it to cover 100%, just get a good base coat.  I also grabbed a scrap 1x4 at this point to paint too.  It's about 15 inches long.  I painted this too.

 

After it was all painted I decided to put my wording on the sign.  I really wasn't too creative here.  I decided against the word Inn and the established year.  There is a template on the Better Homes and Gardens site, but I just free-handed this.

You can almost see the pencil lines.  I just used some black craft paint and a craft paint brush.  It's not actually outdoor proof, but I'm planning on spraying some poly over the top.  The craft paint is just easier to work with then the exterior paint.

Then I put in the eye hooks into the bottom of the sign and into the top of the vacancy section.  I used two chain links on each side to connect everything.  I really just didn't want to use chain since I hate cutting metal.

I had to build my post as well.  I bought a pre-made pressure treated porch post.  I attached a scrap piece of 1x8 that was leftover from my garage door trim.  I used 3 inch screws to attach this piece.  I wanted a piece of 2x4 across the top, but wanted a little more support.  I used my miter saw to cut a second piece of 2x4 with 45 degree angles.  I attached the little piece to the post, and then attached the bigger 2x4 at 24 inches to the little 2x4 and the post.  I also screwed in my finial to the top of the post.  I had bought a nice cap for the post too, but it no longer fit with the side arm and everything.  The finial just gave it a nice final touch.

Then I put the eye hooks on the top of the sign and the bottom of the long 2x4 so that the sign could hang down.  This made it actually look like the sign it was supposed to be.

I debated a little on the color of the post, but I decided to just paint it all the light white color as a base coat.  The post was pressure treated, but the 2x4 and 2x8 were not.  It looked like this:

I decided to dry a dry brush technique with black paint over the white.  This would highlight the design lines on the post more than just white or black would.  I only had two exterior paint colors, so that made all of this easy.  I just dipped my brush in paint, then wiped most of it off on a rag, then painted.  It took several coats, but I wanted to build up instead of trying to wipe it all back off if I didn't like it.  Here's the close-up of the finish.

And finally, the finished product.  Hopefully it works well with the rest of my outdoor decorations.

 

Spiderweb Save the Dates

I know, Halloween is two months away.  But in my mind, that's not very far at all.  I have every weekend planned out with all my projects.  I wanted to make sure everyone puts my party down on their calendars now, so that they will come to my party, not another party, not a band competition, not forget.  Usually I have a big party...well it starts out that way in my head.  The last two years, I think I handed out almost 100 invitations each year, and only about 15 people showed up.  This isn't really a problem, but I just have enough food to feed an army, which is a little excessive, and I just didn't want to stress out about doing that again.  I decided this year I was only going to invite the people who I knew would come.  Anyone else who wants to come, they are of course more than welcome, but I will avoid the whole I invite people who then feel guilty that they have no desire to show up to my house in costume.  

So after that ramble, the point was, since I'm keeping my party small, I wanted to make sure the people I really wanted to come were going to be able to come...so by handing out save the dates in August, people would actually save the date.  And I already had some scheduling conflicts come up for the last weekend, so October 20th is.

Not only is the 20th going to be my party, but we can celebrate my birthday too...which at midnight on the 20th will be my actual birthday...the 21st.  Since I love Halloween more than my birthday it is entirely fitting.

Well, here it is.  

So how did I make this?  Well it was actually pretty simple...and pretty much free...well I'm sure I paid for it all over the past few years, but it was pretty simple.

Supplies:

- 8x8" card stock in white and orange (I bought it on clearance at Walmart several years ago)

- Spiderweb paper punch (I got it at Michael's last year on clearance)

- Black Sharpie

- Glue sticks

- Little plastic spider rings (I just bought some this year on Amazon, $5.44 for 144 of them)

I really wanted to use my spiderweb paper punch.  I bought it last year right before Halloween, so I didn't get to use it at all.  So I started punching some strips and playing with them to get some ideas. A totally random tip, when the punch starts to get dull, or you just have trouble punching, punch some aluminum foil in the punch.  I saw this on TLC's show, Craft Wars, and it really did work.

After playing with a few arrangements, I liked the 4 strips of spiderwebs the best on the orange.  Since I was making 6 Save the Dates, I needed 24 strips of webs.  The 6 save the dates are for a total of 12 guests...so when you add me, that's 13...a perfect number for a Halloween party.

After cutting all the strips, I used the glue stick to attach the 4 rows of webs to each of the invitations.

I then googled for some Halloween fonts.  I actually liked the Zombie Holocaust one I used last year.  I didn't actually use the computer, but just free-handed as close to the font as possible with the Sharpie on each invitation.

After I had them all written out, I used a pair of scissors to poke some holes in the paper and then put the ring through the holes.  I only drew blood twice I think, so I don't recommend that method.

And here they all are.

Bat Chandelier

My newest obsession is Pinterest.  I'm very late in the game...but it is the absolute best way to organize and find new ideas for Halloween, my favorite holiday, of course.  This was my second attempt this year at a project I found on Pinterest.  The first one was a gluey mess and did not work, so instead the Bat Chandelier it is.  I found my inspiration here.

Supplies Needed:

- Embroidery Hoops (10, 6, and 4 inch)

- Fishing Line

- Black card stock

- Drill and bit

- Black Spray Paint

First I took the embroidery hoops and drilled holes through them with the smallest drill bit I had in my set, which was a 1/16" bit.  I didn't really measure, just did 8 on the smallest one, 12 on the medium on, and just a hole every inch or so on the largest.  Then I used fishing line to tie the three hoops together, using 4 holes on each level.  I measured around my existing chandelier in my front entrance hallway to make sure it looked right.

 After tying everything together, I took it down and hung it up outside on my back porch.  I used the hooks from my Christmas lights that I leave up all year.  I sprayed it with black glossy spray paint.  I already had the can, so I wasn't particular on the finish.  As it was drying outside I started on the bats.

Last year I had made bats that were all over the hallway wall.  I wanted these bats to match, so I traced around that bat and then just cut about half an inch inside the line to make the exact same bat, just smaller.  I made 24 of these little bats.  I didn't trace all of them, just cut around my first one.  I used the same drill bit to put tiny holes in the tops of all of the bats heads so that I could run fishing line through them to tie them to the chandelier.

 After the paint dried I brought it back inside and hung it up over the chandelier again.   I cut pieces of fishing line and threaded one side through the hole in the bat's head and then threaded the other end through one of the holes in the embroidery hoops.  I just tried to space them as evenly as possible.

And here is the finished product.