Prepare to be SCARED!

ByJenny

Here’s a funny story…so last  year when Beth at Home Stories A to Z had her annual Halloween Mantel linky party, I had all the best of intentions of joining in. I was really excited to participate!

yep.
But, by the time I finally had my decorations up, I was beyond fashionably late. That’s how I roll, and it doesn’t always jive with the rest of the world.So, I told myself, “I’m not late, I’m just super early for next year!”
I had tweaked my little vignette over and over last year till things looked juuuust right, and I felt I had reached Halloween decorating perfection.  I mastered the art of spider web stretching, thanks to some great tips from my neighbor Cherri:

1. Just keep stretching.
2. A little goes a long way.
3. Stretch.
4. Stretch.
5. And stretch some more.

I mean, I really outdid myself! I thought I had reached the scariest type of Halloween table decorating enlightenment possible! That never happens in my world of perfectionism.

I blew my own mind.

Rarely do I throw out decorations and quit messing with them. I’ll be walking by and it’s “this pumpkin to the left” or “adjust the spider web a little,” “it needs more rats…definitely more rats.” On and on…

This year, I’m just going to copy the same set-up as last Halloween. It turned out great, and I don’t want to mess with a good thing.

As soon as I get out to the shed and dig out my decorations, that is. No, I don’t have an actual mantel, but the console near my entry works just the same. It’s super spooky alright, and I even scared the crap out of MYSELF a time or two. 

The best part…many of my decorations were from Dollar Tree and Target’s dollar section. Take this skull for instance:
I leeeerve me some glitter, but I don’t like the mess it makes. I picked this guy up at Target for only $2.50 (they have them again this year). His glittered face came shrink-wrapped in plastic and I just left it that way. No glitter trail, no sparkling on every surface, on my skin, in my food, on the cat…the glitter stays in place and no one is the wiser with it placed under the glass cloche.
Next, I filled my existing picture frames with scary Googled images. I just printed them in black and white and popped them in front of the family photos. I used one from Mel Brooks’ classic “Young Frankenstein” (which always reminds me of my dad, he used to make me watch it),  and the other- well, that witch SERIOUSLY creeps me out! That’s the stuff nightmares are made of.

BWAHAHA HA HA!

Here is the link to her scary face: Super Creepy Witch Face
Do not look her directly in the eyes (thank goodness it’s only a mask)!

I also covered a large book with newspaper (it’s Strong’s Concordance…shame on me!) so it fit in with the aged feel.

On a sidenote: If you jumped on the blog crafting bandwagon and fashioned one of those book page wreaths everybody was posting about (guilty), now would be a good time to put a spider on it and work it into your display. You can see mine in the mirror reflection of the last pic, I’ve since given it away but I’m kinda wishin’ I had it back in moments like these. It would look great with some spiderwebs on it too. sigh of regret.

The little skeleton garlands are from dollar tree. They are super spooky. I cut them apart and tied them to a black wire tree that I had to make them look like dead men hanging.
The potion bottles I have setting on top of my wall mirror are from Michael’s, I got them the previous year on clearance for less than a dollar each after Halloween. It pays to plan ahead.
And don’t forget the bag of spiderweb with cheap spider rings; they are a necessity.

Even the little raven perched on the lamp is from the dollar store. Now you know I LOVE birds, but not these guys- They give me the Heebie Jeebies!
Why, you ask? Do I even need to explain?
That’s the stuff childhoods are made of, right there! I can remember watching this is a kid and being especially traumatized.

True story: a couple of years ago, we stayed overnight at my mom’s house and when we woke up in the morning, we had an eerie “Birds” experience. Just like the movie, THOUSANDS of blackbirds had settled on the ground  surrounding the house in my mother’s pasture, on the telephone lines, roofs, you name it. We sat at the windows and watched for-e-ver just waiting for something to happen. And then all at once, they flew away.

Moving on:

Don’t the jack-o-lanterns give off the best glow at night?

We love a good Halloween scare around here, but I promise, no nightmares for the kids! Look at my Ava, I can’t believe how fast a year goes by!

I am excited to FINALLY be linking up today. I’ve only been waiting 364 days. Go check out the Halloween Mantel Linky Party at Beth’s place next:

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4 Comments

  2. Wow, so great! All of it. I am so glad I stumbled on your blog and I would love for you to be a guest judge on THe CSI Project. I hand pick my judges and find bloggers who are wonderful and ones that I love their crafty style. I love yours so if you are interested email me at dee@thecsiproject.com. I have a couple of openings in December. <br />You can always come link up and take part in the

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