Spooky Halloween Wreath LOVE!

I recently ran across this wonderful idea for a Halloween wreath.  When I first saw it, I immediately knew I had to try to make one for my very own.  The original wreath idea came from the very talented Karen, over at "The Art of Doing Stuff".  I found her tutorial to be very detailed and easy to follow.  Oh yes, and the pictures, for those of us who are a little more visual (like me)...they are great.  Can't say enough good things about this whole project.  I LOVE how turned out.  Go over and check out her tutorial if you have a moment. 

I highly suggest using her tutorial as a guide, but here is my (quick) footnotes on this project.

1. Like Karen, I made my own wreath base out of three layers of glued together Styrofoam.  The wreath bases I found in craft stores, were too small and really expensive.  Hello...a 4x8 sheet of 1 inch Styrofoam was about $4.  I have a lot of leftover Styrofoam, which is a good thing, since I will use it on some project in the future.  When I finished my Styrofoam base, it measure about 21-22 inches across. After I cut out the inner circle, the ring of my wreath was about 6 inches wide.  
2. I couldn't find the glitter skulls she used anywhere.  I ended up buying 3 small Styrofoam skulls at Michaels.  I think they were $1.49 each.  I poked a short piece of dowel into the back of each of their heads and then painted them black. Once dry, I painted on a thin layer of glue and sprinkled with Martha Stewart's Onyx glitter. After they were covered with glitter, I gave them a light dusting of Martha Stewart's Black Licorice glitter to accent the Onyx.  The black Licorice glitter has flecks of blue and green added to black, which sparkles nicely in the light.  
3. Karen used 6 boas, I think I ended up using 8 to cover my wreath.  
4. When it was time to attach my skulls, I cut a few triangles of tulle/netting and stapled them together a few times to form a half clown collar; similar to the ones her skulls have.  And yes, I used a normal stapler.  The staples won't show, since they will be buried in feathers, so no big deal. I had two different scrap pieces of tulle on hand, one fine and one regular weave, so I used a little of each to give it more interest.  I also added three short pieces of ribbon to each collar.  After I attached the skulls to the wreath, I grabbed a tulle and ribbon collar and pinned it just under each skull; to look like it was attached.
5. My finished wreath is HUGE...about 25 inches wide.  LOVE IT!!

Completed Styrofoam base.

Skulls before paint.

Paint drying.

Glitter drying.

Netting that is draped on finished wreath.

One of the Tulle fabrics (fine not pictured) & ribbon that I used.

Close up shots of glitter skull on wreath.  The photo makes them look silver, but they really are black.

Blessings, Tracy

UNCLE...UNCLE...I give up!

I have failed.  I took on a little more than I could chew this year regarding Halloween projects.  My "normal" life has been much busier than expected, and I just didn't have the time to devote to working on Halloween projects as I would have liked.  I just ran out of time.  Here are just some of the projects that are being pushed to the back burning and will not be gracing our Halloween display this year.

1. Mosaic Skull -
Finished him about half way.  Had to order Millefiori and this created delays with finishing this project.  You can see his humble beginnings here.  

2. Large Psycho Garden Bunny with Glowing Eyes -

"Eek...I don't have arms!"  This guy still needs a lot of work before I can even start the painting process.  I saw some smaller bunnies similar to this in the Magazine, Cloth Paper Scissor.  The bunnies in the magazine where made by an artist named, Debb George.  Hers were dressed in formal wear and were really adorable.  I wanted a simple "crazy looking" bunny (with creepy glowing eyes) poking around our large front garden as the kids arrived to Trick or Treat.  This guy is actually turning out a lot "tamer" looking than I had hoped.  I may make a few more nuttier looking bunnies over the next year. Yep, a family of Psycho Bunnies!

Wasn't able to get a good shot of his glowing eyes, since it is so bright outside.

3. Don't even ask what this was going to be.


4. & 5. Didn't even get a chance to buy the supplies for these projects.

Blessings, Tracy

Starting a new Halloween project!

1. Buy Styrofoam skull - CHECK!

2. Prime skull - CHECK!

I'm keeping the technique I plan to use under wraps, for now, but it's a little intimidating for me.  Not sure why, because I have used this technique on a million other projects, but (for some unknown reason) this one kind of scares me.  Trying to work up some courage to start.
Blessings, Tracy

Somebody up there doesn't like me!

Today, I sadly started taking down and packing away our Halloween decor.  While taking a little break, I saw my darn broken down camera sitting on the counter....taunting me (I say).  I picked it up, turned it on and found it was "kind of" working again.  It was having brief breakdowns still, but I was able to snap a few pictures.  I am annoyed that I missed so many photos in the last 2 days and now that I have packed away or dismantled about a 1/2 of our Halloween decor, it decides to work again.  Here is a few of the pictures I was able to snap between breakdowns. 

Tall jar of bones. 

You can buy these jars really cheap at Marshalls & TJ Max.

Short jar of skulls

Our Guest Bath

Close up of framed quote in bath. 

This quote is from the Metallica song, Enter Sandman.  Not a Metallica fan, but thought this quote was priceless for Halloween.  It took me 10-15 minutes to put together - Printed out quote, burned edges of the paper and backed with a piece of black construction paper, framed in a Goodwill $1.99 frame.  I would have liked to age the paper, but this was done just before my dinner guest arrived.  Our guests really got a kick out of it.

Guest bath 2

Missing a shot of framed vintage (creepy) photo that I had already packed.  It was sitting next to this folk art skeleton figurine, in our guest bath.

Living room skulls

Living room - skull in a basket

Skull & owl on top of Fridge

Bat silhouette hanging in spare bedroom window (shot from inside).

See this post for a brief "How To" on making these silhouettes.

Man silhouette hanging in guest bedroom (again shot from inside).

Missing our last silhouette.  I already removed and stored our "Witch and Caldron" silhouettes that hang in a double window in our master bedroom.  Maybe I'll get a shot next year.

Bought these 3 vintage ghost figures at an Estate Sale.

Two (of many) lit pumpkins

Owl hanging out on a curtain rod in dining room

Pumpkin figurine.

Vintage looking treat bucket

Halloween Cake Server

Cake server with skull and mouse. 

Skull in fruit dish

Living room table skull

Crow (with pearls) on mantel

Owl on antique mantel clock

Mesh covered pumpkins

Large owl on top of kitchen cupboards

Crow and twig pumpkins on top of kitchen cupboards

Crows, twig pumpkins and flying pig....oh my!

On top of kitchen cabinet.  Fall colored dishes.

I wanted to get some update porch and outdoor decor pictures this year, but sadly we already packed it up late last night.

If I find other things as I pack I will try to snap some additional photos.

Blessings, Tracy