Halloween Pinterest Fail! Nailed it!

So I saw this awesome venus fly trap on Pinterest for Halloween .......

I so wanted to recreate it, and it looked simple enough. The site explained the method and materials very clearly. I can so do this, I told myself. Though, I wouldn't be able to find the pumpkin head very easily. So I decided I would paper mache something up. As I layered upon layered gluey newspaper strips onto a halloween lantern from the Hot Dollar shop I was starting to think, why have I chosen such a silly way to do this project? It  must have been the fogging brain taking over as the flu crept upon me.  I soldiered on, and created this.....

No stem, no pot plant base. It does look scary but for all the wrong reasons. I had to prop the mouth open with something otherwise the mouth would close and it would look like nothing at all. One day I will make something awesome for Halloween...one day!!!

Lovin' Halloween Decorations 2015

Halloween is over for yet another year. I am so happy Aussie's are starting to really embrace the art of Halloween and trick-o-treating. It really is a lot of fun to have an excuse to dress up and walk around your neighbourhood and get to know people while asking for candy/lollies!! Here is what my house looked like this year.

The paint was purchased because it was "glow in the dark" though it didn't really deliver a good glow, well not as I was hoping it would. I think if I had charged it with a torch directly onto each letter, it could have given a better affect. Most people loved the giant spider. The garbage bag at the front is supposed to be a body bag. From a certain angle, it was close to looking like it should. Not sure if anyone picked up on it, they were too nice and didn't ask!! 

The glow in the dark paint not having an affect at night time:(

I painted the skeletons in the glow in the dark paint too. The eyes show the paint slightly working. The teeth have been doused in glow stick fluid! I got annoyed that things weren't glowing, so resorted to the glow stick fluid to say something glowed!!!

It started to rain a little so Charlie came under the porch to greet the evening trick or treaters. The best compliment of the night was a young couple who sat their baby on the seat so they could get some pictures, and I didn't charge them!!;p

This is our foyer entrance table decorations. 

This was my attempt at a venus fly trap. I saw something on Pinterest that looked awesomer than this. I had such high hopes, but I ran out of time as I got the flu and ran out of patience. Maybe next year! So I guess this is my #PinterestFail.  The cockroaches are fake! Come back in the middle of summer and they won't be!!! 

What did you do this Halloween?

Tis the Season to be Spooky! Halloween 2015

Tis that time of year again that I get all excited and bring out the Halloween decorations. It has been a long time coming that Australians embrace the fun of Halloween. I have been embracing Halloween now for about 7 years, but I started seriously decorating my house about 2 years ago.  Last year's decorations looked a little like this.

 You might be able to see just slightly on the right hand side of this picture something glowing in the background. This was my attempt at a packing tape ghost.  These are quite easy to make and not costly, but not as easy in my opinion to set up for its best affect. A bit more planning was needed from my end, and a place to hang them up would have been helpful. Our front yard at the time was under construction as well, so I really couldn't set anything up, like this.

You can kind of see on either side of the window some masks which I had glowing mini torches in, to give them their spooky look. I purchased the masks from the Hot Dollar store and purchased the mini torches online in bulk. The bats and hands are cut out from black cardboard and stuck on the window. You can get free templates online.  The bobbled string is actually knitting wool.

These are solar lights and I scored them from Bunnings on clearance for about $2 a box. They look good and I am using them again this year.

We have two skeletons and both were purchased from Costco. This year, the skeletons were more expensive so I didn't bother getting another, though I do think two skeletons will work just fine this year. To get the glow in the dark liquid affect like this, I just used a liquid glow stick. The chunkier one is best as it's easy to pop the cap and pour on. Be careful when you do this. As you can see the affect is amazing but you need to reapply throughout the night as the glow doesn't last very long.

I picked up these pumpkins from Big W last year for $30. I try not to spend too much on my decorations. If I do spend, it has to be on something that can be reused year after year. This decoration has an adaptor so it inflates and lights up.

This year, I have a few other tricks up my sleeve. We are attempting a paper mache sculpture which we hope will be fun. I will post pics soon. I also made a rather large purchase that I am hoping will have a great affect. I am also attempting a mini haunted house.

The best thing about celebrating Halloween like this in Australia, is not too many houses do. The neighbourhood families love that they know they can send their kids to my house and check out the decorations and get a treat. It also encourages the other neighbours to get into the spirit of family fun and have treats ready for the kids as they come around. We had so many families with children come by our house last year and cars would drive by just to see the decorations. It was a lot of fun and that is why I will keep doing it!

Do you celebrate Halloween?

Celebrating Halloween 2014 on a budget Part 1

Halloween this year was a lot of fun. Since we moved to a larger home and a home that faces out to a common road, I felt the need to decorate the outside of the house. My previous post was a taste of the the things I used as my inspiration this year. So here are the pictures of what I ended up making and displaying. The best fun I think was the packing tape ghosts. Lots of fun, and great effect, though in the end I didn't end up displaying them quite the way I had hope I would. I bring that down to my husband being absent on an overseas business trip for most of October!

The way it worked out for me this year, was a Halloween Party the week before Halloween for family and friends. Then we celebrate on the 31st and welcome trick or treaters. Then this year, we had a trunk o treat the day after halloween. So it was really stretched out for our family and we have more lollies than we know what to do with!!

For the family and friends party this is what I did.

This was my arty farty wall!! The Monster Melodies is a vinyl record cover I scored at a Vinnies for $1. The book pages come from Stephen King's Pet Cemetery and I stuck and painted them down with PVA glue onto canvases. Then the wicked picture is a free printable I printed up and put in a $2.50 frame from BigW.  All these items can be packed away for next year.

I already have the cake stand, which is always handy. I recommend if you don't have a cake stand but like to do parties or entertain, get one. They are invaluable. The styrofoam skulls were $4 each. They are great and the cheapest ones I could find. The table cloth was some black lace material I picked up a couple years back on the discount table from Spotlight. Can't remember how much but I am sure it was less than $10. We have an 8 seater table. All these items can be reused for next year.

This decoration is one of my favourites. A packet of black garbage bags from BigW cost me $1.90. I cut the sides apart, taped it to the window frame and cut vertical strips, the worse the better!! Has a great affect.

A friend of mine had a halloween party last year and had the syringes filled with Grenadine. I had a super hard time finding Grenadine this time, so settled with some sour cherry syrup (Italian) from my local fruit market. The colour matched the amazing taste! Kids squirted the syrup into their lemonade. I found syringes on Ebay and purchased 50 for around $30 including postage. I have washed them up and will reuse them next year or for other fun events! This idea went down really well, everyone loved the novelty and it was amazing to see them displayed on the table.

Finally, you maybe wondering what did I wear that day? Well, if you aren't on my personal FB page, here it is. I decided to invest in some body/face paint. Having 4 kids, it will come in handy no doubt!The only thing I purchased for the outfit was the hat and some stockings - which were not one size fits most for adults! I think the label got mixed up and should have been for kids, because they didn't get past my knees! I am 5ft 9, so I know I am a little but taller than the average, but still! Unfortunately i don't have a picture of the stockings, I should have for comedy purposes, but I didn't think of it at the time! I just cut the stockings off so they looks like individual socks! Waste not want not right!  I had my own black top and skirt for the outfit and now I have a hat to use again. What do you think?

Well, that is it for Part 1. Stay tuned for the outside decorations and what I decided to do for my Halloween night costume.

Tis the Season to be Spooky - 4 ideas for decorations to get you started

I know halloween is more of a North American tradition, but its starting to pick up pace here in Australia. Personally, I love Halloween. It could be that I like to party and need a good excuse to dress up in costume, or it could be that its a time of year that I can hand out loads of lollies to my nieces, nephews, and friend's kids without a glare from their parents, making me feel guilty!

I have been holding Halloween celebrations for almost 7 years now. One year I was lying on my couch (Pinterest was not invented so I would lie on my couch in my spare time) and a light bulb went off! I decided to throw a Halloween party. I only had 2 weeks to prep, but I did it. So I decided to keep doing it and year after year family and friends continue to enjoy themselves so much that I am inspired to continue.  We moved house last year. We are in a bigger home, but smaller backyard. So this year I am thinking I should decorate my house and front yard. Here is some of my Pinspiration for what I am planning this year.

                                                                      Source


Packing tape ghost are all the rage. All you need is a willing model, packing tape and some glad wrap. You can add the lights, leave it el naturale, or paint it white. I will load pictures of my finished versions and you can determine whether I nailed it, or failed it!!

                                           Source

My garage isn't like this, but I do have windows that face out to the road that would look good with these on them. With some black cardboard or even paper for that matter, this is an easy and cost effective decoration.

                                                       Source

I've been looking forward to doing this one for a while now. I'm hoping to hang these on my front porch. There are hooks left from hanging plants so they will work perfectly.

                                          Source

Glow in the dark spray paint is a little hard to come by. I am going to try putting glow sticks in mine and see what happens. I am also going to paint some of the masks scary colours.  This is another decoration that is not too hard to do, you could even get the kids to help out.

So that is my short introduction into my Halloween preparations. Feel fee to follow my Halloween Board on Pinterest if you want to see more great ideas.

DIY Halloween crafts for fun!

Last weekend we had our Halloween extravaganza, which we do every year. WE had it early due to calendar clashes! This year was a little difference in that I didn't go over board with decorations. I made it more about dressing up and party games and my guests have all told me they had a great time, so I am more than happy with that.

I wanted to share with you some of the crafts that I did this year by hand, because I had the time. In previous years I have been working, but this year, with less work I enjoyed the crafts I took on.

This is the wreath I put on our front door. The wreath is Styrofoam which was painted orange. I then wrapped a black feather boa around it and add the styrofoam eyes with pins. So easy and I think the most expensive item was the feather boa at $4 from the Hot Dollar shop.

On Pinterest I came across these pumpkins that had a mirror finish. The explanation was the it took Krylon Looking Glass spray paint to achieve this finish. I later discovered that the picture was of items from Pottery Barn and not actually a DIY, however I already tracked down some Looking Glass spray paint on Ebay and $35 later (including postage), I was spray painting my paper mache pumpkin and it in no way resembled the Pottery Barn pumpkins, sadness. However, I did come across an empty rum bottle at my St Vinnies store and I painted that instead and it came out pretty well, but I would heed to the instructions of spray painting on the inside of the glass, which I couldn't do with my bottle. The paint comes off quite easily and the dribbles are obvious.  The googly eye picture was super easy too. I purchased some black picture frames from IKEA, and stuck, with super glue (hot glue gun could work too) the googly eyes on that I got at Hot Dollar. Took less than 10 minutes.

Even though I knew at this stage that the Krylong Looking Glass paint was best for glass, I decided to experiment anyway. For ages now I have wanted to make my own cake stand using a candle stick holder and a plate. At St Vinnies ( I love that store) I found an awesome silver candle holder for $4 and a wooden plate for 50c. I stuck the plate to the candle holder and sprayed both with the Krylon Looking Glass paint and this is how it turned out.  I was pretty happy, as it had a nice chrome look to it. Granted its not a mirror finish, that would have be amazing, but still it came up nicely and look great for one of my Halloween displays.

I have also recently discovered Reverse Garbage. I love this place and can't wait to go back again soon. I found these awesome brown plastic medicine style bottles. After a wash in the dishwasher, I printed off some free poison labels I scored off Pinterest, but I also made the one in the middle that says Zombie Tonic on PicMonkey.com.  I added the labels with Mod Podge and they turned out really well. You can also see my silver cake/display stand again in this picture too, as well as the pumpkin one.

This next picture is not a craft, but I wanted you to see one of our games. It was called , 'eye balls and brains'!! I made up a story about a monster with 20 eyes wants his eyes back and the witch brewed them up with brains. The kids each had to put their hand in and get an eye ball, which was a marble, out for a treat. They loved it!!

I also came across a picture on Pinterest of Jelly - Jello worms and had to give them ago. I discovered this recipe from the Idea room. Unfortunately, they didn't work out quite the way I had hoped, but it was my first try and I didn't add cream, as the recipe I followed did. That being said, they look yuck and I had them on a tasting menu as rat's intestines, and I think they fitted the description beautifully.

 

His a picture of me and my man in what we dressed up as, can you guess who were?

My hubby used the Iphone app I put in my last post of the beating heart for his costume and deemed himself zombie Homer!!

All in all, we had a great day and I enjoyed yet another Halloween! Looking forward to Christmas!!

Halloween is coming!!!

I absolutely love Halloween! It could be partly due to the fact that I have North American blood in me, Canadian to be precise, or the fact that I love parties and giving out lollies. Either way, I love it and for the past 5 years I put on a Halloween Extravaganza for family and friends. The only thing I don't like, is that we don't have a big enough house to invite more people....one day!!

So where do I get my inspiration from? Over the years, I have used Google and Youtube to seek Halloween scary goodness, but since Pinterest has entered my life, I feel as though my web resources are now complete!! There is so much inspiration to be found on this site. I like mostly how ordinary people now have a platform to share their creativeness to others.

Anyway, what I thought I would do, is share some Halloween inspirations that I have come across so it could in turn inspire you. Especially if you don't think Halloween is something to get excited about. Australia needs one more holiday to add to the holiday calendar, to get creative, and have fun!!

Here is a cool YouTube video my husband just sent to me. I think this is a true winner, and if you are experiencing any dilemmas with the choice of your costume, this is could be the answer.

Keeping in the costume theme, here are some other costume ideas I have on my Pinterest Halloween board.

                                          www.coolfaceart.blogspot.com

                                                           www.thechurning.com

                                                                 www.costume-works.com

                                                           www.people.com

                                                                muertomarie.tumblr.com

                                                            tumblr.com

                                                           laurenconrad.com


Hope you find these useful. I will post again with some decoration ideas.