Livin' It Up... Halloween Decorations

As mentioned in my prior post, during my mom's visit she wanted to go to Hobby Lobby to get supplies for an art project with Little Man. I had a list of ideas and supplies to get while we were there for some Halloween decorations.

$100 later and I had everything I needed to make 7 Halloween crafts. Over the course of the week I'd work on the projects up to the minute before heading out for trick-or-treating. I didn't care that they'd only be displayed until that night because I was determined to get them done, well at least 5 of them were completed in time. 

Here's what I made:

- Footprint Ghost and Handprint Spider 

- Felt bats that I made flying out of the laundry room. Next year I'd like to have some hanging from the ceiling and differing sizes to make it look more realistic. 

- Gothic Lace Votive Holders... these were a pain in the ass to make but look really good with the lights dimmed. The blog I got the inspiration for these at made it sound so simple to make... just wrap and sew the black lace around a votive holder. One little problem, I don't know how to sew. After my first attempt at sewing I said screw it and ended up hot gluing the fabric to the votive holders. 

- Spiders. As a kid I would sit on my grandparents porch in Utah and watch the daddy long legs crawl around. The way they moved fascinated me. Now I kill any spider I see in the house. Who am I?!?! These spiders are made with some black glitter hot glue and the thickest gauge black jewelry wire I could find and cut into 4-5 inch pieces. The larger sized spiders are my favorite. 

- Mason Jar Luminaries that turned out nothing like the inspiration that encouraged this project. Anyway, this project is the reason I am going to start saving all of the glass jars I come across going forward. These luminaries are mod podged with tissue paper and the rim is coated with glitter. If I ever move into a house I plan on finding large jars and using white tissue paper and making ghosts to line the porch for a frightfully fun and festive touch. 

... and here's what I purchased from Pier 1 Imports, my favorite home decor store!!!:

Of course we carved pumpkins too. That was Little Man's request. We went to Dewberry Farm, paid almost $50 for admission, and then another $50 for 3 "perfect" pumpkins picked out by Little Man alone. Next year we'll stay closer to home and just go to Old MacDonald Farm. Same concept, smaller in size though, but cheaper. With the pumpkins, he drew on the face and we did the carving. He was so proud and so were we. 

We also visited The Mudpie Company and painted our pottery. Here's a before and after of my mug.

Livin' It Up... E.T. Costume

Halloween can be a challenge when deciding what to be with so many great costumes and ideas. I can no longer walk into a costume shop and find something that isn't slutty or one of a kind, which means, homemade. I tend to lean towards pop-culture inspired costumes. Halloween 2012 I was the girl from the SunDrop commercial and Halloween 2013 I was the Energizer Bunny. I've been told I outdid myself with 2012's costume and won a cash prize that year at work.

My job hosts an annual costume contest and the competition has really gotten fierce, especially with fresh faces each year. I work with a very talented group of individuals who are so creative! This year the Headless Horseman, Miss Piggy, and Minions showed up. My costume wasn't prize worthy but I did place 3rd as Elliott from the iconic movie, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Yes, before my time and not a costume the younger generations appreciate.

I got a lot of compliments while taking Little Man trick-or-treating and that was reward enough for the effort put into my costume. I've made my costumes every year since being hired at my job but Little Man prefers store-bought. I'm okay with that because it's easy. I can't wait for him to request a costume that can't be store-bought though.

After shopping at 3 stores I had all of the supplies needed to make my costume. If you want to recreate the costume you'll need a red hoodie, bike handle bars, milk crate, a pillow, white sheet, cardboard, and a poster size print of an E.T. image. The more supplies you have on hand the cheaper it'll be obviously. The hoodie, bike handle bars, and E.T. print cost about $70. I know, I know. Homemade costumes can be so much more expensive but they are worth it because of the creativity and one of a kind factor. 

Livin' It Up... Halloween Art Project - Footprint Ghost and Handprint Spider

The last time I created a keepsake footprint of Little Man's was when he was about a year old, he's 6 now. Since when did I become so lazy about documenting milestones? When I was an at home mom I made it a priority every night to journal about our day and I took a lot of photos. Over the last 3 years all I have are memories stored in my mental data bank and certain details are fuzzy.

(The handprint spider is my favorite... didn't realize the ribbon on the footprint ghost was twisted.)

While browsing Pinterest one morning I came across an art project for Footprint Ghosts and a Handprint Spider. Because Little Man is at an age where he loves to do art projects I knew we had to make these and with my mom in town visiting for four days and one of her requests being Hobby Lobby it was a no brainer. Two birds, one stone.

We picked up all of the supplies:

• small black canvas and a small white canvas
• white paint pen
• Halloween printed ribbon
• white paint, orange paint, and black paint

Once we arrived home we wrapped the table in plastic wrap and got started on our art project. I love that Little Man only needed some guidance and these are keepsakes that can be seen year after year and a great addition to our Halloween decor. He even picked the spot on the wall where he wanted these displayed. 

I came across another idea with mother and son footprint/handprints and laughed because our feet and hands are about the same size. You wouldn't be able to differentiate the two.