Halloween Decor

After putting up with the big green monster (dumpster) in my front yard for a few months now, I decided it needed some decoration for the holiday. We went out & purchased a skeleton & a few dollar store goodies and some red paint. My husband found a piece of black rope & made a noose and now the dumpster is creepier than ever.

Jack-o-lantern Ideas

Jack-o-lantern Ideas, a photo by b-a-boop on Flickr.

My favorite part of Halloween is carving the Jack-o-lantern, well not so much the carving itself -leave that to my husband, but designing the face. I do have fond memories from childhood of cutting open the pumpkin and scraping out the meat with a spoon so mom could make us a pumpkin pie. We still use our pumpkin for pies and I've been craving one for weeks. Here are some of the many sketches from over the years of eyes, noses, mouths and whole faces we've come up with over the years.

Halloween Decor Roundup

Here are some recent finds I've come across for Great Halloween Decorations.

Ric Rac Pumpkins at Eddie Ross

Bat Wreath at Did someone say party?

Decoupage Pumpkins at Makes and Takes

Framed Pumpkins at Indie Pretty Projects

Halloween 1977

Minnie Mouse Attacked, a photo by b-a-boop on Flickr.

Since this is October, I thought I’d scan my old Halloween Photo Album for something to post. Here are a few photos from way back in college for Fashion Design. I think most of us in class were dressed up, but these two were my best friends, Gloria as the Ghoul, in her handmade costume of gauze fabric and Cheryl as Dolly Dagger, an idea we created from the Jimi Hendrix song. The three of us worked together on her costume. The body suit with the flames was handmade, the boots were spats we made from vinyl and studs that strapped over spike heeled shoes and I think the choker was a dog collar. She had a dagger in her boots and handcuffs chained around her hips. The cape was my grandmas nursing cape which has since gone missing (wish I knew where). I had made the Minnie Mouse hood/ears years before and the red satin skirt was from a box of costume items that had been in our family for years (mom made us many a costume over the years). I just got a ruffley thrift store blouse and a scarf belt to go with it and used some cut off black hose over my arms. I’m pretty sure we all went out partying together that night; it may even have been the year we saw Billy Joel in concert & saw some truly amazing costumes in the audience.

Jack-O-Lanterns through the Years

Today I’ll be going out to buy a pumpkin or two for this year.

  We usually cook them to use for pumpkin pies.

But our favorite part is coming up with a new Jack-o-lantern each year. 

 These are a few from years past.

The internet has now become our greatest source for ideas. 

Jetson’s Halloween Costumes

I’ve been making Halloween costumes my whole life. Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays, probably cause I loved playing dress-ups as a kid. My mom made our costumes when we were little (wish I still had some of those vintage patterns). So having a handmade costume is always preferable to me.

It wasn’t easy trying to decide a best or favorite costume for this blog carnival. I just went though my Halloween photo album and picked one that I enjoyed creating.  It was 1989, so the old scanned photo here isn’t the best. I decided my hubby and I would be George & Jane Jetson. Their clothing wasn’t so hard to design, I even got the rings around the wrists and ankles, and used wire to make the skirt hem flare out. The hair was the hard part.  Since the photo was taken at night it’s very difficult to see, but I ended up getting some cheap wigs and trying to style Georges in that flat swirl across the top and Janes with those winged curls along the sides. I wasn’t perfectly successful with those, but it was better than our real hair.

DIY Halloween Décor

Although they seem to be available almost everywhere now, about 10 years ago I made my own headstones to decorate the yard for halloween. They are a bit old and worn now as you can see in the photo, but you get the idea of how they look. Here’s the how to:

Materials
Foam insulation sheets (they go behind drywall - I bought mine at home depot)
Scrap pieces of thin wood molding, plant stakes, metal rods, etc. approx. 8” long (use whatever you have on hand)
White painters caulk
Box cutter or large kitchen knife
Black, Silver and/or Gray paint
Thin paint brush
Letter stencils or paint free hand

Assembly
1) Cut the panels in half to make two 2’ panels
2) Place the stakes or rods so about 6” extends below the panels, this is to stake them in the ground.
3) Use the caulk to glue the 2 pieces together. You need to be cautious about what kind of glue you use to sandwich them together. Some industrial panel adhesives will melt the Styrofoam.
4) Draw out the shapes of your gravestone and cut them out with the knife. There are many shapes you can use, but if you use the cross, then you only need one stake in the bottom.
5) I used a faux marble painting technique to paint mine. I just used a fine paintbrush and did small diagonal veins in gray paint. Experiment with other techniques if you like.
6) Then paint on the epitaphs. I did mine freehand, but feel free to use other methods. There are plenty of ideas out there for funny or scary sayings on the headstones. My husband even has a book of strange real ones from the 1800’s.

I have also recently added a gate to the graveyard. I got two short scrap pieces of plastic fencing that someone tossed out. I spray painted them black. I found some thick plastic chain and attached it between the fence panels, this prevents people from traipsing through the graveyard (The first year I put them out, some were stolen and we found them in a yard around the corner, the mom made her boy come apologize to us) I guess that’s one advantage of DIY, you can always spot your own stuff.

The Honey Pot Bag

My friend is planning to go to a Halloween Party as a Bumble Bee. She wanted something to use as a small purse. She brought me a small remnant with a bee print and a small plastic food container and asked how she might make something that looked like a honey pot. So I drew the diameter of the container on the fabric and cut a circle with seam allowance. Then I sewed a drawstring pouch and gathered it slightly to the circle. I taped it to the bottom of the container so it would stay in place & then added a black shoe string for the drawstrings. She is thriller & it seems pretty sturdy with the plastic liner. I may have to make a few more bucket pouches now.