Halloween Creepies!

 Okay, I am a holiday decorating FREAK! Not going to try to hide it. It always gets my creative juices flowing, puts me in the mood and I have such a blast with it. It's really therapeutic for me! LOL Unfortunately, with my creative decorating mania, I've created quite the holiday buffs with my sons. As soon as the stores start putting out their holiday wares, my boys think it's time for me to do the same. And as ALL OF YOU KNOW... the stores do it WAAAAAAAY too early! LOL I am not a professional or trained decorator, just come from a long line of women who have a knack. The trick to success is to HAVE FUN. There are a couple of rules that I've learned along the way as far as balance... always use an odd number of "objects" in a vignette, vary the heights of objects, use items that can you can use over and over again for various holidays and seasons, even if something seems unconventional... USE IT. That's the stuff that will have "YOU" written all over it and make it personal. It's always a challenge to come up with holiday decorations and not spend a small fortune doing so. I often shop at dollar stores, Goodwill and Salvation Army type stores. And I ALWAYS hit up my favorite stores AFTER the holidays. You will save tons and tons of money, I promise! Then each year when you open up your various boxes of decorations, it will be a total surprise finding all of your cheapo treasures purchased from the previous year. I always buy my paper products for the next year that way too! So here is a peek inside my Witch's Dining Room/Apothecary.

The piano is all decked out with creepy cloth from the dollar store and my collection of  "witchy" things!

Close-up pic of a bird's nest with gumball eye "eggs" nestled inside old tarnished bed spring. I use these
springs at Christmas time for ornaments and pine boughs tucked inside, at Easter for more nests and eggs and even the Fourth of July for propping up flags.

Witch shoe, hat and old rusty spring with eyeball candy!

And her apothecary!!!

Creepy cloth from a dollar store with fake roaches entangled in it.
HUGE IMPACT for A DOLLAR a piece!!! I have these hanging EVERYWHERE!

Love my Matilda witch doll from Hallmark that I treated myself to many moons
ago! I used to get incredible coupons to use during my birthday month and
bought her for a song!!! Notice the pet spider in her lap? A little detail that tells a story!

All kinds of gross things to amuse the eye!

Notice my use of different textures? The old "silver" adds bling and shine.The brown bottles whisper "Poison" even without spooky labels. The wooden bowl with the mossy rocks (also from the dollar store) conjure images of a witch hiding in the woods with her Black Magic.

I like to use cheap plastic mice and spiders tucked in here and there. If you show their tails and not their usually sloppily painted and unrealistic faces, you create a bit of mystery. After all, the animals wouldn't pose for you... they would scatter!!!

A close-up pic of the mossy rocks and more springs!

Notice the varying heights... and crooked candle!!! OOPS!

Again... dollar store "grow-your-own animals" that increase in size when you place them in water. I recycle food jars and add pebbles, pine needles, food coloring and coffee grounds for CREEP factor! When Halloween is over... dump the jars, rinse them out... let them dry then reuse the following year!

The brain, again is from the dollar store, placed on a bed of tissue paper "lettuce" and then topped with an upside down candle hurricane. The ear is eerily placed in an old salt cellar that I also use over and over again to tuck something cute and little into like sea shells. The teeth belong to my babies!!! LOL The Tooth Fairy has been a very busy girl for the last 19 years!!!

Maggots are placed in an old salt shaker. I found the cool old bottle for the
earthworms at my local Goodwill. I shop for these type of finds ALL YEAR and
NEVER pass up something really unusual. Speaking from experience, it WILL NOT be
 there if you change your mind and go back for it later. The worms are fishing lures.
They were quite expensive for my budget, but with all the money I saved on used items
and shopping at the Dollar Tree, I rationalized the purchase! LOL The label for the worms
came from the internet. You can find all kinds of free downloads if you look! Here are some
really neat labels!

Notice the black mouse tail???

My poor Shrunken Man! LOL You can buy six of these little skeletons for a dollar
 at the Dollar Tree. I used a lighter to melt his joints so that I could bend him into a sitting
position. The top of the jar is a rusty old biscuit cutter.

Notice I have the shrunken man propped up on a overturned silver bowl to give him the proper height.

The skeleton head was VERY expensive. He was $10 from Big Lots. (That's expensive for me!!!) I have
him on a silver egg plate that I use for different holidays all yearround. He's nestled into green moss with
bugs here and there. Oh, the mercury glass candle holder was also a HUGE splurge from Big Lots! $10!

For some humor I turned his gumball eye inward so he looks cross-eyed and silly.
Notice his other eye appears to have fallen out and landed in the moss below?
Another little story being told.

How can one girl have SO MUCH FUN at the dollar store!?!?!?!? LOL

I used an old wooden spool and round cooking racks to create varying heights.
Because they are covered up in the creepy cloth, you don't even think to look at what
the objects are stacked on. I use the wooden spool often in my decorating.

I hope you got a kick out of my super-cheap decorating ideas. For me, part of the
challenge is being able to AFFORD it do it. What fun is it if you feel guilty about the
money spent for decorations that will only enjoy for a short time each year?

Happy Halloween!!!