Ornate Splendor: Pretty Halloween Décor

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Blinged-out Halloween House

Getting ready for Halloween yet?

It's the holiday I've always decorated for the least. Mostly because of the black and orange plastic decor, but also because I had little ones who didn't want anything remotely scary/spooky.

So....why not ELEGANT Halloween??

Yes, indeed! Elegant Halloween! Even my wee ghostie is decked out in silk and beads and pearls! I made her with a wooden spool, styrofoam ball and a wooden dowel stick. I weighed the spool down with a metal bolt to keep the ghost from falling over. Must be a girl ghost; she's way too pretty to be a boy ghost! Ha!

This house was a Putz House, or paper mache house from Hobby Lobby. I spray painted it gold, then covered it in pieces of several different vintage evening gowns. Silk beaded evening gowns. Black on the sides of the house...

And silver and gold on the roof....

And yes -- those are shingles made of FEATHERS on the roof! As my daughter said, "they almost look like a leopard print feather, Mom." Well, actually they are pheasant feathers. I used black feather trim on the back.

The Gold trim is from the bottom of a dress. And check out my little sparkly froggy!!

Since I couldn't put a candle inside, I went for battery operated lights inside to make the house glow.

I even made matching pumpkins from the same fabric that's in the middle of the roof....

See the little moon dangling from the roof? Since the roof was covered in fabric, I was able to sew on the little moon and have it hang down -- same for the black jewel underneath the cameo.

So there you have it! A crazy outrageous Halloween House that won't scare any kiddos, and would still be great for a festive Halloween party! As Magnolia Pearl says, "Don't be afraid to layer beauty on top of beauty." Mission Accomplished!! :)

Hope this inspires you to create something unique today!

Hugs, Catherine

Sharing with these fun linky parties:

Amaze Me Mondays at Dwellings

Made by you Monday at Skip To My Lou

Inspire Me Monday at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Table it at Rustic and Refined

Friday Linky Party at Funky Junk Interiors

Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

Show and Tell Friday http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

It's a Hodgepodge Friday http://itsahodgepodgelife.blogspot.com/

Vintage Inspiration Friday at Common Ground

Cottage Style Party at Lavender Garden Cottage

Thrifty Things Friday http://thethriftygroove.blogspot.com/

Fabulously Creative Friday at Jennifer Rizzo

Simple and Sweet Fridays http://rootedinthyme.blogspot.com/

The inspiration Gallery at The Craftberry Bush

Shabbylicious Friday http://shabbyartboutique.blogspot.com/

Flaunt It Friday http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/

The Friday Flea

All Things Thursday Blog Hop at All Things With Purpose, Glamorous Affordable Life, Posed Perfection, and Posed Perfection

Inspire me Tuesday at A stroll through life

The Dedicated House for Make it Pretty Monday

Knick of Time Tuesday at Knick of Time Interiors

Boutique Tuesday at Prodigal Pieces

Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House

Tuesdays at our Home at Our Home Away From Home

You're Gonna Love It (Tuesday) at Kathe with an E

Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable

Blissful Whites Wednesday at Timewashed

Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Centerpiece Wednesday at The Style Sisters

Strut your stuff Saturday at Six Sisters

Seasonal Sundays at The Tablescaper

Share Your Cup Thursday at Jann Olson BlogSpot

Saturday Sparks Linky Party at Pieced Pastimes

Share your Creativity (Saturday) at Welcome To It's Overflowing

What's It Wednesday at Ivy and Elephants

Pink Saturday at How Sweet The Sound

Fabulously Creative Friday at Jennifer Rizzo

Pin me Linky Party at Diana Rambles

What to do weekends at Crafts a la mode

Monday Party at Chateau Des Fleurs

Share it One More Time Sunday at One More Time Events

Friday, October 25, 2013

A Glittery Halloween

"Why don't we every have any CREEPY Halloween decorations, Mom?" says my 11 year old daughter. Hmmm...that would be because the creepy decorations made her cry and hide her face for so many years. So now we're in a new phase of life - so a little bit of creepy has made it into our Halloween décor. I had never made a Halloween wreath before, so here's my first one.

Since I love to use vintage beaded dresses in many of my projects, I used a black one for this wreath. Two dresses, actually -- the rhinestone trim came from a separate dress -- I just loved the trim so much, I cut it all off and used it in several projects.

The skull is a paper mache skull from Michael's. Must Add Glitter! Glitter makes everything better! See the little kitty-cat pins/brooches? People give me old & broken jewelry occasionally...they know I'll put it to use somehow. (My family watched me go through a bag of junk jewelry from my sister-in-law last Thanksgiving....they all laughed at how excited I got -- they now call junk jewelry "Catherine Crack"....well, I suppose I am somewhat addicted. But there are worse addictions, oui?) But I digress; the kitty brooches weren't anything I wanted to wear, but they work just great for Halloween. The brooches were gold, but paint and glitter fixed that. Silver and black were the colors I had in mind for this wreath.

The letters (EEK!) I decided to run through my cuttlebug to emboss them and see how I liked it...Not that noticeable. I probably won't do it again.

I also painted the escutcheon (the big silver metal piece on the bow) silver. It was gold too. For the bow I added lots of different silver and black ribbons with a few long feathers.

I made this simple and fun banner with a skull graphic from the GraphicsFairy. You can find her HERE.

Another project this year was a voo-doo inspired altered book wall hanging.

I used bits of moss, lichen, lace, broken jewelry, feathers, leather, and a beaded dress to make this mixed media wall hanging.

We had a metal R.I.P. sign for Halloween, and I started to add jewelry to it, and my daughter said, "Mom!! The ONE creepy thing we have -- and YOU are going to make it PRETTY!" Alas, my daughter thinks this wreath is still too pretty, and definitely not creepy enough.

Well....Here's to a pretty Halloween!

Thanks for visiting,

Catherine

Linking up with these fun parties:

Amaze Me Mondays at Dwellings

Brag Monday at The Graphics Fairy

Make it Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House

Made by you Monday at Skip To My Lou

Tuesdays Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Anything Blue Friday at The Dedicated House

Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

Show and Tell Friday http://romantichome.blogspot.com/