My Halloween Vignette

I absolutely LOVE Halloween. It is the only time of year that I can comfortably put my dark and wild side out on display (without the concerned stares of visiting family members and neighbors). We have a year-round collection of Halloween paraphernalia displayed throughout our house, so I love being able pull it all together and really let it all hang out.

Our home has a very strange randomly placed tile window on one of the bare walls, so that is where I decided to begin. I gathered some of the items from our collection and started going wild.

I found some colorful pictures online of some of our favorite characters from classic horror movies. I wanted to add a lot of color to the top of the "window"so I found the brightest images, and couldn't resist the tattooed Bride of Frankenstein. I added them to a few black frames we have hanging around the house and hung them with black ribbon in offset lengths.

I picked up several items from the Dollar Tree, including the black and orange twigs, the cut-out bats and spiders, the cool mummy statue, the little skeletons an birds, and the supplies to make the Gothic votive candle holders (instructions are here). The glitter pumpkins are from Target.

I loved the skeleton terrariums I kept seeing on Pinterest, so I decided to add one to our mantel also. I grabbed a 5" glass candle stand that I had laying around and topped it with moss. Then I cut a tombstone from styrofoam and painted with silver craft paint. Once it dried I drew on a little design with permanent marker and added my character. Voila! I didn't have a bell lid, but it looks good to me!

Say cheese!

It was an easy vignette and the family loves it. My husband decided we're keeping it up all year! 

Pinterest Is A Time Suck!

I have a confession to make. I am a crafting addict. I love all things crafting -  including looking at new crafting ideas all day. Herein lies my problem - Pinterest is a HUGE time suck. Don't get me wrong, I love Pinterest and always find really cool ideas for crafts, decorating, and household shortcuts, and even welcome you to follow this blog on Pinterest @ParentingWithTattoos. The problem is, I wake up energized and ready to go on my next big craft project thinking "this will be the day I finish it - I just need to check this one quick thing..." and BAM. Two+ hours later (I'm being kind) I am so wiped out from looking at craft ideas that I no longer have the energy to finish the pile of crafts and furniture and endless crap sitting in my workshop. Half the time I don't even remember which project I was trying to start working on!

So I repeat - Pinterest is a HUGE time suck! In my efforts of Pinterest Rehab I am trying to now limit the amount of time I'm allowed on the computer during the day while I actually have time to work on projects. With the help and support of my family, I am trying to wait to get on the computer until later in the afternoon, OR limiting it to only 30 minutes of Pin-surfing before I get started on my day.

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you cope with your Pinterest addiction?

DIY Halloween Votive's With A Little Sparkle

If you're looking for an easy Halloween decoration that will add a little wicked sparkle, this is one is great and cheap to do - and it's one we'll use year-round.

Supplies
Two glass candle holders (Dollar Tree)
Two tall cylinder glass votives (you need ones with a flat surface and they're usually at the dollar tree)
Looking Glass Spray Paint
Halloween Stickers - mine were on sale at Michael's
Spray bottle with water
E6000 Clear Adhesive

I purchased most of my supplies at Dollar Tree, with the spray paint and stickers from Michael's. There really wasn't a huge selection of wicked Halloween stickers, but I liked these glitter skulls and spider webs.

I found a great tutorial on, of course Pinterest, on how to create the look of mercury glass. I took the glass votives and covered the outside with painters tape to prevent the spray paint from touching the outside of the glass. I lightly spritzed the inside of the votive with water and then sprayed the inside of the glass with Looking Glass spray paint. The paint will pool at the bottom and you want to just roll it around inside the votive and let it dry.

Once the votive is dry, glue to glass candle holder to the bottom the votive using E6000 clear adhesive and let it dry.

To finish it off, place your Halloween stickers on the outside of your new candle holder. The adhesive on the scrapbook stickers I purchased worked great and they're hanging on really well. If you'd like to secure it better you can coat the adhesive side of the stickers with the E6000 adhesive or you can cover the sticker with Modge Podge.