Halloween Decor~

I know that I promised that my next blog post would be about the things I sent to Mary for our one-on-one swap but I thought I better show you my Halloween displays before Halloween was over! For the first time ever, I decorated early for Halloween this year. It's really just the family room that got the treatment...the other rooms are all filled with craft fair projects in varying degrees of completion! (Oh yeah, I confess, if someone walked into our house right now, they would think it had been ransacked by intruders!) Anyway, here are my prized pieces...

First is our mantel...

This cute and stylish witch was made by Mary Lou of the House of Whimsey. She has an Etsy store but it hasn't been stocked for a while because Mary Lou has been  busy creating magic for her lovely daughter's recent wedding. Most of you know and love Mary Lou but if you're not familiar with her, visit her blog and spend 3 or 4 hours there  reading her posts....she is an awesome designer and crafter and has amazing ideas for just about anything! I love to see her displays that she creates in her home...over the top cute!! Anyway, last year she made and sold these great witches and because I don't like gory and scary, this witch suited me just fine!

Then we move on to this print by Lori at Goody, Goody, Gumdrops. Last year I purchased several prints from Lori's Etsy store. I love her style. You can find her seasonal prints and so much more if you visit her Etsy store here...

The decorated bottle in front of the candle was made by my friend Michele at Create A Way. She does really fun and funky art and if you stop by her blog, you will see that she shares great downloads you can have for free, like these. She has just started to post again, which I am happy to see, and it looks like she's also signed up to participate in Elizabeth's  Peppermint Swap. The black felt tree is the one I purchased at The Cottage, which I wrote about here.

At the right end of the mantel is my Larkspur Lane witch and my Lori Mitchell trick-or-treater and another fabulous piece, the stacked pumpkins, by Michelle Palmer. Her art is just fabulous and the detail of each little piece is amazing! I have purchased many pieces from Michelle's Etsy store, found right here. She works in a variety of art medias and everything she creates is gorgeous!!!

Hanging on the front of the mantel is a Halloween garland I made using digital images designed by the famous and wonderful Debrina Pratt. I purchased  these banner pieces from Debrina's Etsy store here. I cut scalloped banner pieces from black cardstock using the Cricut and then smaller cantaloupe triangle shaped pieces to mat the images with. In between each banner piece is a scalloped circle piece with the letters spelling EEEK. Not too scary but pretty cute I thought.

The layered badges on the two banner pieces with the fleur de lis, were made using a font. I wrote about that here. This was an easy, fun project. I  rarely make things for our home...usually, they're going out the door in a swap or as a gift for someone.

OK...on to the top of the linen press...

Here is the Halloween banner that was made by the talented swappers who participated in Elizabeth's Spooktacular Banner Swap. This is a magnificent banner and the girls who designed and created their sections are so talented!! This really is a treasure!

Also displayed here, with the banner, is the wooden pumpkin (blogged here) I decorated last year as a guest designer for Say it With Letters.....

and a cute squirrel, named Edith Ann, who was designed and created by my uber-talented niece Wendi, of Enchanted Forest Crafts on Etsy. I have lots more to write about Wendi...but I will do that later on a separate post....and also talk a bit about the original Edith Ann, for whom this squirrel girl was named!! I will see Wendi at the end of this week and view all of her new creations in person.

Can't wait to see her!!

This post turned out to be much longer than I originally intended and I'm sorry if some of you drifted off to sleep. I've given you links to lots of fun and interesting places to visit and some amazing Etsy stores. Please take time to visit and you'll see why I love them. I try to Buy Handmade whenever I can.

Now I promise that the next post will feature the things I sent to Mary in our swap.

xoxo

Joyce