Fantastically Frightful Friday

..say that 10 times fast.

Halloween is almost upon us, and I feel this year our family has been able to really enjoy the ghoulish decor.  We've been to a couple parties, we decorated early and we are baking!

It's almost time to take the decorations down, but before I do...here are a few of my favorites....

 

    

I definitely have a thing for skulls.

Bringing Nature In Through Photography

I've been shaking things up at Chez Milton. Some rooms are getting completely redone, others just reconfigured and a few,  just new touches here and there. I don't have an endless decorating budget (sad face) so I am always looking for inexpensive ways to freshen up a space.

In the last couple of weeks, I have been to a couple local farms, a road trip and a short adventure trip to Seattle.  When I finally downloaded all of my pictures, I noticed a trend in what I have been photographing.....nature - or more specifically, flowers and food!

I'm thinking these would be great in a kitchen.

And these for a great autumnal display. The pumpkin pictures could be printed to make great name tags for Thanksgiving....or how about adding a few pictures to your mantle.

I've been on the hunt for some artwork with bright green for my office redo. I came across these flowers at a gourmet market in Seattle. Stay tuned for the office update with a few of these on the wall. (I actually snapped these with my phone... (gasp) I didn't have my camera in hand!

All of these beauts were photographed at the farmer's market in Seattle. I've been using a macro style lately and I love the effect. You get to see all of the intricate details up close and you have the opportunity to capture interesting angles.

One of the many benefits of taking pictures at a farm, or farmers market is that the items are all displayed beautifully - so just point and click not hassle with staging!

Gothic Black Flowers

I know Halloween is all about the ghouls, goblins, spooky and scary,  but I have to bring in a touch of simple elegance....oh and did I mention, cheap. So that's cheap, simple elegance.

I popped into the local dollar store and bought faux (sounds so much better than fake) flowers.  The best part is there are 5, count then 5 flowers on each stem!  

I sprayed them with Rust-oleum satin black

oh and this was one of the fastest projects to date...

So that's cheap, quick, simple and elegant all of about $3.

Pumpkin Topiary

I have been wanting to make a Fall topiary for years. I always thought of them just as a Fall decoration and never wanted to go to the effort for just a couple weeks. This year I decided to do a combo Halloween and Fall topiary......

I had a garden urn that I sprayed black and I used an iron stake to hold the pumpkins (faux pumpkins).  I did put some rocks in the bottom to stabilize it as well.

I added this vase/candle holder and stuffed some plastic bags in the hole to hold it better.  I made stencils on plain paper and filled the letters in with a sharpie. A little spanish moss and viola' Halloween topiary!

Now the best part....simply turn the pumpkins around and add some Fall leaves and instant Fall topiary!

Join the party at Centsational Girl!

Halloween Decor

October is finally here! I love this time of year and am so happy Autumn is in the air.  We kicked off the weekend by decorating for Halloween. I never used to be so ahead of the game,  but my daughter loves to decorate for Halloween, in fact, if I agreed she would start in August.

Our first of many projects this year was super easy! Spider web luminaries, made from what else....placemats!

My trusty assistant prepared the placemats (she removed the price tags)

We simply hot glued them to these glass cylinders from a summer project

...and instant creepy Halloween luminaries. Trust me they are much creepier at night with the candles lit...I just forgot to take a picture.

The lil guys in the front are from last year. I bought web ribbon at the Dollar Store, hot glued it and the googly eyes.

a few of our other projects from years past....

I couldn't find a runner that I likes so bought some great fabric,ribbon and trim from JoAnn's. Luckily black is very forgiving....you can't see how awful my sewing is. (oh and it is long enough I just pulled it up to show the detail)

Lots more to come, we've been very busy.  What have you been up to?