Martha Stewart Decoupage Halloween Decorations

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in which I received product and payment. However, all opinions and project ideas are my own. I had the opportunity to try out Martha Stewart Decoupage supplies. A box full of craft items showed up at my door. Is there anything better than that? All these supplies are available at Michael’s. Check out what was in the box!

~ Holy Craft Supplies! 😀 ~

I decided right away I wanted to make a Halloween sign for the front door. Can you see what I used for the boards? Leftover wood planks! Those planks must multiply in my garage! They’re never gone! But they do come in handy.

After calming down from the new craft supply high,  I scoured the World Wide Web for ideas for Halloween signs. Once I came up with a saying, I went to work. I used Martha Stewart stencils to trace the letters. After I had all the words on the boards, I started decoupaging the Halloween paper to the board. No real plan, just randomly making each board different. I used “Matte Finish” decoupage to adhere the paper to the board and to seal it.

Martha Stewart decoupage formulas are non-yellowing, dries clear, can be used on any surface, such as glass, fabric, metal, paper or wood. It can also be used indoors or outdoors, which is perfect for Halloween decorations!

Once the decoupage dried, I painted in the lettering with orange and black paint. Next, I drilled holes in the top and bottoms of the each boards so I could attach them together with rope. I knotted the rope at each end.

~ There it is! The sign turned out better than I thought, actually. 😀 ~

This next project only required paper mache pumpkins, paper and decoupage. Here, depending on the pumpkin I was working on, I used either matte or sparkle decoupage. This is a project I could do all day. I found tearing paper and gluing them to a pumpkin to be very relaxing. Maybe I’m just a little weird. 😉

1. Chose decoupage paper and glitter decoupage finish.
2. Tore papers in about 1 -2 inch pieces
3. Applied glitter decoupage to the pumpkin, then to the top of the paper to seal it.
4. Let dry. On this pumpkin, I wrapped the stem on top with twine. That’s it!

The paints and decoupage mediums were fantastic. My favorite supplies, though, were the paint brushes! I don’t always play nice with my “toys”, but the Martha Stewart brushes cleaned up so well after each use, no matter how long I neglectfully left paint or glue on them.

Be aware what’s creeping up behind you!

You can get more ideas from fellow crafters on Plaid’s Facebook page and Plaid on Pinterest.

Easy Outdoor Halloween Decor

I don’t usually decorate outside for Halloween, but this year the spirit moved me (and my daughter asked very nicely) to add some outdoor Halloween decor.

Here’s what I came up with. I bought some pumpkins, but other than that, I just used what I already had (minus the poor mums I slaughtered!). I did borrowed a of couple of things from Crys though. She’s like a store… she has EVERYTHING to decorate with! 😉

Happy Friday! Enjoy!

It was a gorgeous day! See how happy the pumpkin pillows are??

Firewood and pumpkins in a basket at the foot of the bench.

My “Haunted House” picture taken at twilight.

 

Fall Decor Home Tour

Today I’m taking you on a Fall decor tour of my creative and talented friend’s home. Crys is the maker of the Fall wreaths I posted a week or so ago.

Fall is Crys’s favorite season and she demonstrates this in her home. Every room is touched with a little bit of Autumn. Come take a look around.

The front door is decorated with garlands of leaves, flowers and pumpkins.  You can see a close-up of the gorgeous wreath she made HERE.

A wreath and little touches of fall makes her entry warm and welcoming.

Crys set her dining room table with red tones of Fall. This dining room table will need to be another post. She made it out of old sewing machine stands, reclaimed wood and a glass top, all of which she already had. I’m not a dining room girl myself, but this table is beautiful!

Crys used leaves, mini pumpkins and gourds to decorate her mantle. The clock on the wall was a antique/thrift find! She spray painted it to match her the colors in that room. Yes, I’m jealous of the clock. I wish I had seen it first! 😉 And the mantel backsplash… she did herself! Yep, we are DIY soul sisters! 😀 I will have to do a post on this mantel too.

Her shelf is decorated with leaf picks, pumpkins and gourds and antique jars filled with more antique goodies. The metal piece on the wall was another antique/thrift find. She spray painted it white and added black stain to it.

Gorgeous outside fall decoration

Crys and her Hubby have the most gorgeous backyard. When you’re back there, it feels like you are on vacation somewhere else. This beautiful fireplace is just part of the back deck and patio. Again, she used leaf garland, pumpkins, gourds and flowers to decorate.

Thanks you Crys for letting me show off your Fall decorated home! Crys inspired me to put planters and flowers on my front porch. Actually she was the one to play in the dirt, making sure the green plant thingys were planted correctly. That’s a first time in 10 years my front porch had anything on it beside a welcome mat. I’m just hoping she will come over and keep these living things alive for me. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

 

 

Burlap Pumpkin Pillows

Here is an easy Halloween/Fall Burlap Pumpkin pillows project.  All it takes is some burlap, a little bit of paint, and a hot glue gun.  No sewing is necessary.

My friend and neighbor, Janet, made pumpkin pillows a couple of years ago. They were adorable. Since I had extra burlap on hand, I decided my front porch could use some Fall pumpkin pillows too.  I already had everything on hand. A “free” project is always an added bonus. 😉

I forgot to take pictures when I was working on the pumpkin face. I drew a face on the burlap with a marker and filled it in with black paint. You could use a black sharpie to make the face too.  Regardless, please make sure you have newspaper underneath the burlap or you will have a mess on your hands.  I let the painted burlap dry over night.

Instead of cutting out two squares, one for the front, and one for the back, I folded over a long piece of burlap.  This way you only have three sides to glue together. I did not plan on sewing these pillows, but you certainly can. I took the lazier route and used a glue gun.

Before gluing the bottom of the pillow together, I stuffed an old pillow in it. You could use fiber fill to stuff the pillow if you don’t have old pillows lying around.

Here are my happy pumpkin pillows. Besides the drying time, this project took only an hour to do. Very simple.

 Linking to:

Fox Hollow Cottage – Simply the Best Contest Fall Edition

Not Just a Housewife – Show me what ya got

 

The Style Sisters – Centerpiece Wednesday

Simple Fall Decorating Ideas

Fall is my favorite time of the year.  But when it comes to Fall decorating indoors, I keep it simple.

To “embellish” the house this year, I made a couple of things, bought a couple of things from my favorite Etsy store, CereusArt, and used some decorations I already had on hand.

To make this creepy spider, I used a turquoise Christmas ornament, 4 pipe cleaners, some googly eyes and hot glue. All I did was take off the hanging part of the ornament, twisted the middle of 4 pipe cleaners together and glue the pipe cleaners to the top of the ornament where the hanging part goes. After putting the top back on, I hot glued the eyes on. The ornament I used had a top that I could bend out a bit, so it then covered the glued part of the pipe cleaners. Of course this guy had to be blue to match my decor. 😉

I dressed up the Planter Box and Mr. Spider with the pumpkin garland I purchased at CereusArt.

The spiderweb with the black starfish came from CereusArt as well.  I picked up this little owl from Pier 1 for a few bucks.

The pumpkins and the leaf garland came from my Fall “stash”.  I use these items to decorate the mantel. Very simple.

More mantel decor. The Fall mantel usually stays until Thanksgiving. I add pine cones and switch out the candles after Halloween.

The pumpkins were leftover from previous Falls.  I took the stems of the top two pumpkins and then hot glued three pumpkins on top of each other. Black “boa” trim was used at the base of the candlesticks.

There you go.  House of 34 Fall decorating for the inside. Very simple, very easy decorating ideas.

Are you a simple Fall decorator or do you go all out for Fall?

 

Linking to:

 

Fall Wreath

Today I’m featuring a gorgeous Fall wreath my friend and neighbor, Crys, made.

Crys is my treasure hunting/get in trouble with buddy.  We both have our moments of insane inspiration and get ourselves trapped in severe cases of “ninety percent-itis”!  For those of you who haven’t heard of this condition, it’s when your brain is so overloaded with creativity, you never quite finish one project before you start the next.

So, to help us focus (NOT!), last month we popped in to Hobby Lobby, just for fun.  And guess what?? All their Fall accessories were out!  We love Fall!! Since we were already there, and all the Fall decorations were 50% off, we bought what we needed to make this year’s Fall wreath. What’s one more project?

Some of the supplies we bought.

Crys completed hers already!  The wreath turned out BEAUTIFUL!  I asked what she spend on all the materials (and she bought A LOT!) and it only came out to about $30.00.  You can’t buy one premade, this full and gorgeous, without spending a fortune!

The ribbon, burlap, wire frame, and all the picks were 50% off!!

It turned out stunning!

Crys had so much fun putting her wreath together, she was kind enough to offer to do my wreath! WooHoo! Since I was in the middle of my Master bathroom makeover at the time, I was so giddy with excitement about that, I told asked her to come over and get the supplies off my hands immediately! (before she changed her mind!) 😉 HA!

My picks, however, came to a total of 3!  When I was picking out the things to put on my wreath, I was going for a simple, minimal look. Good luck with that, Crys!  We may be back at Hobby Lobby picking out more wreath supplies! Darn. I’m going to just hate doing that. 😉

Pumpkins Galore

It’s Fall y’all!  Well, maybe not quite yet, but it is September!

Yes, it’s ninety degrees outside.  Yes, the humidity is ridiculous.  And yes, the first cool front has not graced me with its presence.  I can wait another day or two. Or 3 to 4 weeks.  I’m a relatively patient girl.  😉

My mantle is already decorated for Fall.  I’m thinking about jeans and sweaters and boots.  And pumpkin bread!  And falling leaves.  And crisp blue skies.  And more Fall decor!

I found some great pictures of pumpkins decorated in  “non-traditional” ways.  My head is spinning!  So many ideas!  Hope you enjoy.

(Click on Pumpkin Picture for Source)

Hand painted pumpkin on a stand.

Just circles!

Stacked pumpkins in different colors.

Painted gold polka dots.

Pumpkins in a display box.

Decorated with upholstery tacks.

Painted black and white.

Pumpkins as a chandelier.

Painted, stenciled, decoupage?

Monogrammed.

Funny zombie faces!

Glittered pumpkins.

What a hoot!

Sew cute!

BOO button pumpkin.