happy halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

{specimen art}

I love searching the web for blogs with inspiring ideas and I have made an observation. Apparently, these { } are really big in the blogging community right now. It seems that anybody whose somebody uses { } a lot in their blog posts. Well I want to be somebody too, so starting today {I} will be incorporating {these} into my posts. All the coolest kids are doing it.

Alright, on with the latest and greatest of the {halloween} crafting! Alison and I got together (via Skype) the other night and we each worked on a little project. I came across this idea at tatertots and jello and thought I'd give it a try since I already had a bat and spider punch. Even though I loved the look of it, I wasn't sure how mine would turn out; my bat punch was significantly smaller than the bats at t&j. I also already had the frames I used. As soon as I started punching out bats and spiders I was in love. This was one of the easiest and funnest projects ever! Highly recommended.

I mounted the {bats and spiders} on cardstock using dimensional stickers. I also removed the glass from my frames, but you could keep it if you preferred.

Aren't they fantastic?! I think so. Until next time.

dollar store + paint=

The other day I was at the dollar store and saw these hideous decorative balls. Although they were a little offensive to the eyes, I saw halloween potential in them. I bought them, brought them home and began giving them a new life.

Just a little paint went a long way.

I put them in an IKEA bamboo plate I already had and set them on a black placemat. What a fun little centerpiece for my table!

halloween countdown

More halloween fun! Last weekend Staci and I spent our time making Halloween countdown calendars. And they turned out to be incredible, and a lot of work, but really incredible! Of course, now, I've been thinking about other countdowns too. There are a lot of possibilities; christmas, birthdays, vacations, you name it. Well ,here are some pictures from mine. Enjoy.

welcome october!

As many of you know, I absolutely love Halloween! Over the past couple weeks I have been busy getting my halloween out and creating some new additions as well. Let's begin the tour, shall we?

I found this wreath idea at thelongthread.com and fell in love with it. It was so simple to make and looks absolutely fabulous! (It'd be great in christmas colors too. Hmmm....)

With Curt's help, I made this as a little tribute to one of my favorite poems.

I love the vintage feel of this Boo garland. You can download this template and other incredible images at The Graphics Fairy.

This is my mantle and I'm a little in love with it. The pictures all came from The Graphics Fairy and these incredible labels came from Love Manor. I already had all the jars (since I kinda have a bit of a jar fetish) and the rest is just things I made or already had. Oh, I did buy some eyeballs from Target.

This is the dining room with my halloween garland I made a few years ago.

My pumpkin jars nestled in with my plants.

I love that vintage halloween is really big right now.

I am crazy about these! I saw these on eighteen25 and last weekend Staci and I decided to make some. They are so simple and fun fun fun!

Ah, my halloween tree. I love my halloween tree. I did it a few years ago and every year that I put it up I love it a little more. I printed vintage halloween pictures from the internet (just do a google image search), hung them on some old branches, and put a couple ravens in the mix. Viola! An utterly fantastic halloween tree!

I love this pumpkin character. He's full of halloween whimsy!

My little tribute to Edgar Allan Poe. Love him.

I still need to get some of my treat jars filled.

More fantastic images from The Graphics Fairy. I really love this. Very macabre.

Of course, it wouldn't be complete without my halloween quilt that I made last year. I sewed all the strips together, which for me, was quite a feat. The beautiful quilting was done by Curt's mom, Carol, who is a quilting guru.

Even our kitchen couldn't escape the halloween carnage.

Well, that concludes the halloween tour of the Armstrong's. Happy Haunting!