HALLOWEEN DECOR GALORE

About a month ago I was shopping craft stores and browsing Web sites for Halloween decorating inspiration. I was overflowing with excitement to begin decorating. Come the first day of October and I would be ready for Halloween. All templates would be cut, the garland hanging, branches would be painted, and pumpkins would be lining the doorstep. Well, fast forward a month later... all the above mentioned projects are still very much a work in progress, but here is the extent of my success:

I love the scary spiders. They make me smile every time I look at them. There are so many fun and simple Halloween projects that I have trouble selecting just a few. I end up working on multiple things at once, with the result being that everything is halfway finished. So. The next few days I will be forcing myself to focus. I have a window display that I can't wait to share and a really cool project that can be used outdoors as a decorative porch element or indoors as a mantel or table centerpiece. Lots of photos to come.

FABULOUS FINDS

The treasure that can be found on Craigslist are sometimes just too unbelievable for words. Yesterday afternoon I spent some time searching local Craigslist ads for mid-century furniture and, well, just look at what I found for $40!

I'm picking up this lovely desk this afternoon and plan to have it restored by the end of the week. I just need to decide on new hardware for the drawer pulls and a paint color... navy blue? Red? Espresso brown?!! I'll post the "after" pictures by the end of this week.

The other fabulous find I discovered on Craigslist is this beautiful, sleek 1960s chest:

It's easy to overlook vintage pieces as too outdated and labor-intensive, but it often only takes new hardware and a coat of paint to transform a piece from old to modern. This sleek grove storage cabinet via Martha Stewart Living will serve as my inspiration for the update.

WEEKEND RUMPUS

When I began planning Nolan's first birthday I intended for the party to be based on a bright color palette of
blue, orange and green rather than focus on a theme. But, two weeks into the party planning process I watched "Where the Wild Things Are" and immediately knew I could not NOT incorporate a "Wild Things" theme into Nolan's party.

Sticking to my original plan of using bright colors I incorporated elements that would combine the Wild Rumpus theme and my color palette into a cohesive concept. My sister and I gathered branches and maple leaves from the park for the candy buffet centerpiece. After drying the leaves my sister used fabric paint to trace the veins and then dusted them with glitter. I found the orange vase on a clearance display at Target and filled it with fake Fall leaves from the Dollar Store.

I decorated vases with ribbon and wrapping paper and used crystal candle stick holders to add height and depth to the display.  Most of the supplies, including many of the vases, came from the Dollar Store.

I used a 2 1/2 inch paper punch and construction paper to create the thank you tags for the gift bags, which guests filled with treats from the candy buffet as a party favor.

M designed and made this crown for Nolan using cardstock and a pattern he found online. He lined the inside with matching gold paper and embellished it with green ribbon. This crown was truly the best part of the party. Nolan was in complete awe when he saw it.

M also decorated Nolan's high chair with a card I found in the dollar bin at Target and some cut outs from leftover construction paper.

The cupcakes were made by a very talented decorator at Whole Foods and the cakes were designed by an equally talented decorator at a local grocery store bakery.

And, finally; the party streamers.

This project was by far the most labor-intensive part of the party. I used a large circular punch to cut out hundreds of blue, orange and green circles. I strung fabric ribbon through holes I made using a small hole punch and thumb tacked each individual string to an inexpensive piece of molding I bought at Home Depot. It was a fun project and added a lot of color to the party. And, it's completely reusable for the next party!