DIY Halloween decorations

Oh how I loooove Halloween and all the fun things that come with it.  It is virtually impossible for me to walk into Target, Michael's, even the grocery store and be able to resist at least some sort of festive purchase.  I am aware that Halloween has very ugly roots and I respect people's decision to ignore it completely, but my belief is that this is one Americanized, Hallmark'ed "holiday" that I can really get behind and I fully support the commercialism keeps the wheel of Halloween turning.


We didn't carve pumpkins yet because last year we did it too early and they were rotten by the time Halloween night rolled around.  So this year we decided to postpone carving and in the meantime did some pumpkin painting.  I saw some "chic" Halloween decorations in some random waiting room magazine in September and felt inspired.  So here is our take on black and white chic for Halloween:

Black and White Halloween

We used acrylic black and white paint on a standard carving pumpkin and two gourd-like squash(es?) Gracie picked out some purple rhinestone designs in the clearance bin at Michael's which I didn't think was very festive at first but I loved the end result.  And our squash goblins are super fun.  I also sprayed them with an acrylic sealer when we were done.

One more shot of the reverse side of the squash:

Black and White Halloween

Another Michael's clearance bin finds were these cut-outs....it was a huge pack of a variety of Halloween images, and I have NO idea what I am going to do with all of them but at $2.99 for the pack, I will not be crying if I have to part with some of them unused.  I grabbed a sitting-empty frame from my basement and put together a little "family portrait" which I think is so cute, and took me all of 5 minutes to put together.

My apologies for the blurry image!  It was dark when I took the picture and my un-fancy camera doesn't do well with no flash, and the frame was too shiny to use a flash, so this is the best I could do!
Don't be surprised if these little monsters show up again on this blog.....

Lots of time has been spent in our house making Halloween cards and pictures, using stamps, stickers, and glitter galore.  I neglected to take pictures of many of them but here are a few examples- classic, easy, and not too original!

Glitter Jack

Marshmallow Ghosts (from No Time for Flashcards)

Pumpkin Man (for some reason my personal fave!)

And one night after Baba (grandma) was babysitting, I came home to these fun monster treats.

We must be on a monster kick at our house, and Grandma Fancy was in on it too.

Play-Do monsters!

And just because it's my favorite, here is a picture of the Bear last year in her Halloween costume:

Yoda Bear

As I'm writing this I'm a little sad that we only have 5 days of left of Halloween themed snacks, crafts, songs, etc.....until next year.  But I can't wait to post new pictures of the girls in costume.  Assuming no dramatic change of events, I will be showcasing one cowgirl and one Elmo.  Mom & Dad TBD.
Happy Halloween!

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