craft flashback: Halloween felt board!

My mom dug this creation out of the basement and gifted it back into my life. Once upon a time as a teenager, I made this lovely Halloween felt board for my two younger sisters. During the month leading up to Halloween I would wait until they were in bed and then I would "tap tap" on their door and leave behind a new felt piece and a notecard with instructions. Even though they caught on quickly to what I was doing they still waited in eager suspense every night and startled at the tapping noise. All three of us had great fun with it. Apparently I started it without a concrete plan as my mom recalls bringing me back to the store for more felt more than once!

Now that it is thoroughly documented I am going to turn it over to my daughters to play with!

Halloween mantel & mirror

I figured I better post this early enough for someone to do something with any inspiration they might derive from seeing it!

The mantel features a few new things for me: 

The round mirror
I bought this mirror at IKEA with grand intentions of putting it in my garden like this. Well, I never really felt like I had the perfect spot and it hung in my garage for an embarrassingly long time. I was getting ready to put up Halloween things and I thought it would like nice, especially with the black frame. I actually like it a lot in this spot and it certainly feels good to make use of something I already own!

The ceramic pumpkins
Only 50¢ each at a garage sale this summer! They have such lovely expressive faces. They are hollow in back so I think they originally served as planters of some kind. I am going to keep my eye out for more of a similar size as I especially like how they look sitting in a row.

The little ceramic ghostie
I picked up this little cutie just a few days ago at a thrift store for 99¢. I think I am particularly fond of ceramic holiday items because I grew up with them. Once upon a time my mom took ceramic classes and finished and painted various items that populated our home around the holidays.

The greeting cards and the framed monsters are things I use every year. Both are easy and inexpensive and very flexible as they can be placed on virtually any surface. I focused on using the card with black silhouette designs to play off of the black edge of the mirror

easy Halloween decor

I suppose this post might have been more timely on October 1 than it is on October 31 but I could think of no better way to celebrate the day than with a little Halloween festivity!

My mom sends us lovely laser-cut or layered paper greeting card creations for Halloween (among other holidays). I stash them away in the Halloween bin and pull them out every year. Display groups of cards on shelves, end tables, or your mantle for easy and instant Halloween flavor.

When your kiddos begin to acquire a collection of Halloween-themed toys and books, consider stashing those away too and pulling them out only once a year. Despite having only experienced 3 Halloweens, my daughter has quite a heap of these seasonal, and often noisy, toys. This year I piled them up in a simple wooden tray and left it out on an end table. All visiting children have found them and enjoyed them easily. And tossing them right back in the tray makes for quick clean up. I've also stacked our Halloween-themed picture books on the coffee table.

Do you have cute bags for collecting candy? Loop them over a doorknob for a quick and easy decoration.

And lastly, I will share a slightly craftier idea. As a graphic designer, I get catalogs of stock images in the mail. I saved a Halloween-themed catalog that featured illustrations. Using the creatures I found in there, some thrifted black frames, and some extra photo frames I already had, I put together some Halloween portraits that are easy to add around the house or mingle amidst the usual family pics.

Stash away these ideas along with any Halloween-themed objects you or your little ones might acquire, and enjoy some quick decorating come next October!