Easy. Peasy. Lemon Squeezey. . .

Remember back in the 90's when fake ivy in that dead space atop the kitchen cupboards was totally acceptable? Well, those days are over. Don't feel bad if you still have ivy there. But do stop reading this blog and take it down right now because I've got the perfect use for it! And it won't even matter if it gets dusty. In fact, that will make it even better!

I took some ivy that had been sitting in my basement stash of faux greenery {always on hand in case I'm in a pinch . . . I've even used some on a cake before in the middle of winter to make it look purty} and hauled it out back where it met its fate in a can of black spray paint. Now I've got some great blackery {ha ha, get it? it's a pun on GREENery} to stick in my urn for Halloween.



It looks great in the dining room with the plates and the spiders and this guy who was a steal at Michaels for only $6.99, which is surprising, since it's from the Martha Stewart line. He'll be around for years and is so versatile! Who doesn't love a versatile skeleton? Maybe next year I'll have him coming out of a kitchen cupboard or on the mantle. Or maybe I'll scare the poop out of one of my kids by putting it in their room while they sleep. Oh, yes, I can see this is going to be very, very good.



Everyone who knows me, knows that I hate spiders. Hate them. Hate. Them. But I am in love with these plastic spiders that came in a package of 40 from Wal-mart for $2.99. I have used the entire lot of them all over the house. I think they are solely responsible for keeping the real spiders away, so I've decided to leave them up year round. Not really, but they do make me smile - especially when they're following one another up a wall or down a fireplace like a happy spider family {think Harry Potter}.

My spiders are attached to surfaces using Joe's Sticky Stuff.
It was a gift from a sister-in-law and I love, love, love it for securing spiders or picture frames to any wall or surface! Handy.

One day Ollie and I took a little walk with the stroller and some hand held garden pruners. We were on the hunt for spooky branches in our neighborhood's wooded area. Once I found a good branch, I brought it home, spray painted it black and put it in a bucket filled with white beans. Our "Halloween Tree" is decorated with little spooky ornaments and black and white ribbon. You could easily enlist the kiddoes on this one. Have them make bats or ghosts to hang from the branches.

And now, if you've endured long enough to read ALL THE WAY to the end of this post, here comes the payoff! Many of you asked how I edited yesterday's photos to look so old and spooky. I found this great Japanese website that takes modern photos and makes them look a hundred years old. Go check out the Bakumatsu Koshashin Generator here, but I'm warning you, it can become VERY ADDICTING! Before you know it, you'll be aging all your photos of your dog, your kid, or heaven help me, your cat!

Happy Tuesday! Tomorrow I'm going to show you how we checked something off of our "to boo" list this week.