October 20, 2009

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.
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8 comments:

The Queen Vee said...

You make it look easy and are generous to share your ideas.

I'm sure all your blog lurkers and non-lurkers will be affixing spiders and painting all their faux greenery by the end of the day.

Let the haunting begin!

Apis Melliflora said...

What a whimsical decor description. If I knew where my black spray paint was, I'd be following your boo how to.

Tobi said...

Thanks for sharing all your tips and tricks. I love the spiders crawling all over the place. Halloween is such fun!

Kasey said...

So cute. Love it! !

Lori Gerten said...

Your honesty rocks as I'm looking at my fake ivy above my kitchen cabinets!! I've been meaning to take it down for years but I'm so short that it's just a pain in the butt. Don't even get me started on the amount of dust on each leaf!!

jd said...

hee hee. "To boo" list.

You ARE afraid of spiders, I remember very well. In fact, every time I encounter a spider and decide to liberate it (put it in the wild) instead of smoosh it (and thus liberate myself from bites), an image comes into my head of me chasing down a very large spider for you into a mason jar,in a basement/bonus room of a house in Virginia...

I would say "that's how much I love you", but really I just like to show off and pretend I'm not scared by anything.

I LOOOVE your decorations, creative mind, and economy (Mr. Collins would be in love with you).

You.
Are.
Amazing.

Mamafamilias said...

Okay, I'm one of the blog lurkers mentioned earlier (Daniel Barnhurst is my nephew so I "know" you by association) but I had to come out of my safe little background and tell you: #1) This is way cute stuff and #2) Thank you for the map to the Japanese Photo Thingy. I LOVE it!!! And you're right - it's very, very addicting. I'm simply going to have to use it.

Love your blog.

MelancholySmile said...

I love all your halloween posts! {and thanks for the photo aging trick- I'll be stealing that, thankyouverymuch}. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and it's fun to get so many great ideas from you!