Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Here's a few quick photos of this year's Halloween décor!

Happy Halloween!!!

Hope everyone has a bewitching Halloween!!!

 

DIY Ghost Gourd!

 Halloween is my favorite holiday and I especially love decorating my home for it!

For years I've wanted to do a gourd craft, but all the tutorials out there seemed to require a lot of work, starting with drying out the gourds for almost a year! I was so happy when I discovered that my favorite pumpkin patch sold already dried gourds!

I decided to do a ghost gourd for Halloween and it was super easy! All I needed was white spray paint and a little bit of black paint for the face.

Dried gourds tend to be very ugly and dirty looking. I tried to scrub off the dirt and flaky stuff as best I could with a scrub brush. There were still a lot of uneven areas, but it's natural and just added to the rustic, spookiness of the ghost! Most dried gourds will also have moldy looking spots on them, so I used a spray paint that covered mold and water stains. It worked perfectly and I feel okay with it in my house now!

This was really my first time using spray paint so I got a few drips and runs here and there. Afterwards, my husband told me to use short bursts of paint and don't get too close to whatever you are painting. Now I know for my next gourd!

My DIY Ghost Gourd was so quick, fun, and easy, I will definitely be making more of them! 

Gourds come in many different shapes and sizes! I dug through this pile of already dried gourds to find the perfect ones for my Ghost Gourds!

My gourd, all spray painted and ready for his face! Obviously, wait for the white paint to dry before you put the face on!

Next step, paint the face! I used this black enamel paint because I already had it. It's a bit like carving a pumpkin. You may want to draw on the face before you paint to make sure it's how you want it!

Exactly what I wanted! I love when that happens! This little guy is the perfect addition to all the rest of my Halloween decor! You can decorate both the inside and outside of your house with gourd ghosts!

BOO!

 Happy Halloween!

Quick Halloween Wrap Up

So yes, I decided to go the easy way out this year and use the plastic jack-o-lantern. Sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day (or money to buy more pumpkins) and you have to be okay with that.  I have to say that serendipity stepped in here because what started out as just a regular, cheesy, plastic pumpkin actually turned into something totally awesome!

First, the light in the pumpkin would not work. We switched out the bulb. Nothing. So I decided that we should just put some glow sticks in it and it would be this eerie, green, glowing pumpkin!  My wonderful husband said he would take care of getting the glow sticks.  He came home with a strobe light instead. I was skeptical, but when he turned it on, man, was it cool!

Too bad you can't see the actual strobing effect! It was awesome! Admittedly, this pic makes it look kinda lame....but trust me-so not lame! You couldn't even tell it was a fake pumpkin in the dark!

We had some cousins over to go trick or treating and I made a few snacks to go along with our pizza, including these awesome bone cookies and brain jello!!!  I have had this brain jello mold and Wilton bone cookie pan for years, just waiting to bust them out for a Halloween party that I have been meaning to have. I got them both on clearance from Meijer the day after Halloween. Can't beat that!

I found this awesome serving tray at Walmart this year in the Halloween area. It was perfect! Maybe I should've gotten a few more!

This is part of the wrapper that the bone cookie pan came in, complete with some awesome ideas for the cookie decor. I was originally going to do the one on the bottom that looks like an old, real bone but when I tasted the cookies they were super sweet. I didn't even want to add a glaze to it, they were delicious as is! So I just left them plain.

All in all, it was a pretty awesome Halloween! Very low-key, but good fun, good food, and good friends. I'm excited for next year so I can do it up even bigger!


P.S.

GO CUBS!!!!!!!