it's fall!

It's fall, ladies and gents!  And I'm loving every minute of it.  Fall is by far my favorite time of year, and to celebrate the season, I've been on a decorating rampage this past week.  Today (thanks to some Young House Love pumpkin inspiration) I stenciled and painted a few pumpkins.

I'm feeling surprisingly spook-tacular this year.  Most years I just want to set out pumpkins and roll around in the hay dreaming of the good ole days out in the country.  But this time around, I really feeling whipping out the Jason mask and scaring the mess out of the neighborhood kids.  And, no, I'm not holding a grudge over the pumpkins they stole/smashed.  I just REALLY feel like being scary this year (a difficult feat for one whose talents include smiling for no apparent reason).

Besides pumpkin painting, the fam got together for a few holiday crafts (which will be shared in a separate post), and I also had fun decorating my freshly hung Ikea Lack shelves over our kitchen table.

Here's a shot of the end result.  Yay, Halloween! :)

Everything was already owned except three new editions and the leaves from a floral arrangement in the living room.  The birdcage and clock are newly thrifted items.  I found the clock at Goodwill for just under five bucks.  And, bonus, it works!  The birdcage is from a yard sale in my neighborhood.  The lady I bought it from was moving and had it marked for just a dollar!  I've always wanted to decorate with a birdcage, so I have lots of plans for it after Halloween.

The last thing is Mr. Spider hanging out by our white cross.  This was one of the easiest projects.

A friend of mine gave me this picture frame as a gift.  All it is is two pieces of acrylic with magnets.  You just pull it apart, slip your artwork in, and slap the other piece on top.  The only thing was the picture was a bit summery, so I've decided to rotate the artwork according to the season.

I started out by simply drawing the outline of the frame on a plain piece of computer paper.

Next I drew a simple spider in the center of the paper, colored it with a black marker, and (wait for it...) cut it out.

Voila!  Simple, very scary, experimental-ish Halloween art.  Cost: zero dollars!

So far, I'm loving our Halloween decor.  It almost makes me want to throw a Halloween bash.  Almost.  Stay tuned for crafts and costumes!