A Spooky Mantle

I will start this post by admitting I have never been much for decorating for Halloween. I have always enjoyed Halloween, as in, the day of celebration. But it never seemed like a month of holiday to me... if that makes sense. Then..... I had two boys. Those of you with boys probably realize that this day of holiday becomes more of a year of; let alone a month of holiday for them. I have fought my boys since at least March with them digging into the Halloween bins in the basement trying to get things out. They love skeletons and bats and spiders and anything else creepy and spooky. So as of last year I decided that we would play it up a little more in our household. For me, playing it up only includes a mantle. I don't have the energy to do more that that. But the boys seem to be enjoying it. Most of the projects for this were actually done last year and I don't have pictures of the process but they are very easy and really don't require much more than an explanation.

Here is  a picture of the overall mantle. I don't like things too over the top creepy. And to keep it from becoming too overwhelming I tried to keep it pretty monochromatic. With the exception of the orange candles and the green spooky sign there is no color. 

The skull lights you see dangling are something my boys have been begging for the last two years. They play the theme song from Halloween and light up different colors when  you push a button. Not my first choice, but worth it because they LOVE them!

Here is a closer look at the two sides of the mantle.

I covered my pretty pot with burlap to make it blend better. Is there anything a little burlap can't do???

The candles I found at Target last year. I love the creepy wax dripping effect!

I used some books to stagger height just a little. Obviously with my tv up there I don't want things getting too high. I found the little bat decals at Target the other day and thought they would be a fun addition to bring the decor up to my windows. I think I bought the "dead" roses from the dollar store last year. 

These are some of the projects I completed  last year: 

Stacked on some of my "antiqued" books I have a simple print out from The Graphics Fairy in a thrift store frame.

I made these Pottery Barn knock off hurricanes with old vases, spanish moss and a skull garland I found at The Dollar store last year.

Another of my projects was these little spiders you see crawling everywhere. I think I got that idea from the Pottery Barn catalog as well. I just hot glued wire onto the bottom of some rocks, bent them to look like spider legs and sprayed them all with black spray paint. I love having them crawl all over the rest of the mantle.

My haunted tree also from Target I believe (are you seeing the trend here?) The spider pictures are ones my husband took of a creepy little being living in a tree in our front yard last year. I just flipped the picture and did a negative color scheme and placed both pictures in a thrift store frame. Simple simple!

And one last added bit of fun is to draw a spooky scene on our chalkboard door. 

My 4 year old helped me by suggesting the lightning and adding the eyeballs. (That is what those four little things around the ghost are :) )

Hope you are spooked!!! Happy Halloween month!!

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