A Fun Halloween Mantel

Bats and crows! Ghosts and skulls!  Welcome to a Fun Halloween Mantel!

For me, Halloween is a fun holiday. My favorite part of Halloween is the trick-or-treaters.  And to make sure they feel welcome to ring our doorbell, we hang ghosts from a tree in the yard, have jack-0-lanterns lit up, string purple and orange lights everywhere, and put lots of candles on stacks in the garden.  And to top it off we play a “Halloween” tape of spooky sounds and hang a few monsters on the front porch.

But I have never decorated the inside my house for Halloween, and I decided this year, it was time. I dithered between a Halloween dining table, or a Halloween mantel. The Halloween mantel won.

I wanted to see if I could create my Halloween mantel using elements I already had – a “no spend” project I think it’s called! I made this decision only after I walked into the 99 cent store to see what kind of “props” I could find.   I looked around and instantly thought…. Am I going to buy just a bunch of stuff to ‘create’ a Halloween mantel, or am I going to stretch a few creative muscles and do this from scratch?  I went with the do-it-from-scratch option. For the most part, anyway.  I did borrow a few props and I DID spend just a little bit of money.

And here we are!

Starting at the top….I have had this banner for years.  I was drawn to it because of the black cat and the pumpkins.  Clearly Halloween, but in a very playful sense.

I started using bats as part of my front yard  Halloween decorating a couple of years ago.  These particular bat patterns came from “So Much Better with Age” .  She very kindly offered them as a free printable – here is the link.  (And take a look at her Halloween mantel – it’s amazing!)

Every year for Halloween, I hang these ghost from the juniper tree in our front yard. But when I realized I could hang them from the mantel too, I  thought, why not?  Why not make it as busy as possible?  This is not art – this is Halloween! (Not only that; I have broken every ‘rule’ that I wrote about in my post: 5 Steps to a Beautiful Mantel!)

I borrowed this little prehistoric dinosaur skeleton from the proofreading department at work. Not sure why they have it on display year-round, but they very generously let me borrow him.

The candelabras are from my great-grandmother.  I am hoping she has a sense of humor about how I used them here.  (However, to my credit, I DO use them for special occasions, Thanksgiving and Christmas!)  And those candles…?

I wanted to find black or dark purple tapers.  No such luck. Instead I used 6 red tapers from my candle stash.  I took them out to the back yard, laid them out in egg cartons, and spray painted them black.  But I used cheap black spray paint, and it wasn’t drying very fast.  So I left them out in the backyard to dry.  All day. In the sun.  And they warped!  (Sailor thinks they look extra cool because some of the red is still showing…)

The pumpkin and crow came from a craft fair.

I did spend a little money here. I opened my wallet at WalMart for the two big skulls, and then again at Michael’s for the handful of smaller skulls. This basket of skulls is definitely going on the front porch on Halloween night!

And this is where I got a little panicky – I still had two terra cotta jack-o’-lanterns that I had spray painted black specifically for this Halloween mantel.  How to display them?  Well – put them on tall candleholders- what else?

Much of this is homemade. The ghosts are just old white sheets wrapped around styrofoam falls. I used florist wire to twist secure the sheet around the ball. The bats are black construction paper and the two black jack-o’-lanterns lanterns were originally terra cotta pots  that I spray painted black!  I used old candles in the candelabras. And, I’m really just lucky to have those beautiful candelabras. Nothing is really matchy-matchy. I just pulled it together – and had fun doing it!

Now if I could just get Max to pose on my Halloween mantel all day…..

Happy Halloween – From our home to yours~

Kristine

I am sharing at these link parties:

My Soulful Home Sundays at Home     //    Across The Boulevard      //   Finding Silver Pennies   //   Marilyn’s Treats Over the Moon     //    I Should be Mopping the Floor    //  A Stroll Thru Life    //    Hearth and Soul    //    Not a Trophy Wife     //    Cedar Hill Farmhouse    //   Jodie Fitz    //   Marilyns Treats  Wonderful Wednesday  //   Faeries and Fauna Waste Not Wednesday   //  Home Stories A – Z    //  21 Rosemary Street   //   Designthusiasm Style Showcase    //    .