DIY Halloween Art

This year we finally have a mantel-like set up that is perfect for seasonal decor. I am extrememely excited about all the decorating I will be doing this fall and winter!!! While decorating for Halloween I was able to find a lot of figurines and stand-alone items, but not a lot of affordable Halloween style pictures that could rest in the background. So I decided to make some!! I went with simple black and white so that I can reuse it for other occasions if I need to.

I painted the canvas board with several coats of black acrylic paint. Then I used washi tape to create the design I wanted. You can see clearly here that the stripes are not even, but apparently I couldn't tell while placing them!

Washi tape works really well, although I know it is expensive. The main reason I chose to use it is because I have a lot of Washi tape that I basically will never use unless I use it for projects like this! You could also use regular masking tape. Here is the finished piece on display:

I intentionally wanted a shabby, imperfect look on the painting, which I got by rubbing the excess paint off the brush before painting. You can start with a really thin coat and build up as you go.

For my second project I once again started with several coats of all black paint. After it dried I took some fake spider webbing (from Target - $1!), cut it, and wrapped it around the canvas. Simple as that!

I secured it with a clothespin for two reasons: One, because it was the quickest way to get the webs to stay in the exact positions I wanted them using only my two hands, and two, so that I can remove the webbing and use this canvas for another purpose if I want to.

Here's the finishes product, along with a Halloween themed print I got from the thrift shop for 40 cents! 

I made one more smaller canvas with the stripes in opposite colors, to put on the third shelf. I also kept up some framed pieces that weren't Halloween themed but I thought still fit :)

Did you make anything this year for Halloween?

Credits:

felt pumpkins - Target

stackable boxes - HyVee

"spooky" decal - Target

"trick or treat" and "Happy Halloween" signs - Target

pumpkin mug - Thrifted

halloween bears - Dollar Tree

hanging bats and skulls - Target

white owl - Michael's

jack o lanterns - Target

Yes, I basically live at Target.

Lila's Christmas Art + Aparment Decor

For Christmas I had to come up with something for Lila's gallery wall. I didn't want to take the clipboards down but I didn't want to leave the mismatched art pieces that didn't relate to Christmas, so I had Lila make some new paintings!

She is such a good little artist. I just love being artistic and crafty with her! Here is the final result:

and here are some shot of the rest of my Christmas decor:

 I have a bunch of blank and half-painted canvases laying around, so I decided to use them to give some easy holiday cheer to my walls!

How long do you leave your Christmas decor up? I am starting to take mine down now, but I sort of want to leave the tree up for awhile!

Making Me Smile: My Busy December

Hi everyone!

I was so disappointed with my (lack of) blogging last month. I did come to realize that November and December are probably going to be the busiest months of my life from now on. Hopefully I will be more prepared in the years to come! 

First of all, I had Lila's birthday party the week before Thanksgiving:

It was really just a small gathering of mostly adults who celebrated and gave Lila tons of attention! And of course I forgot to take any pictures of the actual party.

The day after Lila's birthday Mike and I took her to get her hair cut. I think this will be a new yearly tradition!

Then we spent Thanksgiving with Mike and my parents, which was very nice.

The next weekend I had a craft fair to go to, which I was busy up until the last second getting ready for. And I also forgot to take pictures of the final result.

We also managed to squeeze in a cookie making night with my besties!

We also celebrated Mike's birthday a couple weeks before Christmas!

For Christmas we did a lot of driving. Or rather, Mike did a lot of driving. He is such a saint to us! We did four hours of driving on Christmas eve, another 3.5 on Christmas day, and 7 hours the following weekend! 

Was your December busy too? How do cope with an unexpectedly busy month?

Things Making Me Smile

I got these postcards months ago from The Paris Print Shop and I finally got around to displaying them in my kitchen! I am in love.

 How sweet is my new toaster!? That dog-shaped sticker came in the box and I decided it looks awesome on there.

It is so hard to get Lila to stay still long enough to take a picture, let alone smile for it, that it shows how proud she was of this tower! It was a great moment.

 I recently won a giveaway from Bubby and Bean for a gift certificate from Poppin. Like I had promised in the comments, I got a mini notebook in almost every color! I have already started decorating them and I can't wait to share when I'm finished! I am using them as idea notebooks to keep in my pocket and purse at all times! I also had so much opening the box - the packaging was awesome!!

Lila had been really into painting lately, and I always have fun picking out her colors!

These bowling shoes were a couple sizes too big for Lila and she kept falling out of them which was super adorable. The whole experience was adorable but I only got this picture!

Oh, and a picture of her with her stick-on earrings we won at the arcade!

What's been making you smile lately?