stuff i made: halloween edition

Our annual Halloween party is this Saturday, and since I've recently had more than the usual amount of time and nervous energy on my hands, I've decided to get crafty. Observe:

Although country cabin is the polar opposite of my typical decorating aesthetic, I have a bit of a soft spot for seasonal door wreaths.  Unfortunately, they have a tendency to be pricey and I have a tendency to be cheap.  Thus, I made my own out of discounted ribbon and a $4 wreath form.  It's pretty cute, fairly inexpensive and wasn't too much of a time commitment:

These festive votives - constructed from baby food jars, crepe paper and glue - were a messy pain in the arse to make, but the end result is so adorable that it was ultimately worth getting decoupage in all sorts of surprising places in both my house and on my anatomy. I can't wait to see them outside and all lit up!:

And although I haven't made this Halloween garland yet, I'm thinking that I'm gonna: (Assuming I can get my house properly cleaned in time, that is...)

(All ideas via Craft.  Follow the links for more specific directions, should you desire them.)

in the spirit: halloween edition

Ordinarily, I loathe it when people dress up their animals, but I'm not going to even try to pretend that I didn't spend upwards of an hour perusing Martha Stewart's Halloween pet costume contest submissions. Good God there's some cute stuff over there, so even though it was difficult to choose, here are five of my favorites:

And no, my Chloe won't be dressing up this year. I made a half-hearted attempt to do her up as a witch a few years back, but it turned out to be a total exercise in futility, as she immediately removed all traces of the costume, shook the ever loving life out of them, and then humped them. As is her custom.