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Friday, October 11, 2013

Halloween Spider Door Decoration

I. hate. spiders.

And yet, I LOVE Halloween and a good scare, so when I came across Delia Creates' post about magnetic spiders, I knew I had to do it. I had to face my fear, for Halloween's sake.

I went out and bought a couple bags of Dollar Tree plastic spider rings and some A.C. Moore magnets, and got to work. Snipping off the ring part from the spider was the easy part.

Then I started hot-gluing the spiders to tiny high-powered magnets, and... BAM! WATCH OUT! Get 'em too close together and those spiders will jump across the table as their magnets attract! Scared the crap out of myself. Multiple times.

My glass of wine was gone in two seconds flat, so time to open up something soothing. This hot Dutch Apple wine did the trick.

At least, it allowed me to finish the project anyway. Moving on...

Next, I attempted to make realistic-looking spider webs with hot glue, as Polish the Stars outlined, but my nerves were fried at this point and my patience was running super thin. I gave up after about 10 seconds because I had a giant Dollar Tree spider staring at me, waiting to be mounted to its new wreath home.

AND FYI - these tarantulas come in a two-pack, so do NOT lose track of the second spider! Almost dropped my mug of wine when I ran into Spider #2, which I had casually tossed aside and forgotten about early on in the project.

Okay, time for the grand finale! I threw up a Command hook, yanked that wreath into place, and then tossed my magnet spiders at the door like my life depended on it. Moved them around a tiny bit, whipped out my camera for some quick pics, and then SHUT THE DOOR.

I hope my condo floor-mates appreciate the effort that went into making my door festive for this oh-so-special-and-creepy holiday! :)

Sunday, October 6, 2013

DIY: Pumpkin & Flower Centerpieces

Happy Fall Everyone!

The leaves are changing color and there's a serious chill in the air - break out the hoodies. My hubby and I spend the entire month of October watching scary movies and eating entirely too much candy (Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins are my fave and pair wonderfully with rich Cab Sav!).

Eager to get out my pumpkin carving knives, I picked up a few things to make the condo feel more festive. I was inspired by this post by "The Meanie Greene" and got right to work in creating my own pumpkin flower arrangements!

Here's what you'll need:
- pumpkin
- can
- scissors
- pumpkin carving knives
- flowers
- permanent marker

I wanted two arrangements, so I bought a pumpkin and a gourd, and two packs of grocery store flowers.

Here's what you do:

Trace the can on the top of the pumpkin with your permanent marker

Cut just outside your line with your pumpkin carving knives. You want the hole to be a little bigger than your can so your can will fit easily inside the hole. I learned a valuable lesson during this step - GOURDS ARE MUCH HARDER TO CUT THAN PUMPKINS! Wine break needed. Had to go for a Halloween-appropriate wine for my pumpkin carving activity! (Note: If using real knives, I'd save the wine break for after the carving so you can complete this project without a hospital break.)

Remove the pumpkin guts and make sure your can fits in the hole you made. It's okay if your can sticks out the top a little bit, as your flowers will billow over the top and cover it. That said, I wish I had bought slightly bigger pumpkins so my can would've sank below the top of the pumpkin and I wouldn't have had to worry about it. Next time I'll bring a can to the pumpkin store for measuring purposes.

Open up the flowers! Nothing says you have to use ALL of the flowers they throw into the grocery store pack, so I took out the baby's breath and these other white striped things. Then I created a rounded bouquet out of the rest of the flowers, arranging them in blocks of each type, for a modern approach. (Mixing the flowers together also looks great though, so don't be afraid to experiment to find your winning combo!)

Cut the stems to the same size as the height of the can. I needed to trim mine a bit more after this cut, but it's always easier to trim than to grow longer stems! So cut little bits at a time and test the flower bundle inside your can until you're at your ideal height.

Place your flower bouquet in the pumpkin! I added my leftover baby's breath to a few wine bottles, to add some height to my table. A burlap runner and some candles, and I'm done!

This is the one New England season that always seems to slip by too quickly. So, grab a glass of wine and a hoodie you don't mind getting covered in pumpkin guts, and start creating!