It's Getting Spooky Around Here

The kids and I have found some time for crafts and other fun projects this month.  The kids (boys especially) really wanted the house to look spooky for Halloween, so here are some of the fun things we've come up with ourselves, gotten ideas from Pinterest, and put together for some spooky fun.

First, made from an old pallet (which I do NOT recommend using.... extremely difficult to get apart, Mike ended up having to use a jigsaw, air chisel and grinder), a Halloween fence!  We grew the pumpkins in the backyard, added some fun crows, mice and a rat and the finishing touch is the BEWARE sign.

 I made this little banner using four cute Halloween print fabrics with black burlap and black ribbon.  Without measuring I made it just long enough to drape across the front windows.  Sweet.  Add a little black cat we had already, wash the windows, and we're good to go!

 Here is our fireplace all Halloweeny.... my favorite is the skeleton in the jar.  Creepy.  And the family of mummies on the shelf, those are pretty fun too.

 I saw a "Wicked" sign on Pinterest and decided to make my own.  Here's what I came up with.  Love my Cricut for cutting stencils-- the bats and witch are glittered using these stencils.

I thought the front door needed a little something more.... so I got a package of glittered spiders, glued magnets to them, made a spiderweb in a picture frame (and rubbed the frame with silver paint to make it more festive than basic black) and we have an infestation going on.

 Here is our entertainment center spruced up for fall with dried oak leaves in the lanterns, pumpkins, acorns, a star pinecone ball, and a skull in a bird cage of course.

 Last but not least (for now, still working on several projects), a bowl full of poisoned apples.  The urn thingy came from a gift basket Mike brought home from work a couple of years ago.  It was brown and I never knew what to do with it... almost threw it away a couple of times, but figured I could put it to use somehow.  Finally did it.  Painted it black and then rubbed it with silver paint.  Love it now!  Filled with fake apples.  What do you think, do I need to paint a skull on one apple? Or make a tag that says something like "Beware: Poisoned Apples"?

Of course we've been working on Halloween costumes too.... I'm happy to say they're done.  Minus the treat bags, but those won't take long.  We have a Pinkerbelle Fairy (yes, PINK), an adorable Witch, and two Ghosts.  I was going to post pics now, but Mike says to keep the suspense until Halloween.  Ha Ha.  However, I will show you this cute costume Brennan made himself for his little Chicky.

And the scariest thing that's happened to us so far this October..... illness hits the house.  Boo!

 Somehow we got a lot of schoolwork done in the morning, then mid afternoon all three older kids were down for the count.  Hopefully they'll all be better by tomorrow, because we're supposed to be hosting a Halloween party in two days!

The only thing not SPOOKY at our house are these guys:

Here they are four days old.... I took this pic right before going to have their tails docked and dew claws removed.  They are now 12 days old and more than double their birth weight (the biggest one is almost 11 oz now).  Eyes are still closed.  They are the sweetest little puppies.  Named them Princess Leia, Chewy and Wookie.  Trust me, when their hair gets a little longer they will look just like Wookies or Ewoks from Star Wars.

Well, that's it for now......  Happy Halloween!