[Halloween] Getting Ready

After sorting through all the decorations and documenting them, last weekend I started decorating. Some of it I might be a little sad to take down at the end of the month. 

There's been a few other crafty tasks and my cricut keeps calling my name (as does the embroidery machine...is it okay for my niece to have Thanksgiving stuff instead?) to spiff up a few things. Or spook up? (Also, I though the embroidery machine calls my name, it's more like a poltergeist whereas my cricut is Casper the friendly ghost.)

A Dieter's Worst Nightmare!

I think the first decor item I really started putting up (not just creating) was the candy buffet for the party. It contains: twix, 3 musketeers, snickers, reese's cups, orange slices, mallow creme pumpkins, M&M's, butterfingers, laffy taffy (if there's any left by the party), Nerds, sweettarts, york peppermint patties, tootsie rolls, and Jolly Ranchers (which will probably not be as present as they have another purpose).

And I'll still cook! If you are anticipating coming to my house in the next few weeks...here be spoilers.

Finished Martha Stewart bones!

I finished off the green glitter bones. They do show up pretty well with the lights off, so that's a good thing. And they are sitting on that table (which won't even be there by the party, hopefully) anymore.

I counted how many food items I had. I got out more vampire teeth out of the apparent stock I have. They still need to be painted...maybe, they were already black. I should not be using hot glue when not in the best of moods (like Saturday...yeah...we'll blame it on football). I started to get very sloppy with it. Glue was everywhere. And Ichi kept being very inquisitive. I guess I should have just let her get a hold of a fresh one and that probably would have ended that (and been hilarious! I can just see her with vampire fangs hot glued to her nose and not be able to get them off).

The soon to be bar area

So one of the things I'm doing this year differently is to have a dedicated bar area, instead of just putting everything on the kitchen counters. I bought new shelves at Target and cool glasses from Oriental Trader. 

My poor pitiful slanting shelf!

 Lauren came over Wednesday and helped me install my new shelves. We really should have had a podcast with as many innuendos got thrown around. Despite my distrust of my ability to properly use my drill, I ended up doing all the drilling. And I apparently did better than I expected (the leaning shelf has nothing to do with that).

The plan was to put ALL the witch jars on the shelves with hopefully some space for nicknacks to spice it up. But the bottom and biggest shelf will not hold any weight and all on it's own slants downward. I have no real solution to this without ruining the aesthetic. Suggestions are welcome! They have the pieces that screw onto the wall and then you slide the shelf into them.

And yes, for my party goers: that is a drink dispenser in the corner. There are 2. Expect something a little different.

At least one shelf is straight, not that my photography skills imply that

There are 3 shelves: 24 inches, 18 inches and 6 inches. The 18 inch one is the only straight one. And I'm fairly confident in it's ability to hold. No idea why it's the middle one that holds better. You would think the short one wouldn't have a problem!

The dvd shelf decorations

Why yes, I have a lot of dvds. When I moved into this house, I went on a hunt to find a shelf that would hold them all as mine no longer did (but it fit so perfectly in my apartment!). I don't know if you can tell but I tried the Martha Stewart method of "realistic cobwebs" using a hot glue gun on the flowers. They were realistic, but that was sort of the problem. You can't really see them unless you are up close.

Mantel!

New wreath! The plan was to put it outside, but when I got it out of the packaging, I decided it was too delicate, so the plan changed. Besides, it works with the black/orange thing I've got going.

Above the corner cabinet

I love me some glitter pumpkins apparently. I bought ONE this year and then opened up the boxes and found 3 more! I put them to good use in a place where it doesn't matter if glitter goes everywhere. And I spray painted the clock I got from a thrift store in hopes of finding big gears last year. It's spookier this way.

The innards of the corner china cabinet! My favorite decor! The glitter pumpkin actually works well here as it shows up pretty well (better than a normal pumpkin I think) and the white one is a nice change (Target).  You can't really tell some of the finer details of this work. There are crows and rats in there too! Lots of random little pumpkins in various colors. But my favorite is the eyeball I got from Pier 1 the other day! It makes the whole thing.

And with that, I'm down to 2 boxes of indoor decor and party supplies (plates, napkins, platters, serveware) and 1 box of outdoor supplies + the coffin full. My new dining room table and chairs are supposed to already be in. I can't wait to see how they change the look of the dining room! Black table...green chairs. Because I'm a little different.