Harvest Decor

Autumn has officially arrived!  A chill is in the air and the leaves have turned and are falling all around.  It’s time I shared my fall decorations with you all.  I skipped right over Halloween at our house this year (with the exception of a black cat on the porch for trick-or-treaters) and went straight into Autumn Elegance.  Here’s a look around the house.

In the kitchen, I spruced up a footed crystal bowl with some gum balls (seed pods from the Gum tree—these things are good for something after all!), acorns, berries, and a candle, for a little fall feeling.

And on the kitchen table, my fun, green pumpkin from Michael’s sits on a white cake stand and is surrounded by mercury glass votives (Thanks, Andi!)  It’s cute and it really looks real… love the discoloration and scuff marks. :)

On in the living room, the little cabinet is snazzied up with a beaded green pumpkin (seems to be the color of choice for my pumpkins this year) in a wooden tray filled with leaves.  I am so happy with my new console cabinet… It’s another great place for me to display seasonal things (including seasonal, color appropriate photos of me and Michael.. hehe)!

 

Fall centerpieces from my sister’s wedding flank the television.

And a little floral arrangement decorates the side table by the couch.

In the dining room, the cornucopia is overflowing with miniature pumpkins and leaves…

while Bandit is hiding behind the Indian corn!

The chandelier is sporting some grapevine, leaves and a few metallic pumpkins.

And the mirror is wearing its fall berry wreath, as usual. :)

Outside on the porch, a few pumpkins and mums and a fall wreath herald the season.

Happy Fall!

14th Annual Halloween Costume Party

Well, Halloween has come and gone, and November is here.  Time for a glimpse into our night of fright over at the Haunted Fort Guthrie…

Guests arrived in the graveyard and came up the porch stairs lighted by lanterns and twinkle lights. 

The front stairway was infested with rats and bats and lighted with trios of votives and pumpkin luminaries.

The main room was for dining, with dinner spread out on the banquet table.

The wrought iron chandelier was decorated with dried hydrangeas and Spanish moss, creating a focal point for the room.

The food table was highlighted by two silver candelabras with blood red tapers.  A black crow perches on the left, surveying his dinner options, which included taco salad, mummy dogs, deviled eggs, cheesy witch’s hat, stuffed potatoes, and grilled shrimp.

On in the middle room, shredded and stained curtains set the scene for guests to have a drink from the silver punch bowl.

Spooky silhouettes adorn the wall above the dessert buffet, which featured blondies, ghost krispie treats, and a haunted house cake.

The haunted house was decorated with Reese’s Pieces roof tiles, candy corn luminaries, and a path of sprinkles; a pretzel fence keeps out onlookers as a monster digs his way out of the graveyard in front of the house.

Yet another bird has taken up residence in the dining room, perched on a black brass bowl of fruit.

A creepy partygoer peered around the doorway where tapers and votives lit a neglected antique desk.

The parlor doors were adorned with a ruined swag curtain and in front a small table was set for guests to dine.      

It won’t be long before nature takes back this manor, black ivy has already made its way into the foundation, and crept along the parlor walls.

Even in its ruined state, the stately home made a perfect spot for a vampire and her friends to party.

Hope you all had a spooky and fun Halloween!

  

Spooky Cakes…

Here’s some more eye candy (pun intended) for your viewing pleasure:

     

    

Yummmm!  Can’t decide which of these is more awesome! 

Halloween Inspiration

Halloween is finally just days away and I keep looking back to my Halloween inspiration files for great ideas for our annual costume party.  I haven’t finished decorating yet, so I’ll be posting pics from the party this weekend. :)  But here’s a look at some of the ideas:

           

 

Spooky Silhouettes

The haunting of Fort Guthrie continues in the dining room, where a set of spooky silhouettes expounds on this home’s history.

  

Attired in the fashion of the day, the Guthrie family’s likenesses are hung on the dining room wall.  The room is lit by two gothic black candle sconces and a few scattered tealights.  A solitary raven, perched atop the antique buffet, warns visitors to “beware” the spirits and wraiths that haunt the mansion’s many halls.  The scene is set for a ghostly gathering…

Now for the details.  To create the silhouettes I snapped a photo of each of my subjects in profile against a black background.  Using a photo editing program I increased the contrast until the background was solid black.  Then I selected the entire background, made it white, then inverted the selection and made the rest of the picture black.  (If I had considered this, I might have set up my subjects in front of a lighted white curtain instead to achieve the same result.)  I smoothed the edges of silhouettes and added in old-fashioned collars, neckwear and hairstyles.  And because I don’t trust my cutting skills (says the seamstress), I just printed the black images on white photo paper instead of cutting them out of black cardstock, as is customary. 

For the frames, I really wanted to do them in oval frames with white mats.  Uh, yeah, who wouldn’t?  But for party decor, I just couldn’t justify the cost of said frames.  I had about given up on finding any affordable oval frames, when I was browsing Michael’s one day and stumbled upon these routered wood blocks!  At $2 a piece, they were made for me!  I bought five of them and skipped merrily home, happy to spend $10 on a few pieces of pine that would take a normal person (read: my Papa) hours to cut and router into the intricate faceted oval shape. 

To create a framed look, I painted the edges with black semi-gloss paint.  Then I took the printed silhouettes and simply cut an oval to fit inside the wood frame.  Using Mod Podge I glued them onto the frame, and applied another layer of Mod Podge on top to seal the deal.  Add a sawtooth picture hanger on the back and voila, you are done!

Homemade Spooky Silhouettes.

Happy Haunting!

only a week to go…