Welcome to the 31 Days of Halloween - DAY 14

 

I finally broke down and made one of those quaint road crossing signs I'm seeing everywhere on Pinterest. It actually turned out cuter than I thought it would. I dug into my bin of wood pieces and puled out a bag of thin wood pieces about 6"x2.5". After painting them with acrylic paints, I used my Posca markers to letter some of the "mysterious destinations" and also sticker letters for others. I made six, but the ones pictured here are my favorites.

I also dabbed on some Tim Holtz alcohol inks to "age" the signs so they look a tiny but weather-beaten. Instead of spending an hour looking for the "perfect stick" to attach them, My eyes spied a very old 12" ruler that had seen much better days. I hot glued my destination signs onto it and it looks pretty cool up against one of the bushes, half in and half out of the sun.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Halloween here at the Martin homestead. Do you decorate for this Autumn holiday? Do you make cards and send them out to neighbors and friends? Or do you just wait until Thanksgiving and Christmas to let your creativity soar? In my neck of the woods, Halloween is getting to be as popularly decorated as Christmas. 

Challenges I am Entering:

Daisy Chain - Autumn and/or Halloween

Halloween & Other Occasions - Halloween

welcome to the 31 Days of Halloween - DAY 8

 

I went to one of Amazon's reject stores, this one called Arlington Heights Treasure Chest. It's where Amazon dumps a lot of their returns and sometimes defective or "missing pieces/parts" items. They rotate every 7 days, where Thursday is their RESTOCK day. Then the prices stat high and by Wednesday items are $1 each. I've gone twice, once on a Monday and once on a big bargain Wednesday. 

I picked up a closed package for a buck and didn't open it until I got home. Sometimes you can open the packages. Often they're already opened. If you're lucky you can even test them before you buy. I got lucky that Wednesday. When I opened my box, I found a dozen witch's hats -- for $1! I immediately wanted to string them up to add to this year's decorations.

It took a plastic needle, invisible fishing line and large paperclips before I had my line of Halloween hats to hang outside. 

Chicago being the kind of city where the weather is full of surprises right up to the day of Halloween, I plan to put these up only a few days before trick-or-treating starts. Nothing worse than a wet witch's hat (except a wet witch...).