Creepy Crafty

We don't have a lot of Halloween decorations, but the ones we do have I love. My awesome mother in law gave me a few cute ceramic things for my birthday a few years ago, then just last year sent us a Halloween quilt. I'm not sure what it was (I should probably just blame pinterest), but I decided to get a little more festive this year. But I also decided to go as cheap as possible (anyone surprised?). And I think I succeeded. Total spent: $7. The materials I got were one black poster board ($1), one black raven ($1), one package of spooky cloth ($3), one bunch fall leaves ($1), and a pack of plastic spider rings ($1).

I stretched my poster board pretty far, and made the owl, the garland letters and the bats (below).  The spooky cloth I cut in half lengthwise, and was able to use it on both mirrors. (That strange pumpkin man on the door followed us home from a garage sale a few years ago. The kids are attached now, so I guess he stays.)

 Here's the quilt Grandma sent us. Nora was fascinated with it when we pulled it out, and wanted me to identify all the unfamiliar images for her.

 Here's a close-up of the garland. I pulled out my old pastels to draw the skulls.

 And a close-up of the mantel. I copied this owl, but I don't know who is the original manufacturer.

I sort of have mixed feelings about Halloween, and I've been trying to sort out what my "style" is. There's so much creepy, gruesome stuff out there that I have no use for. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I grew up with the cutesy, crafty decorations, that part of me still loves. Somehow, the cutesy stuff just seemed off in my house though. I decided that my Halloween style could involve spooky things of the natural world. Images of night-time animals and such. Maybe I'm the only weird one who thinks about this stuff, but at least now I feel comfortable decorating my own house!