Sophisticated Halloween

August Inspiration - FeteAvecMoi

This summer while on vacation my mind wandered towards what will this year's Halloween theme be for 2012. I knew what our costumes would be. [No spoilers]. Didn't want to decorate the apartment in that theme exactly. But hoped for decorations that would pair well. While shopping with my mother in late August, I found these great plates.

Inspiration found, August 24th. Care to eavesdrop on my internal monologue? It went something like this: moons, haunted houses, black, black and white, bats... no...crows...no ravens.... The Raven... Nevermore... Poe... Eureka! I always marvel at how the brain works. In my 80's raised brain, I hear that old tune, "Connect the dots la,la,la".

The Raven Inspired - FeteAvecMoi

So I started collecting. I saw a white pumpkin on a TV show. Hmmm black and white pumpkins would be cool. Visited our local Michael's Arts and Crafts, http://www.michaels.com and purchased some. At a dollar store I found black and white garlands. At another dollar store I found black ravens. Building, building. Thinking, thinking. Planning, planning.

At a local Marshall's, I found faux book boxes. Love those! So this led to a thought of going vintage.  Of course now my online crawling began. Black, ravens, natural, classic. Ideas swirled in my head.

 I found this adorable display. So very cute. I had to borrow this idea. I decided to just make three. Each carrying a trick-or-treat bag. Labelled one "Trick", one "Or" and one "Treat". Ordered baby sneakers and 18 month old jeans from Walmart. Yes, please bring Halloween decorations and deliver them to me. Lol. I cut a small hole in the jeans seat. Ran old flag poles down through the jeans into the hook on the back of the sneakers. At PartyCity, I found these hanging ghost decorations. They have a dual sytrofoam tube under the heads. Perfect to slip into jeans. Tied underneath with pipecleaners to hold together and form hands to hold the bags. I believe they are simply adorable.

I also found a Nevermore wall cling on Etsy from VinylDecalOutlet. Definitely, had to have. I also found some black feather hair accessories. Broke them off and added them to the wall cling.

As I shop in all the Halloween decorations available in stores I have this theme in mind. While away at the Montgomery, NY car show I purchased a few magazines. Curled up to relax and marveled at all the ideas on the same theme. Only thing I found that I liked was the concept of using a chalkboard and chalk. White on black. Simple. Elegant if you can print nicely. I learned calligraphy as a summer activity one year in highschool. Turn the pages quickly. Scan for ideas.  The rest of the decoration ideas, I either had, didn't want, or had better. Guess shopping early all the way back in August helps.

Now, September progresses and each night I plan a little more. I found a pillow on Etsy with a raven that said “Nevermore”. But it sadly had already sold. But it gave me the idea. I searched online for an interesting photo of Edgar Allan Poe. I landed upon this one. I printed it out on paper. I traced on a dollar store pillow case. I colored in with a permanent marker. I slipped it over an old pillow and now have an adorable decoration for the apartment.

My web-searches brought me to this fabulous decoration. I bought 20 black and white masks for $.99 each. I had every intention of making this wreath for our door. But as I saw them laid out on the table I realized they would look more interesting as a garland. So I stapled them end to end and added black and white ribbon curls. Now they adorn our stairway railing leading up to the apartment.

More photos will come after Halloween. I don't want to give EVERYTHING away before my friends get to stop by for coffee or something more...

But here is a before and after of our front steps:

Before Decorating -FeteAvecMoi

After Decorating - FeteAvecMoi

After Decorating the Walkway - FeteAvecMoi