Candles & Moss

Happy Monday!  I hope you all had a great weekend.

Sharing a quick Halloween-y centerpiece that lives in the library/dining room at the moment.

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 Candles, moss, an antler — all very Fall-ish.  But I think that corset tie on the candle in the center makes it a fit for Halloween.  🙂

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What do you think? 

Ghost Mummy Truffles

I’m titling this post ‘Ghost Mummy Truffles’ because the jury’s still out on what these cute little treats are.  If I’m being honest, I set out for them to be mummies, but they do kind of look like ghosts, too!

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 These are all over Pinterest and are nothing new, but they are delicious and one of my husband’s favorite treats!  All you need is a box of Oreos, a stick of cream cheese, CandiQuik or something close to that, and mini chocolate chips. 

Whir up the Oreos in a food processor, then add the cream cheese and fire it up again.  Take teaspoonfuls, or heck, make ’em bigger if you want, and place them on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper.  Pop them in the freezer for a few minutes, and get the dipping chocolate ready.  Then dip them and drizzle them, and throw them in the freezer one more time.  In just about 30 minutes you’re all set to go.

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 Delicious, addicting, easy, and festive.  Enjoy!

Halloween Mantel

No fireplace this time of year is complete without some Halloween decor, right?!

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 This is in the Brick Room.  I love this room and this fireplace so much!  I don’t spend enough time in here.  🙂

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A lot of these items are up here year-round.  The two feather and branch centerpieces on the left and right stay up all year, as do the two frames and the clock.  Added is everything else!

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I love feathers for Halloween, don’t you?  🙂

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A Pretty Halloween

Hey there, and happy Monday to you!  I hope you had a great weekend.  Ours was super relaxed, and the weather seems to have turned, so we are all excited about that!  It’s been a little drizzly and overcast, and we welcome that here in AZ where we don’t get to experience an abundance of cloudy days.

So… Is your Halloween decor up yet?  I’ve still got a lot more around the house to show you, but I wanted to post today about pretty Halloween decor.  There’s plenty of the orange and black, slightly cheesy variety out there, and there is nothing wrong with it.  For me, I think that some of those pieces mixed in to your decor look great.  But I do love Halloween vignettes and decorations that up the ante a bit by looking really pretty while still keeping that spook factor.

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Cool rustic apothecary jar, skeleton pieces, moss, and rocks.  I do like all of the natural elements in this.

Screen Shot 2017-03-15 at 9.48.46 AMPottery Barn

Here’s a great mix of traditional orange Halloween decor mixed with iron and other textural elements.  This is a great foyer table.

Screen Shot 2017-03-15 at 9.49.47 AMJust Drops In the Bucket

This is fantastic!  I love all of the cool vintage-looking labels on the bottles.  This is a great DIY project that you can be totally creative with.  Remember our little vignette with bottles and a spell book?

Screen Shot 2017-03-15 at 9.50.40 AMThe Decorated House

Creepy and pretty.  A shabby chic Halloween vignette!

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Gwen Moss

Again, really freaking creepy but also kind of lovely at the same time.  Isn’t that interesting?

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Home Stories A to Z

This is a bit Alfred Hitchcock and I love that the scene is kept neutral.

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Gwen Moss

A shell full of skulls.  Super macabre!

Fun, huh?  See, there are so many ways to make Halloween pretty and yet it is still festive.  🙂

Elegant Halloween Table

Hey there, friends.  I hope you’re having a great Tuesday so far.  I had some fun in the Brick Room today and came up with a Halloween table setting that is more fancy than spooky, but still has some fun elements of the season.

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 Lots of layering going on in this table setting — I love that about this time of year.  The more layers the better!

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 I went with a red, black, and gold theme because it’s classic, but also because with the feather elements, it’s a little Halloween-y, right?  Sort of like the fancy dinner all the Hogwarts students have!  The bottom layer is a super cool feather placemat, and on top of that is a black ruffled placemat.  Then comes a gold charger, and lastly a gold-rimmed dinner plate.

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This was fun to play around with.  I wrapped the feather stem in the red napkin and just sort of gathered it a bit, and then I stuck that tassel in there to add a little bit more visual interest.  The tassel is actually a napkin ring – they are from Pier 1 Imports.

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 I found these feather bunches in the laundry room.  There were a ton of them, but I just used one bunch for each glass.

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 Here is the tassel napkin ring.  The top part of it I just stuffed in the glass and the beaded part drapes so nicely!

Brick Room Vignette

Hey there — I hope you’re having a great Monday.  Can you believe that this week September will be over?!  Time is flying by, people, and before we know it, we’re going to be eating turkey dinners and putting up Christmas decorations.  I’m looking forward to the Holidays, and like my husband, I count Halloween as one of them!  It’s sort of like the kick-off Holiday…the one that sets the remainder of the year in motion.  Summers are great because they are a good reprieve from the high-gear and high-energy of the ‘-ber’ months that we all love so much.

I’m sharing more Halloween decor today — taking these posts slow because I prefer small doses of decorating inspiration rather than photo-heavy posts of whole houses!  It’s fun to see small vignettes and spaces.  We’re going into the Brick Room today to look at a little Halloween setup on the dining table.

We call this room the Brick Room because the floor is brick.  I know, we’re a creative bunch . 😉  This is pretty much my favorite room in the whole house because it is big and open yet still comfy cozy.  There is a dining table in this room that we sit at sometimes throughout the year, but mostly this is the special room for holidays, so it’s where a lot of memories have been made.

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 A skeleton hand in a jar with tulle, feathers, some Harry Potter-esque candle-holders, and jars with special ingredients for whatever potions you may need to brew up.  Oh, and a spell book…because even the most skilled witches and wizards still need spell books!

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 You can find the printables for the jar labels here.

Halloween In the Foyer: Part 2

Hey there, everyone.  Happy First Day of Fall!

It’s been about a week since I last logged into this blog, and we have been really busy.  We were in New Jersey for a long weekend for my husband’s Grandpop’s 90th birthday celebration!

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 We stayed with Greyson’s Aunt Lulu and this is her backyard!  Yes, she lives on a lake, and it was glorious.

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 There was a big party for Greyson’s Grandpop on Sunday, and I got to meet a ton of my husband’s relatives that I had never met before.  Other than the party, there was a lot of hanging out with family, and a TON of eating.  Because they’re Italian, lol.

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 We slept with the window open every night and listened to the forest buzzing.  It was so awesome.  I can’t wait to go back!

I have some more pictures of the foyer, which is pretty big and has a lot of areas that can be decorated.  I showed you the decorations near the door earlier last week.  Today we’ll look the other way!

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 Here’s the foyer table decorated with all sorts of Halloween-y goodness.

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 The theme is clearly spooky black and red.  Witches’ brew, a skull, red books…

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Feathers, and an owl!

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 But wait!  Last week, my mother-in-law came home with this skeleton and skeleton dog. 

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I kind of love them, lol.

Fallifying Your Home

I looked it up, and ‘Fallifyingis a word, lol.  We’re talking simple ways that you can bring Fall into your home in order to make the most of September, my personal favorite transition month!  🙂  The morning air turned today, and when I took Kuma outside at about 4:45 AM, there was a slight chill in the air.  It was exciting!  That’s part of the reason I love this time of the year so much…  There’s so much promise — cold weather, more frequent family time, and of course, pumpkin everything!

Some of you may be waiting to decorate for Halloween until next month, so I thought I’d share some simple things that you can do around your home to switch out your Summer decor and make it a little bit warmer.

Screen Shot 2017-03-15 at 7.00.58 AMHome Bunch

Bring in some warm-colored flowers, and throw them into a basket instead of a pot.  The basket will add a layer of texture that is perfect for colder months.

Screen Shot 2017-03-15 at 7.01.59 AMThrifty Decor Chick

These velvet pumpkins are everywhere these days, but I love them so much.  They are the first things to come out at my in-laws’ house every year.  And you can get them lots of different places — AJ’s, HomeGoods, etc.

Screen Shot 2017-03-15 at 7.03.15 AMMiss Mustard Seed

Throw some gourds, pine cones, and kale in a bowl for a quick centerpiece.  Take out the kale, and it’s perfect for day-to-day decor.  I love the white-washed colors in this display.

Screen Shot 2017-03-15 at 7.04.22 AMJulie Blanner

I’m a fan of using antlers as decor pretty much any time of the year, but especially during the Fall and Winter months, I love ’em!  How pretty is this idea?  I would love to see this sitting on a side or foyer table.

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And how about this for cute and easy?

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Country Living

Of course, pinecones are always an effortless choice, too.

Halloween In the Foyer

Hello!  I hope you all had a great Monday and that you were able to sort of ease into the week.  I’m back today with a little bit more of our Halloween decor.  We’re taking a peek into the Foyer at just a couple of Halloween touches.  There’s an entry table in here, too, but that will be for another post.  🙂

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 I love that cute little Halloween pillow.  🙂  And the orange looks nice with the pattern on the bench!

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 And what Foyer is complete without a place to park your broom?  How else are we supposed to get around?!

Halloween Outside

Happy Weekend, friends!  I thought I would pop in to share the little bit of Halloween decorations that are outside since it is a bright, sunny day!  🙂  It’s just a couple of little touches, but they’re fun.

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 A giant fuzzy spider makes its way up the side of the house, attaching itself to a wall sconce!  Watch out — he sure is scary.

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 Here’s the front door with a warning sign.

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Marked up with a silver Sharpie marker, made pretty with a bow and some tulle, yet still spooky and festive.  I love when Halloween decor has that balance!

Next week I’ll take you inside!  🙂