Projects That Go Bump In The Night

Last Sunday feeling a little deprived and depraved because I had no Halloween party to plan this year, I decided to get my spooky on by hosting a Mystery Dinner for a group of 10 friends.  In anticipation of their arrival I went to my Pinterest board to see what I had pinned that I actually thought I could accomplish on a weeks notice and still leave me time to clean my house, set up and cook.

First up was converting a couple of Good Will silver trays into chalkboards.  Brawn cut out two pieces of thin plywood to fit the bottoms and I painted them with chalkboard paint. 

You might recognize the brooms, they have been all over the internet, but I got the inspiration right from InspiredByCharm.  Michael did a whole wall.  I was pretty proud of myself for freehanding the brooms and I intended to go back and write the *names* like his, but never got back to it. 
 
After I saw an amazing haunted dining room at BeauxR'eves,  I knew I had to copy her Madame Leota from the crystal ball in the Haunted Mansion at Disney.  I didn't get any photos of Ms. L. last night - you know I got busy enjoying my guests and not once picked up the camera - but I stuck a couple glow sticks in her skull and she looked pretty creepy, and I loved it.

 While you are admiring Ms. Leota's beauty, look on top at the bird.  I also copied Shannon at FoxHollowCottage.  (If you are keeping track that is three copies so far in this post).  Shannon tore apart a simple stainless steel scrubbie (.50¢ each at the dollar store) and used it as nest filler.  Yeah, I pinned that great idea and then did it. 

The Eyes Have It

My absolute favorite project last week was the Paranormal Portraits that I copied from Tracy at CrowsFeetChic.  I took a few photos from the internet, and the rest were photos of the guests at the party that I turned into black and whites.  Cracked. Me. Up.  Third person from the right is Dii, my one BFF who knows I blog.  (Hi Dii).  I had plenty of frames, just took out the glass and got lucky that the lights stuck right in without tape.  I think the secret was foam board as the mat.

Eventually I will get around to doing a post about the above dresser from helll redo.  That monster of a dresser keeps showing up in my posts but the horror of it's conversion is still too fresh in my mind and I just can't bring myself to blog about it just yet.  I hope you understand.  I'm traumatized and may never pick up a paint brush again.

Last, lest you think all I do is copy everyone, I do have something that I didn't copy.  My oldest daughter is a stained glass artist.  She worked in that trade for I forget how many years six maybe?  Before she left, she took me to the studio, and since she got the patience gene in our family, was able to teach me how to make a simple project.

Yes that is a glass block stuffed with a string of half lit orange lights.  But no, that is not a sticker on the front or around the edges.  That BOO is cut out of stained glass, and the edges of the block are done in mosaic with the pieces and grouted.  I love it, but mostly I love it because I got to spend the day with my daughter.

Close up of the edge

The glass block works as a night light till Halloween.  I should make a stained glass Christmas block.  I wonder if my daughter has any patience left to do another one with me?

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