A Broke Girl's Guide to Halloween

My husband and I aren't as bad off as some people, but by no means do we have any money to spare on decorations for our new place. This goes against everything in me since Halloween is my favorite holiday ever! All I want to do all season long is throw money at the stores for those amazing decorations. I know some people despise the fake spiders and the molding pumpkins and the creepy kids, but for some reason Halloween clicks with my family. My mom is the same way.


So imagine me. Creator and crafter. Home alone all day and getting bored with work. I must create! I go into my shrinking supply of goodies and head over to Pinterest to plan out my Halloween decorations. I found a fair amount I could make for free from supplies already in my house!

Before I start showing up my amazing photos, let me explain something first. I posted back in February that my husband and I were searching for houses and had finally decided on this beautiful with disgusting green everything. The one horrible real estate agent handed us off onto an even worse one and one thing lead to another... Eventually, we gave up. All the more proof that everything happens for a reason. 

As soon as we gave up hope on the green house, or any of the other ones we were looking at from the same agency, I received a text message from one of our best friends. He was the best man at our wedding and has been close to the both of us for many, many years. He told me that he was currently living in a duplex a couple towns over from my in-laws (where we were currently living at the time) and the bottom floor was empty. I didn't set my expectations high, but I contacted the landlord anyways.

To sum up the rest of the story and get back to the Halloween amazingness, the place was perfect for us! Perfect size, perfect rent, perfect scenario. I will post more information and pictures of it soon.

Back to the Halloween decorations now...

I wanted to start from the outside and work in. What's something that I definitely could get for free? Sticks! We have woods behind our home so I wondered out into them and gathered some sticks.

I created a basic skinny wreath and crocheted some orange flowers to spice it up a little. I then put together a witch's broom inspired by Over the Big Moon's post. (My cute little toad stool was bought from Walmart last spring.) My absolute favorite part is the vines growing out of moss, inspired by a photo on Always the Holidays. I used some basic white clay with red food coloring to make the tentacles and then wrapped electric wire around it after it cooled.

 

Forgive the finger in the edge of the picture =P

The inside of the house is where I really worked my cheep-o DIY magic! My kitchen didn't receive too much attention, so we'll start there. I tried to make a crochet spider web inspired by a picture I found on Bohemian Homes, but it's a bit too doily for my tastes. I feel like if I spent more time adjusting the strings, it would have skewed how I wanted it to.

Next, I decided that a chalkboard printout would be great on the fridge! I could replace it every time season. I found this perfect one at Nest of Posies along with a autumn themed one I'll use once Halloween has passed.

The key to crafting on a budget is don't throw things away that you can repurpose and upcycle! The last little touch I added to my kitchen is these two candy corns made from drink tops on top of magnets. They don't even need to be glued so I can change them out and make other things!

Next to my front door, there's this long, thin wall that is simply too empty. I found a pin that led me to Sand & Sisal's post for a DIY Boo Raffia Wall Hanging. I thought this would be perfect against that wall, but there was a slight problem: I had none of the materials. What I did have, however, was yarn, a black and white printer with paper, scissors, single hole punch, glue stick, and cardboard. I simply printed out the letters, cut them out, glued them to the cardboard, and then cut out the cardboard letters. Then I used a single hole punch and punched holes at the top and bottom of the B and first O and the top only of the second O. I used tan yarn to tie it all together and make a loop to hang it all from. I like the slight ragged look I ended up with.

I then used some empty frames I had (no money to print big enough pictures to put in them) and put them to good use filling up our empty wall space! I found these perfect silhouettes over at Eighteen25 and the Halloween printable in the middle at Craft-O-Maniac. I only have black ink so I printed out the black and white option and used an orange Sharpie along with some scrapbooking supplies to snazz it up. The pom-pom garland hanging across my window was inspired by My Fabuless Life.

My windowsills posed an interesting challenge for me. My cats love sitting in them and sprawling out. So I had to make something that would not be breakable or become subjected to their tiny claws. I whipped up some tiny pumpkins and brains (some zombie ones too), as well as some pine cones for after Halloween inspired by Planet June. Shatter proof!

Kule and Mischief -_-

For our entertainment center, I filled up the area between our Xbox and Playstation with yarn wrapped bottles. I have some colors for Halloween, and more to switch out for when it's over. I can even make more for Christmas!

Now the bedroom is probably the prettiest room to look at. The people who lived here before us had a very nice eye for color. The walls a lovely soft shade of green, so I've opted for a black, white, and grey color scheme. The only additions I made in here was the cameo in the frame and the pumpkin. I've looked and looked and looked and I cannot find where I download the printable, but as soon as I figure it out I'll update this with the link!

Isn't it all so cute! The best part is that I spent NO MONEY! This was all from things I could find around the house or free off the internet. If I keep adding to my decoration stash every year than I'll have a perfect arsenal by the time I have children.

Keep tuned for even more Halloween excitement!