Halloween Specimen Jars and Vintage Printables

I love science and I love Halloween so put the two together and what do you get... Creepy Mad Scientist, that's what!! This inspired me to add a little mad scientist to my Halloween decor this year. And the easiest way to do this is with some DIY specimen jars! I have done two versions of these, the first being the jar pictured above.

Here's what I used to create this jar:

For this project you will need: 

1. A cool jar (mine is from a thrift store)

2. Food coloring

3. Plastic animals, body parts, etc.!

4. Double stick tape

5. Creepy labels: I used vintage labels (9 total) I got from a local antique store, I have scanned all 9 of these labels in as a free printable PDF below:

Vintage Apothecary Labels 

Once you have all of your supplies gathered its time to start the "science project"!

First, fill your jar with water and then add food coloring according to the package to mix your desired color. I decided on lime green :).

Definitely a creepy color!

Next add in your plastic creatures, in my case frogs!!! (which really creeps my boyfriend out, he has a terrible, irrational fear of frogs!)

Last use double-stick tape to attach your label. And your creepy decor is complete. Make a bunch to fill your laboratory!

I also made some small jars using stoppered bottles from Michaels:

To make these, I simply added some Dollar Store creepy crawlies, water and chalk-able labels, also from Michaels!

My vintage bottle collection, made creepy with some inexpensive Halloween additions!

Tarantula! My fav :)

I plan to make more of these bottles, so stay tuned for more Mad Scientist Madness!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Liz :)

Fish Can Be Festive Too!!!

When I began decorating for Halloween this year it dawned on me that my fish tank (which is a focal point in my living room) was the perfect opportunity for a little extra decor! And I wanted to give Puff (that is our green spotted pufferfish's name!) a little Halloween spirit of his own!

I went online and checked out all of the major pet stores, confident that I would find some seasonal decor for my fish tank, BUT I was shocked to see that no pet stores carried Halloween fish decorations (I think I should start a line of seasonal tank decor since there is clearly a gap in the market!). Not to be defeated I went to the pet store anyways to see what I could come up with. I decided on a fluorescent orange artificial plant to add a little color and a creepy skull with red gemstone eyes (skulls were pretty much the only Halloween-like option, but at least it's something!) And then for the finishing touch I stuck some window-cling spiders to the outside of the tank I had picked up at the dollar store (even though I think these confuse Puff lol).

Creepy skull and bright orange plant 

These window clings are 3D, pretty cool for a dollar :)

I love how the tank looks and I think this is just the right "amount" of Halloween. It didn't break the bank either, everything cost me about $12. And most importantly, Puff seems to enjoy it too (I even caught him sleeping inside the skull the other day!).

Thanks for stopping by!

-Liz :)

Halloween Eyeball Wreath!

It's that wonderful time of year again, when you can make wreaths out of eyeballs and it's totally appropriate!! So that is exactly what I did to adorn my fireplace for Halloween!

First I had to make a bunch of eyeballs:

Eyeball Supplies:

1. 2 packages of styrofoam balls (12/pack) from Michaels
2. Rustoleum brand spray paint (I used 4 colors: Black, Navy, Olive green, Lagoon) If you are not a big fan of spray paint you could also try sponging on acrylics.
3. Cardboard templates (see below)
4. White paint pen
5. Skewers

So here's what I did:

I used two pieces of cardstock to make templates for the color of the eye and the black pupil:

I used a quarter for the large circle and I dime for the small :)

I skewered my styrofoam ball and stuck the other end of the skewer into a scrap piece of foam to hold it upright while I painted. Then I held my larger template up to the ball and sprayed with my eye color (gloves are a good idea if you don't want your hands to be covered in spray paint).

Here's my eyeball with the first circle painted.

Then I used the smaller template and placed it in the middle of the colored circle and sprayed with black spray paint to make the pupil.

Last using a white paint pen I added in a highlight dot on the edge of the pupil. This really brings the eye to life! 

Here are my first four completed. Keep repeating until all of your eyeballs are made! 

To make the wreath: I used a green styrofoam wreath from the dollar store that I spray painted black. First I attached a Halloween black and white bow (4$) onto the wreath. Then I began attaching eyeballs using toothpicks (I love using foam for projects, no glue needed!) Once all the eyeballs were in place, I hung my wreath on a command hook:

Eyeballs galore!

Wide angle :)

Close-up!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Liz :)

YaYYY for HALLOWEEN!

Let me start by saying... I LOVE HALLOWEEN!! I know I have already shared a halloween post, BUT now it's about to get serious! My blog is about to be totally Halloween-o-fied! So consider this a fair warning, if you don't enjoy Halloween as much as I do (which is a lot!!) then BEWARE!!

My first halloween post featured a display of revamped dollar store pumpkins, and guess what?! So does this one!! However, for this post I have created 10 different designs using Dollar Tree carve-able pumpkins! I love these, they are the perfect size and 1$!

Here's what they looked like before:

The one thing I wasn't crazy about with these pumpkins was the color :(, BUT that is easily fixed! I used three different kinds of spray paint for my pumpkins: Rustoleum Glossy Black, Rustoleum Flat Heirloom White and Rustoleum Chalkboard Spray! 

So without further delay, Check out the 10 different ways I decked out my dollar pumpkins:

1. Silhouette

First I sprayed this pumpkin with chalkboard paint. Then using a cut-out of a bat (I got a package of bat silhouettes from the dollar store!) I traced around the cut-out in pencil. Then went back over the outline in chalk and filled it in to create my silhouette. You could also Mod Podge a silhouette on, or use paint or a sharpie to create the same effect.

2. Glitter

I wanted to give this pumpkin a traditional jack-o-lantern face, but rather than carving it in I used glitter!  Simply draw on your face (or free-hand like me) and fill in your shapes with glue. Then sprinkle on some glitter and let dry. 

3. Decoupage

This one is pretty self-explanatory! I cut-out "BOO!" from some black/white damask wrapping paper I had on hand, and then Mod-Podged my letters on.

4. Bugs!

For this creepy-crawly pumpkin, I started by spraying my pumpkin glossy black. Then I used pins to attach some black plastic creepy crawlies (also from the dollar store) all around my pumpkin. Yea, it's kind of gross, BUT I kind of love it! 

5. Seed Beads

I used silver seed beads to create this "classy" looking pumpkin :). I randomly spread glue over the top of my pumpkin to make an organic design then loaded on the seed beads. (It kind of looks like a cupcake, BUT i think it works!) 

6. Chalk

This is another pumpkin I sprayed with chalkboard paint (I just love the look!) But for this one I went a little crazier with the chalk! First I drew lines the outline the sections of the pumpkin. Then in each section I wrote a Halloween word like "Haunt", "Spooky", "Ghost", etc. And finished off the top with some leaves and curly-q's. 

7. Googly Eyes!

This is another fun one! I bought a package of googly eyes (again dollar store!!), and glued these onto a glossy black pumpkin to spell out the date of All Hallows Eve!

8. Ribbon 

This is one of my favs! And so easy! I used two kinds of Halloween-themed ribbon (from Michaels) and cut pieces ling enough to span the height of my pumpkin. Then I secured them on the top and bottom with some dollar-store thumbtacks!

9. Duct Tape 

This pumpkin is decorated with Duck Brand houndstooth duct tape! Just keep taping until your pumpkin is covered!

10. Spider Transfers

Last but not least is my awesome spider pumpkin! Ok, I have to admit this is not totally a DIY because I got a little help from Martha Stewart on this one! For this pumpkin I used Pumpkin Transfers by Martha Stewart, which work essential like water-slide decals or temporary tattoos. I forgot to take a picture of the package :( but you can find these online or at most craft stores. I got these at Joann's 1/2 off! Only $2.99 for the package! 

Stay tuned to see how I used my $ DIY pumpkins to create an awesome display in front of my fireplace!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Liz :)