The Hutch

Well, I just couldn't get everything done this year.  I had hoped to have my hutch refinished so I could do my haunted bookcase/apothecary...but it just didn't happen.  So I had to quickly come up with something else instead.  (the bottom of the hutch is still there, it is the top part with the shelves that is missing...still sitting in the garage)

The witchy clothesline is something I plan on putting in the basement laundry room when it is finished, but until then I thought it would help fill in some space around the hutch.

I used the font "bleeding cowboy" (you can google it and download it for free).  I like it because it looks like it is dripping wet, but looks spooky at the same time.  :)  I'm also quite proud of my clever witchy clothesline saying.  For once I didn't copy the idea from somebody else!

I painted clothespins black and used twine for the rope.  For the "socks" I cut up two pairs of costume tights and finished the edges just like the baby tights HERE.  I suppose you could probably just leave them as is, but I liked the frilly look.

 For the bottom part of the hutch I just made a smaller version of what my apothecary will look like.  All these items were just randomly found at thrift stores and craft store clearance racks.  Super duper inexpensive stuff here.

 I also didn't get around to putting all the potion labels on the bottles.  That can be another fun thing to look forward to doing next year!

 If I get some energy I might fill up some of the jars with fun candies or something cute like that.  We shall see.

I think the hutch area turned out great, but it is fun knowing that I will have this area to decorate differently next year when the hutch is finished!

Outside - Stage 1

Sorry for the delay in the tour...even Halloween crazy people need a break sometimes.  :)

Today we'll jump outside to see the first stage of decorating.

Last year we did the bats across the door, but decided to extend it to the other side of the house too. I had them coming out of the basement windows as if it was...well...the bat cave.  :)

 I've always wanted to do Martha's witch and cat silhouettes (found here) and finally found the time to do it this summer.  If you want a great tutorial on how to make it, I used THIS one by the little blue room.  I made some design modifications to her left arm cloth and to the cats heads to help them look more natural...but beside that I pretty much followed the printed pattern.

I wish I could have found a better broom, but this $6 one from Kmart will do just fine for this year.

I got her a great lantern for super cheap at a thrift store.  It looks cool at night with the battery operated candle inside.

And speaking of lights, I've had a hard time figuring out how to light this lady up from behind at night.  At first I found these cool battery operated touch lights that looked perfect, but it drained 4 AA batteries in two hours!!!  Can you believe it!!!  Needless to say, I am looking for other light sources now.  Hopefully I'll have something figured out before Halloween is over. 

All in all I am quite satisfied with how it look so far!

See all those pretty flowers still?  I love them, but they are definitely ruining the Halloween look...and are taking up precious space.  But Fall has finally come to this area and I'm certain we can expect a freeze by the end of this week, so I will finally be able to pull up all those flowers and move on to Stage 2...which will include urns, pumpkins, creepy crates, rats, lanterns, and more.  Hopefully it will stop raining long enough for me to put everything out...and I'm praying it won't start snowing! (which wouldn't be unheard of around here...)

Tomorrow we'll go back inside!