Halloween Decorating, Take 2: Thrift Shopper's Revenge

Last week was pretty slow at my work, so I had a lot of time off. And for me, a lot of time off in October directly translates into "a lot of time to work on Halloween decorations." So after a bit of perusing Pinterest for ideas, I was off to the thrift stores.

My first find was a plain old mirror for $2 or $3. Square black frame, nothing spectacular about it. So I flipped it over and sanded a circle on the back of it, removing the mirrored stuff so I could sort of see through the glass (it was scratched up, obviously).

The front then looked like this. Still smooth, but something weird was going on in that corner.

Then, I took to the Googley-net and found a picture of a hag/witch that I liked terrified me.

Then it was time for some oil-rubbed bronze spray paint on the frame. I'll explain the other items in the picture below shortly.

 

Once the frame was dry, I put the mirror back in place and taped my printed picture to the back of the mirror, right where I had sanded the reflective surface away. So now when anyone checks themselves out in the mirror, they may end up doing a double take. Creepy lady staring at you from the other side of the mirror! Watch out!

My inspiration for this project can be found here. I would have liked to find a beveled mirror like in that picture, and maybe make my hag a little bigger, but overall, I love how this came out.

The truth is, I did find a beveled mirror at the next store. It had a lovely patina and the frame was even shaped like a tombstone! So then I had the idea to turn it into a tombstone and leave a spot so you could see your reflection on the grave.

So as you saw in that spray painting picture a few back, I taped off part of the middle and sprayed the frame with oil-rubbed bronze spray paint. My intention was to then go over it with gray, but let some of the black show through for dimension.

But to be honest, once I saw what the oil-rubbed bronze spray did to the mirror, I loved it so much I couldn't bear to paint over it. It looked like something that would be in the attic of the Haunted Mansion in Disney World. Sort of old, creepy, and glam all at once. So that was another quick project for under $3.

Another picture frame I bought for $3 was this clown painting. Real painting that someone had professional matted and framed. But you gotta admit, even before I touched it, this thing was a little creepy.

 

Not to say that I couldn't make it much, much creepier ...

All that took was some black paint (I painted right over the glass since it was professionally bound together and I couldn't get the back off) and some fake blood (again, just put it right on the glass).

Once it was dry, I used it to along with some other fabulous finds to create a little tableau in my dining room.

I bought the bleeding candles at Spirit Halloween store, but if you have red wax candles, you can just drip them right onto your white candles and it will look even better than these.

I cut the silhouette of Frankenstein out of black construction paper. Then I just taped it to orange paper and put it in a 50-cent frame from Salvation Army. I did a witch for the other frame that I hung just above this one. Also, I spray-painted the wood frames when I did the mirrors. The skull on a pedestal is from Michaels last year.

The tray was also at one of the thrift shops. Thought it was glamorous but also could have been used in the Tower of Terror Hotel or something. Roses are from Target. Crow plucking the eyeball out of a skull is from Michaels.

Here's the full scene again with a little more light. I realize the little witch frame is way too small over there, but I was mostly trying to use existing nails without making a bunch more holes in the walls. But I may move things around a little if I can create better balance.

Oh and did you notice my plates on the wall? Those were my favorite project, although they required the most time and work. I saw some cool plate walls here and here and here, so I figured I would try my hand at it. I found a ton of white dishes at the thrift shops for like 50 cents each, so I grabbed three that I thought looked good together.

I tried to pick designs that didn't require too much detail since I didn't have a super fine Sharpie marker, just a "sort of" fine one. lol Then I just looked around on Google and Pinterest until I found the specific images to look at and draw. I think I drew all three images on paper really quick, just to figure out where I would probably screw up and have to pay closer attention when I drew it.

The brilliant thing about a Sharpies on ceramic plates is that you can wipe away mistakes without a trace just by getting them wet. Also, you can just keep making your lines thicker until you get them even. Once you're finished, you just have to be careful not to touch the marker parts too much. They don't really smear once they are dry, but you can still pull up the design a bit. So it'll be fun figuring out how to store these things.

I hung the plates with little metal plate holders/hooks my mom had bought for me a while back.

I also added these little guys. They were in the dollar section at Target.

And I put some pretty witch paper in one of the frames along the staircase.

But Chris had to get in on the Halloween decorating action too, so here's his awesome contribution:

That's right. Our bushes have eyes.

The flash on and off so they eyes are just peaking at your sometimes. Pretty awesome. We are so ready for some trick-or-treaters now!

He bought those as Spirit Halloween, too. 

So there's round two of Halloween decorations. Will there be a round three? Who knows?