Halloween Mantle

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to decorate for. I'm not sure why it is exactly, but I love the colors and the fun you can have with it. Now for me, Halloween is not simply an orange and black holiday--those are everyday colors since I am an Oregon State Beaver's Fan. So Halloween colors for me involve a combination of orange, black with purple and green. In celebration of October, this is my mantle from last year (please forgive the quality of the photography!)

Here you can see the right hand side of the mantle. On the end you can see a tombstone, a skull and a cat. All of these were purchased from either Target or the Dollar Tree. I was in search of a haunted house, but I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for one. This one was the perfect compromise. It was a house, but since it was made out of paper it was very inexpensive. To make it stand out more I added green and orange tissue paper to the back. In this photo you can also see the green, orange, and purple sparkle candles. When I saw these candles at Michael's I knew I needed to make them mine. However I patiently waited until they were on sale before purchasing them. Finally you can see I have my smallest apothecary jar filled with candy corn. I have a love hate relationship with candy corn. I love the look of it, and I love to eat it...up to a point, and then I feel like it's just a big waxy tasting mess. I will admit that I ate more than my fair share of candy corn last year. The jar is not completely filled. I took a Solo cup and placed it in the middle so the candy corn is just around the outside. It still took a lot of candy, but not nearly as much as it could have. 

I have a major crush on this centerpiece. I think it is perfect for Halloween. It is all black and the feathers give it such great texture. For me it conjures up images of ravens and witches.

Finally you can see my witches hat, purchased from Lowe's, and an apothecary jar filled with colored ornaments. The larger balls are Christmas style ornaments and the smaller balls are Styrofoam balls covered in glitter. 

The ornament set on the right is the set I purchased from Hobby Lobby. It is perfect I can use the orange, green, purple and pink for Halloween. The red and green go well for Christmas. The green can also be used for St. Patrick's Day (and maybe the orange too). Red and blue for 4th of July. The blue for winter. It has really turned out to be very versatile. The small Styrofoam balls come in colors and a size that complement these ornaments well. 

The mantle isn't the only place I decorate for a holiday. I usually also do something for our guest bathroom, put out coordinated hand towels in the kitchen and make a napkin/centerpiece display. Below you can see some cute soap dispensers Joann's had last year. I couldn't pass up the candy corn one!

 Happy Haunting!