My 5 favorite Semi-Homemade Halloween Trends!

It was hard to narrow it down to only my top 5 favorite halloween trends, when there are so many great ones out there! But here is my semi-homemade take on the ones that showed up at our house this year!

1. Black & white - go modern

It's hard to believe that I'd be willing to take orange out of the equation.... since I bleed orange and all (Go, Pokes! Great win over Baylor this weekend!) But there's an element of spooky sophistication when you limit yourself to black and white. And given more time and money (damn recession!), I'd have let black and white scary stuff take over my whole house!

Another spray paint project.... I attacked this craft pumpkin with white spray paint... There's actually now a real pumpkin, sitting next to this one.... I spray painted it black and added a black & white polka dot bow!

2. Purple & green - go fresh, go new, go Wicked!

For this semi-homemade idea, I had a tube of green, glittery skulls I found (cheap!) at Home Goods.... I tied one to a witch's broom from Michael's, knotted some purple & black tulle (y'all know how much I love, love tulle!) and done! Cheap, fast, semi-homemade!

I needed to switch out my dough bowl centerpiece.... so 5 more of the skulls + purple shredded paper. Even easier!

I still had a few more skulls.... and I'd found this hat in a closet, left over from when Big Sis was a witch for Halloween 2 years ago. I added it all to the copper bowl in my nook.... and I think the end result is a little Wicked inspired....

One weekend I was feeling crafty.... loving the purple & green for Halloween concept.... and totally procrastinating on some work I had brought home. The result? My guest bathroom got Boo'ed!

I bought those letters at Hobby Lobby (mecca for the semi-homemade!) - they're cardboard, or something... I painted the edges black (I knew the leftover paint from G-man's helmet would come in handy someday!)..... modgepodged some purple & green scrapbook paper onto the letters.... and then cut them out with an exacto knife!

The result is a cheerful green & purple Boo!

3. Personalize it- the semi-homemade way... with decals!

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Okay.... hi, my name is Elaine and I'm addicted to spray paint. I seriously am... it's on our 'grocery' list more often than I'd like to admit. I spray painted this cute punkin to the left white....added a bow and a decal from Decal Monogram, an Etsy seller I adore and have worked with on numerous occasions (she did the monogram in Big Sis's room!) Please, please check out her blog and Etsy store - you'll love her, too!

Another great decal from Decal Monograms... after I spray painted the craft pumpkin, I added our family monogram! (Now I just need some great black leaves to glue to the top!)

I've got one more pumpkin, with fresh white (spray) paint drying... and I've got THE cutest decal to put on it - I'll try to finish it and add here during the wk!

We even customized our front porch! If you look really, really, really close.....


You can see the names of the kiddos on the pumpkins! (Okay, okay, they don't really have their blog names on them.... but trust me, their real names are there!)

4. Go spooky - for recession-proof decorating, do spoooooky!

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A few bucks gets you severl spooky cobwebs.... then you can turn your normal living room... into a Semi-Homemade Haunted Mansion!

As much as I like to clean, it's amazing my house doesn't REALLY look like this! ;)

These candles sit on this pedestal by my sink all year. But I added a $1 tombstone, a couple spiders, and some black and purple tulle..... and now you're in my Semi-Homemade Scary Diner!

5. Recession means repurpose! - at least in this house!

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So much of my decorating this year was from things I already had at home... but used in different ways!

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My glass jar got some candy corns and a festive new bow!

I have this candelabra out 24/7..... But I wrapped a black boa (with tiny shots of metallic green!) around it and now it's spookified!

Everything on my mantel is from Halloweens past.... years and years ago.... except the tiny pumpkins, from my dad's garden in OK!

Okay, time to work on our Halloween party - it's this Friday and we can't wait! I'm sure we'll have several fun pictures to share of friends, costumes and fun!

6 days to Halloween!