Christoween Part 3: Decor

Wrapping up the goodness that is Christallowmasween, we have...decor! I basically gathered up all the vaguely spooky items that we own and put them on the mantel, plus lights and a few dining room things. I actually really like the mantel and have no intention of moving the stuff on top, though I'll take the lights and hanging "Creepy Fabric" down (that's what it was labeled as at Target. Awesome.)

Sup, dead wedding flowers?

Army of owls!!

Apparently owls are very spooky this year. 

But are they as spooky as whiskey ads from 80's playboys and octopi??

 

 

 

This candle (and it's identical twin) was a gift from Travis's late grandmother. They are so divinely creepy and awesome and amazing. Low res action shot here. 

 

That's a snake skin the jar, there. From Long Charles (our under-porch snake), we think.

All of my plants end up dead or mutated :-(

Is that not the most perfect book of Poe tales you've ever seen?

Know what's totes creepy? Iodine and insulin. FROM THE PAST!! WOOooOOOooo.

And here are a few night shots:

 

 

See my new Chibi Totoro??? I screamed a little when I opened it. I didn't even like the movie that much but Chibi Totoro is my favorite thing that ever was. Since he is kind of a ghost he gets to be on the creepy mantel. 

 

The weird thing is that those green dots that are in every picture seem to have come from nowhere, which obviously means they're ghosts, because there is no other explanation, like camera weirdness or something. Nope. Ghosts. 

 

Oh, and we found a tree-topper! Kinda. It's an ornament. But whatever, close enough!

And thus concludes the holiday abomination that is Christoween. Next year I'm thinking...seafoam and red. But we'll see. OMG WHAT IF WE DID VALENTMAS? Or St. Hallowtine's.... 

Christoween Part 2: Gift wrap

I'm kinda weird, I love wrapping gifts. I spend way too much time and money on it. I grew up in a home where we were very "anything goes" with Christmas decorations- no Martha Stewarty tree themes, lots of mismatched giftwrap and bows and ribbon. Which is great and fun, and I think if Travis had his way we'd definitely go that route, but now that I get to do Christmas "my way" I think I'm rebelling by getting all matchy-matchy about it and all ;-) I like Martha Stewart, dammit.

(It helps that I don't have kids, playing Santa would probably wear out the best of my intentions.)

Anyway! Giftwrap!

I went with kraft-brown, black, white, gray, and little touches of orange, especially in the ribbons. I had some tiny old paper "luggage tags" or whatever you call them, so used those for names. There are some mini unbreakable ornaments on a few of them.

 

 The stamp set I used for my wedding place cards just happened to have a pumpkin! Those labels are leftover from our invitations, too. Here are the insides (sorry, cell pic):

 

 

 I would never put a subtle ribbon cross of St Peter on a child's Christmas present. What would make you say such a thing? (I didn't really mean to, it just happened.) 

 

Travis let me decorate my own presents (he wrapped them) because he knows how psychotic I get about these things. (Um, so, of course I used a weird mesh tube thing that I didn't actually want to part with because I have crazy dreams of putting it on a hat. Heh.)

By the time I got to my sister's gifts, I was out of useful bags and ended up putting them in these weird planters I got from Ikea awhile ago. They're cool, but the bottoms are rounded which is a wee bit impractical.

And then there's this, my pièce de résistance:

 Fuck yeah spider bow.

 

Nevermind the tape...I was worried hot glue would melt the weird gummy-rubber. (And obviously those are the only two options.)

 (Bonus shot:

   

 That's our weird faux fur tree skirt, peeking through... and the beginnings of a REAL spiderweb. After being up for like a week. Ridiculous.)


PS, Happy Apocalypse! If you missed it, there's a sale on over at my other blog. 

Christoween Part 1: The Tree

So I decided a little while ago that I was sad about never getting to use Halloween decorations... we don't generally have parties since most of our friends come into town around Thanksgiving and Christmas, and this year we weren't even in this country.

So this year, we're having Halloween for Christmas. And I am having way too much fun with it.

So without further ado, the tree:

I don't know if you know this, but fake black Christmas trees are really difficult to photograph... especially in a small space with weird light and a prime lens and a curtain that can't be moved any farther away :-P  This is literally the only angle where I could get the (almost) whole thing in the frame. (The next posts will look a little better, I promise.)

 

 Much to my husband's chagrin, I restricted the ornaments to shades of orange, brown, gold, silver, gray, black, and a little white. I think there's also a tiny touch of purple.

 

 We still need a tree topper :-( I keep forgetting to look for a boring blank star that I can cover in orange glitter. Because glitter is what Christmas and Halloween are all about.

 

 Look, it's Tiny Bat!

 

Gotta have a christmas pickle! It's not quite as fun when there are only two of you in the house though.

Next up, gift wrap!