Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Halloween Mantle 2011 {Frugal Décor}

I love décor, but I am a cheap ass.

I said it. I have no shame. I love all things beautiful, sparkly and fabulous, but only if I can afford them. Hence, why $1 stores are my BFF for every holiday season. You can find so much stuff there, if you shop early. For instance, most of the stuff I used on my Halloween mantle is from Dollar Tree and I bought it in August. No joke. People were still buying school supplies, and I was like, “Um, excuse me, are these all the ceramic pumpkins you have?”

Yeah. I’m THAT girl.

There I was…ahead of the game in August. And here I am, today, the girl who JUST finished her Halloween mantle. But hey, it’s done, I love it, and I seem to decorate well under pressure. The only thing I DIY’d for my mantle are my spider web votives. Everything else I pretty much bought as is from Dollar Tree or Hobby Lobby. I focused on using the stuff I had, and making a lot of impact with minimal money, time and effort.

Here is how my mantle has looked for about 6 months. It makes no sense. I’m almost embarrassed to show you all because it’s so not fabulous.

A mess. A hot mess.

So I cleared it all off, and got to work brainstorming…

I remembered I had the IKEA Ung Drill frame that I never did anything with + some damask wrapping paper left over from my DIY wedding cardbox, plus the stuff from my trip to Dollar Tree, plus some spider webs I got on clearance last year and I came up with this:

But, as is that’s not good enough, I then decided to light the candles + I incorporated 6 LED tealight candles to give it a spooky glow.

Now let’s take a look at all the components that make up my chic, spooky Halloween mantle.

A photo of 2 lovely girls…errr, maybe not.

This owl is actually an oil warmer from Bath & Body Works.

The total time it took me was about an hour. The total cost, well, I will say it wasn’t much, but basically each item cost me about $1. So, let’s say about $14-$20 for the individual components + everything else I had on hand. Even better? I can totally reuse everything next year, so I won’t have to buy it again.

But don’t be surprised if I am the crazy lady asking where the pumpkins are in early August.

If you’re into DIY-ing lots of stuff, Amazon has great prices on craft stuff and most of it has free shipping with a $25+ order.

New here? Here are some other Halloween tutorials I’ve posted this year (click on photo to be taken to the tutorial in a new window):