I Can Make That Halloween Decor #crafts

Do you ever see a holiday decoration and think to yourself, “I could make that,” or look at the crafts in a magazine and want to attempt them? I do, but I never seem to follow through. The first thing I always tell myself is I don’t have time (which isn’t untrue). We are all busy people and have a million things going
on, and it is hard to make the time. The second is it would be cheaper just to buy it, and I do often feel that is the case. The third reason I have for not attempting the cute crafts is mine will never look as good as the picture. I am not particularly artistic—I couldn’t draw a straight line if my life depended on it and I had a ruler in hand. However, I love to craft and I love Halloween, so when Mandie asked me to write a Halloween post for Taking Time for Mommy I jumped on the chance.

This was all the reason I needed to try all the things I had been avoiding. First, I scoured the internet for crafts that looked feasible. I found the majority of them on the DIY network and Good Housekeeping. Second, over my lunch at work I went to Michael’s because I had a 40% off coupon (you can sign up online). I made a list of what I needed to complete all of the crafts I had printed pictures for, however once there I couldn’t find everything I needed so some of the ideas morphed into something similar. Third, I set myself up a work station in the family room so I could work on crafts while I watched television at night. Hello, two birds, I’d like you to meet one stone. Between finding the crafts, making lists, shopping and setting up I would say I spent 2.5 hours.
Craft #1: Nevermore sign
The original from
Good Housekeeping web site-
I love this, and it looks easy enough. Basically, spray
paint a branch black, attach a bird and make a sign.
Easy peasy. However, this craft would not work
for me for a couple reasons. First, I do not have a cubby hole above my mantle. Second, getting the branch to stand is less easy then one might believe. Poe was too tempting to pass up, so this idea reformed into something that would work with my house and the space available.

Rule #1: Be flexible.
I found a plain wood sign that could stand on its own for 3.99. Next, I bought two crows for 2.99 each. Those were the only purchases I made for this decoration (tools on hand: paint, brushes, printer, hot glue, regular glue, scissors, Poe’s complete works, and a frame bookend).

Monday evening I sat down to watch the new fall lineup and work on my crafts. I painted the sign, it took approximately thirty minutes. While it dried, I printed off “nevermore” by highlighting the area around the word in black and changing the letters to white and cut them out. I glued the letters onto the sign when it was dry and hot glued the bird on top. The bird wasn’t easy to attach. Several burns later I had the bird precariously perched on top of the sign.

Rule #2: Do not catch dripping hot glue with your hand.
I cleared one shelf off and set to decorating. I happened to have picture frame bookends with Poe’s picture already in them. If you don’t have those then you can use any frame around your house and go online and print a black and white picture of Poe instead.

Final product:

   Total cost- $10
Total time- 1 hour
Reusable
Thoughts- I like the original picture more, but given that it wasn’t possible to recreate in my house I am happy with this. I would have never thought of doing a Poe themed shelf for Halloween, but now that I have one I see it staying around.

Liz Schulte is the author of Dark Corners a suspenseful and chilling paranormal thriller. Visit her on Facebook and her Blog.