Dusty Walls and Ghostly Writings

There's something kinda spooky about chalk. Wipe clean your image and left behind is a ghostly image of drawings past. There's something wonderfully wicked about old dusty chalkboards. Dusty old anything reminds me of tattered sheets in the wind and creaky doors. Perfect for a little Halloween fun! Check out some of these wicked Halloween inspirations using chalkboard paint and some good old dusty chalk.


Poetic Home has some fantastic chalkboard ideas...


Old books and planters make great Halloween accessories! Not to mention that vintage typewriter... where can I get me one of those?


Apartment Therapy knows how to spook up some glam with chalkboard paint borders.


Make online has these fantastic chalkboard paint bottles. Write dusty messages or contents of potion bottles on them!


LittleBigHead made this super cute chalkboard pumpkin. Dress him up differently every day! I personally dig the mustachio look.


What about this charming chalkboard witch from Colonial Candle? I bet you could make your own with some chipboard and vintage photos.

Chalkboard paint is a great way to not only add a little darkness, but an ever changing surface! Paint a frame, paint and old statue... it all looks cool with chalkboard paint and a little imagination.

Soup in a ... Pumpkin?

There are a few things in fall I cherish above all others. Halloween, leaves, Halloween, cold air, pumpkins, halloween, apple cider, decorating for Halloween, and hot soup in a bread bowl. And Halloween. I might have mentioned that already. Hot soup in a bread bowl is just about as "fall-y" as you can get, but it wasn't quite as Halloweeny as you can get- until now. Check out this awesome recipe:


Yum yum! Soup in a pumpkin shaped bread bowl! Perfect for Halloween parties or just fall goodness. Don't worry, it's not weird pumpkin flavored bread or anything, which people always seem to think is a good idea until they have to taste it with split pea soup. Eww...

Get the how to over at The Idea Room.

Ghoulish Gothic Halloween

I just had to share this Halloween party mash up from Better Homes and Gardens. I love how it mixes up the usual black and orange, into a strangely eerie black and sickly neon greens. It's halloween all right, but a nice change if you're looking for something a little different or a little less pumpkin-y for your ghoulish feast.












Get more over on Better Homes and Gardens.

Deadly DIY - Faux Mercury Glass Pumpkins

Fall is really and truly here, and I celebrated today by doing one of my favorite fall activities: apple picking! We went out to an orchard and picked crisp fall apples, ate too much wild rice soup, drank too much apple cider (as if there is such a thing) and picked out some pumpkins.

We got a truly glorious pumpkin specimen from a local grower that would have cost us at least an arm, maybe a leg and a half, at our local grocery store. It made me appreciate how nice real pumpkins are and how crappy some of the local ones can be. Most of the time I go for fake punkins, just because they're shaped so much nicer. Still, faux orange plastic pumpkin doesn't exactly instill the chills of Halloween proper, does it? So here's a way to take your plastic pumpkins and make them shine... literally!



Get the full tute over on the DIY showoff (scroll down a bit), and give your pumpkins and elegant, spooky shine.

When Tim Burton does Fashion...

... the results are spectacular. Someone gave Tim Burton the full run of a fashion shoot, so lucky you gets to check out some Halloween Haute Couture from the pages of Harper's Bazaar. Deliciously wicked and wonderfully fashionable to boot. And OMG that skeleton. Never mind that these halloween costumes are a few grand a piece, the results are faabulous dahling...







See more over at Harper's Bazaar.

Vampire Martini

Looking for the perfect Halloween drink? Well if you're done with banishing fall chills with an apple cider martini, maybe you're all for adding some chills. How bout a ghoulishly good vampire kiss martini? First add the perfect garnish with HWTM's hard candy blood drip, and then mix as follows:

* 1 1/2 oz Finlandia Vodka
* 1 1/2 oz Korbel Champagne
* 3/4 oz Chambord

1. Pour vodka and half of the Chambord in a martini glass.
2. Top with Champagne.
3. Pour the remaining Chambord over the back of a spoon to make it float.

Can be enjoyed by Twilight and regular folks alike. Drink up :)

The Invitations...

Today is officially the first day of fall, and you know what that means... it's time to send out invitations! I've been working on mine a little bit each night. I designed the front and inside, printed it out on colored paper, and tore each out. I'm hand stamping the envelopes and sealing them with some fun Halloween metal stickers. They're not done of course, but what do you think?


If you want to make one of your own, just download this image and print it on some spooky colored paper. Enjoy!