Halloween Mantle

Miss M and I have been happily working on our 2011 Halloween mantle. We started with my very first auction purchase, circa 1979 -- the 400 pound desk drawer. Back then I cleaned it up, stained it walnut, and it hung in a couple of kitchens and craft rooms over the years. We just painted it Meeting House white, gave it a scuff, and it is now home to our Halloween apothecary jars and bits.

**Please try to ignore the Canadian Tire sconces. They came with the house (as did the green tile fireplace) and they are on our long list of items to replace. So, just squint and pretend they aren't there. That's what I do.

I love The Grapics Fairy's goodies. The skull and bat are from her site. The 'Pure Canadian Garden Gnome Heads' label was my creation last year.

I was so happy to find fake earthworms at Walmart this year!  The label can be found here. Our jar is now complete and topped with vintage crocheted lace made by my great grandmother. I wonder what she would think about me using it on a jar of Halloween worms...

The Fairy Pumpkins are sporting a fresh new label we made today. You can download it free HERE.

Our schnauzer was only too happy to contribute last year to the Werewolf Fur jar (label can be found here). The binoculars were my great grandfather's -- husband of Eliza, the worm jar lace maker. The keys were to their home.

One of our favourite new bits this year is our eyeball gumball machine! I picked this up at one of my favourite thrift stores last year for $3.99 and was going to paint it. Thank goodness I didn't get around to it. When I was sifting through my craft room for display victims it jumped out at me -- perfect for Halloween as is. All it needed was a good wash and one bag of gory gumballs. Minus the few that the assistant needed for quality control testing.

I almost did a happy dance in the Bibles for Missions thrift store when I found this fancy little decanter for 50 cents. The skull stopper was a HomeSense clearance buy for $1.50 last fall. Plastic fangs fill the thrift store jar that came with a red lid (label can be found on the link for the Werewolf fur above). I found three drippy battery operated candles that I paid regular price for (a rare occaision). They came with a remote control and Macy has had so much fun magically lighting and blowing out those candles that it was worth paying the full price for them.

After taking pictures today I realized we hadn't added any cobwebs. We'll finish tinkering and take some night time photos soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to Funky Junk Donna's Saturday Night Special.