Easy Halloween Decorating

I’ve been having fun working on things to update my Halloween décor. Heavily black and white/cream, with accents of paler orange tones. Mr. Chocolate’s a little nervous that we haven’t even gotten out the actual Halloween bin(s) yet!

One easy way to decorate is to swap out pictures in frames that are already part of your décor. Easy to bring consistency and seasonal updates together. No one makes that easier to do than The Graphics Fairy! I found this guy whom I’ve nicknamed “Skelly” at Karen’s wonderful site:

How cute is a skeleton in a top hat? Using my graphics program, I gave him a bow tie and a mustache, generated the text, and printed on a sheet of paper from DCWV’s “Ghosts and Goblins” stack. Done and done.

In keeping with the “accent what you have” idea, I had some scraps of paper that I loved and wanted to use them up so I made some pinwheel medallions, combining different papers / patterns. Wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them until I decided to make a “demi-garland” since I didn’t make enough for a full garland. Was passing by a piece of faux stained glass I made years ago (BB…Before Blogging) and….

An old window I picked up and decorated using Plaid’s Gallery Glass.

For the centers, I downloaded a skull image from the internet, printed on cream cardstock and punched with a 2” round punch.

Now to go through those bins!

Linking Up At:

Repurposed Dress Halloween Wreath

Yes, all those words really do go together.

I recently cleaned out my closet and while I donated most things to Goodwill, I saved a few pieces because of the fabric. One was a black and white checked dress . I’ve see tons of cute yarn wreath ideas but know I don’t have the patience for all that wrapping. But I thought hmmmm….maybe strips of fabric? Out came the rotary cutter and I cut strips and strips and strips (I think about 20 total) and tied them around one of those green styro wreath forms from Dollar Tree.

 Since I was not at all sure where this was going, or if it was going anywhere, I didn’t take pics along the way. Once I had my wreath form wrapped, I trimmed the edges with pinking shears . I thought it would be fun to give this wreath a back so I cut a circle of Halloween Cardstock from DCWVs “Ghosts and Goblins” pack and hot glued it to the back.

I had a pack of black Halloween silhouette die cuts I picked up at Michaels ( Recollections) . Fingerpainted some glue randomly on my selected images and sprinkled with fine clear glitter and the middle vial of  this stuff I found at Michaels from Art C:

I embellished another bird the same way and went over the spiders with just the glue, glitter and some self adhesive rhinestones.

Finished it off with some ribbon from my stash (one of those after Christmas I know I’ll use it sometime finds at 75% off somewhere!)

What’s in your closet?

Linking Up At: 

BFF Open House Link Party#21 Wrap Up and Features

Once again, a big thanks to everyone who linked up to Friday’s BFF Open House. As always, so many incredible ideas which makes it hard to highlight just a few but here goes!

You’ll never guess the source of this tres chic grain sack pillow from Charm Bracelet Diva .  I’ll bet  you don’t guess it!

If you have a party to plan , check out these adorable invites Michele at The Scrap Shoppe whipped up with her Silhouette which can PRINT SUFF!!! I didn’t know. As if I didn’t already want one !

This could be adapted to so many themes!

I adore nature projects and using found things. Carolyn at homework shows how to combine both with stunning effect in this twig frame:

Twigs! From. Your. Yard!

Don’t bake but love all the cute cupcake wrappers that are everywhere? Here’s a no-bake way to whip up something sweet. Sarah from Alderberry Hill shows us what to do:

Easily adaptable to any holiday or season.
Have a wonderfully creative week and look forward to seeing you all again on Friday!

Magic of Oz Plaque and Card

I have loved “The Wizard of Oz” for as long as I can remember. As a kid I watched it every year when it came on TV and have it on VHS, DVD and 75th Anniversary DVD and still watch it when it comes on cable!
When the book “Wicked” came out, read that, and have seen the musical of the same name. One of my BFFs and I share this addiction passion. Lucky her…she’s getting to see “Wicked” AGAIN!

When I found “The Magic of Oz” paper collection from Graphic 45, there was no question about getting it!  I bought the 8x8 pad and several 12x12 sheets.

No question I was making something with these papers for her birthday!
The plaque in the first picture was made using a panel of the 12x12 paper. It was perfect on its own so I Mod-Podged it to a tile of MDF. I painted the edges of the tile with some of the new Martha Stewart glitter paint ( I’m in LOVE!). The only embellishments I added were clear self adhesive rhinestones.

For the card, I cut out another panel from the 12x12 to use as the focal and again, this paper is so detailed I hesitated to do anything else and normally I’m a more is more kinda girl. I accented different parts with Stickles just to give it some dimension.
Used a sheet of the poppy paper from the pack ( did I mention all the papers are reversible? ) and dotted the centers of the poppies with more Stickles.

You can see the Stickles accents on the Lion’s snout, Scarecrow’s buttons and cheeks and the hem of Dorothy’s dress.

BFF Open House Link Party #21 !

I really think that as we get later into the year, the weeks are going by faster. Wasn’t it just Friday? Not that I’m complaining AT ALL! Looking forward to our annual visit to the Puyallup Fair ( that’s “pew-al-up” to you non Western Washingtonians) and having a Krusty Pup ( corn dog but doesn’t it sound more fun as a Krusty Pup?) and their world famous (at least in Washington) scones! There may also be fudge involved. Thank goodness there’s lots of walking  to do!

I’ve gotten way lazy, busy,  off track with the blog feature portion of the BFF Open House. So I need some help. I still want to focus on new and emerging blogs ( no offense you big blog people), those with no more than say 500 followers. So if you are a crafty / décor / DIY/scrappy / card making / chocolate related / jewelry kinda blog or you know of a blog like that that you think would be a good feature, email me (theanswerischocolate@comcast.net). That way I can line up features for the weeks ahead.

Now party time! Changing out your décor for Fall? Link it up! Halloween or Thanksgiving ideas? Link ‘em. Dare I say I ‘ve even seen some Christmas!! Whatever you’ve whipped up lately, let’s see!

Quick Monogram Tile

It should be evident by now that I’m a paper addict. While I may gravitate without thinking towards certain brands, I’m not exclusive. For me it’s more about do I like the pattern. Michaels had these paper packs 50% off ( I promise they are not paying me although they could if they wanted…hubs would like that!) :

Reg $4.49 so $2.24 after the 50% off, and with 24 pages, that’s less than $.10 per piece. I wanted to make a quick gift so I poked in my stash and pulled out a tile I picked up in a sale bin somewhere made of I don’t know what…MDF maybe…got out my Mod Podge and some embellishments and cut a letter from gray vinyl using the Wall Décor and More cartridge on my Expression.

Mod Podged the paper on the tile and roughed up the edges with an emery board. Applied the monogram and embellished with some self adhesive rhinestones.

This is the “tile”.

I wanted something else so I decided to try a rolled paper flower …something I never have any luck with but this time I was determined. It still unraveled a little in the middle and I didn’t like the hole it left but I was otherwise happy with it. So I “plugged the hole” with some iridescent Stickles! Just filled it up and now it has a sparkly center.

Linking Up At: 

BFF Link Party #20 Wrap Up, Features, and Giveaway Winner!

First off, thank you everyone for your sweet birthday wishes. I  really enjoyed getting to celebrate my birthday with you all! Mr. Chocolate and I had a fun day out on Saturday to celebrate, and he took me to all my favorite  places starting with breakfast, then to an architectural salvage place (dust and rust yeah!), my favorite paper store, Seattle’s Pike Place Market where I got to pick out a gorgeous bouquet of flowers:

an incredible spice shop, and then an extra special dinner. Perfect day.

And what wonderful goodies were linked up to last week’s party! My son is a mega comic book fanatic  so this piece from Megan at Polish the Stars immediately caught my eye:

I wonder if I can manage to do a Thor or Captain America poster? Or maybe I should just hire Megan!

Rhonda over at The Messy Roost did some great knockoffs of Halloween bottles she saw in a magazine :

Wonderful upcycle! They would look great next to these slouchy pumpkins that Tonia from The Gunny Sack whipped up:

They have REAL pumpkin stems! And last but not least, I think you have to check out these glitter pumpkins from Oasis Accents:

using glitter from Dollar Tree!

I’m excited to announce that  the winner of her choice of gift card from either Michael’s or JoAnn’s is:

Rachel from :

Thanks again everyone and hope to see you all again at this week’s BFF Open House!