More DIY Halloween Decor Potion Bottle

So, here is latest creation!  I love these because they can be done with nearly any type of bottle or jar, and they are super-cheap to make!

This was made with a glass bottle, although I think I would prefer plastic.  You can use an empty alcohol bottle, vitamin bottle, etc.  I drew my letters and designs on the bottle with marker, then traced with a hot glue gun.  Once cooled,  I painted the entire thing black with acrylic paint, being sure to get into all the crevices of the letters and designs.  After that, it's whatever floats your boat in colors.  I had some brown, orange and tan acrylic paint I just dobbed around to give it an old look.  Then I used a light tan/yellow to highlight the raised parts of the glue design.  Once dry, I covered with a coat of Modpodge and hot-glued a little jute around the top.
Cool, one-of-a-kind decor at hardly any cost to me!

DIY Fun Halloween Decor

Two simple and fun Halloween projects:  Witchy Potion Jars, and Witchy Spell Books

Witchy Potion Jars I made from various old jars I had sitting around, and I used different shapes and sizes.  I downloaded some free printables and printed them on tissue paper.  Grabbed my Modpodge and applied to the jars.  I then took some lengths of jute and hot-glued in different places for one-of-a-kind jars.  These look cute as-is, or you could fill with fall potpourri or colored liquid!

For the Spell Books, I used some yard-sale finds.  You can usually pick up hard-back books for anywhere from .25 to $1.00.  I guessed at the center of the book and opened and kind of smashed it to stay in the open position.  Again, downloaded a few free printables and printed on tissue paper.  I tore the images rather than have a straight cut, and decoupaged them onto both open pages, as well as the front and back cover and binding.  I used a brown scrapbook stamp pad to "scruff" some age around the edges of the pages,and curled the corners of a few pages either side of the center of the book. Once I was happy with the look, I put on like 3-4 coats of Modpodge to every surface, so it would hold the book in an open position.  These look great laying down, or in an easel.  These probably took the most time, because I had to wait for each coat to dry, but they look very unique!

Another DIY Birthday Party - Dinosaurs!!!

This was my grandson's 2nd birthday party.  His mom chose dinosaurs for the theme, so we all put our heads together to make it happen.  And thanks to the internet and Pinterest, we were able to do most things ourselves!

This is the coolest!  We saw this on the internet and knew we needed it!  My mom and dad cut this out of cardboard and painted it,and then attached a couple of pieces of wood to the back so it would stand up. We used it for a ball toss, and then had kids stick their heads in the hole for a neat picture.

We had the cake made by a local bakery, and I made the cupcakes - frosted with chocolate icing and sprinkled with crushed chocolate cookies, topped with dinosaurs and a couple of jelly beans for "dinosaur nests".

We had pretzels for "dinosaur bones" and bugles for "dinosaur toenails".  Our green punch was called "swamp water".

We had a roll of painter's paper that we scrunched up and wrapped ivy garland around and used for hanging decor as well as table centerpieces.

And the hit of the party, the "Dino Dig"!  We lined a small plastic pool with a brown sheet and filled with sand. Then buried toy dinosaur skeletons and bones for the kids to dig up.  Of course, they got to take their buckets and "findings" home with them.

I made dinosaur soap to put in their treat bags.  Melted a little glycerin soap base, added a dash of fragrance and set the dinosaurs in!

All in all, it was a great success!