TRicK or TrEaT

I'm not usually super crafty.  I, like most mommies and creative minds do love pinterest as much as the next gal, but I usually just pin and then pin more things.  This fall I decided to do some more crafts.  I wanted things that would last more than a year and I wanted to TRY to make them myself.  I've already blogged about my burlap wreath so with some of that left over burlap and after pinning a BUNCH of cute ideas for fall décor I decided I could manage something I could be proud of.  And that's just what I did.  I took old decorations mixed with new and even original to my family decorations ie; pictures of my kiddos dressed up for Halloween.  I'm not suggesting that idea is original to my family only that my kids themselves are original to my family. 

After so much pinning I finally decided on a craft I could manage. I actually didn't get my ideas directly from another blog or even something I had seen, but a compilation of a bunch of spectacular ideas. So I  cut my leftover burlap from the wreath project fabric into squares. I had some acrylic paint lying around the house, which isn't a great idea with 3 little boys.  I pretty much dodged a bullet with that.  I bought a stencil pack at Walmart for around 2.50.  When I was all finished with the stenciling and I held up my project I felt like there was something hmm how should I say this, ugly about it.  It was too flimsy, and wimpy looking so I got out some construction paper and cut squares out then I hot glued the burlap to the paper but only the top of it.   I then hot glued the top of each square to the hemp twine.

The rest of the mantle needed some help. I didn't go overboard and in my house we don't really do a whole lot of "spooky" not for like religious reasons or anything.  I just haven't ever really been a fan of gory or scary.  What can I say when I was a pre-teen I watched the Nickelodean show "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" And that was about the scariest thing I could handle.  So anyhoo I blew up a few pictures of my favorite monsters and goblins... my own kiddos over the years dressed up for Halloween or just dressed up for fun.  It was the perfect addition to my fall/festive/Halloween mantle.