Halloween Decorations {On A Budget}

When we were driving home from school this week we noticed some of the neighbors had put up their Halloween decorations. Yeah! That gives us the green light to get to the decorating! (I hate to be the first person in the neighborhood with holiday decorations up.) Is that weird?

We don't do a ton (mostly because of the money involved) so when I saw this cute (and darn near free) idea on this site I knew we had to make them. Cheap and cute? That's my kind of combination. (In crafts, of course.)

They were super easy to make. I just googled "bat clipart" and found a cute bat I liked. I printed it out in two different sizes and then traced them onto black poster board paper. I went to the local store in town and for a huge sheet it was 63 cents. Nice!

I went ahead and laminated them because I didn't want the rain to ruin them. (I have a laminating machine at my work {shhhhh} but you can just use contact paper.)

Then we stapled them to the door frame. Yes, I know, stapled? I didn't know how to make them stay so I used my do-everything tool, my staple gun. I love that thing!

I think they look pretty cute.

We also made these.

I LOVE these!!!!

I saw them over on this website and commented on how cute they were. Maria was so cool. She emailed me and asked if I was interested in buying the kit. Ummm, yes please! So she mailed me all the blocks and letters and even the wire for the pumpkin for only $10. Seriously! So we got to work.

Cody and Ellie started painting!

After the paint dried I sanded the blocks and pumpkin. This stressed me out a little since the thought of sanding perfectly painted blocks confused my brain. But it made them look so cool. (See, this is how much I paint things.)

Then we glued on all the cute letters that Maria sent me.

Finally, I (well, not me, my daughter) applied a thin layer of mod modge over the letters and the blocks to make it look a little more finished. And this was the end result.

Pretty darn cute for $10! (Thanks Maria!!!)

Happy Halloween! And have fun decorating!!!

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