Thanks to Sadie’s inspirational blog entry, I decided that I needed to read Jen Lancaster’s The Tao of Martha. Since I began reading this memoir, I have cleaned out and reorganized my wardrobe closet, laundry room, and utility closet. I have come up with some clever ideas for organizing along the way (these ideas will be posted at a later date). Jen and Martha have also motivated me to use my creativity to decorate for Halloween. I made a trip to Michael’s to pick up a few supplies…of course I checked out the Martha Stewart section because you really don’t need much else! I only purchased a bottle of glue, glitter, and some fun scrapbooking labels. This is what I came up with. Of course, I also made a pit stop to TJ Maxx for the haunted house candles and owl candle holders.
My mantle is now decorated and it only cost about $40. The only thing I already had was the fall leave garland that you see in the back and the ceramic pumpkin bag in the center. I found all of the glass bottles and jars around the house. You can use empty wine bottles, beer bottles, perfume bottles, vinegar and oil bottles…anything that you think looks good. I simply either glued or taped the scrapbook labels depending on whether I wanted to permanently use the bottle for decoration for years to come. If the bottle was empty, I used colored soap or spices I had around the house to fill the jars. I have one more craft project to make the mantle complete. Don’t worry I’ll let you have a look at that one too. In the meantime, get inspired!