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Thrifty Halloween Mantel -Fun Frugal Ideas for Halloween Decor

Today I am happy to be sharing with you our Thrifty Halloween Mantel! I pulled this guy together on a serious budget and most things on the mantel are upcycled thrift store purchases with a few dollar store Halloween items thrown in the finish it all off. Thrifty Halloween Mantel with yellow wooden skeleton at thehappyhousie

I went with some non-traditional Halloween colors this year… using traditional black and white mixed with yellow accents and a teal blue foundation pieces. The shutter is painted the same blue as our hallway (Colorado Gray by Benjamin Moore) and the Hurricane and DIY Cloche are both painted a similar colour by Krylon spray paint (Bahama Sea).

Thrifty Halloween Mantel with DIY Potion Bottles at thehappyhousie

I bought a lot of things for a song at thrift stores and then fixed them up with a little crafty love… you can read my tutorials on the DIY Spell Books and the DIY Faux Mercury Glass Potion Bottles (at Uncommon Designs).

Thrifty Halloween Mantel with DIY spell books and potion bottles at thehappyhousie

My DIY dollar store cloche now holds a couple of bags of eyeballs that I picked up in the Halloween section of Walmart.

Thrifty Halloween Mantel with diy potion bottles spell books at thehappyhousie

I created these ‘glam’ skulls using a special mix of spray paint and a little vinegar/water technique… you can read more about how I did that over at Twelve O Eight…. I used the technique on a large dollar store skull first and then decided to give it a go with a couple bags of mini plastic skulls from the dollar store.

Thrifty Halloween Mantel with DIY glammed up plastic skulls at thehappyhousie

The Chevron Spider Art is framed in some Sally Ann frames that I spray painted black… you can read more about that thrifty project here.

Thifty Halloween Mantel with DIY Chevron Spider Art at thehappyhousie

I love this thrifty little vignette… I bought that frame for $0.25 at the Sally Ann and it went this weird mottled color when I tried spray painting it… I actually think I like it better this way then all black. To create the art inside I just painted up a skull and cross bones off a dollar store bracelet and hot glued it to some sparkly scrapbook paper. The bottles in behind are also from the Sally Ann and I just filled them with water mixed with yellow food coloring.

Thrifty Halloween Mantel with DIY potion in old bottles and skull and crossbones art at thehappyhousie

The banner/bunting is pretty subtle… I just sprayed some mini white dollar store skeletons in a bright white and strung them together using some teal blue yarn I had on hand – I like how the yarn kind of feels like a mini boa…

Thrifty Halloween Mantel with white skeleton bunting at thehappyhousie

Thrifty Halloween Mantel at thehappyhousie

All in all… here is the rundown of what I used and where I got it:

Things I already had:  shutter and old window frame (both free hand me down items), chevron fabric, yarn, cloche and blue hurricane, spray paint for projects, crows and owl (from the dollar store last year)

Thrift Store Finds that I Up-cycled: old books, potion bottles, art frames, large glass hurricane, straw broom

Dollar Store items: white skeletons, spiders, eyeballs, plastic skulls, wooden skeleton (painted yellow)

Faux skeleton hand (painted) – from Michaels Craft Store

This is part of the Get Your DIY On: Thrifty Halloween Challenge! I can’t wait to see what thrifty Halloween projects you have been up to lately!! Here is what my cohostesses are sharing this week:

Thrifty Halloween projects labeled collage

Hop over to visit them in person today and see more about their projects:

Quilled Paper Skull by Christy at Confessions of a Serial Do-It Yourselfer

DIY Halloween Sign by April at House by Hoff

DIY Batmobile by Abby at Just a Girl and Her Blog

Thrifty Halloween Sign by Mandy at The Hankful House

Remember, we are well on our way into October already!!
Here is what we have coming up this month:

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So come on back on Sunday and share your Thrifty Halloween Projects!!

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Can’t wait to see what everyone has been busy making for Halloween!! Sunday, 4pm PST or 7pm EST!!

Thanks for reading. And remember my housie friends, HOME isn’t built in a day. Enjoy the journey.

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I may link up at some of these fabulous places below, for more info check out housie parties:

Make the Scene Monday , Monday Funday , Give Me the Goods Monday , Inspiration Monday, Craft-o-Maniac Monday, Project Inspire{d} , Inspire Me Tuesday, The Scoop, Wow Me Wednesday Whimsy Wednesday , Fall Into Fall , From Dream to Reality, The Inspiration Exchange, Live Laugh Rowe Live Laugh Linky, Transformation Thursday, Thursdays Are Your Days, The Weekly Creative , The Creative Connection, Fabulously Creative Friday, Party Junk, Pinworthy Projects , Link Party Palooza,, Weekend Bloggy Reading, Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Spotlight Saturday, Get Schooled Saturday, Overflowing With Creativity , , Suburbs Mama , That DIY Party

 

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35 Comments

    1. There are some amazing tutorials for spell books out there too Jillian- mine are simple and easy (spray painted spell books) but you can get as fancy and elaborate as you wish!

  1. Oh my word! It’s adorable! I love (even more) the fact that it’s budget friendly. The color choices are so unexpected, but work together so well! Just precious! I’d love it if you’d stop by and link it up at the mantel party that two other bloggers and I are hosting this week. We’d love to have you! 🙂 http://stringtownhome.net/?p=632

  2. I love the pop of yellow and what it adds to your mantle. It’s not a color I normally associate with Halloween but it works so well! That skeleton hand is definitely my favorite bit. I actually have a lot of those things from the Dollar store. I love seeing how differently we both are using them – so diverse! If you’re interested, I’d love if you might link up with my newer link party – Link It or Lump It – http://www.dreamalittlebigger.com/post/link-party-9.html Thanks!

  3. I love how you used the blue and yellow. You did such a good job of making it fit in with your normal decor but still making it very Halloween-y. (Halloween-ish? Halloween-tastic!) The yellow skeleton hand may be my favorite part. Or the eyeball cloche… Ha!

  4. What an awesome mantle, Krista! I never would have thought to use teal for Halloween, but it works so well here! Love! Have a wonderful weekend, my friend!

    ~Abby =)

    1. LOL Christy- my projects have been ongoing for the last month and the mantel was finally pulling them all together. They are just quick little craft projects – much quicker then painting big pieces (which I haven’t done enough of lately… I still have two dining chairs waiting for their second coat – in the garage. I can’t even park in there right now!). Have a great day!!

    1. LOL Christine you are too funny:) I wish it was that good. But on a serious note, my dream job would have been to be a stylist for a magazine like BHG or Style at Home… how fun would that be to just get to style spaces all day long??? And to actually go to school to learn how to do it properly?? I still love what I do for a real job(teach) too, but this little blog is how I act out that “dream” job thing:)

  5. I love the spiders on the picture frames, and tried the same thing using bats. How did you stick them on? I used double sided tape but within a day all my bats fell off. I didn’t want to use hot glue because I’d like to reuse the picture frame for something else, sort of change it up with every season. I wasn’t sure if the hot glue would come off the glass really easy or not. I’ve never tried it on glass before.

    Any suggestions?

    1. Hi Andrea!! Mine are attached directly to the fabric and I did use hot glue… I think that you could use hot glue on glass and it should scrape off after…otherwise maybe some of that stronger double sided sticky tape that is thicker and white or the Command poster strips… they have a bit more sticking power. I have never found double sided tape to be very effective!! I love the bats idea!! I think I need some bats around here soon:)

  6. I’m really not a holiday decorator (other than Christmas) and decorating for Halloween has never even crossed my mind…BUT, I really love what you did. It is fun and still manages to be pretty and I bet kids go nuts for it. Love anything on a serious budget too. Great job!

    1. Hi Carrie!! Last year was my first year doing anything Halloween-y – and I just added crows and owls to my fall décor. This year, with my new FAUX mantel, I was thrilled to add a little more Halloween. I think it just might extend throughout the house a little more! But I couldn’t stick with the traditional colours too closely…

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