I LOVE Halloween...Decor.

I wasn't going to go crazy this year. I'm not having anyone over and I don't even have my kids 2 weekends this month. I was just going to be chill about Halloween decor... maybe put out a few bowls of candy corn and a spider web or two? 

HAHAHAHA. Who was I kidding? 

Seriously. I LOVE Halloween and nothing makes me happier than decorating. And a total bonus? This year since Lucas and Zoe are a little older, I can finally move away from "cutesie" decor and into a more macabre theme.

Vanilla Moose got creepy this year as I went for more spiders, bats and skulls inside the house. 

One of my favorite parts of decorating is pulling out the boxes from the garage and re-discovering all the goodies I have! I had forgotten about my headless horseman and sparkly pumpkin from last year, and pulling them out actually physically, made me happy. 

Then there is the outside...

My inspiration this year? Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. 

I had been obsessing about birds for a few weeks. So imagine my delight when I walked into Michaels and they were 60% off! I think I bought them out of birds. Sorry Encinitas/Carlsbad - you can not steal my idea because there are NO MORE BIRDS TO BE HAD. And if there were, I may have bought those as well. 

Celebrating the Love

This past weekend I was part of a trio that hosted an engagement party for our friend's Carrie and RJ. It was a wonderful night where friends and family of the happy couple got to come together to formally congratulate the two on their upcoming nuptials.. while eating delicious food and drinking wine, of course!

I loved this party because it was a great combination of what a few people can do together, and how just adding a few special details can really make the event even more special.

Pink and Orange are always such bright, fun colors to use for happy celebrations. The paper circles and circle labels used on the banner both came from Paper Source, as did the butterflies. The sticks in the vase in the middle of the table were on clearance at Michael's and with the bright butterflies, made the perfect center piece for the large table in the high-ceiling dining room. The popcorn cones are made from twisted scrapbooking paper, and all the flowers are just from Trader Joe's. 

While we were tempted to fill the large table with a gazillion desserts, we really didn't need to. I made Bakerella's cake balls again (once again, a HUGE HIT) and those a few bright cupcakes made the table. (side note - Bakerella has a whole book coming out this fall on Cake pops!)

Of course, the most important detail of the night was that Carrie and RJ were happy... which I think they were!

The Dark Arts

I think I may be moving into a darker, odder art phase of life. As we age, Jason and I are getting more and more cynical and I've found myself attracted to prints and graphic designs that I use to worry would pop out of the frame and eat me in the middle of the night.

Because you know, that does happen.

But these. There is something about the work of Berkley Illustration that just calls to me.

Berkley Illustration's Etsy Shop can be found here

Please note, just looking at the images doesn't do them justice. You need to visit the site and read the description of each of these. They give them so much more personality. Let's look at Mr. Orca's description:

Part sailor and part dandy, this orca really likes to keep people guessing. Rather than saying "hello" or "goodbye", he always uses his catchphrase, "pip pip, toot toot!".

TELL me you don't want him on your wall saying "Pip Pip! Toot Toot!" to you every morning?! 

While people around the internet are choosing to be Team Conan or Team Leno this week, one image has popped up a few times. Being very much "Team Coco", I loved this image. Which, of course, lead me to the artist, Mike Mitchell,  and to check out what else he does. 

And what he does is creepy magical!

http://sirmikeofmitchell.com

 Growing up I remember odd art and images on friend's parents walls. Pictures or art that as a child you don't really understand or begin to appreciate. Even today I love walking into people's bathrooms or hallways and finding prints and items that are different. So many houses tend to be overly "done" - decorated within an inch of their lives with the SAME prints and knick-knacks found in model homes around the country. To me, having interesting and odd art and pieces is what people will remember.

While I don't plan on decorating my entire house with scary ice cream cones eating themselves, I can say that I've grown to a point creatively where I would love to incorporate more odd and different objects d'art around my house. 

Do you have odd pieces that call to you? How do you use them to fit into you decor?