Let the DIY begin

Having a new home is sort of a bad thing...I want to decorate and make it our own and I want to do it all NOW!  I know we will get furniture to fill our empty house and we will acquire more decorations and such as time goes.  I have all these ideas but a strict budget now that we have a mortgage :)  I am really trying to be patient.

I have also become hooked on a few DIY blogs which doesn't help...but there are some really cute ideas that are great on the pocket as well so I decided to give one a try. I found this idea here and was really pleased with how fairly easy it was and how great it turned out!  We put these up in our living room.  I already had some of the supplies leftover from the builder (door frame molding and the paint) so it was an easy decision :)  And it only cost me $53!  They look so elegant too, hard to believe they were so inexpensive!

 I decided since it was that time, I'd go ahead and go straight to decorating my new shelves for Halloween! (I LOVE Halloween).  We don't have a fireplace so I figure these shelves can serve as my mantel if you will where I can switch out my decoration for the Holidays. 

Here it is all decorated for Halloween

A few of the decor were things I made but most of them were things I already had for Halloween or things I had laying around that I could use.  I got this whimsical owl vinyl decal from the blog I found the shelves on (I absolutely love that blog).  I was wondering what I wanted to do with it and remembered I had a decorative plate down in storage that would be perfect, and voila!  I thought it worked really well.

For girls night (while the men were at Priesthood) we made these spooky terrariums.  They were so easy.  All we did was buy a wood plaque (Hobby Lobby), a glass candlestick (dollar store), fringe (Hobby Lobby), spanish moss (Hobby Lobby), and a vase (Walmart).  We painted the wood plaque black then hot glued the fringe on and then also glued the candlestick onto the bottom for it to stand on.  Then you can fill the inside with whatever your heart desires.  So easy! The whole thing cost about $8!  I love the fringe on the base, it just screams old lady, haunted house doesn't it?

I also think these glass bottles add a lot of character.  The green one was from Hobby Lobby, I used the 40% off coupon so it was around $1 and the white one was from Walmart for only 97 cents!

I found the crow and the headstone at the dollar store. 

I also bought this vinyl decal from the same blog mentioned.  I already had the frame, I just adhered the decal right onto the glass then put purple (I know it looks blue in this pic, but it's purple) card stock in the frame.  That way I can switch out the colored paper.  The candle next to it I already had as my usual decor but I thought it looked good with my Halloween decor.  It sort of reminds me of a cauldron.

I'm having too much fun!  I have many more projects that I can't wait to get started on.