Cheap Thrills

filled candle on the left, cheap candle on the right ~ go with better quality to get brighter, more realistic results

I was overcome with the Halloween spirit yesterday and did a few simple arts and crafts projects around the house to liven things up a bit. And I did it all for under $10.

I purchased three mini pumpkins from Wal-Mart for $1 each and spray painted them  with a metallic silver/gold color I had already.  I think they turned out really cool-looking, especially for $3!

I then stuck two white taper candles in my front garden and dripped a lighted red candle over them to create a streaky, blood-like effect. I first used a cheap red pillar candle, but the wax was very watered-down and didn't give me that saturated red color I wanted, it was more of a light pink. So I switched to a cranberry colored votive I already had. This produced more pigmented and pronounced results, so I recommend using  a higher quality filled candle if you want to do this at home.

I finished off the mantle decoration with a red "spooky cloth" I bought at Target for $4.  As Halloween nears, I am also planning to add black magic roses in small nosegay arrangements to punch it up a notch. All in all, not a bad payoff for $10! (I am pretty sure I saw these ideas at some point or another in a Martha Stewart magazine).