The air is starting to cool and the air smells like fall is on its way. I don’t know about you but when the weather gets like this perfect temp of not too hot and not too cold, I feel fantastic. It is great to just walk around and not be too hot or cold and to just enjoy myself. The other thing this weather makes me in the mood for is to start decorating for the fall months; especially Halloween.

Pick Your Poison Home Decor
By Heather Collins

To start this project, I got a plain unfinished wooden sign, I know you have seen them and perhaps wondered what to do with them. I first started off by putting some crackle paint in different spots on my sign. When you are working with a 3D object, make sure that you are doing the sides and both sides.

You never know what angle someone is going to view your project from and nothing reads as unfinished like not doing all of the sides of the project. Next, I took paint and painted the whole sign mid-grey and then added browns and greens to it, and completed by splattering black paint on the sign. While this dried I also gesso’d some plastic bugs black and after they were dry, dry brushed them. I always do a few extras because I like to have options and I assemble after I have all of my pieces and never am completely sure how many I will use. I also distressed a pair of plastic hands also with paint and some cheesecloth.

Next, I took my Brutus Monroe Magical Monarch Stencil and with some Taylor Expressions Bitty Blending Brushes, blended on Not Your Mama’s Cardstock by Brutus Monroe using Pink Fresh Ink “Persimmon” and “Sunshine”. Then I took Brutus Monroe Raven Detail Ink and stamped the two main butterflies from the Brutus Monroe Magical Monarch Clear Stamp Set.

Lastly, for this step, I had some Deco Foil Transfer Sheets, Gold on Deco Foil Toner Sheets and die cut out both the detailed part of the butterfly and the shadow piece with the Brutus Monroe Magical Monarch Cutting Die. I assembled these three pieces with iCraft UltraBond Permanent Dries Clear Adhesive Pen added only in the middle of the butterfly pieces.

Then I started assembling all of the pieces for my sign. I like to work in layers when I am creating. Using the iCraft UltraBond Permanent Dries Clear Adhesive Pen I was able to attach almost all of the items to my project.

To add a little bit of sparkle, I put some light iCraft UltraBond Permanent Dries Clear Adhesive Pen around the sign and let dry for like 15 seconds and then rubbed the Deco Foil Transfer Sheets, Gold. I think in the end this project is the perfect mix of spooky and realistic. What will you create this Halloween?