Thursday, October 16, 2014

Spooky Up In Here

Okay peeps - this post is LONG overdue considering it's already the middle of the month.... but life's been crazy.  

I LOVE Halloween.  I'm not sure why... but I do.  I have really great memories of Halloween growing up and love the excitement and anticipation that decorating brings to the Holiday.  


I try to switch things up every year and I love how the buffet turned out with the big chalkboard and bats this year.  I cut all the bats out out of cardstock and it was so easy!  Such a big bang for my buck considering it's about $3 worth of cardstock.




My favorite pumpkins are the bumpy ones.  I'm weird like that. ;)

I totally meant to put a big mirror on the right sid eof the mangle, but then I had all the spiderwebs up and decided I didn't want to make another trip up to the attic.... so shutters it is.  I found the shutters in our attic a couple of years ago.  They were from our "wet bar" turned "not wet bar" area in the kitchen and the previous owners of the house removed them and left them in the attic.  Score.

I made this banner forever and a half ago and found the ornaments at Ross.


The "Halloween Tree" is full of black birds, sparkle ornaments and Halloween picture ornaments.

I still need to make ornaments with last years picture - but am loving the pictures from past Halloweens.

No clue why this is sideways, but I put the dates on the backs of the ornaments as well.





These crows are everywhere in my decor and were $1/each at The Dollar Tree.  They typically have them every Halloween!







What to do when you have a giant brick wall in your kitchen??? Cover it in spiderwebs.  Duh.


I'm hoping to actually have a photo in this frame before Halloween.  Fingers crossed!!!


My original plan was only to put the bats in the kitchen, but apparently I am HORRIBLE at estimating how many bats I should be cutting and I had a lot of extras... so I brought some into the Family room as well.




The bats are stuck on with painter's tape, and I'm hoping that I can reuse them next year as well.


After doing the wall above the dresser, there were STILL more left... so Luke suggested that they go down the hallway "like a cave".


Yes... that's a giant spider on the lamp.




And since there were STILL more left I even put a few going into the boys (messy!) room.  KEeping it real.... this is how their room looks on a Wednesday afternoon. hahaha

And yes.... that's an aquarium.  It contains a turtle named Sharpie.  But that's a post for another day :)


 So... there it is!  Hope you enjoyed the little tour.  Do you go all out for halloween???  Are you a glittery pumpkins or skeleton and eyeballs kind of girl???   If nothing else I hope you're feeling all festive after my pics ;)


Also.... speaking of festive... how stinkin' cute are these mommy/daughter Matilda Jane aprons???



Send your wishlists in to dave-and-andrea@hotmail.com and katkempson@matildajaneclothing.com by NOON TODAY and make sure that they're $175 before tax/shipping and you'll get a super cute set with your order!  Be sure to email me with any questions you might have!

Happy Thursday, Friends!!!

69 comments :

  1. I love this! Your creativity blows me away! Seriously. Thanks for sharing :)

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  2. How did you manage to cut out all those bats?!?! My hand would be aching for sure. Love it all, great ideas for our new house.

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    1. hahaha Believe it or not it only took about an hour. :)

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  3. I'm a glittery pumpkin and "I wanna leave this up until November kind of girl". Haha!!! I absolutely love your house at Halloween. I think the bats are my fave!!

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  4. Is it weird for me to say that those bats are DARLING? Because they totally are. And every single time I read one of these posts, I just feel kind of sorry for Carter. Poor kid. My decorations right now? A "Thankful" banner and some white pumpkins piled in a lantern thingy. And if we're being honest, I'm totally proud of those. :)

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    1. Carter can come hang at my house any time he needs a "Decor fix" and I need to see a pic of this lantern full of pumpkins! I'm proud and I haven't even seen it yet! :)

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  5. Girlfriend! I don't think I properly gushed enough on Tuesday night when I was over. Those bats are hands-down my very favorite part! Your house is SPECTACULAR during Halloween! Seriously, Martha Stewart could learn a thing or two from you!

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    1. The bats weren't up on Tuesday night - so I'll give you a pass ;)

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  6. I took two things away from this post today...1. You're so amazing at decorating...your house looks amazing. 2. I am a Halloween decorating failure!!!

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    1. 1) Thank you!!!
      2) You are NOT a failure... it's just not your thing! Throw a pumpkin on your porch and call it a day ;)

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  7. Wow, I am impressed, Andrea!

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  8. Best post ever! Your decorations are amazing. Can you tell us about your gorgeous house? It looks like an older home that you redid? It's absolutely beautiful. Our home is 1972 and we remodeled the whole thing, but you have me a few more ideas.

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    1. Thanks! Our house was built in 1992 (I think), so it's not super old, but it also isn't new (that made no sense). hahaha We switched out our formal areas and made them casual... making the family room into a big eating area and making the formal living/dining spaces into one bigger family room area. When we moved in the counters and backsplash had been redone, but we had the cabinets refinished a few years ago.

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  9. Great post and decorations!!! Love the bats going all over the hose!!!

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  10. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your house! It is perfectly designed for a family on the move and your kiddos will have such great memories of the holidays <3. Mine are now in high school and college, but still talk about all the cool (but often homemade) decorations we put up when they were little.

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    1. Thank you!!! I so hope that the fondly remember the decorations and memories we make around them :)

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  11. Love the bats! Luke definitely made the right call on taking them down the hallway!

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  12. I don't know how you do it...You are so cute....Your house is so cute....You family is so cute! You are Super MOM....Now if only this post had a picture of your mini...it would have been perfect!

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    1. Hahahaha. You're too sweet!!! :) Plenty of pics of G on tomorrow's post :)

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  13. Andrea, You definitely get the award for the best Halloween decorating!

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  14. I love all of your Halloween decor, looks really good. I normally just a little for Halloween, but I don't go all out. You did a great job and again it looks really good!

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  15. Love this post! And your kitchen, it just seems so cozy. Question how do you keep your banner to stay up on the mantle? I have one for Halloween and it just keeps falling down. I have used different types of tape and it keeps falling. Can you share your template for the bats? Thanks

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    1. On one side the ribbon is under the shutters, on the other side there's a mountain of various pieces of tape. hahaha I will say that I've used command hooks before and they work great as well - but I'm currently being lazy about it :)

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  16. I love that you go all out for the holidays for your family! You're spot on with the anticipation and excitement that it brings; I feel the same way and love making the entire holiday season festive and memorable. Right now it's just my husband and I enjoying the holiday/seasonal decor, but I am SO excited to share that with littles one day!! I'll be posting my Halloween decorations next week, you should stop by for a peak!

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    1. It's like y'all are pre-gaming it now! You'll be pros by the time littles are running around :) I'll be sure to check out when you post your decor! Do me a favor and leave me a comment letting me know it's up so I don't miss it!

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  17. Andrea - You are so crafty! Looks awesome!!

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  18. It seriously cracks me up that you intended for the bats to be in one room and still made that much too much! By the way, we have 0 Halloween decorations out. Unless you count our outside fall scene that this rainy weather has made into hot mess. Fail.

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    1. People assume I'm really good at estimating (given that I've taught math for 9 years), but I'm totally spatially challenged. I'm THE WORST at gauging distances, heights, quantities, etc. Hahaha I'm sure the rain just makes it more "spooky", right??? :)

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  19. Love it!! I don't know when you have the time to do all of this plus work, plus three adorable kiddos and your hubby! ;)

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    1. Hahaha. I squeeze it in while I'm watching TV and I love the creativity it provides so I don't mind making time for it :)

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  20. My hands hurt for you just thinking about cutting all those bats! Your house is so cozy!

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    1. Hahhaha. I came out of the whole thing pretty much unscathed :) Thank you!!!

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  21. I haven't seen this question but I am sure we all want to know......where did you find the pattern for the bats?

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    1. Hey! I'm linking to it in tomorrow's post - I had to go back and find it again, but it's from Country Living. I resized it down to fit onto card stock. Hope that helps!

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  22. Your Halloween decor is so stinkin cute!! I love the bats! I mainly have just fall decor, but would LOVE to add some Halloween stuff...I'll be hitting the sale racks after Halloween this year to stock up :)

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    1. Great idea! Hope you find some great stuff!!! Don't forget to hit up stores like Home Goods and TJ Maxx! They always have awesome finds :)

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  23. Wow! your decorations look amazing! I've never decorated for Halloween and neither did my family while I was growing up, but I think it would be so cool to grow up in a house like yours -that goes all out for Halloween! Those bats are amazing, as is everything else about your decor. Now that I have a house of my own, I pretty much stick to pumpkins... not quite as exciting as what you have :) You are incredible for decorating your house like this!! Love it!

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    1. Thanks!!! My kids totally look forward to it and I hope they have fond memories of it as they grow up. Pumpkins are FAB!!!! I'm sure yours look great! Thanks so much for reading!
      :) Andrea

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  24. Your creativity is contagious! Thank you for sharing the pics! Your house is beautiful too. So blessed! :-)

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    1. Thank you!!! Maybe you caught some and some bats will make their way to your house :) hahaha

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  25. Your decor looks so great! And once again, I just LOVE your cozy home!!!

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  26. That's incredible that you cut out ALL those bats! I like the Halloween tree. I'm always tempted to buy a colorful tree when I see them at Hobby Lobby! I might have to do this...

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    1. You totally should! I got the black one on MAJOR clearance and I"m so glad I scooped it up!

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  27. Andrea- you are so creative and talented. I absolutely LOVE your decorations so much. I bet your kids love it!!!

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    1. Thank you!!! They really do :) It makes it totally worth it!

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  28. love it, and when you say you cut them out, I really hope you have a Cricut or something, cause if you don't my hands hurt for you! But it turned out AWESOME! Can I just come to your house and pretend it's mine and that it's all decorated? Thanks :)

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    1. I actually used scissors! It really didn't take as long as you might think :)

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  29. While the bats are adorable my favorite part is the family tree with pictures of Halloween pasts! LOVE!

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    1. Thank you!!! I love having halloween pics out and this was an easy way to get lots in one spot. :)

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  30. It all looks so great! I especially like the bats on the wall! So creative!

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  31. I would love a post on how you handle your amazing decor and kids. My (small very humble) Halloween decorations have been up for two weeks and the twins have crushed a fake pumpkin, shredded a vine pumpkin, torn the banner off the mantle a few times,

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    1. Honestly - I think they're just used to it. Griffin tried to touch the tree a few times and I just redirected her and she really hasn't messed with it. There are typically a few pumpkins and things on their little table and they are typically satisfied to just play with those. :)

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  32. I love it all, Andrea, but I probably love the bats the most!!! Your house is so festive to make great memories in!

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  33. Love all the bats! My husband would love for our house to look like this at Halloween! He just said last week that the bumpy pumpkins were his favorite too :)

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  34. While I don't nearly have enough time to make those bats, I so want to! Maybe next year! I even have a cricut I could use...somewhere! lol! I did snag some fake cobwebs at the store and I am hoping to stretch those around the house for our small group get together this weekend :) How do yours looks so perfect? I am sure I will be fighting with it tonight! lol!

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  35. Can I ask where you found your white buffet table? It's exactly what I'm looking for! I love white furniture but it's definitely harder to find. Your house looks great too...love how you switched your living areas up! The eating/kitchen area looks so cozy!

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