Pumpkins and Potions Mantel

Another October weekend come and gone.  Wow.  November will be here before we know it...and then.. dare I say it....Christmas??!!

Oh dear.  I mustn't think that far ahead.....

We took the kids out for a lovely walk this afternoon.  The trees still hold half of their leaves and the ones that have fallen created a colourful carpet along the path. Cool enough for hats and mitts too, but very sunny.

After returning from our outdoor trek, the kids BEGGED that I get started on the Hallowe'en decor. So, with 6 little helping hands, I put together a ....

My potion bottles are 3 French lemonade bottles that I usually use for serving drinks at our summer parties.  But once they were filled with green and blue "potions,"  and .....

....wrapped in some printable labels (found here) they became the exciting centrepiece of my mantel decor. 

My silvery jack'o'lantern is a new find from a discount decor store.  When I saw him I knew he would fit perfectly with my "orange-free" Hallowe'en decor.  The kids insisted that Jack needed some hair  - so in went some dried hydrangea.  Silly and pretty at the same time!!

This spider is the only "creepy" item I added to the mantel.  Lit, he adds a little ambience. 

 The raven was a request from my 3-year-old.  He said that the bird could "keep watch" over the mantel and fireplace.  Too cute.

 To add some texture, a hung a homemade grapevine wreath on the corner of one of the mirrors.  I have very few "natural" elements in this mantelscape so the curls and twigs of the vine add some interest.  

To dress up the wreath, I hung some small skeleton dolls in amongst the vine.  They are part of a set a of Hallowe'en ornaments that I picked up last year. ( The rest of the collection is helping to decorate my front porch - more on that later in the  week!)

These cute little guys were $1.00 at Target last month.  Sparkly and smiley - they are my daughter's favourite part of the mantel.  

We've had our fireplace for just over a month and already it has seen 4 makeovers!   I am sure once Hallowee'en has passed I'll get started on some "transitonal" decor that will fill the gap between spiders and pumpkins .....and reindeer and wreaths.  

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