It doesn’t come by coincidence that so many of us are wanting to make this Holiday season super special. Being home as much as we have has made us hone in on our spaces and personally speaking—get to ALL of those projects and updates that were always put off by the busyness of life and full days which turned into weeks —> months and sometimes even —> years. One holiday that we go all out for each year is Halloween. We have already decorated the exterior of our home which I’m sure will evolve as the weeks in October + November go by and I have so many things I want to create + craft up, eat and watch with the boys! We are very excited.
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Something that I’ve always loved is calendars and countdowns—they have a way of building up to a big day in a special and fun way daily. I have been a long time follower of A Beautiful Mess and love to get motivated/soak in the creative space they have continued to curate over the years on their website and on their Instagram. I felt really giddy and inspired when I saw the Halloween Countdown Calendar they shared this year. For the most part I love dreaming up and creating my own DIY ideas but every so often I HAVE TO create something a fellow maker has DIY’d and this loves, is one of those.
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Our version of the ABM Halloween Countdown Calendar:
I was able to find the bat and spider garland (@ Joann’s) that they used too so that was a score! I also show some snaps of the things I used that were original to ABM’s creation as well as some things I added and made my own. If you keep scrolling you will also see some additions we have made to our space so far to envision and enjoy the aroma of Autumn in our home this October. Happy decorating loves.
Here’s a look at my process: creating the squares, stamping + embroidering the days, and pinning them down where they will go. This is something ABM did for their countdown days.
For the square decor, I used a similar color scheme and the stripes ABM inspired. I also painted wood stars which were then date stamped along with some buttons as they did as well.
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I had a lot of fun creating little Halloween, night time and autumn scenes out of felt to add my own twist. Look at that MOON and star combo on day 20! On day 9 you will see a one eyed monster, day 12 features a cute white ghost along with the word “BOO” made out of beads embroidered into it with embroidery floss. On day 24 I embroidered a pumpkin and sewed down a cute teal star—the beaded word “CALABAZAS” is also sewn down. I really like day 26 as well, a white stamped star with beads sewn all around and little embroidered X’s to finish it off. Also day 27 has an adorable sunflower glued in, it also looks like sunshine so it works both ways!
Every week leading up to Halloween features an adorably decorated square, it’s so fun to look at them each as the days go by. Can’t forget to show the process of the big day itself: October 31st—HALLOWEEEN! I created a little skull (I ended up taking it’s smile off to make it look more “skull like”) and a Jack-O’-Lantern. The 31! embroidery paired perfectly along with a couple of stars. You can see the finished square below.
I printed out the printable ABM created for the countdown as well as the Free Fall Bucket List that Chelsea’s Messy Apron created. I glued a little skull, Jack-O’-Lantern, or bat sequin to the end of the strips and laminated each activity we’re wanting to do. Once cut out—they were ready ready to jump into a pocket!
Now for a quick look at our outdoor decor, some fall scents, details and colors that we’ve added into our space. We are going to a pumpkin patch this weekend and it’s pretty likely every other weekend they’re open because we really enjoy being out in the country—so like I said: it’s an evolving space haha!
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Front porch decor:
We picked up our pumpkins at Trader Joe’s and added a few more after these pics from local pumpkin patch. The adorable skull planter on our front steps is also from Trader Joe’s. The spiderweb decor is from Target and we DIY’d all of our spiders using pipe cleaners. Our spiderweb welcome mat is from Cost Plus World Market. The little lady is our new puppy DOT.
Bringing Fall + Halloween indoors:
I found these Calculated Cinnamon Whisks at Trader Joe’s and MAN do they smell good! I am a cinnamon gum chewer myself so I do love the smell. I opened one so far, propped it on our kitchen windowsill and almost all of our upstairs smells like delicious cinnamon. It’s warm, inviting, and definitely brings the pumpkin pie, apple cider donuts, and spices scent to our home. Our youngest was like: “Mama! Our house smells like gum, I like it! (deep inhale)”. I really like them too, I recommend them and will always be on the lookout for these every Fall.
A last little detail I want to share with you (for now) are these beautiful marigolds I brought home and hung upside down on our living room wall to dry. My mom and Tia have passed down their love to hang flowers to preserve them—so I do it too! That orange and green vibrant color scheme is so beautiful and we get to enjoy the flowers indoors until they are ready to be displayed as part of our Fall front porch decor.
More marigold touches—also: don’t forget to SHINE.
Thank you for hanging out with us today and checking out our take on the A Beautiful Mess Halloween Countdown. We hope that you were inspired and have a lot of fun transitioning into Fall in your space. See you soon! 👻🧡
