Dr. Frankenstein's Table

This weekend I am having family over to celebrate my 49th birthday which is next Tuesday. I plan on doing a scary tablescape. I don't usually do a scary Halloween because of my 11 year old. He is still a little frightened of certain things and I don't want to give him nightmares! So I thought just for this one night I would do up the table in a Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory themed way. I started out by placing a white tablecloth on the table first overlay-ed with a spiderweb style cloth over it.

Then I placed a piece of torn cloth just loosely in the center. This mesh is found in many stores during Halloween season, I think they call it creepy cloth?

I placed some books that are very old and torn looking. I purchased one at Michael's and the other I made myself. I Googled the word; "SPELLBOOK" and looked till I found the picture I liked best. I printed it out and covered a regular book I had. I think it looks great.

Next I scattered some skeleton heads and 2 battery operated candlesticks. This stuff I have had for years. Each year I place them in different places around the house and use them in different ways.

The medicine bottles are plain bottles I purchased and covered myself. Again I Googled various images on the internet and found the ones I liked best. I printed them out, cut them and glued them on. It's much cheaper and honestly I like them better then some I've seen in stores. The bone powder by the way is table sugar!

The lantern in the center is my latest creation. I love the look of the old medical text book pages. I printed out these internet images onto vellum paper. Cut them to size and placed them against the inner glass. They stay in place by the metal clips that hold in the glass panels so no glue or anything special required. It has a battery operated candle inside so it's safe to use the paper. The glow of the light through the vellum paper is amazing because it resembles opaque glass. I perched a crow on top with a spiderweb ribbon tied on. Whats great about this is that I can change out the designs to suit whatever holiday I want. I can't wait to do Christmas. I have a great idea for that lantern!

I finished off this look with spider webbing all around,spanish moss, an old haunted photo which, I hate to sound like a broken record I printed out from internet images.I purchased a dollar store frame and it was that simple. Lots of tea-lights of course and there you have it. My version of what Dr. Frankenstein's dinner table might have looked like.

I hope my family enjoys it. I haven't seen them in awhile and I am really looking forward to it. I am not doing scary food. I thought about it, but I decided to keep it elegant. I'm doing mini Beef Wellingtons and lots of great fall side dishes including cranberry rice pilaf, butternut squash and an autumn salad with pears, candied walnuts, gorgonzola cheese with a maple vinaigrette.I will be sure to photograph it all don't worry. Hope you all enjoy your weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Love Patty

Linking up with INSPIRATION FRIDAYS, SHARE YOUR CREATIONS and BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH

THANK YOU SO MUCH KRISTEN FOR FEATURING ME THIS WEEK! I AM HONORED BEYOND WORDS.

My Fall Mantel

Each year I try to do the mantel up in different ways. This year I went for all the more subdued colors of creams, celery greens and naturals. I scattered just a few branches here and there of some greens and baby pine cones. The wall art is a permanent piece I keep year long, except for Christmas time. The candle sconces as well are always there. I change out the candles frequently.

I know I am a little early with my 2 pilgrim figurines but the colors are just so perfect with everything else I couldn't resist. They are my latest purchase from Christmas Tree Shops. Last 2 on the shelf and I made sure to grab um right up. Only $6.99 each. Can you believe? They stand a foot tall.

This plaque I purchased a few years back at Hobby Lobby. I love that store. It's not very close to home, so I don't travel there much. But when I do it's always a great day.

Mamma squirrel and her baby. It's an outdoor garden piece but I use it indoors. It fits in so perfectly.

This pheasant was also a purchase at Hobby Lobby. I love him. I don't know what it is about him, he just says fall and thanksgiving to me. I've spotted him around blog land. See, others feel the same way about him as I do.

Well I appreciate you stopping by for another peek into my humble abode. Stop in again, lots more to show you. Enjoy the rest of the week. Is it me or does October feel like it is flying by? Till next time......

Happy Fall! Love, Patty

Linking up with WOW US WEDNESDAY

Halloween Lantern

You might remember from an earlier post I had this decorated bow I created attached to a pillar candle in a glass candle holder. Here is the picture as it looked then as part of my whimsy Halloween theme.

Yesterday at The Christmas Tree Shops I found this black metal lantern and when I saw it, it immediately reminded me of the beautiful lantern swags that the very talented Kristen makes over at Kristen's Creations. The lantern was only $9.99 and it included an attached battery operated candle. It stands 13 inches tall. Couldn't pass that deal up. In fact I need to pick up one more. The wheels in my head are already turning for Christmas decor and I am going to need another lantern for sure. I attached the bow in the same fashion Kristen taught me and I love how it looks.

Here it is lit up at night. What a warm glow. I don't have too many battery operated candles, but I must say I really like them a lot.

I hope you enjoyed my short post and I urge you to try this yourself. They are so pretty. I hope to make some more now that I got the hang of it. Thanks so much for joining me today and thanks to Kristen for always inspiring me with something beautiful.

Love, Patty

Linking up at DEBBIE DOOS and
MAKE IT PRETTY MONDAY.

Halloween Bottle Night Light

My sister Dina loves Halloween. I mean, LOOOOOVES Halloween. We refer to her as "Cryptkeeper" so what more do I need to say? One day I hope to show you her amazing house decorated for "All Hallows Eve" and you will be amazed at the talent. She is always so loving and supportive towards everything I do that I wanted to make her something very special to let her know how much she means to me.

I've had one of these bottle lights in my kitchen for a couple of years and she has always admired it. Mine was given to me by a dear friend who was kind enough to teach me how to make them. Mine is grape themed to match my Tuscan kitchen as you can see. The one I made for my sister is Halloween themed (of course).

It's not a hard project, fairly simple. The hardest part is drilling a hole in the back of the bottle to insert the lights through. That's where the hubby comes in.

I bought a mini light set of 20 lights

Now for the label; for the grape themed bottle light the original wine label was left on. For this application I used Martha Stewart's ready made bottle labels for Halloween. They come in a pack of 6 and you can find these in Michael's or even the Dollar Tree sometimes carries some that are similar. I had some left over from last year. I chose the shiny orange one. I thought it looked the best. Just peel and stick to the bottle and that's it.

Once that's done the rest is easy and the possibilities are endless.I tied a bow around the neck of the bottle. I hot glued all the embellishments and added a little dab of hot glue at the very top to hold the tip of the light in place. The glow of this bottle at night is so nice. Wish you could see it in person.I really hope my sister thinks her light is SPOOKTACULAR!! HaHa!!!! Thanks so much for stopping by.

Love, Patty

Linking up with WOW US WEDNESDAY and SHARE YOUR CREATIONS

My Kitchen

My kitchen, like I'm sure with most of yours, is the heart of our home. I live in my kitchen, I'm Italian, need I say more? Both my parents were born in Italy and came to America when they were 19 and 20 years old old. Family is important and feeding the family is even more important. I cook every day and bake 3 times a week, so when we renovated this kitchen about 8 years ago I made sure that I had all the space and all the decor features that I had dreamed about for years. When we bought this house 10 years ago it had a galley style kitchen. You can only imagine me in there. Not pretty. I am however very fortunate to be married to a building contractor who has hands of gold. My husband (who believe me drives me crazy most of the time)has managed to turn all my design dreams into a reality. God love him for that and for that I am most grateful. So onward with my kitchen. I went through a few more Halloween bins this weekend and did a little decorating in there.

This is a shot of the cooking area with a mantle over the stove top. I kept this pretty simple with some fall garland filled with gourds and pumpkins and just a simple platter in the center and some greenery balls perched on top of 2 urns. I like this color scheme especially in this room.

Here is a close up of the mantle.

Here is the corner cabinet with some of my precious Halloween characters. I purchased most of this stuff at Christmas Tree Shops. I haven't heard this store mentioned by too many bloggers. In fact I hardly ever here about it. We have 2 in our area. It is a store my husband affectionately refers to as "Patty's 2nd home". He think he's so funny. NOT! (it is true though).

Here is the close up with the door closed. Pretty at night all lit up.

Here it is open.

Here is each shelf even closer for you to see my little friends.

I used spider webbing in a large clump to imitate smoke. I think it looks real, don't you?

Just a simple ceramic pumpkin and some fall flowers.

This little mummy is too cute to scare off anybody. There he stands with a black crow.

Well that's all for today. Thanks for stopping in. Next time you visit my kitchen I will be sure to have something for you to eat!

Love, Patty

Linking up with MAKE IT PRETTY MONDAY and DEBBIEDOOS NEWBIE PARTY

A Touch Of Halloween Whimsy

I started Halloween decorating today. I usually go overboard at this time of year where decor is concerned because my birthday is 1 week before Halloween. I always manage to have some sort of celebration and so I like the house to be decorated, a lot. I started in the dining room with the buffet server.

I did this area in whimsical Halloween. Fun colors mostly purple and orange and lots of glitter!

This wreath is for sale in my ETSY shop.

Here is a close up of the glitter spider pumpkin under a cloche and a spooky sign.

This is a cute little pumpkin man I found at Marshalls last year. I think he was $8. I fell in love he is so darn cute!

This is a large bow that I embellished with all sorts of fun things. There is a witches hat, lots of glitter picks, feathers and a spider in a web. At the moment I just tied it onto a pillar candle. Eventually I can see it ending up on another Halloween wreath.

Well that's all for today. More storage bins to go through. Thanks so much for stopping by. I'm trying hard to get a hang of all this blog stuff. I am learning as I go.

Love, Patty

Linking up with, At The Picket Fence Inspiration Friday

Beans, not just good for your heart!

Well after many years of religiously following some of my favorite blogs I have finally decided to start my own. I'm hoping to bring to you my creativity, recipes and some fun and laughter too (I hope.) I can't wait to share my ideas, my home and my crazy family with you all.

To get started I am sharing a floral arrangement I recently made. I have been making custom floral arrangements and wreaths for years and have a lot of fun creating one of a kind pieces. This one is the perfect accent for fall. The florals and foliage are gently placed inside a glass apothecary jar (which I broke the top of and needed to find another use for) that is layered with an assortment of beans. Yes, you read that right, beans! How appropriate for fall, not to mention quite the conversation piece. It's very easy to make so I encourage you to run out and buy your bean assortment. Have fun with it. You can mix all the beans up like confetti or layer them as I did. Try placing a candle in your container in place of flowers if you prefer that's also a great idea. I love using natural elements when I decorate for Fall.

Well thanks so much for stopping by. I am so glad to be here with all of you. Before you leave check out my ETSY store. One of my passions is creating floral arrangements and I plan on adding new pieces weekly. Ciao!

I am linking up with SHARE YOUR CREATIONS and SEASONAL SUNDAYS.