Last year at this time, Chris and I were on our European adventure.  It was well into October by the time we returned, and we were both playing catch-up after being gone for so long.

So I didn’t have a lot of time to focus on fall decor for my front porch, but I did pull together a quick and very inexpensive look for Halloween.  

I thought it would be fun to share it with you today.

Disclosure:  Affiliate links are used in this post.

Dollar Store Skull Vignette

Over the years I’ve become very selective about how much decor I buy (and then have to store) for any given holiday. That’s one reason I like working with natural elements in fall decor:  When the season is over I just compost them. 

But I found a small Edwardian-looking skull at a dollar store that I could not resist.  It inspired my little front porch vignette.

I cut some florist foam to size and placed it into a little clay pedestal (it’s on the left in the photo).  Then I concealed the foam with sheet moss and pushed a small wooden stake through.  I placed the skull over the stake.  The stake would hold the skull in place.

Then I covered a large clay saucer with sheet moss.  This would serve as  the base for the vignette I was creating.

The vignette consisted of the skull on a fancy pedestal, a small white pumpkin, and my favorite creepy plant, a cushion bush (Calocephalus ‘Silver Stone’).

Then it was just a matter of shopping my own garden for twigs, mosses and lichens to add.

Looking at it now, I wish I would have put a bow tie on the “neck” of the skeleton.  Maybe this year.

 

A Viking Pumpkin

Last year I chose pumpkins with interesting stems.  I thought this one was fun.

 

And this one, with its crazy stem, would make a fierce viking.

By the time I was finished with him, he looked more punk rock than viking.  

I added some twine to his stem and put him on the same black-painted grape wreath that I used as a nest for my haunted hatchlings a few years back.

 

Masks

My summer plants were still going strong last October, so I dressed up a potted fuchsia with a mask that I had on hand.

Another mask that I found at the dollar store glammed up my lion statue.  

They greeted trick-or-treaters as they walked up the stairs.

I added a few creepy lights to the mix and I was done.  

I’d spent two dollars at the dollar store, and a bit more for some pumpkins.  The rest I had on hand.  

 

 

Fall decor might go by the wayside this year too because, in early October, I will be kicking off a (hopefully) fun special project – something that I’ve wanted to tackle for a long time.  So stay tuned!

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