Halloween DIY and Repurpose

I was so excited to get to participate in this fun project with coupons.com and Target.  I mean who doesn't love Target and saving money!  There's also a really fun giveaway at the end of the post.  When I ordered my items, I used a few Target coupons to get free shipping and I saved 5% by using my red card.  They also have some great Halloween coupon codes right now too.  Anyways, the goal was to create a DIY that could be repurposed for other things other than Halloween.  When I think about halloween decor, I usually think about mercury glass.  So, I decided to try my hand at a little mercury glass DIY.  I started with these lanterns from Target.  They include LED candles which are always nice when you have little ones around and don't want to have to worry about open flames.  

It was nice as is, but I felt like the mercury glass look would make it more festive.

I bought some silver leaf and silver leaf adhesive from a local craft store.  I've heard spray adhesive works well too if you don't want to buy the special adhesive.

Spray or brush on your adhesive.  If you are brushing it on, you'll need to wait about 10-15 minutes for the glue to get clear and tacky.  You can see from the picture below that the one on the left is almost ready and the one on the right I had just brushed on.

Once it's tacky you just lay the sheets of silver leaf on the adhesive and brush over it to adhere it.  For this project you don't want it to be perfect so the tears are ok.  I actually ended up purposely tearing mine in certain spots to get that mercury glass feel.

After it's all dry, put your glass pieces back in the lantern and turn on the candle.  It doesn't look exactly like mercury glass, but it does have a nice festive feel to it.

Here are a few other items I purchased from Target that have a Halloween feel to them, but can be repurposed for other times of the year.

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I used these items to create a subtly spooky Halloween inspired table scape and mantle.  I like to keep things pretty light and cheery around here since I have a little one who might be creeped out by skeletons and that sort of thing.

I used a fun font for my place cards that had a slightly spooky look to it.

I draped the throw blanket across the table to add some warmth and texture.

This little snake box made me thing of the creepy things that are often used in Halloween decor, but with a more classy vibe.

         

And here's how I'm repurposing a few things:

Here are the links to the other bloggers who are participating, they have some fabulous ideas!

Kristin from Bliss at Home

Julia from Cuckoo 4 Design

Jennifer from The Chronicles of Home

Cassie from Primitive and Proper

Sarah from Lacquer and Linen

Lindsay from The White Buffalo Styling Co.

And now for the giveaway.  Just follow the instructions below to enter to win a $200 Target gift card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway