a holiday project: last minute halloween fun

I wasn't planning on any decorating or craftiness for Halloween this year but then a competition was announced at my office and when I dug out my decorations to take into work, well I couldn't help but add some of my vintage Halloween items at home... even though they would only be up for a couple of weeks.

Then last Saturday I had a day all to myself and decided to hit up all of my favorite places in my local small town.  One of my stops was my favorite "fun" store, Grandiflora.  They had posted pictures on facebook of their second floor all decked out for Christmas and I couldn't resist a peek nor of course a purchase!  While standing at the check out counter I checked out their Halloween display and they had the cutest black and white paper straws with a bit of raffia on the ends made to look like witch's brooms... I got to thinking that I needed to make my own version and this is what I came up with.

I had black and white chevron paper straws, black and white baker's twine and lots of washi tape but no raffia... what to use, what to use?  Then I noticed this bit of wrinkled packing paper that had come in an Amazon order and thought, why not try it?

 Grandiflora's straws were full length but I decided to make my brooms a little smaller so I cut my straws in half.

Cut off a length of my wrinkled paper and started cutting just short of end to end.

About a 6 or 7 inch piece ready to go.

I used bright orange and bright green washi tape.  Added a small piece to start the "bristles" and then started wrapping the remaining paper around the straw... not trying for perfection.

Used a longer piece of tape to wrap around the raw edge and cover it... added a bit of black and white baker's twine and scrunched the paper "bristles" just a bit more.

And voila!  A cute little witch's broom.  And what to do with these cutie pies?

Well I had ordered these Halloween tags recently on etsy.  This store on etsy makes the cutest holiday tags and I couldn't resist the vintage looking Halloween tags.

The seller even included a couple of cards... one my all time favorite Halloween photos!

And all of this fun Halloween goodness?  Well it's to add to a couple of special little Halloween gifts... for my daughter and son-in-law.

And for Miss Bee that's a bit too young for candy and glittery witches... a cute Halloween story.

Looking forward to a quite Halloween evening at home since Red Gate Farm doesn't get any trick or treaters... Then a weekend with Miss Bee.

Have a safe and special Halloween,