It's time to decorate for Halloween!

I've spent the last couple of evenings dragging out boxes and boxes of Halloween decorations!! I love decorating this time of year! My normally neutral color palette becomes a tad more bold with the infusion of orange and a lot more black. Over the years I've refined my Halloween to include mostly antique or artist made goodies.
One of my favorite antique things to collect are the Halloween noisemakers. They're still one of the least expensive of the antique bits you can buy. Oh, and they look fabulous filling apothecary jars!
I do buy artist reproduction pieces too, like those by Cody Foster pictured above. Though I prefer the real deal, let's face it, artist Halloween pieces are hard to get their hands on and the prices for the originals are usually beyond my pea size budget. Last year I did splurge a little on a couple pieces from Danita. I'll feature those a little later in the week!
One of the best things about decorating shabby-chippy-neutral is the ability to incorporate my everyday collections into holiday themes. For example, Christine Crocker dolls, with the addition of a color appropriate accessory, meld seamlessly into the rest of my Halloween decor.
One of the most surprising discoveries I've made this year has been the amount of black cats I've collected over time. I had no idea! I grouped three together on a shelf and then kept finding more and more in the boxes. I had to move them all to a larger cabinet! Who knew?!! Here are just a couple of my favorites. These two are made by Eliza Burlison, Burlison Bears. You can find her work on Ebay. Just type Burlison in the search box. :o)

This is just the tip of the Halloween iceberg! I'll post more pictures this week as I get everything in order.

Warmest Sunday bear hugs, Aleta