Tuesday Tip - Inspiration Board Contest/Halloween Cupcake & Decor Ideas

Can a girl ever have too many purses?

No.

Want to show off your inspiration board prowess?

Of course!

Here's how you can kill two birds with one stone. The mahvelous Cupcakes & Cutlery is having an inspiration board contest based on the design of...

...the Caprice bag. Oh, and guess what? The winning board gets to take home the bag! Imagine the possibilities, those colors are a perfect jumping-off point. Does the thought of putting a board together send you screaming into the night? That's ok, she has other options, so check out her blog for full deets.

And speaking of inspiration, I've been slacking on sharing my cupcakes, perhaps you need some ideas for your next bash? Creepy and super easy, these are sure to be a hit!
1. vampire victim cupcakes - red gel icing 'bite marks', splashed with strawberry syrup
2. buggin' out cupcakes - chocolate bugs top off 'crumbled Oreo' dirt
3. spider cupcakes - black gel icing for the spider webs, topped off with plastic spider rings

Hi, my name is Dawn and I'm a Dollar Tree/Dollar Spot junkie. I can't go in without my head spinning, they are a great source of inspiration to me. There is no need to spend the big bucks with a little imagination and creativity. Case in point, we have a knick-knack wall that I'm always rotating through the seasons with, and here it is all decked out with mostly dollar finds.
Dollar store critters adorn the walls, secured with poster putty. The colored glass potion jars are 50% at Michael's' this week, although I've had mine for a few years now.Tombstones and drink labels courtesy of Dollar Store; $1 ravens (after-Halloween sales from last year); $1 black votives (50% candle sale at Michael's), assorted wine bottles are recycled or found from consignment stores and filled with colored water.
The bread loaves I found a few years ago in the floral department of Dollar Tree, I mixed some green and grey acrylic paint and sponged it on for the 'moldy' look. This would work just as fabulously with other plastic food.

Cheesecloth is wonderfully cheap, and armed with a coupon, get yourself some, rip it up and drop red food coloring on it for a yucky, bloody look. Hang it up for curtains, a table runner, or anywhere else you'd like.

The rat in the cage is the only thing that was 'regular price'. I saw it on Oriental Trading awhile back and just had to have it. Like the hand? It's a real mold of my hand, courtesy of our Mad Scientist party a few years back. It's made from this amazing wax called FlexWax, another purchase from Oriental Trading. It appears they no longer carry it, but you can find it here. It's a low temp wax that can be used to cast on the body because it doesn't need a lot of heat to melt, and won't burn the skin.
Recognize the eyeballs? Yup, you know you've seen them everywhere. Dried black-eyed peas really do look like eyes of newts.
A side table gets full treatment with another hand mold, tombstone, a skull (it's heavy as all get up too!); gummy eyeballs, the candelabra sports tapers with red wax I dripped down the sides. Where did I find them all? Say it together now, Dollar Tree. Except for the votive. Found that at Target. See? Clever on the cheap. I'm all about that!