Halloween DIY Porch Decor

I've never been a big fan of getting dressed up for Halloween.  I was never one to wear the tight, way-too-short costumes in college just because.  Sophomore year I threw on a black shirt.  Junior year was the closest thing to a "slutty" costume; a cute white dress that I jazzed up with gold jewelry to become a Greek Goddess.  Senior year I was Buttercup in the Power Puff Girls, while two of my good friends opted to gender bend and became the men of pretentious, hipsters' dreams.

"Honk if you love lattes!"
"My other book is a first edition!"

I still don't like to get dressed up for Halloween, but now that we live in an actual home, I have really enjoyed decorating for the holiday.  This year, I decided to do a few little DIYs for the porch.

I got this great, bloody idea from Muse Lodge.  Sadly, I had some trouble really getting the full effect of the bloody windows, but they look awesome in person!

The husband kindly supplied a knife to up the scary factor for this photo shoot.

This one was seriously easy: lay out wax paper, splatter wax paper with "blood" (I used acrylic paint), let dry, and tape to windows.

I got the idea for these "Spirit Jugs" here.  The "spirits" are empty milk cartons I saved (the husband goes through 2 gallons a week, so this was an easy one).  Just be sure to wash them out well!  No one wants sour milk smelling ghosts.

I drew faces on them with a permanent marker, which, with my limited artistic abilities, means that there's a disfigured ghost in the recycling bin this week.

Finally, I cut out a hole in the back of each and stuck some string lights in them.

The black cat was working on killing a moth that couldn't resist the siren call of the ghosts.  A black cat and a moth death only make for an even better Halloween-themed front porch.  Thanks, Puss.  On a happy side note, this is his first Halloween with us.  A friend and her daughter found him hiding under a car while out Trick-or-Treating last year.  He was barely a pound and had been out there for at least a week.  Now he's thriving, and eating us out of house and home.  And attacking my feet while I sleep, but I still love him.

So little once.  Happy (belated) First Birthday, Black Lightning.

We also have two 20 pound pumpkins and a few smaller pumpkins that will soon grace the porch, as well.  Sadly, it still gets a little too hot during the day for me to put them out in direct sunlight this far from Halloween.

Up Next:  Halloween Mantle Decor.  A few tweaks need to be done, although I'm not sure why I tweak since anything crafty that I do always looks like a 5 year old did it at summer camp.