Happy Halloween!

Irwin Weiner ASID - If you're celebrating Halloween this year, have a great holiday, and if you haven't gotten into the groove yet - or if a catastrophic storm like Sandy hit your area as it did with us here in New York City - you can always think ahead to next year. In today's featured video, you can see some of the spookier Halloween decorations you can purchase, and I'll bet that you can go online or to a local retailer and scoop up some greatly discounted decorations for next year's celebrations. Have fun!

For decoration discounts online, try the following online outlets.

• Halloween Paper Masks at West Elm
• Multiple Decor Items at Pottery Barn
• Grandinroad Halloween Decor & Accessories Grand Finale Sale
  

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Last-Minute Recipes for Halloween Cupcakes

Irwin Weiner ASID - We know you're scrambling to find a few easy-to-make goodies for your upcoming Halloween party this weekend, or in a few days when Halloween hits us in the middle of the week. (Don't you just hate it when that happens?) In the following video, you'll see how to make Tombstone or Graveyard Brownies.

This recipe comes from YouTuber Sara Parker, whose 31 Days of Halloween videos include many wonderful ideas for costumes and parties and decor and recipes to help celebrate the spooky side of our holiday. Here's her Tombstone Brownies recipe.

WHAT YOU NEED

Powder sugar
Green food coloring
Brownie, Ding Dongs, or Chocolate Sponge Cake
Grahahm Cracker or Shortbread Biscuit
Chocolate letters
Nutella
Plastic skeleton

HOW TO DO IT

1. Mix Sugar Powder and "Green" food coloring with a tiny bit of water or use green frosting/icing.
2. Use brownie or ding dongs or choclate cake as the base.
3. Use Graham Cracker or Shortbread Biscuit as tombstone, make edges a bit rounder.
4. Cut a gap for the tombstone in the brownie. Place the tombstone.
5. Write something on the tombstone e.g. name of the person you invited. I used premade chocolate letters and used nutella to glue them on. You can use a sugar powder to write on it, too.
6. Add the green sugar powder mix as grass. Let it dry.
7. Make a hole for your skeleton and place it in there. Leave some dirt around it. I cut off the legs of the plastic skeleton.
8. Enjoy!

In the next recipe, YouTuber and cupcake lover Tammy, alias Yoyomax12, gives us her take on a Broken Glass Cupcake. Watch the video, and then afterwards you'll see how she found this recipe and the process.

Click to read more ...

More Halloween Art and Craft Projects for the Home

Irwin Weiner ASID - OMG. I usually refrain from using texting abbreviations in my post, but Oh My God doesn't begin to cover my reaction to the crafty, thrifty, enthusiastic Do It Yourself Halloween decorations coming from Barry Belcher. Today's featured video is a mash-up of his craft creations and inspirations from this year and last year, and you'll like his craft-craziness.

He's one part zany and two parts clever, and you might find some great take-away ideas - and you can click on the links in the video to see tutorials on how to make the projects that you see. Visit the Barry Belcher Art and Design website and blog for more information.

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Young House Love Celebrates the DIY Life (and Halloween)

Irwin Weiner ASID - It's really wonderful to see the variety of interior design and decorating blogs online! You can find snarky, funny takes on design, inspirational posts from top designers, and amateur "I love to decorate!" folks who blog about the evolution of their home building or remodeling or decorating. Young House Love is a great blog, and if you haven't seen it, click on the link and experience it now. Sherry and John Petersik share their DIY adventures in Richmond, VA, turning a ranch home from bland to hip, fab, West Elm-y cool.

They shop at Michaels and Target and other stores, and they get inspiration from home decor gurus like Martha Stewart (just like the rest of us). And they put out some fun videos, like today's featured duo of vids where they share some original Halloween decorating ideas, tricking out their home in black and white, and then paint pumpkins in a very artistic and creepy-crawlie way. Click here to learn more about their new book, too: Young House Love book.

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