DIY Halloween Decor - Faux Insect Taxidermy Plaques

If you know me, you know I love bugs. Entomology fascinates me, I have a few pieces of antique and vintage insect taxidermy and quite a lot of insect themed homeware! I also spent several hours this past summer studying pictures of interesting beetles and painting them in watercolour, which I found so soothing and I love my mini canvas now!

Annnnway, if you know me you'll also know I LOVE Halloween, I mean, I love ll seasons and events, but Halloween is GREAT! and I've gone all out this year with nice, somewhat grown-up Halloween decorations that I will hopefully keep and reuse for years (vs the normal poundshop/ dollarstore tacky stuff - which I also love!)

One of the things I made this year were these faux insect taxidermy plaques, which are seriously simple to make and I think look so cool!

Here's what you'll need;

• Wooden plaques in your chosen size - I used these which I got on eBay (I chose 3 diff shapes)
• Black/ dark gray chalk paint - I used one I had which has great coverage and dries quickly
• Plastic insects in your chosen size - again I got these on eBay
• Gold spray paint - I used this Rustoleum one because i'd bought it for another project, but cheap spray paint will work as well!
• All purpose glue or glue dots
• String/ ribbon (depending on the plaques you have and how you want to hang them!)

Feel free to use whatever paints you already have too to keep costs down!

All in all this project will cost around £6 -£20 (depending on the paint you choose) as I already had the paints, it cost me £5.93!

 Step one - Paint your plaques

If you are using chalk paint like me, you won't need to prime your plaques at all (whoohoo!) just slap the paint on there, I made mine a bit patchy and textured on purpose to make it seem old and spooky. I also mixed more or less water with the paint and did a few coats in areas to get this effect, but feel free to be a neaty-pants if that how you are!

Step two - Spray those bugs!

If your insects have removable wings or other parts that you don't want to spray, remove them first, set your insects on an old piece of cardboard and spray away! Make sure to get the underneath of the insects too!













Allow to dry and stick any wings etc back on.

Step three - Arrange your insects

Figure out how you want to arrange the insects, play around with different shapes and sizes until you get a mix you like, then stick on! I used glue dots to start with but once I hung up the plaques the insects fell off. (Que me jumping at the giant gold spider suddenly hitting the floor :') )

Step four

Hang those bad boys up and admire your creepy crawly creation!

So simple and really cool huh? I just love them, and they aren't too 'out there' so really I could have them out all year round! But I think I'll keep them special for Halloween :)


If you make these for yourself please tag me on Instagram ( @lindzibun)  or feel free to comment and tell me how it went on this post!

Love,
Lindzi

DIY Halloween Decor - Painted Pumpkins

You will need;

• PUMPKINS! - this will work on real pumpkins too, but I wanted to be able to keep and reuse mine in future halloweens so I used some polystyrene pumpkins and some paper mache pumpkins in various sizes.

I got most of these from Craftmill and some from a local craftshop. I was really pleased with the quality and price of these from craftmill and the delivery was pretty speedy too.

• Paints -  whatever colours you like or whatever you have around, however I recommend using a mix of chalk paints (explained below) and metallic paints. Also see my note about spray paint below!

• Paint brushes

• A palette or something to mix paint on

• Old cardboard/ cloth to protect your surfaces

Step one - Pick your paints!

One of the best things about this DIY is that you can paint the pumpkins ANY COLOUR YOU LIKE! I like orange pumpkins, but I LOVE white pumpkins, and we don't really see real ones much in Europe, so this was the main colour I wanted - white with gold accents. I also wanted to keep them a little traditional so I added a couple of orangey/ copper ones and of course a couple of pure gold ones!

Step two - Get painting! 

I already had all these paints, and I would 100% recommend using chalk paint for this DIY if you have some lying around, this meant that even though some of my pumpkins were polystyrene the paint pretty much went straight on, I did a couple of coats anyway for the effect I wanted, but one fairly watered down coat light coloured covered the pumpkin for starters!

I mixed the gold and copper paints with some peach or cream chalk paint too, to get different shades and textures. Basically just play around with paints and have fun!

WORD OF WARNING: SPRAY PAINT ERODES POLYSTYRENE!

Did you know this?? I did not ! Until I added a little spray of gold to the top of a couple of the already chalk painted polystyrene pumpkins and suddenly they started to melt! Luckily in this case the chalk paint stopped it totally ruining them and I think it actually added to the affect somewhat - but be careful!

As you can see I was doing this DIY at the same time as the DIY Faux Insect Taxidermy one!

Step four; display!

Depending on the sizes and shapes of pumpkins you've collected, your display could look anyway you like; one rule: pile those pumpkins up!

Here is my mantel before; lots of plants (some real some not) mercury glass, candles and a few quirky bits and bobs.
Also- my framed REAL flamingo feathers I collected in Barcelona Zoo!

This is between- me trying to figure out how I wanted the pumpkins to look, I set them all up there and I was a bit dissapointed to be honest! I'd expected more of a WOW factor, and they all seemed quite flat! ...my solution?? BOOKS.

I have tons of cool old books, I collected them before my wedding thinking I might use them to display pots of flowers on on the tables but never got round to that. There are at least 3 different vintage copies of Alice in Wonderland there!

So I piled the books high, and popped the pumpkins on and added an antique candlestick, some (fake) candles and a couple of faux crows... and I LOVE how it turned out!

What do you think?

If you make these for yourself please tag me on instagram ( @lindzibun)  or feel free to comment and tell me how it went on this post!

Love,

Lindzi x

The Lust List - August 2015

The new 'Blushing Rosa' print Wrapping Paper from Rifle Paper Co

If you know me well, you'll already know that Rifle Paper Co is probably my very favourite brand, Anna Bond is my spirit animal.

This new paper is so SO pretty, I want to cover my life with it.

Fun fact; We actually used a sheet of Rifle Paper Co wrapping paper on our Table Plan display at our wedding! 

I have had this antique gold frame which I mounted with a cork board since I was about 15, I bought it in a charity shop for £8 and am so glad I did, it's one of my favourite things I own even now.

 I stuck the paper to the cork board, wrote guests names on brown luggage tags with gold pen with their table numbers on the reverse and pinned them on. We now have the frame (with paper still in) used as a memo board in our new study :)

For more on our wedding, ideas, tips and decor check out the 'My Happiest Day So Far' page of this blog or my Wedding Planning Blog Pea and Carrot Get Married !

LOTS of things from One Kings Lane

Some of my faves are;

This Genisa Rug;

So pretty and pink! 

This Gilded Tortoise Lamp also from One Kings Lane;

Aghhhh I LOVE this! Just the right mix of eclectic and fancy! 

This Wall Mounted Metal Elephant from TK Maxx

This amazing find is just £14.99! Can you believe it??! I really love it and am trying to decide where in my house it might be able to go!!

This Pink Mermaid-esque Bedding from my FAVE H&M!

It only comes in single size though :'(

These sweet Ceramic Ring Dishes from Baba Souk

Sadly now sold out, but loads of these beauties on pinterest! I'm a little obsessed with ring dishes... stay tuned to see some of my faves and a DIY project coming soon!

And finally...

This was my bargain of the month last month, this very Olivia Pope sheer sleeved white trench jacket from the River island sale for just £25!

This is a great piece for me as I don't like having bare arms but hate feeling too layered up in summer - I wore this recently with a pale grey faux suede pencil skirt, nude silk blouse and nude heels and felt like Olivia herself ;)

The Lust List - May 2015 (Very late!)

Another very late lust list this month :S BUT! It's because I've been busy getting and setting up a lot of the things I've previously lusted over for our new house, so that can be forgiven I think :)

The things I'm after this month have again mostly been for the house, but have also mostly been boring/ sensible things ( like a shed) however I have managed to get a few lovely things for the house using vouchers which we got from lovely people as wedding presents or new house gifts, here's a few of the prettiest things;

This Safari bathmat from M&S

I love leopard print, not gonna lie, I would have a leopard version of pretty much everything I own quite happily, but it's not everyone's taste and as I've gotten a little older I've moved further away from 'OMGEEE LETS HAVE A LEOPARD THEME BATHROOM WITH EVERYTHING LEOPARD PRINT EVEN THE LOO ROLL!!!' to 'Oh, the neutral colours in this bathmat will go with our pale grey bathroom' but this bathmat was so cute I had to have it! Especially as my Granny and Great Auntie gave us M&S vouchers as a house warming present! (thank you you two!)

The Matching Towels

We didn't get the towels to match the bathmat as they were sold out online, but I'm going to look in store for the matching hand towels this week :)

Rosie For Autograph Home Diffuser

I smelt this lovely room scent months ago when it came out and loved it but it was to pricey a present for myself for no reason, gift vouchers for the new house were the perfect excuse!

I also treated myself to the Rosie perfume, which was only £14 and is such a pretty scent!

The Perfect Nude Nail Polish

Guys... I have a problem... I have a lot of nail varnishes, like A LOT but I only recently realised the amount of 'nude' polishes I have is ridic. And I still have not found 'the one' :(

If you know where I can find the perfect pinky-peachy-nude polish (that doesn't cost a fortune) PLEASE tell me!

Chandeliers (Plural)

I really want a lovely but light chandelier for our bedroom, I've searched and searched on the internet and been close to buying many but then changed my mind at the last minute. I think this one on Amazon is the one though, I may get it after pay day! 

I also really want a pretty pastel vintage phone for our bedroom too, theres a phone port right beside my bedside table so I think really we need a phone there, you know, for 'emergencies' (like gossip!)

 That's really all I'm properly lusting after this month, I'm trying to avoid clothes shops! I'll post a house update soon though :)

The Lust List - April 2015

This month I am SERIOUSLY nesting, our completion date for the new house is 6th May and we have been busy packing and planning. VERY EXCITING!

We picked our kitchen a couple of weeks ago and I'm nervous to see it 'in real life' but that's not stopping me planning a few new purchases for it! 

My WONDERFUL BEAUTIFUL AMAZING friends in work got Ross and I a duck egg blue KitchenAid as a wedding present, and it's pretty much my fave thing ever, so I think we are going to decorate the kitchen around that! +KitchenAid 

Therefore on my lust list this month are a few duck-egg delights for our kitchen/ dining room!

Calling the Kettle... Blue!

I got VERY excited about buying this kettle... ask poor Keeva who has to sit beside me in the office. It was my NEWS OF THE WEEK. Mainly because I've been trying so hard not to shop and to save money that whenever pay day rolled around and we needed a new kettle for the new house, it felt like such a treat to allow myself to buy something pretty. Sad I know! 

But look how pretty! It matches my mixer! :D +Asda 

Take a Seat

We have very kindly been given a large round dining table by Ross's cousin Lezah, we cant' really tell until we are in the house what it will look like with the kitchen décor but we may end up painting it or just using a pretty table cloth. We already have a collection of four odd wooden chairs which I (badly) painted pastel shades, I plan to sand them down and repaint them properly for the new house. I will probably spray paint them to get a nice even finish, but haven't decided on colours yet, again it depends on our finished kitchen, but I like these shades below!

I love these seat cushions from H&M and think they would look lovely on cream or ivory painted chairs.  +H&M 

But first.... Coffee

I love DotCom Gift Shop, they are just amazing, so many pretty things. Their kitchenware game has been significantly high recently (or I am just becoming aware that 'kitchenware game' is a thing, have I just invented it? who knows.) I particularly love these stove top espresso makers because; A) Coffee and B) Pretty Colours. Also stove-top is the best. #justsayin #kitchenwaregame +Dotcomgiftshop 

:O ALL OF THESE MERINGUES

Have you heard of The Meringue Girls? They are basically the two coolest girls ever. And they make Meringues. I want to meet them/ be them/ eat all the meringues. Have I said meringue enough? No. MERINGUES. 

LOVE & CAKE

These oven mitts from Stu Gardiner Designs are insanely kitch and cool. LOVE them!I think they are very me :)  

So basically this month, I'm looking forward to getting into our new house with our new kitchen and making some meringues with our kitchenaid while wearing funky mitts! - We'll see how that goes lol ;)