Clever Halloween party ideas! Easy last minute DIY.

As you prepare for your Fall holiday gathering, it's never too late to create a few last minute Halloween party inspirations.   I created this table for a Good Housekeeping Magazine Halloween Feature in 2010.  It's filled with super-easy styling ideas that you can pull together quickly. 

Smaller pieces of cheese cloth can be draped over tiered dishes for an  eiry effect.  Add candy bowls and scatter in creepy bugs.

Black Flowers! Yes, you can paint white mums with black spray paint for a 'deathly' effect! They will live for days.  The vase was created by placing black and white wrapping paper inside a glass cylinder.

These inexpensive mice, skulls, bugs, and spiders look great mixed in with your pumpkins. Stay with the Halloween color story, black, orange and white!

I found this giant spider years ago at Crate and Barrel.  It's perfect for protecting its nest of cup cakes. Use your props in imaginative ways!.

Spell "BOO" using a small brush to apply black craft paint.  Artificial ivy is sprayed black, cut and then placed along the mantle.

Wherever your Haunting Celebration may take you, have a Happy Halloween, friends!

Produced and Styled By Karin Lidbeck for Good Housekeeping mag. 2010 Oct Issue. All photography by Michael Partenio

The How to in No Carve Pumpkin Artistry

Several years ago I worked on a project for MidWest Living Magazine. They wanted ideas for " No Carve Pumpkins.  Drawing or painting pumpkins was a natural idea and my background in graphic art made it all the more appealing.

Remember scratchboard?  I created these pumpkins with ease... and it was fun!

Styled by Karin Lidbeck-Brent
Photography by Michael Partenio

Try this:

 Choose pumpkins that have a smooth surface. Spray paint the pumpkin with a flat black   cover.  Using sharp household tools such as needles, knives or an awl, scratch a design that is geometric or illustrative.

Eerie but Easy Halloween projects

I can hardly believe that for 17 years I've been a contributing crafts editor designing original Halloween and fall projects for Good Housekeeping magazine.

Halloween Spider

With the season of Halloween magic at our front door, I wanted to share a few of my favorite projects that I created.  Halloween is such a creative time but it does not have to consume you. These projects are based on getting an effect when time is limited. You may not believe this at first glance but this effect below is really easy to get with little effort.

Styled by Karin Lidbeck Brent

Halloween is all about the entry . You can conjure up some drama easily with bare tree branches and a selection of pumpkins. I  simply cut a small hole in the top of the pumpkins and pushed the tall branches down and into the pumpkin to hold. Then place your woodland path and add those menacing black crows. Add spiderwebs  and creepy crawlers if you really want to go to town. I like simplicity!

Styled  by Karin Lidbeck Brent

Imagine this eerie creature in your entry hall. A friend's dress form caught my eye one day, and it sparked this idea! The carved pumpkin sits on top of the dress form covered with torn and tattered cotton cheesecloth.  It's spooky but still playful which is definitely my style for Halloween.

Styled by Karin Lidbeck Brent

                                                                        

I also love to use bags of spidery webbing ripped, pulled and stretched for creating the haunted look over curtains and windows. I made these light weight black paper bats cut outs with folded wings.  Use the webbing to hold the bats in place.

If your looking for a small project, take a closer look at the spidery votives pictured at the top of this blogpost! This is a great hostess gift! 

Cut a hole in the top of the gourd to hold the tea light. The legs are black pipe cleaners pushed into the gourd.

Projects above were created for Good Housekeeping magazine 2007

Celebrating October in Style with Do it Yourself Ideas

All of my friends say I have the coolest job, and I must say I  probably do. 

My life as a stylist has many wonderful faces that present me with a continual stream of challenges to design, create and make beautiful projects happen. 

It's fun looking for new approaches to things like making this this faux vase from gourds.  It's easy to make! 

Use a wood shish kabob spear and push it through all of the gourds to hold them vertically. The top squash was hollowed out and filled with wet oasis. This project I created for Better Homes and Gardens Country Gardens magazine.

Designed by Karin Lidbeck for Country Gardens magazine. Photo Andre Baronowski

I do find inspiration sometimes in the strangest places. 

My friend and fellow designer  Elizabeth Reilly and I created this canopy of drapped blueberry netting in tree branches resulting in a magical setting for an evening soiree.  Carving all those pumpkins in record time nearly killed us. We had two days to create this garden party for Garden Design magazine in Elizabeth's garden and the blueberry netting was a last minute inspiration that really worked.

The end result of hard work is always so rewarding!  Holiday product Designer Bruce Elsass and  I created a party in the woods for Country Living magazine.  It really was one of the best Halloween parties ever that continued after the shoot into the night. (By the way, that's me in the witches get-up)

It's  great to work with so many fantastic photographers who bring gorgeous light and vision  to every project.

 Literally, it's all about teamwork!

Styled by Karin Lidbeck Brent for Better Homes and Gardens
 Photo by Michael Partenio

I've always loved throwing parties and creating DIY entertaining projects which are easy and quick.

Designing this table scape with bittersweet for Better Homes and Gardens was a really fun project for me to work on.

Styled by Karin Lidbeck Brent. Photos by Michael Partenio

When it comes to my job and working with so many fantastic creative people,  I could hardly ever imagine doing anything else.