San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Scare up compostable Halloween decor
Too often, one of the spookiest parts of Halloween winds up being the amount of plastic and other wasteful materials used to create a creepy atmosphere. But with a little ingenuity, you can set an eerie scene with more natural, sometimes compostable, supplies. Here are five ideas.
Floral pumpkin vase
This is an attractive, easy project for a front porch or dining room. Choose a wide, medium-size pumpkin, then cut the top quarter off, leaving an 8- to 10-inch opening. After scooping out the guts and seeds, let dry for an hour before laying a piece of cardboard at the bottom and filling with sand.
To create a spooky arrangement inside, start with several thorny branches in a circle in the sand. Black walnut, hawthorn or barberry make for a prickly, foreboding atmosphere. If you prefer autumn colors, try yellow or orange twig dogwood branches as an alternative.
Then, to soften the perimeter, tuck in stems with berries. Choose pyracantha for orange or cotoneasters for red. Flowers can come from a supermarket bouquet of maroon mums and yellow sunflowers.
For more ghoulish accents, add in faded sea holly blooms with their prickly flower heads, dried, ghostly lotus pods, or black mondo grass. Finish with tufts of dried grass seed heads such as pampas or wheat.
To add a central Halloween feature, you might try making a simple, mini ghost. First, paste three cotton balls together with water soluble glue. Insert a wooden skewer into the cluster, then drape a handkerchief or ten-inch square cut from an old cotton t-shirt over the form. For eyes and a mouth, either cut three ovals from construction paper or use black candy pieces. Insert the skewer into the center of the arrangement.
Burlap bat streamers
Burlap offers a rustic alternative to orange and black crepe paper streamers, plus it's compostable. You can make your own streamers by taking a burlap sack and cutting it into strips or buy premade burlap ribbon from a craft store.
To craft your streamers from a sack, cut long strips about 3 inches wide to the length of your ceiling. For a ragged effect, fray the edges with your fingers. Then pin or use sticky hooks to secure the end of each strip to a ceiling corner before twisting repeatedly across the room and securing on the opposite side.
To make bats, find a template online or in a craft book that measures 4 to 6 inches wide. Print the shapes onto black construction paper or card stock and cut them out. Then either hole-punch in two eyes or use water-soluble glue to paste on two orange round candy toppings.
Poke a tiny hole in the center of each bat's back if you want to display them horizontally, as if in flight. Then, with a large needle, thread through a 6-inch piece of black jute, yarn or thin cotton cord. Secure each bat to the burlap with a double knot. If you'd like the bats to hang upside down as if they're resting, glue an inch-long piece of cord down the bat's center.
A harvest wreath
A natural wreath on a front door warmly welcomes visitors. Start with grapevine if you have it. Otherwise, you can use any somewhat stiff vine, such as Virginia creeper or English ivy. You'll need at least 10 feet for a sturdy wreath. Coil your vine into a 12-inch circle. Once finished, secure the vines into the circular shape with 6-inch pieces of jute. I like to tie it in three places.
To decorate your vine base, insert dried seed heads, feathers or fading leaves. Leaves from a shrub will blaze with red color; witch hazel beams yellow or orange; and of course maples come in all three. Purple ninebark leaves are a deep indigo, and the flat heads of variegated stonecrop are a gorgeous rust hue. For a more sculptural look, try dried poppy or Chinese lantern seed heads. Evergreen magnolia leaves add rich dark green tones. Have fun with it and play with materials that match your taste.
Glowing centerpiece
While Halloween candy pleases the kids, an interesting centerpiece gives adults something to enjoy. Start with a low basket that has a flat bottom, anywhere from 10 to 12 inches in diameter. Lay down a bed of dried moss or black paper grass at the bottom. Arrange bumpy gourds, pine cones and whole walnuts or chestnuts. I've even used mushrooms that have popped up in the lawn.
Mini pumpkins add a touch of orange, and miscellaneous flowers and faded leaves fill in the blanks.
At the center, tuck in a glass hurricane candleholder, clear drinking glass or bowl. Add wire fairy lights (albeit whose battery pack does have a bit of plastic), making sure to loosen the strands so they fill the entire container. A beeswax or soy candle is also an option, but only if you're sure it won't be left unattended. Either way, the final result will add a festive glow to your table.
Creepy crawly spiderwebs
If you're looking for an alternative to premade spider webs, cheesecloth is a versatile, inexpensive, compostable choice. I've found pieces meant for Halloween décor are easier to work with, but if you prefer a more natural solution, unbleached cotton is your best bet. A 30- by 72-inch piece is usually enough to make at least two webs.
Whatever the size, you can create a web by cutting your piece into a triangle and hanging at a room's corner. This works best indoors and out of the rain. For a ragged, creepy effect, cut the cloth into multiple pieces and hang like curtains, fraying the edges at the bottom. You can stretch random holes in the cloth to mimic torn cob webs.
Paper spiders are often available at craft stores, but if you have the time, you can find a bat template and print the shapes onto black construction paper. For more festive spiders, trace your template onto Halloweenthemed party bags or paper plates. Bend the spider legs slightly and hook them into the cheesecloth. You can also secure them with metal Christmas ornament hooks. Either way, you'll have a fun display.
Karen Hugg is the author of “Leaf Your Troubles Behind: How to Destress and Grow Happiness Through Plants.”