OOOH! Creepy!

  Creepy Cloth is the new name given to old-fashioned cheesecloth.  Any of you that are near my age will remember the stuff that was a staple in the kitchens of folks who made a lot of cheese or jelly.  People nowadays have long since forgotten that the fabric was ever used in the kitchen during food processing.  This miracle cloth was also a staple in sheds and workshops at the same time.  It was great to use as a cleaning rag or in applying stains on woodworking projects.  The stuff was just all around useful.  Now, it has seen a rebirth as Creepy Cloth.  Creepy Cloth (aka cheesecloth with a little dye) fills the department stores this time of year.  Halloween decorations just would not be the same without the fabric. I know that my decorations would be lacking if I ever stop using it!

  My whole point of this is to tell of a new use I have found for cheesecloth.  Yep, it is still using it as a Halloween decoration but this time not as curtains or tablecloths.  Elizabeth and I have discovered the stuff is best used as wigs! We had a skeleton that needed dressing for her debut so she now has beautifully coiffed hair...err cheesecloth!  It is amazing how wonderfully this worked!  Elizabeth styled the cloth into an elegant updo for the skeleton and I think the bony lady approved!

  Then I was in dire need of a bit of Spanish moss for an arbor.  The moss I had was old and starting to shed a bit so I used a bit of ingenuity. Cheesecloth!  I dyed cheesecloth in a weird mixture of black paint and stale coffee.  The result was a delightful shade of "old gray".  The panels of cloth were stripped to about three inches wide, looped over the arbor and tied.  Once in place, the cloth was again stripped.  This created long, flowing "moss" trails.  I was pleased with the results but need to dye a bit more to complete the arbor.  A few lights and the walk-through arbor shall be "hauntified"! 

  Cheesecloth still remains a lot cheaper than the same stuff marketed as Creepy Cloth.  With a few things most of us have on hand, the cheaper version can be made look just like the more expensive type.  This will save you a ton of money if you use as much as I do each year.  Even though I carefully recycle the cloth from year to year, I still find the need to have more.  I keep a ready supply of the stuff on hand for decorating but, also, for jelly-making!  Imagine that?  I can use my "creepy cloth" in the kitchen!

Pumpkin Time!

I was browsing around the internet the other day and saw something that I thought was just so cute!  It was at a home decor website which was showing Halloween decorating tips.  They wanted you to purchase a set of black dishes to be arranged in a china hutch.  Mixed in with the dishes, they had placed a bunch of Jack-o-lanterns! This was adorable!  I was hooked!  Not wanting to copy exactly and not wanting to go out and purchase an entire set of black dishes..I improvised!  I scrounged through the cabinets and found just enough odds and ends to put together a rather pleasing grouping. I found a small cappuccino set of four tiny cups and saucers, a black pitcher, four large mugs (from my son's college days), three odd shaped candy dishes and a single black candlestick!  These would work! Mark had bought me about a dozen of the tiny pumpkins back a few weeks ago and I finally knew just how I was going to use them..the problem was..where? Since I had already decorated my china cabinet and had no hutch available in the dining room, I improvised there as well!  Down one wall around the fireplace, there are built-in bookshelves.  These shelves were entirely too large to house my small collection so I pondered the fact.  A small knickknack shelf was pulled from the kitchen and placed on one bookshelf.  Pumpkins were stacked on cups, in candy dishes filled with moss and on the candlestick!  A bit of homemade "creepy cloth" (also known as dyed cheesecloth), a few fall leaves, some Spanish moss and the look was complete!  I was pleased!  Whoever came up with the original idea was ingenious!  My take on their idea may not be as elaborate but then again, nothing in the Little Bayou House is elaborate!  Simple, down-to-earth and inexpensive is my motto!

Since I was taking a break from chores anyway, I might as well decorate another area!  In a corner of the dining room, there is a small round table.  This table sits in front of a closet which is rarely used so I can decorate to my heart's content without worrying about ever moving the stuff!  A large jug of dried grasses wrapped with a twining fall leaf branch set the theme here.  A bit of creepy cloth and some more little pumpkins and the table was decorated!  This was simple yet effective!  I had purchased one bundle of the dried grasses at the local Dollar Tree.  To that, I added whatever twigs, grasses and seed pods I could scavenge from the hillside and marsh.  It was like a treasure hunt!

Now that I had avoided work for the morning, I decided that duty called.  Chores must be done!  All the while, my mind rambled to what I could decorate next!  Aha!  Several buffet tops and mantles were in need of some festive decor!  The creepy "old house" look was soon to be achieved!  If I hurry through the chores today, tomorrow will see me clambering around hunting for the perfect old and dusty items!  I am quite sure more creepy cloth will come into play with this theme! Just as a note...if you check back a few years, I explained in detail how to create your own creepy cloth!  http://msbayoulady.blogspot.com/search?q=creepy+cloth 

"Creepy Cloth"

Ok, so maybe I am jumping the gun a bit here with Halloween decorations, but for me it is never to early to decorate for any holiday. My dear daughter-in-law sent me the Martha Stewart Halloween Guide magazine and that was enough to make me turn all of my Fall decorations into Halloween themed decorations. The magazine is so full of fun things to make that it seemed a shame to let it just sit on the coffee table collecting dust (everything in my house collects dust faster than you can shake a stick). I perused the magazine from cover to cover and wild ideas started flowing in the brain! One thing led to another and I just had to get started. First room to be "Halloweenized" would be the entryway as that is the first room anyone sees when they visit my house. The usual cutesy little signs and ghosties would have to find a new place to dwell, I had a vision! This room is small..very small..area-wise but it is huge in possibilities. My entryway was to become a haunted parlor! Everything had to go! And it did! Now that it is almost a blank canvas, the fun begins! First for the windows. Three sides of this tiny room has windows (and they all needed washing). Aha!..this is to be a haunted parlor..no washing windows. Dust is your friend when creating creepy, old parlors! I had found some stuff called creepy cloth in catalogs but it is so expensive. It is about $6 for 4 yards..I know, I know that is not terribly expensive, but when you consider it is just dyed cheesecloth, it seems outrageous! I could do better! I hit a sale in the paint department where their cheesecloth was only fifty cents a package..ooohh!..there are 4 yards to the pack..big difference! Personally , I did not want my curtains to look like new dyed cloth..I wanted it to look old and faded. Dyes are too even so I "invented" my own. This is the point of this whole post..how to make really old looking cheesecloth curtains! Buy the cheapest cheesecloth you can find..and while you are about it..by a bunch! It is so versatile and I will show how to use it in several ways over this next month. Now to make it appear old. Rip open as many of the packs of cloth as will cover your windows or however you plan to use the "old" cloth. Unfold and sort of fluff it out a bit. Now go make a pot of good strong coffee as you are going to need it! Make it really, really strong! When the coffee is ready, pour yourself a cup and pour the rest in a large heat resistant bowl. To this hot coffee add about 3 tablespoons of black acrylic paint and stir it around to mix it well. Here comes the fun part..plop all of your cloth into this concoction and with a large spoon start poking it around, all the while pretending you are a witch stirring some brew in a cauldron! Hey! You might as well get into the spirit of things! "Double, double toil and trouble! Fire burn, cauldron bubble.." Ok, enough of that..now leave the fabric to soak in the "dye" while you drink your coffee. After about thirty minutes, the coffee/paint should be cool enough for you to squeeze out the excess from your cloth. Once this is done..hang the cloth outside being careful not to smooth out all the wrinkles..leave folds and pleats here and there. This will add variations in color and makes a "natural" faded look. It will only take a short while before it is dry and then you can hang your curtains. Add a few rips by gently tugging at the cloth in different areas if you want to go that route. There is no need to hem or sew these at all. You can either drape them over curtain rods or use tiny nails to secure them.

I added a row of "family portraits" and will add a "diary". The portraits are simply old horror movie pictures that I found on the computer and printed in sepia tones. A bunch of old frames were haphazardly painted with the same paint we used earlier. Up lights will add a creepy ambiance to the room at night. A few more doodads from around the house and my parlor will be ready to receive visitors! Doing full blown decorations like this need not be expensive. You can incorporate things that you already have in your home. Sometimes, you just have to look at things a bit differently to see the possibilities. Granted, I already had some of the "props" for this room..the woodburning stove being stored there until it is reinstalled in the dining room and a few other things that I swiped from other parts of my house. Overall, my cost has been minimal. This entire room has been decorated for under $3! Not bad, not bad at all! A "finished" picture will come soon!