Halloween Decorating Gypsy Style

I made up a project list for my gypsy decor. Unfortunately, I didn't get to all of them last year as there were so many, but intend to keep working on them this year, plus I'm adding more!:

Things I finished and still have from last year:
Gypsy "warning" signs
Gypsy "fortune teller" signs (2)
Palmistry sign
Gypsy Lanterns
Spooky Cuckoo Clock
Scary Spell Book
Magic Wand
Crystal Ball
Fabric/curtains/tablecloths/window treatments

Things I have to make again because they don't keep
Gypsy Camp Fire
Graveyard bat window mural
Halloween Tree
Jack-O-Lanterns
Apothecary Bottles & Boxes
Plant "poisonous" markers/labels

New Things I'm Adding:
Carnivorous Plants
Big Magical "Tombs" with crazy titles
Fossils and unrecognizable "animal remains
Gypsy-Witch "luck charms"

Some other tasks ahead include setting up lights, draping the fabrics & putting it all together.

I began with the sliding glass doors. I set a tension rod in the frame and draped some blue and purple sheer fabric on it with blue string Christmas lights. I hung a large palmistry poster.

The altar area I found some interesting props in my closet, including the mini cauldron I got at the thrift shop, my son's wand, a strange looking bottle with some kind of cherub looking like he's trying to push through it and a mortar & pestle, finishing it off with some old garage sale books with a dollar store skull candle holder. Oh, and of course, my "spell book," which you can find the easy instructions for making it below.

The plant stand is draped with shrunken skulls, dead plants and all my bottles with 'scary apothecary' labels. I just put the labels on some empty drink bottles, peanut butter jar, jelly jars, roast pepper jars and whatever else I found lying around. I put some stuff inside, like food coloring tinted liquids.

By the door I set up a crate and draped it with fabric layers, and put out some pumpkins and a Halloween tree. My boy who loves his Halloween trees got a little carried away decorating it but this is his project. The tree is just a branch stuck in the dirt of a flower pot, I taped it up with black duck tape and a string of lights.

The window got a tension rod as well and draped with some black and purple tulle. I set up the creepy photo display with a silver chalice with a pentagram on it, a candelabra and some occult books.

The idea here was to make a spooky old looking tomb for a spell book, but I got the idea that I wanted it to look like something was trying to get out of it, so it has a face mold and part of a hand looking like it's trying to push through the leather.

To make this prop I started with an old denim binder that had been used to death, as you can see. Then I molded a big wad of foil into the shape of a face, but I can sculpt. If your sculpting skills aren't up to it just use a mask form stuffed with foil or newspaper so it's solid.

I taped over the foil to smooth it out. I covered paper mache over the book using red gift tissue paper so it would look like leather.

I dry-brushed some brown paint onto it. I cut a stack of newspaper to size and stuffed them inside the binder and finished it off with some gold paint in the shape of a pentagram... I was out of gold leafing but I think it might have come out even better, but the gold paint looks fine.

A spell book is an excellent prop for many different Halloween decorating themes. You can make one closed or make it open and print out some creepy pages with spells, incantations and symbols on it.