Halloween Mantel

It seems as though I just set up my fall mantel only to take it down for my Halloween mantel.  (Mental note:  Wait to put the fall mantel up after Halloween next year.)

Did you all see the post from The 36th Avenue on the Dollar Store Halloween Village a while back?  I was inspired to make one of my own, however I just don't have the room anymore to keep buying and storing new decorations.  However, the idea of it all was stuck in my head and last week while looking around some thrift stores, I had an Aha! moment when I saw this:

 A porcelain "Bank" for a buck fifty??  It totally could get spooked out with a little paint!  And so it did.

I first applied a coat of gray primer and then lightly sprayed some black over it.  I was careful to not totally cover up the gray.  Also, I used a satin paint instead of a glossy paint.

(The first picture is a bit dark, but the only one I got of the whole thing.)

Some other things I picked up at the Dollar Store were:

Onto the mantel...

 I ended up applying some water-based stain over the eyeballs so they didn't look so perfect and new.  Also, in another jar are the plastic skeletons from the Dollar Store.  I haven't purchased anything for the third container yet, so I just added some green food coloring to water.

I believe I got all my printables from eighteen25.