Bewitching Halloween Vignette

I mentioned in my previous post that I'm helping host a fundraiser in October in support of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  The theme (which my very creative sister came up with) is Pink Potions - A Witch's Brew.  All the ladies in attendance will be dressed in their witchy best.  I've designed a Bewitching Halloween Vignette over my piano which we will use the night of our event.

To set the stage for a modern day witch's lair, I started with a large white framed chalkboard embellished with words from Shakespeare's Song of the Witches (from Macbeth).  Check out my Framed Glass Chalkboard post for step by step instructions on how to create chalk art.

I wanted to add lidded apothecary jars but they were just too pricey at $24 a pop.  That would have blown my whole budget!  I used three open topped glass cylinder jars ($5 each) instead which saved me a wicked amount of money.  You may already have some glass jars around the house which you can repurpose.  It could be any glass jar - recycled spaghetti sauce or other large jar. 

My tall glass jars hold eyeballs (eyeball-looking bouncy balls), large plastic cockroaches, and skeleton bones.  You could do any creepy thing - snakes, other bugs, skulls, spiders, etc.  I found all the stuff I needed at Michael's.  Although I used bouncy balls for the eyes, you could use small styrofoam balls painted white with black center and red veins.

I also added clear jars full of seemingly gross stuff a witch might need handy to make a brew, spell, or potion.  My small jars include the following items: 

• toad slime (green noisy putty)
• dried crow's blood (red sugar sprinkles)
• rat (or bat) droppings (chocolate candy drops such as Nestle Buncha Crunch which are bunches of crispy rice dipped in milk chocolate) 
• spider venom (yellow colored water)

I'm actually thinking of putting chocolate covered bugs or another gross candy in the "rat droppings" jar because my boys keep eating all of the good chocolate "droppings".  They may be in for a very rude awakening when they bite into a crunchy chocolate covered cricket.  Yuck!

Here's the PDF of the labels I created for my jars.  Choose the ones which fit best for your vignette.  I printed my labels on a distressed looking scrapbook paper.  My jars are large glass spice jars (4.5" h x 2.5 " w) that you could easily find Target, World Market, Pier 1 or even IKEA.

I had 5 small books which I covered with a distressed looking scrapbook paper printed with 3 basic "titles" you would find in any witch's library - Brews, Potions, Spells.  Just for fun - I added a couple of extra titles - Latin Incantations for Beginners and Busy Witches Weeknight Brews.

I modified my moss ball topiary to a skull topiary.  I removed the moss ball and replaced it with the foam skull head.  I added a black ribbon up the post and tied a bow under the skull.

I added a simple broom and black witch's hat as a finishing touch.  

Wicked Fun!