Good old Martha Stewart. You can always count on her for a dash of inspiration.Yesterday, my husband returned home form work with a magazine he knew I'd love.
Martha's Halloween special! (Available from WHSmith).
Flicking through it I found loads of idea that I thought I'd do next year. Then I thought 'why not do them now?!'
I was particularly taken with the hanging cobwebs made from what she calls cheesecloth, but what I think is known here as muslin cloth.
The 'how to' was nice and simple.
I knew just where I wanted the cobwebs to hang. I bought a door hanging thing from Sainbury's last month, but only opened it last week. Totally disappointed with it.
Basically, it was nothing more than sliced up bin bags. I could have done that myself! The top had a large cardboard cutout thing of a skeleton that was so big and heavy that I had no choice but to cut it off! I could not get it to stay up.
Another thing that I didn't like was how dark it made the hallway feel. It's dark enough during the day at this time of year as it is. It was also really annoying how the strips of plastic would stick to my lipgloss when I walked through them. Mind you, it was rather amusing to see my Mum getting a little bit tangled in it the other day!
I didn't have any muslin, but I did have a roll of organza that I bought at the start of the year.
Martha's idea is a very simple one that you can do without any sewing at all. You pin the muslin up where you want it, then make cuts and rip when in situ. I decided to make it slightly differently. I mesured lengths of tape and ribbon the width of the doorframe, then took long strips of fabric and stitched in place.
Nothing wrong with the way Martha hangs the fabric, I did it this way because it seemed like an easy way of doing it. Once the edge had been trimmed, I pinned the taped top above the door frame with drawing pins.
Then I made cuts in the fabric strips and r-i-p-p-e-d! 
So much prettier than the ugly bin bag door covering!On a safety note, when doing anything that involves strips of hanging fabric is to be careful if you have tiny tots in the house. Make sure you use lightweight fabric and that it isn't long enough for anyone to get tangled in. Since taking these photos I've trimmed the sections so they are just above Gorgeous Girl's head. The longest parts just brush the top of her head. It's better to be safe than sorry.
I also made sure it wasn't so long that Dudley the cat could get tangled in it. I don't want to come along and find him doing a Tarzan impression! So please, if you do something like this just think about it and be careful.
Ok. Now the serious stuff has been said, I can show you the rest of my photos. The fibres of the fabric fray beautifully, which means glittery spiders can be nestled in and will stay put.
It was so quick and easy to do, that I decided to make more cobwebs for the door that leads from the kitchen to the dining room.
Looking through the cobwebs and back into the kitchen.
And another one on the living room door.
Not as nice as Martha's but oh so much better than bin bags!!!On the agenda for this afternoon is trying out the shrinking apple head idea!
