Halloween Decor Part 2

This is a continuation of the previous blog about my 2015 Halloween decorations. In the first blog, I described how I created the die hard Bruins Fan. This blog will cover the ten jars I placed on my front steps. They had LED candles and Halloween themed cut-outs. I had a set of orange jars and a set of purple jars, but after dark, the colors didn't show up very well with just candlelight. They were more impressive in the daylight.

One of the purple glass jars with bat cut-out.

I purchased the jars at a local craft store several weeks before Halloween. I was there to buy other art supplies and happen to notice the jars were on sale for $1.00 each (regular price was $2.00). I only purchased four orange jars and two purples jars at the time. When I got home and started brainstorming Halloween ideas, I realized it would be neat to alternate the jars on the steps leading to my front porch. The only problem was I have five steps and I'd purchased six jars. I decided to go back and buy enough jars to have three pair of orange jars and two pair of purple jars. This way I could have a jar on each side of each step with alternating colors. I also decided it would be safer and easier to put LED candles in the jars. The last thing I wanted was a trick-or-treater brushing past a jar and their costume being set ablaze by a real candle. 

The owl jar. Use of LED candles was safer and easier.

At the time I bought the first set of jars, I'd also purchased a couple of 3" tall LED candles. Once I had the plan laid out, I went back to the art store and bought enough 3" candles for all ten jars. They were only $1.99 each. I lucked out when I went back to buy more of the same jars since they were still on sale at 50% off (only $1 each). All told, I invested about $10 for ten jars, $20 for 10 LED candles, $2 for the wire used to stabilize the jars, and $1 for the foam used to protect the bottom of the jars. The foam was helpful for two reasons: it protected the jars from the hard concrete steps and also kept the jars from sliding or shifting around. I used hot glue to affix the foam to the jars.

The foam protected the glass jars from scraping on the concrete steps

The decoration on the jars was an idea I'd thought about last Halloween but didn't have time to bring it to fruition. I settled for candles in glass squares last year. I also had wider steps to work with (so I could use flame candles). This time my stair case was a bit narrower so I had to modify the idea to make it work safely. 
I cut out five different Halloween themes: bat, jack-o-lantern, howling wolf, owl, and cat face. I affixed the cut-outs to the jar using scrap-booking adhesive squares. They held well, except for the jack-o-lanterns. Since I wrapped them around the jars, I had to use some extra tape to hold them against the jars. I actually had two ghosts cut out for the jars, but they ended up being too large. I used them to decorate my studio window instead.

Scary cat face

One other modification I did was add some floral wire to the jar rims so I could wire the jars to the railing on my front steps. This way if a costume were to catch any of the jars, the worst that happened is a controlled, gentle fall. I didn't want to risk any of the jars breaking and children (or adults) getting cut.

Thin, inexpensive floral wire helped stabilize the jars

 All told, I spent about six hours on the jars (including time to make all the necessary cut-outs) and roughly $33 on materials. The effect was a very nice touch as people came up the stairs to get candy.

All the jars lit during a test before I took them outside

Here you can see the orange and purple colors; the colors were indistinguishable after dark

In the next blog, I'll cover how I did my two Halloween signs.