I don’t normally go all out decorating the mantle for Halloween, but this year I was inspired by Día de Muertos, a Mexican day of the dead celebration, and wanted to do a sugar skull theme. A few weeks ago, I gave you a sneak peek at my Sugar Skull Halloween mantle in my Lighted Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Wall Art tutorial.
When I first showed off the sneak peek, the mantle looked pretty dark and was giving off a scary sort of vibe…not what I a was going for. I wanted a brighter and more cheerful vibe seen in many Día de Muertos decorations. It took me a few days of staring at the mantle to figure out what else I wanted to add and I’m finally ready for the full “Sugar Skull Halloween Mantle” reveal!
Sugar Skull Halloween Mantle
As you can see, with just a few added touches of color, the mantle went from dark and scary to a more bright and fun look.
One of the first things I did was to add giant tissue flowers in red, aqua, and purple to the top of the display. These flowers are super easy to make and gave the mantle a burst of color that it was missing. Next, I added gem stones to the spiders mounted on the wall.
To bring in more color, I also replaced the silver roses with a red roses, added an aqua pom-pom flower, and some small pink pom-pom flowers. We’re on a roll now!
**Tip – 1. Reuse old bottles to make vases. The black and silver vases are made with glass spaghetti sauce bottles. 2. Cut trash bags to make black curtains.**
On the right side of the mantle, I added bejeweled dollar store skulls and brought in some purple color. The first skull was added to the wall and is used as a hanging hook for the faux fencing wire. Below this, I added a fully bejeweled skull and a purple glitter candle for some much needed sparkle. I even reused some pink flowers that I used in my Spring Wreath.
**Tip – 3. hot glue a flat head thumb-tack to the back of the skull for an easy way to hang the skull on the wall with very minimal damage. Otherwise, use some type of semi-permanent 3M strips.**
Do you like the changes? I do! I think the added color and bling really brightens up the display. I’m really happy with the way the mantle turned out and plan on adding more flowers over the entire top of the mantle.
Want to make your own Día de Muertos mantle? Here is list of supplies used to create this mantle:
- (2) dollar store black netting
- (3) dollar store black crows
- red, aqua, and purple tissue paper
- dollar store red roses
- dollar store black glitter roses
- (2) dollar store glitter branches
- (2) purple glitter candles
- (2) small dollar store skulls
- 1 large dollar store skull mounted on a candle holder
- various glue on gems – use to jewel skulls and spiders
- (3) dollar store black glitter tea lights
- dollar store small silver glitter skulls
- black trash bags
- reused pink pom-pom flowers from my Spring Wreath
- Day of the Dead Sugar Skull Wall Art
- recycled painted glass bottles
I absolutely love this! The colorful flowers are the perfect touch! Every year I mean to paint/ rhinestone my own sugar skulls and every year I get too lazy and end up buying already decorated ones. One of these years I’m going to do it though, haha!
Hi again Erlene 🙂
Thank you so much for linking up with Big Autumn Bash ! 🙂
xx
Mila
Stopping by from Your Design This Time link party. So glad I cam e across this. We’re having a Day of Dead theme Halloween party. Pinning!
I saw some of your Day of the Dead crafts on your blog too. I’m going to make that bottle 🙂
It looks amazing! Hubby and I are dressing as sugar skulls for Halloween this year and now I wish I had a mantle to decorate too. I may just steal an idea or two from you this year!
Oh Jen! I hope you post a picture 🙂 I’d love to see your costume. Are you doing just your faces or the full dress-up?
ohhhh spooky!!!!!!!! You are so very creatice Erlene! I love the tissue colored flowers you created!!!
Thanks Zan. I think the mantle really needed some bright colors and the tissue flowers were a great and inexpensive way to add that much needed cheerful colors.
Very creative. I think you captured the Day of the Dead celebration quite well! Love those Dollar store finds!
Thanks Shirley. I think most of the things on the mantle were from the dollar store. Can you tell I love that place…lol.
I love that it’s not your typical orange and black mantel for Halloween! Very creative!
Thanks Kristen. I wanted to do something different and love the colors of this Mexican holiday. So many bright colors 🙂
We were actually in Mexico once on during the Day of the Dead celebration. It was interesting to see how others celebrate. I think you nailed it on your mantle! Great job!
Thanks Alli. You’re so luck to have experienced it there. It must’ve been a lot of fun.
So creative! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you. Glad you stopped by.
This is GREAT !!
We don’t celebrate Halloween, but I love to see your decorations and costumes. Such fun
Thanks Winnie. I think this just might be our last year of the kids dressing up as they are getting too old 🙁 .
Very nice! I can see all the efforts that went into it.
-Tanya
Thank you.
Erlene ~ I love your mantel! Especially the crows! I saw them at the dollar store, the other day but couldn’t think of anything to used them for.. but you found a way! The whole thing looks great! Julia
Thanks Julia. You should definitely pick some of the crows up…you won’t regret it. I think they add a nice touch for Halloween decor.