The first day of autumn is tomorrow, but I couldn't help jumping the gun on Halloween. Not only is it my favorite holiday, but we are going to be throwing another costume party (second annual, baby!) and as veterans, we now understand prep is key. We have our costumes decided (but not together yet), a menu figured out, and I am already thinking of sophisticated ways to deck the halls for halloween. I'm not really into the gory halloween or the cutesy halloween--but I do think there is a middle ground...at least that is where I am aiming to land.
I ran across this awesome site yesterday, Vintage Printable. They provide hundreds of free, public domain/out-of-copyright images to print or download. (Score!) Most of the images are vintage naturalist or scientific illustration, but there are loads of other images, too.
What a great source, right? I have already picked out several that I love for around the house--maybe some botanicals for the bathroom, they have a great juvenille section that could be worth looking at when we re-do Greta's room. Although for now, I thought it would be fun to see if they had any vintage halloween posters I could print off and frame. First I checked out their "Monsters" section. It. was. weird. They imagined up some crazy monsters in the old days. Luckily, under "Seasonal" they had a "Fall--bats, black cats, witches" section that was more my style.
I fell for this vintage chart filled with different kind of bats:
And this bright black cat poster from 1903:
I framed the cat in a basic white frame from Ikea:
And my floating easel frame from West Elm seemed suited for the bats perfectly. As if they are really flying. Ha!!
I am thrilled to find a source for free, vintage printables that will make it so easy to rotate art for the seasons--we couldn't not share it with you. Anyone else already geeking out over Halloween??
Hi Julia, What type of paper you are using to print out the images?
ReplyDeleteThose prints are perfect for a party! I haven't totally decided where we fall in the halloween decoration spectrum. The "whatever gets the point across without being expensive?" I always pull my halloween decorations out too early and then by the time it rolls around, I am so over my decorations!!
ReplyDeleteOh my, thank you! Weston loves animal stuff and they've already been begging for bat decor for Halloween. Perfect!
ReplyDeleteI used a card stock. 100# I think. But I am sure you could just use whatever you have!
ReplyDeleteI hear you on that one! I am going to hold off on putting up webbing and probably our crows until the week of the party, but little things like art and a few pumpkins--gah! I just can't help myself.
ReplyDeleteYay!! Nicole, they have so many different animal printables on that site you should look into too!
ReplyDeleteUgh I forget where I saw them, I think at Eighteen25 blog they had vintage pumpkin/jack-o-lantern print outs. I too do not like decorating scary halloween or too cutesty country halloween, i just like the classics like skeletons, ghosts and pumpkins or owls and crows.( I also like dia de los muertos stuff. World Market has the cutest day of the dead skulls there!)
ReplyDeleteanyway love the black cat, thanks for sharing. That "monster" gallery is awesome. Looks like mythical creatures. I'd love to do my staircase or a gallery wall of some of them.
Classic! Yes, that's the word I couldn't think of and kept writing "sophisticated." I like classic halloween. Thanks! I'll have to check out Eighteen25.
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