Our youngest son has had October 1 circled on his calendar since about mid-August – the first time he asked, “When can we put up our Halloween decorations?” Of course, it wasn’t enough for me to give him a date he could look forward to; I had to come up with ways to redirect his creative energy in the meantime. Fall/Halloween-related ways.

So, I explained to him that a beautiful fall mantel isn’t created in a day and told him we could use the time between mid-August and October to make new decorations that could be added to the stash we pull down from our attic every year. Our first creation was this Pinterest-inspired mummy jar.

The truth is, I’ve been looking forward to making fall decorations even longer than my son (at least this year). Several months ago, a friend of mine spied a half dozen empty jars/vases on the “free table” where she works and snagged them for me (yay for me!). I’m guessing the only reason they hadn’t been snatched up already was because they were a little cloudy, thanks to the residue of some crazy stubborn labels. But who cares about cloudy glass when I’m just gonna slather it with Mod Podge and wrap it in scraps of fabric?

We used some old, white muslin I had left over from something (can’t even recall how long I’ve had it), but white tissue paper or streamers or even toilet tissue would have worked. We spent $2 on a big bag of googly eyes (so we’re good to go for several Halloweens to come) and, thanks to the donated jars/vases, that’s all we spent.

So far we’ve made two of these cuties, but will probably add to our collection between now and the 31st, making at least one more mummy jar as a thank-you gift for the friend who made this craft possible. If we add a battery-operated votive or small flashlight inside each jar, won’t these look fabulous lining our porch on Halloween night?!