Haunted House Halloween Pillow

I've been trying to bump up the handmade Halloween decor around our house over the past couple of years (like this pillow and this embroidery hoop I made last year). When I started thinking about what to make this year, I remembered these adorable house zipper pouches by A.casa.do.Guaxinim that I had found on Flickr quite some time ago. I decided that this design would make a cute haunted house. I really didn't want to make a haunted house zipper pouch (because I wasn't sure what you'd carry in a Halloween-themed pouch), but a haunted house pillow would be perfect!

Let me add here that - thanks to my two and a half year old - I didn't get out of making a cute little non-Halloween house zipper pouch. I'll share that soon :)

The pillow is 12"x16". I absolutely love the Halloween fabric I used (Dracula, ghost, and pumpkin). It's Boo to You by My Mind's Eye for Riley Blake Designs. I've been hoarding it for two years. The little Dracula in the door window is my favorite character from the Boo to You print...

The little ghost had to make an appearance as well. I've said it before, but I can't stand the gross-out, gory, creepy side of Halloween. I'll take cutesy Halloween any day, thank you :)

The tree trunk is a birch tree print fabric I've had kicking around forever...

The back is solid grey, and I used a decorative stitch to hem the envelope closure.

I really wanted grey ric rac for this project, but I couldn't find any at Jo-Anns, and I didn't have time to order any, so I ended up mixing some black and white fabric paint and painting my white ric rac grey. It actually worked really well, so if you're in need of a specific color of ric rac, and you can't find it, try painting your own. I'm sure dying it would be the smarter thing to do, but I couldn't find any Rit dye for the life of me. I swear I used to see it everywhere, but it seems to have disappeared around here.

Anyway... fun pillow. It looks great with my Halloween pillow that I made last year. And did I mention that this month's Point of View theme is "Orange"? I added to our handmade Halloween decor and knocked out a Point of View project in one shot. Woohoo! The girls have decided that they are both going to be the same thing for Halloween this year, so getting costumes put together is the next order of business around here. I got out of making costumes last year... no such luck this year :)

Now it's your turn... Check out this month's Point of View collage and link up your past or present orange/Halloween-themed projects at the Point of View Link Party! We want to see what you've been up to!