Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Creepmas is coming

Unfamiliar with Creepmas?  Here is what it is all about:

 "The 13 Days of Creepmas is open to any blog that posts spooky content from December 1 - 13. While the primary focus is on permuted and subverted holiday imagery and traditions (i.e., giving Christmas the Jack Skellington treatment), Creepers (blogs who sign up) are welcome to post *any* spooky material to qualify as participants. The main thing is to bring that Halloween Spirit into the first 2 weeks of December, just as every store in America has brought Christmas into October".

So visit my haunted parlor and spend a little time with me over Creepmas please! Also, find out more at Creepmas.com.



Monday, November 28, 2011

Where have all the pumpkins gone?

So yesterday, in preparation for Creepmas, I was in the store looking for a pumpkin.  I thought at least I could purchase a small pie pumpkin and carve it up for Creepmas.  Alas, they had all disappeared.  Pushed out by chestnuts and gingerbread, there was not a pumpkin to be found.  Out of desperation, I purchased a spaghetti squash!  How pathetic is that?  Just when all hope was lost, driving through the neighborhood at the curb, I saw the biggest, most beautiful pumpkin.  I pulled it from my neighbors trash and then found another and another and another.  Yay for garbage day!  I'm not too proud to take my neighbors' rubbish. So get prepared for upcoming pumpkin blogs as I am flush, baby, flush!

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Landfill fodder? Not this year.


 








Sunday, November 27, 2011

The Smartest thing I ever did

Today I am going through my Halloween storage in preparation for the Creepmas blogs.  This could be a tedious job of pulling stuff out and repacking it all.  I have a lot of bins so it might have taken me hours and hours but for one thing.  When I packed it all a month ago I got the brilliant idea to write down everything that was in the bin on a piece of notebook paper and placed it inside on top.  What a revelation! It only took about 10 minutes to open lids, read the list and find what I was looking for! Organization - why hadn't I considered this before?  Think I will do it when I store Christmas this year too.  To those of you who are already very organized, just disregard this blog as the ravings of a scatterbrain.  Cheerio and check back Dec. 1-13 for my Creepmas Blogs.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Rotting flesh anyone?

My starfish plant is blooming just in time for Creepmas.  For those of you who have never seen one it is a creepy succulant that sports a brown leathery looking flower that smells like rotting flesh. Needless the say, the bees avoid it but the flies love it.  Here are some pictures.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

A few words concerning spider webs

I stretch a lot of cheap spider webs this year and can I just say I was not impressed with either Target's nor Michael's.  The best spider webs were the "Holiday Inspirations" from Joannes.  The first two brands tend to stretch out into those thick strings as demonstrated in my first picture.  I really had to stretch, tape, and nail these to acheive any kind of effect. But the Joannes "Holiday Inspirations" webs stretched into a beautiful single piece of web the I attached to the ceiling.  They pulled apart without breaking.  The second picture shows the Joannes web. I think I will try to meander down there tomorrow and see if they still have any of these on clearance.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Karly's Picture

This lovely skeleton picture was drawn by Karly, a very talented young artist.  I love the way he's smiling.  That's so like Karly because she is always smiling.  Now I need some sconces to go on either side of this guy over the fireplace.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Inspiration for next years cemetary


My new friend S.K. over at the haunting grounds has carved the most amazing celtic cross from insulation foam .  If you get a chance check it out at http://thehauntinggrounds.com/category/halloween-props/  This started to me thinking about making some new tombstones for next year to replace those I had stolen out of my front yard 3 years ago.  So for inspiration, I went back through my pictures.  Remember these tombs Jackie from Greyfriers Churchyard in Edinburgh? Lots of inspiration here.



Tuesday, November 8, 2011

His Lordship

Here is Lord M in all his glory.  Kind of reminds me of Vincent Price.

It is a later date


Wow because my first friend has a request I will blog on my homemade labels.  Here are three from the arachnid brand.  I filled these jars with plastic dollar store spiders.  I used recycled salsa jars - we eat a lot of that around here.  I think it was the Ariiba brand.  The jar lids are spray painted black and the labels are finished with a gloss varnish to waterproof them.

The Witch Cabinet 2011

What more can I say?  The pictures tell it all.



Monday, November 7, 2011

Lord M's distant relation

This was a great halloween craft.  I scanned an old picture of one a Lords M's very distinguished ancestors.  Through the magic of photo shop, I made his face disappear!
I used the clone stamp tool and just copied the background over his face a little at a time.  Then added some paint effects to make the hole in his neck.  Anyway he looked very spooky in my haunted parlor.

Black light display

I really liked putting together a black light display for the party.  Lord M took a fine photo of it as well.  Included are 4 different types and colors of laundry detergents plus a lot of really fun shaped bottles.  Add a couple of homemade potion ingredient labels, some black light spiders and skulls and tada - fun for all.  I stole the black light from my daughters room after she went off to University!

Yummy Halloween Wines

At previous Halloween Parties I have always relabled the wine with cute names like vampire blood and radio active slime.   Inevitably, a guest would ask"is this a merlot?" and after a few glasses myself, I just couldn't remember.  This year I solved my problem. Instead of changing the labels on the wines I just decided to purchase spooky wines.  Cost Plus World Market had an excellent selection.  They also offered a discount for buying in quantity. So my guests enjoyed the Zombie Zin, The Trick and The Treat.  Plus, I also found a great Pinot Grigio called Twisted at the Kroger.  See the spooky tree on the label.  Most of the feedback from these wines was positive from my party guests and most were priced under $10/bottle.