I am thankful today for many things including good friends. We are off for a waterfront walk on this cold sunny day. Then we watch the parade while making the mashed potatoes and the Tofurky. Hope you all have a warm food filled day with those you love.
Took this image at a Christmas festival in London last year. Love what the site did to this carousel image. All the images get upload to Snapfish.com to make prints. The goal, one day, is to make a spooky distressed photo album to house all the Halloween images.
I have a little space on the sideboard where the owls live. Below I have the faux mercury glass stuff.
In the 75% off pile at the grocery store I find this owl label bottle. Great little addition for the display.
There is battery compartment so I pop in the batteries and it turns in to Disco Owl!
Tiny strand of LED's that flashes and changes color. Its blinding!
Trying something new this year for storage. I didn't buy much at the post Halloween sales. It is still hard to remember, when the next Halloween rolls around, what I bought and where it went! This little batch might be part of next years mantel display. Took a photo on the bin lid where this lot is stored. This year the bins get labeled with a number. On flickr, the photo gets the bin number added to it.
Started this process with the fabric and trim in my collection. Next step will be assigning bin numbers to photos. Good project for the winter months.
Found this interesting decor tape at Joann on clearance. Its thick tape and at 4 inches wide might be cool for decorations or props. Its sold out for this year. Plan keep an eye out for this next year.
Fern was helping put away the Halloween.
Halloween in the stores was well picked over long before the post Halloween sales. Michaels was 70 percent off the week of Halloween. Found this cute frame missing its backing for only a $1.
Felt bad for people showing up the day before Halloween to find the shelves picked bare. Christmas was everywhere having squeezed out the Halloween to a discount tables. Its been a different game the last few years with prices cut to at least 50% before Halloween.
The yard is done. The indoor decor takes me a lot longer to put away. Started making plans for next years decor. I think Mr. Scarecrow needs a new outfit and possibly a dog. A horse would be better but we would need a lot more sticks!
Last nights carving project. Mr. Halloween carved an amazing skull on the front of his pumpkin. My pumpkin right end is afraid of the skull and the little guy in the middle isn't sure but might be warming to the skull. This batch was grown, from the same seeds, in the garden and each was so different on the inside.
An apple pie caramel apple helped give us strength to work. Caramel apples for tonight include one dipped in dark chocolate and almonds. The other is triple drizzled in white, milk, and dark chocolate! More photos later. Have a magical Halloween!
My contribution to The Great Pumpkin Project! There is a path along the river near the hospital and medical buildings. The employees take this path back to parking. If anyone needs some Jack-O-Lantern cheer it has to be these wonderful medical professionals. This is just before a foot bridge that leads up to street level. You can see the entire journey in this album.
Normally we carve the night before Halloween. Got a head start. This little guy will hopefully find a home for the great pumpkin project tomorrow.
Carving tonight and tomorrow night. My spouse has a bum shoulder so I know who will be doing all the scooping of the pumpkin guts!
The nerd girl in me loves this Star Wars pumpkin idea! Instructions here.
"A storm system will likely bring the first significant rain of the 2015 fall to the Pacific northwest this weekend. Confidence in details remains low... but those planning outdoor activities should be prepared for a wet weekend... and possibly some abrupt rises on area rivers. Also... consider clearing leaves from nearby street drains this week to reduce ponding of water over the weekend."
It doesn't look good for the more delicate Halloween decor. If we get any trick or treaters it will be early. Friday night we had planned to do the downtown haunted walking tour. Less appealing in a constant downpour.
Lanterns from 2010 that won't be in the yard this year.
A reminder that your last chance to see the original 1931 Dracula on the big screen is tomorrow! Ticket information and participating theater information can be found here. John Carpenter's Halloween is playing on the 29th.
Take the quiz here. Disneyworld Haunted Mansion not Disneyland.
A low resolution image of this advertisement has been up on my Flickr account for some time. Someone contacted me to see if I could upload a higher resolution scan. If you click through you can see the entire back cover of the booklet with the advertisement. I would love to order this great kit for only 50 cents.
Looks like some Haunted Mansion items will be featured at the auction. Story here.
Found this cute ceramic bowl today on sale for $13. The cheery little Jack-O-Lanterns surrounding the rim of the bowl make me smile. Now I need to find the skulls to fill it. The week before Halloween and I am still looking through boxes trying to find decorations!
Ceramic lanterns from an artist at the Saturday Market. They sit on a half wall in the entryway.
A big thank you to The Lady of the Manners for introducing me to Wicked Lit. Three short plays performed at Mountain View Mausoleum and Cemetery in Altadena, CA. Adding this experience to my wish list if we can make it to CA in October 2016. Performances continue this year through November 14th.
House in our old neighborhood with a great witch theme.
Love the witch on the roof.
With lights and fog the yard is amazing. The owners dress like witches around the cauldron as music plays in the background. No one else decorates on the street so its a real treat for the eyes.
28 free templates to print for carving here. Each template comes with photos and instructions on how to achieve the look.
We are on such a busy street the only kids we get are with parents driving. There is a low boulder wall on the edge of our driveway that is easy to back in to in the dark. Putting 3 glowing pumpkins on the corner of the wall this year. That should help keep drivers from backing in to a wall on Halloween.
The interview is short and sweet here. Looking forward to finally getting to see that ghost. We switched our Disneyland trip to December so we can still see the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. Fingers crossed for Halloween 2016.
The vulture might be a sign of the way things will go. Barely any decorations this year and no cornstalks. It will be really sad when they finally close.
Our haul for the day. The little guys are for the Great Pumpkin Project. Jack-O-Lanterns with battery tea lights placed in places that need some Halloween cheer.
Tried a test run tonight using the Pier One Glimmer lights to light the scarecrow head. The write up from last year is here on the lights. The remote for these lights gives auto shut off options in 2 hour increments. Standing under the scarecrow I used the remote to turn the lights on and and off tonight. Tomorrow night I will try the auto shut off option.
Click here to enter. My grandmother loves the pears from Harry & David. I send her a box every Christmas. The Halloween theme contest they are running is kind of cute. You enter and play a little game each day to see if you have won the $1000 gift card. The caramel apple kit in a coffin is my favorite treat this year.
Good sale on the Martha Stewart line here. My Halloween budget for the season was used up at the beginning of October. I do like like the 4 part skeleton banner.
Good news if you need a Haunted Mansion Maid ensemble. I have one for sale! The amazing seller on etsy who makes these aprons is sold out now. The stripe fabric is cast member accurate.
To go with it I have the maid headpiece as well from this seller on etsy.
If you are interested in the set please comment. Free shipping. Thanks!
Its an amazing Halloween transformation that takes place in a few hours. As guests depart and new guests board the ship its been transformed. Great video of how they do it here.
Silver and black theme this year. The orange and black flocked fabric swags and mantel scarf are old Dept. 56 tablecloths. The gorgeous floating silver skull decal and frame are from Halloween City. Only $5.99. The silver Jack-O-Lantern buckets are from the Target bins for $3. The big silver skulls down below were 99 cents at Goodwill.
Mixing old favorites with a few inexpensive new goodies is a great way to decorate with something different every Halloween.
New grave this year. This one is heavy. Storing it for the year I was crawling around on a raised shelf section of the basment trying to...
