WE CAN SEE!!!

We had 3 extra 26mm doll eyes (1 single & 1 pair) left over from other projects, so we decided to give Mr. Bones and his front porch friend some new peepers.  We were also lucky to have an eye patch lying around (don't ask me why), so that made up for the missing fourth eye. We attached the eyes in the skeleton's eye sockets with poster putty, since we may eventually need to remove them to use in new projects.  
Now, Mr. Bones and his front porch friend can keep a closer eye on those sneaky Trick or Treaters.

 Blessings, Tracy

Love Jimmy Fallon's October Set Design!

I caught a little of Jimmy Fallon's show the other night. Although I don't catch it that often, his show has really grown on me.  I think he has some pretty good interviews, they have some funny regular bits/skits and I think it is funny how he always seems to be on the verge of cracking up.  One criticism, I do think he does take a few of his skits a little too far at times. Overall though, I think he does a good job.
BUT, the reason I am posting is.....I really love the Halloween-ish backdrop (behind his desk) and the ripped up curtains they are using on his set this month.  I'm thinking about trying to make the desk backdrop (tree with bird silhouette) for Halloween next year.  Now, if I just had a window to put it in....

You can get a better or full view of this silhouette, by watching some of his recent interviews on his show's website.

Blessing, Tracy

Metal Crow

Blessings, Tracy

Cat Silhouette

Blessings, Tracy

Halloween Window Silhouettes

Our Halloween Silhouettes lit up and shot from outside.  You can see another close up view of these silhouettes here and here.   You can also see our large "Witch on Broom" and "Fading Ghost" silhouettes here.

  **See below for updates & a brief "How To".

**Update - Several people have asked me where we purchased these Halloween silhouettes & if the were vinyl.  All of our silhouettes were painted on cheap white fabric.

For these silhouettes - 

1. We cut cheap white fabric into long panels.
2. We traced the design onto fabric.
3. We painted the silhouettes using "dark gray paint" (Martha Stewart tip). The gray paint will appear black when lit.  Make sure you paint the silhouette on the side of the fabric that faces towards the outside. Also, make sure you protect the surface that you are painting on, since the paint can bleed through the fabric.
4. We hung the silhouettes in our windows like curtains, using a small/thin peice of dowel at the top. Our windows are vinyl & just happened to have a small pocket at the top that works perfectly for hanging these.  To hang, we just slightly flex the thin piece of dowel & feed the ends in these pockets.
5. I usually light my silhouettes with either clip on work lights or table lamps. The window silhouettes in this post were lit using table lamps. I placed the lamps on the floor & centered at the base of each silhouette. I removed the lamp shades & replaced the regular bulb with colored spotlight bulbs. You can purchase these bulbs at places like Home Depot. I use two lamps for the witch and caldron silhouette, since these windows are really large & one lamp did not light it well enough. 
   ** Be careful that your lamps are not placed too close to curtains & that they do not get tipped over! These spotlight bulbs tend to run pretty hot. I close the bedroom doors when these silhouettes are lit. Even though I use sturdy lamps, I wouldn't want to risk our cats accidentally tipping one over or burning them selves on the open *hot* bulb.

I get a lot of people on my site looking at our Halloween window silhouettes.  If you would like additional silhouette ideas, I stumbled upon a great DIY site with some awesome Haunted House Silhouette ideas.  Take a minute & go check them out.

Blessings, Tracy

UNCLE...UNCLE...I give up!

I have failed.  I took on a little more than I could chew this year regarding Halloween projects.  My "normal" life has been much busier than expected, and I just didn't have the time to devote to working on Halloween projects as I would have liked.  I just ran out of time.  Here are just some of the projects that are being pushed to the back burning and will not be gracing our Halloween display this year.

1. Mosaic Skull -
Finished him about half way.  Had to order Millefiori and this created delays with finishing this project.  You can see his humble beginnings here.  

2. Large Psycho Garden Bunny with Glowing Eyes -

"Eek...I don't have arms!"  This guy still needs a lot of work before I can even start the painting process.  I saw some smaller bunnies similar to this in the Magazine, Cloth Paper Scissor.  The bunnies in the magazine where made by an artist named, Debb George.  Hers were dressed in formal wear and were really adorable.  I wanted a simple "crazy looking" bunny (with creepy glowing eyes) poking around our large front garden as the kids arrived to Trick or Treat.  This guy is actually turning out a lot "tamer" looking than I had hoped.  I may make a few more nuttier looking bunnies over the next year. Yep, a family of Psycho Bunnies!

Wasn't able to get a good shot of his glowing eyes, since it is so bright outside.

3. Don't even ask what this was going to be.


4. & 5. Didn't even get a chance to buy the supplies for these projects.

Blessings, Tracy

Witch with Caldron Window Silhouette

Here is a close up shot (from the inside) of our witch and caldron window silhouette. I was unable to post this last year due to a camera meltdown.

See this post for a brief "How To" on making these silhouettes.

Blessings, Tracy

Pretty Painted Pumpkins!

I saw this adorable striped pumpkin over at Alexa's blog, "The Swell Life".  I liked it so much, I decided to made one of my own and second complementary pumpkin with circles.  I think they turned out really cute.  

Blessings, Tracy

Emailed this to my husband at work....

I have had this image for some time and it always makes me chuckle.

I am pretty sure I originally found it on Pumpkinrot's blog, but since he posts around 1300 entries on his blog each year, I was unable find the exact date or source of this image.  Honestly, I tried!

Anyways, my husband thought it was funny and said it was a day brightener.

Blessings, Tracy

New Skeleton Votive

Here is the large skeleton votive I purchased at Patina the other day.  He really is adorable.

Blessings, Tracy

Creepy Dripping Candle

Here is one of my newest projects.  I found this idea in the book, "How To Haunt Your House".  Here is how I did it.

1. Buy a PVC connector from your local hardware store.  Mine is about 3 1/2 inches wide and cost less than $2.  
2. Buy a piece of thick styrofoam.  I had a scrap 1 1/2 inch thick piece left over from another project.
3. Buy a white battery operated tea light.  I could only find orange, so I had to paint it white.
4. Grab your glue gun and a boat load of glue sticks. I used 9(?) full size (10 inch) glue stick.
5. Press PVC connector into styrofoam to leave an impression. Cut out circle with a serrated knife.
6. Put tea light in the center of circle and trace around it.  Using an X-acto knife, cut a hole without going all the way through, so the tea light can sit inside.
7. Push styrofoam into PVC connector, pushing it down about 1/2 inch below the rim of the PVC.
8. Place a piece of wax paper under your PVC.  Start applying hot glue to the top and sides of candle; trying to make it look like a real dripping candle. I also added glue to the top of the styrofoam just up to the edge of the candle hole and I let glue pool (on the wax paper) at the base of the candle.  *You can put a square or round object under your wax paper to mimic the edge of a mantle, etc. and let the glue make long drips down the side of the object.  Once it has cooled, you can place it on the edge of your mantle and it will look like it is dripping over the edge.
9. Build up the top melted edge.  Let the glue cool between layers to help build up edge.  The book suggests, "One way to help build height is to hold the freshly glued PVC upside down over a bowl of ice. Keep PVC moving so the glue does not run off the PVC."  I did this, but had to pick up the whole piece of wax paper, since it was stuck to it.
10. The book SAYS that hot glue does not stick to wax paper, but mine did.  It was easy enough to remove, but since the wax paper is pretty clear, you can't see the little pieces that I couldn't get off.
11. Once it is cooled, place the tea candle into the styrofoam.  Turn down the lights and turn it on.  It really does look like a candle, with the top (built up edge) glowing with the flickering of the candle.

PVC connector

 Blessings, Tracy

Need I say more....

...and we use it about 100 times a day on HIM!! ;-)  

Blessings, Tracy

Great, Great Grandpa Mr. Bones

I ran across this antique image on the internet and just knew it would be fitting for our Halloween decor.  I printed it, backed it with black paper and framed it to place next to the front door.  We tell the neighborhood kids a whole tall tale about how this was Mr. Bones' Great, Great Grandfather and tell them about all the great (ahem...outlandish) things  he did during his life (i.e. helped build the Brooklyn Bridge, fought it two wars, invented the ice cream cone...the list goes on and on).  I know silly, but everyone gets a kick out of it...especially me and my sweet hubby.  My husband even has a funny/strange first name for him, that escapes me at the moment.  It really makes the little ones stop and think for a minute or two. It also adds to the "mystic" of the bony fella who likes to ride through our front garden each fall.  

Blessings, Tracy

Creepy Hanging Spiders & Fading Ghosts....OH, MY!

Here is a quick video showing the Creepy Hanging Spiders that we hang on our front porch each Halloween.  I have not put out the rest of the porch decor yet, but this will give you an idea of how these guys look while they are swaying in the wind.  I have also added a close up our Fading Ghost Silhouettes at the end of the video.  

Excuse the video quality, this is subject I know (less than) nothing about putting together. 

P.S. - The first section is pretty narrow, but give it a second, it will expand with the next shot.

**Update - Ok, Ok!  From what I am hearing, some people can see the video, but most say they can not.  Not sure what the hang up is, maybe it's a Mac vs. PC issue.  If you can't see the above video, try this link.  There is no music in the youtube version, but you will be able to see the video.

The music in the video is called "Dr. Sayer".  It is from the Awakenings soundtrack, which was written by the Randy Newman.  Yes, the same Randy Newman that wrote the song "Short People".  Come on now...he really is a very talent composer.  Although I have many "favorite" movie soundtracks, this really is in the top ten for me.  The music is beautiful and has haunted me since I first saw the movie.  I have many favorites on this soundtrack, but another track that I am quite fond of is a piano piece called "Dexter's Tune".  Last time I checked, it is nearly impossible to find the CD, but I think it is available on ITunes.  

Blessings, Tracy

A Fascinating Place to Visit!

I recently visited the Accent Store Fixtures warehouse in Minneapolis.  This business sells new and used store fixtures and I have to say, it is a fascinating place.  I am a big antique/salvage yard or warehouse type of person, so this was right up my alley.  It's like a huge store fixture graveyard.  

For anyone looking for mannequins or mannequin parts to use in your Halloween decor, you need to find a place like this in your area.  I thought "most" items were fairly priced.  Although, I do think you need to visit the warehouse to find the best deals.  I found the prices to be generally cheaper than listed on their website, especially on slightly "dinged up" mannequin.  Most of the dings in these mannequins you wouldn't even notice unless they were left standing naked in your front yard.   Here are pictures of just a small sampling of  items this business carries.

Here you can see the styrofoam male mannequin heads I used to make my Mummy Heads. They were $5 each. You can see my Mummy Heads here and here.

Love the Superman pose the guy on the left is pulling off.

Interesting???

LOVED these life sized styrofoam torsos. I thought they were a good deal at $15 each!  These would work great (lightweight option) for anyone interested in making a "Witch's Urn" like mine.  I did see regular mannequin torsos similar to the ones I used for $30.

I liked this huge mannequin head, although the left side of her 

face was badly cracked from a fall.

They have great wall organizational basket systems.

Display cases and racks up the wazoo!

Colorful rolls of ticket stock.

Blessings, Tracy