http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/ Halloween Discussion Forum, Haunts and Home Haunt Community. en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:06:46 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.halloweenforum.com/fusion/misc/rss.jpg http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/ http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/404-working-my-costume.html Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:16:30 GMT

So today I FINALLY got started on my costume. I started with the wig since it's the only thing I was confident in making.

I made the wig out of yarn. I sewed the yarn on to a stocking cap. All I have left to do is make the jewelry head piece for it. I'll take a pic soon.

I got a pattern for the cape and I think that will be relatively easy. I'm more worried about the dress. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do yet. Blech! ]]> LHALLOW http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/404-working-my-costume.html http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/272-halloween-party-theme-09.html Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:13:41 GMT Well, we finally decided on our party theme for Halloween this year! We're going to do a video game character theme of some kind. We haven't thought of a clever name or anything yet. About all we've decided on is our costumes. I'm going to be the human form of Midna from Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess and hubby is going to be Ganondorf...of all the Zelda games. Here are the visuals:
Midna


Ganondorf


Not really sure quite how we're going to pull these off yet....but we've got a few months to think about it:) ]]> LHALLOW http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/272-halloween-party-theme-09.html http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/249-conjuring-up-new-ideas.html Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:30:04 GMT After getting the outdoor decorations all put away, my mind was already overflowing with ideas for 2009.
I guess I should start listing them out here before my head explodes. At least this way I'll have an easier time narrowing down a theme when the time comes.

2009 Haunt/Party Theme Ideas

The Circus of Lost Souls -
Outside: Turn the garage into a circus tent with evil clowns, skele merry go round, games gone wrong and sideshow freaks inside
Party: Carnival food like hot dogs, pizza, gyros, cotton candy, popcorn etc.; easy carnival games that can be reproduced at home with evil dolls as prizes; maybe a "who killed the beared lady?" clue type game; guests costumes would need to be circus themed as well

Macabre Christmas-
Outside: Turn the garage into a living room with a fireplace still on and Santa's charred boots hanging out; stockings on the mantel filled with body parts; a large, black Christmas tree with spider web garland; a little girl holding a dripping severed head next to an open gift box; various other opened gifts; out on the lawn have our Christmas reindeers holding Santa's severed arm; spider snowflakes on the windows; blacklight string lights on the house
Party: Holiday food (need to think about that one); guests would have to have some kind of Christmas gone wrong costume; "Where's Rudolph" clue type game; Christmas movie wav game

Campground Massacre-
Outside: Do the normal cemetery in the garage; on the front lawn have a tent with a strobe light inside showing a murder; a bloody outhouse; a picnic table with skele's looking like they've been poisoned; a murderer crouching behind a bush
Party: Camping food like hot dogs, burgers, potato salad, corn, etc.; have a s'mores station out back by the fire pit; scary movie wav game; match the killer to the movie game; some kind of clue game; no costume theme for guests ]]> LHALLOW http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/249-conjuring-up-new-ideas.html http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/231-halloween-non-party.html Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:39:18 GMT So this year I decided to take a break from our annual adult only Halloween party. I wanted a year off...not having to worry about a theme, games, food and everything else that goes into the party.
Since we weren't doing the party, I decided to invite some friends and family over for an "unveiling" of our haunted scene for the year. I sent out evites about 3 weeks ago and almost everyone is coming!! Which is awesome, except now it's become a party minus the theme and costumes. I was up until after midnight last night finishing up the prep work for the food and finishing up the inside decorations. Since it's open for friends to bring their children, we also went out and bought some glow sticks so they aren't too bored.

It's just funny that I spent the whole year saying I'm not having a Halloween party and now that's exactly what I'm having!! I'm excited though, I can't wait to show off the scene. ]]> LHALLOW http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/231-halloween-non-party.html http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/212-lessons-learned-weekend-9-20-08.html Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:36:18 GMT I've learned 2 very valuable lessons this past weekend..................

1. When you are drunk and decide to pee in the middle of a corn field at night, don't take off your HF hoodie and hang it on a stalk of corn first.........you will forget it when you leave.:(:mad::(:mad:

2. There is no easy way to get Great Stuff off your hands. 4 days later, it's ALMOST all gone. ]]> LHALLOW http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/212-lessons-learned-weekend-9-20-08.html http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/205-2-00-faux-wood-shelf-fronts-done.html Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:51:08 GMT Well, all but a final coat of spray paint on the inside of the unit. I had the cheap metal shelving unit, cardboard, tape & acrylic paint.....all I need to purchase were 2 cans of spray paint from Walmart for $.99 each. Probably my cheapest prop yet!!

]]> LHALLOW http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/205-2-00-faux-wood-shelf-fronts-done.html http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/203-will-come-together-time.html Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:15:12 GMT Is anyone else freaking out about finishing everything in time?? I need to have everything up and ready to go by October 14th. That's when they start the judging for the decorating contest. That only leaves 4 weekends to get it all done.....take away 2 of those weekends I'll be out of town and it doesn't leave much time left!!
Here's what's left to do:

- fix the cauldron of the stirring witch as it took a huge beating in the storage unit
- assemble the pumpkinrot scarecrow
- make the backings for the tombstones and cemetery fence signs
- clean the garage to make room for the haunt
- make labels for the mad scientist potion bottles
- make the mad scientists lab
- touch up the paint on the boards for the windows
-hang the visquine throughout the garage
-create the hanging skulls prop
-put it all together

Since I just started my job this year, I don't have the time to take off to work on it so hubby has graciously volunteered to do it!! I really hope that will help get us "caught up" ]]> LHALLOW http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/203-will-come-together-time.html http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/196-done-done.html Mon, 08 Sep 2008 17:20:41 GMT My goal for this past weekend was to start the new cemetery fence and toe pincher. I had no idea that we would have the energy to finish both projects in 2 days!! That includes staining the entire toe pincher.

Hubby and I made a great team yet again. Anyway, here are the pics.....and thank you again to Haunted Host for giving us the garden arch!!
The picture of the fence doesn't show great detail....but we bought the gargoyles and plastic skulls from the dollar store and completely redid them so they fit in better with the look we were going for. I still need to make the sign and decorate the fence.....but I'm saving that for another weekend:p


]]> LHALLOW http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/196-done-done.html http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/189-getting-work-2008-projects.html Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:06:51 GMT Okay with the spooky tree out of the way, it's time to start working on the smaller projects for this years display. After last years display, we retired our old cemetery fence, toe pincher and pumpkin head scarecrow......all had their share of years of weathering and abuse.

The new fence is going to be my design. I purchased these finials as I didn't want to go with the typical skulls. I bought gargoyles for the posts and I'll be trying a heating method to "bend" some of the bars.

For the new toe pincher coffin I'll be using theScare FX plans and adding a cut out cross on the front. I plan to distress the boards and space them a bit further apart. The coffin is going to remain closed with just light shining from the inside.

Hubby is really on board this year and is always excited when he gets to build stuff. Our plan is to start this weekend.....so we'll see! ]]> LHALLOW http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/189-getting-work-2008-projects.html http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/188-spooky-tree-2008.html Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:38:25 GMT This year’s big project was to create a big spooky tree for my cemetery. I came across a great tutorial on one of the threads and decided this method would be the cheapest way to go about making this prop. It ended up costing me $13.00 to make.

Here is what I used:
Various bones and skulls (free, every good haunter owns tons of bones)
Aluminum Foil - not even half a roll ( $1.a roll at Dollar Tree)
¾ of a roll of chicken wire ($7. a roll at Menards)
Old newspapers donated by my mom ripped into various sizes(free)
1 can of Great Stuff (free, left over from last year)
1 can polyurethane spray paint (free, had a couple cans left over)
6 cups of flour (free, who doesn’t have flour?)
24 cups of water (free, from the rain barrel)
6 cans of black spray paint ($.96 a can at Walmart)
½ can of brown spray paint (free, left over from last year)
Various acrylic paints for accents (free, I always keep staple colors)
1 plastic Jack O Lantern (free, someone was throwing it out)
1 piece of PVC to use as a base (free, left over from last year)
1 piece of scrap wood to put under the PVC (free)

First I spent a day making replicas of my various bones. I covered the parts I wanted to use in aluminum foil, making sure to get into all the indentations. I then made a batch of Paper Mache (1 cup flour to 4 cups water, stir until smooth, boil for 2 minutes stirring constantly and then let cool completely.) Coating one piece of paper at a time in the mache, I covered the aluminum foil with 2 layers of paper. Once dry, the skulls are done. Other bones may require cutting off the original and then another layer of mache to get them back together.

For the tree, I pretty much followed the tutorial mentioned above with only a few changes:

-I didn’t use Great Stuff inside the tree at all, I made a base out of PVC and plywood to give some support
-I attached my paper mache bones as I went along and used mache to hold them in place
-I used Great Stuff to create all the veining
-I sprayed the whole tree black first, then lightly went over the bark of the tree with the brown spray paint. I then went back and dry brushed the acrylic paint on all the veining, bones and the pumpkin
-I didn’t want any leaves on my tree and used moss and spider web to decorate it

Here it is about half finished:


Close up of one of my paper mache bones:


And...done:
]]> LHALLOW http://www.halloweenforum.com/blogs/lhallow/188-spooky-tree-2008.html