Thread: Year in review.

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Watching the news last night had me all riled up.

The weather has totally lambasted all plans I had this week. Predicting high winds today, Rain/snow tomorrow (likely snow at my house) and Thursday, followed by more wind on Friday and rain on Saturday.

This, while I'm trying to finish up what is swiftly becoming my favorite prop. But, it's HUGE, and don't fit in the garage.

Well, after packing it away last night in prep for the storm, and being flustered unable to really sleep, I woke this morning thinking why not take this time to do some catching up and cataloging.

Samhain is new-years after all, and it's fashionable to do those looking back on the year thingies leading up to new years.

So, what all have you been up to in the last year?

For me?

The year REALLY began late Halloween, when rain was pouring down onto my yard, and ruined 2 of my favored props, and half a dozen of my wife's favored props as I was scrambling trying to get everything inside. Sound equipment had to be prioritized over the props, however, thus it was saved, the props not so fortunate.

Then, it was the after-halloween purchases...not of props, but of body forms from a going-out-of-business sale. Actually for use in 2010...



Black Friday saw me get what I intended to be the first major addition for Halloween 2009, in the form of a folding table...it was later scrapped as being too flimsy, and a wooden one procured.

More 2010 work was done in December, with tons of research, and sculpting, casting, and testing a particular idea.



Spring saw us get season passes to Lagoon, and I introduced my 2 year old to the world of dark rides. Little did I know, this thing would become her FAVORITE, as she just wants to run back into line over and over, the first of an estimated 80ish rides...



A couple product reviews, and things kept be busy in the early spring, and once the weather cleared, we begun work on Bob. The bungie powered popup at the heart of the laboratory, finished in June.



To go with Bob, we built through the summer months, a control panel, a generator, a Jacob's Ladder, and 2 floor lamps in July.

August saw be take on an unplanned project in the form of the Build your own Bob tutorial. So, a SECOND Bob was actually built, in the form of a static skeleton.

September has seen us get the unexpected news that the school festival had been moved up, and The Lab had to be finished by the 14th. A couple last minute touches were tried, then the weather very nearly ruined the entire thing. We managed to pull it off anyway.


And here I am, fretting on the weather yet again as I'm trying to finish up the item that's replacing some of the ruined pieces from last year. Full circle...such is life.

What about you?

Last year's fall season was started with a bang. Hurricane Ike was a direct hit on Houston (thankfully I live on the NW side) and we suffered a very scary night, some damage to our house, and power outage for just under 2 weeks. aaaannnd my MIL invited herself to our house instead of going out of the path of the storm to relatives where she was invited .

Decided to go ahead with a party even though we were seriously set back with repairs and had Halloween and the party two days in a row and suffered complete burnout. I didn't even hit the after sales and sort of regret that NOW since all of the unique stuff that I saw last year, I don't see out there now.

Burnout lasted well through the new year. I did manage to pick up a few little things in the x-mas sales but it was mostly lighting. (and I still have to find where I squirreled it away)

Started building stuff come February 2009 - mostly fixing things that were left undone last year. March saw the build of my version of the beloved stone - using a garden angel and scaled down for my little graveyard.



I entered a $20 prop contest on another halloween forum with a Wolfman tombstone (had a wolf shield and red lit eyes), and was surprised that I actually got votes - it was fun and I really started getting sort of excited about the upcoming Halloween season.

I also got a FCG rig from Pugsly this year since neither the hubby nor myself are apparently savvy enough to make one, so we've got to get that mounted and arranged after we put the mausoleum out.

I decided to focus more on the inside decor during the summer (less exposure to the heatwave since I could work inside), and with the help of DaveintheGrave, made an awesome moving eyes painting that will be the focal point of my party.

Discovered FreeCycle and landed some odd things for decor - like the puffer fish that I made a museum mount for display:


Also got a hanging birdcage, a great plaster urn, and a 2 foot plaster column. ALL are being used for party decor.

and an antique globe lamp that was just begging for blood:


And then really got inspired with some Michaels cheapy foam eyeballs, making a raven with a nice gooey eyeball dangling from its beak and the flowers that LOOKED back at you (EYE-rises).

Other inside additions include a haunted rocker (with much help from Otaku) and a mausoleum/crypt front to cover the passthrough from the living room to kitchen that ALWAYS bugged me during our past parties:


I've also got a stone well that I built out of white bead styro chunks and mortared using great stuff foam. I plan on placing my Donna of the Dead inside it, but not releasing her catches so she's still compacted and under 3 feet tall... it will look like she's coming up out of the well, and I get a nifty prop for practically nothing.

I actually don't have anything BIG to finish. Just bits and pieces and actual setup.