Lurker no more.

**SpiderMonkey** · 09-04-2011,10:22 AM

Good afternoon!

Just a little about how I found this great place - I love Halloween and remember going into a neighborhood HH when I was a kid. I always wished that my parents would do something that cool...but, my parents weren't enthusiasts

Now, I'm a parent with a 9yr and 12yr old and I've always wanted to do for them what I didn't experience. So, at Christmas, I decorate the outside of the house and for the fall/halloween, my wife and I have always done a "fall" decoration outside with pumpkins, hay bails, cornstalk scarecrows. I started carving artificial pumpkins with a dremel about 4 years ago, but I'm a TypeII diabetic and my eyesight is getting where it's hard to do some of the intricate carving. So, I put my dremel away for awhile.

I started thinking about things my 12yr old daughter and I could do to make it fun handing out candy - she has outgrown wanting to trick or treat. So, I started thinking about her dressing up as a mad scientist with a bloody lab coat, gas mask, and maybe having "smoke" coming out of a grill while she cooks body parts on it (think a fog machine would work). Then I started thinking about trying to make some props and maybe a stalkaround (Kevin @ baldbrain has some cool stalkarounds). All of this lead me to google, which led me to this great site.

I have a lot of ideas and things I'd like to do, but work is extremely busy and I'm working on my CPA exam too, so that leaves me limited time. My daughter and I made a pact that maybe we'll just start now, to plan and gather stuff to make our halloween scene for 2012.

I've read through some of the TUTS, such as the "glowing hot coals" by LT Scare, and Monster Mud Reaper by Jimmyzdc, and of course the "Beloved Tombstone" by Terra. WOW. Reading through these tutorials almost makes me feel like the little engine that can. I think I can, I think I can.

Anyway, I hope I can over this next year. We'll see.

I'm glad to have found this great forum. A lot of extremely supportive, creative people sharing their ideas and having fun. Isn't that what Halloween is supposed to be about afterall - fun?

Nice to meet you all