Bubbling Cauldron

Last year, I used to post quite frequently at Ghost Droppings. A user by the name of ScreamQueen posted her instructions for making a boiling cauldron. I decided that I needed a new centerpiece for the dining room since I sort of have plans to turn the kitchen/dining area into a witch's kitchen this year.

This project was made with cauldron, spray foam insulation, craft paint, recycled newspapers and a collection of creepy items perfect for a witch's brew. Luckily, with the exception of the foam insulation, I had every thing else on hand.




I stuffed the cauldron with crumpled newspapers.



Then, I sprayed the foam insulation on top of the newspapers, making sure some "spilled" over the side to make it look like the goo was boiling over.




Before adding the creepy ingredients, I let the foam set up for about 20 minutes so that it could support the weight of the bugs, but was still tacky enough to glue them in place.



After curing for 3 hours, I painted the foam a nice, slimy green color.





I think this will make a great centerpiece this year!
© 2007 Haunted Yard

First Purchase of the Halloween Season

I made my first official purchases of the Halloween season today. Last year, I got a very early start and purchased from many websites beginning in June, only to find out later than many of the items were sold at the stores for much less than I had paid for them online. This year, I decided to wait until I actually saw Halloween items in the stores before making any purchases. So today, at the big mega-retailer, I found some cool Boris mad scientist flasks filled with bubble solution, a body part and a severed finger bubble wand.



Surprisingly, I found them in the summer clearance, but I will be incorporating them into the mad scientist display after the nieces and nephews use up all the bubbles.

I've also been wanting a black cat for the witch I made last year. I was too late to find anything worth buying last year, so when I saw this black cat today, I decided he needed to come home with me.


Vegas couldn't resist having her picture taken with the newest cat in the house.


Lucky was willing to share.


Sweet Pea was curious, and a little wary that we had brought *another* cat into the house, until she realized it wasn't real. Then she displayed her typical cat aloofness.



My final purchase today is a Heads-up-Harry. I had first seen a nearly life-sized version of him here, but the one I found is just the upper body portion.



I liked the half-sized version much better since I could display him in more setting at the smaller size. I think I might put him in the front flower bed on Halloween night. We'll have to see what the weather is like.

Here he is in action.







© 2007 Haunted Yard

Coffin Purse

A few years ago, I wanted a fun coffin purse to carry around for the month of October. I googled around for some coffin purse patterns, but everything was either too small, or not sturdy enough for me. So, I designed and made my own. I sketched out a simple toe-pincher coffin in the size I wanted my purse to be. I transferred the sketch to 1/8" black foam board. I decided to make my purse about four inches deep with a 1 inch hinged lid. I cut out the lid and sides to match and glued the whole thing together with a little hot glue. I wasn't too worried about making the edges clean because I was covering the whole thing in a very cool black fabric that looked like tooled leather. I added an handle, some brass hinges and a little dagger to keep the whole thing closed, and my purse was complete.





I get tons of compliments on it, but for the past two years, I've been carrying around my coffin with my regular checkbook and wallet, and this year I wanted something a little more seasonal for the purse. Enter my new shopping obsession...ETSY! Etsy is an online shop for all things handmade. A quick search for "Halloween" found these adorable little mini-wallets from Carol, aka quiltlady50:

Monster Eyes Mini-Wallet
Dancing Skeleton Mini-Wallets

Carol and I began corresponding, and she graciously agreed to make me a custom checkbook cover wallet for the coffin purse. She showed me her Halloween fabrics and I chose the fabric I wanted for each. The results were better than I could have imagined! This year I will be proudly showing off my coffin purse with very cool and unique Halloween themed accessories.




If you have a chance, be sure to check out the rest of Carol's Halloween themed items (and more!) in her shop at Etsy.

All Settled/2006 Re-Cap

It's been a busy spring/summer with our recent move, but we are finally unpacked and settled in nicely. Of course, now I have a brand new house for this coming Halloween. I have so many ideas, and I just know that I won't even begin to get them all accomplished this year. I guess I have a few years to get them done.

Of course, now that the weather is BLAZING, I am gearing up for this season. The Halloween catalogs are already starting to trickle in, and I am excited to get started. But, before I get into this year's plans, I'm going to get caught up from last year.

As part of my mad scientist corner, I added "potions" to the test tubes, which were a spice rack found at a thrift store. I experimented with a few different mixes to see what worked best under a black light.



From left to right: The first three are green, orange and blue glow-in-the-dark tempura paints mixed with water, the next is water with a little Tide, tonic water and the final tube is colored with yellow highlighter. I wish they had glowed with a little more variety of color, but I was please overall.

Our boss also held his annual Halloween party. I'm expected to bring something creepy, but delicious. In years past, I've made abnormal brain dip, which is just a shrimp spread colored grey and piped into the shape of a brain.



This past year, I decided to up the gross factor. I first covered a skull with Glad Press and Seal. I spread a thin layer of cream cheese over the wrapped skull. Next, I layered on prosciutto and added mozzarella ball and kalamata olive eyes. The result was a very gruesome but tasty, appetizer. It was a HUGE hit!



Of course, I was also required to bring my witch's finger cookies from Britt.com


The party, of course, was costume party. I pulled out a bride's maid dress from my cousin's wedding, donned a blond wig and Miss Piggy was ready to party!



Halloween night was FREEZING cold, but the house was fully lit and ready for trick-or-treaters.

Unfortunately, the weather made for a slow night. We probably hs around 30 kids as opposed to the 75-100 the year before. Most of the kids were nieces, nephews and friends who love to walk around the graveyard at night.





All in all, it was a great Halloween, and I am ready for this year!
Happy Haunting!
© 2006 Haunted Yard

Yeesh!

It has been too long since I updated this thing! Yikes! I haven't even posted my 06 pictures. The time between Halloween and the end of the year is always busy. This January we were presented with an opportunity to buy a house we've had our eye on for a few years. So, we've been busy buying a house and planning a move, but I hope to find some time soon to do a proper update.
Best witches!
© 2006 Haunted Yard

Classic Movies

I must admit, I am a sucker for old horror movies, especially the Universal Monster movies.

This weekend I was able to see one of the cheesiest, corniest, and yes, one of my favorite movies featuring three of Universal's Monsters. Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein was the first of many encounters Abbot and Costello have with other Universal monsters, but in my opinion, the best.
A plot summary from IMDB:

The world of freight handlers Wilbur Grey and Chick Young is turned upside down when the remains of Frankenstein's monster and Dracula arrive from Europe to be used in a house of horrors. Dracula awakens and escapes with the weakened monster, who he plans to re-energize with a new brain. Larry Talbot (the Wolfman) arrives from London in an attempt to thwart Dracula. Dracula's reluctant aide is the beautiful Dr. Sandra Mornay. Her reluctance is dispatched by Dracula's bite. Dracula and Sandra abduct Wilbur for his brain and recharge the monster in preparation for the operation. Chick and Talbot attempt to find and free Wilbur, but when the full moon rises all hell breaks loose with the Wolfman, Dracula, and Frankenstein all running rampant.

Definitley try to catch this movie on some of the calssic movie channels if you can. I know my Halloween season isn't complete without it!


© 2006 Haunted Yard

Halloween Weekend-Continued

Saturday was spent helping my mom set up her yard haunt in the morning, and the afternoon was spent doing some much needed repairs on some existing props.

Boris the Butler got a little latex repair to his face with some liquid latex and old pantyhose. He's looking as handsome as usual:


My haunted tree also got a fresh coast of Monster Mud:

Before:


After:



Sunday, I set up my yard with the help of my mom.
Two new additions to my yard are simple T-frame props made with 2x4 ands PVC pipe.
Grim was made with the addition of a chicken wire ribcage, a foam skull, some hands from Anatomical Chart Company and a robe made from black sheets and pillowcases from the clearance aisle at Wal-Mart.



The witch, I've affectionately named Elfaba from the book Wicked, was made with a wig form with a little paper mache face,



hands from a pair of store-bought monster hands I painted to match:


and an old costume from a few years ago. I taped her hands to the stir-stick using mounting tape. The cauldron is spilling over with cotton batting and the sticks and vines are woven with orange lights to resemble fire. I really wish I would have been able to find a turn table to make her animated, but that will just have to be a project for next year.


Design Toscano had the coolest year swimmer this year, and I couldn't resist!


I'll continue to post pictures from the yard as the leaves start to change and the holiday draws near.

Happy haunting!

© 2006 Haunted Yard

October Already?

I wanted to post an update about my October 1st Halloween set-up, but it was a busy weekend followed by a nasty cold, and it didn't get done as soon as I had hoped.
I'll just jump right into it, then!
I spent most of Friday putting up the faux-stone walls in the entryway. I also set up my mad scientist/apothecary corner.


Also in the entryway, I set up my Lemax Spooky Town, complete with the new background I painted this year.


I also set up a fortune teller's table:


The dining room saw the addition of a zombie bride and groom:


and the living room was similarly haunted:


© 2006 Haunted Yard