Tag Archives: Halloween

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The first catch of the Season!

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Was visiting my local Pottery Barn today, hoping to catch a glimpse of what I’ve seen on their website and was surprised to find a few samples of this years’ offering on a table in the back.  I grabbed a set of their Jack O’ Lantern Salt & Pepper set.  Was checking out at cash wrap and the nice lady “J” was pleased to show me a couple of treats “from the back”.  These included items not to be found on their website at this time! Yay! I purchased the above, a Black Cat Wine Topper, a Witch Hat Wine Stopper, a Crystal Skull Wine Stopper.  It was awful nice of her to give me the sneak peak and I really appreciated her thoughtfulness.  Can’t wait for more…

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Snatches from October

IMG_4975My sister found this in the back of the hall closet, and if ever I needed reminding of why Halloween is my favorite holiday, it could not have been made more clear to me then my reaction to seeing this simple bottle of hand soap. My Christmas tree was up, Thanksgiving was past and successful, decorations of red and green everywhere I look. Nothing so far has spun such a reaction to the smile that spread wide across my face when I looked upon this orange and black treat. I couldn’t keep from staring at it, sitting atop my bathroom counter, happy in the knowledge that it would be there until the end of the year. A little reminder of that which makes me truly happy. There is still Christmas shopping to do, presents to wrap, cookies to bake and cards to fill and send to family and friends. This little spot of orange and black will keep my Halloween spark alive through it all.

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Pumpkin Sincerity

...hauntingly beautiful...

…hauntingly beautiful…

I am late to the party, but I made it at last.  My thanks to Countdown to Halloween for including me again this year, 2014!  I thought it would be nice to highlight the pumpkin patch in Halloween lore.  And I will be making a study of them in the countdown to the night.  To all who will be visiting the blog this year, welcome and hope you enjoy the ride.  Here is my first offering, a tribute if ever there was one to the most sincere pumpkin patch to be found, such is the stuff of dreams.

Artist credit Nicolas Delort

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Mirth and Musings Part 10

100th Post! For you all out there thank you! Hope you will all hang in there with me through the months ahead.
Serious withdrawals this week. Its now 320 days until Halloween 2014.
While I don’t plan on posting a running countdown, I can’t help but look around at all the red and green and cast my mind back to just a short while ago when orange and purple and acid green were the colors of the day. To be honest, I still have my orange and black lights up (inside my dining room), along with a few other Halloween decorations I couldn’t bring myself to take down, yet. I’ve a couple of weeks, right? Anyway – as I un-bubblewrap ornaments from years past I pause and reflect just why I try to drag it all out as far as I can, simply the place never feels so cozy than in the Fall and I try to keep that going well into Winter. When it is mostly packed up and the upcoming holidays firmly take over, I still long for and compare subsequent manifestations of my homes decor to those three months in Autumn, the highlight of the year. Time to start planning. Really never too early, I think. Themes and plans and lofty goals. Looking forward.
Here is another lovely New Yorker cover, the intense orange is simply wonderful.

New Yorker Magazine, Kovarsky, 1961
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Stick N’ Carve Product Review

Click through to the site link for this product from Zombie Pumpkins! They have a tutorial that steps you through the process of using their printable transfer sheets that stick to the surface of your pumpkin for carving, picked some up and used them this year and I thought they were a very good tool to use to facilitate the time spent transferring images to the carving surface. The paper they use is water soluble which they consider an advantage as you can simply rinse the leftover product from the pumpkin surface after completing your design. I found this to be the only detraction, since as you carve the pumpkin edges “juice” . In my opinion it created a problem and caused me to feel I needed to hurry to complete my carve before the follow lines curled up or dissolved. I would use the product again, on simpler designs with fewer cuts especially for children since you eliminate the punching holes step which is no fun.

stickncarve

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Auds & Enns “…up to the Shoppe door…” vid & music

This is a quick bit of video footage taken by my husband (Redwire), he is very proud of the automated cauldron prop, it was the first mechanical prop I’d asked for and I think he did an amazing job putting it together.  This is the walk up to my front door and the entrance to our “Shoppe”. The music overlay is from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, episode “Hush” a great piece of music called “Golf Claps” by Christophe Beck.

Just click here…Strolling to the Shoppe door

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Mirth and Musings Part 6

13 days past Halloween and I’ve decided it all went way too fast.  The outside decor has been removed and the interiors are nearly back to pre-Halloween state.  Though not entirely as there are some aspects of the interiors that I liked too much to take down.  I maintain the house never looks so well than it does in October.  In any case the neighborhoods have begun to transition towards the next holiday season and soon Thanksgiving will be here. The color palette is still where I like it to be, greens and oranges well represented and Fall weather steady even for the West Coast. Everywhere I look I still keep an eye out for those hidden Halloween touches still peeking out from behind other decor, always so exciting when spotted. Holdovers and clearance tables. Or just avid conspirators like myself determined to keep it going as long as possible. I often look to collections around the house to inspire me – like my New Yorker Magazine covers. I’ll highlight others in coming weeks, but here is the first I framed and its still my favorite. She is obviously getting ready for a big night out.  It keeps me smiling and looking forward.

Artist Abe Birnbaum, 1967
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Halloween Radio

In case you didn’t know it, there is a online radio station that is built around a Halloween format every day of the year! Its called Halloween Radio and you can click the pic to link to the site and start swaying or swinging to those old favorites and new releases all year long.  Pretty soon, it’ll be that time again, and this should help while away the hours…days…months…sigh…good grief!

hradiopumpkin