Orange is showing up in stores everywhere so my Halloween radar is getting more active. Our Long's drug store was just remodeled, so we hadda check it out. One whole aisle was orange. On the left was fall stuff with some interesting pumpkin pieces that may have to join the collection. On the right, they had started to put up candy. On the shelf were the paper liners that go on the bottoms of the shelves and say what they are. There will be some kind of "Spooky Village" going in soon, so y'all may want to check that out. May even be up in your area and ours is slow because of the remodel. Or they're waiting til Sep. 1.

Last time we were in Party City, they were just starting to set up and that was a couple of weeks ago.

Target has a fair amount of costumes and some decorations online. Some of it is only available online. I may have to get a Hogwarts flag from them to go with the Griffindor patch T got me from ComiCon.

Sadly, with the price of gas and T waiting for his new job to come through, we won't be cruising this year, so reports of Halloween sitings from us will be limited to our immediate area. I'd love to hear from y'all where you found treasures.

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Going through Freecycle today and a header caught my attention.

Freshly Cut Rosemary.

Already see where I'm going? Could also be Freshly Cut Herb.

Mental image of woman in kitchen over cutting board with her throat slit. The tv is on and she's watching a cooking show that tells you how to chop your Rosemary. Pouring Green Goddess (full of goddess' eyeballs?) salad dressing over a bowl of "finger" foods.

Which brought up a whole crop of phrases from commercials and products. She slices, she dices. Chop-O-Matic. Veg-O-Matic (how to chop a zombie?)

Then image of hawker at the fair, a rotting corpse selling to a group of rotting, fair-going corpses. Maybe he has a home sausage making gizmo and body parts are going into it. "Cut your finger while preparing dinner? No problem, with this handy-dandy machine, it can become dinner. See how easily thse bones go right into...."

I get like this when the leaf blowers wake me from my nap. Which brings up an image of what I'd like to do to him with his leaf blower. A zombie in curlers and nightie chasing a gardener with his own leaf blower. Sweet revenge. Or road crew with jackhammer. Plumber with pipe snake.

If this inspires you please share.

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Several Halloween patterns here. I thought they were unique and would appeal to someone here.

patterns

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Ran across this in one of my groups. Run your mouse across the small images.

Pumpkin Way

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Went back to Dollar Tree today and found some useful stuff.

The tombstones are 16" tall, so these are all smaller pieces. They are made of foam and some of the detail is lost from a distance, so I plan to dry brush with grey or white acrylic paint.

Little tabletop tombstones-resin maybe?

Da Birds. Small and pretty cheaply made, but for a dollar each I can add more feathers or beady eyes.

All of these came in a bag for a buck. I figure they can be added to candles, hold a flower in a vase or stick up out of a cake. They come snapped together but are easy to take apart.

Some detail of the top of the tombstones. You may see some thin wires at the bottom...that is all that holds them up. That will change, too.

There were a few things we haven't decided on, but will prolly get next pay period.

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Prolly inspired by a commercial where someone kicks a lawn flamingo across the yard.

Dozed off in front of the idiot box and dreamt a lawn scene. All of the flowers were black plastic roses with slimy green stuff on the ground around them. The birdbath was made of a pile of skulls (saw something like that here in a gallery) and you had the typical Evil Mart lawn ornaments, except they were all skellies. Flamingos, three gnomes, a couple of frogs and an evil angel.

The birdhouse was huge and had a crow sticking its head out. Chimes were odd colors, with skulls and spiders and hanging bats.and the notes were discordant.

A couple of human skellies were lounging in tattered lawn chairs drinking red bubbly drinks. Stones leading up to the front door are flourescent green and shaped like monster feet.

Yeah, I have vivid dreams.

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I've seen costumes with black gloves that have stuff painted on them. They look like skeleton or monster hands and may react to uv or black light. Who knows where I can get some?

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The current room idea is The Lady's Boudoir.  I think I blogged about it before, but I don't remember. I'll pretend I've never said anything about it and go from there. What I see in this room (one scene in a maze or something) is a corner area, old flocked wallpaper, prolly black on purple, an old-fashioned chaise lounge with a cat on it and a piece of creepy needle work.

The main focus will be on the vanity something
like the picture here

with a skellie dressed in a shredding Victorian gown. She will be seated at the vanity and will be brushing what's left of her hair. Cobwebs will spread from the upper corner of the mirror to the bottles of beauty potions on the vanity and up across her body.

Sconces on the wall will flicker on and off, spiders will crawl across the floor and up the wall.

Then I get stuck. Do I need more?

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Maybe I'm a different kind of haunter than most of you, but I likes the way I thinks. There will be a few in-your-face types because they are expected. It's the unexpected that I like best.

Lots of sound effects, light effects and projections work for me. Timers that can be set at odd times are critical. It will all start at the front door.

The doorbell may sound like the Addams Family foghorn. Next time it's a cat screeching or a deep, dark "Good Evening". The doormat may squeal at you when you step on it, or rattle and shake.

Pulling it off requires a bit of acting and the ability to keep a straight face. A spider crawls down its web over the dinner table then crawls back up. The guest asks "did you see that?" and I ask "see what hon?" and continue to dish up food. While we're eating, a ghost is projected into the middle of the table but I (and my accomplices) act like nothing happens.

Lightning goes off behind the curtains with the distant clap of thunder a second or so later. A red eerie glows appears in the hallway then fades away.

You will have to be very careful in my bathroom. A witch may cackle when you sit on the toilet. Anyone who opens the medicine cabinet may be accosted by a (loud) monster. Ants may be crawling out the window and a black cat with glowing eyes is staring in at you. I would love to have a Pepper's Ghost in the mirror.  Maybe something that moans and groans and rattles the shower curtain.

I may change my costume several times during the night, but only slightly. The eye patch may switch sides, my wings may turn from black to silver, halo become horns, horizontal stripes become vertical.

Candy dishes will try to grab your hand. You may not notice that the coatrack is a skeleton until you start to hang your coat. He might thank you when you do.

There will be little lighting from mundane light sources; they will be on dimmers. The regular bulbs in some lamps may now be plasma. The bulbs in the chandeliers may be replaced with battery operated ones that flicker and go all the way out occasionally. Hallway lights will be turned off and you will need to take a candlestick. (battery operated of course) When the lights flicker very low, black lights will go on and something will be painted on the walls like "turn back before it's too late".

Portraits on walls will change as you look at them. Maybe even stare back at you or follow you with their eyes.

There will be little or no gore at my place. Suspense, surprise and overall eerie feeling does it for me. You never know who or what will pop out at you, tap you on the shoulder or shriek as you pass by. Watching my friends jump is all the fun I need.

Perhaps a friend will tell fake fortunes in exchange for a donation to the party fund.

A lot of this sounds simple or just like stuff from the store, but put all together, if EVERYTHING you see or touch (or try to eat) does something... and lighting makes a huge difference.

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