My son wanted to plant some seeds this spring. We don't really have a garden, just a shady corner of the yard where the grass doesn't grow. Which, in hindsight is not the best place to plant anything, but it does avoid the blistering Texas sun.
Anyway, while digging around I came across an old leg-of-lamb bone from Christmas dinner last year. I had scraped off almost all the meat and tossed it under a pile of leaves, hoping to let nature clean the rest of it in time to use it as a Halloween prop in 2012. When I found it, Nature wasnt quite done with it yet, mostly because I hadn't really buried it well. So this time I dug an actual hole to plant my future decoration. But... how to know where to dig later in the season? I had an idea:
I just hope my lawn-care service doesn't get freaked out!
Hi all! Just a quick video update about my life. Visited Walt Disney World over spring break with my family and got to see the revamped Haunted Mansion. Here I just show of the Haunted Mansion book i bought and some ceramic pumpkins that arrived in the mail:
Details are sketchy, but I've read enough about this online to get an idea of how it works. They key is using the concept of "Laminar Flow".
According to Wikipedia: "Laminar flow, sometimes known as streamline flow, occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between the layers." (Note: if you use Wikipedia a lot, consider donating some cash. I did!)
In this case, the 'fluid' is actually air, with the water vapor along for the ride. I suspect he used the fan to force the air/vapor mix through a series of soda straws, lined up side by side. The straws reduce the turbulence of the airflow, causing it to stream out in a straight line. The water vapor then provides a relatively flat surface onto which you can project an image.
This might make a good illusion for a haunt. Let me know what you think. What other ideas could you come up with?
Previously, I blogged about a cool skull snowflake craft I had found. I decided to try it out myself!
When completely folded, the the skullflake is very thick and hard to cut. It's best to only cut the very simple designs through the entire thickness. The picture shown above still has a few more cutouts to be done along the edge.
I went ahead and cut out the first skull through all thicknesses, but I ended up with a very rough cut. So, If I had to do it all again, I might unfold it first (as shown) and cut out the skull with an Exacto knife. That sort of defeats part of the purpose of folding, but you're still cutting through multiple layers.
You can see I traced the rest of the design to the other sections of the skullflake. The inside cutouts were done with an Exacto knife. The circles were done with a hole punch.
Unfolding the skullflake into 3 sections made the rest of the cutting go much faster and cleaner. Soon, it was ready to unfold completely!
And there you go! Also shown are all the tools I used for the cutting. You'll also want to use a cutting board for when you are using the Exacto knife. Another hint: Use an American Quarter coin to trace the skull semicircle - its just about the right size. I would say it took me about 2 hours - off and on over a period of a day. But there's no reason I couldn't whip one out in about 30 minutes or less, now that I know what I'm doing.
So, if you're interested in making one of your own, check out my previous blog or go directly to Crafty Lady Abby's tutorial.
If you are looking for a little bit of Halloween spirit this Christmas season, try making some of these Skull Snowflakes!
I found this on Skull-a-day, which is a great blog where you can find, well, a skull a day. It was created by Crafty Lady Abby, so check out her blog for a tutorial (click on the picture or the link above).
I'm trying this myself, and will let you know how it turns out!
I try to get out and take pictures of my yard every Halloween night, with varying levels of success. I am not a talented photographer, so my results are only adequate.
However, I have wonderful neighbors. Jeff, from across the street, is a very talented photographer. He was gracious to share with me some selected photos of my yard which he has taken over the years.
And now I share them with you! For larger versions, head on over to my gallery.
2009 - Fog
2009 was a banner year for fog. The wind was calm, and the ground was moist, so the fog hugged the ground really well.
2009 - Fog... again
I probably over-cranked the fog machine that year, but you can't argue with the results!
2009 - Front Stoop
I really like the shot above, since it shows the jackolantern my son designed. He's not much for scooping out pumpkin guts or cutting faces (He was 6 on this Halloween). But he loves to draw. So he is the artistic director, and I'm the engineer. We're a team!
2010 - Jack Frost
Plano, TX, doesn't get much snow. But when it does, it's a tradition of mine to create a snow jackolantern on the mailbox outside. I have to keep up my reputation as a haunter all year long!
2010 - Jackolantern totem
I aquired some store-bought jackolanterns years ago, and used to display them in the windows. But the color and look of jackolanterns is so integral to the holiday, that I'm starting to put them in the yard. They provide a great contrast to the colors on the yard lighting.
2010 - She's Watching You!
This is an old Christmas lawn decoration that you cant find anymore. I turned it into a statue, whose eyes follow you wherever you are. Only a few people notice her staring at them every Halloween. I sort of like it that way.
On my next blog, I'll post some of Jeff's pictures of the 2011 yard!
Wow, what an October! The title of this blog entry tells you how I felt at times this month. But it all came together at the end!
Despite a late start (second weekend in October) and a busy work and personal life, my loving wife put up with me while I carved out time to set up this year's haunted yard (note to self: start shopping for some really good Christmas gifts for her).
One thing I noticed this year is that many of my props are starting to show their age. The wooden sections of the fence are starting to crack and rot from being stored outside. The fake brick columns need to be resealed since rain has warped the wood a bit. The foam of the tombstones is deteriorating in places and the paint is flaking more and more. So this year's task is to repair and replace.
Having said that, no one noticed the defects. Let this be a lesson to you: never tell people whats wrong with your haunt. No one will notice, and you'll just bring them down. Chances are, you are the best Halloween house in the neighborhood, so you are already miles ahead of anyone else. Just relax and enjoy the adulation and free money (OK, I'm fantasizing about that second part).
I tried to do that this Halloween, although I couldnt' help pointing out the fence sections that I had to repair (hey, I'm not perfect, sue me). But mostly everything worked well. My moving props moved and didn't break down. The fogger worked (bonus - all the old fog juice residue burned out of the fogger finally, so kids weren't complaining about the acrid smell from the cheap fog fluid. Buy Froggys fog juice! http://www.froggysfog.com/). There was littel wind, so the fog hugged the ground as it came out of the fog chiller.
Looks like more and more people are getting into the haunting spirit! Even previously saccharine products, like yard gnomes, are taking an evil turn.
I present to you: The skelegnome!
I happened to see this in the Skymall catalog while flying (in an airplane) recently. I wonder if you could also just take a miniature skeleton (you know you have some) and stick a red cone hat on it instead. You can find the skelegnome at whatonearthcatalog.com.
