I
will admit it. Orange and black are my favorite colors. I start to think about
Halloween in August and I am the first in line to purchase new Halloween
magazines and books that come out in early fall. Yes, I am 40-something and I
still love Halloween every bit as much as I did when I was a youngster in the
60's and 70's.
The
monster that gets my neck hairs tingling is not the high tech digital creation
of today, nor the slasher-flick blood and gore type. My monster crawls out of a dusty old crypt
with his clothes literally crumbling off him as he hitches along slowly and
surely towards his target. He might lose a few body parts along the way but I
know in the end he will get me. He looks
realistic to me because he is covered with god knows what secret concoction of
special effects goo and slime.
I can imagine this thing creeping up behind me
on a moonlit walk and slipping his slimy skeletal hand around my ankle when I
am only a few steps from the safety of my front door. The porch light is
shining like a beacon and it is the last thing I will ever see. I won’t be
making it home this Halloween. Now that I have set the mood, let’s talk
decorations.
I
have a huge collection of Halloween decorations. I also have a lot of books and
magazines on decorating. The books I really like and recommend this year are:
HowTo Haunt Your House Books One, Two and Three by Lynne Mitchell. There are some really cool ideas in these
books and the pictures are fantastic. There is also a website that the authors
have with pictures and free downloads; if you can't get your hands on the book right
away, you can view the books page by page on their website. (All
three of these books are available from the Annapolis Valley Regional Library.)
I love these books! I made a project from Book Three called "coffin dolls". They were fairly easy to make. I purchased some old porcelain dolls from a thrift store and painted them with craft paint. The only part I found tricky was making the ruffle for the coffin. I could not figure out how to do this on the sewing machine and had to do it by hand. Getting the right amount of gathers was a challenge for me. I opted for some craft ribbon and a Halloween window drape from Dollarama on the second two coffins instead of making more tricky ruffles. The dolls look really creepy at night. A battery candle or an LED flashlight can be used to light up their faces in the dark.
I love these books! I made a project from Book Three called "coffin dolls". They were fairly easy to make. I purchased some old porcelain dolls from a thrift store and painted them with craft paint. The only part I found tricky was making the ruffle for the coffin. I could not figure out how to do this on the sewing machine and had to do it by hand. Getting the right amount of gathers was a challenge for me. I opted for some craft ribbon and a Halloween window drape from Dollarama on the second two coffins instead of making more tricky ruffles. The dolls look really creepy at night. A battery candle or an LED flashlight can be used to light up their faces in the dark.
For
more inspiration and ideas, here are some Halloween blogs and sites
that I enjoy:
Sherie Keans, Talking Books Clerk
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