Spiney

I was in Hobby Lobby the other day looking for something to put in a pottery urn that resides on my coffee table. I found these in the dried and natural plant section:

Is it just me or do they look like spines from some yet undiscovered lifeform?

Haunt on!

Party Planning Part 2: Overview

Haunted Hotel Bones the Bellboy Costume (discontinued)

For those of you following along, this is where it begins. An overview of the master plan:

The Theme:

For this year's Halloween party we'll be working in a creepy, haunted mansion style theme. The idea is that the guests are being invited to The Manor on The Hollow, an old estate that's been converted to a hotel that sets on the grounds of a cemetery known as The Hollow.

In early October each guest will receive a packet from our fictitious attorney, Alfred E Beggley, ESQ. asking for their assistance in saving Master Smith's (the hubby's) youth. Included will be a letter from Beggley outlining the details, a The Manor on The Hollow visitor's brochure, their room key, The Grey Lady and Master Smith's calling cards and assorted clippings regarding the estate and the Fountain of Youth.

The Hunt:

We host a scavenger hunt with every Halloween party. In the past these have been pretty extensive (more on our hunts later) but I'm going to tone things down for this one. This year guests will have to do things like find where a specific prop is or figure out home many tombstones are in the cemetery. Once they've got the answers to all of those questions they will take those answers and use a key to locate the Fountain of Youth. One wrong answer from the hunt and they will fail to find the Fountain.

The Interior:

Since the scavenger hunt will be limited to just our property this year, our guests will be in nearly every room in our home. That means each room will need to be decked out to fit the theme. (What was I thinking?!)

The idea here is sheets over furniture and lots of webs, creepy cloth and gauze as a base and add props from there. We'll go room by room later.

The Exterior:

Not only is a cemetery theme my favorite, it's the easiest for me to accomplish. I have several (store bought) tombstones and skellies but there's plenty of things I want to add. The bulk of the construction list will be here so here's where you will see the most things that do not get finished. (Remember not everything will get done.)

And so it begins.

Wicked Vintage

I had hoped that today we'd be talking about the golfing skeletons in my yard but, alas, they are not in my yard. They are in the garage all piled up wondering when they'll get their moment. Patience my darlings. I had planned on starting the yard yesterday but it was cold and rainy so I opted for the interior instead.

I'm a collector of old things. With the exception of vintage Halloween the rest of my collection is any old thing that catches my eye. I don't collect based on how much I think something will appreciate, though I do love a good deal, rather how I can use it as a display piece... and if it's something I'm willing to dust.

So when Halloween season rolls around there is just as much non-Halloween vintage strung around as there is Halloween vintage... which equals Wicked Vintage. Here's a couple of cabinets that got their Halloween make-over this weekend:

One side of the cabinet.

The other side.

On another note...do you know how hard it is to take pictures of a mirrored cabinet and not get yourself in the shot? Uuuuggg!! Anywho, here's some close-ups:

This shelf contains one creepy baby doll head (a recent Ebay snag), a carved wooden crow (Hobby Lobby) and a player piano roll. Notice the title - Dance Of The Demons.

A new, oversized skeleton key (Hobby Lobby), Halloween fabric napkin (Grandin Road), new witch cutout (Hobby Lobby), vintage amber vanilla bottle and vintage Edsion wax record.

Cat and Jack O'Lantern (reproductions) with vintage wooden spools.

Jack O'Lantern in Shoe (The Market Shop), another Grandin Road napkin and a small vintage cast iron witch's kettle.

As a girl I remember watching the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy series on tv. I also read all of the books. I thought these would be fun for Halloween but I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find any locally. One day I was in Goodwill and happened upon someone's entire collection. I picked out five, wrapped them in ribbon and put a crow on top. They now sit in this cabinet with vintage Majolica plates and a vintage taloned ice tongs.

Decorating with vintage doesn't have to be expensive so don't let that stop you if you like the look. Just be open-minded. Chippy paint and a patina on most anything can add to the old haunted mansion look.

Haunt on!