Halloween Dictionary

I have a rather strange affection for vintage dictionaries. Whenever I come across one I just have to thumb through it - and likely buy it.

I own several and not because I feel the need to look up definitions or anything. I grab them because I think that the old pages will be great in projects. I'm a book lover so it takes a bit of determination for me to even get to the point of ripping out pages, but it beats the burn pile.

The dictionaries I tend to pick up feature neat old graphics so I thought I'd share a few with you today. Hopefully you can work them into a haunted project or two.

The following graphics are from a 1909 dictionary:

I do not have a confirmed date for this one:

If you need help with the images let me know. Oh and if you use them in a project I'd love to see it!

**DISCLAIMER: Some sources in my collection are missing covers or otherwise void of copyright information/publishing dates/title, etc. That's not to say that the images I'm sharing today are in the public domain. I pulled two that I know were prior to 1923 and one that I believe to be based on the info I could find. So, consider yourself warned - best to only use these in personal projects, resale at your own risk. 

Haunt on!

Heat Free Quick Projects

This heat is dreadful! Hotter than Dante's seventh level of hell and no relief in sight. I refuse to sweat unless I intend to. Standing outside for 2.5 minutes and dripping is certainly not on my must do list. Which explains why I refuse to suffer out in the garage and have stayed inside working on Halloween projects for my interior instead.

It's been a productive week. Several projects in the works and I even managed to complete a few.

Three new vintage inspired Spook Sticks:

(front view)

(back view)

I have a gob-a-lot of vintage hats. When I say gob-a-lot I mean like 40. I'm attempting to do up a few haunt style and I need displays. Here's one dressed up manni head with stand finally done:

Potion labels are on the menu so I'm on the hunt for jars. Managed to snag two of these for 50¢ each at Party City. I'm testing out the Graveyard Dust label. Am thinking I like it so permanent attachment will go on the to-do list.

I get to spend all day tomorrow at a baseball tourney. Yeah. I can stand out in the heat and drip. Can't wait.

Haunt on!

Ghoulie Girls Quick Projects

I've had the most marvelous day! I'm all settled into the studio and since there were no kiddo obligations (ie: mom taxi service) required today I was able to do a few things.

I managed to start on some ideas from the Project Files but more importantly I got to finish up a couple of small things I'd been wanting to do.

Here is photo of the cabinet I decorate for each holiday. Notice anything missing? See the picture frame at the bottom? Yeah, the one without a picture in it. There's a couple of those in the cabinet. I'd meant to find something Halloween related for them and - really - how hard should that be?

I remedied this little irritation today with some fantastic vintage graphics from TheGraphicsFairy. (If you're not acquainted then I suggest you head on over. Great stuff!) I changed them up just a tiny bit by giving them a touch of color in Photoshop.

Remember my glitter issue? Well I managed to add a few new glitter pieces to the bone pile today:

And finally I cut out a few more Martha Stewart bats. Love these little guys.

I can't find a link to these anymore but I have them downloaded onto my computer so if you need a copy just yell.

So, nothing huge but the devil's in the details and I love the little touches. Plus - I've got things crossed off my to-do list. Yep - it's been a very good day!

Haunt on!

Revisiting Fun With Monsters

Remember this post? Well, I spent a few minutes tonight assembling my happy little monsters into their new frames.

The monsters masks were printed on card stock paper in the highest DPI my printer could handle, and then I cut them out. I wanted to raise the pictures away from the background just a bit so I put Sticky Doos on the back of the paper masks.

The frames are scrapbook frames which feature a black velvet background so I just stuck the masks on the background.

So simple even a zombie could do it.

I love the look and can't wait to hang them up in my office - once I locate some more wall space.

Haunt on!

Glitter Me This

I have a love/hate relationship with Martha Stewart. Tracy couldn't care less about the domestic goddess but I struggle with Martha on a semi-regular basis.

I love her ideas (though rumors abound that they are not all her own) but I find it absolutely impossible that anyone could be this creative, organized and put together. I often mumble to myself that she's only so together because she has a huge staff and no hubby or kiddos to trip over. Then I mumble in jealousy how I'd love to have a huge staff (or at least a wife's wife to do all those mundane chores for me).

How lovely it would be to spend a day at the garden store chatting up the experts, picking out plants, urns, furniture (with no real budget to speak of) and then send my garden team to pick it up. I could then have my kitchen staff prepare me a nice English tea and blueberry scones while I bark out directions on where things are to be planted and placed. (No, No, No! I specifically said to use the striped umbrella with this set of chairs!)


This Halloween season Grandin Road has teamed up with Martha Stewart, as evidenced by their catalog I received the other day. I always look forward to the catalog for inspiration but this year it's Glitter Mania, or is it Glitter Gone Wild or Giddy for Glitter. I swear the woman has glittered everything within an inch of it's life and slapped a nice pricey price tag on it.

I love her glitter. The colors are excellent and it's nice and fine. It's what I used on these pieces I was working on last Fall that gave me fits. And that brings me to the point in this badly written entry which is this... if you're going with a sparkly Halloween theme, do it yourself!

Martha jumped on the glitter train last season and this year she's milking it for all it's worth. I love the look but I think even if you purchase her skeleton ($79) and her glitter (check pricing at Michael's) you can do it for less than $149! And glitter Jacks from $49-$69? Pfffttt!


Make your own. Trust me on this. Martha doesn't have a thing on you!

Instructable

I'm certain that you are all familiar with a little site called Instructables.com. A wealth of tutorials on how to do, well, most anything. The great thing about it for us haunters is that there are quite a few Halloween how-tos on the site.

Today I'm going to share a few I have on my favorites list but we're always hungry for more. So - drop us a comment and let us know your faves.

First up is the Bubbling Halloween Cauldron from our good friend Goldie. Goldie is a very creative spirit. Not only is she capable of banging out some great props she also makes some awesome costumes.

Nicemag's tutorial on her Death Becomes Her Costume is amazing! Allow yourself plenty of time to pull this one together.

We're just dieing to try out the Creepy Bubble Halloween Cocktails posted by DotatDabbled!

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

Ahhh the Mad Scientist laboratory. A visual delight of spooky sights and sounds and so fitting for your kitchen during your Halloween party.

So you've got your deformed creatures in jars, your Jacob's Ladder, your plasma ball and your bubbling jars. What? You don't have bubbling jars? Well that's something we need to remedy.

This is a super simple trick you can pull off with just a few supplies. Here's what you'll need:

A jar with a plastic lid (a plastic pretzel barrel jar works great)
Aquarium pump (from the pet supply store or ebay)
Plastic tubing to connect to your aquarium pump (pet or home supply store)
Water (you get that from the tap in the kitchen)
Black light reactive agent (Tide detergent, highlighters, glow in the dark paint, etc.)
Black light (found at any party store)
**I couldn't find my pictures of our setup so if you have questions just yell**

1. Remove the lid from your jar and drill or cut a hole just big enough to accomodate your plastic tubing.

2. Fill your jar to the desired level with water but leave some room as we'll be adding some more water in a bit.

3. Put the lid on your jar and run the tubing through the hole to the inside bottom of the jar.

4. Attach the other end of the tubing to your aquarium pump. Plug in the pump and give it a test run. Your water should bubble.

5. Now we need to give the water a creepy glow. We stumbled across this video so we'll cheat and let it show you how:




6. Add your glowing liquid to your jar. Position a black light nearby, turn off the lights, turn on your pump and enjoy!

Here's another glowing water video we thought you might enjoy:




If you'd like to try this with glow-in-the-dark paint, check out this vid by brittadotcom that we found on YouTube:

Haunting Necessities

Creating the proper haunted atmosphere requires a few haunting neccessities. Don't panic! It doesn't need to be expensive, in fact, you can use things you already have or can get for just a few bucks. Here's the run-down:

Candles -

Nothing sets the haunt mood better than flickering lights. You probably have at least a few lying around but if not hit the local dollar store. Creep them out with drips down the sides by burning them down or adding your own drips with hot glue.

If you're on a tight budget don't bother with candle sticks. You can gather several pillar candles on a large heat safe plate.

Remember you have to keep an eye on open flames or your haunt could end up a pile of ash. If you prefer a more carefree approach try Christmas candlesticks or the new battery operated flicker candles. (Hint: the seasonal versions of these go on clearance after the holidays.)

Webbing -

Your house just isn't haunted without webs and they are a basic staple of most Halloween themes from the haunted mansion, to the dungeon to the laboratory.

Bag-o-webs (as we like to call them) are really inexpensive, especially if you pick them up on clearance. They're a bit of a mess to work with but they are the quick and cheap in the world of webs. (Watch for our upcoming tutorial on how to use these in your haunt.)

Hot glue is another option for webbing. Simply build webs or make strings of glue hang down from overhead to give the illusion of webbing. A bit more time consuming and costly than our previous option but it works.

More haunters are opting for beef netting (shown above) which creates a unique and truly creepy display. Easy to use (simply hang, cut and pull) but the most pricy of our options.

No matter which you choose spiders are optional. Afterall, it's obvious there are spiders in the area since you have all those webs!

Music/Sound -

Most would agree that this is a very important component to your haunted display and there are no shortage of options. The obvious solutions includes one of the many CDs available (some of our faves include Nox Arcana, Midnight Syndicate and Virgil Franklin) or you can download your own compilation of tunes and sounds to your MP3 player.

If you're short on time or cash use someone else's Halloween playlist and pipe it through your computer. Here's a few we found on PlayList.com.

Also consider spooky sounds CDs or pop in a horror flick you grabbed from the bargain bin or RedBox.

Other considertions -

Turn off your overhead lights and put black light bulbs in your lamps and exterior lights.
Throw some glow sticks or Christmas string lights in a cauldron or urn to cast an eerie glow.
Drap a semi sheer, light weight cloth over your lamps (use a low watt bulb for safety).
Be lazy. Let the dust gather, the grass grow and the leaves pile up for a deserted look.
Buy moss in the bag from your local craft store and drape it in your trees.
Add a wind chime for a haunting sound. (Grab it at the end of the season on clearance.)

This will get you started but you don't have to stop here! Consider this your base and build on it to your wicked heart's content.

Ghoulie Girls Quick Project

Ok, here's a riddle for you. What does your local garden center have to do with Halloween? They carry great cemetery props for your haunted yard. No, really.

Work with me here... Several years ago I purchased a cheap resin bird bath and set it outside (exactly where one would expect it to go). Last winter the bird bath started to crack and finally it broke into pieces (I mentioned it was cheap didn't I?). The well of the bird bath was surrounded by three small resin birds that were attached to the bath by a peg. Though weathered they were all still in one piece and I got to thinking that these would be a nice little addition to a handmade tombstone. (Now don't pressure me. This is just one of many ideas banging around in the ol' brain. I haven't actually got around to doing it yet.)

All types of resin products are sold through garden centers. Everything from statuary busts to stepping stones to finials. At the end of the season you can probably even pick up a few on the cheap. (We love cheap!)

I place several architectural style pieces amongst our tombstones. I left them as I found them but you can certainly paint, weather, dry brush, or distress them to get the look you want. Smaller resin pieces can be incorporated into handmade tombstones or add them to store bought pieces for a unique look.

In the picture below you'll see the white resin piece nestled in a bush with a crow perched on top:

You don't have to wait until summer's end to do your shopping. You can often find resin pieces year-round that would be the perfect creepy addition. And, best of all, if you can get these for a few bucks on clearance and just slap them up you've got a great look that's Ghoulie Girl quick!

Ghoulie Girls Quick Project

I'm all for fancy props. I love animatronics, pimped bluckys and hand made tombstones but sometimes I get the itch to create and need it to be fast and easy.

Several years ago I was searching for just such a project. I wandered around my garage trying to find something I could put together quick. I spotted a rather plain and uninteresting corn broom and had a light bulb moment.

The hardest part of this project is locating a corn broom. Mine was old but you can pick one up a new one at Lowe's for under $10. While you're there grab some orange and black spray paint, 1" painter's or masking tape and surgical weight gloves.

Paint the entire broomstick orange. Let it get good and dry (a few days may be necessary). Once dry assemble several small strips of tape - just enough in length to go around the broom. You're going to start at the base of the broomstick and wrap your first piece of tape. Then, butt the next piece of tape against the first and wrap it around. Continue until your entire broomstick is wrapped.

Now, remove every other piece of tape so that the orange paint shows through. Spray over the orange with the black paint. Let it dry and remove the tape.

Wearing your gloves, spray black paint into one palm, rub your gloved hands together and lightly pat on the bristles for an aged look. Repeat this aging over your paintwork on the broomstick.

So simple even a zombie can do it.

Guns, Roses and Glitter

I'm an extremist. When I get a vision of how something should be done there's just no talking me out of it (just ask Tracy - she'll tell ya). I call it Axl Rose syndrome. (Pure waste of talent and it's about damn time he got the new Guns N Roses CD out.)

Where was I? Guns N Roses, Axl, extremes - oh yes! Being an extremist is akin to being a perfectionist only worse. I graduated from perfectionist a long time ago. I have tons of over-the-top ideas bouncing around in my grey matter but when it comes to getting them completed, well, that's another story. Even little projects can cut me off at the knees if I don't see them coming together as I envisioned.

Take this past Halloween for example. Simple project. I wanted a black and white theme in my dining room for the season. My centerpiece was to be skulls covered in black and white glitter (eerily elegant). Simple enough right? Uh-huh.

I sat down one evening with the best of intentions. I had my skulls, assorted other bones, glitter, glue, newspaper - I was ready. I covered my first skull in black glitter and set it aside to dry. Now to bang out a white one. "That doesn't look right" I thought but I kept going. Looks a little gamy. Finally I grabbed the bottle of glitter and took a good look. It was the palest, pale, pond scum green - it wasn't white at all. Uggggg!

Well, you see where this is going. No white glitter, late at night.... project on hold. And, as of today, it is still on hold. Now, probably no one could even tell it was green unless it was right up against something stark white but since I knew it was green that was all she wrote. I think I need an intervention.

Well here's what I've accomplished so far:
















Maybe you can try your hand at this and actually finish it. As for me, I'm off to pick up a copy of the new Guns N Roses CD.