Merry Christmas

I decided to recycle my haunted tree and it became my ...

HAUNTED CHRISTMAS TREE!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas. 

Vintage Halloween Music

It's amazing what a little mood music can do.

My brother shared this great link to 4 volumes of Vintage Halloween music.  It was just what I needed to get me pumped to start on my Haunted Halloween Tree :D

I'll be posting pics as I go along.

Happy October!!

*If you're interested in checking out the music here's the link:

http://frankensteinsfunhouse.tumblr.com/post/63690888217

Guess what time it is

With Halloween right around the corner, I thought it was the perfect time to pick up some essentials ... Ingredients to make my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!!  'Tis the season for pumpkin! 

It all started when I was little. . .

The other day, I was trying to pinpoint where my love of Halloween started.  Honestly, I can't tell you the year or the moment that started it all, I just know Halloween has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.

I remember spending our October afternoons decorating our small home with various construction paper and yarn cut outs and decor. 

One year in particular, when I was about 6 or 7, I remember we spent the whole week working on Halloween crafts.  My mom and aunt made a yarn wreath adorned with stuffed, felt jack'o'lanterns, scarecrows and ghosts.  I spent my time making Halloween costumes for my Barbies.  Once I was done, my parents proudly displayed them along with all our other decorations.  Adorned with our handmade wreath, construction paper ghosts and witches, accordion ghosts and costumed Barbies, we were ready for Halloween. 

The years went on, and there was never one time we didn't decorate or go through elaborate lengths to create a costume.  Fortunately, as we grew in age our taste also grew as well, but that's another post for another time.  

But I think it is because of these happy memories of childhood that I continue to love Halloween so much.

This week I've learned ...

moving causes delays.

Sorry I haven't posted anything new.  I just moved to a new city for a job and everything has been a little out of control.  But never fear, I hope to have things sorted out and get back to posting a nice Halloween treat on Saturday.  

Happy Haunting and see you on Saturday!

Blood, Parchment and Coffins

Our theme for 2010 was The Count's castle and we did our best to set the mood 

with decorations and food, but that information is for another post, on another day. 

Today I'd like to talk to you about our invitations.  

They needed to fit perfectly with our vampire theme.  I wanted them to be playful but

authentic, as if they were made by the Count himself.  I scoured the web looking for 

something that might catch my eye.  Finally, after hours of searching I found it.

I found this awesome website and it had just what I needed ... Coffin Boxes!

These mini coffin boxes were free to download and print, so I did :)

Then, I needed the actual invite.

My idea was to make it seem like this was an actual invitation from The Count, so I needed to make it look like it was written on old parchment paper with a fine quill pen.

I found a free paper texture online (sorry, I can't remember the website), opened up

Photoshop, and got to work.  

I wanted to keep it fun, so I added a little humor, found a font that was as elegant as The Count, and included some blood spots, because you can't be a vampire without blood.

The letters were then folded up nicely and placed in the coffins and delivered to the proper victims ... er, I mean guests.  Everyone loved it and it set the tone perfectly for our Halloween party.

Welcome to my Cauldron of Treats!

This blog will be dedicated to all things Halloween.

I will be posting twice a week for the next eleven weeks leading up to October.
Posts will consist of pictures of Halloween past, haunting inspiration, 
references, costumes and many other spooky goodies.

 So stay for a spell and enjoy as we count down, post by post,

to the greatest time of the year ... Halloween!