Crunch time!

Believe it or not, I have been knocking out most of that to-do list mentioned in previous posts. I have also added a few side-projects. Plenty of progress pictures were taken along the way and I will be posting tutorials later.

It is major crunch time in my house. Everything has been pulled out of storage, there's a half-done witch standing in my living room, the stick body of a giant pumpkin scarecrow drying in the back yard, spider egg sacs laying around, various light bulbs and extension cords strewn about, a mod-podged pumpkin drying in my room, and foam "boards" everywhere. Evvvverywhere.

Set-up is in a week! AHHH! On that note, I'm out of here. I will be back later with set-up pictures, things I have learned during my first year actively attempting to put together my own decorations, plenty of tutorials, and a couple family updates covering the Halloween events we are attending. It's the mosssst wonderful time of the year!

Building a foundation

I noticed something the other day. Starting out with prop-building is similar to diving into a cooking/baking hobby 4 years ago. 

You know that eventually it will be cheaper overall and eventually it will be less intimidating, but getting started can be tricky. 

When I first got married I only had a few basics: one saucepan and a couple sautée pans, silverware that was gifted to us, a can opener, and a random assortment of garage sale plates and cups. 

Building that foundation was a slow process. I started out buying a couple spices and pantry staples per paycheck. We slowly added smaller items and over several years I invested in a stand mixer, food processor, etc. 

My confidence increased as I tried new recipes, techniques, etc. but I was pretty intimidated when I started. I would analyze a recipe for a long time before I attempted it.

Prop-building has followed a similar path. I started out with barely any tools. Over the last several months I've acquired a jigsaw, circular saw (that one was free!) and dremel. Building materials (free foam!) have been collected and I gathered things from our kitchen makeover that will be helpful (power sander, paint, etc.). I've purchased smaller materials such as adhesive, respirator, safety goggles, etc. 

Essentially, the necessary materials are ready. The shed is organized and ready for the first project. The batteries are charged. So what's holding me back? The confidence component. 

I have been reading tutorials on HalloweenForum and watching YouTube tutorial videos for close to a year now. The Dremel  user manual has been read, I learned how to operate the jigsaw, but I am still somewhat intimidated! Luckily this batch of foam is free so all I have to worry about is tossing it if I screw it up (and maybe losing a finger in the process). 

I need to move forward because I'm pretty sure Greg is sick of overhearing the same YouTube tutorials. Not to mention setup is only ~80 days away. Ahh!! 

Celebration season is over!

Mid-March through the end of June is a pretty crazy time for my family. We celebrate: both of my nephews birthdays, Easter, my birthday, my sister's birthday, Memorial Day, mine and Greg's anniversary, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Cooper's birthday. That doesn't leave a lot of time for side-hobbies so I haven't been able to accomplish much after clearing out the shed.
Now that things are winding down I'm anxious to get back to the shed and continue working on a few projects. Here's a little update on the to-do list:

*Review last year's setup photos and find the areas needing the most improvement
-Done! After reviewing last year's photos, it was easy to find areas needing improvement. One of the biggest flaws involved lighting. The interior lighting shining through our curtains kind of ruins the spooky effect. See our big living room window. I don't think floral curtains really add to the ambience:

I will address this by hanging blackout fabric on the interior to block out the interior light.

The floodlights need to be disconnected on both sides of the house. That well-lit area where the cars are is a whee bit out of place.

Another issue is the normal appearance of the house itself. I aged everything around the house but the house was more or less left untouched. This year I plan on adding webbing (and maybe spiders depending on budget) to the house.

I want to add skeletons to the roof but will only do so if I can figure out a way to not damage the roof in the process. The gargoyles need to make it to the roof because they looked strange sitting on the porch last year.

*Make a general layout sketch for the 2014 display
-Kind of done! I haven't actually sketched it out but I do have a general layout in mind. For the front right tree I plan on doing a spider-focused theme. I'm imagining the tree covered in webs, spiders of all sizes, spider eggs, and a "spider victim" hanging from the tree. The left tree will feature a witch display, the center of the yard will still have the graveyard. I need to figure out what to do with the upper left portion of the yard but chances are that there won't be room in the budget this year to add to it.

*Clear out the shed to make room for prop building
-Done! See last post. :)

*Research and purchase a digital projector
-Done! After much research I settled on an Epson. We love it. It has already been used for an outdoor movie night, several indoor movie nights, and it has all the features needed for the ghost window projection.

*Research lighting ideas/information
-I have tried, but lighting is still going over my head. After reading several forum threads I am still confused and will have to research this further.

*Re-do the foam "boards" for all 5 windows
-Haven't started. Need to purchase sheets of foam before I can start on this. I can start by measuring the windows, though. That's free.

*Carve and paint tombstones
-Haven't started. I did acquire a huge lot of styrofoam (for free!) and tested out my jigsaw on a scrap piece. It cuts amazingly well. I can't wait to dive into this project.

*Prep the existing tombstones so that they stay in place when staked
-Haven't started.

This list doesn't include any of the great prop ideas/tutorials I've stumbled upon. Those won't be addressed until this list is checked off. There are 3 months left until setup but a lot of this involves lengthy prep time (glue drying, paint drying, etc.) with multiple steps. My time is already somewhat limited with a full time job and toddler so I really need to crank some of this out.

Sluggish shed progress!

In case the last post didn't paint a clear enough picture: the shed was a MESS. I was terrified to clean it because I was convinced that there would be monster sized spiders, rodents, etc. lurking underneath the boxes that hadn't been moved in decades. I love the fake-scary stuff, but the real deal? No way.

Several spiders and a ton of clutter were the only things ultimately discovered. Greg did manage to scare me by letting out a blood-curdling scream when my back was turned. I thought that a rodent was unearthed so I hauled ass out of there without even looking back. I didn't peak inside until I heard his laughter.

It was a super productive day!

This is after a packed-full SUV's worth haul. We ended up taking 2 crammed SUV full loads to the dump and still have a few things that need to be disposed of. It was a long day but the work space is definitely looking better.

The rug is pretty disgusting, but it's going to have a fair share of paint and styrofoam bits covering it soon enough. At least I don't have to worry about ruining it!

Speaking of which-The other night I merrily made my way out to the shed. I was thrilled to start setting up storage! I threw my container of supplies down on the carpet, flicked the light on and to my horror noticed the dozen+ HUGE slugs all over the carpet. I stifled a scream and hopped backwards until I was out of the shed. The next morning I set up a slug barrier and luckily it worked. Slug free!

I still have to haul out most of my craft supplies (paint, brushes, etc.) Storage is nowhere near being finalized. As a crafter who has had craft spaces of all varieties, I know that the storage aspect will constantly evolve as I figure out what works and what doesn't. For now I am just really excited to have a space of my own to create in.



Tonight I start on my first mini-project. It's something I pinned years ago when I first discovered Pinterest. I will be back with progress on that. Hopefully there will be no additional mollusk adventures to share.

Setting up a work space

My husband is pretty amazing. He doesn't flinch when I ask him if I can order a pallet of styrofoam heads. He lets me use 1/3 of the crawlspace to store decorations and listens to me ramble on about Halloween for far longer than most people could tolerate.

Greg also recently agreed to let me convert our shed to a prop-building and Halloween storage space! We have been in our house for 14 months now. Unfortunately, the previous owners never cleared it out. It's full of...questionable cleaning agents and hazardous things.

Yup, that weed killer (however many years old?) on the 3rd shelf down has corroded the metal container AND the metal shelf it is on. The good news is that we contacted our county and can dispose of this stuff for free. The bad news is we have to carefully pack it up and bring it to the local landfill for proper disposal. Heavy duty gloves are in our near future. 

So tomorrow we begin gutting this space and transforming into my Halloween prop-building space. I am thrilled to have the space! I will be back with progress pics. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a picture illustrating how we feel about cleaning the shed out:

On finding your niche

I have been spending an obscene amount of time on Halloween-focused forums lately. For the most part, Halloween isn't a huge deal around here.  Richmond has a few festive blocks and there are plenty of Halloween festivals but the majority of people don't do anything more than pumpkins on the porch. 

One of my favorite Halloweens was in 2010, not long after I married my husband. We were living in a 500 sq ft ground-level apartment. We were incredibly broke because I just started a job after 7 months of unemployment. It was our first year having a place where we could display decorations. I ended up buying a couple things from Dollar Tree and Big Lots while borrowing several of my sister's decorations:

The fun part was when our next door neighbor started competing with us. I'd come home from work and they'd have a couple new things, I'd go pick up one thing, etc. The shared enthusiasm/competition fueled me. 

The internet is kind of amazing/terrifying in that you can pretty much find like-minded people no matter your niche. I have found endless inspiration via Halloween communities and am so excited to start building my own props. There have been so many times where I sit there nodding my head when someone posts about asking for props instead of flowers for Mother's Day, or how their spouse is really understanding regarding  how much space it takes to store props. It's like having a built-in neighbor. Just competitive enough to fuel your creativity while knowing that they truly "get it." 

Over halfway there!

It's hard to believe we are over halfway to Halloween. Last year I realized (far too late) that if I want to improve the outdoor display without splurging on ridiculously expensive store bought props, I am going to have to dive into the world of prop-building. With very little DIY skills this should be an interesting ride.

The goal list over the next couple months:

• Review last year's setup photos and find the areas needing the most improvement
• Make a general layout sketch for the 2014 display
• Clear out the shed to make room for prop building
• Research and purchase a digital projector
• Research lighting ideas/information
• Re-do the foam "boards" for all 5 windows
• Carve and paint tombstones
• Prep the existing tombstones so that they stay in place when staked

Time to get cracking!