Goodies

Over the weekend, I finally got a couple more storage bins for the newest Halloween stuff.  Some of it was "cutesie", and that's not usually my style, but I have friends who will like it. So some of it will be gifted to them--a Halloween wreath, a Halloween flag, a paper garland of skulls--but most of it will stay with me.

Candleholders that feel like wax themselves

As I was sorting the similar items into bins, it occurred to me I should probably be cataloguing what I have.  After all, I'm up to 9 bins now, not counting the stuff that won't fit into plastic storage bins.  I began listing the newest things in categories: Bones and Skeletons; Masks and Wigs; Tombstones; Candleholders; etc.  Some things fit more than one category, of course, and right now it's all in a spiral notebook, but I can see where it could easily be cross-referenced and put into the computer. I could detail myself to death here, so that will just wait until a post-holiday winter's day when I can't find anything else to do.

Uh-huh.

There are two ground-busters from the Casket Donor, a mummy and a skeleton:

Some netting "ghosts" that will probably be disassembled and  washed in Rit Color Remover to make them glow:

I haven't checked to see if the green bats will glow in the dark, but I'll bet they will.

I'm not sure if this guy had insides, but he doesn't now, so I may have to re-purpose him after I get a chance to check him over more closely.  There is also something that seems to be a Frankenstein tree-hugger, but I haven't tested that theory yet.

I really like these small candleholders!  The witches had a blue cauldron-shaped votive holder in between them, but I dropped it carrying armloads from the truck to the house, and it broke. I'm hoping to find something I can use in its place, maybe from Michael's.  It's about time for the Halloween items to start showing up there.

Here are 3 "semi-cute" signs that I think I might can doctor up a little.  Reminds me of those old highway signs--you know, the ones that advertised the shaving creme back in the 50s?  That rhymed.  Can't remember the name of the product, though. Bryl-Creme? No. But I think it did start with a B.

Guess my early dementia is kicking in here. It'll come to me, though.

Another couple of semi-cute signs.  They have potential.

And my favorite, next to the casket itself:

He's not toally poseable, but all his joints bend.  They just don't rotate and bend.  

While I was indulging in a little Halloween fantasizing and wondering how to use all the things I have, my subconscious dredged up an idea I've read somewhere, probably on one of your blogs. Since I plan to have the candy outside this year, away from the front door where Tandi would bark herself into a severe case of laryngitis, and will need to make a pathway to the Gypsy Tent, I'm thinking I should work out a storyline for the old gypsy woman.  I might not put out explanatory signs or anything, but something to help me organize my yard, and utilize some of the groupings I have.  For example, the path could pass through a cemetery.  Then I can use the tombstones and ground busters.  Maybe it should go past a "swamp", where bats and reptilian body parts give off a green glow.

I have reconciled myself to the fact I will never have the production that most of my favorite bloggers have, just because I am a one-woman show.  And I don't have the time, space, know-how, or inclination (at least in this heat and humidity!) to build those wonderful moving props I see in Halloween-Land. So I need to make the most of what I have or can buy.

Any advice or suggestions for storylines?

BURMA SHAVE--that's it!

I knew it would come to me.