Historic Halloween Tour

 We attended the Fall Festival in our downtown historic distinct this past weekend.  Two of the houses on the tour date from the Victorian period. For the festival they are opened to the public (for free!) and feature three different Halloween themes/short lectures: Day of the Dead, Victorian Halloween traditions, and Victorian Mourning Rituals.(To see last year's festival it is posted here. Some of the information and displays were the same as last year so I only posted images about the new stuff today.)
Seen above is the The Dorr house, 1871.  The Dorr house featured the Victorian Mourning Rituals display and information.

 As seen below the presenters were dressed for the occasion! 

Inside the house were several examples of woven hair mementos and jewelry.   All of the mirrors were covered with black fabric as would have been the fashion in Victorian times.  

 A photo album showing mourning photos and attire.  There also were post death photos on another page in the album.

 Funeral Notices

And I forgot to mention that the Dorr House is considered to be one of the most haunted houses in our town!  This certainly added to the aura during the tour.

 Victorian Halloween traditions were covered in the Lear-Rocheblave house (1890). The presenter gave a history and examples of parlor games played and party invitations/decor.

There were antique Halloween postcards and crocheted cob webs, a Victorian Halloween decoration.  

At the outdoor kitchen house we were given a history of Halloween, Dia de los Muertos and watched Pan de Muertos being made in a dutch oven in a fireplace.

 The outdoor kitchen

The final baked bread.

This is the second time we have attended the festival and I love it, even if some of the information is the same.  I hope they have it every year!  The historic district also hosts several haunted walking and trolley tours at night that feature the morbid history of some of the homes and buildings in the downtown area that we plan on attending when PB is a bit braver.  He refuses to go into the Dorr house!

If you want to see more from last year's festival, drag your wretched bones over here.

Spooky Strawberry Cake Batter Bars

 The best way to represent Halloween  (It is October!) while participating in a bake sale fundraiser for breast cancer awareness...... Pink Spooky Strawberry Cake Batter Bars!

Recipe here

I did alter the recipe a bit.  I used a strawberry cake mix, not lemon or chocolate.    Also I did not want a layer of icing (not easy to unwrap saran wrap from) so after the 25 minutes of baking I mixed everything together and baked another 10 minutes or so.  I added colored sprinkles in the batter and small white skulls and bones on the top. 

Vintage Dennison Halloween Seals

I found a few cute vintage halloween images of packaging and ads recently on the nets that I thought I would share.  The previous post was one as well.  

I save soooo many images with intent to make them into banners, cards, stationary, t-shirt designs... 

The four seals shown here could easily be printed out (laser would be best choice) and apply diy lick-able seals with flavored jello on the backs!

I wish I knew what the other two seal designs were....

Black Cat Fortune Telling Game

made in Salem, Massachusetts too!
Fun image that would make a nice print to hang up Halloween time.. any time really!

Halloween Uglies!

Krispy Skremes!

Love the new Krispy Skremes theme this year!

{See previous Krispy Skremes box lids posted here }

The Morbid Mortuary

 It's not all happy jack o' lanterns and spiders at my spookified house... no, no.  In one dark corner, where few dare to creep,  is the Morbid Mortuary!

 In the Morbid Mortuary,  a few very old dismembered dolls, with teeth and cloudy eyes get to have a prominent spot.

 There are a few jars containing brains, embalming solution and smelling salts (from a funeral home) which add to the scene.

Along with a real Certificate for Embalming from 1933!

Tomb Views

A few more miscellaneous Halloween decor shots from around the tomb...

Simpson Halloween figures!

Halloween Digs

 Here are a few shots of the dining room all decked out for spooking!

I have not found any "new" (thrift store finds) items to add to the decor for the past couple of years.  I think I mentioned last year that the main thrift I go to has decided it was against their "policy" to sell Halloween stuff...and unfortunately several more thrifts have decided to follow their lead.   I can only assume that this policy is "We don't want to make money." and "We are dicks."

Halloween is my all time favorite holiday.  It really gets me down when my favorite stores refuse to carry merchandise (I guess they just throw it away!arrgh!) because they are closed minded and ignorant. Maybe I will have to make a thrift store manager voodoo doll and give 'em a few jabs.

Well... still trying to make the best of it ...a few more house shots to follow....

Creepy Spooky Haunted Halloween Tree

 Once again, I am happily hosting the October Make and Take at our local library later this month. Last Year we had a mad scientist themed slime making session.  This year, we are going to be making a Creepy Spooky Haunted Halloween Tree.  I found the original idea here, but spookified it by adding little ghost stickers, moss and black construction paper for the leaves.  I decided to bring this sample tree to the library for the kid's to have a preview. I then realized a tree made from a paper bag isn't going to hold up well with tiny hands grabbing at it for a month.  It needs a protective barrier!

I remembered seeing a cloche made from plastic liter bottles and thought that would be perfect and ...cheap! I got the how-to here (theirs turned out super cute!).

 The saga of this cloche thing coming to be is as followed, but be prepared for some whining. First off, it is really hard to find 3 liter bottles anymore...but trusty $ tree does have them.  So for several days we were drinking mediocre Tropical Fruit Punch just for the damn bottle.  I guess we could have easily dumped it down the sink but I can't waste anything, even if it's a bucks worth of sugary crap. Next up, removing the label, which proved to be a bitch to come off.  There was about a 2 inch by 7 inch strip of some adhesive holding onto the thin layered plastic label remnant.  I tried soaking it but it didn't budge, of course not!  I spent a hour using goo gone and pealing at it's onion layer-like plastic, scratching at it with my finger nails.  As this whole process was going down I kept thinking "This is not worth it, this is not worth it, this is not worth it".  But I was in too deep and I had to see it through.  So label is off, finally. Next I had to dremmel off the top inch or so of the mouth opening...10 minutes of smelling toxic melted plastic. This is not worth it. But almost there...on to the last steps. The base and topper are made from stryrofoam covered in black tissue paper, which went ok.  I hot glued moss around the base and topper to hide a few imperfections.  But here is the final problem... the tree looks smushed inside it!!!! BLAH!!!  Yes, I tried the tree inside it as soon as the damn adhesive came off and I cut the bottom off but I pressed on hoping for the best. The best is not there...Craft Fail.

But, I try to look at the big picture here...the tree turns out looking fairly neat and the kids are going to have fun making them and I will have fun helping them.

Sorry this post is seeped in negativity...it is a mirror image of it's writer.  I feel like I am being engulfed by devil's snare.... I can not relax and the batteries in my wand died...no Lumos Maxima.  Not yet anyway.

Halloween Vintage Wacky Pack

If Wacky Pack was to have a Halloween set here are some cards what would be included:

Halloween Approaching!

I look forward to seeing the new Halloween stuff at stores each year.  Most of all, Target.  They have such lovely displays.  I was recently eavesdropping on the Target Team Member meeting that they have right in the middle of the store, so I guess it's not that big of a deal to listen in.  Anyhow, I  heard that Sept 15 was the day the Halloween section was going to be up and running.  We went yesterday and I was so bummed that it was only half up with discounted school supplies still lurking in the background.... boo!!!!

In the meantime, let us enjoy some vintage Halloween images to try to purge memories of yesterday's disappointment....

This reminds me of the Simpsons when Bart sold his soul to Milhouse and then again when Homer sold his soul for a doughnut!

View Master!

 (it looks exactly like this one, box and all. I couldn't get as good of a photo so used an image from the nets)

 One of the gifts I got for my birthday was a vintage View Master!  It came in it's original box and all!

Here are a few fun View Master images I found while looking around:

A view master-ed image of a dinosaur!  To continue the birthday dinosaur theme!

 Here is an image of Disney View Master artist, Joe Liptak, working on a scene to be shot for a Peter Pan reel.

View Monster!  Wacky Pack sticker

And Va Va Va Voom!  View Master for the Adults!

Snozzberry Birthday Cake!

 Here is my "Snozzberry" flavored pink dinosaur birthday cake.  Snozzberry tastes alot like strawberry, in case you were wondering.  Every year for my birthday dinosaurs get involved in some way, whether in plastic form or large goofy golf obstacle form. I found this 1987 Wilton Partysaurus cake pan for a couple of bucks at the thrift in a moment of fate last week.

Single serving with a little dinosaur on top!

Oh!  In case you were concerned, that is a plastic cockroach on the cake.  

He makes an appearance on all our birthday cakes. We play "La Cucaracha" on the record player and make the lyrics to "Happy Birthday" fit in while the birthday person wears a huge mariachi hat and blows out the candles!

Yadhtrib Aknow!

 No, it's not Japanese, it's "Wonka Birthday" spelled backwards! 

This past weekend it just so happened that on the evening of my birthday our town's gorgeous 1925 historic Saeger Theatre was showing one of my all time favorite films on the big screen....

"Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"!

yay!!

And since we can't just go to a movie, especially one of this importance, without dressing up or doing something to get in the spirit we came up with a few last minute ideas.  

First,  I made envelopes to hold our "golden tickets" in that looked like life sized Wonka Bars.  On the back of the golden tickets were our real tickets double-side taped down.

Secondly,  we needed some top hats! We have a set of top hats we wear on New Year's Eve every year (hence the silver sparkly tinsel bands). So I simply added a printout of another smaller Wonka Bar to wonka them up a bit.

 Lastly, I am sorry to say I do not have a purple velvet coat and floweredy vest like Mr. Wonka... but I do have a black velvet jacket and grey and white polka dotted knee socks!

I love Gene Wilder so much in this role!  It is so cute how his wild hair flips around.  And I love soooo many of his signature lines he uses!

"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men."
"We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of the dreams."
"So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that.  Reverse it."
"I'm sorry, but all questions must be submitted in writing."

I also love all the Veruca Salt scenes and her song! I know she is a brat but it is so funny!

This is my favorite part when she goes all bipolar and is a raging lunatic one moment shaking her head but then slowly comprises herself back to a smiling evil child!

Snozzberries?  Who ever heard of a snozzberry?