Snowball's First Halloween

This is Snowball, one of two kitties that complete the Doughty/Racer family. Snowball came into our lives August of 2013, and has always been a very curious cat. This picture, taken during his first Halloween with us, is one of my absolute favorites.

For the Halloween season, I had set up a little spooky vignette complete with lace table cloth, Ouija Board, black lace fan, skull on silver platter, black candles, crystals, antique jewelry, and some old tin-type photos. I added one of our antique chairs to complete the effect of a fortune-telling/communicating with the dead scene.

Snowball decided that Mommy put that nice, comfy chair out for HIM, and pretty much stayed there the entire Halloween season, lol. At one point, we had a Halloween party where a few people wanted to use the Ouija Board. This was of great interest to Snow, and the next day, we caught him standing in the chair, with front paws on the board as if trying to mimic what he saw the night before. Snow did not manage to contact the other side, and no kitties were demonically possessed in the making of this post!

Alan Dellascio Art

I've recently discovered ANOTHER artist who specializes in absolutely gorgeous Halloween and Fall paintings. Salem, Massachusetts native Alan Dellascio, also known online as 'painteral613,' creates this awesome interpretations of different houses, featured in gray scale, with pops of color in the form of bright orange pumpkins. I REALLY had a hard time picking just ONE painting to feature here, so I highly encourage you to check out the links below for more examples of Alan's work. But, I did narrow it down to this one, titled Crow Hill Manor. An 8x10 matted print can be yours for A STEAL at $15!!

You can buy originals, prints, or even cards with Alan's creations...but the best part: for only $300 you can send him a photo of any house, even your own, and he will paint it for your in is unique and spooky style. If anyone is looking for a Christmas or birthday present for me, I've got plenty of photos of my house on Facebook....

From Art to Zombies
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Video: How Candy Corn is Made

Candy corn. It's a Halloween staple. I personally prefer to decorate with candy corn over eating it, but it remains one of my mom's favorite holiday treats. Here's a little history on the tri-color confections and how one company churns out plenty of them each year!

Halloween Merchandise!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!" The time when Halloween merchandise starts hitting the shelves! Around here, it seems like many places started putting their Halloween stuff out a little earlier than usual...and their school supplies stuff out a little later. Oh well. I am completely fine with that! So far, I've really only been to check out the offerings at Michael's and at Jo-Ann Fabrics, and they had some pretty awesome stuff. I haven't bought anything yet.* I just haven't seen anything I'm completely ready to commit to, at least not until we get vacation and the first few days of school out of the way first. But tell me, what have YOU found so far in the stores? Who else is already getting their merchandise out and ready?

*That's not entirely true since I buy Halloween stuff year round at thrift and antique stores, lol. I just meant I haven't bought any 2016 season merchandise....YET.

Werewolf Names

What is YOUR werewolf name? Mine is Mystic Fire. Not bad...I'll take it! You can also check out Theresa's Halloween Wonderland to find your WITCH name and your HALLOWEEN name! 

Tuesday Tunes: A Saucy Halloween Playlist

Are you looking for playlist inspiration for your next Halloween party? Why not make things a little...saucy...with these suggestions from PopSugar?

Luke's 2015 Halloween Costume

It's August! The true countdown to Halloween has begun. In addition to starting our party planning, the family and I have begun tossing around costume ideas. Last year, Luke wanted to be a vampire. I found this surprisingly  complete and fair quality classic ensemble at Walmart for around $15. All we added was a little hair gel and some plastic fangs! We tried some white face makeup, but that was a fail. My son is just too hairy and it ended up looking weird. Fortunately for his costume, he's also pretty darn pale anyway, so it worked out.

This photo is of Luke getting ready to go to a party at our local YMCA. He had been taking swim lessons there for a couple of months, so I decided to take him while Aaron was working late on his radio show. We had an awesome time---tons of games, candy, a dance party, and seeing one of his swim instructors all decked out made for a fun evening. He wore the same costume to his school Halloween party, for trick-or-treat, and for my boyfriend's brother's party. And, almost a year later, I still think this costume is completely adorable. In a weird twist of fate, one of his best friends from the neighborhood decided SHE was going to be a vampire too. Her vampire dress complemented his suit so well it looked like they planned the whole thing. It really was the cutest thing EVER. I'm not sure he can top that this year, but I look forward to seeing what he comes up with.