Patch update

It seems as if the transplant went well enough. The plants seem to be growing great. as you can see, "Little Jack" the scarecrow is all but consumed. Still having trouble deciding if they should have more water or less. About two weeks ago I had about 12 female flowers with promising little pumpkins on them, but only one survived so far. most of them seemed to yellow and shrivel up before flowering. Not sure what is causing that,, again, it could be the water issue. It sure is not pollination since I have hundreds of bees on the plants every morning. All in all, these are the largest and heartiest plants I have ever grown, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and there is still a lot of growing time left. Any advice is always welcome...my thumb is far from green.

On another note, now that the 4th of July is in the books, it's time to start prop building for this year. Trying to keep things more organized and plan things out better this year. All ideas are going down on paper first!

This years pumpkin patch attempt

After last year and the heartache caused by endless work and pampering, only to be rewarded with some odd looking gourds, I told myself to give it up.  I had that thought in mind all winter and into the first months of spring. But alas the warmer weather got me going and I guess taking care of the little buggers gives me something productive to do, so I threw some seeds I dried from last years Jacks and tossed them in a pot. What I got were some of the best pumpkin plant shoots I've ever had. So, that got me thinking...I should probably build a small bed for these with some good dirt and let them go to town. But after transplanting them, and watching them wilt to the ground within five minutes, I thought my original plan to give it up was back into play. But after much water and a couple of hours, they sprang back to life!
I even had to make a small scarecrow to hold vigil over them. Hopefully he will bring good luck to them this season.

Halloween Shelves in production for 2012

Hello all!
As for most of us out there, the last couple of years have been pretty difficult. The economy and employment issues have plagued many of us in a variety of ways, so to keep myself active during down times i have tried to stay busy. Mrs. October asked for a "halloween style shelf" to display our growing collection of decorations. Of course as long as I was making sawdust, I thought I would make a few different styles, and the reaction was good..everybody wants one. This prompted thoughts of building more and possibly posting on Esty. 
Now, I am quite the novice when it comes to this thing, so of course my head is spinning with all kinds of issues- mostly shipping. The shelves are different sizes (actually I could custom make them to any size) but some of them are pretty large, so shipping options have become a headache. I talked with the Undertaker over at www.hauntedhotsauce.com/ and he was kind enough to share his thoughts on marketing and the woes of shipping. I know and follow many of you out there, Shellhawk at shellhawksnest.blogspot.com, Pam at http://labyrinthcreations.blogspot.com/ and of course Pumpkinrots Pumpkin Hollow pumpkinrot.com/pages/Page28.htm. There are so many talented people in the haunt community, obviously I cannot list them all, so my apologies for that, but I would welcome any suggestions, reviews or input of my work.
I am capable of building full size furniture like hutches and bookcases as well as custom kitchens. (Wouldn't it be cool to build a whole kitchen in this style!) That would be a dream, but location and of course shipping again tends to kill the dream. A nice thought though...
So here are my shelves. They are all solid wood, hand distressed, aged and painted. I used a orange under coat and a black top coat with a rub effect which I felt turned out rather well. I also played with the idea of finishing them in the traditional "barn grey" as well. Wow, I think that is the "wordiest" post I have ever made, so I will stop, hang up and listen for my answer. Thanks everyone, and I look forward to you comments and input.
The October Boy.

Another artist hard at work

Arcane over at http://thescarecrowspost.blogspot.com  has decided to put his talent to work for the rest of us opening his online prop shop. Check out his site: www.behindtherowsstudio.com to view his work. A great name for a studio, and awesome props!

Deadwood cemetery 2011 haunt video

A video tour of the 2011 yard haunt. For some reason, it is not uploading with good resolution, but it's better than nothing. The pictures always look cooler with some creepy music behind them.

Liebster award

Was nominated the Liebster award by Bewitchy at bewitchingyou.blogspot.com/
Many thanks for that.
I am to pass this on to 5 other blogs that I find cool that have less than 200 followers.
The blogs I have chosen for the award are as follows:

beautifulhalloween.blogspot.com/

grimlockmanor.blogspot.com

labyrinthcreations.blogspot.com

spookworksprops.blogspot.com

madamejen.blogspot.com

2011 haunt pictures

Hope everyone had a great Halloween. We got a bit of it all. The weather was great for the haunt and party...though a bit cold..30 degrees! But no rain until trick or treat on Sunday here. The winds picked up and destroyed enough for me to be busy repairing props for the day. Here are a few photos, more to come with the video.

                                  The garage interior for the party

                                      The roof Jack o Lantern shelf

skeleton panels for the garage