Halloween is getting closer…

Happy Tuesday again! Check out the third 2012 episode of Enhanced Eerie Elegance to be inspired by all sorts of flora that can be Ghostly Greenery!

EDIT: After restoring the entire decade’s worth of photo library from a recent backup, thank goodness I now have photos working again!

My real pumpkins are still doing very well, and I think this is finally the first female blossom! I noticed it Saturday morning, and here on Tuesday it isn’t much bigger yet, let alone open, but I’m keeping my eye on it to be sure it gets fertilized. Crossing my fingers!

I hadn’t started decorating inside yet so my housecleaners could do a thorough job before I made it more difficult. Now the stone walls are up, soon to be joined tonight by the spiderweb curtains, matching lampshade, door panel and pillows. Since I’m borrowing the antique Victrola from my parents which is on the piano, the gargoyle collection has to move somewhere. They might end up distributed this year since there is already another plan for the fireplace mantel.

Speaking of decorations, I splurged again. I have had my eye on these solid iron dragon candle sconces from DesignToscano.com since before I bought my house! Since I got the dragon light set last year, I decided these would look nice flanking the tapestry on the living room. I also should have a similar style dragon bell coming soon that I will use year-round on my front porch since I don’t have an electric doorbell. Glad I found their 20% off lunchtime sale online!

As for candles, after several years of being on my list, I am FINALLY decorating the pipe organ with new Faux Flames! I’ve saved paper towel and toilet paper tubes that are large enough to fit LED tealights, balled up foil to support the LED tealight far enough inside the tube so the lame plastic “flame” doesn’t peek out but you can still reach it to pull out the tealight, then used up about 75 glue sticks as wax drips. For the pipe organ these are in clusters, stuck together by the pile of “melted wax” at the base. You can see them lighted above in on the dragon sconces since of course the sconces have candle spikes, making battery candles a problem unless they have a tube around them. I just finished the last of the wax drips on everything last night after buying another big bag of glue sticks, so they’ll be spray-painted black next. Since they’re only thin cardboard, they aren’t suitable for outside or overnight use, but inside they’ll be fine for years I’m sure. I’ll probably make a few more in different colors for other holidays and year-round use for my wall sconces.

I’ve been watching for more LED tapers, but Shindigz.com still has the best price vs reviews. I did see some cheaper ones on Amazon but with horrible reviews. When I saw 30% last week and knew they sold out last year, I decided to grab more…sadly only a couple days too early before they DID do a 50% off sale after all…darn! I still have some unpainted from last year, so if I paint all those black, I can fill ALL my taper holders with LED candles this year, then this new order will be painted red for Christmas, plus I should have a few left for other year-round colors too. Final price including shipping came out to $2.91 per candle which isn’t bad when they will never burn down…but 50% off would have been even better!

Party food has begun! My bone breadsticks batch takes 1.5 hours in the bread machine to make 15-20 bones but only requires 1/4 cup fed sourdough starter, so I’m doing one or two batches during other Halloween project marathons before the starter loses its oomph. I’m up to 36 barely-baked bones safely in the freezer to be crisped in the oven on party day, with more to come over the next two weeks. Pumpkin pasties need to happen soon too, then the new Tasty Tombstone shortbread cookies will also be in advance. The rest of the food will wait until party week.

New major prop construction has also begun, and a new gravestone is finished, but they are secrets I can’t show you anyway! Plenty more to do, and this year I have asked for the whole week off work before my party in hopes of getting everything done. I’m already worried, especially now with my computer acting up! Wish me luck!