Less than two weeks to go!

For today’s Tuesday update, learn how to make your own adorable & delicious Donut Be Scared Peekaboo Pumpkins in the fourth 2012 episode of Enhanced Eerie Elegance!

Ack! Less than two weeks to my party so I’m starting to freak out more & more, but I am taking all of next week off work when usually I only take one or two days off, so I hope that helps me get everything done!

Speaking of pumpkin donuts, those are planned for early next week, along with my first attempt at making rosettes with my new spider form. After those are both done, the deep fryer will be put away again. In other food prep, as of late Friday night, just shy of 8 dozen Pumpkin Pasties are now in the freezer on covered baking sheets, ready to bake on party day, which is a huge relief since they take a long time to prep. After several sessions with the bread machine, I’m now up to 128 Bone Breadsticks in the freezer, but if I have over 60 guests like last year, that’s only 2 each, so I think I still need more. Glad that’s more of a timing and waiting issue so I can multitask!

I might just get a real pumpkin in my patch! A different female blossom I hadn’t noticed yet had just closed when I checked on Saturday morning, so I gently pulled the petals back and fertilized her well with plenty of pollen I collected on a cotton swab. The other female blossom still is nowhere near opening yet, but I can hope. I will definitely plant my pumpkins earlier next year, now that I know the pot idea works so well in my yard.

My papier mâché pumpkins are finally done! I gave up on a plain paper final coat so I used brown paint as a primer coat so no text showed through. After that coat was dry, I sprayed orange lines on the highlights of the pumpkin ribs first, then lightly filled in the shaded grooves. The orange was too bright when I was done, so I lightly dusted with brown again to tone down the orange to a more natural pumpkin color. I think they will fit in nicely with the other pumpkins, but they won’t last through sprinklers. I know because I forgot and left them in the grass overnight…oops! Only a few spots got soggy and try dried okay in the sunshine, but I won’t make that mistake again!

My eerily elegant new bathroom decor is done! The best fabric of silver webs on black this year was glitter over crushed velvet…very luxe looking but the glitter sheds EVERYWHERE! I’m very glad my housecleaners are coming the day before my party, since hopefully they can take the extra glitter with them. I like how the strip of web fabric added to the silver clearance valance ties in the the web curtain now sewn behind the valance. I would rather have a plain black silk curtain for the rest, so I’ll keep an eye out to upgrade next year. Probably a different tieback for more contrast, and the black tassel blends in too much. Perhaps I can design a custom silvery spider tassel next year, too, but the beaded spider is okay for now.

My house interior is getting there! The Victrola is set in place on the piano, most of the black LED taper candles are in place, tapestry and spiderweb lace curtains and pillows are out, and the Catoween tapestry is over the couch, but hanging the spooky wall art is still in process due to secret projects still underway….bwahaha!

The pipe organ now has its own Faux Flames! It took an entire new can of black spray paint for just these since the paper tubes sucked up so much paint it required several coats until I was satisfied. I still need to paint the other individual tealight covers and the rest of the LED tapers for inside decor, but that’s easy to do between other projects.

Major construction is going fairly well, but still a lot to finish! The castle has some new architectural features, several of which were painted with final accents just as dusk was falling Sunday evening. I never thought I’d use leftover paint from my aqua bathroom for Halloween projects, but it was perfect and worked like a charm in the power sprayer I bought last year. More foam carving and painting to come this weekend though!

There were two more extremely late nights of essential party prep, but I can’t reveal more…so I think that’s all I can tell you for now, sorry! I’ve re-arranged my own party prep schedule for this weekend a bit because I am very excited to attend Scary Jerry’s Halloween party this Saturday! I love meeting new friends because of Halloween!

Only one update left next week before my epic grand party plans will be revealed!