"Behind the Screams" HHN22

Went to the Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights "Behind the Screams" RIP Tour this week. Got a lights on tour of three houses: "Gothic", which was absolutely amazing, a cathedral undergoing renovations guarded at night by gargoyles that come to life, is a very cool concept; " Dead Zone" a sort of  traditional  haunted mansion;  and Penn and Tellers " New'kd Las Vegas" 3D house. We're looking forward to visiting all the haunts in all their glory tonight.

Entry to "Gothic"

Exterior shot of "Dead End" house code named "creak" during construction

AMC "Walking Dead" display in park

Halloween Reindeer...

Been tracking the forum posts of fellow yard haunters here in Florida.  Ms. "Zarine", whose home backs up to the main road, says she always has a nice turnout of viewers at Christmas. Seems a roof top Santa and reindeer draw passers-by around to see and appreciate the decorating at the front of her house. Halloween decorations have never gotten the same attention though. People drive by the rear of her home oblivious to the Halloween yard haunt at the front of her home. What to do....?

...Halloween Reindeer on the roof of course! Being a lover of "The Nightmare before Christmas", Zarine has set out to build the skeleton reindeer pulling Jack Skellington and his coffin sleigh! Is that cool or what?!

When I saw the photos of the first reindeer build and the saw the number of pieces of each I had to share. The first reindeer build is amazing! The plans also call for Jack's faithful companion "Zero" and his dog house. More photos to come as the build continues.

Good luck Ms. "Zarine"! BIG project but definitely an attention getter!

Zarine's first completed Halloween reindeer

That's 32 pieces hand cut and sanded per reindeer!

World Market Visit

Been a few years since I stepped inside a World Market store, to be honest I wasn't that impressed back then. We decided to take another peak inside a local store the other day as part of our annual Halloween reconnaissance. It turned out it was a really nice store, with a pretty big section of Halloween Decor, and even some unique stuff. If you have one near you, place them on your Halloween recon list. I don't think you will be disappointed.

So as I advanced past the Halloween section into the their Fall harvest decor section... I was drawn to a bright light shown down on a product display. Certain I heard the sound of angels rejoicing from the light, I moved forward to be met by the ultimate display of Fall spirit! Thank You World Market, I will return!

Lots and lots of Fall spirits, with pretty big stock of the Pumpkin Ale

A six pack of the "Angry Orchard" Apple and Ginger Hard Cider was taken prisoner during the recon. There were no survivors...it was tasty!

Put Some White On Your Tombstones

This is our third year building our own tombstones. It seems like each year we get a little more bold with the techniques we've picked up from various artists in the yard haunt community. Probably no technique has taken as big a leap as "dry brushing" the white on the edges and highest details of each tombstone.  It doesn't necessarily have to be white, only a lighter color, but experimenting always brings us back to plain old white.


I think we first saw the technique in one of Terra Lair's videos on Halloween Forum. If you haven't seen any of them, check them out on YouTube under ScaryLadyVideos. (You have to love these people that create and teach us how to do some of what they do by making good videos... and for FREE!)

Anyways, at first we were a little sparing with dry brushing white over our paint combinations, after all it was suppose to look all dark and eery. After seeing how it looked more stone-like though we made sure each tombstone had some white dry.brushing. That first year, when we saw how the details popped under the lights, giving those sections or lettering a little more glow, it's become one of the most important parts of our paint schemes.

If you already dry brush your shaking your head and smiling, knowing how important it is. If your like me and had no idea, check out one of Terra's tombstone tutorials and put your white on!

Tombstone top to  your right has been dry brushed, the left side has only been sponged with the black over gray.

Little dark coloring used on the face but the shroud edges were given a bit more white for an extra depth under blue LED's