Spider Bench

Along came a spider, and sat down beside her...and they had a really nice cozy chat on this terrific Spider Bench from Steel Heart, Ltd. In fact, I think the spider said "I got your back!"

Pumpkin Topiaries

photo: Imperfectly Beautiful

Placing pumpkins perfectly in pots perpetually pleases a plethora of people!




photo: bhg.com

 Here's a simple how-to diagram (easy!) and some more examples. I do think plain pumpkins look best when there is a nice fluffy layer of something between each pumpkin, such as moss or faux leaves. Painted or carved ones look inetersting with or without it.



photo: Lowe's



photo: Southern Living



photo: bhg.com



Halloween Weathervanes

Might you like a witch or gargoyle on your rooftop? Try these weathervanes instead, they weigh less. Prices and sources appear below.

Witch $50 from mailboxixchange
Bats $64.95 from Windandweather
Jack o' Lantern $39.95 from Swen Weathervanes
Single Bat $239 from Weathervanes Only (my personal favorite, as it looks like the one on the Haunted Mansion in Florida. If only I could weld!)
Witch with moon $39.95 from Swen Weathervanes
Guarding gargoyle $150 from capecodweathervanes 
Gargoyle with arms around knees $1,795 from westcoastweathervanes

Gargoyle Sundial

Even the folks at the venerable Hallowed Haunting Grounds liked this Gargoyle Sundial enough to include it in their front yard. Painted with glow-in-the-dark paint, it became an eerie atmospheric piece in their haunt.

Glow-in-the-dark paint can be found at Michael's craft stores in small bottles for about $3.00, or in spray-paint form at a big-box hardware store like Lowe's for a bit more. Since the paint is intended for indoor use only, touching-up is recommended when used on outdoor pieces like this.

The gargoyle sundial is 11.5 inches wide and 8 inches high, comes in many finishes and sells for $59.00 plus shipping from Zhkis.com.  I would like to warn you, dear readers, of one thing: the coloring. I ordered one and selected the finish option of "As Shown". Upon receiving the sundial, I was disappointed to find that this apparently means fiberglass in "Gothic Stone" coloring, which is actually YELLOW instead of the grayish-beige cement color I was expecting. In color, it more closely resembles the  gargoyle lamp found here. If I had to do it again, I might try fiberstone in White Moss coloring to obtain the look I wanted.

I do love it when my Halloween props are versatile enough to stay in the garden all year long and blend in.

Haunted Mansion Pet Cemetery- the home version

Fellow haunter Kris G. showed me his version of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion pet cemetery last weekend, and a very nice version it is, too, putting my own to great shame. (I have vowed not to show mine to anyone until the plants fill in more. You'd think after 4 years my dwarf mondo grass would have grown a little, but I swear it hasn't changed one iota in all that time.) The kicker is that Kris got most of the statue bases free from a neighbor who just had them scattered about in his garden, was moving, and no longer wanted them.
I'd say Kris was a very lucky man that day.

A Haunted Mansion Wedding

My friends Jason and Melissa met at our haunt club, got engaged on Halloween at their yard haunt, and had a Haunted Mansion-themed wedding...in a cemetery! They've generously given me permission to post some pictures, and I think you'll be amazed at their creativity and artistic skills, as the vast majority of the decor was hand-made by the bride and groom, and their families and friends.

Before the wedding, the couple mailed "Save the Date" notices to guests. These notices were very similar to the Save the Dates sent out by Disneyland for the celebration of the Haunted Mansion's 40th Anniversary. The couple's colorful tri-fold wedding invitations depicted the unique gate at the Haunted Mansion in Florida, complete with it's ironwork bat. The invitations also featured the iconic Haunted Mansion plaque with the words "The Haunted Ghostly Wedding of Melissa and Jason" and invited guests to wear period costumes (but discouraged any gore.)

The wedding took place at Forest Lawn Cemetery, in Glendale, California- or more precisely, in a chapel located on the cemetery's grounds. The chapel was a reconstruction of an ancient stone church in Scotland, complete with Gothic arches. Purple and white floral arrangements made by the bride decorated the pews.The bride wore a traditional white wedding gown, and the groom wore a silver-buttoned black tailcoat over a purple jaquard vest. The flower girls wore white dresses with purple ribbon sashes, and the groomsmen wore black with purple buttonieres. Here's the happy couple with their guests- and fellow haunters- Amy and Chris in their Victorian garb:
The groom and some groomsmen had cast large plaques which then hung on homemade styrofoam-based pillars just outside of the reception area at a local hotel.

The bride's mother Diane- also a haunter- made a fanciful cake based on the version of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland, Anaheim, California. The zombie-looking cake topper was placed on the "lawn" to it's left, and was a standard (although humorous) one repainted with green faces and hands. The homemade place card holders featured the three Hitchhiking Ghosts.

The guests' dining tables at the reception were round with a purple tablecloth topped with a matching one of black lace layered over it. Chairs were slipcovered in white with a large black sash tied around the chairbacks. Melissa made purple floral centerpieces surrounding candelabras for each table, while Jason and his friends cut 2"thick styrofoam into the shape of  the Hitchhiking Ghosts from the Mansion . These were painted, made to stand, and used as directional signs to point the way to the reception.





Melissa and Jason sat on a dais at a table with candelabras and small tombstones randomly placed. The pennant bunting along the front was modeled after bunting seen under a coffin in the Mansion, in the scene where boney hands inside a coffin try to push open the coffin lid. The portable backdrop behind the Bride and Groom's Table was designed with homemade purple Haunted Mansion-style wallpaper and copies of Haunted Mansion art work, including a "Tomb Sweet Tomb" stitched sampler.


Other props from the Mansion were simulated with the help of friends, including the bat-topped stanchions, and a full set of changing portraits that morphed from normal to creepy. An animated "guy-in-the-brick-wall" and the "deaf man with horn", nearly identical to those seen in the graveyard portion of the Haunted Mansion ride, were borrowed from a friend (James of The Haunted Mansion Northside blog) who sculpted them and uses them in his own haunt.

Guests were given white gift boxes tied with black ribbon and topped with a cardstock version of their Haunted Ghostly Wedding plaque. Inside? Special souvenir M&M candies emblazoned with the couple's names on one side and the motif from the Haunted Mansion's wallpaper on the other, as well as chocolate tombstones and ghosts.  For additional fun, the wedding party danced in sync to Michael Jackson's Thriller. Then the newlyweds departed in a historic automobile and headed for their honeymoon in France, where they visited Phantom Manor, the version of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland Paris.



Jason and Melissa are now proud parents; their baby boy was born just 2 weeks ago.

Oh, and the baby's name? He is Ramsley... named after the butler in the 2003 Haunted Mansion movie!

Congratulations, Melissa and Jason! 

Gargoyle Urn

Urns. I just can't have enough of 'em in my cemetery garden. Especially when they have details like these gargoyle handles. Get yours for $99 from Grandin Road.