Tuesday, June 02, 2015

Hiatus, new house, and TUMBLR

Well hello there.
Long time no see.
As you can tell this poor baby of a blog has been rendered on hiatus for a few years now.
A new degree, a new house, a new everything.
I've been full time at school, and while I'm almost done, I must dedicate a large amount of my time to the last semester.
However, I will continue this blog, hopefully in the months to come. This will be the first Halloween in the new Casa Strublay, and I'm gonna try to produce some magic, even with limited time. I've got a neighborhood to terrorize, and this house is RIPE for trick or treaters.

(seriously we have a shopping center right across from us, and massive apartment complexes around us. This house is MADE for Halloween fun)

Furthermore: I would like to extend a HELLO to Tumblr users! My Turqouise skelly diecut has been making the rounds, unattributed, but thats okay, I'm glad that my grandmothers skelly is getting the love it deserves.

Stay Tuned!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

The Twins

Our Siamese Pumpkin was two pumpkins.
I am THRILLED.
This is yet another freak, that goes with the Forever Jack, and The Monster.



Image By Strublay

Image By Strublay

Image By Strublay

Image By Strublay

LOOK! LOOK AT THAT! Freaking Awesome!

Ladies and Gents, after an in depth carving session may I present:
The Twins

Image By Strublay

Image By Strublay

Image By Strublay

Image By Strublay

Image By Strublay

The wall between the two is of the flesh, and glows wonderfully when one side isn't lit. 
Happy Halloween my readers. Sorry for slim pickings this year. Busiest Semester yet.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Pumpkins from the pit, and the most awesome neighborhood in Las Vegas

Tonight was our annual Pumpkin Hunt. Because we live in this hot, violently dry, irradiated desert we do not have natural, honest to goodness pumpkin patches to go Pumpkin Hunting in, so our pumpkins get trucked in from Utah, or California, or some other hospitable clime. My Partner and I have developed a system, that every year, we go to find the freaks left behind by our milder Las Vegas denizens. We aren't talking Heirloom Pumpkins with green and white coloring, we're talking what would be your "standard" pumpkin grown in such weird ways and so ugly to the standard consumer that there must be something wrong with it. Every year, a week before Halloween or so, we go out at obscene times of the night, have dinner, and hunt for Pumpkins in the pale moon light and the blaring neon and LED's of the 24 hour Smiths.

Like modern body snatchers.

And this year I hit the Jackpot.

We found a Siamese Pumpkin, or Conjoined Pumpkins if you prefer.
Two pumpkins, joined at the side. Either they grew together or they mutated that way, the stems are melded together as is the base, the pumpkin is incredibly freakish and absolutely fantastic.

I have been happier, but not by much.

The real question is, when I carve it, will it be two pumpkins in there, or one convoluted one?
I'm hoping for two.


The other thing we do around this time is go hunting for decked out halloween houses to photograph. We did that tonight as well, pumpkin spice frappuchino in hand.

To the gentleman that I disturbed by photographing his display and hanging around a little too long, SORRY! There has apparently been a rash of Halloween Decoration thieves in his area, and he didn't want to loose his awesome decor. He has active surveillance to keep an eye out. Our presence apparently pulled him out of bed or something. We are very sorry to have disturbed you sir! (photos will be up in a day or so!)

We found, with out a doubt, the best neighborhood in Northwest Las Vegas last night, went back again today. It's a very little sub division, with tiny front yards, but AT LEAST 15 houses just going all out for Halloween. There is like 6 or 7 in a row, and it's incredible. I've never seen anything like it before, ever. One of them even has the makings of a walk through haunt. It's incredible! I have never been so in awe of a community before.

The husband and I are making plans to, on Halloween, go to that neighborhood and meet some of these awesome people, and soak in the atmosphere of a real Halloween street.

We're taking it easy this year, but that neighborhood really gives me hope for my future prospects.


I've been sick the past week, sleeping for 18+ hours, rising only for food and to care for the cats. No School, no work, nothing.

It has SUCKED.

I'm glad to be back in fighting shape again.

Photos will start rolling in the next day or so, once I get my partner off of PvZ2. *eyeroll*


Friday, October 04, 2013

And we are BACK!

Happy October everyone, I hope it is going well for you! Mine started out like the Octobers of all College Students, stressful and busy.

However, we are up and running once again! The Las Vegas Heat in all it's hell-fire glory has finally given way to the blissful relative cool of fall, and I'm in a unique position to really enjoy this lovely time of year.

Unfortunately the fight for time to do any Halloween setups and art is going to be hard pressed due to school and work, so the S.O. and I are taking it easy this year in light of that. This year is more about the experience then a mad rush to make. That means pumpkins that are more about quality than quantity, restoration of old Halloween Paper masterpieces soured by time, and a lot of movies. I'll be taking the time to re-tune and update the blog, so be patient with any changes you might notice.

So lets have some fun, enjoy a pumpkin latte or fifteen, carve some awesome pumpkins, and have an awesome October!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Of pumpkin carving related injuries

Not like I stabbed myself or anything, but I have painful bruises on my right wrist from rubbing my arm against the rims of the pumpkins I gutted last night. They are beginning to darken.

Who's hardcore? ME.

Of 40 foot Jack Skellingtons

Found this awesome house in Seal Beach California. I saw this house out of the corner of my eye, and I literally told my husband to stop and turn the **** around, because I saw a Jack Skellington siting on a house.

How fricking awesome is this? Person who made this: you are 15 kinds of awesome.
I wish I could have gotten some night shots. 
Image By Strublay


 Image By Strublay
 Image By Strublay
Image By Strublay

Monday, October 29, 2012

Of Halloween Horror Nights

Well, we did it. Mr. Strublay, The Brother-In-Law, and I all went to Universals Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. First things first: To all the actors who got frustrated that I didn't get scared, I'm sorry. All of the haunted Houses were very well done, the makeup alone is worth going for, and the terror tram is extremely cool. Most of it was really good, but it did have its weaknesses. The scare zones were very limited (one, the Silent Hill one in the lower lot, wasn't even active), they relied heavily on gore, and I believe Universal has missed some really great opportunities to do some really amazing stuff like Treehouse Of Horrors takes over the Simpsons Ride.

All in all I highly recommend going.

At the bottom I have posted a Video of the Terror Tram night hike. 


Image by Strublay

Daytime

 Entry way, Day Time: Image by Strublay
 Klowns scare zone area during the day, Image by Strublay

Image by Strublay
 It was a wonderfully cloudy day, Image by Strublay

Tram Ride
 
Entrance to King Kong 3D, I like the skulls. Image by Strublay

Image by Strublay
Whoville was Hijacked for the Terror Tram, as such there were CDC vehicles and zombies standing about.
Image by Strublay
This is the side of the Bates Motel
Image by Strublay
Even though the 747 crash is a creepy scene to begin with, adding zombies is scary.
Image by Strublay


Image by Strublay

Night Time!


Entry Way: Image by Strublay

Klowns Scare Zone
Image by Strublay 
Clown Dancer, she was nice enough to pose for me


The fires went all night, even after closing. Image by Strublay

Image by Strublay
Image by Strublay

Studio Tour 
Image by Strublay
 If I have anything to give you advice on it is this: Go to The Terror Tram FIRST. Then go down to the Lower Lot and move your way to the front.
Image by Strublay
  When we got there it was a 4o minute wait, and I don't think it was even that long. The wait was 100+ for the rest of the night

Twist: You get kicked off the tram and walk.
Husband wasn't expecting it, I was (from seeing the sets earlier) Both of us were thrilled.
Image by Strublay
Bates Motel, the one shot I could get, it was cool to be that close to this legendary set.
Image by Strublay
Bates home, after the dark hike.
 
Image by Strublay
There was a Picture opportunity here, I wasn't in to the line. 
Image by Strublay
These were just standing there. 
Image by Strublay
The Airline crash.

Other Scare Zones:
Image by Strublay

Image by Strublay
Image by Strublay

Monsters Remixed:
This was interesting, dubstep + classic monsters. 

Image by Strublay
Image by Strublay
Image by Strublay
Image by Strublay
Image by Strublay
Image by Strublay

Sound-scape video from the Terror Tram, "filmed" by Strublay



Wednesday, October 24, 2012