Of witnesses.

Paranormal Witness is on Netflix. 

I squeaked out in happiness upon finding it, the entire neighborhood heard me I think. 

Do NOT care.

Of Candy, or how to win a childs heart through bribery.

Image Found on http://ilovecharts.tumblr.com/

Direct link: Linky! LINKY!

Because I am a wonk. Enjoy.

Hard candy for douche-bags, Reese's for everyone else (and me.... sometimes), Smarties for me and the Gluten Free kids!

Weeeeee!

Of acquaintances and villains

 Image from the Mouth of Sauron from the Speical Extended Edition of the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, as found on The Movie Prick

An acquaintance of mine from Cali, who here we will call only by his pen name, The Movie Prick, has a little blog about movies, and during October he does Villain of the Day, which this year seems to have a geeky bent, but it looks at the antagonists in casual detail. It's fun to see what he picks from day to day, and his rants about bad movies are pretty funny.

Of Haunted Farms

 Haunted Overload is, by far, the best haunted attraction I have ever been too, and I would be going this year if I wasn't 2793 miles away right now. If you live anywhere near Lee NH, you owe it to yourself to go take a walk through this awesome haunt, and to send me pictures, so I can be relentlessly jealous.

All pictures in this post are from The Haunted Overload Site

I wish I had been there for the snow storm...

Of returns, and flame-less candles.

I'm back, it's been a crazy few months, but I'm here, with the cats and the husband in tow. Look out in the next few weeks for a photo-shoot featuring monsters skull, me figuring out my theme this year (Yeah... IDK... I just don't.), Grainy f'ed up pictures from Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood, Las Vegas' unique Halloween environment, and lots of random Flickr Pictures. There will be many, many references to Ray Bradbury this year as I will quote The Halloween Tree liberally. We are going to have an awesome Halloween this year folks.

Image by  Sabrina Pierantozzi Found on Flickr,

So, where to start: In the category of cool things I've found... Pier One, purveyor of cheap imports at steep price tags, has finally created something I can get behind: Consumer level remote operated flame-less LED candles. Not only is it cool for outdoors, it seems like a really cool idea to freak T.O.T's out... I mean, push a button and they all turn on.... that would be cool... Imagine witch jars, Luminaries and others turning on when you walk up... with a shrouded figure sitting before you... that would be creeeeepy.

Also I think it would be cool for weddings, bride walks in and BAM fairy jars light up (mason jars with no coating, basically the witch jars with no witch.)

Link: HERE

Now, They are expensive... prohibitively so, but I'm wondering if we (the collective haunt community) could figure out a cheap hack-together version of this... I might be buying one and pulling it apart to figure out how it works. Good project for next year I think.

Yes, I will post notes, and give my version of it. 

Alright, see you tomorrow!

Ray Bradbury

Found at Rue Morgue blog

R.I.P. Ray Bradbury, Thank you for helping to define my idea of Halloween.

Loki and Panther

So, everyone, meet our boys! Oreo, my old friend, passed away a year ago this month, and in November we finally went and got a couple of cats to add the chaos factor back in the house. 

We got that. 

About 40-45 lbs of that. 

Our boys are huge, and you'll be seeing a lot of them over the next few years.

"HEY! HEY DOG! YEAH YOU YOU YAPPY MUTT! SHUT UP!!!! JUST SHUT THE #%@$ UP!!!!!!!" Loki and "Dude, chill." Panther

First up is our "distinguished" old man, Panther. VERY long haired, all black, de-clawed in the front, and all attitude. Talks to you when he wants things, if you ignore him you get nipped. Hes fun, and cuddly, and his fur is getting so LONG.... He had been shaved prior to us getting him because his mattes were so bad. He has a gray undercoat, but his long top coat is all black... right now hes a funny shade of charcoal with a black Mohawk running up his back. It's a little bad-ass. 

Most fun are his moments of crazy energy, where he has a fit over a toy and bats it around like an idiot.

There is a likelihood that him and Halloween will go together well... 

Surveying my domain, Panther

"Give me attention, ma'am" Panther

And then there's LOKI. Our fuzzy god of Chaos is a lynx point 6 year old that is around 20lbs of super soft fur, muscle, and energy.  He lives by the motto of "brute force and ignorance" (he's busted out of TWO cat carriers, MID DRIVE!) Oh and did I mention this cat has a foot fetish? I kid you not, I walk in the door, kick off my shoes and I have to stand there for 2-3 minutes of Loki having a snuggle fest with my toes. If hes grumpy, we offer him a foot, and he immediately purrs. This cat is a freak. A gentle, cuddly, lynx-y freak.

He's really nice though, those lethal claws of his never get used on us, he just whips them out on Panther from time to time. Who obliges with a Bite and a glare at us. We called Loki the grumpy roommate for a bit after we got him. Thankfully the two are getting along now.

 And he is now SHAVED (see the bottom picture, taken three hours after his shave job).

"Hey look! I found a perch!" and blissfully unaware of impending shave job Loki.

"If you didn't feed me, I'd kill you. Stop taking pictures." Loki.

So we got a basement cat and a god of chaos. Fantastic.

Of Paranormal Scratches and ways the Dead speak to us.

Found Here

Scratches, words written on walls, Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP's), white noise, disembodied voices, movement, tapping, gut reactions, possession. Spirits speak to the living in many strange, and unsettling, ways.
Real or fake, doesn't matter.  If it's fake, it's fun to pretend but if it isn't.... well....

Have I missed any methods by which the dead speak to the living. Real or Fake? Let me know in the comments.

Season of Shadows

John Wolfe passed away this week. It's pretty sad to hear about, but I am glad he is at peace.

Absenteeism

Life has been very, very busy these days.
Job Search, House Search, more than full time school.
You know, the usual. So it is safe to say, after several years, that this is a part time blog, and that I'll be here every once in a while and post like crazy around Halloween...
Oh and btw: 250 days! OMG!
Until my next photoshoot
~~Rawr

The Season of Shadows

In honor of Season of Shadows. 

Last Post

Donate to the Tap Project

All images are Property of John Wolfe, and all can be found at http://seasonofshadows.com

Thank you for creating such a Beautiful Halloween.

STOP SOPA, STOP PIPA

The internet should be free. 

Halloween 2011: Simplicity

Well I finally had time to upload the best Images, life got major hectic... 

Got a nice nod from Eric Lowther for my review of Haunted Overload, which was more than a little awesome... worked like mad on a project that didn't get me anywhere... (woot! Failure!) and knocked out finals... so yeah... 

And now there is Holiday. 

(*Singing*)

Joy to the world.... my time is screwed... 

I really need a mocktail!

Maybe one with an umbrella... definitely an umbrella... 

Okay I'l stop now... okay I'll stop now... 

...

anyway... How are you? 

Lets get on with the pictures... yes?

All Images by Strublay

Ankle Biter

Colossus 

Cheshire

Colossus, Monster, Ankle Biter

Colossus, Monster, Ankle Biter, Squished

Monster and Colossus

Fun Fact: Monsters rind was so intensely thick, that I actually HAD to use a power drill to carve him. The Drill Bits got stuck about three times.... 

Furthermore... He hasn't rotted yet... 

He lives on, a shell of his former glory. Cracked and bleached from months out in the waning Vegas sun...

Monsters Skull is sitting on my porch, along with the Holiday lights. 

Photo Shoot coming soon.

I hope I can keep him forever.

Of Smarties, Chocolate, and my other Loves: Technology and Design.

Confession: I'm not only an artist that is obsessed with Halloween: I am also a Technology nerd. I'm building this crazy love of Web Design and in doing so I stumble through the internet finding cool designers to bookmark as inspiration. Well my recent find will be quite entertaining to you: It's about my favorite Halloween candy (which I still have lot's of... the american version, but hey) Smarties! 

Yeah, I know you hate 'em, but my favorite roll of sugar and citrus does have a small following:

Brain Food

Here is another article on the newer version of his site about Chocolate and Fun Dip:

Chocolate is for Girls

One last article about the cool house on the block on Halloween.

JackPot

I think any of the Candy Gram entries would be awesome to read, but i love these the best.

I hope you enjoy!

Halloween 2011 #1

Image by Strublay

The Card Reader is FINALLY working!! 

Actually it started working with a secondary update to my OS, however I have been mightily pre-occupied with an awesome little stop motion project for a video cover letter of all things...

SOOO Halloween upload has been put on hold. 

Love you guys, but a potential Job > Halloween. PARTICULARLY in Las Vegas.

As soon as it is done, and I am ready to get back to my life, more postings will happen.

For now, one nice general view of my Halloween Display this year...

*goes off to move a toy, take a picture, move a toy, take a picture, move a toy..... take a picture....*

New Additions to the House of Strublay!

My husband and I welcomed two handsome neutered male cats in to our home a few days ago!
We adopted Panther, our 8 year old Black Persian/godonlyknows mix, and Captain our 4 year old lynx point Maine Coon/Norwegian Forest mix. We are working on Names that fit their personalities, I am lobbying for Panther to be renamed again (He was originally called Jewel, as the staff thought he was female when they received him, due to the extremely long, heavily matted fur... they shaved him and found he was male..... EMBARRASSING.) Panther feels like a Buddha due to his infinite calm and his intense loving nature, and Captain feels more like a Thor-type...  we'll see if he comes more out his shell.
We will put up some pictures, as well as Halloween photographs as soon as we alleviate the troubles with the camera card readers.
*shakes a fist at the camera card reader*

The Freakshow

Image by Strublay

Three of my freak-show, Colossus. Monster and Ankle Biter.

We have been having some serious issues with our card readers in the house of Strublay, and we are prepping for a new addition or two in the form of cats, so I have not gone through the images yet.

In other news: RIP Ankle Biter. 

He generally laid on his back and his grin was wide and terrifyingly sharp, so he folded very, very quickly.

I am hoping next year to have a yard, where my pumpkin creations may languish and rot at their own pace, but unfortunately, a rotting pumpkin in a condo is a scary, nasty thing.

So hes sitting on the dumpster, ready to scare the neighbors, who already are not quite sure about me.

*Laugh*

Hall of Fame Recipient 2011

So, what is this Hall of Fame crap? Well essentially it is me giving credit where credit is due: If a prop or theme or visual style that does not come from my own artistic tendencies show up in my yearly display then I give the artist who inspired me a Jar, bottle, vial, or some other aspect in my haunt where a name might be used. If I should ever have the space for a cemetery, you might see a name there, or if a box should be a part of my designs, a name will be there. The item will always involve the artists signature styling, things an artist is well known for.

Last year PumpkinRot got a ripped up, stained and crusty label on the side of one of my Witch Jars.

"Monsieur Rot's Plant Re-Animation Powder. (DO NOT USE NEAR GRAVES)"

This year, while bouncing around my blog list trying to come up with a simplified plan for this year, I stumbled upon This Post  by one of my favorite Haunters and this years recipient: Marrow.

I was inspired by the essential nature of these pictures, as well as a VERY early post by Marrow about a bunting he made for his room.
This year I'm making a potion/herb/specimen bottle for Marrow. Something involving ghosts I think. It will be on display next year.
You rock Marrow, keep up your amazing work.