Frog on the Pumpkin

Savavah for new years eve? Some friends we were just there brought me back all these brochures to try to convince me :D Looks at all the ghosts walks!! Looks like a lot of fun! Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.9

What props are you building this weekend?  I know that I am taking the weekend off - since I helped build 20+ tombstones, ten of those cool book, skull and candle props....and it seems there was something else...... ...oh yeah, we build a graveyard in a day :D So I am sitting this one out.  But I would love to hear what everyone else is up to.  What Halloween projects are you working on this holiday weekend?

before the year is over. This is a perfect example of how distracted I am, I meant to give these items away - months ago.  Really I did. Better late than never?!? Here is an exclusive Davis Graveyard calendar* that is only given to the crew and select minions of the graveyard.  And a set of Marci Brandt's Davis Graveyard prints. I will draw a winner on Thursday - June 2.  Just leave a comment on this post to enter.  I will ship anywhere in the world. *warning not all holidays on the calendar are accurate....FQ learned not to design a calendar after midnight!  I want to clearly state that I am not responsible for your losing your job because you thought a specific day was a "holiday".  Basically use at your own risk.

for a long weekend, so you guys will get a reprieve from the LOLcats. This is the last one for a while. For those of you thinking....cool, the FQ is out of town, I can come help myself to some tombstones.....besides having to fight Hal the guard cat (trust me,he is pretty attached to those Halloween props)....and the alarm system....we have house sitters.  I hope they finish remodeling the basement or pressure wash the fence while I am gone :D

when it comes to "The Ring" movie(s) - I just loved the original ( Ringu ) soooo much better than the US version (and one of the few times that I liked a movie better than the book).....anyway - still found this to be a brilliant LOLcat. see more Lolcats and funny pictures , and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz! Looks like I might be on another LOLcat roll....you have been warned.

to my rather well publicized archonophobia. This commercial is ridiculous! I fear spiders, admittedly more than most, and I would never mistake a picture on a phone on a table in the middle of the day for a real spider. (and a tarantula at that....not common in most areas....why would there be one on a table in a fancy restaurant?) And if I would not freak out, and trust me I hate those little buggers , then I think the girl in the commercials reaction warrants special medical treatment or a course of medication. And the guy wacking the spider?  Really, you would take your shoe off in a resturant to kill a spider.  You too, sir, are just being stupid.  Told husband if he ever did this I would leave him standing the restaurant and take a cab home. I gusess I should be happy.... their reaction makes me look sane.  Okay, so sane is probably not the right word....I just had to type it here...

I actually took a hatch to an ottoman when I was a kid (only one swing).  Not that my parents would have bought this excuse...but it would have made for a funny story :D To my defense.....the ottoman was really, really ugly.

See....I even put LOLcat in the title so that all the LOLcat haters can skip this post. See I can be nice when I really try! Speaking of black cats....how on earth did I miss that there is an animated version of " The Price " in the works. Really?!?  That is my FAVORITE Neil Gaiman story. If you have never read it or have never heard Neil tell the tale himself.  Check it out on Last FM . Looking forward to it.

kill/sleep with/pay off/make cupcakes for to get blogger to stop this nonsense: Seriously people.....I am way to popular to only have 300 blog friends! :D http://www.shadowmanor.com/blog/You are already following the maximum number of Blogs (300). Unfollow some other blogs first. "Unfollow some other blogs first" - Really?  That is your answer.  And that....even on a good day is a poor answer to a problem.   I am not going to go through the proccess of writing down the first 100 accounts, unfollowing them all and then adding the few non-Blogger blogs - and then following all my Blogger friends again....took me a month to do that last time....and I think I lost a few followers because they thought I stopped following them. Come on, whom ever is coding this stuff....just add another "0" and make it 3,000. Thank you very much! LOL!

and we learned years ago to start with a model when it comes to big projects.  Anyone that has been to our open houses or some of our classes might be familiar with our foam core model collection. They are very crude and simple, but they serve to teach us a valuable lesson on several levels. First - how many sheets/panels will we need.  In this model we have about 40 (and this is just phase one) Second - costing - we can get a general idea of what the supply costs will be. Third - How it is going to look in place Fourth - We get a general idea of how we are going to build it. Fifth - this Halloween stuff bores the cats to death....or at least to napping.  You can see my cat Dor sleeping on my sweater on the table...as you can see she looks very interested :D BTW - Yes, the Home Haunter Video Awards are in! (Mike from Ghostride dropped them at our booth at West Coast Haunters Convention) Waiting for the plaques to show and we will get them mailed out. ...

say to go with this picture. But to be safe I am just going to say......WANT!! see more My Food Looks Funny .....wait, that still sounds kinda bad.....should have left this one alone. Happy sunny Friday everyone! :D

several times....so I am going to count this as a Halloweenish post. Here are some "Tips for the Rapture" For those of you who have been living under a tombstone....the world is ending on Saturday :D • rapture tip #1. Do not drink any Kool-Aid if you did not prepare it yourself. • rapture tip #2. Disregard any “rapture” churches which ask you to agree to yearly contributions or have pamphlets detailing summer events. • rapture tip #3. When spaceships begin to appear in the sky, do not flee to L.A. Tom Cruise and Will Smith are actors and cannot help you. • rapture tip #4. If you feel inclined to give away your worldly possessions ... please contact me, I can definitely help you with that. • rapture tip #5. Do not approach zombies even if you know them. That is not your Aunt Edna and she doesn’t want a hug ... she wants your brains. • rapture tip #6. Protocol is to run screaming into the streets and get hit by cars. This is post-rapture population con...

Thank goodness! We can focus on our own display.  Every year we make a list of things that need to be done over the summer and send it out to the crew to see who wants to help with which project. Just to give you a glimpse inside....here is the email we sent to the crew: Now that we are done with conventions we are talking a weekend off and catching up around the house then going to Ashland for an extended Memorial Day Weekend.   When we get back we will be ready to get started on the projects for the year.  Our big project will be to design and build a replacement for the Abby façade.   The new one will be bigger, free standing in the driveway and be more detailed.  It will hide the patio fence and the shop and look more like ruins. At least that’s the plan.  But besides this big project there are a few little things we also want to get done. Re-film the horse video Fix the footsteps effect including adding a new audio card Make 6-10 n...

I should be posting about WCHC - but I still have not posted much about HAuNTcon . Here is a photo from, after the fact, seemed to be our most popular class. Stacked books, skull and candle. We dropped the ball on advertising this and did not provide a sample.  If we would have had one on the table, probably would have sold out the class.  Many, many people stopped by and went "wow, if I had known....."  Live and learn. Thanks to all the students that made it through the class - we had a few hiccups with the hotel - but we finally made it through.  Details to follow.

I had a great time this weekend....I did.  I loved it all. Thank you to everyone I spent time with and please do not take the next few lines to any way reflect how much fun we had hanging with you! But husband and I said many, many times that it was just not the same without Shellhawk.  My friend....you have to come next year!!! We missed you soooooo much. :)

I thought about just making something up....because if I tell her what is really happening, she might give me a psych referral :D I went to the doctor today to check my blood pressure - it gets a bit low sometimes - but today it over normal and close to high. "Is anything stressing you out?" "Just busy" - I say (hoping it ends there)  But I know it won't she asks lots of questions. "So what is going on in your life?" "Just events at work and some conventions." (Please don't ask about the conventions!) No such luck! "What kind of conventions?" In my head just lie and say something work related and boring like at "banking" convention - trust me, those are boring on an epic scale.  And not at all stressful unless you are like me and worry about falling asleep during a presentation! :D But I say, "Halloween decorating conventions" "Wow, really?  What are those?" So I go on to expla...

Monday - May 2nd - Crowne Plaza Hotel - Louisville KY 8:00 am we arrive downstairs and are told that we are not supposed to have the room we are scheduled to do our class in - we are going to have to move it. Easier said than done - we have to cover all floor and tables. Then we are told - we can stay - but we have to be quiet about it.  Long story - but we caused some commotion earlier in the convention in one of our classes :)   Basically this means we will be doing a lot of work outside....in the rain. Because we were nice enough to bring the rain with us. We are thoughtful that way Then we are told that there is a room upstairs that has access to the balcony!  We won't have to haul pieces of foam up and down the hallway!  Woohoo!  Upstairs we go! Good - we gotta move now because we need to cover the floors and tables. We rush up there and get going....we are ready for our students. All four of them. Yep, only four students - we had the least attende...

in the crawl spaces in the shop this weekend to dig up decorations that I spent hours putting away last month, thinking I would not need them again until September. But it happens that I needed them for the West Coast Haunters Convention party this weekend.  So I spent part of yesterday pulling tubs in and out of the spider infested crawl space. I guess I made too much noise banging tubs around and attracted the attention of the spider horde that has made their home there. Once the spiders found out I was up there, they all grouped together to scare the living *&^% out of me.  I hit my head on the low ceiling a dozen times jumping out of the way or brushing them off of me. I hate them....all of them, even the fake ones.  They got me a few times too!  I think a group of real spiders got together......picked up a plastic spider and dropped it in front of me just to see if I would fall for it. I did. Spiders are evil. ....and I hate them.

I went from designing a program for West Coast Haunters Convention - to a local community plant sale. Not only is that a complete change of direction.....but completely different fonts! :D

see more Lolcats and funny pictures , and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

to want all this convention stuff to be over? I remember what it was like to attended conventions....I miss that. Showing up and being amazed :)) To all of you that attend all the gathering and conventions this spring/summer. Raise a glass to all the people that help make it happen.....it is much more work than you can imagine. All that smooth sailing you see on the outside requires a lot of work on the "before" side. Those people (I know, I work with them) are amazing....and dedicated, and very special - we are all very, very lucky. I have never missed just prop building so much.

Here is a video of our skull, book and candle Take N Make class.  You can see part one of the two part tombstone class pieces in the background.....see that room there.....we basically lived there for three days!

The fabulous crew from HIY Productions - filmed and photographed the whole show and put many clips on YouTube while the show was going on. Very, very cool. Here are a few clips from some of our favorite vendors at the show. If you get a chance definately check out the HAuNTcon YouTube page .

that I cannot tie to Halloween in someway. But I really loved this PSA.  Being an animal person - especially cats - I have to share this. If these cats could talk.....I imagine this is what they would say :) I guess you could say that the effect they use to make them look like they are talking is kinda creepy.  But that would really be stretching it....so I am not going to use that angle.....this is just a Frog Queen Folly :)

more or less. But before I catch my breath I have to to get postcards out to Hauntcast and start working on West Coast Haunters Conventio n.  Been so "living in a cave" at Hauntcon that I cannot even remember where I left off. So, I guess that means I gotta quit blogging and get back to work....be back soon.....well, maybe not soon, but some day :D