Could that new follower

be that Cory!?!?!

Why yes, yes it is!

WooHoo!!

Let me introduce everyone to one of my newest, coolest haunt friends! I met him (and his friend Troy (I think I even saw him in the haunt video, can't miss that very cool long hair!) this year at Hauntcon. We had a great time, fun person, great to party with, and very creative. Hope to see him (them) again soon.

BTW - makes the coolest fake teeth.....if you ever meet him, ask him to show you, they are sweet!

But until then, be sure to take a look at his video for this year's haunt. Nightmare Playground.....spooky, scary, very good - watch it, you will like it.

Oh, yeah

I was going to give you other ways to enter my drawing....for an extra entry, hum....something easy to start with.......

Okay, name all three of my demon-monster cats (since you might be getting one in the box anyway) for another entry! You can post there names as a comment on this post. :)

Remember, click here and leave a comment to be entered to win!

Frog Queen Folly #6

Since we have started decorating the downstairs inside of the shop like a church, you know, to match the facade, I decided to add a luminary to my collection.

The idea came about a few years ago at the Rocky Mountain Gathering in Salt Lake City. I was sitting with husband, and John and Jon from EFX-TEK and we were talking about the flickering candle kit they sold. I said I always liked it...but that having to run all the candles together, is a bit of a pain.....if you have candles all over the place, that means you have lots and lots of wire.

But what if you made a lot of candles in one place....like that thing they have in church?

As we are sitting there trying to remember what they are called, it suddenly dawns on me that there may be hope for me yet....you see, I cannot remember what they are called either....after too many years of Catholic school with an endless stream of church services....I should know this.

But I have forgotten....

Yes, I really have forgotten.......YEAH! :D

Anyway, Jon makes a call, and we are enlightened (pun intended) to find that they are called luminaries.

I purchase a ridiculous amount of WickLED lights and a few Prop-1s from EFX-TEK at the gathering....no wonder they were so helpful with this project :)

Back at home, husband builds me the holder and we drill holes to put the WickLED lights through where the candles will go.

Now, yes, I could have just used LED lights, but the WickLEDs from EFX-TEK are three LED lights together that flicker in a way that truly mimics candle light. In a project like this, I think it is an important detail.

Then I run all over town trying to find 48 white votives...cheap (dollar stores in the area only had a beige color.) I then light them all and have them burn part way down at varying depths. Then drill out the bottom of each one with a spade bit so that the base of the candle will fit over the LED lights, up into the candle. I then took a candle and melted wax along the base of each candle.

Husband wired all the lights and four Prop-1 controllers together, wrote bit of code (I believe he stared with the free downloadable code on their site) and put the holder on a small table. It worked perfectly.

Except that the candles I found were "clean linen" scented....now the church smells like fabric softener! :D

This year they came out with a new controller that allowed husband to control all the lights with one board...he was happy, he now had three new Prop-1 cards to play with :)

He added legs to the base as well as a match holder and money collection box at the front.

This year when I mounted the candles I used a small crock pot to melt the wax and pour it on the candles and the holder....much faster than melting with a candle.

It is just about perfect. (picture is just a little fuzzy :)

Now, if I could just find plastic votive holders! :D - something about fire and plastic.....I see where there would be a problem :D

The ones you see in most churches usually have the candles in (predominately) red glass holders. Since I have not been able to find a way to drill through glass without breaking it, I cannot use then. Any clear plastic cups....look like small clear plastic cups and not candle holders. I have tried using sheet plastic to make a cup, but the plastic is too thin and does not look like a votive holder.

Hope you enjoyed my latest folly...I have several more to share and many more to make!

Husband hates when I say "I have this cool idea, but it is not for the yard . . . " :D

Giving Thanks

You have all been a great bunch of blogging friends. I have really enjoyed your comments and appreciate your visiting my blog. Many of you have blogs that I also enjoy reading - win-win situation all round!

So, for all of you, here is my latest and largest giveaway - I will draw a winner next Thursday.

What do you get?

You get Davis Graveyard Swag - remember - frog queen is in marketing - swag is my life, that and ROI reports....I know, I have a very, very sad life

T-shirt - I have S, M, L, XL - tell me your size

Travel Mug - I take mine to every meeting

2008 DVD - the Christopher Walken reading the raven video....I know WTF? I liked it, that is all that matters :D

2007 DVD - this one has ode to Hal...proof that that cat is a frickin' diva!

2006 DVD - award winning video...runner up 2006 Haunt X (now Haunters Video) Awards

Davis Graveyard Energy Drink - keep you awake during the zombie attack

Custom made Graveyard Soap - cleaning up after the zombie attack

Got Zombies Poster - famous graveyard dancers (don't kill these zombies, I need them next year), circa 2009


Cookies in coffin box - I imagine the box is cooler than the cookies, you will have to let me know.

Candy Corn Dots - maybe you will like them.....if not, you can put them in the trash, that is where they will go if they stay at my house :)

Halloween plain M&Ms - M&M are a food group - and also because you didn't eat enough of these around Halloween :)

Bones suckers - lollipops on plastic arm and leg bones - these are so cool, I think this is the hardest thing to part with on this list

Pumpkin cookies - or what is left of them....no, I have not opened them....yet :)


Warning Attack Ghost metal sign - perfect for the thoughtful haunter. I am giving it away, because the frog queen is evil and prefers not to warn her visitors

50 neon necklaces - tag your friends, that way when the zombie attack happens, you won't accidentally shoot them - see, thoughtful of me to share my secrets! :) - inspired by the fact that since I have some free time....husband and frog queen have stared playing Left 4 Dead :D

Six small black plastic witches kettles - use over small fake flames only....or fill with candy...or blood. Whichever, makes no difference to me, they are yours now.

Two small skulls (from Skeleton Store) Okay, I am going to say, because I am very capable of acting like a 12 year old - everyone needs a little head :D

Rosemary smudge stick - after all those people around my (and likely your) house on Halloween...trust me, you need one.

Voodoo Doll that from New Orleans (purchased it there myself) - perfect of that neighbor who didn't appreciate your display....just kidding...display it nicely on a shelf, never use them ;)

Candles from Alchemy Candles...the frog queens favorite candles

Small gray cat named Dorie :D - remember, she like fish flavored cat food and drinking out of the sink....oh, and she is completely, bat poop, crazy, get used to sleeping with one eye open. :D

Just kidding!!

Because, seriously, it you could get one of three cats..... they all like boxes :D I cannot help it if they cannot get out before I tape it shut :D

I am going to give you several ways to enter:

One entry for commenting on this post

Anyone who has followed this blog for six months or more automatically gets another entry

Followed the blog for over a year? You get two extra entries and are certifiably crazy - so you and Dorie will get along just fine :)

I will add extra ways to win all week!

So these lovely ladies get out

of their car in full steam punk gear and ask if they can do a photo shoot in the yard.

Ah, sure.....sounds fine....BTW - "nice costumes! " (They now have the full attention of every male on the property) :D

"Oh, these? Yeah, we are going to go run and change into our goth costumes, we will be right back. "

You can hear the minds of all the guys collectively say....."More costumes! Sweet! Feels more like Christmas than Halloween."

:D

Anyway, they show up about 30 minutes later is these equally amazing goth costumes! Wow!

So that the yard will continue to get set up ....Dawn takes them around to the side of the yard where the hearse is, out of sight of the crew.

Yeah, there was a big collective *sigh* from the guys, and several of us girls ;)

They took lots of pictures with the props all over the yard. It was a lot of fun to watch.

We talked for a while and she is going to bring all her gear down for a proper photo shoot next year.

I am definitely mentioning that when I send out the call for help in September....I imagine I will have plenty of help that day! :D

Here are some of the pictures she sent us. Lovely....oh, and the props are cool too :D

Check out her myspace page for more pictures.

Thanks everyone

I want to thank all of you for voting, I really appreciate your help in winning the Home Haunters Association Yard Haunt of the Year, could not have done it without you.

That was fun, but I am never doing that again :D

Anyway, I want to send a special thanks to to the bloggers that posted on their blogs or forums to help us get more votes. If you are not no this list, and you did, sorry I missed you, email me at chris@davisgraveyard.com and I will be happy to add you to the thank yous :)

Thanks

Pumpkinrot
House Bloodthorn
ShellHawk's Nest
The Captian
Darkrose Manor
My Two Yen Worth

And thanks to all the other haunters that participated in the contest. There are a lot of great haunts out there and it is always a treat to see the ideas of other haunters!

Remember to submit your videos to Propmaster to be part of the Haunters Video DVD collection for 2009 and be entered in the Haunters Video Awards!

Guess who won

the Home Haunters Association Yard Haunt of the Year?

Well, it was not....

the Happy Holiday Home or Demented Dungeon......it was

The Davis Graveyard!!!!

Yeah, thanks to everyone that votes (special shout to Pumpinrot) and support. We could not have done it without all of you.

So what do we win?

- Mr. Skeleton MAX Full Skeleton (Mr. Skeleton)
- 1 Yr Subscription to Haunted Attraction Magazine (Haunted Attraction Mag)
- DVD Haunting Makeup by Geoff Beck (Haunted Attraction Mag)
- Styrofoam Masons DVD by Bad Boys Scenic Design (Haunted Attraction Mag)
- Costume Weapon—Double Bit Axe from Scream Line Studios (Haunted Attraction Mag)
- Autographed Copy of “How to Haunt Your House” (HowToHauntYourHouse.com)
- Midnight Syndicate Music CD (Midnight Syndicate)
- Home Haunters Association Exclusive 1st Place Trophy (Home Haunters Association)


We are keeping the trophy (frog queen is calling it a late birthday present :D ), but we are going to give away the prizes through raffles on this blog (and possibly on the webstie) during December as a thank you to everyone who helped make this happen.

Now, everyone start working on your videos for the Haunters Video Awards!!

Speaking of awards

...no, we still don't know the winner of the Home Haunters Association contest.... :(

Anyway, here are the far more important awards - the awards (at least some of them) for the Davis Graveyard party.

Husband and I forgot to take pictures of them when they were completed and had the plaques on them. :(

You will see at the top there the two skeletons, we melted their arms so their hands are touching....ah, they are for the best couple costume....kinda cute huh?

Then there were the funny awards that we made for the crew. They are items with a plaque attached on them somewhere. No pictures....you will have to use your imagination :)

Messiest Helper - (Plaque will all kinds of graveyard making stuff attached)

Elyssa - loves to make things that make a mess.....which is perfect when working with monster mud in large scale...it gets EVERYWHERE :D

Best Tour Guide (a megaphone)

Tony - my brother, I don't think we could pull on an open house event without him. He is so friendly and helpful at the open house. Every time I turn around he has a captive audience following him around the yard! I don't think he takes a single break in 5 hours!

Best Baby Sitter (pacifiers in a shadow box)

Carol - my mom. Each year we attend a party at our friends the Bishop's (from the Bishop Cemetery). During October we rarely leave the yard unattended, so some one has to watch it, especially on a Saturday night. Each year, my mom volunteers to hold down the fort - and this year she did it all by herself!! Husband and I don't even brave that yard without the other one in tow!

Best Sketch Artist (retro etch-a-sketch)

Toph (Chris) Reid - he is our resident artist. This year it dawned on him that the more detailed sketch he made of a prop, the less likely we are to make it. Reasoning? We usually cannot live up to the detail on his amazing drawings :) He has been kind enough to "dumb them down" (his sketches) for us.

Least Likely to be Found (picture of Nessy, with Jen in a Scottish cap and tartan pin)

Jen - my sister. She has a new house and a (new) fiance (recently engaged) so she has been a bit preoccupied and unable to spend time at the graveyard. Maybe next year :)

Graveyard Photographer (skull with a camera embedded on the side, with the lens being one of the eyes - think Borg skull)

Marci - She has been taking pictures of the graveyard for years. She attends all the events and comes out several times during the season to make sure she gets the perfect shot. She makes us look soooooo good!

Best Assistant (Dirt Devil)
Dawn Reid - if you have something cleaned or you want a person to take charge and get it done without asking you 50 million question...Dawn is your woman....wait, no, she is actually mine (and married to the other Chris) so you can't have her.

Actually, that goes for all the of the crew....stay away, the frog queen is very possessive!!

...oh, and there are a few other awards....but those are another story! :)

FQF

If that sweet farm house

was not enough to entice you to move to lovely Milwuakie, Oregon :) How about these pictures....this is from the front lawn of the city hall on Halloween. :)

Look familiar? Yeah, we had a tombstone making party at the Davis Graveyard a few weeks before Halloween with the local art committee. (Special thanks to Dan for carving the difficult tombstone with both the City and ArtMOB logos on it.)

Husband is chair of the art committee and they thought it would be fun to make tombstones to decorate downtown for their Halloween celebration, it is one step in our plan to bring more Halloween festivities to our city. Next year we are going to attempt to work with our local farmers market to have a scarecrow competition (thanks Pumpkinrot for the info) the week before Halloween.

Husband and I have also talked about doing a kids craft party and possibly real/fake pumpkin carving/decorating at the Graveyard or city hall working with a local pumpkin grower and the local craft store. I have many other ideas....but when I start talking like that husband's eyes roll into the back of his head :D

Cause, I don't have enough to do in October :) Actually I am just working on coordinating the project....I will find victims, oops, I mean volunteers to help me make all this happen.

Back to the tombstones, here is one for the new Mayor :) There was talk about making one for all the city council members, but we were not sure that would send the right message :D

Do you want to move?

Do you want to live in an old farm house across the street from the Davis Graveyard? Yeah, I knew you did! Here is your chance.

The house across the street from me if for sale. It has a huge sloping yard that would make an even more perfect cemetery than my yard!!

And the house is beautiful, they did an amazing job remodeling....if I did not love my house so much...I would move! :)

Turn of the century farmhouse on a dividable acre in the city. This 2,088 sf 3 bedroom, 2.1 bath house was extensively renovated in 2004 but the rustic feel remains. New work includes foundation, plumbing, electrical, gas furnace fireplace, sheetrock, cabinets, roof, kitchen and bath tile floors, garden shed, fence and more.

If you click on the image below it will take you to Google maps - go to street view. This shows you the side of the house. Press the arrow to the right twice and then when you see a street (43rd - where I live) choose the forward (middle) button to go up 43rd, then press the left arrow a few times and you see the house....the right arrow a few times and you can see what my house looks like the other 10 and half months a year :)

Milwaukie, OR 97222


I promise to help anyone that buys it to build a graveyard on the hill! It would be so awesome!

Okay, I think I have a problem

with the LOLcats :D (I know that none of you have noticed that, right? :D ) ....it is not my fault....these are just too funny not to post.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Non graveyard pictures

I put a candle in my head planters....took the pumpkin off first :D

I put one in the hands of my Greenman fountain (who is off for the season.)

How about a little

candlelight. Here are a few more photos from the night before we took down the graveyard. Now, if it would not have been 4am and I would have been thinking straight, I would have brought the tripod with me.

Cause taking pictures in the dark, holding the camera....bad idea. Out of the hundreds I took, here are a few that are not too terrible. This is a good idea for next year, during normal "human" hours :D (as husband likes to call them)

Who among us

does not love and adore the Hauntstyle blog? I know the frog queen and the rest of the graveyard are big fans.....that was until I saw this post.

I cannot even post the image....it is too......(shudder) please tell me tat is fake! :D

Thanks again

Wow, really, wow . . . . thanks again to Pumpkinrot for supporting the Davis Graveyard by letting us all know how disappointing 3rd place is :D Sorry Rot, it is sad that anything you make could come in 3rd place :D

And a big thanks to both ShellHawk and House Bloodthorn for posting links on their sites. You both are too kind!

I am very touched by every one's support. And thanks to everyone who has voted for us, we really appreciate it. It looks like we are in closing in on 2nd place.....a few hundred votes and we can make it to first.... :D I would be honored.

Anyway, thanks everyone and who ever wins, congratulations, everyone did a great job on their yard and it shows.

1249

This morning we checked our viewing number on the Home Haunters Association site we were stunned to find the views at 1,249.....they were 745 two days ago.

Thanks everyone for viewing....we are holding on to third, possibly second place. :) Not bad.

I have viewed all the entries and have to say as always I am impressed and inspired by other haunters. This has been a fun experience.

I have to put out a special thanks to my friend Pumpkinrot (and My Two Yen Worth) for posting links on their blogs and encouraging others to vote for us. The frog queen is touched and honored and cannot thank you enough. I am sure that is the reason we jumped so high so fast. The frog queen has great friends.

We still have a few days to go!! Please take a look at the Davis Graveyard submission....and tell everyone you know to do the same, we need about 400 more votes and please remember to rate it 5 stars - rating is very important, if we can get back to a 5 star rating, that will make a huge difference!!! We appreciate your help and support.

Here are the top three haunts
Current first place (Demented Dungeon)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0nPeEnUo3g

Current second place (Happy Holiday Home)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp4BGHTn3bQ

Current third place (Davis Graveyard)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNKaagtlx7A

There are lots of other great haunts too. Check them out when you get a chance.

FQF

So while Dorie was

locked in the basement :) I took the opportunity to take another cat free picture of one of my latest treasures!

They were wrapped so nicely it was hard to open them :)

These are labels from the also lovely (cause remember only beautiful people read this blog - yes, you know you are) All Together Dead.

She does an AMAZING party, I want to go!

And these great labels for all your witch cabinet Halloween needs.

And, yes, there is more. She has a great blog.

Practically perfect she is! :D

Thanks so much. I can hardly wait to start creating containers for all these!!!

Oh, yeah, Dorie is STILL in the basement, I think I can hear her scratching on the door....gotta go, I am going to pay for that :D

So I go to take a picture

of this really neat frog (along with some nifty haunt DVDs) that the
the lovely Caroline at Caroline's Crafts sent cause she is just that cool!

But I know that when I took it out of the box, it had a fishing pole with a cute little fly on it.

It is no where to be found.

I look around and see that Dorie is sitting in the sink looking down the drain.

After a few years of owning this cat....I knew exactly where it was. I reached my hand down the drain, and pulled out the fishing pole.

Of course, she thought that I was getting it out for her to play with......so there was a small battle that ended up with her being locked in the basement so I could take this picture.

I am taking it to my cat-free office for safe keeping :)

Oh, you know......I really should let Dorie out now! :D

Of course I liked this

it has cats and Frankenstein!!! Just needed a frog and it would go from 99% to 100% perfect :D

So what if Kitties did make Frankenstein? You will find out in "Hello Frankenstein."

Thanks to Killer Kittens from Beyond the Grave for posting this one. Great site, check it out when you get a chance!

I guess I should have

put a link to the video. Husband was talking about this effect (the one I listed below) a couple weeks ago on the lists and the forums....I am a bit behind :)

Here is the video of the new ghost effect.

Well, of course he is

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Got ghosts?

Well, I think somewhere along the line we decided that keeping four video effects up and running was just too easy, let's try another one :D

This is our latest ghost effect. It is four kids running through the very back of the graveyard.

We got more comments on this than anything else we did this year.

Here is how it works:

We took 30 feet (three 10 foot widths sewn together) of black photograph background cloth and put a seam at the top of it so that we could run it through a cable line that extends from the back door of the house to the far right corner of the shop.

To hide the background during the day, we pulled it along the cable towards the back door and tied it up - we just untied it and pulled across the year each night we ran the effects.

To keep the fabric from blowing in the wind, our fabulous friends came up with the brilliant idea of making long narrow tube sandbags to place all along the bottom. These worked perfectly (except for really windy nights) to keep the fabric/screen taunt as a projection screen.

To create the effect:

During the day, we then filled four of our friends kids, three of them are the children of some of the ghosts in the yard :) all dressed in white against that black background. We had them throw a ball around, do ring-around-the-rosy, and then we put them in white sheets to make what we call "Charlie Brown" ghosts.

Then husband did his usual "ghosts magic" in Pinnacle to create the eerie ghost effect video and copied it to a compact flash card.

Then we took a projector and one of the new handy-dandy solid state video players (so much better than the DVD players) that automatically loops and hid them behind the large, wide "Goodbye" tombstone. We then projected the image on to the fabric.

It was not obvious and only visible from a few angels in between tombstones (this picture is from inside the yard, a less obstructed view.) We think enhanced the creepy effect, since it was not something you noticed right away (or maybe not at all - not our fault that you just drove by and did not bother to get out of the car. :D )

One of my favorite things this last season was sitting out in front of the yard and hearing the kids very proudly tell people or their friends "that's me, I am one of the ghosts." I think every kid within earshot was immediately jealous :D

Yep, you cannot buy that kind of happiness! :D

FQF

Class of 2009

Here is a group picture from our party this year...this is about 2/3 of the people that attended. We took the picture a bit late....so what you see here is the die hard crew. Gotta love these people!

This was after police came so few of or friends might have had to leave or hide :D , and unfortunately a few had to leave early with a sudden case of the flu :D

Thanks to our friends and party photographers Cheryl and Roman. They took the picture and even had a poster printed for us. The frog queen has the best friends!!!

For Dixie

Okay, not the exact spider that was on the prop....but likely the same breed.

It is one from August....it was a baby then. But November.....they are twice the size and make a nice crunching sound when you squish them :D

I cannot believe I just posted a spider picture...gotta go have a glass of wine now :)

Being sued

does not sound like a lot of fun. So the day of Halloween I had husband and a friend purchase a couple yards of bark dust for the front of the house.

It had been raining all week and the cars had drive drive up on the dirt in front of the house. And had just become a muddy, slippery mess.

I was worried that people were going to slip and fall, and those pointy bits on the top of my fence are made of metal....scary in the not good way :)

(don't even get me started with why we don't have sidewalks....I start foaming at the mouth when it comes to city politics! :D )

The city hates when we use gravel because it ends up in the street. But they seem to be fine with this.

Not something that many people budget for when they are setting up there Halloween display! :) Thanks for the donations people, they helped us pay for making everyone safe and a bit less muddy.

So I have a the very

large Davis Graveyard sign in my hands, you know that big 4x8 sheet of foam with columns on it. Not particularly heavy, just bulky when you are trying to walk up the stairs. I was following behind the people that were carrying the Joan monument......

So at the first landing the last thing I want to hear is:

"You don't want to come up here"

Hum, that cannot be good and only mean one thing

Spider

Okay, don't have to tell me twice, I'll wait.

I start playing the anti spider Muzak track in my head....going to my happy place of rainbows and ice cream.......

Obviously the music was not loud enough...

I can hear them running around discussing how to catch it to set it free...(I have great friends, not only are they helping me put props away...they are rescuing me from a spider.)

"You hold this....I am going to get that.....wow, that is a big.....damn, that is a big spider!"

"Chris, you seriously do not want to come up here."

As if I was even thinking about it!

I was trying to figure out how to get you all to put the rest of the yard away without me....I think I am going to faint.

Then it happens, I hear, what I deem to be, at that moment, the scariest words in the universe.

"Where did it go?"

No, no, no NFW!....I did not just hear that....I am outta here!

I drop the sign.

Bye everyone, enjoy putting the yard away!!!!

I envision myself running down the driveway, hands waving in the air....screaming something about my ice cream being filled with the spiders dropping from the rainbows......waiting for the loony bin truck to come pick me up.......then I think . . .

Ah, come on, how big can it be....I mean I exaggerate about the size :) of spiders (come on people) all the time.....maybe this one is the same. Live an let live.

So I say. "Well, if it crawled off in a corner and is hiding I am fine with that, just leave her."

"Chris, this is not good, this is not rainbows and ice creams....this is a scary spider."

Holy Crap! I have the a opposite of rainbows and ice cream in the form of a spider in my shop!!

There is only one obvious solution.

Everyone out, we are torching the place!

Just about the time I was setting to get the matches I hear them say......

"Got her, let's throw her out the window."

Which to those words, I look over out the garage doors below the window to see all the guys taking down the scaffolding....right there, below the window, where there is soon to be a spider that is the opposite of rainbows and ice cream.

Now, if I was a nice person, and we all know that I am not, I could have said something.....but I did not. I am going to blame it on I was speechless with fear......... :)

Then, the two ladies...yes there were ladies catching the spider....realized what they did as soon as they threw her out the window and gave the guys a heads up.

They all step back out of the way.....

Then I see three guys looking at the wall where the spider landed and say.

"Damn, that is a big spider!"

I shudder as my skin crawls and I head to the freezer for a shot of Jaager! :) (Not really, I thought about it!)

.....the worst of it is, my happy place with rainbows and ice cream......is now overrun by spiders!!! Hand me the chocolate syrup! :D

"So which one is your favorite

tombstone?" I get asked this a lot during the season by visitors to the graveyard.

I used to be honest about it.....but when I told people which one, they all went "Huh, what, I didn't get that one?"

Even when I explained it they all looked at me like "Huh? okay, whatever." (likely muttering "crazy lady" as they walked away.) :D

So, for visitors, my favorite tombstone varies from day to day. I think by the end of the season I had them all covered :D

So in honor of Friday the 13th, here is a picture of my favorite tombstone.

It is a reference to Friday the 13th the series. What? I hear you say? Yeah, I think I was one of only 100 people that actually watched the show :D

Lewis Vendredi was the owner of the shop that sold the cursed objects and died when he tried to break his pact with the devil.

"By the moon as it passes through it's stages, I put a curse upon these pages."

The saying is something I found...I had a hard time coming up with something for that tombstone, but since the story relied heavily on the "manifest" a book that listed all the items and who they were sold to. Although the quote is not accurate to the story (the book was not in fact cursed, the objects listed in the book were), the fact that almost no one gets the tombstone anyway, it is close enough for me.

Not a single person that has visited the yard has mentioned this tombstone. I even had a contest a couple years ago we held a contest for guessing the references on the tombstones, no winner.

Out of hundreds of entries, no one got this one.

See, I be you are all now you are all going "Huh? What? I don't get that."

.....just like everyone else :D

At this rate......I think I have to add this tombstone to the frog queen folly list. :D

I really feel bad

I am actually ashamed of myself. :( Very bad frog queen.

Several times I have started this and felt bad that it was so late that I just wimped out and I didn't do it!

But I cannot let the fabulous PumpkinBrain down any longer!!

Let me tell you the story of one of the most unique and rewarding prop experiences I have ever had.

I am not sure if you remember, but earlier in the year I was pining on about what to do with the old angel prop. She had had three or four different wing incarnations and several other modifications.....and I was just not happy with her.

It was time to start over.

So, I worked on the plans for the new angel - half skeleton half person - and she came out spectacular - thanks to everyone who helped with that one.

But then, what to do with old angel?

I mentioned that since she was holding a sword and her wings were off, she sorta looked like Joan of Arc. But what to do make the transition.

Out of the blue the very nice PumpkinBrian offered his help. Since he knew a bit about the history (living in Quebec) he offered to help.

He supplied me with her coat of arms, the correct pronunciation and spelling of her name and a quote, in both French and English. I wimped out and used the English version....but it is going to be replaced with the French version in a year or two :)

Anyway, he was very helpful and supported and we shared emails together about the project. It was like working on a prop long distance.

I joke that it is the first International prop!

So, I have been holding on to these pictures for a while...but here they are from angel to Joan

Thank you PumpkinBrian, that was tremendously rewarding.

I put a ringlet on her head























Then I took the crest and cut it out of foam and glued it to the front of her dress and covered it with monster mud and paint.























Followed by removing her original accent piece.

Took the shield that was carved out of foam with her crest and attached it the front of her dress.

Then attached the plaque with the saying over where the original accent was placed. Then I mudded some lilies and attached them to the base (not shown here)
















Then she was ready for the yard. I placed her predominately in the front corner of the yard where she was closest to the gate and it was the brightest area so you could read the inscription. I put a candle on her base and lilies at her feet. (you can see the mudded lilies - to appear as they are carved from stone - at the base of her feet to the right.)

Here she is at night in all her glory! Thanks PumpkinBrain!

....I was really, really happy with her....until we were putting her away...but that is another story, and yes, it involves a spider, apparently a very big spider :D

Return of the

Spiders, but this is a cool one.

I originally ordered this for a door prize for my Halloween party.

Note, I said, ordered. I apparently forgot the paying step. Very bad frog queen.

I blame it on the madness that is October :)

Anyway, the very patient Melissa worked with me and we got everything sorted. Except that it was too late for to make it for a party gift. :(

Oh no, I am going to have to keep it, isn't that terrible! - Hee, hee! ;D

Anyway, it is a cool thaumatrope with the web on one side and the spider on the other from the very talented Mellisa the Holiday Queen. She has a great blog and Etsy store. Check it out when you get the chance.

That being said, I have updated my Etsy shop recommendation to her site - go get yourself some holiday items. They are beautiful!

BTW - since my Dorie cat really wants to eat the ribbon on this, I am afraid of spiders....and it was originally meant as a door prize, I am going to add it to my upcoming follower appreciation giveaway that I will post this weekend! Watch for details!

AND don't forget to check out the "Help Me" post below!

Yes, I am going to mention that at the end of every blog post! :D You have been warned.

Help me! Help me!

I am not a big fan of voting by committee thing for awards....but we are going to try this again.

Help the Davis Graveyard win the Home Haunters Association award for Yard Haunt of the year. I know it is a tough decision, there are some great haunts out there.....but in your heart you know you will make the right choice :D And vote five stars :D

Go to our YouTube video and watch it, all the way through, so it counts as a view and then rate it and leave glowing comments!!! :D ....that is just beginning.....please get every person you know to do the same thing!!!! I think the highest rated video is not at 1,300 views, we only have 60....we have a long way to go.

2009 Home Haunters Association Video

After you see that, and you become worried....no, that is not the official Davis Graveyard video...we just put that together to meet the deadline last night. We have all of December to edit and bicker :) over the "official" video for the Haunters Video DVDs that Propmaster does.

More to follow.

PLEASE help us not come in last!!! :D

Thank everyone!

In honor of

Veteran's Day.

Here is the tombstone that is in my yard for my Grandmother who was a welder during World War II - She has been gone almost two years now, I miss her very much.

I know she would be thrilled to find a tombstone for her in the yard....she loved working on our props :D