"21"

Twenty-one very creative pumpkin designs entered in the "Build Me A Pumpkin" contest on Facebook and www.torturedpumpkins.com.

Deadline is August 11th, two winners each receiving their own custom built pumpkin from your's truly.

Click the picture above to see the entries and contest rules.

More Treasuries

More collections of Etsy goods all with a common theme. 

Its Got Bite

Braiiins!

Enter The Lab

The Tangled Web

Sleepy Hollow Bookshop

Anyone that follows my blog knows that I adore both books and art.

The planets must have aligned last Thursday because one of my favorite places in Midland featured not only an incredible selection of used books but also some terrific fantasy artwork rendered in chalk.

The favorite place in question is Sleepy Hollow Bookshop located at 22 Ashman Circle in Midland, Michigan.

Our city has a large Barnes and Nobles in the mall which is a great place to hang out…but…if you desire something a little quainter you need to visit Sleepy Hollow Bookshop.

According to the owner the store contains at least 55,000 books at last count.

The shelves go from floor to ceiling and there isn’t a spot in the entire store where books don’t fill your entire field of vision.

The selection is diverse and chances are pretty good you will find what you are seeking.

My previous trip was to purchase a copy of Frank Herbert’s Dune so I could read it again for the umpteenth time and sure enough they had several good condition copies to choose from all at very reasonable prices.

Now what about that unicorn in front of the store?

Seems every now and then during the summer months a couple of artists will create some beautiful fantasy artwork on the cement in front of the store.

Chalk is the medium and the artwork will remain until the next downpour.

Sleepy Hollow Bookshop has been buying and trading books since 1996.

Visit their Facebook Page or Website for more information.

Treasury Treasures

I’ve become a big fan of Etsy, besides it being a venue to sell my papier mache wares it is  also a great showcase for creative ideas.

One of the Etsy features is something called a “treasury” which is a collection of items all belonging to a singular theme.

You can browse the treasuries or create your own.

Lately I’ve found creating treasuries to be a very relaxing and fun pastime, sort of like playing Sudoku with images.

The treasuries can contain 16 images arranged in a 4 x 4 grid, the theme can be anything from color to emotion.

Here are a few treasuries I have created; clicking on the image will take you to the treasury.

"Nothing Rhymes With Orange" 

"Like Dust In The Wind"

 "Demons In The Shadows"

 "A Very Wise Treasury"

 "Verge Of Darkness"

"Shiver Me Timbers"

Doodle Flapper

Been looking for a way to add a special" thank you" when I ship orders. 


Considered throwing in a small bag of candy corn. 


The problem with that idea is that if I have candy corn I eat it. I'm a candy corn pig.


So instead......I've started to write my thank you notes on the inside of the box lids. 


One thing leads to another and pretty soon I've doodled all over the box flaps.


Guess it makes me a Doodle Flapper.

New Site-New Contest

A new blog all about pumpkins and the home of the new "Build Me A Pumpkin" contest where you have until August 11th to design your dream pumpkin and if you win I will build the pumpkin out of papier mache and send it to you before Halloween. 


Two winners this year, one picked for creativity and one randomly chosen so get out your crayons or markers and start drawing. 


At the time of this post there are two wonderful entries. In the next couple of weeks this site will be filled with wonderful pumpkin concepts....I hope to see you there.

Spread the word and share the fun!

Insidious

Still of Lin Shaye and Leigh Whannell in Insidious

Typically I shy away from giving my opinion on movies because my taste usually does not reflect the opinion of a lot of other haunters out there.

Trick or Treat is a prime example…I really didn’t care for this film but most of my online friends raved about the movie. 

Everybody is entitled to their opinion which is what makes the world great.

I saw Insidious in the theater with my two sons and really liked what I saw.


(pun intended in the previous sentence)

It was solid, it was creepy and in several places it was just plain odd.

Odd is good, kudos to those that have the balls to do something different.

I liked the story, I liked the scares and I liked the cast.

The film felt small, intimate and aware of its purpose which was to scare you silly.

It worked.

Insidious is a small film loaded with an arsenal of creative ideas especially when it shows the way psychics translate what they are experiencing.

Lin Shaye plays a psychic which helps the family with their crisis and I must say I completely adored the character, she was my new Zelda Rubinstein.

Add a gas mask to the equation and you have genius.

The movie played as well or even better on Blu Ray as on the second and third viewing I saw how all the pieces of the puzzle were well thought out.

Insidious is a well crafted film.

I want more of these types of films.

Forget the remakes and give me original ideas that deliver the goods.

For a film that cost about 1.5 million it showed that good ideas trump everything.

Insidious now ranks up there with Poltergeist as one of my favorite scary films.

Add Drag Me To Hell and you’ve got a kick ass triple feature.