It's almost here!

This week on my walk to work I've seen kids on the corner's with backpacks

This morning there is a nip in the air that is distinctly Fall

And I can't help thinking Halloween isn't to far away!!!

The first decorations are creeping out.

My nod to the end of summer.

These are the perfect "transition pieces"

Decorations Past

Just about this time of the year is when I get really impatient to start putting out the Halloween decorations. I know it's not quite acceptable yet, since it's still August... but September is just around the corner and I can feel it. Although it's really hot out- there have been a few nights where you can smell fall in the air. Come mid-September (I at least give a short nod to the fact that it can be Autumn and not Halloween yet)- it's time to put the decorations out and that's just about a month away!

To tide me over I'll have to settle for another look back at Halloween... it also gives me a chance to start going over my game plan for this year.

This "fence of skulls" was new last year, I liked it and think I'll keep it- but this year I'd love for the lights I put inside each skull to be brighter... something to think about.

Crafty use of brown lunch bags to make some treat bags. These were great for the super little kids that come before it's dark out. I actually made 2 types of trick-or-treat bags last year, but I'm saving the other design for a tutorial I'll do closer to Halloween. Hmm I better start thinking about this years treat bags too!

Happy bunch aren't they.

I love having the decorations up in October- but nothing compares to Halloween night. There are lots of things my husband and I don't setup until the day of Halloween. It always feels a little like a one night show to me. When it starts to get dark out and the lights go up the decorations seem to take on a spirit of their own. Warms my dark little heart just thinking about it.

Sorry this picture isn't very clear- but it was so hard to get a good picture of this since I didn't have a tripod. The tree is huge by the way, it's quite a bit taller than my 2 and a half story house, probably more than 3 stories. We don't normally have lights this powerful, but were lucky enough to have a friend, who is in theatrical lighting, come over and set up some lights from work on our roof and at the base of the tree... you could see this all up and down my street! (My poor poor neighbors).

Pumpkins Past

I thought I'd start off the new blog by giving you a look at some of the jack-o-lanterns I've carved over past couple of years.

Through August as summer winds down and the Halloween season gears up I plan to do a look back at past years and feature decorations, projects, really whatever comes to mind... and what came to mind first was pumpkins!

Each year I drag... did I saw drag... I didn't mean drag... my husband to a pumpkin patch an hour away from where we live to pick a small army of pumpkins. In all honesty I really don't have to drag him anymore.. he's long since come over to the crazy side of Halloween (probably an "if you can't beat them join them" thing).

Why an hour away you ask? Because it's the best place ever- it's practically pumpkins as far as you can see and they're actually in the real fields where they grew not a sterilized version of a field. Something about it is very "Great pumpkin Charlie Brown", old fashioned, authentic... I don't know it's kind of like my dream place.

After we've brought home a small pumpkin army to festoon the porch I asses the "blank spots" in what we've come home with. You see I tend to get a bit carried away in the excitement of it all (like you couldn't tell) and come home with a lot of what happened to strike my fancy during the trip. We often end up with a lot of one type of pumpkin- too many huge ones, not enough tall ones, that sort of thing. That's when I go around to a few of the local places and "fill in the gaps".

A few days before Halloween we carve them up. I've loved doing this since I was kid and have carved at least one pumpkin every year since probably age 4 or 5 (even when I was in college and living in the dorms).

It just wouldn't seem like Halloween without them!