New surroundings!

Sadly, there has been a horrible lack of updates and progress to anything remotely related to prop building or Halloween and that's because I've been in the middle of moving! Now that the monumental task of me hauling out all my belongings (borderline hoarder) I have a place of my own to call home. The misses even let me have my Jack Sparrow Helmsman be the focal point of our living room (whoo hoo!) :) The line was drawn at hanging my Ouija boards affixed to any wall, but they are still allowed to be displayed in the bedroom! Between moving and work, I haven't had time to work on a single project and I'm getting anxious. I'm still getting settled down into my new abode, but I am itching at working on stuff I had planned to already have finished.

Halloween this year won't be that grand, but I plan on sticking the Helmsman on the porch with a pirate flag and other assorted Pirate props and it will be a start :) Already been scoping out the neighborhood and it looks like there are plenty of kids out and about, so hopefully I will eventually become a staple on Halloween night. My room always has a Halloween feel to it, so it's won't be a huge deal not going absolutely crazy this year! Around November the Christmas decorations come out and my house becomes an homage to The Nightmare Before Christmas, so I still get to keep all my Halloween props out, but I just add a little of that Tim Burton Nightmare flare to it and it ties it all together!

I even have a small storage shed I am hoping to convert into a *SMALL* work shop. It should be awesome to finally be able to decorate an entire house instead of just my room! The living room is going to be devoted to all things Pirates and the Dining room is going to have an Alice in Wonderland vibe, so I have my work cut out for me!

Until the next update here are some pictures of my new place,

My Book/DVD/Pirate/Mansion shelf of wonders. Awesome

Haunted Mansion elevator painting done by a close friend of

mine!! 

The first Ouija board I made with directions from www.howtohauntyourhouse.com

Bed/Dresser/ Comfy red Chair and my Nightmare Storage Box!

Second Ouija board and my nightlight a Steampunk inspired lamp!

My desk and where my brainstorming begins! Soon hope to have a  victorian 

style hanging sign with a Dismal Trader logo proudly displayed above desk area!

My toe pincher storage coffin! It currently houses all of my art supplies and

prop building paraphernalia! 

Already decorating for Halloween, whoo hoo! Now I feel at home! :) 

My own sink! 

Needed a place to keep my Grail Tablet out of the way when we were moving 

stuff, so I stuck it in the bathroom out of the way and it hasn't moved since! 

(Insert holy pun here)

Closet and prop making supply overflow!

Used some fake book shelf covers I made to hide the rest of my 

Halloween stuff! My FCG is hidden behind part of it!

What every living room needs.. A talking, moving, PIRATE!

Recently had a house warming party and the prop worked 

flawlessly for 9 + hours!

Candelabra/Sconce thing.

Close up of Skeleton Jack!

Better view of the noggin!

Etched bottle filled with blue food coloring and water!

Treasure chest! Now with pearls and assorted costume jewlery!

I still need to go back and add some texture/weathering/lock to the 

outside of the chest!

I want to get together a semi decent Pirate display, so I think everything else is going on the back burner until I have some more detail props! Thanks to everyone on Halloween Forum for the inspiration and motivation to keep building, and my daily dose of inspiration.. Dave Lowe for the superb blogging and tutorials of pretty much all the props he conjures up! One of these days I hope to be able to add some tutorials that will help fellow haunters out! Until then feel free to ask me any questions you may have! 

Happy Haunting,

Michael