Halloween 2016

Well, another year has come and gone.  It has taken a couple of weeks to put up some pics.  I am still putting Halloween away and we paused for Remembrance Day.

I am working on my video to enter the Canadian Haunters Association contest.  I don't expect to win anything, I have very stiff competition, but I would like to get my haunt out there.  After speaking with a few people who did the walk through this year, I am thinking of doing a charity haunt next year. So admission would be a donation.  We will see though.

There were a few mistakes made this year in the rush to open and get everything finished.  A major one that I will mention is that I forgot to turn on our front door light.  I think I lost/missed a few kids because of it.  I ended up with about the same number of kids as last year and definitely more adults. This was okay because I had kind of expected less, being a Monday.

I am also looking to recruit a few more scare actors next year but that is easier said then done. 

All in all it was another fun Halloween, with screams, giggles and candy.

The Cemetery

Two of the Ladies of the Kitchen.

The invited guest in the parlour.

Lilly's room.

Count Down

The count down to the big day has begun.  I have been very busy trying to get all my projects finished.  I am just taking a quick break to post a few pictures of the Haunt so far this year.


This is the improved archway.  We have replaced the pumpkins with stonework.  This was done because the pumpkins didn't light properly and as a result were not glowing very well.  They are going to be used elsewhere in the haunt.

In the second pic you can see the cemetery going up.  The ghosts and ghouls have not arrived yet but I hear they are coming.  The veil just isn't thin enough for them to cross over yet.

The last pic is a quick glimpse of the walkthrough being built.  I have most of it finished.  You are looking down the hall past the parlour and into the kitchen.  I am hoping to have everything ready by Saturday so I can have a friends and family night preview. 

Well, I need to get back to contacting my ghost friends and finishing up props.  And if I don't get a post in before Halloween - have a fun and safe one. 

Happy Halloween!  Happy Haunting!  Happy Samhain!

The Promo is Here!

Hello all you Halloween and Yard Haunt fans,

I have finally - finally finished my first Chabby House promo video.  I know it may be a bit rough around the edges but I can't help but be proud of it.  So, here it is at last.

Chabby House Promo 2016

Moving Along

Sorry I haven't posted in a bit. I have been busy with modifying plans, building props and trying to keep dry.  Calgary has seen a lot of rain this summer and it has really affected everything from being able to work and build outside to how I am feeling from one day to the next. 

So, lets get this show on the road and give you a quick preview of what I am working on.  First, I have written a back story for the haunt which, of course, called for new props to bring it all together.  I started with new tombstones.

While working on them, I went into our shed looking for my Surform Shaver. I never found the shaver but met Mr. Mouse. He should have been a little gray mouse but due to munching on the bird seed I had left in there, he was a pretty big mouse.  This meant we now had to pull everything out of the shed  to clean up the mess and bleach it down.  During this process I discovered that several of my old tombstones had been used as nests. It was suggested that I keep them and just chalk up the damage to age and wear but I could not find any real reason a piece of  'stone' would have a perfectly round hole in it. Off to the dump they went.

Now I had to replace them. On the bad side was the extra work (and cost) I wasn't counting on.  On the good side -  I could remake them better than they were before.  When I first made tombstones I used the white Styrofoam and trenched out the backs to add PVC that would slide over rebar. This always meant they could only really be seen from the front.  My new tombstones have the PVC in the middle so now I don't really need to worry about which direction they are seen from.  More flexibility in setting up the graveyard. I am also using a combination of pink and white Styrofoam. More expensive  pink for the carved front and cheaper white for the backs.  In all I will have about 9 new tombstones this year. 

Next I decided I needed to replace my witches' old spell book.  My original was carved out of white Styrofoam.  The cover was just a piece of construction paper.  The open pages were printed out and glued to the inside of the open book.  Then I Mod-Podged the entire thing to make is a bit more resistant to the elements - which around our neck of the woods is usually snow.

Well, that old book is now looking a bit worse for wear so I decided to do up a new one.  I am still working on it but this is what I have so far.

I started with some old legal size paper that was lying around my house.  I folded sections of it in half.  Then I put them in a pile.  I had an idea of what I wanted to do but decided to google and see if I could find some actual info on building a book.  I loosely followed the instructions on

http://geekygoblin.blogspot.ca/2011/07/binding-book-pages-together-sewing.html


I also sew so I went through some old material and found some left over white broadcloth and grabbed a needle and thread. Then following the instructions on the above blog, sewed the pages together.  I now have the basics of a book. 

My next step is to find some cardboard to build the cover and attach it. I will then press the book open and glue the spell pages I created and printed into the middle. Then I think I will antique the entire thing. Lastly, I will either Mod-Podge it or pick up some clear Leak Seal and spray the entire thing to protect it.  I also don't want the pages to close while people are walking through the haunt.

A few other projects I have been working on are: getting the back story finalized to be posted, a couple of promo videos, a stirring cauldron, a flying crank ghost, building a prop wood stove, a few more wall frames, and a few more sections of fence.

I think that is it for now. Keep an eye out for my back story which I will be posting soon. 

Happy Haunting!

Flashback

I was looking through some pictures to find a couple to put up on my new Chabby House Facebook page when I found a Halloween picture from 2007.  My Halloween display sure has come a long way since then.

125 Days Until Halloween

So, things are chugging along.  I have cut out most of my new tombstones and hope to get two more done in the next couple of days - then aging and painting and more aging.  I built some new stones to go along with my background story I wrote this year.  I may still tweak it a bit before it is finished and ready for posting.  I am hoping to post it in a promo/movie style but we will see how it goes.  I am not on a Mac and it seems Mac has the best programs - especially since Windows stopped supporting its movie maker.  I have been looking into some other programs so we will see  how it goes.

I am not sure how much bigger the haunt will be this year - costs being what they are - but I am hoping for more detail, better lighting and more chilling. 

I was able to pick up a couple of motors from frightprops.com as well as a few decorations. I do like Frightprops.  They ship to Canada without too many problems, although shipping costs do add up if you aren't careful. 

More to come. . . .

Halloween 2016

The planning has started for Halloween 2016.  This year Halloween is on a Monday so that will likely affect the number of people heading over on Halloween night.  But I (we) are still going ahead.  I have written Part 1 of the Legend of Chabby House and the plan is it to turn it into a bit of a movie/promo so people will know the theme of the haunt and be prepared for what is happening inside.

I have a list of things I need to build, repair and improve for this year and purchasing has already started.  Once I get a few things built I will be posting the pics. 

I have a real focus this year and hope I have the time (and money) to get it all done. Although, like many a haunter, I probably won't. 

Until next time, Happy Haunting!

Halloween 2015

Well, haven't I been the lazy one?  Finally, here are some pics of Chabby House, Halloween 2015.

I go for a more creepy and chilling Halloween Haunt as opposed to the gore alot of haunts have these days. It scares a few of the little ones but the older seem to think it fun and not scary at all.  I will have to work on that.

I rebuilt the pillars again this year.  I went with a wood frame and covered in dry wall.  They looked really good. I also, at my hubby's suggestion, added electrical to one so we can hide a few of our cords. I also revamped the arch itself. I covered them up over the winter so, fingers crossed, I don't have to do a lot of work on them again in 2016.  We also added a better fence. I will be making more sections this year.

We built our first walk through this year.  The ToTrs were met with the Grim Reaper.  As the night wore on and it got colder, the batteries started to fail but it was cool while it lasted.  By the time it was really dying, the kids were pretty much done. We picked up the Reaper at Canadian Tire.  It lit up, spoke and had flapping wings.

This was the first section in the walk through this year. I was going for a creepy overgrown feel.

Our dropping spider hung out here, along with bugs and snakes. If you look close, you might be able to see him.

You can see the doorway into the next room, the witches' lair.

This is a pic of the witches' lair looking back toward the doorway.  It definitely will need more lighting next year.  It was too dark to see all the detail - potion bottles, etc. You can also see a bit of the altar beside the witch.  She is facing two other witches - part of my haunt since the beginning - one stirring her cauldron and the other reading from the spell book.

This is a close up of the altar.  We set up my hubby's monitor to show a ghost video - Ghostly Apparitions, from AtmosFearFX.  People seemed to enjoy it. I am using more Celtic flavour of props - due to my wanting to promote the past meaning of Halloween as Samhain, a time to honour our ancestors and the dead. 

The Scarecrow was at the top of the haunt where it turned to head back out.  I had my jumping spider and skeleton here as well but they were hard to see in the dark.  More planning to do for next year.

The last section to go through before you left the haunt was the crypt. This is where I had my ghosts. The one you can see lit up also made noise and moved which was pretty cool.

Again, this past year we suffered through the winds of late October but the temperature was good and we had more kids than ever before. 

I have already started planning for 2016.  I have picked up a couple of deer motors from FrightProps so I will have a couple more animated props. 

This coming year will be harder as Halloween is on a Monday night but we will do our best. So, hope to see you in October! Bigger and Better!

Happy Haunting.