Dreams...

So everyone has Dreams... no. I mean like Dreams we dream each night in REM sleep...

I happen to be one of those people who VIVIDLY remembers the things she dreams.  I remember people, places, sights, colors, sounds... I remember it all.  Last night was no exception, except it's been a while since the dream was so vivid... usually I'll remember one thing I did, not an entire dream sequence; although I do sometimes get the whole dream, I just forget to write it out, so it goes away after a few hours.

Last night I dreamed my name had been Changed to Ashlee, and I was back in College.  I was doing my thesis on oil drilling platforms, and their impact on the planet, when I was invited by the CEO of a small oil company to tour one of his local platforms.  I took him up on the offer, and when I arrived was told (as most of my dreams involve some stupid crazy thing I have to do), I would have to SWIM to the platform where this oil rig was located as they were currently out of boats to take me there. 

Ok.  It was only 100-150yds offshore, so I thought no problem... and as it turned out I'm an excellent dream swimmer because I was there in no time, and apparently didn't even get my clothes wet!! 

So When I arrive on the platform I am shown to an area where there are 2 other girls also working on things.  One was doing a mathematics thesis, and the other a political piece.  We all got to talking and quickly became friends while waiting for the CEO to arrive.  He arrived, we did our thing..then he jumped in the water and said he was out! And then he was gone... back to shore.  We apparently weren't told that we should have followed him because a few moments later our oil rig took off at high speed.  We asked where it was going, and were told LONDON... WTH.  There was NO WAY for us to leave at this point, and no way to call home and let them know what happened.  So we stuck it out.

Upon arriving in london 3 days later (sped up in dream time it actually felt like seconds), we were filthy, gross, tired, and desperately needed a change of clothes.  We found a payphone and i told the girls (Sierra and Shawna) it would be a few minutes, so they decided to go off in search of a hostel, hotel, or SOMETHING where we could get cleaned up.  A short while later they come strolling back to me all cleaned up and in new clothes.  We hadn't brought anything with us, so I asked... where?  They took me to a little shop called "ODO SALON"... Turns out in my dreamworld, SALON means COMPLETE Salon, including showers!! 

The little asian ladies that ran the place were THRILLED to see me, and when I asked how much a shower was they said 59... thinking 59 pounds I said hell no, and then she goes no... .59, 59 pence!...  The equivalent of about $1 US... I was in FRICKEN HEAVEN... So she shows me to the shower room, and I realize there's a bunch of people showering... hell, $1 a shower.. hell ya!  It turns out to be the nicest, most incredible shower EVER... So I get out of the shower thinking... ok. I need clothes.... So I yell to Asia (irony that the asian was named asia? no. i just apparently have little imagination), and she brings me BEAUTIFUL designer clothes.  While I'm standing there though in a towel and not much else, other people start to emerge from the showers as well... and then in walks HUGH LAURIE in nothing but a towel!!  (If you don't know who hugh laurie, he plays HOUSE on TV...google it).  He started talking philosophy and whatnot, and mentioned that we had stumbled upon the greatest secret in all the world.. ODO's.  It was then that I was awoken by a MEAN little kitty who thought 6am was a good time for me to wake up.

So now I'm on a life quest.  To find ODO's SALON... I know it can't possibly exist, but a girl has got to believe that such a place must exist...somewhere... complete salon for a $1...everything was $1.  Nails. Hair, Shower. Tanning. EVERYTHING.  Even the designer clothes.

Some Dreams are good.

Haunted Places I want to visit

so in surfing the web (as I often do), I found a list of 25 places someone who loves halloween should visit...So now this is my goal.  To visit all of these places!

Shocktoberfest, Reading, PA


Terror Behind the Walls, Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, PA  (This one is a MUST SEE!!  I am seriously excited this is on the list!)

The ScareHouse, Pittsburgh, PA

The 13th Gate, Baton Rouge, LA

The House of Shock Horror Show, Jefferson, LA

Erebus, Pontiac, MI

Wisconsin Feargrounds, Waukesha, WI

Fear Itself, Mishawaka, IN
Necropolis: City of Perpetual Darkness, Indianapolis, IN

Nightmare New England and SpookyWorld, Litchfield, NH
Dead Acres, Pataskala, OH

The Dent SchoolHouse, Cincinnati, OH

Terror Town, Toledo, OH

7 Floors of Hell, Cleveland, OH (I heard this one gets increasingly scary and violent as you go!)

Ghostly Manor, Sandusky, OH

The Fear Haunted House at Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
The Haunted Hotel, Louisville, KY (we have this here in Daygo...)

CHAOS, Kennedale, TX

Reindeer Manor, Red Oak, TX

Thrillvania, Terrell, TX
Farmaggedon, Near Formby & Ormskirk, Northwest United Kingdom

Shipwreck Halloween at the Queen Mary, Long Beach, CA (DEFINITELY want to do this! I've seen pictures and it's super creepy!)

Hobb’s Grove, Sanger, CA

Hacker House, Pilot Mountain, NC

Woods of Terror on Church Street, Greensboro, NC
 
Honestly though, I am quite shocked that Forest of Fear was not on this list.  I've heard it's among the BEST.  It's actually on my list of places to visit.  I don't see me getting to the NW UK any time soon so I'll probably substitute forest of fear for Farmaggedon....
 
So who wants to be my sugar daddy and fly me to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina and Texas?

Tutorial of the Week: Cheap Halloween Fencing

Havent you always wanted to enclose your entire front yard in wrought-iron fencing for halloween, only to find out that it's so expensive there is literally NO WAY you can afford it?  I felt like this. I then tried to find alternatives.  Like Plastic Fencing from one of the Halloween companies, and found out that it too is extremely expensive (and often flimsy!).  So I went in search of do-it-yourself fencing on the internet.  I found a few good tutorials, and some excellent references for parts (I'll tell you later!) but nothing that stood out at me as perfect for what I wanted.  I wanted simple Black fencing with pretty little finials on top.

I searched http://www.hauntproject.com/ and http://www.halloweenmonsterlist.info/ but everyone had their own odd ways of doing things.  Seeing that I work for a Countertop/Cabinet manufacturer I have access to all kinds of tools and workspace I could possibly need, but for you at home, this can be done with just a drillgun, and small nails.  I of course used a nailgun with the large compressor, and found out the hard way that I was totally overkilling the nail stapling.  The wood is soft enough that a simple hammer should suffice.  The drilling of the holes is another issue entirely... I totally recommend you find a drillgun that has a cord and plugs in, otherwise you will definitely run the batteries out on the cordless drillguns...and quickly.  All in all I found this project although time consuming, well worth the effort.

Tutorial Guidelines:
What you need:
8 foot long pieces of 1/2 in x 1 1/2" wood (From Home depot they are $.82 each)  You will need 2 for each 8 foot section of fencing, so plan accordingly.
2-3 pieces of 1/2" PVC Pipe per 8 foot section (approx $1.10 each), depending on how tall you want your fencing.
a Corded Drillgun with a 3/4" bit on it.
Small Nails (like the ones used for hanging light pictures)
Hammer
Black Paint - you can hand paint the pieces or spray them like we did
1 Can of Silver or Gold Spray Paint (Your preference - we went with silver) 
6-10 Finials per 8ft section of fencing (we ordered these online - http://www.kingmetals.com/Catalog/CatalogListing.aspx?CatalogId=C39&CatalogDetailId=594  )
Heatgun or really hot blowdryer.

Total Cost of an 8ft section of Fencing is about $11 or so depending on what you buy.

Pictures are worth a thousand words so here's the pictures....

Basically you will want to cut the 10' PVC into even heights (we used 30 inches - which is 4 pieces out of each piece of PVC), and we spaced ours out to use 12 pieces per section of fence.  You will want to drill the holes leaving less at the ends (when you match up the fencing it will appear even spacing)... Just get a pencil and mark it out on a piece of wood. 

You will want to drill holes using a 3/4" drillbit in the dead-center of each piece (on the wideside people)  After you have drilled ONE piece, then use that piece to MARK your marks on all subsequent pieces.  This insures that you get even fencing...

Check your fencing by putting it together... make sure it looks right.  Then pull it all apart.

Finish with your cuts of the PVC and the drilling of your holes.  Next up: PAINTING! Yay!

We suggest getting a painters tarp (the cheap cheap ones), and stretch it out and lay out your pieces on this.  line them up, a bunch at a time.  The Spray them with the spray paint, or handpaint them or whatever.  The tarp keeps the paint contained...

Make sure you get it all good and dark, but you don't have to be a stickler. No one will see the holes, so you don't have to paint those... REALLY.  Once all of this is dry you can go ahead and put it all together like in the first picture again.  Make sure your bottom row is FLAT... Stand it up and check.  What I did was put a nail in the bottom rung on one end, stood it up, matched the other end, and did the same thing.   You will want to make sure you don't put nails in the BOTTOM wood of the middle, or whatever pieces you are going to stick Rebar in for your yard (btw, rebar is AWESOME for making this stuff stand up!!) 

Once you have your nails in your wood (one nail PER piece of PVC should be enough.) comes the fun part.  Getting the Finials on. 

Some people glue them onto the top, but it looks tacky imho.  I used a Heatgun, and basically MELTED the top of the PVC and wearing GLOVES cuz the melted PVC is FRICKEN HOT!!, I mold the pvc inwards and shove the Finials in place.  Once it dries, it will retain the shape of the inside of the finial (thus making a SQUARE fit on a Circle! yay!). 

As you can see in this picture we have already done the silver painting.  This can be done at ANY point.  We brushed it on as we were doing the finials, but it's really a personal choice.  We then LIGHTLY sprayed the finials with the silver spray paint... REAL LIGHT.. Like a DUSTING really.  You don't want them silver, but you want them to seem...castiron.  And once you have done this you can pull off some of the finials and glue them down permanently.. Although they stay on PRETTY well on their own.

You are Done.  It takes the better part of an entire day to do this.  I'd say the drilling of the holes took the longest, followed by the painting.  But I ended up with a pretty awesome looking fence for my front yard... Check out the pics of it being used:

We had one side leaning so it looked sort of old and abandoned...

Halloween in April?

Most people think I am pretty insane for planning Halloween in April, and even crazier when I tell them that I am already behind schedule!

Today I am torn between designing halloween stuff, and actually going in to work and doing the business taxes for the year and my normal work...  it's 9am, and I'm still sitting here at home.  Can you see my lack of motivation yet?

Yesterday my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday.  Oddly enough I answered "a sewing machine"... Cuz frankly she can't get me what I REALLY want, which is pink or blue foamboard that is 2in thick.  I know that sounds like an odd gift request, but here's why:

Pink and Blue Foamboard can be cut, shaped, painted, decorated, and turned into all kinds of halloween things, especially Gravestones.  I am desperate for some heavyduty awesome new gravestones this year.  It Can also be used to create just about ANYTHING else you need for Halloween decor.  I already have my fencing, but I was thinking of adding another 6-7 sections and enclosing the ENTIRE front yard at my parents, so the ToT's won't be able to go the wrong way.  I also want to use the fencing to go all the way to the front door, so the ToT's don't think its ok to walk across the bushes and the neighbors plants (the neighbors REALLY don't like kids, halloween, Christmas, or any holiday for that matter.  They never turn on their lights for halloween, and any kid brave enough to knock on their door anyways gets no answer from within.). 

Anyways.  The pink and blue foamboard is apparently not available period in Southern California because there is no "practical" use for it here being that it is supposed to be used as heavy duty insulation in houses.  Frankly that irritates me a bit... No. A LOT.  Why not carry at least a few pieces at lowes or Home Depot.  So THAT is why I want a sewing machine for my birthday instead.  I am actually pretty good at sewing, and totally fixed/changed the horrendous skirt that Nancy Skolota had made me for halloween last year and turned it into something actually wearable!  Imagine That.  The funny thing is She supposedly went to school for Costume Design, but her sewing on everyone but her own costumes sucks. Especially Mine.  I think having a costume last year that didn't work at ALL.  She created me this shirt that she initially made like 8 sizes too small, and then tried to fix it with a weird ass addon across the front.  Needless to say I took one look at it, and threw it in the trash.  I paid like $5 for the fabric for it, and frankly I would have been better off just buying a shirt like I ended up doing the morning of the Party.  As for the Jacket she made, apparently she has an inability to listen to what people want when creating costumes.  She made me a WEIRD jacket that only goes to the sides of my waste.  It doesn't close, and she had PLENTY of Fabric.  I bought like 5 yds of the Jacket Fabric.  I tried it on, and aside from only going to the sides of my waste, it fit perfect.  But again, totally unwearable.  And finally there was the Bodice.  The DAY OF THE PARTY she hands me a completely unfinished bodice, and says "you'll have to do the gromets to wear it"....  It was 2 hrs before the party.  What was she thinking?  I think she honestly thought she was going to sabotage my costume and I would just not show up to my own party.  Fortunately for me, I had a bodice from Frederick's of Hollywood stashed away for just this purpose.  When I asked her 7 days before the party and she told me she hadn't started my bodice, I decided to go spend real money and get one.

So this is why I want a sewing Machine.  I am a better seamstress than THAT, and managed to salvage and fix the ONE thing in my entire costume she made me, that I actually wore on Halloween.  I'll probably wear it again too. 

What you can't see in this picture is that the skirt has about 3 yds of fabric on my ass making it look twice as big.  This pic was taken later in the evening, after several drinks, thus why my rifle is down my bodice, and the bottom 3 snaps on my bodice are undone...  But the skirt fabric was SO AWESOME.  It was such a great find, so I had to save the skirt.  Btw, Guy in the Picture with me is named Tim, but he came as Les Grossman from Tropic Thunder (Tom Cruise).  He played the part so well and hit on everyone there.  It was awesome, and why I love him so much.  He's truly one of my best friends, and this pic kinda shows how we are together.  It's ALWAYS fun when we get together.  Ask Greg.  LOL.

Anywho.  That's it for today's Blog... Maybe I'll post a tutorial this weekend on something I created last year.  =)

It sounds like a horror movie...

This weekend we went out to Superstition Mountain, which is north of plaster city and west of El Centro, CA.  It was one of the lamest trips to the desert ever, aside from the WONDERFUL people I went with.  These people can make a crappy desert trip seem like the best time ever... really.  The hardpack was rocky and the sand was powder.  There was no inbetween, so the buggies and quads were none-to-happy with us riders.  I only went on 1 buggie ride; Thank you Angel for 87.6 MPH at 5 minutes to Midnight!!; and 1 quad ride, where aaron says I only got up to 28 mph, but it seemed a lot faster.

I haven't posted much in the last 2 weeks because I was diagnosed with a Kidney Stone, then we went to the desert and then yesterday I was diagnosed with Back Spasms as a result of either the Kidney stone or lifting too much weight over the weekend... regardless I was given Flexiril which makes it virtually IMPOSSIBLE to care about ANYTHING, even Halloween which I love so much...

So right now I don't have much halloween to talk about, but hopefully after I manage to unpack everything from the desert and clean up my room, I'll have some new projects to post.  I was working on a Shirt for Disneyland that says FANTASMIC in Swarovski Crystals... It's not done yet, but I'll post a pic of what I got so far...

That is all for today.  Good Hauntings to All!

New Camera!!

This is the Camera I desperately wish to own.


It is exactly what I need to break into the photography business. 

Someone be my sugar daddy and buy this for me?

That's all for today, since yesterday I spent the day at the Hospital being Diagnosed with Kidney Stones... Fun Times. Really.

Halloween through the years

I was playing around on my computer last night, and came across pictures from my childhood through adulthood that give you an idea of how long I have loved Halloween...I still need to take a day and go to my parents house and start scanning all of their ancient pictures they have stored in the garage, which is really not the best place to keep heirloom photos...but that's another blog and whole other issues.

So here are some of my childhood pics:

And my Adulthood...

Fake Candles...No Flame = No Worry

A small little project I have been working on perfecting for a while took a turn for the Sparkly last night.  I thought I had finished my flameless candle project a few weeks ago, but something just didn't feel done about them...and then it HIT me... they needed GLITTER!!!  I mean, HELLO. Everything should sparkle... ok. maybe there are a few things that shouldn't sparkle... like Vampires.  Just my opinion.  Regardless. I broke out my Martha Stewart Glitters and some cheap Walmart white glue, and got to work....
Heres what they started out looking like:

And Here's the Finished Product:

So what is your opinions?  Do you like them how they started out? or with the Glitter.  I felt like the Drippings should stay non-glitter, but thats just my opinion. I've linked the 2 colors I used to create my unique sparkle...

What is this blog about?

Why are you here reading my blog?
Well I am an interesting person, and you want to know about the things in my life. Specifically this blog will be dedicated to all the things halloween that I love, roll across on the internet, or wish to peddle to you my lovely demented followers.

Me... Well I love Halloween. Don't get me wrong. I love other things too. My cat, my Family, the Chargers (please don't mock me about this. I probably know more about football than you do), Sunshine, the Desert, the Beach and all things in between. You see, I love LIFE. This is why most people find it odd that I love Halloween so much. Halloween makes me happy, and as I told one of my best friends the other day.. You have to find the things that make you happy, and keep doing them.

That brings me to this blog. I create, build, craft, sew and otherwise involve myself in things for halloween. This is anything from trips to Disneyland (think Haunted Mansion), to the Renaissance Faires, to trying to figure out how to modify storebought stuff to be creepier, and thus more awesome. Wicked Wishings is the things I am working on, want to work on, places I want to visit, things I have seen, pictures I have taken, and all the little stuff in between that makes Halloween a YEAR ROUND event.

So Please bookmark me, and come back often. I will try to enliven your otherwise dead lives.