Halloween!

Two posts within days from me, Blogger won't know what to think!  But I said I was heading off after my last post to decorate for Halloween, and indeed I did.

I love transforming my house at this time of year - I think I love it even more than Christmas, just because the time of year itself is such a huge relief at the end of a hot summer, and this year particularly when my family not far away were repeatedly threatened with evacuation (and once, actually evacuated) due to fires from record-breaking heat. 

My friend Val made me these felted wool gourd guys - aren't they fantastic? I was so excited to get them out this year for the first time. I should have taken a picture of the back of the green one too - he's got the cutest butt crack!

And speak of being excited to get something out, this papier-mache jack o lantern at the top was a Christmas present from my Mom last year - it's the real thing, very old, which is hard to find since most got destroyed over the years, especially since they didn't have battery powered candles back in the day!

My husband surprised me with this transformation, below. This guy normally has a lovely face and is carrying a crusade flag (the piece is titled "Personal Crusade"), so he put a black hood over his face and made an ax for him - I couldn't figure out what on earth he was doing that he needed to borrow red paint. He's pretty proud, and deservedly so!

This is a cabinet in my bathroom.

I love the old beat up wind-up lion below, but he's in such bad shape that I think he's only appropriate for Halloween!