Boo, Y'all!

I just wanted to share some photos of the Halloween treasures I found around town this week in Shreveport, LA...

Lewis', a local home and gift store, is one of my favorite places to shop each year for Halloween goods!

They have some wonderful items in stock again this year!

Lewis' will ship to you wherever you are if you see anything you like!

I loved this huge, fuzzy spider!

Red Door Interiors, which has locations both in Shreveport and Baton Rouge, LA, also has a fantastic Halloween display right now...

My favorite item they had was this beautiful, glittery garland. I bought two pieces:

These pink and black witches are fantastic, too:


More glittery garland...
...And one more shot of some Halloween items at our local Barnes and Noble!:


Happy Halloween shopping, everybody!

Gearing Up for Halloween In New Orleans!

Hi Everybody! I just got back from New Orleans, where I celebrated my birthday with a friend over the weekend.

I have visited The Crescent City during Halloween weekend before. Back in 1995 I was there with some friends for Anne Rice's annual Memnoch Ball. If you ever get a chance to visit during Halloween season, it is a great place to be with lots going on! But this weekend, I was on the hunt for any early Halloween shopping I could do while I was down there...



Santa's Quarters, a holiday shop on Decatur Street, had an excellent selection of Halloween ornaments and a few decorative items:



I loved this creepy half-skeleton cat with a rat crawling out of its body:



I bought a shiny, vintage-style pumpkin ornament while I was there.


Just down the street from Santa's Quarters is David's Found Objects. Owner David Peltier had a pretty sweet collection of vintage Halloween items:

He told me this was the "overflow" from his own personal antique Halloween collection!


Across Decatur Street near the French market, Head to Toe had a very stylish Halloween display in the window:


This glittery skull purse is fancy!:

You can tell that owner Carol Earth has a good eye for sophisticated Halloween decor.

Pretty glass pieces from the window display:

...and one more shot of a beautiful witch in the window!:

Of course, it doesn't have to be Halloween season for you to come across some spooky things in the French Quarter!


Here are some shots I took at various gift shops around town...

A lot of the bigger gift/souvenir shops had a voodoo theme...


I liked this display of a skeleton playing a pipe organ...

Here's a scary guy greeting tourists at the entrance of one shop:

...and this display was on the back of the wall in the same shop:


My friend Elisabeth and I took a Haunted History tour of the French Quarter one night! Here are the long lines waiting for the tours just off Bourbon Street:


Tours meet up just outside Rev. Zombie's Voodoo shop at dusk:


Just before the tour, we checked out Marie Laveau's House of Voodoo on Bourbon Street:

What a fun weekend!

Next up: Halloween shopping in Santa Fe, New Mexico next month!

Halloween Shopping Around the South

Weather-wise, it is still reaching into the triple digits here south of the Mason-Dixon. One thing that keeps me venturing back out into the brutal heat is knowing that there are already Halloween goodies out there to be found!


On a trip to Greenville, South Carolina last week, I got to visit an A. C. Moore arts and crafts store. I don't have one of these where I live in Louisiana, so it was fun to explore and see what they had in stock where Halloween merchandise is concerned. They did not disappoint!

These little fuzzy cat kits are really cute!


As usual, Martha Stewart has another amazing collection of Halloween paper goods and stickers this year.


If you have an A. C. Moore near you, you might want to check out the fun dishes and tablewear they have available for your Halloween party this year!

...and if you live pretty much anywhere in the eastern half of the United States, you probably live near a Cracker Barrel Restaurant!

Cracker Barrel has another fantastic collection of Halloween decor, toys, and costumes this year. Their "Best Witches" line is a lot of fun! I picked up the orange eyeball mug...


...as well as the light-up pumpkin on the right!:


Lots of glittery, witchy goodness!:


I also acquired one of these funky orange hats from their costume section:

They had green and purple hats, too!

These country-style pumpkin pillows are really cute and well-made:


So get your Halloween shopping on! I will be in New Orleans this weekend to celebrate my birthday...I will post more photos of any "Halloweenery" I find!

Halloween found right now all around us!

I have spent the last few weeks hitting the stores in search of this years Halloween line up. Here is what I have found!

Yankee Candle Had their Halloween Boney Bunch preview parties yesterday (check your local Yankee Candle, this is a yearly event) and they are now up for sale!
Those of you in the know about these treasures, know that the most popular sell out often in under 48 hours in the stores but within the first 24 hours online!

~online Yankee sales offer $5.00 flat rate shipping for all orders under $100 right now~


Also, the wedding bunch Boney and his bride retail for $15-$30 depending on the piece. This Boney bride and her groom are featured each year in 3-4 different collectible scenarios. Once gone, that is it. You will then need to turn to ebay and break out the safe deposit box to even touch one of these coveted goodies for under $200 buck-a-roos!.

At this same time EVERY year Yankee Candle is kind enough to send out coupons to all on their mailing list. These coupons are for $5.00 off when you spend $25.00 or more. Plus once in the store they will offer a Boney collectible piece at a very discounted rate if you spend at least $20 in the store.
My store offered a large Boney The Skelly Candy Bowl (usually $30) for only $7.00 with my $20 purchase!
My store also allows me to do multiple transactions so that I get the most discounts applicable!

There are a dozen+ of Boney Bunch choices so head online (their website is currently timing out from such high visitor numbers-so come back later) or go into your store to find the ones that speak to you!

Eternal Slumber

These were the two I was SMITTEN with, turns out these are already sold out online but stores have a few here or there (ask them to please check the back for you).

Boney Claus

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Michael's Arts and Crafts had their decorative items start to come out for sale 2 weeks ago!



The SpookyTown Haunted Villages by Lemax are now out at Michael's and may I say they hit a home run with this baby-The Wheel of Horror!!


Worth every dime of $129.00 asking price if you ask me-Plus just use the 40+% coupons they give out online and with every purchse. Haunted carousel with Skull baskets that hold every favorite Halloween Monster you have ever held near and dear to your heart.

Here is a lil video I shot with my iphone the other night.




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The Joanns fabric stores have loaded up with loads of creepy cloths and great decorative fabrics to help create festive table coverings and more.
Right now they are 20% OFF!

I bought the above patterns to use for small applications, Stripes, dots and harlequin patterns are just sooo yummy. Their selection goes way beyond what I have shown here.

So get your costumes under way soon my friends before all the best fabrics are gone. As of yesterday Joanns had little in the way of Haunted Home Decor but loads of autumn picks.
If you have an iphone download the coupon apps (Coupon Sherpa & Yowza) specifically have 40-50% coupons off at Joanns!


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Finally I leave you with the proof of Halloween is always here! I found this with Marie Patterson during one of our very recent cemetery photography days in Bucks County, Pa

~Happy Haunting Season my friends~

~dani~