[S.A.M]

Happy Halloween everyone! It's here the big day is finally here
I hope you have a fantastic day and have a tonne of fun doing whatever you're doing to mark this wonderfully wicked day!

Today couldn't have started any better for me, a lovely misty start to the morning at sunrise:



Halloween Weather forecast:


A little later the postman brought me a card all the way from Boise, ID:


Lala what fantastic timing, it arrived on Halloween!! Thank you very much!!  

I'll jump straight to it, the pumpkins! I didn't pose them with any props or backgrounds this year so I'll just drop the stairs shot and a couple of my faves. The group shot isn't as good as usual because the pumpkins were too big to get three on each step! Need to get widen stairs because there's no way I'm buying smaller pumpkins:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!


It's almost time, kids. The clock is ticking. Be in front of your TV sets for the Horrorthon, followed by the Big Giveaway. Don't miss it. And don't forget to wear your masks. The clock is ticking. It's almost time.





I'll update later with more Halloween night photos/videos. I haven't even got my pumpkins out of the shed and on display yet   Enjoy your evening everyone, have fun and stay safe

[Raven]

Always love the stairs shot! You can never move, or if you do you will have to make sure you have stairs! I love the 3 Halloween 'kins in the window, too.

[Mayor of Haddonfield]

That's a strong group of carves right there S.A.M.! Love the Halloween III carves. Can't wait to do them next year!

[Ajax]

Awesome stuff as usual sam love the Halloween masks I made an attempt at them myself but disendegrating stick and carve was my downfall I threw it out. Yours look awesome and great in the window. Congrats happy halloween!

[ghostface]

Marvelous carves SAM! Very clean, and I love the grouping!

[nameless]

Good stuff. The Silver Shamrock masks look great in the wondow!

[shaft28]

Fantastic carves, sounds like a great Halloween!

[S.A.M]

Thanks guys you all
Halloween was great, I had so many trick or treaters at my door; it was amazing! I had gangs of the younger ones coming early on and then the older ones later, they're the ones who got the scares! Just when I thought it was all over another lot of kids would come along, I'm guessing the earlier ones were telling all their friends to get up here, we had several cars pull up through the night to take a look and get some treats. A tonne of amazing comments from everyone, about the pumpkins, the decorations and Hallowindow! "Amazing garden" "This is the best house" "10/10" "It's too scary"

People screaming, laughing and crying (sorry). Oh man I really loved it, the sense of excitement, the Halloween magic that you can feel was there last night, it was amazing. No matter how tired I get putting it all together on my own and taking it all down, that feeling, that magical feeling of the night will ensure I'll always do it for as long as I'm able to!

Time for some photos: Haunting my haunt:




Okay no one warned me about how sweaty latex masks can get felt like I was drowning, not a pleasant experience. BUT I had too much fun with this! Got a few good scares, just standing there motionless in front of the corn and then turning to look at them bwahaha!

Halloween tree:


Severed heads in the corn patch:


The garden in full:


Pumpkins through the corn:


I had some tasty sweetcorn off of those plants throughout the summer but decided to keep the plants as I thought they'd make a creepy Halloween decoration, I think they did that job well!

Here are some videos but you'll have to click through Twitter to see them as I don't know how to get them onto YouTube, sorry:

Daytime set up:

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Trick or Treaters eye view of the display:

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Hallowindow in action:

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So that was it, Halloween done for another year; everything has been boxed up and put away. I hope you all had a great time, let's do it all again next year!!!

If you have been, thanks for reading

[nosferatu]

Well, well, well, love those videos. Your dog has stolen my heart! Grea videos, you have used Hallowindow to great effect. I don't care what it costs, I'm doing it next year. What do you project onto?

The carves as always, are first class as are the photos. Photography to some isn't important, they just enjoy the fun and the experience, but for me it adds another dimension and another thrill. It's almost like living your Halloween vicariously. The video of the tot experience is excellent, the lights up that long path add to the miasma and I could feel the sense of anticipation. Great job.

The mask worked superbly. It would have been a brown trousers moment for me NDCS that sacred stairs shot, truly stunning and I love that spider backdrop or did you buy a bunch of bananas from Waitrose and the spiders have all emerged? I salute you Sir!

[Ajax]

Pure awesome! . love the videos display etc. Your house would defineitly be my first stop on Halloween.

Your Groot turned out awesome I had some trouble with mine but yours is perfect.

[mesmark]

What an awesome display of pumpkins and the whole yard! I can imagine how cool and frightening that must have been for the kids walking up to your place. The pumpkin look amazing and the stair shot is awesome as usual. Looking at all those awesome carves makes me think I need to spend a little more time on pumpkins!

Excellent job all around! 10/10!

[BrookR1]

You've got a wonderful yard and home with lots of interesting places to put stuff. It has great depth and it's very colorful. Great job!

[Pumpken]

That is a great Halloween display. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[S.A.M]

Thanks for the kind comments everyone

Nos: I can't recommend Hallowindow enough, I've been using it since 2009; I can't believe it's been that long, you started the original thread on it if I remember correctly. I project onto a white bed sheet cut to size, seems to work (glimpse behind the curtain:

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). I love the audio as much as the video from it, it adds a soundtrack to the display. Just a shame there hasn't been any new animations for a couple of years. Connect your laptop and you can broadcast a YouTube playlist of Halloween music videos, NBC, Thriller etc as long as you have the required copyright license to do so of course *ahem*

Ajax: Thanks, Groot was a very delicate carve, quite a few delicate long bits that are easy to cut through or damage when taking out the parts

mesmark: Thanks I usually start carving three - four days before Halloween and they normally keep well, however this year it was milder than usual and the pumpkins had started to turn by Halloween thankfully only around the lids and bottoms, the patterns were still intact.

BrookR1: Yeah the tree and hanging basket brackets really help out with where to hang stuff

This was me on Sunday


This year was a wonderful Halloween and I miss it but we'll do it again next year

[monstermash]

S.A.M your thread is always such a treat to look at. I'm in love with the lighting in your stair shots, every year I just gaze at it for ages. The carving is as always top notch. I was so pleased for you when I saw the Shamrock Mask trio, I knew you'd have to carve it. They look fantastic carved don't they!? I'm really glad you decided to don the mask and scare a few brats, er, I mean darling children. I made a child cry on halloween night too. It sounds absolutely terrible but I was quite chuffed until I realised I hadn't started on my costume or make up

One of these years we'll have to join forces for a Halloween like never before. Wouldn't that be frightful!