Showing posts with label bats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bats. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 November 2016

October Life Update Part 2: Happy Halloween!


Hi readers and happy Halloween to everyone! 

So, it's fallen on a Monday this year, which is pretty cool cause I get to share Halloween on the actual night! Also, though it does mean that I've had to get ahead writing this because I've plans and I'm just so busy right now. Which is good, but also not so good. Anyway, in to this post. So the Jack O'Lantern above is my tester one. I wanted something real simple and quick, which this tree was, but I know it's a bit messing because I had to hurry making it. 

I made this on Thursday because my brother who's just moved out wanted pumpkin pie, which he would have missed out on as he moved on Friday. I'm super going to miss him as we get on great and he's moving far away. Well, about 5-6 hours drive away to Southampton which is past London and we live in Manchester. So, he wanted pumpkin pie and then it seemed a waste to let the outside go to waste, so I used it for practice.

Also, I've been having a go at taking some better photos. So hopefully that'll be useful. So this year I've three pumpkins, which I think is like the max I've every had. I've not carved all three though. I've only every done two. The third one was craved by the new man in my life. We've still just dating at the moment, but things are progressing. This was the first time he's carved a pumpkin! It was actually great fun doing it together. 

Here's the pumpkins before carving.       



This one's mine and I decided to go with a Count Dracula face, but I didn't get it right. So it kind of looks like a weird face. 



This one is my date's. He went with a really scary face. We also switched out a candle for this light up balloon which made his even more creepy.


I think it all went well and they turned out pretty good. I just love shopping in October and all the Halloween stuff really attracts me. I've tried hard not to spend as much money as I normally do, but I think I've not been able to stick to that! The first thing I brought for Halloween was actually this baby werewolf plush soft toy. He's from Build-A-Bear and I just fell in love with him so much! He's so fluffy and I find holding him real calming. Which has been great for my anxiety problem. I could have brought this little ripped up blue denim jacket for him, but then he'd also need pants. I do kind of like him the way he is, but maybe I might make him clothes at some point - be a lot cheaper! 



I treated myself to another bear from Spiral.com this year too. Last year, I got the vampire Vlad and this year I got the grim reaper teddy. They also have a cat with bat wings which I might get next year. These two look so cute together though! Also, they match what my date and I dressed up as, which was a little strange! 

  
I always love all the different cups, mugs, goblets, jars etc that the shops sell and you can get. I don't actually have many myself as I don't use them, surprisingly! However, that changed when I got the purple plastic bat sippy cup! I totally love it and I don't think there's a day gone by since I got it about three weeks ago now that I've not used it! The bats have googly eyes on and it's actually a really big almost a pint I'd say in size. Now, the mason jars. They are huge in America and seem to be growing in popularity here in the UK. I got the white one which has like Witch's drink on it first and then brought the orange for my date to have. So we'd be kinda matching, which I thought was cute. The fourth glass was actually the first I brought and I was thinking of using it more of a tea light holder or maybe a little vase. 


I am a massive fan of candles as most of you know. But we don't get many autumn/pumpkin scented candles here. So when I see one I always end up getting it. I found this abandoned on a side shelf of Halloween masks and though I tried to find some more, I couldn't. I smells great though. I also got the new Yankee Candles scent which was called Forbidden Apple. Which smells awesome, but I do feel let down by it because apple is one of my favorite smells and I have a big Granny Smith scented Yankee candle which smells almost the same to me. I've got a caramel/candied apple too.


Okay, so this year for the trick or treaters I just got a big bag of 'monster' sweets/candy. I made goodie bags last year and ran out, so this year I'm just going with this. I've a sweet tooth but Halloween sweets just appeal to me even more. My favorites are the Chewits fangs, but I can only get them from one shop for some reason! But they are so good. 

My mum actually brought me the Twinkies - we don't have them in the UK and only certain shops - American themed sweet shops have them. But we found these in the world food aisle in a supermarket and I just knew I had to give them a try! They are brought out for the new ghost buster movie, but I guess the supermarket was like they are Halloween-y. They are key lime flavor which is like one of my favourite things, but you can't actually buy a key lime pie or anything else that flavor here. No idea why, I'd love that to change! 

Then there's a packet of witch's fingers which are peanut butter and strawberry jam centered- so tasty. And a big box of fancy chocolates. These are so good and just I could eat them all. My mum originally thought I'd give them out to the kids, but they are too good for that and too cute! 


Halloween fancy chocolates.



I've actually brought a lot of table clothes this year. I got three. Though one I'm actually using as a veil for my costume though! That was the first and it's actually the cloth I used for the table to take this photos with. The second cloth is the colorful plastic one. Even though I'm not having a party and don't need to cover a food table, I thought this would be great for actually going on the table/s outside were the pumpkins are to be displayed. The second cloth is the sliver bat one and that actually has a runner with it too. It was expensive but I love the fabric! Then I got so spider cobwebs as I really need some more that were not white or black.   


 Today, has been really crazy. Had to carve the pumpkins and decorate the house. Luckily, I'd got a few things out of the attic for that, but I think the big box of stuff is under my bed somewhere and I didn't have time to get that. Anyway, the front of the house looks pretty good. It's kinda the same how I had it last year I think. I wanted to get like some gravestones and them dotted around the front lawn bit, but I didn't have the money. I also saw some more skeleton creatures - rats, ravens, spiders, but I couldn't find any when I went back for them. It looks the part anyway.

We put up the decorations up first thing and then we carved the pumpkins. This is how the display looked this year. 


Then finally there's us in our costumes. I went as a vampire bride and he was a grim reaper.


And I just have to show you my dad's costume! This was the one he made last year, but it's still so awesome. My mum and I helped him make it.



We decided to go to a local ghost walk tonight and though we didn't see any ghosts it was fun, and I learnt a little about the town I live in. We walked though the graveyard too and I took some creepy photos.




On Saturday evening, My date and I went into Manchester for a meal to celebrate my new job! I'm now a causal receptionist at the youth center. I've been volunteering on reception for the last 8 months and then this job came up and I totally aced the interview. So we went out to celebrate that. Also, Manchester was dressed for Halloween and there were a few different events on, but I think we must have missed them. Still though, I love the paper pumpkin lanterns in the trees and the gate was pretty cool. The town hall was lit up green, but you couldn't get there because they are busy putting up Christmas stuff and yes that is a big inflated Santa in the background!








Lastly, and I know it's not really got anything to do with Halloween, but I wanted to share this awesome wool I found. It was really cheap and I'm going to knit a nice woolly scarf with it!



Thanks for reading and I hope everyone has had a fun night! See you all next week!


Monday, 12 October 2015

October Update : Counting Down To Halloween

               



Hi readers,

My favorite time of year has rolled back around and now its' 19 days till Halloween! I'm so excited and have already done nearly all of my shopping. I've got some new decorations - black fabric, lights and a banner for my front door/garden. I've been making things and I got them to show you today! Also, planning out my baking, deciding my costume (I'm staying at home again this year, hopefully with my boyfriend coming to stay the weekend) and researching what design to carve on my pumpkins. The only thing left on the list is to get stuff for the trick-or-treaters. I'm torn between making goodie bags and just putting a random mix of sweets/candy into a bowl. 

There's a few other things I've got to do too; one of them is craft project, which I'll be including in my actually Halloween post. The other is to hunt down the Happy Halloween candle by Yankee candles. I've got two at the minute, but I found out a few weeks back that its' now been officially retried and getting hold of one is like panning for gold. I'm hoping the shop I got my last two from have got one in, but if not I won't be getting one this year. Tidying my house and decorating are of course on that list too. 

So, whilst I seem in a bit of a writing block today, I thought I'd do this post and get myself in the mode of writing. I've got the story and the ideas in my head, but for whatever reason I can't seem to put it down in physical form. That sounds kinda weird, because you'd think you'd just type or write the words and that'd be that. But it's the art of conveying what it's in my head which is the issue. For some reason the right words and the structure don't seem to want to come. There's not much that can be done other then to write through and just try to edit things later. I'll be doing that tonight after eating homemade stew and dumplings! 

That's the other thing I love about autumn, I get to eat all my favorite foods like stews, pies and soups. There's just something so wonderful about getting home from walking my dog in the woods or else having been wrapped up in writing for a few hours and tucking into a hot, filling meal. Speaking of which here's a photo of the chicken, leek and mushroom pie I made last week: 


It took me about two hours all together, but I'm way pleased with how it turned out and it tasted so nice. Everyone enjoyed it and I had the leftovers for lunch which tasted twice as good! I've added this recipe - it was actually a free leaflet in a supermarket that I picked up - to the recipe folder to be used again. I'll be putting up some more baking stuff on my Halloween post as I've got a list of savory and sweet things to make. And I digressed from what I set out to write..... 

Okay, so I'm huge on making things for Halloween, just in case you didn't already know that and Pinterest is my awesome place for discovering things and putting them all in one place. A few weeks back I was looking at some craft ideas for the Youth Centre children to have a go at and I found the pattern for a soft toy/plushie bat. Well, my mum has been helping my dad make his Halloween costume and has had the large sewing machine out, so I thought I'd ask her to help me make the bat. I'm good at sewing and using the machine, but her expert skills are just so useful and the fact that her sewing machine never seems to want to work for me. So here he is:

   
He is just so cute and looks cool sat on my desk, though I'm tempted to snug him in bed. He's big and fluffy, just what I wanted and he turned out so great. I did think about making some smaller friends, but I'm running low on fabric right now. I've included the link to the website were the pattern and instructions are below. He just makes the perfect Halloween companion and I'm sure kids will just love him, though he's a bit complicated and time consuming for the kids at the youth club to make. 

Instead, I'm going to get them to make these cute felt pumpkins! 


Once again I've included the link below, these are just so easy and quick to make. I added the faces and leaves on and put them in basket as a center piece. I also put some dried mix spices/pumpkin spices in the orange pumpkin on the right and some dried lavender into the purple one at the back -which I just noticed you can't really see.- They do smell nice and I think they'd also make nice little gifts. As decorations they look awesome and I'm half tempted to make some more, but I'd have to buy some more orange felt because I'm almost all out. I'm sure the young people at the youth club will enjoy making them!  

That's currently were I'm up to with Halloween stuff. Like I said before I'll be posting some more stuff next week (depending on things) and then on or just before 31st. Watch this space for all of that! So, now it's time for this month's updates! 

The novel I'm reading at the minute is:


My mum give this book after she had read it and it was actually a gift given to her by a friend to read on her canal boat holiday with my dad last month. She enjoyed reading it and suggested I give it a try, even though she knew it wasn't my normal subject/theme. I've read 50 pages and though I'm getting into it and do find it interesting, I'm not sure there's enough for me to want to actual finish reading it. Which does say a lot about me, because I hardly ever finish reading a book. My mum does say it gets better, so I'm hoping to stick with it. I'll probably do a review when I'm done, so I won't write any more about that now. 

Currently writing: short stories. I'm busy battling my way through writing horror/supernatural/Halloween themed stories for my blog. I had put up a request for submissions throughout last month, but had no luck, beside from an old uni friend helping me out when I was mega ill two weeks ago. So, yeah, luckily I got a few ideas and lots of inspiration, but I keep hoping that I'll open my emails and see that someone has submitted a story to me. I just think I'd be nice to hear other peoples' voices etc on my blog for a change and it'll help bring more people in. (Link is below if you're interested) 

Currently Listening to: I'm still getting through all the new album releases of September and the ones I missed. So, I've still got 5FDP, BFMV, Disturbed and Kamelot high on my music list. I've also been listening to Halloween themed music and my natural sounds still. I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos too, including episodes of The Addams Family and The Munsters. I'm also going to watch some of The Dinosaurs TV episodes too, does anyone remember that show? I was addicted as a kid! 

Candle scent of the month: This is also my favorite time for candles too! Normally, I'm burning Yankee wax tarts and picking Autumn smelling ones. But this year I decided to have a look online and I found these on Amazon and thought I'd give them ago. It was worth taking the risk, because they are really great scents and I love the Pumpkin Crunch Cake one. Right now I'm burning the Witching Hour and I'm looking forward to the Tricks or Treats soon.    


Lastly, though I know this is boarding on Christmas, I just wanted to share with you the knitting my mum has done recently. She got the patterns and the wool in her knitting magazine and after some begging so made them for me. They are so cute and set on my computer desk. I pick them up and give them a hug when I start to feel stressed and/or worried. The next thing on her needles is a werewolf! I can't wait to meet him. 



Thanks for reading and good luck in whatever Halloween activities you're up to. Here's my bat and pumpkins once more! 



Links to me: 

https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

https://www.pinterest.com/hails9/

https://twitter.com/ironmaidenfan9

https://www.facebook.com/thestoryfiles


Other links; 

https://americanfeltandcraft.wordpress.com/2013/10/04/diy-mini-felt-pumpkins/

http://www.tipjunkie.com/post/halloween-bat/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FBM8680?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00


Photos from: 

http://libertyridgefarmny.com/2012/09/19/pumpkin-picking-adventures-in-albany-clifton-park-saratoga/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Little-Paris-Bookshop-Nina-George/dp/0349140359

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FBM8680?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00

My own personal ones.

Friday, 21 October 2011

The Changing Word - hey, let's keep the bats though!

(Halloween pumpkin, 2008, made by my dad.)

For people who might be reading this for the first time;

 I am a horror writer. Mostly, I write vampire novels. I've yet to have any of my novels published, though I've had poetry published online and in magzines. Being a poet isn't me though! So I'm trying to make my dream of being a novelist come true.

I graduated from Edge Hill Uni, with a 2.1 BA Hons in Creative Writing joint English Lit course. I'm now back to my uni, taking a Masters in Creative Writing. I've been called foolish for deciding to do this so soon after spending 3 years getting  my degree. I don't think I am though! If you want something, then you should always go for it. Doing my Masters, just seemed the right move to me. I'm loving it right now! I get to read and write all the time and since that is something I love doing, its a perfect fit!

I know that I've not written a post for this blog in ages. I think this is because the one I wrote for my uni sort of took over and then I found that I was repeating myself acrosss the two of them. The idea of pasting and coping stuff on both blogs also didn't last long. So I think that's why this blog has fallen. I'm back now, because I can no longer write my uni blog and have had to find another source for my blog writing.

Instead of creating a whole new blog, I just thought of updating this one. Now my only problem is I can't seem to change my background. I know one of the key things about someone's blog is what they decided to display behind the words they write. I think though, if I did get rid of the bats, then I'd have gone for books or more halloween/dark things. So maybe, it's wise to just stick with them! I know some people might not like them or thing my page is too dark. I can prove that they do fit in though!

To contuine, my current jobs are a writer and a student guide for my uni. At the minute I'm looking for another job, having need of the money and I'm thinking of doing some online freelance work. I also work in my local RSPCA chairty shop. I voleenter there two mornings a week. It gets me out of bed, in a different envioment and meeting new people. I also get to buy a lot of books!



I found this book today- just with a different cover- stuffed in the back room. I couldn't believe it! I've fallen in love with Marakami's writing. I've read Norweigen Wood and Sputinik Sweetheart now. This book and Hard-Boiled Eggs, were on my list to buy. So I got lucky finding it when I did. It's actually a large book, so I'm thinking of making it a summer read, no doubt that won't happen though! I read the first two pages before and was hooked!

I've lost count of the number of people, I've told to go and read Marakami now. The style of his writing is like poetry, because it flows so well, but it is also very simple langauge and highly effective. You get drawn into this world of Japan that he creates and his characters are very real to life. Though his writing style is so simple, tht themes he deals with are not. They come across on many different levels and I'm always pondering over them. So, yeah, if you've not read Marakami go and do so now!

I've to be off now to walk my dogs.