Ghoulish Guests: Paisley Penguin

Today's ghoulish guest is Karen, also known as Paisley Penguin - author of the blog Take Life with a Grain of Chocolate.

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When Mrs. Limestone reached out to me to be a guest post I was thrilled. I have been reading her blog for a couple years now and her Halloween posts are some of my favorites and most inspiring! Autumn is my favorite season of the year. What's not to love about football games, warm coffee drinks, sweaters, candles, Steamcon, hubby's birthday, costumes and of course Halloween.

Last year my Halloween costume was something I made to attend Steamcon II. I had wanted to make dreadlocks out of roving but ended up making them from yarn. I call these "pretty dreads" as they are twisted and not ratted. Dreadlock tutorial coming soon (sorry the photo is so dark)!

When October draws near the hubs and I pull out our collection of over 60 Halloween/parnormal themed films and TV shows (yes I DID say TV shows) to watch throughout the month. We are film buffs so it would take another post just to list all of our favorites and why. My top three favorite Halloween films are....






I would love to report that I have been planning and scheming all year for great new additions to my Halloween decor. Sadly this year has been quite a roller coaster of a ride for me and I am not as prepared as I would like. My current employment status not withstanding, I have built up a great collection of decorations so far. Below are my hand painted and decorated black & white pumpkins. My favorite is the paisley looking one. I used puff paint and stick on jewels.



I have done the same thing the last couple years in my mantle and the shelf over the dining room windows. I am not going to change it up much this year. Keeping it simple and all. It's hard to see in the photo above but I have brown feather boa's attached the the front of the shelf hiding flame twinkle lights. A lot of the items on my shelf are kept there year round and are just "enhanced" with skulls and rats for the season.



I've always been a non-traditional sort of girl and I'm not a fan of "kitchy" decor. My taste would be best described as "Tattered Gothic" with a little Steampunk thrown in. Distant relative to the Addams family. As much as I love the natural colors of autumn they really do not go with my interior decor (except for my pomagranite red kitchen). Yes, I'm one of those crazy people who coordinate their holiday decorations to enhance their interior decor. My color scheme is grey, black, burlap, sepia, blue, green with silver accents.



We have not had the time to have a propper Halloween party. This year I hope to have a small get together of wine and cheese and perhaps brain? I've set up our makeshift bar to be ready to serve a dirty martini,glass of wine, a shot of Vodka or perhaps some Pernod.



Right next to our front door is the graveyard. I guess next time we buy we should consider who are neighbors really are?



We have Vampire bat and spiders galore....



I have not done all of my decorating for this year so check back in on me in a few days. More photos to come!