If you know me at all, you know I often go all out on Halloween.

Please watch my short video to see the Halloween Display I created this year, in part inspired by a Spooktoberfest contest we’re having at work. Great way to spend a weekend! Creating creepy things!

We carved pumpkins on Halloween and dressed as Plague Doctors to deliver bags of candy to our neighbors, since Trick or Treating was cancelled by the mayor due to COVID.

HARRY POTTER POTIONS PARTY!
For the prior two years, we hosted a Harry Potter Potions Party, but due to the pandemic we couldn’t this year. Still, the Spooktacular party is part of my overall submission for the contest.

We started with Official Hogwarts Letters as invitations and even had a printed Potions Booklet Textbook for potion recipes. These “potions” are fun cocktails our guests make themselves by visiting a potions cabinet that opens with a real magic wand (12 sec. video). Wave the wand over the keyhole and speak the magic words, and the cabinet opens to reveal test tubes of things like Dragon Spittle, Pixie Blood, and Unicorn Milk.

My partner built an entire website around what we created for these parties, including decor, paper crafts, food & drink recipes, and the electronics behind his amazing Potions Cabinets if you want to see it all. See more on my previous posts here and here.

MORE ABOUT THE GREY GHOST
A few of my remaining fans from my O. M. Grey days (pen name for some Steampunk Romance) recognized “The Grey Ghost” behind O. M. Grey’s headstone. You can read about it in the post RIP OMG. if you’d like, but the gist is I killed off O. M. Grey because of someone’s behavior toward me and the cruelty of how the community responded. While I was doing the convention circuit as O. M. Grey, a fellow author dubbed me “The Grey Ghost” because of a story I wrote for their podcast.

Behold THE GREY GHOST!

And updated gravestone with better lettering!

GARGOYLE SCULPTURE
Finally, I’d like to showcase my gargoyle sculpture of Cornelius, our Sphynx Cat. This was for Brian’s birthday last year. It was fun to sculpt it, as I haven’t worked with clay in at least a decade. Not formally trained, so it appears I have some natural talent in sculpting, as I even impressed myself with this creation!