House of Shadows

Wishing You A Warm & Magical Christmas!

I’ll Be Taking A Break Until December 26

The Doll in the Garden
By Mary Downing Hahn

When Ashley discovers a turn-of-the-century doll it is just the first of several puzzling events that lead her through the hedge and into a twilight past where she meets Louise, an ailing child whose beloved doll has mysteriously disappeared. Average customer review:

Editorial Review: A young girl helps her cantankerous elderly landlord to resolve a childhood act that caused the woman lifelong guilt. Ashley follows a white cat back in time and meets Louisa, a girl who is dying and who longs for her beloved doll–a doll that Ashley and her friend Kristi have found buried in Miss Cooper’s garden. In the end Ashley, Kristi, and Miss Cooper visit Louisa; the woman is able to make am mends with her childhood friend, and Ashley begins to accept her father’s death. Hahn’s portrayal of crotchety Miss Cooper is expertly drawn, giving vivid insight into why she acts and lives as she does. Ashley, her widowed mother, and Kristi are also fully realized characters. When Hahn sticks to her story, it moves along at a steady, scary clip. However, when she lapses into lengthy descriptions of flowers, birds, and landscape, she slows the pace of the story rather than creates the intended atmosphere. Ashley’s first-person narrative often gets bogged down in a flowery adult voice, particularly in the descriptions: “As still as the cherub behind me, I watched the leaves sway in the breeze. Sunlight and shadow mottled the ground, and the weeds whispered to themselves, lulling me like distant voices of children at play.” Still, it’s an imaginative ghost story, fairly predictable, but with a completely satisfying ending. –Trev Jones, “School Library Journal”

Customer Reviews

A Doll In the Garden

Mary Downing Hahn is an excellent writer! All of her stories are a fun, thrilling, mysterious adventure! I would recommend any of books to readers of all ages. She hooks you from page one and doesn’t let go until the final word!

..
Ms Hahn simply as a gift for writing chilling and yet so romantic spooky stories. As a child this book entranced me. I checked it out multiple times and would let the detailed and rich story wash over me. A great plot, complex characters, and vivid description make this a fantastic mystery.

Favorite children’s book from when I was a child
When I was a kid in middle school this is the one book I couldn’t put down and now I have it and will never have to put it down. I am very happy with the purchase because I love this book.

Doll in the Garden is suitable for younger readers.  You will find the book listed in the House of Shadows store; just click on the store tab at the top of the page and search “Ghost Stories”

Hi Everybody!  I had to take a leap of faith today and upgrade my site to Wordpress 2.7.  Being a new blogger with less than 60 days of experience I felt somewhat overwhelmed when I read the “pages” of “how to”.  Sometimes I’m tempted to just bury my head in the sand and ignore the administration side of maintaining this site. But the truth is, one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place was to keep my technology skills current.

When I made the decision to retire early I promised myself to continue learning at least one new thing every day.  Those who know me would have a good laugh at my intentions to learn “one” new thing a day.  My inquiring mind has a thirst for learning.  For me, learning is kind of like eating potato chips….you can’t stop with just one.

On my side of the screen it appears the upgrade was successful.  Several features required some minor fixes so if something is not functioning on your side of the screen I would really appreciate your comments.  Knowing which browser you use if you are having problems would also help me trouble-shoot (you would think I know what I’m doing).

I took this opportunity to add a Site Map Page.  I would like to make the print larger and change the color of the font on this page, but those are things I will put on my “need to learn how list”.  In the meantime, I hope this addition makes searching archived posts more convenient.  Until next time …

Thank you for being our guest at the House of Shadows!

Work by Artist: Tammy Sturm

One of my goals when I started the House of Shadows Blog in November was to present a variety of ideas for Halloween enthusiasts to help them celebrate the holiday in a way that expresses their  unique personal style.  You don’t have to be a DIY prop builder to find things of interest on this site.  Some guests may prefer shopping for Halloween collectibles, making costumes, decorating, or cooking up something special for a Halloween party.  My interest is providing readers with ideas and resources to make Halloween a fun and memorable event.

So for you collectors out there, I am happy to announce the commitments received from three more artists who will be featured in 5 Star Artist Series after the first of the year.  You can expect to read about the work of Shirley Olsen (Magic Brush Studio), Tammy Sturm (Light and Shadows), and Heather Gleason (My Eclectic Mind). I will be adding preview pages for these artists in the Coming Soon section, as soon as I catch up with Christmas shopping.

I hope you have found something of interest to you within the pages of this blog.  If you have a special area of interest you would like me to post information about, please leave a comment or send your ideas to me by e-mail: mail@houseofshadows.net

Thank you for being our guest at the House of Shadows!

A Whimsical Trio

One of my favorite things about decorating for Halloween is that possibilities are endless.  DIY project ideas can be found to suit individual tastes ranging from grim to giggles. If you enjoy painting and have a taste for the whimsical the Winfield company offers patterns worth looking at.  I love this company! Now that we have a grandson I’m sure some of my time will be dedicated to painting something fun for him to enjoy next Halloween.

See the Winfield Collection …. so many cute options!

http://thewinfieldcollection.com/catalog.aspx?catid=32&pg=1

Here is an example of how you can create Halloween decorations by repurposing everday items.  This project was done by Frankie’s Girl and posted on HalloweenForum.com.  Frankie went shopping for Angels to finish the tops of a pair of small columns she made.  She found a pair of Angels at Michael’s, one had a broken tip on the wing.  Frankie bought the pair for $8.00 and repaired the broken wing tip with air dry clay.  Then she painted the Angels with a basecoat of gray, covering the recessed areas with with a dark charcoal gray.  When the gray paint was thoroughly dry Frankie used a dry-brush painting technique to appy white paint.  A combination of strokes, including stippling was used to create a stone texture.  I must say, the finished product looks much better than the original.  Congratulations Frankie’s Girl for a job well done.  You’ve got a good eye for great deals.

The weather here is miserably cold so Christmas shopping will be delayed until the severe weather warning for our area is lifted.  I’m beginning to feel like I’m living in Victorian times.  We have been keeping one room in the house warm and turning the heat down in the rest of the house to conserve.  Our old house still has an oil furnace, not a good option since the war  started. But in the long-term, learning to do a better job of conserving is a good idea anyway.

This is an excellent time to focus my time on continuing work on The Immortal Pumpkin and preparing some skulls for molding. Like everything I do, I decided I wanted to explore options for painting the skulls once they are cast with foam.  It seems everyone has their own preference of materials and techniques. Some people use a combination of different colors of Minwax, others use acrylic paint.  The painting techniques below are adapted from  information posted on Grimvisions. As I discover other techniques that appeal to me, I will post them for your information.  I think it’s always good to study more than one technique before beginning a project.  You may end up using a process that is uniquely yours, but it’s good to know why you make certain decisions along the way.  The best way for me to learn is to dissect the work of others.  So here is one way to finish a foam skull:

Supply List:

• White Glue
• Brushes
• Black spray paint
• A foam skull
• Acrylic paint of various colors
• Matte sealer

Painting Process

1. Start with a 2 part urethane foam skull that you have cast, or purchase a quality foam skull
2. Coat the skull with white glue, thinned with a small amount of  water so it brushes easily onto the skull.
3. Make sure to apply a good; even coating and let it dry.  This helps seal the foam and gives it a better texture.
4. When the glue coat is thoroughly dry, spay paint with a layer of flat black paint
5. When the black paint is dry use a bone colored acrylic paint to paint the high areas of the skull randomly, you don’t want total coverage ( tip: one way to do this is use a sponge and if the coverage is too much quickly blot it off with a paper towel)
6. Be sure to leave some black showing in the deep recesses.  An airbrush can be used to apply this coat if you have one available.
7. After the bone colored layer dries, go back and highlight the lines and cracks with a watered down black. Then using a watered down burnt umber blot on some dirt-like spots here and there to add some antiquing near the eyes, jawline and mouth.
8. Let the paint dry thoroughly; at least one hour, then lightly dry brush the entire skull with original bone color paint.
9. Paint the teeth. Using watered down acrylics, or inks.
10. After the teeth are done, go back and very lightly dry brush the highest points of the skill with the base bone color mixed with a bit of titanium white (the brush should so dry that you can hardly detect any paint in it)
11. The final step is to spray the whole thing with a matte sealer to reduce the shine.

Thank you viewers and subscribers.  Your interest means a lot to me.