Michael's Candy Colored Halloween

I bet a lot of you have been to Michael's over the past few months. Yesterday was my first time there this season, so I have no idea what they had for Halloween before this! Well, maybe I had a slight clue because of the Michael's commercials on TV. Maybe you saw the one with those creepy twins. One twin bought all white decorations and the other bought all black decorations. I saw a bit of the ghostly white collection, but I'll get to that later.

I'll start with what I'll call the pink collection. I have always loved pink and black together. This skeleton was fuzzy to the touch.

Bubblegum pink is so cute for Halloween. I've seen some pastel Halloween stuff this year, but I prefer the bright pink. My grade school self would have been going wild for this collection. Actually, my grade school self would have been thrilled to see this much Halloween stuff in stores, period.

"Yikes"

How great is this retro font?

This feels retro too. It's probably a take on "Feelin' Groovy", especially with those flowers. 🌸

I think I can call these ombre, even though they're not the same color fading from light to dark. I have that rat, by the way, just in plain rat bone color. This rat is nearly the size of the cat next to him, so I guess he has nothing to worry about!

Even a buzzard looks cheerful in these colors.

I actually thought this was for Christmas, until I saw the bat on top. There are so many non-traditional colors for holidays now that it's hard to tell. And now there are trees for several holidays too.

A better look at the bat:

There was a matching wreath:

Michael's still had a number of bright Halloween wreaths left. See the little Beetlejuice spirals in this one?

Giant pompoms:

These were fuzzy decorative shapes with beaded ropes attached. It's hard to explain, unless you've seen them. You probably hang them off something. I just looked on the Michael's web site, and they're calling these "wall decor". So I guess what you hang them off of is the wall. I think they'd look good as part of a wreath.

OK, so back to what I was talking about before - The ghostly white collection. On first glance, this looks like Shabby Chic. If a person had a light Shabby Chic look going already, this could be a subtle Halloween addition to it. 

See what I mean? It looks like Shabby Chic until you get up close. I didn't catch what was going on in that cathedral window at first. 

It says "Welcome to our Haunted Manor" on that sign.

Michael's had a few nontraditional critters, like this scorpion. There were actually a few different scorpion decorations. They had Venus Fly Traps and just funky looking carnivorous plants. I wasn't fond of most of them because they looked too real. But cake anything in silver glitter and I will suddenly find it cool.

There was a little bit of traditional Halloween left. There were tons of spools of ribbon. Looking at this pic, I'm wanting to go back for all three of these. But what would I do with them? All I can ever think of for decorative ribbon is garlands and wreaths. And I don't need more garlands or wreaths! 

These tall signs seem to be everywhere this year, but I thought that one in the middle was a little different. 

This spooky cat eye is part of the magnifying glass.

I always seem to end my Halloween shopping posts with a Day of the Dead picture or two. My thinking is that the holiday comes just after Halloween so that's where the pics go! Isn't this a fun pillow? I have a feeling that Michael's had a lot of great Day of the Dead items but I missed them. 

So, did you guys buy any items from these collections? I may go back after Halloween and see what is left, although I suspect not much will be. I can always make an excuse to get more Halloween picks, because those can go anywhere. Some of those fuzzy beaded rope things could be worked in here and there and I love the colors. If I have an After Halloween Haul, you know I'll post it here!

Jo-Ann's Halloween 2023

I've been collecting Halloween photos from Jo-Ann's since July, if you can believe it! Every year, the Halloween hits the stores earlier. I am pretty pleased with their collection, because a lot of it has a vintage look. They seem to have a few themes going - classic happy orange/black and dark/witchy. Starting with the first category...

I love these neon, fuzzy pumpkins! They have a sort of felted coating.

This skeleton was also neon and fuzzy/felty to the touch.

This orange and black towel is looking like something to go back for. Sometimes when I have a chance to really look at some of these items in my photos, I realize how cool they are.

Isn't this fun? It's like those vintage ceramic Christmas trees that light up.

These remind me a lot of what Target had for Halloween about a decade ago. I still have to visit Target and see what their themes are this year.

This skeleton is 5' tall. The eyes light up and it says "eerie phrases" according to the web site. I don't remember testing this one out. 

This one is reminding me of another orange pumpkin skeleton. I'm trying to remember where that one was sold. I think it was a big deal last year?

Vintage looking doormat. "Beware all who enter here"

Now we're getting into the witchy theme. This bat spinner is sort of like a pinwheel. 

Jo-Ann's had a number of moon-themed items, which are always a hit with me.

You'll actually see some very similar hands in my upcoming Dollar Tree blog post, although those will be much smaller than these. This hand is listed on the web site as the "Halloween Black Evil Eye Hamsa Hand". I'm familiar with this symbol on jewelry, but I'm seeing these around as little sculptural hands for the first time this year.

The reflection in this mirror is better than I expected!

I think this was one of those book boxes. I must have cared more about the cover than showing what this actually is.

They had a few sassy moon sayings on products.

Those apples seem like something the Wicked Witch would give to Snow White. I think they would look really pretty with some light shining through the glass.

And this goofy character was the greeter at the front door. He was a surprisingly large prop to see at Jo-Ann's. I say he's goofy because of the words he says and his laughter. This isn't a scary one. After just visiting Spirit Halloween, where you hear large props saying basically some version of "I'm going to get you!" or "Beware!" this one's silly laughter was unexpected.

I'm hoping some of you will blog what Michaels has to offer this year. All the local Michaels closed around here, so I've had a few years of not seeing their Halloween collection. Thankfully, Jo-Ann's appears to be going strong! 

A Christmas walk on a quiet night

We're nearly to Christmas, and I realize that I have not blogged all through December! It has been a very busy month for me. That's not to say that I've been going too many places, since I haven't. But preparing for Christmas and learning some new things has kept me busy as usual. 

I do have some photos to share from a night time trip to my local village. This is the same village you saw in my Halloween blog post with the jack-o-lantern display. Now you'll get to see it dressed up for Christmas. 

I definitely did not have to worry about a crowd during my walk! In fact, the scenery was bordering on eerie for me. I'm one of those people who doesn't mind wandering alone outdoors one bit and enjoys the quietness of night, but there were a few moments for me on this outing that were a bit spooky!

These carolers are usually part of the spookiness, because in the past they've been uplit by green lights. I guess they were alright this time. 

I thought this scene was pretty. The festive party lights looked neat with the Christmas decorations. You can see a bit of that Santa statue from behind. He's just taking in the view.

The Village Hall:

Remember that Norman Rockwell sculpture? It looks like someone found him a holiday hat.

You might remember that shop with the kites and yard spinners. They had some cute ones out for Christmas. I just now noticed the lantern with the pinecone on top! There are a lot of details going on this one.

I really liked the candy cane effect someone made by wrapping these pillars in what I assume is red tape.

More of those fun string lights! I'm looking at this photo and feeling like there should be some sort of party happening under those lights, but I was very much alone. It was a festive atmosphere, anyway.

I peeked into some of the closed shops to check out their displays. 

I remember this collection being donated or at least temporarily loaned by someone in town. I recognize this Christmas village from when it was displayed in the Village Hall. I wonder if they ran out of room for it. I think you're seeing it in the Historical Society here.

This is some collection, hey?

You guys will probably remember this gazebo. The last time you saw it, there were rows of lit up jack-o-lanterns on bleachers in front of it.

Well, this time there was a whole "forest" of cut trees lining the walkway to the gazebo. They were for sale, although there was no one there to sell them. I was surprised to find myself completely alone in a fairly unlit area.

As I walked the path to the gazebo, I found myself looking left to right checking if anyone was hiding between the trees. They totally could have been and that would have given me a scare! A wicked little part of my brain even thought for a second about how easy it would be to step between the trees and scare the heck out of the next person who walked that path. But even if I had wanted to waste my night freezing my butt off and waiting for some poor person to walk by, well... it would have been a long wait. No one was there. 

Looking up:

Once I made it to the gazebo, I stood there feeling quite peaceful. It really was serene in that quiet winter way. Eventually, I had to turn around and walk that tree-lined path again. 

I even considered for a moment that a raccoon or squirrel could be hiding between those trees. That would be bad enough. It might sound funny, but during these boring times I actually enjoyed feeling mildly spooked (Especially since nothing came of it). Isn't that the best kind of thrill? When there's some small sense of adventure without any real consequences. ;)

Before heading home, I took one last pic of the gazebo's weathervane. I'm not sure how much I ever noticed it, but I thought it looked good half-lit at night. The lighting probably made me notice it. That shadowy tree added something too.

Well, I wish you all a Merry Christmas! I haven't been online much to see how everyone is doing, but I hope you are all doing well. Maybe you've even done something more exciting than walking around in the dark of winter hoping a raccoon doesn't jump out at you!