I admit I have obsessions. Do you? My obsessions come & go. They’re seasonal. I become completely absorbed in an obsession, can think about nothing but that topic. Then one day, it’s gone & I find myself becoming drawn to another topic, another idea to spend countless hours researching. For example beginning in March I began stalking reading this blog: Dirt Simple. I couldn’t get enough. The words, the images, I absorbed it like a sponge & constantly made reference to this blog I read, Dirt Simple….similar to the way my husband relays snippets of info from this tech blog he reads, Gizmodo. The photos & essays are beautiful & moving in a way I can’t quite explain, but the information Deborah Silver imparts to new gardeners is priceless. I began thinking about my landscape projects, my yard, my property in a different way. In March, while I ached for sunshine & the moment I could sink my hands into new dirt, this blog was my obsession.

Now, what am I taken with? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s almost August. And it’s time to think about Halloween. I LOVE making Halloween art and I LOVE Halloween. Always have. As a kid I can remember running around with one particularly scary mask, scaring anyone that would look my way. I remember loving that mask, not wanting to take it off. I think that began my love affair with dressing up, with being silly, with getting reactions.

And so, Halloween is a big deal around here. When I lived in a remote, rural setting, I hoped, hoped, hoped we would have trick-or-treaters. I always had candy just in case. Many times, we didn’t have any…or just one. One night we had five at once & I was ecstatic!

Then we moved to Riverside. We were told to be prepared for what might happen. That first Halloween we had 250+ trick-or-treaters. It was heaven. The sweet smiles, candy wrappers, shy toddlers, plastic costumes, homemade concoctions, fairy wings, tiny witches, orange pumpkin buckets & pillow sacks…it was heaven. Every year since, we’ve decorated the house & dressed up on trick-or-treat night.  So right about now, I’m thinking about Halloween. How we’ll dress. What will be our theme? And what types of Halloween decorations can I make for this year’s festivities? (Click here to view photos of past Halloween celebrations!)

Pinterest helps organize all these ideas I find. If you’re not on pinterest, I highly recommend it. Especially if you’d like to waste at least an hour every day.

Here are some of the best Halloween ideas I’ve seen on pinterest & around the web:

Don’t those photos get you in the Halloween spirit? If you’d like to see more, here’s my Trick or Treat board on Pinterest! And if you have any super cute Halloween ideas you think I need to see, feel free to leave a link in the comment section!