Here we are, February the 14th…bring on the heart shaped boxes of chocolates and roses and red and pink glittered this and that.  Personally, I don’t care for Valentine’s Day.  Usually, such a comment comes from someone who doesn’t have that special someone, and that’s certainly not the case for me, considering I’m getting hitched in ten months.  For me, I don’t like the idea of being told that I need to nice and all lovey-dovey to that special someone on a specific day, it’s not like it’s a day that means something special between me and my partner, like an anniversary or something.  So I don’t really celebrate…except for watching Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown.

But in the collecting world, vintage Valentine cards can bring a pretty penny.  Just take a gander at Ebay.  Vintage Valentines can range from Victorian and Edwardian postcards with elegant images  and script to fun and funky children themed ones of the 1930s through the 60s.  The 1950s brought space themed everything, including Valentines.  Like a lot of other collectibles, condition is everything, and can decrease the value of even the rarest of Valentines.  When framed, vintage Valentines make for great decor items for the month.  But if you’re in the giving mood, thankfully, many vintage Valentines are being reproduced, so you can send some vintage love.

As mentioned previously, my dad and I have been working on creating life-size characters from Tim Burton’s Nightmare before Christmas to decorate this year for Halloween and Christmas. The process is a labor of love, I must say, but once all is said and done, it will have been worth it.  We got the idea a couple years back when Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion began having a Nightmare overlay, seen on the right, that runs October through December.  If you have the chance to go, I recommend it; it is stunning the amount of work and creativity that goes into it.   (Not to mention, Disneyland decked out for Christmas is also a treat!) Nearly every inch of the Mansion has been touched by Jack Skellington, from the outside decorations, to the inside, plus it has a totally new narration. The past three times I’ve been to Disneyland have been during those months, so I’ve been able to experience it quite a few times.  Every time you see something new, which is what I love about Disneyland.  Additionally, the most recent DVD edition of Nightmare offers up a video tour and a behind the scenes documentary on the process that went into designing the overlay.

Yesterday we did a lot more work, and not only is it coming along wonderfully, we’re almost done.  However, we decided to do the coffin sleigh and skeleton reindeer, (which will go on the roof) so that will be another task altogether, it won’t have to be done until Thanksgiving though.  So far, we’ve put in about 35 hours (five days at about seven hours a day), and a little over $250.00.  I think it’ll all be worth it in the end.  As you can see, Jack and Sally are done.  Lock, Shock and Barrel are also done, Boogie is done, the hill is done, as are all of the headstones.  The Mayor and Zero are almost done.  I’m very happy with how all of this is turning out.

Tomorrow is the first day of the big “OMG We’ve Run Out of Hangers 50% Off Everything Sale” where I work.  It runs three days, I’m working one extra day tomorrow for it, it always means fun and a bonus!  Friday brings Patrick getting his wisdom teeth pulled.  I had mine pulled a few months back, so I owe it to him to make sure he is as comfortable as he made me.  Sunday is the big Coburg Antique Show, which is always a blast.  Coburg is a quaint little town of about 1,000 about five miles north of Eugene.  It has a few good antique shops, and also offers up the best fried chicken you’ve ever had, available at the local market.  So look for an entry about it on Sunday.

Thursday Cinema tomorrow might be a little different.  Instead of picking apart a period film, I want to introduce a film that has been inspired by the past, and offers up stunning visuals for the vintage eye to catch and enjoy.

It’s been awhile since I last blogged, and for good reason.  My dad, who has always gone all out for Christmas, decided that it would be fun to redo the outdoor decor this year Nightmare before Christmas style.  So for the past few days I have been designing and working on life-size Nightmare characters.  You read right – Life. Size.  Once done, we’ll be putting them up in early October, they will stay up through New Years, with some changes around Thanksgiving to make it more Christmas-y.

I first sketched out all of the characters I wanted on paper, determining how tall I wanted them and such.   Then my dad and I hit the Home Depot where we picked up 8×4 sheets of plywood and got to work.  I drew out all of the characters on the wood from my sketches, then my dad cut them out, we sanded the edges and primed each piece, so the wood would seal better.  Then we started to do fun part – the painting.

The pieces I chose to create are the trademark hill (which is about eight feet tall and eight feet wide at the base), two Jacks (six feet tall each, one for Halloween, one for Christmas), Sally (five and a half feet), Boogie (about eight feet tall and about four at the widest part), the Mayor (about six feet with his extremely tall top hat), Lock, Shock, and Barrel all in the bathtub, Zero, and the Man Eating Wreath.  We’re also building some tombstones and adding in some extra things here and there.

It’s been a lot of fun, and also a lot of work.  Wednesday will be day four on the project and we’re making good headway.  It’s been in the 80s for the past week, and is suppose to stick around that temperature for the next week.

I’ll keep you updated on our progress, as well as show off the final result!  It should be exciting!