DECK THE HOLIDAY'S

   Here's another nice find while surfing for holiday ideas.  Wouldn't these be great at a teen Halloween party or even as a nice offering at an adult party.  Brought to you by www.mattbites.com .  The black and red play off each other and look so cool together with the actual sticks from a tree.  Good luck and enjoy making these, let me know how they turned out for you. Adam’s Scary Apples      Full confession: When I was about 4 or 5 years old I was so utterly terrified of Halloween that I once ran from the dinner table to the bedroom where I locked myself inside it for 20 minutes while Trick or Treaters came to the front door of the house. I’m not sure why I did that exactly as I wasn’t normally a timid or shy child; I think my dramatic exit had more to do with the fact that I enjoyed that sense of fright, darkness and mystery that rolls around every October. I like to be scared when I know nothing bad will actually happen.  ...

Definition Of What a Mask Is- A form of disguise. It is an object that is frequently worn over or in front of the face to hide the identity of a person and by its own features to establish another being. This essential characteristic of hiding and revealing personalities or moods is common to all masks. As cultural objects they have been used throughout the world in all periods since the Stone Age and have been as varied in appearance as in their use and symbolism. General Characteristics    Masks have been designed in innumerable varieties, from the simplest of crude “false faces” held by a handle to complete head coverings with ingenious movable parts and hidden faces. Mask makers have shown great resourcefulness in selecting and combining available materials. Among the substances utilized are woods, metals, shells, fibers, ivory, clay, horn, stone, feathers, leather, furs, paper, cloth, and corn husks. Surface treatments have ranged from rugged simplicity...

    Each Halloween there are many classic themes people use to inspire their costume choice, but every year there are some that stand out from the rest.    This year Halloween spending is projected to rise 9 percent to $6.86 billion, according to a survey conducted by BIGResearch on behalf of the National Retail Federation trade group. There are two reasons for the increase: More Americans are celebrating the holiday, and more American adults are dressing up in costumes as part of the fun. Based on the survey, it is expected Americans will spend $1 billion on costumes this year.     As consumers put more focus on finding the right costume, there has been a trend to “mash up” or create unique costumes by blending elements from several existing costumes.    For those who are either too time-pressed or not as creative to create their own costumes, don’t worry. There are plenty of costume manufacturers putting fresh twis...

   Where else would you find one of the most haunted places in the world?  L'Agulhas, the last little village situated at the southern most tip of the African continent boasts sightings of the phantom ship "The Flying Dutchman" that has inspired poets, novelists and dramatists, including Wagner's opera "Der fliengende Hollander" and most recently the Hollywood block-buster "Pirates of the Caribbean".     All based on stories retold by fearful seafarers as far back as the first half of the seventeenth century, who have had the misfortune to encounter her blood red sails and ghostly rigging, captained by the Devil's advocate Van der Decken, who lashed himself to the ship's wheel during a howling gale, ignoring his petrified crew's please to ride out the storm and give up his obsession to round the Cape of Storms. Rigging was stripped from the ship's masts, sails lost and the decks became slippery with the incessant crashing of t...

The Cost of True Love    How much does true love really cost? In the popular holiday song "The 12 Days of Christmas," a series of gifts are given by a "true love", but something the song won't tell you is that the cost of these gifts - from the 12 drummers drumming to a partridge in a pear tree - in reality is quite pricey.    Since 1984, PNC Financial has calculated the real-world cost of the song, or what you would hypothetically pay if these gifts were bought at today's prices. The Christmas Price Index , which is up 1.8% year-over-year to $21,465.56, is a measure of inflation in the price of consumer goods, similar to the more traditional Consumer Price Index. Included in the report are traditional prices (or the cost for items from traditional retailers) as well as online prices from Internet vendors for the individual items. For the traditional prices, PNC's resources for price information range from the National Aviary in Pittsburgh to th...