"Halloween Kid Approved" Door Note

Howdy pardners! My book, THE HALLOWEEN KID, was created around the time after 9/11, when there was a lot of fear in the air. In my home town, students could no longer dress in their costumes at schools on Halloween, kids were encourage to go trick-or-treating in the daytime and in malls. The school's scarecrow parade was cancelled and not many folks participated in handing out candies and turned off their porch lights.

 I felt that the Halloween that I grew up with and loved was disappearing and wished someone could come and save it, so I created THE HALLOWEEN KID- a masked protector of Halloween who flies around on a hobby horse and wrangles up those who try to ruin Halloween! After the book was published, the idea of THE HALLOWEEN KID started to leak beyond the book. Around this time there were only a few homes in my neighborhood that were decorating their front yards with Halloween decorations, which differed so much from the level that it used to be when I was growing up. I thought that these people who decorated their homes for Halloween should be commended for keeping the Halloween spirit alive! For encouragement, I created a door note that stated that the decorated home was "HALLOWEEN KID APPROVED!" I would go to ANY house in my neighborhood that made an effort of decorating and posted a note of encouragement on their door. This was done with the hopes of thanking them for making the effort and also to hopefully to encourage them continuing to decorate the following year(s). Whenever I would get invited into a different town to read my book at schools or libraries, I would bring these door notes and post them around town on the homes decorated for Halloween.

Close up of the door note

Circled in red: Door note placement in Stockton, California (the first year of placing notes)

Circled in red: Door note placement in Petaluma, California (the first year of placing notes)

Fast forward to today: I could use your help partners! Starting this year, YOU could help spread encouragement by posting your own "HALLOWEEN KID APPROVED" door signs. All you need to do is print this image below on orange colored card stock paper, cut it in half, and then cut the circle where the knob or handle will fit.

Do you enjoy seeing homes in your neighborhood decorate for the most wonderful time of the year? Now YOU can encourage and thank your neighbors for their efforts! Like the HALLOWEEN KID, you too can be a defender of Halloween! Have fun pardners! ~Rhode Montijo

DOWNLOAD AND PRINT YOUR OWN DOOR NOTE OF ENCOURAGEMENT! (below)

Place door notes at your own risk. Please be careful when placing on doors, daytime placement would be safer. Please do not trespass through gates or walls of homes. 

A hashtag has been created: #halloweenkidapproved if you'd like to share photos of your HALLOWEEN KID APPROVED door notes!

 This is what the door sign says in cowboy lingo: "You done did a good job of keeping the Halloween spirit alive by decorating' your house. Nice job partner!"

A peek at the upcoming San Diego Comic Con goodies!

Visit the Fantasmical World of Rhode Montijo at San Diego Comic Con July 19-23 at booth #1329!

New GENTLEMAN SKULL enamel pin 

New GHOST JACK embroidered patch

New TOP HAT JACK enamel pin

New JACK-IN-THE-BOX enamel pin

New Glow-in-the-Dark GHOST enamel pin

New GHOST JACK enamel pin

Look for the all cardboard booth!

An Attempt At Vintage Style Children's Book Illustration

I've been tinkering with the Procreate (digital) app and tried to capture the look of vintage style illustration. It was a fun exercise and hope to try more soon!

Vintage Style Halloween Drawings to Celebrate New Etsy Store!

I recently opened up a new Etsy store in time for the most wonderful time of year. To celebrate, I've been adding some vintage style Halloween inked originals to the shop. They are drawn on aged scrap book paper. I hope to keep adding them all the way to Halloween!

Visit RhodeMontijo.etsy.com !

OVER THE MOON

BROOM SHREDDER busts out radical tricks!

WITCH HAT WENDELL will put a spell on you!

GENTLEMAN JACK always brings flowers!

JUGGLING JACK can juggle on one foot!

LANTERN JACK patrols the skies.

MUMPKIN is always unravelling!

THORNY JACK likes to make a point!

Imagination Is Your Friend!

http://rhodemontijo.com

Old Shirt Design, New Coloring!

rhodemontijo.com

More Ceramics

Bat Jack!

rhodemontijo.com

New Ceramic Art

Visit: rhodemontijo.com

Orange and Black Jacks

These were created using just orange and black watercolors. They were originally created for Emerald City Comicon in Seattle, but have been continued to be created since then. Originals can be obtained at conventions and at rhodemontijo.com under the 'goodies' section.

Sketchgiving

This post is long overdue. Over the holidays at the end of last year, I started a fundraiser called Sketchgiving where people were encouraged to donate money and receive a sketch in return. The plan was originally to help 5 families in need with the money raised, but we surpassed that goal and raised $1,247.87 to help 8 families!  Thanks to the kindness of strangers, together we helped 8 families each get $100 in Ralphs grocery gift cards along with a $50.00 gift card to Target to help buy gifts for their children. Some of these families are living at a poverty level and some have kids with serious heart conditions and learning disabilities. Thanks to YOU these gift cards helped the families get basic needs like groceries, shoes, clothing, along with spreading some joy to their children over this past holiday season. THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE. YOU helped make a difference for these families over the holiday season and made their day just a little bit brighter. Thank you to everyone who donated or just simply helped spread the word. Thanks to those that shared encouraging words and heartfelt stories. One person even commented that they had been given gifts by strangers when they were kids and wanted to pass it along to others by donating. Because of YOU, this is a wonderful win for mankind and kindness!

I also drew one name from all the donors and they won an additional color sketch. The winner was Charles Hastings. Congrats Charles!

Thank you SO much for these kind souls who donated to these families:Gary Ham, Charles Hastings, Dominic Dolar, Chris Censullo, Kathleen Hiraga, James Baker, Julia Lundman, Mylan Biermann, Eric Olivolo, Chad Kerychuk, Eric Blair, Juan Quiroz, Grasiela Rodriguez, Claudia Orozco, Jonathan Zammit, Jessica Preciado, Sandy Sanchez, Mario Lizarraga, Sylvia Smiser, Marcela Pertussi, Adrienne Anderson, Jarrod Maruyama, Mark Giglio, Jeffery Hansen, Manuel Marquez, Carlos Davila, and Jose Cabrera.

May your kindness be repaid in magical ways!

-Rhode Montijo

Here are some of the sketches below:

(Above) This was the original announcement.

Here were some of the sketches with the totals raised along the way.

This is the color sketch that Charles Hastings won. Congrats again Charles!

This is the photo of the gift cards we were able to get for the families!

Thanks again everyone!