Here’s an easy idea from The Anticraft: Festive eyeball ornaments!*

Their instructions call for making the eyes out of polymer clay, but you could get a fairly similar effect more easily by just painting eyeballs on round white ornaments.

You could do a whole treeful of different eyes: Reptilian pupils, Eyes of Sauron, yellow zombie eyes, bloodshot monster eyes…you get the idea. Embellish with fake-fur “eyelashes” or whatever adornment seems appropriate and your tree can watch your every move.

*Eyeball ornaments are festive, right?

I’ve somehow managed to collect a whole load of cake-related links, so you guys get them all in one whack. Enjoy.

Zombie Attack – The bride and groom on top are fighting off zombies climbing up the tiers.

Sunday Sweets: Steampunk – Cake Wrecks rounds up some lovely examples.

Halloween Cakes – Several homemade birthday cakes. The eyeball one gives me the fantods.

H.R. Giger Cake – Another one I’ve seen several places, but it’s Just. So. Awesome. I think it’s the top hat and veil on the little chestbursters that really does it.

Zombie Cake – Gorgeous sculpted cake by The Bleeding Heart Bakery.

Creepy Crawly Cakes – Another roundup from Cake Wrecks. The naked mole rat one is awesome.

Cthulhu Cake – Lots of tentacly goodness.

Gobs of Skull Cakes – A couple of these have been widely blogged, but I hadn’t seen some of the others. I like the sugar skull one especially. (Additional points for this particular blog being devoted to the twin interests of skulls and bacon. That’s…a combination.)

Halloween Cakes – Roundup from Endless Simmer. I love the spider one.

Tauntaun Groom’s Cake – With little sculpted entrails!

Naughty Secretary Club, a blog whose title is somewhat more risque in theory than in practice, posted this super-easy tutorial for making snow globes out of little glass jars and Halloween trinkets. The glitter inside Dracula’s globe is even blood-red.

This would be a cute way to showcase miniature plastic tombstones or other spooky tchotchkes. It’s cheap and simple enough to be a good project for children, but might also be a fun party activity for adults. Provide a selection of jars, glitter, and waterproof decorations, and let everyone create their own masterpiece to take home at the end of the night.

Recently in Toronto, Stephen King did an on-stage interview with director David Cronenberg. He gave a short reading from his new novel Under the Dome, related amusing anecdotes…and then announced that he was thinking about a sequel to The Shining.

He observed that even though things worked out okay in the original novel, Danny Torrance’s experiences at the Overlook were bound to have left him with deep emotional scars. King wants to explore how the trauma might have shaped Danny’s life.

The novel is tentatively titled Doctor Sleep and it finds a 40-year-old Danny working at an hospice for the terminally ill.

Danny’s real job is to visit with patients who are just about to pass on to the other side, and to help them make that journey with the aid of his mysterious powers. Danny also has a sideline in betting on the horses, a trick he learned from his buddy Dick Hallorann.

King went on to say that he wasn’t completely committed to the new novel, remarking, “Maybe if I keep talking about it I won’t have to write it.” I assume that’s because an outraged fan might bludgeon him to death before he has a chance to start.

I got this idea for a “virtual gift swap” from Bee’s Musings, who did it last year, and since I think it’s kind of brilliant I’m going to steal adapt it this year.

Here’s what we’re going to do: Leave a comment on this post or email me and tell me that you want to be part of the swap by December 15. On the 16th I will tell you who your assigned “giftee” is, and on your blog you will post a picture of what you would have gotten that person if you had money and, y’know, cared. It can be as silly or serious if you like, and since you probably won’t know the person you’re giving a “gift” to, feel free to make up whatever story you want about why the gift is appropriate.

I’ll post a list of everybody’s entries so we can all marvel at each other’s good taste. It’s a silly, fun way to take a short break from general holiday craziness, plus we can all discover new blogs we might not otherwise find. The more people who participate the more entertaining the gift list will be, so put your inner Scrooge in a corner and join in!