This is completely made of awesome. The Midnight in the Garden of Evil blog has some great photos of a wedding with a Haunted Mansion theme.
There are all kinds of clever details–like hitch-hiking ghosts place cards–and most of the decor was hand-made. I’m immensely impressed with how much of the mansion’s flavor they managed to capture with things like the spiderwebbed-candelabra centerpieces, not to mention brilliant little touches like custom-printed M&Ms with an HM wallpaper motif.
They apparently also had a bit of luck in the form of a friend who loaned them a couple of props that he had sculpted for use in his home haunt. That might actually be a great project for a wedding that’s a year or two off: Create custom props for use at the wedding, then use them for Halloween decor afterward.
Go take a look at the photos! They’re fantastic inspiration.
Bonus Link: Check out the Carnivale de Mystique on the same blog. It was a local nursery’s Halloween theme, but there are some great ideas for wedding decor.
I’m tending toward ambivalence where posts about zombies are concerned. On the one necrotic, rotting hand, they were never really my favorite monsters even before their recent explosion in popular media left me with a severe case of burnout. On the other hand, their overexposure has resulted in some pretty clever riffs on the subject material. Hollywood is Dead is one such riff.
Artist Matt Busch has reimagined classic movie posters as the products of some alternate universe where zombies are the norm. He’s carefuly re-created the original poster and then given it a severe case of zombification, right down to the tagline and actors’ names.
The artwork is available on T-shirts and posters, which would be a fun way to dress up a bare wall. Shadaughter is a big fan of Audrey Hepburn; maybe I’ll get her the “Breakfast is Tiffany” poster as a gift.
Spiderweb Potholders – Easy tutorial for strip-piecing potholders that look like spiderwebs.
Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy – An alternative to the slew of “how to be happy all the time” self-help books on the market, this book argues that melancholia is a necessary ingredient for creativity. Might be a useful book to pull out next time somebody accuses you of being too emo.
Spud Vicious – It’s a punk potato plushie. Say that three times fast.
Agnoistrology – Horoscopes for people who don’t believe in horoscopes.
Okay, technically you could do this with any image, but c’mon…skulls!
Designer Mark Montano has written the Big-Ass Book of Crafts, and is sharing some of the projects on his blog. He includes this easy tutorial for making fantastic-looking glass plates with a skull motif.
The instructions are extremely straightforward, and the result is just stunning. With a selection of clipart and some paint, you could make an entire set of gorgeous themed dinnerware very inexpensively.
I’d love to see this done with some old woodcuts or vintage anatomical illustrations.
This is the story of four little elves…well, three little elves…wait, two…this is the story of one little elf with a repeat-action pistol.
— TenSecondTales
Swim lessons went well for the boy.I told his dad we should throw him in the deep end.If he swims we save $30.If he sinks he was a witch.
— thefemmenoir
Doesn’t “abominable” sound like you started a word and then fell down a flight of stairs?
— Xytrex
I hope I never meet the girl of my dreams, she’s seen me in a lot of awkward situations.
— theJoeBiz
Stupid zombies won’t stay inside their chalk outlines.
— JerryThomas
Too bad if 90 percent of it is stupid. That’s how creativity works.
— Linus Torvalds
after he passed out we removed everything electronic from his room, stuck in some old books and an ancient typewriter from goodwill. for 20 min. we had him convinced he’d drunk himself backward in time.
— Texts From Last Night
“Armchair Treasure Hunt” books were immensely popular in the 80s (remember Masquerade?), and Tony Meeuwissen’s The Key to the Kingdom is of that general vintage and ilk. However, unlike most of the other books of its type, this one is worth picking up even though the original treasure is long gone. The puzzle involved clues found in custom-drawn playing cards, and the book includes a full deck of cards that are simply gorgeous.
The artwork on the cards is by turns whimsical and dark, featuring everything from spiders to tadpoles, and despite the intricate detailing they’re actually “real” cards: The suit and number of pips have been incorporated into the artwork of each card, so you could actually play pinochle with them if you wanted. In particular, they’d be perfect for tarot spreads.
Although no longer in print, the book and included cards are widely available secondhand. The puzzle solution and images of several of the cards are here. Limited-edition prints of some of the cards are also available at Folio Boutique.
It’s sort of my opinion that anybody who goes, “I’ll just let a random stranger beam any image they want onto my monitor,” (which, at its heart, is what Chatroulette is) probably deserves what they get.* Which is why what Lionsgate did is hilarious: They leveraged the service to create a highly amusing ad campaign for their upcoming The Last Exorcism.
This is their “best of” reaction reel, with the faux-possessed girl on the right and various Chatroulette users’ reactions on the left. Hee.
Skull Cup – Very attractive hand-made metal cup. Not a bad price, either.
Jessica Harrison – Artist with a penchant for gory sculpture. The dainty porcelain figures juxtaposed with decapitations and eviscerations are…arresting. (Hat tip to Skye)
Defunct Fashion – Photoblog featuring “historic fashion and exceptional recreations.” Some fantastic inspiration.
America’s Next Top Vampire – One of the “Top Model” episodes involved the models posing with a vampire in a bathtub full of blood. (Hat tip to Kitten Herder)
Occasionally whilst surfing the ‘Net, I’ll find a site that puts me in danger of spending way more than I should because everything is Just! So! Cool! The Bone Room is one of those sites.
They call themselves, “the web’s premiere natural history store,” but “the goth decorating superstore,” would also be appropriate. They’ve got all kinds of bones both genuine (including legal-to-sell human ones) and reproduction, and they even offer instructions for cleaning your own finds. They’ve got other bits of animals, ranging from fairly mundane things such as coyote claws to somewhat more arresting items like a purse made out of a cane toad.
Their natural jewelry features earrings made of real beetle wings, and lovely pendants made from real spider webs (they also have a lot of other mounted webs).
If you’re local to their brick-and-mortar store in Berkeley, CA, they also offer The Bone Room Presents, a “natural history salon” where they present lectures and other educational materials.
Many of their items are surprisingly affordable and would make a lovely addition to a cabinet of curiosities. There are also some wonderfully unique gift ideas: Even the person who “has everything” probably doesn’t have a Pleistocene bear tooth.
Bonus Link: Check out their video, The Perfect Pet, offering “an overview of the process of turning your ‘late’ (high maintenance) companion into an articulated skeleton.”
This is completely made of awesome. The Midnight in the Garden of Evil blog has some great photos of a wedding with a Haunted Mansion theme.
I’m tending toward ambivalence where posts about zombies are concerned. On the one necrotic, rotting hand, they were never really my favorite monsters even before their recent explosion in popular media left me with a severe case of burnout. On the other hand, their overexposure has resulted in some pretty clever riffs on the subject material. 
Okay, technically you could do this with any image, but c’mon…skulls!
“Armchair Treasure Hunt” books were immensely popular in the 80s (remember 
Occasionally whilst surfing the ‘Net, I’ll find a site that puts me in danger of spending way more than I should because everything is Just! So! Cool!