Just a quick reminder that signups for this year’s Secret Pumpkin gift exchange close on the 15th. Details are here.

I personally run the exchange and can guarantee that your address will never be used for nefarious purposes. It’s loads of fun, so if you’d like a taste of Halloween in April, sign up before it’s too late!

Ouija Crafts – Modest roundup of ouija-inspired projects.

37 Easy No-Carve Pumpkin Ideas – I think I’d take exception to the “easy” part, since a few of these are more complicated than just carving the thing, but there are some neat ideas.

Keepin’ Halloween Alive – Nicely Halloweenish Alice Cooper track, plus an optional “Cooperoke” version for singing along. (via Halloween Addict)

What’s This? – EPBOT did some amazing repaints of Nightmare Before Christmas bath toys and turned them into lovely decorations.

The Macabre And the Beautifully Grotesque – Facebook page devoted to just what it says it is.

You Are Never Truly Alone – Just try not to think about this possibility now.

Fanged Pumpkins – These are oddly hilarious.

Nerdy Corsets – Great idea for repurposing kids’ novelty bedsheets.

Skull Bracelet – Pretty carved-skull bracelet. (Hat tip to Kitten Herder)

Happy Halloween Wreath – Tutorial for a rather horrifyingly festive ribbon wreath.

A number of people responded to the last entry in the most recent Death is Not an Option by saying, “Willard? Never heard of it.”* Yes, Willard was a highly popular horror movie in the early 70s, and it even spawned a sequel, Ben. Which included a sentimental song, to Ben, sung by Michael Jackson. It reached the top of the pop charts, was nominated for an Academy Award, and is counted as Jackson’s first #1 solo hit. (And was originally written for Donny Osmond, which makes it extra-weird.)

Here, enjoy 13-year-old Michael Jackson at the Oscars, singing a love song about a murderous rat.

*Children! You are all children who read my blog!!! And also get off of my lawn.

One of the things I love about running this blog is that people send me interesting stuff I would otherwise miss. Intrepid reader Jean-Robert recently dropped me a line about Mimosa Greer of Understory Pottery:

She makes ceramic cauldrons and pumpkins as coffee cups or up to the size of soup tureens. She also has a line of “cephalo-pots” that are octopus or squid themed.

You had me at “cephalo-pot.”

Her designs tend toward the naturalistic, with lizardy plates and luna moth bowls and yes, more cephalopods than you can shake a stick at. Given the prices on the few items currently in her Etsy shop, they’re also quite reasonably priced. She takes custom orders, so I’m betting something Cthuloid or bat-adorned wouldn’t be out of her range.

In addition to Etsy and her main site, she also has a Facebook page which features lots of additional photos of her work. I particularly like the cauldrons.

(Thanks, Jean-Robert!)

(No prizes, but if you can answer them all without googling you get bragging rights.)

1. The English word “pumpkin” originates from the Greek pepon (πέπων), which means what?
2. Which wife of Henry VIII is said to haunt the Tower of London chapel in which her body is buried?
   A) Catherine Parr
   B) Catherine of Aragon
   C) Jane Seymour
   D) Anne Boleyn
   E) Anne of Cleves
3. In Celtic folklore, the Kelpie is a water creature that usually appears as what kind of animal?
4. What flowers are traditionally associated with Mexican Day of the Dead celebrations?
   A) Roses
   B) Chrysanthemums
   C) Daisies
   D) Lilies
   E) Marigolds
5. This cryptid, which attacks livestock, has a name which literally means “goat sucker.”
6. In the Old Testament, Saul asks the Witch of Endor to conjure up what dead prophet?
   A) Samuel
   B) Ezekiel
   C) Daniel
   D) Isaiah
   E) Elijah
7. Algonquian mythology includes this fearsome man-eating spirit. Humans who indulge in cannibalism are at great risk of becoming one, and it also gives its name to a cannibalistic psychosis.
8. The Boto, a were-creature from the Amazon, is a shape-shifting what?
   A) Jaguar
   B) Monkey
   C) Dolphin
   D) Parrot
   E) Piranha
9. During the Salem Witch Trials, this slave was one of the first to be accused and the first to confess to witchcraft in Salem Village.
10. The festival of Lemuria was intended to exorcise the spirits of the restless dead, and usually included offerings of beans. What ancient culture celebrated this holiday?
    A) Roman
    B) Etruscan
    C) Greek
    D) Persian
    E) Babylonian

(Answers below the fold)

Read the rest of this entry »

Finding Time to Create has a nice tutorial for creating an attractive mobile out of vintage-y paper cutouts. Although she specifies a particular brand of patterned paper, this same idea could be used with any designs you like.

Halloween postcards were extremely popular in the early part of the last century, and reprints are widely available. If you have a good color printer, you can also just look for images online (the work of Ellen Clapsaddle was particularly well-regarded). Other attractive options would be vintage poison labels, thrifted covers from paperback books, family photos of past Halloweens, or lightweight memorabilia like spooky greeting cards.

If you don’t like the tulle at the top (I suspect it would be hard to dust), substitute ribbon instead. A few plastic spiders hot-glued to the ring or dangling amongst the paper items might be a nice addition as well.

I quite like the restrained, subtle nature of this mobile. It’s nicely thematic for the actual holiday, but it’s also attractive enough to leave up as a year-round decoration.

Latch Hooked Christopher Walken – Rather epic rug project.

Haunted Mansion for Sale – If you have around $900,000US to spare, you can buy a live-in replica of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.

Tattoos Inspired by Childrens’ Movies – I think the Toy Story one is my favorite. (via WitchArachne)

The League of Extraordinary Gentlepersons – Splendid print of what a “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” featuring characters from the 1990s would have looked like: Dana Scully, Edward Scissorhands, and Zack Morris are amongst the members.

Boo! – Squee-worthy ghost cake pops from Bakerella.

10 Cryptids More Terrifying than the Mongolian Death Worm – I dunno; the Bunyip looks sort of cuddly.

Halloween Cuckoo Clock – These instructions are for a prop made of construction paper and foamcore, but there’s no reason why the same pattern couldn’t be used to cut something more sturdy out of wood.

17 Euphemisms for Sex From the 1800s – Some of these are funny; a few are oddly creepy.

Homemade Candy Corn – I’m not sure the payoff would be worth the effort, but I generally like Alton Brown’s recipes.

Halloween Dessert Table – Great-looking spread.

Did you ever make “sand candles” as a kid? The idea was to press objects into wet sand and then pour melted wax into the resulting depression. Once cool, you wound up with a (somewhat sandy) molded candle.

Daring Baker Duluth decided to try the same idea with chocolate, using an edible substrate as the mold. The first attempt used brown sugar and she eventually tested several other substances as well; apparently flour works the best.

This is a splendid idea, and opens up all sorts of decorative possibilities. Anything small-ish without too much intricate detail is fair game for this kind of casting, and there are plenty of spooky items that would be perfect. Cast plastic novelties like bats, snakes, toads, or spiders to decorate a “witches’ brew” cake, or give a friend a box of chocolate skulls. Cast your own fingers as cake toppers or make little candy tombstones as placecards.

This is also a fun and not-too-messy activity to do with kids, so they can make their own edible decorations. Great stuff.

(via Brass Goggles)

Just look at this gorgeous thing.

Over at Seeing Things, Marilyn takes wonderful advantage of the striped “witch stockings” that show up around Halloween by making a spectacular wreath. I love the over-the-top trimmings.

The instructions are really simple, and obviously you could use any patterned stockings that you like: I think this would look great using black-and-white stripes as part of a Nightmare Before Christmas wreath, or spiderweb-patterned tights embellished with glittery spiders. Instead of a wreath, the covered styrofoam balls could also be strung together as a decorative garland. They might also be used individually as holiday ornaments; just hide the gathered ends with a tuft of curled ribbon (or a little plastic skull).

Costume tights are cheap and easy to find right now, although if you can bear to wait this is the kind of project where it really pays to stock up at after-Halloween clearance sales. Get a bunch of different patterns and experiment. A door wreath would make a nice hostess gift for a Halloween party as well.

The fabulous xJane dropped me a line about Etsy shop SWStitchery, which offers, amongst other things, felt Krampus ornaments. Since xJane grew up with a different color of Krampus,* the seller even made her a custom one.

Krampusnacht is December 5, so order early if you want to make sure you have sufficient pocket-sized Krampuses on hand to properly celebrate. Assuming you’re the sort of person who would put a Krampus in your pocket.

The shop also sells several other spooky felt ornaments, including teensy skeletal elves, cheerful Yetis, and goofy little bats. Its other main offering appears to be hair accessories, like this “bubble ghost” headband (I have to find some of that fabric) and this cute ribbon spider.

The whimsical little ornaments would be a great “spooky, but not too spooky” holiday decoration, and the prices are quite reasonable. Check ’em out!

(Thanks, xJane!)

*And if, “That’s a Krampus of a different color” doesn’t immediately become part of your vocabulary there’s something wrong with you.