Skully Plates – This is similar to a project I posted about a couple of months ago, but I really like the use of silver leaf in the finished plate. (via Creepy Cupcakes)
Crop Circle Quilt – Quilt inspired by one of the more intricate crop circle designs. Bonus points for being entirely made of recycled fabric.
Yes, yes, I realize Christmas is over. This is for next year.
I have made no secret of my esteem for Dave Lowe’s imagination and creativity. He builds all sorts of marvelously whimsical props, decorative objects, and random tchotchkes which frequently include little inside jokes involving pop culture (like the Bumble Tooth he did last year).
For Christmas this year he gave members of his family various “relics,” all of which were based on stories or movies they liked as kids. There’s a keepsake box with some yellow brick wrapped in blue gingham, a telegram alerting General Mann that the Martians have landed, a unicorn horn, a London Times newspaper clipping advertising for a nanny, and several more. They’re all just lovely.
This would be a splendid project to do for one’s own family, particularly since it’s the sort of thing that can be worked on whenever you have a little spare time. Depending upon your particular crafting skills, a representative gift might be as simple as an aged piece of paper in a frame (a page, say, from Jonathan Harker’s diary) or a full-fledged prop with many pieces (a vampire-hunting kit containing appropriately-aged stakes, mallet, holy water, Latin prayer book, etc.).
I’ve definitely got a few ideas for my own relatives, particularly my dad, who is seriously hung up on A Christmas Carol. A page from Scrooge and Marley’s accounts ledger and a brass lion doorknocker, and I’m in business.
this ridiculousness was made LAST summer in edinburgh while we were al there for the fringe staying with the fabulous cunninghams.
i got the idea because i was going for a daily jog down that endless walled alley and every single time i did i couldn’t help feeling like i was personally re-enacting that goddamn scene from the movie. every jog, it just got worse.
so one day i got back the cunningham’s house from my jog and asked sam if he had any poor and free filmmaker friends who might be up for coming over and making a re-make of that stupid fucking scene.
(I kept waiting for her to close her damn mouth, but apparently Jennifer Connelly does that in the movie, so she may be deliberately parodying her instead of just being a mouthbreather.)
p.s. – She and Neil Gaiman got married last Sunday. As Patton Oswalt put it, “Marriage of @amandapalmer and @neilhimself confirmed. Like the Hatfield/Coy War, the Nerd/Goth schism is laid to rest — by love!”
When adults tell kids “You’ll understand when you’re older,” it means “you’ll understand not to ask.”
— donni
Phantom cellphone vibrations are your dead ancestors calling you.
— YUCKYBOT
If it looks like a duck & quacks like a duck, it’s a murderer, disguised as a duck.
— robdelaney
If you spell it “grammer”, you don’t get to correct it.
— MeetingBoy
Sleep tight! And if you should die before you wake — did you clear your browser history?
— thomaslennon
I like to imagine that braille on random public signs often says: “How did you know this was here?”
— kellyoxford
The post office should have a theme song and it should be played by Slayer.
— AinsleyofAttack
Why is it always hair loss & incontinence? Why can’t playing the oboe or the power to summon eagles be side effects? Looking at you, Pfizer.
— derekasaurus
People who say “If I disappeared, no one would notice” are wrong. Anyone who actually saw you vanish would be pretty freaked out.
— capricecrane
There is porn in Hell, but it’s skeleton porn :(
— serafinowicz
I’m a huge fan of unusual book covers, whether they’re sprucing up a functional book or simply serving as a prop. Bascombe Mania has a great tutorial for making a book covered in “dragon hide,” which looks great and is both fairly inexpensive and fairly easy (two things I usually look for in a project).
This particular cover probably wouldn’t stand up to extensive handling, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for something like a journal. However, it would work great as the cover for a wedding guest book or other lightly-handled item. It would also look wonderful simply displayed on a shelf, perhaps with other faux books or various curiosities.
This little jumping spider doesn’t realize he’s just looking at his reflection, so he acts all tough to chase away the “interloper.” Makes me want to carry a hand mirror just in case I encounter a spider.
What’s the big deal with the Dog Whisperer? My dog whispers all the time! “Kill for me,” he rasps.
— donni
You know that pickup line where guys ask if it hurt girls when they fell from heaven? The devil is a fallen angel too. Just sayin’.
— Paxochka
Bedbugs wouldn’t scare me so much if I could buy tiny hats for them on Etsy.
— Just_Alison
Accuse someone of denying everything. It’s a hard one to fight.
— thesulk
If the car behind me honks while waiting for my parking space at the mall, I turn off my car and visibly start a rubik’s cube.
— DamienFahey
I actually had my husband film the birth of my third child because if I meet David Blaine one day, I want him to know he can never top that.
— kellyoxford
If you love something, set it free. If it mauls you as soon as it’s released, stop loving crazy shit.
— sucittaM
Beware a wolf in sheep’s clothing? I say beware wolves in ANY clothing because if they can learn bespoke tailoring, our time has come.
— DeathStarPR
You know what would suck? If you died and were turned into a vampire and then you got haunted by the ghost of yourself who was pissed off at you for getting yourself killed and she was always there for eternity, laughing at you whenever you fucked something up, or screaming really loud so you’d drop the milk jug, or waiting until you were masturbating and then popping in and be all “WHATCHA DOIN’?” That would totally suck.
— The Bloggess
Somewhere in the world, there’s a woman named Flo who’s self-conscious about visiting her nieces and nephews.
— YUCKYBOT
Folks seemed to enjoy the trivia posts I did on Saturdays in November, so I’m making them an occasional feature. As usual, there are no prizes, but if you can answer them all without googling you get bragging rights.
Morticia Addams owned a man-eating plant that she fed raw hamburger on a daily basis. What was the plant’s name?
This vampiric Greek demon was once a Libyan queen who had an affair with Zeus. After Hera killed her children, her grief led her to begin killing and devouring other children.
In Jewish folklore, this is an anthropomorphic being created from inanimate matter (often mud) which is given life by supernatural means.
What was the title of the very first werewolf movie?
Rats and mice are rodents, a name derived from the Latin word rodere, which means what?
What was the last film Bela Lugosi ever appeared in?
Stephen King affectionately refers to the people who read his books by a respectful “pet name.” What is it?
In Poe’s poem “The Raven,” the main character pondered (weak and weary) in what month of the year?
What was the name of Jack Skellington’s ghostly pet dog?
In The Exorcist, what is the name of the priest who saves Regan from her possession, but throws himself through the bedroom window and dies in a fall down the steps outside?
Our second Secret Santa Can Suck It exchange was loads of fun, and everybody definitely came through with the awesomeness. Below is a list of everyone’s “gifts.” Go take a look at all the marvelously creative ideas!
Melissa (Recipient: Cobwebs) – Melissa was stuck with no connectivity–shriek!–and was very apologetic about not being able to post her “gift” in time. I’ll pretend she gave me…hmmm…a tour of spooky places in Europe: The Catacombs in France, Castle Dracula in Transylvania, and so forth. It’s just what I wanted! Yay!
Yes, yes, I realize Christmas is over. This is for next year.
I’m a huge fan of unusual book covers, whether they’re sprucing up a functional book or simply serving as a prop. Bascombe Mania has a great