I have known many daycare workers who are exactly this perky.

Graveyarn – Free pattern for crocheting a miniature grave.

Six-Year-Old Performs Heavy Metal Mic Check – Somebody get this kid a band.

Serene Knowledge – Strange and disturbing microfiction.

Handy Rules for the Creation of Lethal Mutants – Useful tips for the mad scientists amongst us.

Raven – Lovely photo; it would make an interesting tattoo as well. Hooray for corvidae!

Spiders in a Box – Marvelous illusion. I wish I had a room with big windows so I could try this myself. (Hat tip to pdq)

55 Scariest Moments from SF and Fantasy Movies – A roundup.

Dark and Stormy – Evocatively-named cocktail; there’s a popsicle version too.

Estate Jewelry: The Horror – Some neat examples of creepy vintage jewelry.

Magical Gnomes Placemat – The same applique technique could be used to add whimsical little gnomes to clothing, tote bags, or other fabric items.

The matches for our Secret Santa Can Suck It exchange have been made and sent to their assignees. After everyone posts about their “gift,” I’ll list all of the entries to peruse. To kick things off, here’s mine.

My giftee is Pensive Pumpkin. Rivaling her love of spooky things is her love of running, so my gift is a spooky running package.

We’ll start with a new workout wardrobe, with skulls featuring prominently:

Next, a new iPhone…

…loaded with helpful workout apps, including Zombies, Run!.

After that, an extended trip to Europe to participate in the marathons of her choice and spend her downtime visiting gothy locales like cemeteries and catacombs and castles.

Finally, she needs a personal trainer and workout buddy, and really the best possible choice would be Alan Rickman, whose bona fides are easily seen in clips like this and this (both NSFW). He’ll be available as necessary for morale-boosting and soothing massages.

Happy Holidays, Pensive! I hope you enjoy my “gift!”

Just like the last edition, here’s a bunch of images I’ve run across which don’t quite warrant a post of their own (click to view larger). Several of them have no attribution, so if you happen to know the source for any of these please leave a note in the comments.

	Fireplace Ghost This was all over Pinterest, and I finally learned it’s called an Immortal Morton. There’s another view (and cheaper price) here, which makes it look significantly…less daunting. It should be possible to DIY something similar with wire, plastic skeleton parts, and cheesecloth.
	NMBC Violin Attractive, presumably handpainted, violin.
	Skeleton Hand Cookies According to this photostream, these were done by Stan’s Bakery. Although a bit time-consuming, they wouldn’t be hard to DIY.
	Spider Cookies These appear to be made out of fondant; this would look good on a cake too.
	Skeleton Hand Bra Possibly DIY-able with rubber prop skeleton hands. I’m pretty sure this is the same type of bra; there’s also another shop which has something that looks more like applique or fabric paint (which would also be DIY-able).
	Dia de los Muertos Cake I didn’t find an original source, but whilst searching I did run across some other nice examples.
	Raven Tattoo I did dig up a source for this one: It’s by Polak One of Harai Tattoo; his gallery has some other neat stuff too.
	Random Silliness These three just amused me.

The Hairpin occasionally does “Get This Look” articles which feature style suggestions based around a particular theme: Royalty or Rainforest Animals or what-have-you. Last Halloween they did a few inspired by famous ghosts, and I love the idea of building a spook-themed outfit. My only quibble is that their combinations might be somewhat problematic to actually wear (or it’s possible that I simply don’t get invited to the sorts of parties where a ballgown and knitted armlets are appropriate).

I’ve put together a couple more, based on other famous ghosts.

Black Aggie is a shrouded statue which used to be used as a grave marker in Maryland. It was long rumored to be haunted and since so many people broke in to the cemetery at night to visit it, the exasperated family finally donated it to the Smithsonian.

La Llorona is a Mexican legend about a woman who drowned her children in order to be with her lover. Regretting her decision, she now wanders forever, weeping and kidnapping children.

Anne Boleyn is probably too well-known to require much of an introduction (at least on this blog). She runs around headless, yo.

Screaming Jenny is a ghost in Harper’s Ferry, West VA. She’s said to have been a woman whose dress caught on fire; in a panic, she ran out of the house and onto the railroad track where she was struck and killed by a train, which is an extremely Wile E. Coyote way to meet one’s demise. Her fiery phantom is said to still haunt that section of track.

Guy poses as a snowman, startles passersby. And dogs.

He’s got a whole YouTube channel devoted to this schtick.

Just a quick reminder that the deadline to sign up for the Secret Santa Can Suck It pretend gift exchange is Wednesday. If you’d like to participate (it’s free! No actual gifts are involved), leave a comment over on that post. Or right here. I’m easy.

Carrie – Clever “Carrie at the prom” costume. The accompanying comment thread is here.

Witchy Cupcakes – Cute idea for DIY cupcake toppers.

Vintage Button Cuff Bracelet – Easy idea for using up that stash of pretty buttons.

Spider Loafers – Cute way to glam up fabric loafers with spider stencils.

Dork Tower – I think I like the lyrics better this way.

Haunted Mansion Cosplay – Splendid “alligator tightrope girl” costume.

Immortality Helmet – Gorgeous steampunky sculpture/mask.

Three Fantastic Halloween Music Compilations – Recommendations from Wil Wheaton.

X-ray Tights – Nike has a new line of performance tights digitally printed with X-ray images.

Sailing to the Moon – This is 100% goth-free but delightful nonetheless.

This site is ridiculously NSFW and is likely to permanently scar small children and housepets. Proceed with appropriate caution.

Pornaments is pretty much exactly what the name would lead you to expect: A whole collection of whimsically-pornographic Christmas ornaments, just in case you feel like your tree isn’t complete without a teddy bear in assless chaps or some elves doing it doggie-style. They’re weirdly cute.

The ornaments are all the “Old World”-style silvered-glass-and-glitter that are often found in kitschy shapes,* which somehow makes them rather charming. Although some are blatantly non-family-safe, there are a number of them that are more stylized and won’t automatically give your in-laws apoplexy. (I do, however, think that the best use of these would be to quietly sneak one on to said in-laws’ tree and see how long it takes someone to notice.)

Anyway, if you’re looking for something really unique to add to the tree or use as a particularly-arresting gift topper, this is the place to look.

*Speaking of that, Merck does a whole line of Halloween-themed ornaments in that style.

Over on DesignSponge, blogger Kate Benbow relates a conversation with her small son about the source of mysterious noises in their house: Instead of mice, her son was convinced it was the Tooth Fairy.

Later that week, I found two inexpensive dollhouse doors and did a spot of secret crafting. Harry came down to breakfast the other morning and was astonished to discover the actual front door used by the tooth fairy, Santa’s elves and…well, who knows who else lives behind the door? We know for sure that someone lives there because they get mail and milk deliveries and are fond of leaving their boots outside the door when it rains.

She includes a simple tutorial for making doors of one’s own, plus suggestions for miniature accessories like mail and tiny flowerpots.

The “Santa’s elves” bit made me realize that with the holidays approaching this is a perfect time to surprise a child with the installation of a temporary “elf door” to let Santa’s helpers come and go as they please. Last weekend such an elf door appeared in Shadowboy’s bedroom. It was easy: Dollhouse accessories are widely available; I ordered the door, doorknob, knocker, and welcome mat online, and used some leftover housepaint to paint the door white. I had intended to further embellish the door with acrylic paint: Maybe candy-stripe it or hand-paint some holly or paint the inset panels red and green. After several false starts I realized I suck at painting and went back to white. These are Minimalist Elves.

Once the paint was dry, I used superglue to attach the doorknob and knocker. I put double-stick tape on the back of the frame (be sure to use tape rather than the thicker mounting foam, since the latter will leave a slight gap) and stuck it to the wall after Shadowboy went to sleep. The stepladder was a last-minute addition: Since there’s baseboard on all of the walls* I had intended to stick the door to the side of a bookcase–the tape is furniture-safe–but decided that it looked odd. I finally stuck it above the baseboard and filched a ladder from a set of Shadowboy’s Lincoln Logs. (Incidentally, the doorknob came with a ridiculously teensy little key; it’s hidden under the mat.) A bit closer to Christmas I may add a wreath to simulate elfin activity.

This kind of door could also be a longer-term decorative element, and could even be accessorized differently as the seasons change. And, of course, children aren’t the only ones who might enjoy a fairy door; I’m tempted to install one in my office to let the computer bugs come and go.

*It probably says something about my usual level of gung-hoedness, project-wise, that when my husband found me building the door he asked warily if I was planning to cut a piece out of the baseboard to let it sit flush with the wall. I honestly have no idea what he’d have done if I’d said yes.