Ein Liebster Award fur mich?!

It's so deeply humbling to get recognition from someone you admire, and The Deadwood Cemetary falls squarely into that category for me. I can always count on delicious eye candy and inspiring musings over at the DC. Thank you so much, October Boy, for the generous appointment of this award!!!

And so before the music fades and the producer offstage gives the wrap it up signal, I shall move on...
The rules say that I'm to pass this shiny award on to five deserving blogs who currently have under 100 followers. *drumroll* And the Liebsters go to:

~ Scary Mary's. I am convinced we were seperated at birth. Vintage goodness and monster heaven in one blog- LOVE!

~ All Together Dead. This is definetly of the most elegant Halloween blogs I've seen. Always a pleasure to read.

~ The Quirk Shop. The tag line says it all; Growing up is mandatory. Growing up is optional. Hella fun blog.

~ Addicted to Halloween. Anyone who drives a 1973 hearse IS addicted to Halloween... and I tip my hat to that!

~ Pumpkinbrain. I've picked up more than a few ideas from this blog. :)

Madame Gartilda

is ready, and just in the nick of time. :)

Here Lies Harry Butt (fo' REAL!!!)

Probably bought myself a one way ticket to Hades for having giggle fits in a cemetary today. Harry Butt? Really?! What was his mom thinking!! Poor guy will probably die of embarassment.

Ladies, please use discretion when opting to hyphenate your surnames. It seems one of the Butts liked her maiden name enough to keep it, and became Butt-Brown after marriage, which is only marginally better than if she were a Brown-Butt.

This guy won the cool name lottery...

The entire Adams family (close enough hehe) is right beside 007!



This guy is VERY



All kidding aside, there were some truly gorgeous old monuments.  

This is such a wonderful example of the elegant Art Deco movement, and the epitaph is one of the loveliest, truest, and most touching I've ever read.

And of course, my favorites are always the decrepit gothic style Victorian era stones-

No better way to spend a late October afternoon. :)

Church o' Bones

The Sedlec Ossuary is situated beneath a small church in the Czech Republic. The site was used for mass burials in the 1500's, and when the church was constructed three centuries later, over 70,000 bodies had been interred. Church officials, apparently ahead of their time, decided to 'upcycle' the human remains and fashioned furniture, carvings, and a darling chandelier from hundreds of thousands of bones. It is to this day, one of the most popular (and grisly) tourist attractions in the country.

Last time I looked, you coudn't get stuff like THIS at Crate & Barrel...

Chris Walken + Zombies = Youtube Hilarity

WANT so hard... but cannot have. Wahhh!

Aren't these just delicious?!!  It seems they didn't make it to production (someone please correct me if I'm wrong here). Such a shame too, bet hot apple cider would taste even sweeter in a Gomez Mugmate! :)

Are you the Keymaster?

Picked up this length of fabric for Madame Gartilda's table cloth, and it hit me...



this would be PERFECT for a Dana Barrett costume!!!!



If only I could sew... and was leggy, and brunette, and crazy gorgeous. Oh well, table cloth it is!

Do want!!!



perpetualkid.com



The newest character to join the cast

is this rather stick figure looking Mystic Oracle. Was she my own idea? Hardly. I shamelessly plead no-contest unoriginality, your Honor. I can think of a few fantastic fortune teller character props around; the talented Mr Macabre comes to mind immediately.

I'm really winging the process of building her body. Stuck a baggy sweatshirt on her and duct taped it to the chair- sloppy yes, but it will be well covered. Now I'm attempting to distribute crumpled newspaper through the shirt, and will cinch it by wrapping 'round with more duct tape. Then, in theory we sould be able to dress her, attach hands, head (originally Witch Gartilda, now known as Madame Gartilda), and mesh together with extra cloth mache at the neck and arms. Her legs will be fitted in later, how is yet to be determined. Oh, and her crystal ball?, it's a light fixture salvage from our powder room reno ha!

We spent last weekend trawling the V. V. Boutique (Value Village, for the gauche) looking for her ensemble. Scored some seriously stylin' threads for the seer set! Keep watch for her final reveal. :)

Shake it up, shake it down
Move it in, movie it round, disco lady....

MUCH beter :)

Tonight will be spent on her gnarly hands, which by the way, will be sculpted from Michael's Creative Paperclay knock-off, Artminds Clay Mache. It's sticky, and makes my hands smell like marshmallows in a bad way, and generally makes me cranky. Boo on you, Michael's!!

Urgent Memo for Sean Thomas Fisher- take precaution against Bad Actors NOW!!!

OMG I knew it I knew it I knew it!!!! All the proof is right here:

a)  I found this on ebay, so it HAS to be legit.

b)  He owned the LaLaurie house in New Orleans- aka America's 'Most Haunted House'- well it would be, with his netherworld friends dropping by and stuff.

c) Have you seen his son, Weston?... HELLO... def zombie!!! 

d) Ghost Rider? NOT ACTING!

Original c.1870 carte de visite showing a man who looks exactly like
Nick Cage. Personally, I believe it's him and that he is some sort of
walking undead / vampire, et cetera, who quickens / reinvents
himself once every 75 years or so. 150 years from now, he might
be a politician, the leader of a cult, or a talk show host.

This is not a trick photo of any kind and has not been manipulatedin Photoshop or any other graphics program. It's an original photo
of a man who lived in Bristol, TN sometime around the Civil War.

For the many of you insisting that this is a Photoshop manipulation:
Any serious potential buyer will be allowed to have a photo expert
of their choice examine the original photograph before any money
changes hands.

I've had a lot of questions asking where I purchased this. As followers
of my website know, I collect antique memorial photography - 

images of dead people - from the 1800s.  This photo was found in
the very back of album that contained an unusual number of
Civil War era death portraits (which is why I purchased it). All of
the other people in the album, living and dead, were identified 

by name - this man was not.

Photographer is Professor G.B. Smith. A contact of mine forwarded
this interesting article (link) about the photographer, Smith. Turns
out he was a confederate Civil War prisoner of war photographer.

Guaranteed to be an original 1860s-70s photograph and not
a modern reproduction, copy or photo manipulation.

4" x 2.5".
Condition
Unevenly trimmed on all sides.

* Items shipped to U.S. addresses are shipped within 1-2 business days.* Items shipped to all international addresses are shipped within 1-4 business days.

* All photos are shipped in photo mailer with cardboard and "Do Not Bend" on outside. Never had a damaged item!
* An option to add insurance will be available - please review your invoice carefully!

rare antique photo photography vintage 1800s victorian famous celebrity

father & son. case closed.

Easy Jack Glow Jars

I wanted to do a craft with my youngest daughter over the summer, so we dug up a dead squirrel and dressed it in Barbie clothes. Since that only lasted five minutes, we moved on to these easy decoupaged jars instead! We'll be hanging twenty of these guys from our cherry tree this year. :)

Simply dig through the recycling box for various sizes and shapes of glass jars. Cut orange tissue paper into squares, and affix with Mod Poge- make sure to brush the paste over top the tissue as well. Paint your Jack face with black acrylic. I'm adding hangers made from armature wire.

All that's left is the lights! I found these super bright led's on ebay (Six Star Sales carries them). They come in a rainbow of colours in single lights, and clusters of 2, 3 and  5. Mine are amber (they actually look less yellow in person).

Way easy, and really effective!

For Madame Jen,

since I STILL can't post comments *sigh*...

The finials were made with the hot glue- sand cast method. I sculpted the original piece in polymer clay (just couldn't find a good one to use). Then the original was pressed in a slightly damp sand filled baking dish. Since I needed a bazillion of them, I tossed the glue gun aside and melted the glue sticks in a wrecked old pot, and carefully poured into the impression in the sand. While the glue was still warm, I imbedded a nail in the bottom, about halfway sticking out. The idea is that the fence 1x1's will be predrilled, and the nails will pop in for easy assembly. Trimmed the excess glue, added a coat of primer followed by black acrylic paint, and wah-la- done!

Hope you didn't mind me creeping in your garage! ;)

2011 Fence rebuild: Phase 1 Complete

Behold,

&

heh heh :)

Haunted Barrel Works

Our family has had a tradition of visiting the Toronto Islands every summer since as far back as I can remember. It's an oasis in the city, and only an eight minute ferry boat ride from Harbourfront. The parklands are majestic, and many go for bike riding, picnics, the beach, and frisbee golf, but the main draw is Centreville; a turn-of-the-century styled theme park on Centre Island. It's definetly not Six Flags, but for young families or those who like it on the mild side, it's packed full of charm.

Naturally, I  look forward to Haunted Barrel Works the most. This dark ride was built in 1970, and few things have changed, but somehow it never gets tired. If you ever have the chance to pay a visit, it's well worth while- just avoid weekends when the crowds descend on Centreville like a plague of locusts!

Real antique barbed wire display. All date to the 1800's.

It's tricky to get any great pics or video since the stunts trigger when you are pretty much on top of them (and everything's behind plexiglass- terrible glare), but I did find a pretty good job on the youtubes;

It was even disguised for this episode of Goosebumps- A Shocker on Shock Street (late 90's):

And to make things even better, we picked a gorgeous site yesterday for our late evening picnic, just when a million bats decided to have their own dinner. We watched them fly across the night sky through the clearing in the trees until it was time to catch the ferry back. Always a beautiful trip... can't wait for next year!

view from the picnic table :)

We Have a Winner! :D

And the Pumpkin Pamper Pack goes to *drumroll*.... Creepy Glowbugg!!!

If you'd kindly shoot your addy on over to spookworks@hotmail.com, I'll be sure to get that on it's way first thing Monday morning. :) Congrats!

Really wish the lottery had one in four odds lol!

Ghoulishly Good Bath Treats GIVEAWAY!!!

First off, I'd like to give a heart-felt thanks to my loyal followers. It wasn't long ago that I jumped blindly into blogging without a clue how to get started. I'm grateful to all of you who have not only joined, but tolerated us enough to stick around. As a token of appreciation, we're hosting a giveaway- finally!

We'll draw for the spoils on Saturday, August 6. Just leave a comment to enter!  And a hint to the men- folk, this prize will score big points with the ghoul in your life... or heck, just hog it all for yourself- we don't judge! ;)

If Morticia treated herself to some decadent tubby time, I'd imagine she'd use this Pampering Pumpkin Pack... from some of the very best artisan bath and body etailers, this hand picked collection includes;

~Purple Pumpkin Shea Soap from Magic Hands Workshop. Queen of cold process soapers, and sadly, recently out of business. When the news broke, I hauled her stuff like a squirrel with ADHD preparing for a never ending winter, and saved one precious for the prize pack.  This moisturizing lavender & pumpkin scented bar is simply exquisite.

~Pumpkin Cake Lip Lust lip balm from Haunt. Her stuff is cult popular, but scarce. Try to catch when her shop opens for a fleeting moment- it happens only a couple of times a year. http://www.haunt.bigcartel.com/
(hint: she's famous for Halloween goodies!)

~Imp Pumpkin Butter from Haus of Gloi. Cute little 2oz jar- ridiculously softening and loaded with pumpkin seed oil! Scent description from the Haus; This little fellow longs to be your bath time companion! Peculiar passion fruit mingling with sun cured apricots, perfectly pink grapefruit juice and innocent whispers of wet mimosa blooms. Great stuff! Available at; http://host.pappapak12.com/~hausofgl/

~Pumpkin Bread Bath Truffle from Skindecent. NOM! Amazing shop filled with tricks and treats... and Canadian to boot! http://skindecent.com/

Good luck to all!!!!

BTW, blogger isn't letting me post comments on my site- or anyone else's. Am I the only one?! It's become a frustrating loop of endlessly signing in and getting nowhere. Blargh. Just wanted to let everyone know how much I've been enjoying all your awesome blogs and thank you for the kind and encouraging words you're left for me here. Really, THANK YOU!