24 Days Until Halloween: SPIDER MOVIES

This is the last time, I swear. After this, no more spider-centricity. I want to leave you with a few creepy-crawly films to watch if you're feeling spooky this weekend (*'d ones were instant-watchable on Netflix earlier this week). Spiders do not necessarily equal fantastic horror, but as I am genuinely scared of the things --- eww, eww, eww.

• Tarantula (1955)
• Earth vs. the Spider (1958)
• The Giant Spider Invasion (1975)
• Kingdom of the  Spiders (1977)
• Arachnophobia (1990)
• MST3K: Mystery of Spider Island (1999)*
• Spiders (2000)
• Spider 2: Breeding Ground (2001)*
• Arachnid (2001)*
• 8 Legged Freaks (2002)
• Arachnia (2003)
• In the Spider's Web (2007)*
• Ice Spiders (2007)
• The Mist (2007) - I don't know if outer-dimensional spiders count, but this movie gave me a lasting case of the icks.

That was all the research on Creature Features I could muster on spiders; after that I started feeling the twitch of, 'is something crawling on me?!' panic.

And keep in mind I said these were spider movies. I did not say they were all good spider movies.

Vintage Halloween Ad - Reddiwip

Circa 1950s

the horror of poor spelling

I made a shocking discovery at Michaels last weekend.

A shocking discovery regarding clowns. Not only are they creepy.  That much is undeniable.  But there's more. 

Their spelling is atrocious.

It seems there's never a Spell-Check around when you need one.

Polish the Stars - I'm a Guest Blogger!

Isn't this exciting? Megan @ Polish the Stars was kind enough to let me post a guest blog today. Do not let all the clean, white look of it scare you off -- this is one of my favorite blogs out there, and she is perfectly in-line with the Halloween spirit.

Go visit! Do it now! There is a smashing Halloween party going on. :)

25 Days Until Hallowen: SPIDER DECOR

Cobweb Candles

My own horror at spiders has been long-lived. Since childhood, I have been petrified of anything arachnid, though absolutely fascinated with anything Halloween.

In my smallish, southern town people were always split as to whether Halloween was a "Christian" thing to celebrate, and either as a result or because we all lived so far apart in the country there were very few yard haunters.

Except this one house: they had a massive spiderweb made of ropes that they kept up year round. I loved driving by there. Around Halloween more props would come out, and a massive spider would sometimes get added to the mix. I loved it, maybe in part because I was so scared of the things.

Centsational Girl's Mantel

We're almost at the close of spider-friendly posts (thank all that is good in the world), but to cap off what you might need to throw a really terrifying spider party, here are some great decor ideas for you!

• Centsational Girl's Mantel 
• Make your own Spider Picture Frame
• Insect Chandelier  - speaking of this, a little bit of fishing wire attached by hot glue to some black plast spiders would be smashing hanging down from a cobweb-covered light fixture!
• Martha Stewart Cobweb Candles
• Spider Tree Ornament
• Spider Porch from Martha Stewart 
• Spider Sentry - My personal favorite from that issue was the Spider Egg Sac. Yuck, yuck, yuck!!
• Spiderweb Tablecloth with PomPom spiders 
• Pumpkin-carved Spiders 
• Squash Carved Spiders 



Spider Egg Sac

• Musty Wreath with Spiders from Martha Stewart
• Pepper Design's Spider Webs: 6 Ways
• DIY Spider Web Plate
• Spider Cutout Garland (slide 4 of 18)
• Grandin Road Outdoor Spider with Flashing Eyes
• Foam Ball Spiders
• Spider Window Panels
• Spider Web Door Mat

Halloween Crush

I abhor orange-flavoured pop.  Every brand I've ever tried tastes bitter to me.  Like medicine, artificially flavoured to make it more palatable.

My husband is my polar opposite in this respect.  He loves orange pop.  It's his beverage of choice, and he seems so disappointed when it isn't on a menu.  I can usually ignore this character defect.  But when I noticed him carrying a bottle of Orange Crush recently, I saw something I couldn't ignore.

It appears Orange Crush has been transformed, at least temporarily, into Orange-O-Lantern Crush.

Never in my life had I wanted so badly to like, actually like, orange pop.  But it seemed impossible.  So I hurried to the nearest store.  If the orange flavour had been transformed, maybe Crush had similarly altered its Grape, Lime, and Cream Soda flavours . . .

And indeed it had!  Lime, Grape and Cream Soda had become "Slime", "Gruesome Grape", and . . . . "Blood Cherry"?  Apparently there was no way to make Cream Soda sound spooky.  So of course, I scooped up one of each.  Relieved that I didn't have to subject myself to the horrors of Orange Crush.

Gruesome Grape is my personal favourite.

ATC - The Skeleton Key IV

Collage Images by Moonlight Journey:  http://www.moonlightjourney.com/

26 Days Until Halloween: SPIDER DRINKS

To add to the spider menu of earlier this week:

• Make a licorice spider to garnish drinks; black rimming sugar makes it extra-creepy. Step-by-step how-to at the link. Thank you, Martha Stewart!
• Black Widow Cocktail
• A Different Black Widow CocktailSpider Punch***
• Spider Bite 
• Spider Brain Kids' Cocktail*** 
• SKYY Black WidowSpider Cider*** 
• White SpiderSpider's Kiss
• Kahlua Cobweb
• Spider's Web

No wait, this one is for real (FROG QUEEN DO NOT CLICK): Tarantula Cocktail. As in: a cocktail made with a tarantula. *shudder*


***Alcohol-free

 (more Halloween cocktails)

ATC - The Skeleton Key III

Collage Images by Moonlight Journey:  http://www.moonlightjourney.com/

if it's raining, it must be october

It won't stop raining.

Every weekend and many evenings since autumn began, I've been trying to find an opportunity to drag some old props into the backyard and (in keeping with this year's theme of "everything old is new again"), freshen them up.  In most cases, "freshening them up" requires spray paint.  And spray paint requires dry weather. At least for a while.

But it just keeps raining.  And misting.  And drizzling.  Culminating yesterday in an intense evening of wind and pouring rain.  So instead of working on props, I ate candy corn cookies, made a cup of pumpkin tea, lit some Halloween candles, and listened to the rain lash the windows.

The coming weekend promises better weather.  Too bad I have to be out of town for Thanksgiving.

Halloween Gift Basketry

Gift Baskets for Halloween

Being a married adult now, I understand that the sending of gifts on occasion is somewhat requisite. It never occurred to me, though, that I could use the internet to gift Halloween baskets both near and far!

Even without the intent to order online, these make some great inspiration for gift baskets you could make up inexpensively yourself:

Halloween Bucket Planters (ProPlants)

Mrs. Fields Pumpkin Tote

Halloween Dipped Strawberries?!
I must make some

Simple, yet effective

Wine Country

The last of all these borrowed pictures is particularly inspiring to me -- you could make a gourmet Halloween treat basket, themed after spooky spirits or vampires or whatever strikes your fancy. If you couldn't find a suitably spooky wine on your own, there are always printable labels:

• My Wedding Labels (re-worked from Martha's)*
• Clean and Proper labels (For the less spooky among you)*
• Love Manor (if you haven't visited this photostream yet, please know you'll love it. That's why I'm not taking you straight to the labels)

Vintage Trickster

Please feel free to save and use.

27 Days Until Halloween: SPIDER COSTUMES

I think the Frog Queen is totally ready for me to move off of spiders... I can't blame her. I'm not sure I can take it much longer myself! Did I mention spiders terrify me?

Since Halloween is about scary, there is nothing scarier to me than spiders. Except maybe animatronics. Or maybe animatronic spiders... Dear. Goodness. NO. That would set my Frankenstein Complex just over the edge.  (*searches the internet for less than a second and returns with this* -- oh good, my nightmares realized)

My vision for a Halloween spider costume does not involve becoming the spider. Hell no, it involves my worst nightmare of being covered head-to-toe in the things! Since I haven't actually had the guts to make one yet, I'll give you the breakdown of my some-Halloween-far-far-in-the-future plans:

• Buy little plastic spiders
• Make a wig out of chicken wire, wig base, black wig hair, and then cover it with cobwebbing. This could either be achieved with hot glue webbing or with the stuff you buy for your house, but it should look like spiders are nesting on your head. Gross. - oh sure, this part sounds easy -- but my vision of a spider-covered Marie Antoinette wig is a little grandiose to be sure)
• Glue spiders to the wig (this lady did a good job at spidering her hair - that's what I'd be going for)
• Glittery black dress or wispy white one, also covered in spiders 
• Cobweb shawl - made in black or white with cheesecloth, to contrast against the dress color choice
• Skin covered in spiders
• Dramatic makeup

But, since I'm not brave enough (nor do I have enough free time this year) to make that, here are some quick, fun spider costume ideas:

Spiderweb Mother and Spider Baby 

...Of course, you don't need a baby for the above. You could just as easily create an 8-"legged" black wrap to go around you, or wear a shirt with a spider motif.

Spider Dog

• Another Spider Costume Idea From Martha Stewart
• Spider Princess Costume
• Teal and Lime - Super Cute, fuzzy child's spider costume
• Spider web braids for a little girl
• Hahaha - spider bun hairstyle for a little girl (or for me -- I'm doing this, y'all, just as soon as I buy some googly eyes)
• Spider hat (this year target is selling spiders that would cling to your head, I'll wager -- just an fyi)
• If you are talented with drawing and liquid eyeliner - spider eye make up option 1 and option 2
• For the visionary with time to make cool things, this is great inspiration

The Vampire Bat

Setting aside my fear of vampires, I sat down this weekend to watch The Vampire Bat (1933).  To be fair, I felt safe in choosing this film because the blurb on the DVD package referred to a string of murders supposedly committed by a vampire . . . until the real culprit is revealed.  That told me all I needed to know.  No real vampires would be present.

The film is set in the usual small German village that seems to be a haven for vampires, werewolves, and other assorted monsters.  Several murders have been committed involving two puncture marks on the victims' necks and a complete loss of blood.  Clearly, a sign that vampires are at work.

Naturally, the prime suspect is a mentally-challenged young man who lives in the village.  And plays with bats.  "They're soft . . ."

Before long, a torch-wielding mob is formed to deal with the problem.  But still the murders continue.  So it's up to the local detective, providing the voice of reason, and his scientist girlfriend to uncover the truth.  Which turns out to be even more frightening than vampires.

Like so many films from this era, The Vampire Bat begins and ends abruptly.  But otherwise, this is a solid B-movie.  Despite the ability to spot the real villain early on.  The scientist girlfriend did not faint or scream hysterically, which was a pleasant surprise.  And it ended on a fun note.

It's heart-warming to see the surviving characters able to laugh and crack jokes within mere seconds of the villain's demise.  Emotionally healthy, I think.

ATC - The Skeleton Key II

Collage Images by Moonlight Journey:  http://www.moonlightjourney.com/

Fun Halloween find. 

Picked up this tin of breath mints at my local
Cost Plus World Market.

 Wishing now I grabbed a few extra.

28 Days Until Halloween: SPIDER FASHION

This is dorky and girly, but I can't help myself. I need to go shopping for new clothes in the worst of ways, so I'm going to devote at least one post per 'creature' this month on using scary to inspire the wardrobe.

For 'spiders,' I was thinking that lots of draped cobwebs and black-widow colors would fit the bill. Lots of crochet and lace.

Spiderwebbed by phantompoe

And of course, a cobwebby wrap:

Spider Shawl with How-to From Martha Stewart

• Spider Web Skirt*
• Webby Shirt*

I also found a lot of cobweb inspiration for fashion dating back to the Victorian era; but 'spooky' prints seem to have hit a fad even in the 50's. I have to re-find some of my research and bully it into a proper post sometime.

Happy Hauntings, y'all!

(Also: deep breaths -- we'll be out of the spider phase of my blog very soon!)

same old Ichabod

It was a dark and stormy afternoon.

A perfect afternoon to spend on the couch.  Reading.  And a perfect opportunity to finally pick up the copy of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow that I bought last summer.  In Sleepy Hollow.  I have never read the original story, but as I began the tale of Ichabod, a familiar mental image sprung to mind.

I was surprised by this.  Until now, the version of the story with which I've been mainly familiar is the Disney animated version.   But I expected the original story to bear no more than a passing resemblance.  Disney usually "sweetens" the stories it turns into films, sometimes rendering them unrecognizable.  But as I read the story, I recognized Ichabod immediately.  His mannerisms.  His gait.  His unwieldy arms and legs.  Even his noble steed.  It was all there. 

Disney remained remarkably true to the original text.  And then added the musical stylings of Bing Crosby.  I wonder if Washington Irving would have approved.

Vintage Halloween Ad - 1922 Colds and Chills

ATC - The Skeleton Key I

Collage Images by Moonlight Journey:  http://www.moonlightjourney.com/