YES! FINALLY!

The project that has been my main focus for what feels like YEARS finally was submitted today!

OMG maybe I can craft and blog again! *fingers crossed*

Crafty Crow

SNEAK PEEK

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Happy days are here again!

Paint smudged on my face, clay caked under 

my nails and Mod Podge in my hair.  

A new Spring fashion trend... unlikely. 

A productive weekend in the studio... most definitely.

revelation

When the snow finally melts, all is revealed.

Including these guys, who survived the winter under the mountains of snow in a neighbour's yard. And are now free. Free to bask in the early spring sunshine and make their plans for next Halloween.

Creepy Photography

The photographer who posted this on Flickr has a set called "Dunbar Haunted House," and it's amazing.

I really thought this one was going to turn to look at me at any second (I tinified it, in case it started to scare me again):

UnWelcome to Lowe's!

It pains me to say this, considering I live and work in Atlanta, home to the fantabulously orange Home Depot, but I do my supply shopping at Lowe's.

Scouring the web for my 'what next' project or for Halloween party ideas, I ran across their 2010 project page for everyone's favorite holiday: http://www.lowescreativeideas.com/Halloween_2010.aspx

I am particularly smitten with the Unwelcome mat, although I already have a heavy duty one (i.e. not based around cardboard) that says "Go Away" sitting at my front door, year-round.

Still, who couldn't use some home-improvement store ideas for making Glowing Ghoul Eyes in their bushes, or putting together spider pictures for their wall at under $10 each.

Gah! Which reminds me -- we still have lots of great Halloween Party Ideas to sort through from February! Only 223 days left!!!

Gothic Gardening: it's not all pumpkins and thorns (though I fail to see where that would be so bad)

Cooking and Crafting have been put aside for the last few months, except for the necessary kind of things; nothing fun and Halloweeny.

But as I said last week, I'm getting back into the hobbies slowly and starting off with some attempted pumpkin-growing, which will inevitably fail but gosh-darn-it I'm gunna try!

All this working with dirt and seedlings reminded me of an old, old website--now defunct--called "Gothic Gardening." Does anyone else remember this site?

It was MARVELOUS, and thankfully internet archive still has it up for us to enjoy: http://web.archive.org/web/20001109030300/www.gothic.net/~malice/

If you are less-inclined to kill anything you put in the ground, that might be a fun place to stroll through and get some theme garden ideas.

Some other neat, dark gardening things I've been finding on the web:

• Grim Gardens - they have a few birdhouses and these little garden 'gnomes' like things that are incense-holding Grim Reapers.
• Live Journal Gothic Gardening Community - a place to go and chat about gardening while pale
• Botanical.com - an herbalists guide; full of interesting information and neat illustrations. Includes (if you navigate from the home) a list of some poisonous plants.
• Graveyard Garden - I don't know about this exact thing (I'm not advocating you buy it), but what a cool idea! A Graveyard/Dark-themed terrarium! Here's a similar (even cuter?) idea for that theme - just need some mini-props and to make a moss terrarium.
• Halloween plant(ing) ideas

I told you there were pumpkins being grown

Sorry to keep beating this dead horse, but this is the farthest I've ever made it with pumpkin growing, so I'm both giddy and terrified:

Holy mackerel! Tiny plants are emerging!! And soon, very soon, they will become unwieldy vines!

GREAT SCOTT, WHAT HAVE I UNLEASHED?