This is the time of the year when everyone is rushing around everywhere trying to get the best deals, buying a tree, decorating, baking etc. It’s a struggle every year to get Christmas decorations that aren’t so damn cheerful. I like Christmas as much as the next person, but you may have noticed that I like things a little more dark. At least I hope you have. Scary daughter loves to make a Gingerbread House every year. I supply her with the kit, but usually substitute the candy and frosting for something more scary. I usually will make small Gingerbread men for her to place around the little house. I’ve tried many different things to make them a little scary, but none have turned out well. Yesterday I found a Gingerdead Men Cookie Cutter on Fred that will be perfect. Unfortunately he is the more traditional sized Gingerbread Men Cookie Cutter. I figure that they will not only be dead Gingerbread Men, but they’ll be giants in the Gingerbread House world. What could be more scary? I think I’ll still make the little ones and they can be running away from the big scary Gingerbread Men. Need I even mention how awesome these guys will be for the stupid neighborhood Cookie Swap?
Do you remember those dishes your grandmother always pulled out at the holidays? You know the ones. They were always white or cream in color and covered in flowers. I always remember doing the dishes and having to hand wash them because they weren’t dishwasher safe. Ugh. Why did they invent dishwashers if you can’t put all your dishes in them? Why do they make dishes now that are not dishwasher safe? Makes no sense. I can understand the dishes made before the invention of the dishwasher, but now there is just no excuse. Anyway, I now have those dishes and I am turning into my grandmother. Every Christmas and Easter they come out and I kind of feel sorry for Scary Daughter because now she gets to help me hand wash them. Mine are actually quite beautiful and are white with blue flowers. Today I came across this Skull Teapot that I desperately want. It was designed by Trevor Jackson, a Seattle based artist, and can be had for a paltry $1200. It would match my dishes very nicely and I’m sure it needs to be hand washed at that price. It may cause a stir when the extended Scary Family see it which is always fun. My Grandmother may just turn over in her grave, but that’s okay since she’s probably sick of lying on her back by now anyway.
I know you guys will read this and start complaining that Christmas is over, but this little project can be adapted for any holiday, so just shut up and read. On Christmas Day a reader named Sara sent me an email with a picture attached. The picture was of a pile of gifts that had been wrapped in the coolest creepy wrapping paper I have ever seen. I then found out her husband actually hand made it. Apparently Sara is a huge fan of the presents in the Haunted Mansion when it’s all done up for the holidays like The Nightmare Before Christmas. Ryan, her husband, took it upon himself to try and recreate the feeling and what you see at the right is the beautiful paper he came up with. All he did was buy some plain blood red wrapping paper and then draw webs on it with a black Sharpie. Tie it up with some black ribbon and you have an all occasion wrapping paper. How cheap and easy is that? I realize not everyone is an artist, but if you search around online there are many drawings available to inspire you and copy. If, however, you are as lazy as I have always suspected you are, you can click here and see a great example. Now you have no excuse to keep bugging me about the lack of good paper out there. You can just make it yourself!
*Thank you so much to Ryan Bray for creating this and Sara Bray for sharing it!
Anyone who knows me or has spent any time reading my blog can attest to my zombie obsession. I’m not sure where or when it started. Could be when movies like Shaun of the Dead and Fido started getting released. Before that I had very little interest. I’ve never been a fan of the George Romero type zombie movies. They were just gross and didn’t scare me. If a movie doesn’t make me laugh or scared I’m just not interested. When they finally started having fun with zombies I think I became obsessed. Since some of my readers are aware of my feelings I frequently get attacked by emails with zombie links. A reader tipped me off about a book called “Zombie Felties“. This book will show you how to raise (make) 16 gruesome felt creatures from the undead. They are more cute than gruesome, but who cares? I think I’d make them magnets or something like that since they are pretty small. So, come on, get your zombie on and make a couple of these. It may be too late for stocking stuffers, but they’d make great party gifts! Of course, if you’re not too crafty or just lazy it may just take you until next Christmas to make them anyway.
Are your stockings hung from the chimney with care yet? Or are you a lazy elf like me? I realized as I was sitting in front of the fireplace last night that I hadn’t hung up our stockings yet. I went to get them and realized that I’ve never liked them. We got them years ago as a gift from a friend and they are just a tad too cutesy for me/us. Obviously it wasn’t a close friend or they would have guessed that. Anyway, I started looking online for some new ones that I could order for next year. I found a great seller on Etsy that made some beautiful stockings like the one with the skulls on the right. The one on the left that I fell in love with though, I’m having a hard time finding. It’s an Emily the Strange Christmas stocking, but it doesn’t say that on it, which makes me really like it. It appears to have been discontinued as I have only found one available on ebay. Leave it to me to lust after something I’m going to have a hard time getting. Maybe I’ll wish for them to be in my cutesy stocking from Santa on Christmas morning.
We all love Christmas right? And who doesn’t like hearing the Night Before Christmas? I’ve always thought it was a little sappy, so last year I decided to rewrite it. Click here to see Scary Jane’s take on that old classic.
Are you like me and have money to throw away? No? Well, I don’t actually either. I’d like to though. If I did I would probably buy this Christmas decoration. It’s called Ghost Bust Fright Before Christmas and is sold by Hauntedprops.com for… drumroll please… $1,499.00! Basically it is a life-size bust that comes with a small projector and a DVD. The DVD is played on a DVD player (not provided) and projected onto the bust to make it look like it’s actually moving. You can also purchase something called a Control Freak Media Monster. This will allow it to be set off by a mat or motion sensor. It also includes the DVD player and costs another $259.77. Not sure why the 77 cents is necessary. If you still don’t feel that you’ve spent enough money you can buy a Blaster that blows a burst of air at you as you walk by for $140.00. It does look pretty cool, but I don’t see myself spending that much money on a Christmas prop. Check out the video, maybe you’ll find that it’s worth it.
We all know what it’s like this time of year. Less than two weeks until Christmas and we are all running around like chickens with our heads cut off. I love that saying. It’s so stupid, but pretty much exactly what we all look like. You know those Mother’s that are standing in line outside of Target first thing Saturday morning. That wild look in their eyes and the foam oozing from their mouths. I’m terrified of them. They will push you down and stomp on your face just to get the latest gadget, doll or video game on sale before it’s out of stock. I hate shopping this time of year and avoid it at all costs. I do almost all of my shopping online. I say almost just because my Father insists on wishing for things that can’t possibly be found online. I’ve been on a wild search this year for a certain type of moccasins that don’t seem to exist. In the meantime I thought I’d pick up some of the smaller gifts for him online. For some reason I am a big fan of cliche gifts. I was searching around online and found the perfect cliche tie. He doesn’t usually appreciate my humor, but I always get him at least one funny gift and I think this Scary Neck Tie is the perfect thing. You can find it here. Too bad the guy doesn’t have a santa hat on. Then it would be perfect.
I remember when I was a little kid, every year I got a fancy new dress and a Christmas t-shirt that I could wear to school. I was not a frilly kind of girl, so I was not particularly thrilled to wear a ruffly dress. Of course, now that I have my own daughter what do I do? I make her wear a ruffly dress every Christmas. She hates them, just like I did, and I swore I would never do that. Amazing what happens when you grow up. I know now that I was forced into those dresses for my grandparent’s pleasure and that’s why I do it too. Anyway, back to what I was talking about. Just slap me when I go off topic. I wish that they made t-shirts like this Skull Candy Cane one when I was a kid. I was rather odd in general and would have loved this shirt back then. Well, now I can buy whatever I want to wear and I believe I will be choosing this one as my Christmas shirt this year. Now I just have to find my Christmas dress. Scary Daughter will be wearing the obligatory red poofy dress and I will be wearing something a la Morticia.
I am a very crafty person. I always have multiple projects going on. My latest obsession is counted cross-stitch. My mother taught me when I was very young, but I just recently rediscovered it. My problem is finding patterns that don’t include cuddly kittens falling out of baskets, beach scenes with children and/or geese etc using pinks and baby blues. 98% of what is available out there is ridiculously cute and a throwback to the 80s. It’s like they designed everything back then and have not done any since. I do know how to make my own patterns, but it can be difficult and time consuming. I don’t really enjoy it. The other day I was looking around for some new patterns even though I already have 3 projects going. I was thinking about doing something Christmasy and came across a little company called Prairie Moon that makes the most unusual patterns I have ever seen. They have some non scary stuff as well, but they are still very original. Check out their site here. They have lots of different patterns.
Follow Jane on Twitter
Follow Jane on Facebook
This is the time of the year when everyone is rushing around everywhere trying to get the best deals, buying a tree, decorating, baking etc. It’s a struggle every year to get Christmas decorations that aren’t so damn cheerful. I like Christmas as much as the next person, but you may have noticed that I like things a little more dark. At least I hope you have. Scary daughter loves to make a Gingerbread House every year. I supply her with the kit, but usually substitute the candy and frosting for something more scary. I usually will make small Gingerbread men for her to place around the little house. I’ve tried many different things to make them a little scary, but none have turned out well. Yesterday I found a Gingerdead Men Cookie Cutter on Fred that will be perfect. Unfortunately he is the more traditional sized Gingerbread Men Cookie Cutter. I figure that they will not only be dead Gingerbread Men, but they’ll be giants in the Gingerbread House world. What could be more scary? I think I’ll still make the little ones and they can be running away from the big scary Gingerbread Men. Need I even mention how awesome these guys will be for the stupid neighborhood Cookie Swap?
