WebSpinstress
This year, my humble Gothic Garden balcony has been harvesting beautiful black-red rose blossoms from Hybrid Tea Rose bushes called “Ink Spots” (with frequent obsessive monitoring, pruning, and bug picking from their overly-admiring caretaker, of course). These roses are one of the darkest black rose varieties on the market – grown from Medford Nursery available at a few local distributors here in New England.
The plants produced about 15 impressive roses during their first bloom of the season – one in particular of which stood out from the moment it appeared to unfold countless blood red droplets while awakening as a bud, only to boast 23 rich velvet-textured ink stained, delicately folded petals as a full mature blossom. It’s image has been preserved within a vintage-style greeting card and stationary set surrounded with a tea and ink blot background texture to create a romantic love note, elegant wedding or masquerade invitation, Halloween party invite, or a special letter where everyone will know it’s sent straight from your desk without having to glance at a signature: Vintage Gothic Rose Card.
Although my roses suffer quick death once snipped, I managed to keep a few alive in the refrigerator for over 3 weeks while ignoring my husband at FriedMush when he complained for being too bothered to rearrange their placement in order to reach the water container. Guess what, honey? Here comes second bloom…and they’re back – bigger, more plentiful than ever, and fully willing to take over even the milk gallon’s rightful spot this time around. 
Celebrate Halloween by serving your guests a ghoulish brew that’s concocted in a cauldron and overflowing with mist. Offer a spooky Halloween punch recipe to save time from having to mix and pass around the individual cocktails all night long.
The following recipes listed are alcoholic Halloween punch creations. If you are looking for something for the kiddies or non-drinkers in the family, you can try a few of my favorite Simple Holiday Party Punch Recipes.
Wicked Witch Apple Punch
* 1 750 ml bottle Skyy Infusions Passion Fruit
* 1 750 ml bottle sparkling apple cider
* 1 64 oz. bottle cranberry juice cocktail
* 1 Liter ginger ale
* 2 cups pineapple juice
* Red apple slices
Combine all of the ingredients in a large black witch’s cauldron with ice and stir thoroughly. Garnish with large slices of red apple, and float on top. If desired, add dry ice. Serves 12-14. Recipe and image from Skyy Vodka.
Halloween Harvest Punch
* 1 part Midori Melon Liqueur
* 1 part Dark Rum
* 1 part Light Rum
* 2 part White Cranberry Juice
* 1 part Unfiltered Apple Juice
* 1 part Simple Syrup
* Juice of one lemon
* Apple slices, blueberries and melon balls for garnish
For a punch bowl (32 ounces), use this recipe 8 X’s. Add the liquid ingredients and mix well. Top with apple slices, blueberries, and melon balls. For an individual cocktail: shake and strain into an old-fashioned glass. From Midori Melon Liqueur.
Dragon’s Blood Sangria
* 1 bottle red wine
* 12 oz. of club soda
* 2 oz. of cognac
* 3 tbs. warmed honey
* 4 sliced figs
* 1/2 cup red or black grapes, halved
* 1/2 cup pitted cherries (fresh, canned, or frozen)
Combine all of the fruit and full bottle of wine in your punch bowl or pitcher, adding the cognac and honey until the honey has completely dissolved. Refrigerate for at least two hours. When you are ready to serve, add the club soda and stir gently.
These dark chocolate treat finds are the most visually-appealing displays of dark and romantic treats to make your sweetheart this Valentine’s Day. Hopefully they include a great recipe to accompany the pictures to make, as I didn’t get much farther than wiping the drool off the keyboard in time to read through ingredient lists…
Truffle Tarts with Raspberries
Black Chocolate Bites
Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies
If you are are melting chocolate and dipping into it yourself this year, instead of just strawberries you can include random surprises such as banana slices, cherries, nuts, and even gummy bears.
While the chocolate is still dripping down the sides, you can also roll the fruit in chopped nuts or fine chocolate slivers to appear somewhat gourmet.
If you’d need a few last-minute gift ideas for Valentine’s Day (or any day that you’d like to show your love for someone special), visit my romantic gifts ideas here: Romantic Gifts and Ideas
Pumpkin season is not quite over yet – a Halloween full of ripping open thick orange pumpkin rinds and stringing out the guts contributes to a nicer version of pumpkin destruction called the oven!
This beautiful and delicious stuffed pumpkin recipe inspired me to search for the greatest cranberry and pumpkin fusions available as food for the soul and creative displays for the eye…
This hanging chandelier from Martha is one of the most elegant pumpkin and cranberry displays that I have found and would be a very suitable decoration for the largest dinner event of the year.
An upside-down cranberry pumpkin cake would complete the look as the perfect finishing centerpiece and a grand finale of your Thanksgiving meal.
Glass jars never fail, nor do tall pillars full of cranberries, according to BHG’s cranberry holiday displays.
Just add a few mini pumpkins in between…and a loaf of warm, freshly baked cranberry pumpkin bread set in a basket.
I hope everyone had a very Happy Halloween and a night full of spookable frights with plenty of tricks and treats for all. We went trick-or-treating with our little puppy dog and Black Symbiont Spiderman, and also celebrated our anniversary today. Tomorrow we’ll be heading out to scavenge the Halloween clearance sales for next year’s stockpile and continue to add to our usual household decor. Since Halloween in our home never ends, I’ll be continuing this blog year-round. I will most likely be exploring the darker & elegant sides of Christmas and other holidays in-between, and including unusual Gothic home decorating ideas. I’ve had a great time compiling my Creepy Treats and Arrangements sections of my Halloween blog and am now accustomed to posting in whatever spare time I can finagle out of life. Only 364 days to prepare for the next Halloween – don’t leave yet!
Only 2 more days until Halloween!
Create easy last-minute elegant Halloween decorations by using simple spooky supplies that are available everywhere such as flowers, leaves, pumpkins, ravens, and plastic skeletons. Here’s two examples of quick dark arrangements that I have completed within the last few weeks:
More ideas for original arrangements and centerpieces:
Halloween and Fall Centerpieces
“Eye” spy something that is round…and maybe a little bit squishy when stabbed with a fork. It’s always the eye kills that make me turn my head in a horror movie. I don’t mind watching the rest of the body hacks and slashes – eyeballs are just so vulnerable.
So if you like having your food look back at you, these Halloween creepy treats are worth a peek. Simply quite eye-catching, if you ask me. Feast your eyes on these eye treats (or is it treat yourself to these eye feasts)??? All in favor…say “eye”!
Eyeballs on a Stick
Eyeball Soup with Bugs
Eyeball Caprese
This hauntingly delicious candied apple recipe deserves its own post. I won’t even dare to mix and match these with traditional candied apples because there has never been a more dark & elegant Halloween treat dropped out of the orchard before…in Snow White fashion – these apples are simply to die for.
These candied apples are dripping with blood red and black glass-like candy with natural twig branches that serve as the sticks. They are perfect for Gothic and Vampire themed Halloween parties. Kudos to the talented apple dipper and the stunning visuals from the photographer. I can foresee these forever charming my macabre dinner parties for many years…
My masquerade pumpkin invitation cards have been popular on Zazzle for a little while, most appropriately used for Gothic weddings and Halloween parties. This year, I decided to make the real-life versions by hand-stitching them in Venetian style with elegant black cording and beautiful rich textured fabrics. I’m holding one in my avatar…after almost 15 hours of hand-stitching and yelling obscenities at these things in standard New England tradition. lol
My piratey renaissance neighbor and friend, Faustus, from FriedMush received his skull pumpkin version today and loved it. You can order them directly on my website here: Gothic Masquerade Pumpkins or on my WebSpinstress Etsy Store. I decided to give Etsy a try for quick listings for my blog – we’ll see how it goes. Grab them quick if you’re interested – I only have a few days to ship them in time for Halloween. I’ll have them listed all year round though for Gothic and masquerade themed wedding decorations. These are the darkest, most elegant pumpkins available and you won’t be disappointed!
With an entire weekend of mixed freezing rain and huge fluffy white snowflakes falling to the ground, and now killer ladybugs and zombie bees attacking my screens today in 60 degree weather is trying to kill my Halloween inspiration. So, I turned to visions of smiling lit Jack-O-Lanterns and ripped apart pumpkin chunks to search for the perfect carving template this year.
I didn’t end up finding the perfect spider web pumpkin template, so I created my own instead. Hopefully it will keep it’s intricate slivers intact as I attempt to carve out my new masterpiece. If you’d like to print a free pumpkin template, click HERE for the full-size image…
If you’re looking to add some extra height to your Fall and Halloween arrangements, a pumpkin topiary is fun to create and makes a memorable display for your guests.
Simply drill and shove a dowel through the middle of their innards and then embellish your stacked pumpkin collection.
BHG has a unique Halloween display of pumpkin topiaries using orange pumpkins, large spiders with painted diamonds and stripes. I love how a portion of the dowels are exposed and painted to continue along with the topiary design. It radiates with masquerade appeal…and I can think of a few special ideas to spooky up the design a little more.
I found this display from Imperfectly Beautiful, who created a tall and whimsical pumpkin topiary. It includes hand-painted black and white polka-dots, ravens, and an elegant birdcage design stacked on top of a planter with Spanish moss placed carefully around the edges.
Black and White Pumpkins are elegant and fun. These pumpkin arrangements are made with just stickers, but you can duplicate the same look by using swirly vintage rubber stamp designs or by painting them yourself. Beautiful collection of centerpieces, by the way…don’t forget to check out the complete blog post!
For other ideas for stacking pumpkins in your Halloween or Fall display, there’s a few of my favorite pedestals and pillars here: Pumpin Topiary Displays. Happy stacking! 
I found this resource earlier this morning as part of my daily, sporadic, random clicking-around-to-see-what-I-eventually-land-on ritual, and I am still in awe at how creative and versatile these FREE Halloween project templates are. All you need are a pair of scissors and a little bit of glue to get your Halloween party games started!
This entire collection of printable games can easily be crafted yourself such as Phantom’s Vortex, The Vault of Mystery, or Undead Checkers, and could easily be the life or the death of your Halloween party. Projects such as the coffin boxes and CD cases would make excellent party favors, and toys such as various masks or creatures such as “The Splatterbot” would make fun projects to print out in multiples for your guests to enjoy. Goodbye toilet paper roll mummy-wrapping games…
Some of these would also make great centerpieces and table decorations when arranged with other props, such as skeletons and spiders.
Oh, you want the link?
RavensBlight Printable Toys
Here’s a free printable word search I’ve created for my kids with spooky words and Halloween creatures.
Click on this small word search image to open the full size version in another window, then click again with the magnifying glass to view actual print size.
To view my entire saved bookmark collection of Halloween printable coloring sheets and activities, view my lens here: Halloween Printables.
