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. 
Wicked Witch Apple Punch
Halloween Harvest Punch
Dragon’s Blood Sangria
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!
Glass jars never fail, nor do tall pillars full of cranberries, according to BHG’s cranberry holiday displays.
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 
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.
My 
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.
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.
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!
