WebSpinstress Gothic Halloween

Haunted Forest Halloween Theme

Centerpieces, Dark & Elegant, Decorations, Halloween Themes No Responses »

Oct 262011

A perched raven on spooky branches is an iconic Gothic and Halloween symbol, representing everything from death, a bad omen, or a complete void, to being as fulfilling as defining solar elements and used as prophetic messengers.

Ravens are a magnificently curious and mischievous creature that boasts rich, dark plumage and black eyes that plunge through the deepest layer of your soul to easily capture true intentions…

Over the past several years, I have scribbled out/shredded/deleted hundreds of handcrafted raven reflections, attempting not to incorporate these dark feathered shadowy images in the traditional “birds perched on branches” or “stuck in a cage” style, while instead trying to devise an additional tier of emotional perceptions complicating where they are located, and why they exist there. These raven silhouette forms are enhanced with gradual depth and textures in the background to offer an eerie appearance at night, yet shifts through moods depending on the time of day, lighting involved, and additional visual surroundings.

They are meant to be included as part of my Gothic Haunted Forest Bedroom Theme, however, we placed them in the living room in frames first, and now no one wants to take them down… So here’s one of my natural spooky Halloween displays this year with ravens, black floral features, pumpkins, branches, feathers, and potions, on an amber and golden leaves setting:

The raven art is completely reversible, and one forward and one reversed image must be purchased to get the same look as featured above: Raven Posters.

Of course, there was a little additional WebSpinstress Halloween humor hiding in that display, just in case you happened to miss it…

Here’s a very close look at my dancing skull specimen creature – who is handcrafted with love from the finest materials available – the skull shifter knob from my dearly missed 3000 GT, a small driftwood piece from one of our many visits to various Boston coastline hideouts this Summer, and one of the very few leaves we collected that is fully preserved from the nasty Fall fungus this year.

What a special little guy he is!

Vintage Halloween Cards

Decorations, Halloween Crafts, Party Games, Printables No Responses »

Jan 082011

These vintage Halloween cards are beautiful and timeless treasures – perfect for creating invitations, as applications to favor boxes, or for use in scrapbooks. Click on the image to print in the larger, full-size version (personal use only, please.)

Collecting vintage images for holiday crafts and decorations is one of my guilty pleasures, since it’s so time consuming to hunt down quality resources. I plan on finding more vintage cards to scan and enhance in the future, but you can find more postcard designs here: Vintage Halloween Cards.

This week, I also found a vintage reproduction of “Whirl-O Halloween Fortune and Stunt Game”, which will be a very fun and unique addition to your Halloween party this year.

It’s in PDF format – be sure to print it on cardboard stock so it’s sturdy enough to use as an actual game: Whirl-O Halloween Game. It may be a good idea to laminate it as well, just so any party spills don’t ruin the fun…

Tabletop Tree Trimmings

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Dec 272010

The mini wrought iron tree I mentioned in an earlier post was highly regarded as a unique and functional display for the holidays. I was finally able to display some of my most treasured wine Christmas ornaments this year, as they were safely guarded upon a tabletop (both high enough above the reach of wee little grabby hands, and sturdy enough to withstand the impact of kitty claws).

My tree arrived quickly from CSN with reasonable processing time, was neatly packaged as individually wrapped sections divided by “branch” size, and I easily had it standing tall in all of about 10 minutes. The one-page printed instructions had little to be desired, however I’ll take a good product that’s self-explanatory and properly designed over a manual that requires a cipher and key, any day.

Immediately after initial set-up, I couldn’t resist hanging a few decorations on the swirled branches. Most of my ornaments are rather heavy and awkwardly shaped, but there was never a question as to whether the iron would hold them securely.

I would say this tree’s best assets are the strength of the branches, especially compared to a normal tabletop fake evergreen tree, and the numerous places to hang ornaments. Not only were there too many branches for me to fill, there were also openings along the stem that allow for the placement of floral picks as additional decorations if you prefer a more plentiful tree. As also a modern design, the less is more approach can also be easily fulfilled.

In this alternative theme, I layered bird ornaments, berry picks, and various glass balls in light olive, lilac, and vintage champagne hues to give you an idea of how elegant this tree can look, no matter how you choose to complete it. This wrought iron tree will definitely be a main feature in my home – soon to showcase my Halloween tree ornaments.

In the meantime, I just can’t seem to pull it apart and pack it away. What a great place to store mini photos and cards throughout the year, hang cookies during the next event, or maybe even a very functional help-yourself display for serving party favors.

Sadly, CSN no longer has the black 3.5 ft version available (since recommending it as an intriguing option for holiday tabletop displays in my previous post), however there’s still time to pick up this silver tree or a full black iron 7-footer if you are daring enough…

Specimens and Curiosities

Dark & Elegant, Decorations, Halloween Themes 3 Responses »

Oct 292010

Display all of your creepy concoctions, potion bottles, and squishy jar specimens in groupings together to create a realistic spooky setting – one that’s captivating enough for the most inquisitive of minds to sort through.

Natural exhibits of morbid curiosities (such as dried sea specimens, bones, and preserved botanical varieties) can complete an arrangement of curiously creepy intricate findings, allowing your guests to speculate what your strange collection is manifesting.

Some of the spookiest specimen acquisitions are from early Victorian science and medicine practices, including various species of entomology, botany, lepidoptery, etc.

Here’s a few ideas of what specimens to capture, and how to include them in your Halloween decorating this year… Halloween Specimens and Curiosities

Bat Scrollwork Pumpkin

Dark & Elegant, Decorations, Printables, Pumpkins 1 Response »

Oct 262010

It took everything I had in me not to title this post “White Pumpkins Suck!” considering after finishing the design my carving masterpiece did end up looking as elegant as I had planned, which was the main objective.

However, being smaller and thinner than most pumpkin varieties, mine had an extremely stringy rind and was filled to the brim with completely sopped goo that would have constituted already being pumpkin soup without adding any extra ingredients…actually I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it thrown up before in quite a few horror movies. You could hear it slosh around inside just by shaking it a little before it became the first desired object of my annual experimental Halloween slashing practices.

White pumpkins are pretty awful to maintain after you take the knife to them. In fact, I highly recommend that you either choose a nice traditional orange pumpkin, or wait until Halloween morning to begin slaughtering. Today, my delicate soft white creation reminds me of a rotten egg, turning yellow while quickly deteriorating in strange shades of brown and orange by the hour. Should you have a gruesome pumpkin design, keep in mind this may be an added advantage.

The bat is attached onto the stem using a toothpick, along with another scroll piece I was able to salvage. This pumpkin took me about 2 hours to complete. Should you not have lightning-fast Ninja carving abilities (defined by my Mom and husband who were witnesses), nor accurate fine-precision knife skills, you may want to omit some of the scrollwork designs included in the template. Yes, of course – I have included a free pumpkin template once again so last year’s spider web tribal pumpkin won’t get lonely. Keep in mind, if these templates do not fit your pumpkin or print out too small, you can use your printers options to enlarge the image to the appropriate size needed.

Happy carving! As for me, I’m off to mutilate a beautiful dark orange 20-pound traditional pumpkin either with the same design, or something more intricate. Maybe multiple pumpkins, you know…now that I think of it, if I had the time, I’d probably just sit around carving pumpkins all day.

Halloween Silhouettes

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Oct 222010

Hang up a few silhouettes in your windows and on your walls this Halloween to create a vintage spooky appearance that complements the rest of your creepy decor without taking over. Silhouettes are the classic way to display an elegant outline and highlight features without being too obtrusive when clustered together as a complete scene.

Silhouettes not only can be displayed on walls and windows, but have also been caught sneaking up the stairs, flying while dangling from high ceilings, burning brightly as dark figures when placed on lamps and candle lanterns, and attached to decorated pumpkins for simple black shapes (especially for topiaries or centerpieces with a lot of intricate floral design included).

Need a few silhouette accents this Halloween? See if any of these shadow creatures catch your eye….
Spooky Silhouettes for Halloween

Halloween Bits and Pieces

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Aug 062010

Sprinkling out the body parts is a Halloween tradition for spooky decorations and gross recipes. You’ll find fingers, a few floating eyeballs, brain matter, and a bloody hand or two reaching out to grab you at every scary Halloween party. Creep out your guests with a few of these unique appendage props:

Creepy Cuts Eyes & Fries
Atomic Brain Standing Halloween Prop
Hanging Body Parts

And, then of course there’s these squishy, edible bits and pieces…

Zombie Brain Gelatin Mold
Wilton Fingers Non-Stick 8 Cavity Cookie Pan
Wilton Dimensions 3D Skull Pan

Cranberries and Pumpkins

Centerpieces, Pumpkins 1 Response »

Nov 152009

cranberry, pumpkin, recipe 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…

pumpkin, cranberry, decorations
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.

cranberry, thanksgiving, decorations 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.

Elegant Halloween Displays

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Oct 292009

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:

ravenpumpkins

creepyplace

More ideas for original arrangements and centerpieces:
Halloween and Fall Centerpieces

Gothic Masquerade Pumpkins

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Oct 232009

gothicpumpkin 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

GothicMasqueradePumpkins masqueradepumpkins2

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!

Spider Web Pumpkin Template

Dark & Elegant, Decorations, Printables, Pumpkins 1 Response »

Oct 202009

SpiderWebPumpkin 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…

WebSpinstress Pumpkin

Pumpkin Topiary Displays

Centerpieces, Dark & Elegant, Decorations, Halloween Crafts, Pumpkins 1 Response »

Oct 162009

whitepumpkintopiary 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.

pumpkintopiary3 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.

pumpkintopiary
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.

pumpkintopiary4 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!

DIY Party Games & Favors

Dark & Elegant, Decorations, Halloween Crafts, Party Games, Party Ideas No Responses »

Oct 132009

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

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