holiday cards

With the cool weather finally here in Los Angeles, I’m finally getting in the celebratory mood. While I’m not quite ready for holiday shopping and crafting, I’ve already begun my search for holiday cards to make sure I get them in time to send to friends and family. Perhaps I learned this the hard way last year when our cards did not quite make it out in time.

So forgive me if this this much too early in your holiday timeline but here are a few cards I’m liking a lot.

1. Snowflake Specimens
2. Evergreen
3. Happy Holidays
4. Birch Season’s Greetings
5. Holly Wreath Goose

halloweens

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Hope everyone has a spooky All Hallows Eve filled with candy, black cats, pumpkins and ghosts. And possibly a little bit of pumpkin spice ice cream.

Halloween Movie Massacre 5

It’s that time of year again, time for our annual Halloween Movie Marathon. In fact, this was our 5th year (be sure to check out some of the past years), and we clocked in at a full 24 hours straight of horror movies.

While I usually go nuts with food, I tried to keep things simple, preparing desserts the night before, and designing the rest to be easy to make by popping in the oven. For sweets I made my favorite pumpkin spice cake and some bone shaped sugar cookies (and a sad version of the classic ghosts). Our friend Scott made a vegan King Cake which was super exciting for me.

On the savory side, I made buffalo cauliflower and giant pot of macaroni and cashew cheese. Shawn set up a hot dog station with all the trimmings. We also had French bread pizzas at some point and lots of chips and queso and popcorn and even caramel popcorn. Alas, I have no photos as photography is difficult during dark screenings.

In the morning, I made a bunch of breakfast sandwiches modeled after the Badass Breakfast Sandwich from Locali: maple dipped English muffins, vegan sausage, cheddar Daiya and spicy mayo. They were a hit, and will certainly be a staple in our home for weekends to come.

For decor we opted for lots of creepy lighting and a few key horror elements. I filled terrariums with vegetable specimens and jars of candy were labeled as disturbing fare. We had a handful of skulls and a bunch of pumpkins. One of the most exciting pieces was a drink dispenser held up by boney hands, a Halloween gift given especially for this event. We of course filled it with cold brewed coffee to keep the movie watchers awake. I also painted a few Halloween themed masks just for fun.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again but watching endless horror films without sleep does very strange things to your mind. It’s no surprise we found ourselves walking down dark hallways with axes, doing zombie crawls across the floor or drilling holes in someone’s skull. No surprise at all.

Ready for what we watched? Here’s the list:

1. Carrie
2. Near Dark
3. The Descent
4. Triangle
5. Ginger Snaps
6. Poltergeist
7. The Woman in Black
8. Phenomena
9. The Loved Ones
10. Final Destination
11. The Omen
12. We Are the Night

falling fast

Weeks ago I had grand plans for Halloween decorations. I thought it was high time we put some of our strange medical props to use and make our place into a creepy mad science lab. But of course, I got too distracted chasing Endeavour around town this weekend to really get things together. We’ll see what kind of magic I can pull of, but for now I’ve just tackled a couple little projects.

I found the pumpkin and candy corn fabric weeks ago and sewed it into a festive table cloth. It works well since we have a lot of pumpkins around. Since my zombie dishcloth has seen better days, I stitched up a brand new werewolf towel. Had I remembered my science lab theme, I would have made a heart or some organs, but in the end I like the werewolf quite a bit.

For the authentic touch, I have this little squirrel skull that we found on a trail. It’s my first time cleaning a skull and it is wonderful how much nature can do on it’s own (thank you ants and bacteria). I have a few larger bird bones but they’re still a little too fleshy and gross to bring inside and I don’t think my neighbors would appreciate me cleaning them in our common areas.

It feels like October is nearly gone already and we’ve only had a single cool day. I wish time would slow down a bit more. Everything feels like it is flying by at lightning speed and I don’t want to miss it.

flesh

This past week I came across this beautiful lace tattoo by Watson Atkinson and sort of fell in love with the idea. I don’t often get tattoo ideas, even though I’m really attracted to the artistry of tattoos. When I do have an idea, I just sort of sit on it for years until I figure it out, decide if it really make sense for me. Other ideas floating around in my brain besides this one: a bright, colorful jellyfish and the Twin Peaks the log lady has.

There’s something about the lace that just makes sense to me though for reasons that are not easy to explain. Something about turning blemishes into design. I know white tattoos don’t stay so clear and I’m fine with that. I actually like how my tattoos have faded over time, which is weird I guess.

This tattoo would definitely be a big step though, as I would want it on my forearm. Despite having nearly my entire back tattooed, it’s easy to cover with just a tee shirt. Since I was young I have thought of my skin as a canvas, but in some way I feel like tattoos as for myself and not necessarily for display.

Anyway, no real plans at the moment (don’t worry mom & dad!). Like I said, I’ll probably just ponder this for awhile.