Shivers of Delight

The Warner Theater, Torrington, CT Last weekend my husband and I went to see a local theater production of Evil Dead: The Musical .  Let me say that my husband is not a fan of the horror genre in the least and I am squeamish about seeing anything violent so we have never seen any Evil Dead movies, but we are familiar with them enough to know that we won't be watching them. Let me also say that my husband is not a fan of musicals either. He didn't believe me when I told him we were going to see the movie Sweeney Todd and that it was a musical until 5 minutes into the movie when he looked at me in utter horror- too late. Neither of those things stopped me from dragging my dear husband to the production of Evil Dead: The Musical. I told him it was the season of torture. I can tell you that several times during the performance I looked over at him and saw him laughing-hard.  It is worth your time, my friends, to seek out a production near you. Have you heard of thi...

Watching episodes of the tv show The Addams Family brings back memories that make me feel all cozy inside. I loved that crazy family as a kid and even more so now. No matter what outlandish thing happened, Morticia was calm, cool, and collected. She is a great role model. On September 29, 1988, Charles Addams the macabre cartoonist who created The Addams Family died. Today we honor him and his work. One of Addams first jobs after art school was for the magazine True Detective where he was charged with retouching crime scene photos to remove the blood from bodies.  Addams has been quoted saying "A lot of those corpses were more interesting the way they were." That was in 1933. Addams went on to draw many cartoons for The New Yorker and it's where he first came up with the Addams Family series in the 1930s.  It's hard to believe they've been around for so long! It wasn't until the 1960s that The Addams Family television series would come into being a...

I surprised I haven't come across the work of Abigail Larson much sooner. Not only does she illustrate books and designs dark, lush prints, she has designed a beer bottle label for Triple Crossing Brewing and a wine bottle label for the Vincent Price Signature Wine Collection. Larson even had an interview with Fluevog - my favorite shoe company!  Were have I been? Her latest endeavor is illustrating H. P. Lovecraft's "The Cats of Ulthar." You can pre-order it now from Amazon with a release date of November 15th.   Done. The Cats of Ulthar, Illustrations by Abigail Larson And, it keeps coming: Larson has also collaborated with Dellamorte & Co  (love them, of course, too) to create several E. A. Poe figures. Dellamorte & Co: Edgar Allen Poe Statue You and I can purchase her macabre prints at Society6 . Which also means t-shirts, mugs, and heck, maybe a shower curtain! Yep, there are several shower curtains. Ghosts! Shower Curtain Pois...

It's time to be thinking about hats- warm hats. I was particularly thinking of witch hats. I like a felted wool hat rather than the one-time-wear polyester ones you buy at the costume shop. If you're going to get a witch hat, make it a good one. I recently discovered the fantasy inspired hats from Moss Fete . Wendy, the milliner, started making felted hats in college and eventually opened a shop of vintage inspired hats called Miss Fitt . After a time, she felt inspired to create hats for "her fellow woodland creatures, nymphs, and creatures of the night." Her answer to that was to create the Etsy shop Moss Fete. I love the playfulness of these hats and accessories. They could be part of a costume or something you wear all winter long. The dragon wings are spectacular. Green Witch Hat Fancy Witch Hat Top Hat with Skeleton and Coffins Top Hat with Tarantula Bowler Hat with Bat Dragon Scarf Sugar Skull Scarflette Black Feather Collar ...

I think I'm still a teenager at heart because I can't be turned away from a pink monster. Spooky with sugar sprinkled on top is a weakness. Actually, anything with sugar sprinkled on top is ok by me. I'm starting off Monday in my happy place with items from lOll3 Shop by the artist we'll only know as Lorenzo. She describes her work as "art oddities." I describe them as delicious. Skeleton Cat Patch Bat Wings Patch Set Spell Book Patch Drop Dead Babe Brooch Fortune Teller Brooch Ouija Brooch Little Bat Brooch You see how you can get my attention? Just place the items on pink. They don't even have to be pink! Jeez, I'm easy.

What do you get when you combine Victorian style with Burlesque? Answer: some adorable corsets from Emerald Angel Designs . Designer Maria Flynn creates and sews a trousseau worth of sexy, wicked clothing. Wicked in the best sense, of course. If you're a lady, you know there is nothing like a corset to make you feel glamorous. Horror Movie Undercuts Corset Bats Gothic Corset Gothic Skeleton Cameo Undercuts Cors et Lace Skeleton Corset Haunted Forest Corset Zombie Girl Pin Up Corset This is only a tiny bit of what is offered in this fantastic shop. You could also shop for skirts, dresses, hats, purses and even baby and cat clothing. Really! I'll leave you with this. Cat Clown Hat Costume Good kitty.

If you love to read spooky books, I think you'll enjoy the offerings from LiteratiClub . The shop puts text from books onto scarves, umbrellas, and totes.  Currently the titles they offer are Dracula, Frankenstein, Dorian Gray, and The Raven. Any of their items would fit perfectly into my Halloween wardrobe. Dracula Book Scarf The Raven Umbrella Frankenstein Book Scarf The Raven Book Bag Alice in Wonderland Umbrella The scarves would look great draped across the top of a window or thrown on the back of a chair. That Raven umbrella is to die for, don't you think?