Happy Halloween!

It's finally here and yet it's come so quickly. I think that's part of the magic of Halloween. Fortunately for us Halloween lives year round in our hearts.

This is the Halloween card we sent out this year

If you'd like to hear my Halloween Skeleton Ball playlist, follow the link.

I hope you enjoy every minute of this day and I'll be back tomorrow with some Day of the Dead items to look at!

Halloween At Our House

Here it is. Halloween at our house in a heap of photos. Just breeze through.

huh

 

That gives you a taste of what it's like to walk through our house at Halloween. I see a few more spaces that need to be filled in, so after Halloween it's back to shopping my favorite Halloween artists!

Halloween Decorations: The Gallery

I hope your weekend leading up to Halloween was spectacular. My husband and I had a little Witch's Tea Party Open House on Saturday. It was a rainy, cold day and perfect for sharing spooky decorations, brandied tea, and witch finger cookies. I'm going to be sharing some of our decorations today and tomorrow. If you're looking for something to buy, nothing is for sale! LOL.

We call this the "Orange Room", but I have been calling it the "Gallery" of late because it's where I hang much of the spooky art I buy. 

I had fun choosing items to put under glass. Everything from small art pieces to dollar store bugs went into jars. It was a lot to look at, but then the entire house can be a bit overwhelming for some people. I like to keep everyone so busy looking that they don't notice the dust.

Don't forget to follow my on Instagram @shiversdelight! I have more photos there.

Paper Maché and Fiber Art

What do you get when you combine a paper maché artist with a fiber artist? You get sculptures from the deep, dark woods. Tom Deadstuff and Windy Withers are creating beautifully created art dolls that they sell at Disenchanted Hollow Trading Co. Maybe you can hang one over your bed to keep nightmares away?

Mandrake Root Specimen 7

Mandrake Root Specimen 2

Elder Mandrake Root Art Doll

Changeling Fairy Art Doll

Plague Doctor

Vampire Garlic Ornament

Magic Mushroom Man Ornament

Is it too soon to start thinking about Yule gifts? Because I'm adding these to my list.

Creepy Tales for Halloween

I love reading scary stories around Halloween. It's not always easy to find tales that really give you the shivers, and I hate investing time in a novel only to find out it really wasn't that spooky.  Well, I am happy to share with you a book of short stories that will set you up for Halloween. The writer is Howard Odentz and the book is Little Killers A to Z: An Alphabet of Horror.

The stories all focus on children as murderers, vampires, zombies and just all around evil. The first story "A is for Andy Who Watches His Dad" will make make your stomach fall to the ground. These are the evil, angry, abused children you always knew were out there. If you're a teacher you might not want to read  "N is for Nancy Who Questions Tradition." Let's just say it doesn't end well for the teacher.

There are some supernatural stories like "B is for Boris, and Rifka, and Vlad" about vampires and "X is for Xander Who's Covered in Spittle" about a family with supernatural powers, but the majority of stories are about evil intentions, revenge, and murder. These stories aren't for the fragile reader. I could only read one a day because it took me that long to recover!

If you live in North Central Connecticut or the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts you'll recognize many of the places in the stories. There is a spot on my drive to and from work that I'll never look at the same again.

If you're short on cash right now, you should know that Odentz has two short stories on Amazon that you can download for FREE! He just released "Bones" this week and you'll also find "Snow". I haven't read them yet, but they're downloaded and ready. They look amazing!

Odentz has several other horror novels available that I'll be reading over the cold, dark days of winter. 

I love that Odentz dedicated Little Killers A to Z to his mother. 

"Still, she often shakes her head after reading my work and asks, 'Where do you come up with this stuff?' In answer, I humbly plead the fifth."

Spooky Prints & Odd Things

My walls are starting to look like they belong in a Gothic mansion with a portrait gallery. I keep finding more and more art I love and so the walls get covered top to bottom with art in frames. I'm starting to think we're going to need a few docents and maybe a gift shop.

Well, that brings me to Liz Bruns and the spooky prints she's making. They're pop-paranormal and I love them. Bruns also has tote bags and jewelry in her shop WednesdaysXAttic. Let's take a look.

Cutsey Baby Bat Print

The Pumpkin King Print

Ghostly Peony

Spooky Tree Tote

Skull Necklace

Bat Cameo Pendant

I really don't know why I bother to paint my walls since they're going to be covered in art.