Halloween Meme

the wind blows bitter through the last of the autumn leaves, time to huddle by the fire a spell, clutching a cup of steaming tea (coffee or cider you choose your poison) soon all manner of ghosts and goblins will be ranging the streets in search of sickeningly sweet treats.

The Halloween Meme

What is your favorite work of horror fiction? I'm quite addicted to the Anita Blake, and Sookie Stackhouse series which I suppose are technically paranormal romance/urban fantasy/gothic... I love Neil Gaiman's novels too... and I used to obsess over the stories on tape when I was in elementary school, you know the beep turn the page ones, there used to be a couple of spooky stories I would listen to again and again. Like the one about the woman with the ribbon around her neck who tells her husband never to touch it and he does, and her head rolls off... and the one about Bluebeard ....

What is your favorite work of science fiction/fantasy?

Stephen King's the Stand.. one of my all time favourite novels, Neil Gaiman's American Gods, I think there are just tooo many to choose from .. have a look at my goodreads list as some of the more recent books are there.

Who is your favorite monster? hmmm Vampires or werewolves... thank god for TrueBlood having proper vampires because I can't stand that sparkly crap....sorry I dont mind reading pulp fiction but not Sparkles McGuffin.... also The Lost Boys best vampires ever.

Favourite Horror movie? ohh I love all sorts.. especially crappy ones.. nothing is more fun than being curled up in a dark room laughing your ass off at some terrible monster movie... Resident Evil (Alice kicks ass), Monster Squad, Critters, Aliens, Young Frankenstein, the Nightmare Before Christmas, Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice...... Zombieland, Day of the Dead (aka lets live forever in the mall)

What horror movie gives you the most chills? I prefer the crappier sort as the ones that really scare you never have the fun factor.

What character from any horror film would you most like to play? Alice in the Resident evil flicks... she kicks ass and survives everything... also she has really great boots and weapons.

Freddy or Jason? Freddy... I never liked the Jason movies much but would watch the freddy ones over and over.

What is your favorite Halloween treat? candy corn... dark chocolate, jelly beans, haribo sour cherries

Ghosts or goblins? depends on the Goblin I suppose some can be quite cute... or can be evil like the little bastard that pops out of the toilet in Ghoulies 2

Friendly-faced jack o’lantern or scary one? both really....I really like the elaborate ones but the best I could do was Jack Skellington last Halloween.

What is your scariest encounter with the paranormal? nothing specific but sometimes you go into a house or place and it just feels creepy.

Do you believe in ghosts? yes.. why not? there are too many things out there that we don't know about.

Would you rather be a zombie, werewolf or non-sparkly vampire? I suppose I would be a werewolf..or a vampire... though some might argue I'm already a witch before coffee in the morning. :oP

Favorite Halloween costume? as a kid I liked to be a witch, a cat, or a vampire.. I don't think things have changed all that much...though mostly I dress as a witch as I rather like my pointy hat.

Best thing about Halloween? Everything, the candy, the pumpkins, and crappy movies and just the whole thing.. I think I would live in Halloween Town if I could where everything is atmospheric and fantastic.

Person in your family who most likes Halloween (not counting yourself)? Harrison... as his birthday is at the end of October so everything is fantastic for him...and I may have trained him that Halloween is the best thing EVER...

Are you superstitious? If so, name at least one superstition of yours. not really though I sometimes play the stepping over cracks in pavement game with H.


If you have read this consider yourself tagged leave me a comment and I will trundle over to read your meme answers and hopefully remember a few more crappy horror movies to gleefully add to my list!

Eye of Bat Flapjack

Eye of Bat Flapjack
(maple pecan flapjack/granola bars)

2 cups porridge oats
3 tablespoons demerara sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup butter
pinch of salt
1 cup pecans ( or any nut)
glace cherries (for the bat's eyes)

set the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4

I made a little bat tag for them as they were a gift

instructions:

Very lightly grease a muffin pan (unless you have silicone..tins not tits..minds out of the gutter people).
Put the butter, maple syrup and sugar into a medium sized saucepan and melt together over a very low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon. Do not let the mixture boil.

Take the pan off the heat and stir in the oats, salt, and pecans.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin tin and press down with the back of a spoon or a small glass jar.

Place half a glace/candied cherry on top of the flapjacks.

Bake in the centre of the oven for 12- 20 minutes until golden brown.

Remove the tin from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes. leave in the tin until completely cool before carefully removing from the tin with a butter knife...if you do not wait it will fall apart and you will have to sprinkle it over some ice cream insteal.

cook's notes: a couple of them crumbled to bits as I tried to take them out of the oven too soon but the rest held together once cooled and everyone happily nibbled on them and there are only a few left in a much smaller jar.

twinkle twinkle button bat

I'm alive still but things are so busy here with a week till we fly to Seattle and I have had parcels to wrap, crafts to make, all manner of birthday prep for H, the collecting of gift items for my parents, and for the two parcels I will send to Selena and Jaci when I get to Idaho (much cheaper than posting from here), we have all had colds and Matt is still busy with weddings and all manner of studio based jobs. Its enough to make your head spin, I'm not used to running around like a headless chicken every single day... well maybe not that bad but it does seem like were are ridiculously busy the last month or so.

I can't wait to get to Idaho and not do much other than drink lots of coffee, play with the pack of pugs, eat my dads wonderful cooking and shuffle round the holy trinity of Target, Barns & Nobles and Old Navy ... with a few other shops in there too... honestly I'm not a shopaholic... I normally despise shopping except for book and craft shops but I love shopping in the states and looking at all the things you cant get here... and hauling back as much as our suitcases will hold.

Today I parceled off three packages one to a friend who forgot things at mine, one packages of Halloween swap goodies, and an order for Lillian the doll (with a few goodies pack inside as the buyer is a lovely twitter friend.) I baked cheddar muffins...and cheddar and marmite ones too.. and I have just coffee stained a stack of note cards to make more story notes and the pictured little button bat. I'm so pleased with how the button bat turned out that this one is the 3rd I have made since yesterday

Right its getting late and the jacket/baked potatoes must be done by now...I'm starving.

Spider Jar

spiders caught in a jar

a Mini Halloween Tutorial

ingredients:

1x medium jar

a small amount of fake spider webbing

2x plastic spiders

instructions:

*Turn the jar upside down and place the webbing so that it goes up half the jar.

*Place your spiders on the webbing and then screw the lid back on the jar. You can add a small stick or some autumn leaves to make the jar more effective.

a super simple little project that kids of any age will love to do.. it costs pennies to make and recycles a jar. Harrison took great glee in showing the jar to Matt when he got home.

halloween pegs tutorial

halloween pegs

Ingredients:
wooden clothes pegs (or the mini craft pegs)
twine
acrylic paint (orange and black)
water
paintbrushes
vintage buttons
glue

directions:
1. put a dab of paint onto a small plate and add a little water to it.

2. paint the pegs with the watery paint so that the paint soaks into the wood of the pegs.

3. let the pegs dry (you may need to wipe them down with a cloth or tissue to get a more rustic effect.

4. dab glue onto the back of a vintage button and glue it to your peg.

5. clip your pegs to the twine or anywhere you please. Or give them away as a little gift.


cook's note: its a simple project, a fun thing for kids to help do, great for holding cards, decorations or scraps of fabric. I have misplaces the craft magnets I bought ages ago but if I do find them I plan to stick them to the back of one of the pegs to make a magnetic clip.

Mr. Melvin Bone

Meet Mr. Melvin Bone. He was made from a witch's spell that went astray... he was meant to be a servant of the bone but something went wrong and Melvin isn't really of much use. He is crass, disruptive, lazy, deviant, downright vile in the morning....

.... he drinks far too much coffee...

in a bookshop in Hay-on-Wye

.....and likes to read books and watch movies that scare the bejeezus out of him and keep him up all night worrying about monsters and aliens... for some reason it has never occurred to him that he is a monster himself. Halloween is the only holiday he celebrates, with chocolate and candy and horrid movies that keep him up all night....movies that he makes you stay up to watch with him.

Here is me sewing him caffe Nero in Derby

he is listed in my etsy shop here

Happy Halloween

Jack Skellington Pumpkin, carved quickly in about 20 minutes with no template and being rush by a very excited Happy Zombie Boy! Happy Halloween Everyone!

Skellingtons, vampires and applesauce

cinnamon apple sauce

I should be doing a post for each of these creations but I just finished the Jack Skellington cake for H's birthday party later and I am terrible pleased I think I may fly about the room in a minute.. or at least fly up to wash my hair....

Jack Skellington cake

really must run as I cant find my witches hat and I need it for H's party (his actual 6th birthday isn't till Monday)

vampire cupcake

OMG THE BOY WILL BE SIX!! SIX!!!!

Halloween Meme

The wind blows bitter through the last of the autumn leaves, time to huddle by the fire a spell, clutching a cup of steaming tea (coffee or cider you choose your poison) soon all manner of ghosts and goblins will be ranging the streets in search of sickeningly sweet treats. Time for a Halloween Meme (the questions of which I compiled from a few different meme floating about the tinterwebs)....


What is your favorite work of horror fiction? hmm I love the Stand by Stephen King, though I suppose its more epic than a simple spine chiller. I used to obsess over the stories on tape when I was in elementary school, you know the beep turn the page ones, there used to be a couple of spooky stories I would listen to again and again. Like the one about the woman with the ribbon around her neck who tells her husband never to touch it and he does, and her head rolls off... and the one about Bluebeard .... I'm also quite addicted to the Anita Blake, and Sookie Stackhouse series which I suppose are technically paranormal romance/urban fantasy/gothic

What is your favorite work of science fiction/fantasy?

Who is your favorite monster? hmmm Vampires

Favourite Horror movie? ohh I love all sorts.. especially crappy ones.. nothing is more fun than being curled up in a dark room laughing your ass off at some terrible monster movie... Resident Evil, Monster Squad, Critters, Aliens, Young Frankenstein, the Nightmare Before Christmas, Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice...... I could go on and on but my brain is sluggish today.. I need coffee stat!

What horror movie gives you the most chills? Alien scared me half to death the first time I watched it as a kid.. after that its never quite the same chill....

What character from any horror film would you most like to play? Alice in the Resident evil flicks... she kicks ass and survives

Freddy or Jason? Freddy

What is your favorite Halloween treat? candy corn.. or haribo sour cherry candy

Ghosts or goblins? depends on the Goblin I suppose some can be quite cute... or can be evil like the little bastard that pops out of the toilet in Ghoulies 2

Friendly-faced jack o’lantern or scary one? friendly

What is your scariest encounter with the paranormal? nothing specific but sometimes you go into a house or place and it just feels creepy.

Do you believe in ghosts? yes.. why not? there are too many things out there that we don't know about.

Would you rather be a zombie, alien, or psycho? hmmm an alien with a fast ship methinks

Favorite Halloween costume? as a kid I liked to be a witch, a cat, or a vampire.. I don't think things have changed all that much

Best thing about Halloween? candy and crappy movies and just the whole thing.. I think I would live in Halloween Town if I could.

Person in your family who most likes Halloween (not counting yourself)? the Boy... he thinks Halloween is the best thing ever! the last 3 birthday parties have been a Halloween theme.. this year I have to make a Jack Skellington birthday cake.. I think I can pull it off.

Are you superstitious? If so, name at least one superstition of yours. not particularly .. at least nothing I can think of right now.


If you have read this consider yourself tagged leave me a comment and I will trundle over to read your meme answers and hopefully remember a few more crappy horror movies to gleefully add to my list!

the cookie cutter caper

skull cookie cutter

So I was sitting here curled in my favourite chair thinking about Halloweeny things and this little worm of a though crept into my mind....it pestered and pestered.

Me: Halloween soon… and I need to sort out a pumpkin shaped cake for the Boy's birthday

my brain: Nah don't want to do that...

me: must look up icing recipes and find a bunt cake tin to make the cake pumpkin-y.

my brain: Boring

me: I have had a crappy week, I'm tired and I need to do something productive.

my brain: thats no fun.. I know Dia De los Muertos.

me: What?

my brain: the Mexican Day of the Dead

me: I know... what about it.

my brain: cookies!!!!

me: what?

my brain: sugar skull cookies.

me: I don't have a skull shaped cookie cutter.

my brain: the internets

me: *sigh*

google....google....google.....

my brain: that's it that’s perfect!

me: its not available.

my brain: ask our friends... tweet it

goes on twitter.....pleads for skull cookie cutters...

meridianariel *grump* trying to find a nice "skull" cookie cutter to make sugar skull cookies .. gerrrr help?


snowflakeunique @meridianariel www.foosecookiecutters.com/... found these ones.

meridianariel @snowflakeunique lovely but the postage ouch...any uk ones? All I have seen are sets and I only want a skull for Dia Dae los Muertos cookies

snowflakeunique @meridianariel good old lakeland ? http://www.lakeland.co.uk

my brain: lets go shopping in Derby...we need clothes and coffee too.

me: I hate shopping... but it would be nice to get out of the house... coffee is good...and there are books..

my brain: yay.. and cookie cutters....
so off my brain and I trundle to Derby, in search of cookie cutters... FAIL .... the only skull cookie cutter is one in a Halloween mini set from Lakeland, as I already have Halloween cookie cutters (bat, cat, tombstone, ghost) and dont need more. In the mean time I meet up with my friend Ali and have a blubber about being homesick for the states, depressed, and despairing of the state of Halloween around these here parts, I refrain from telling her about my cookie cutter obsession. I shopped for clothes drank rather too many iced lattes.

my brain: no cookie cutters then? *is sad*

me: nope

my brain: we're clever and crafty can't we make one?

...googles on phone with free mall wi-fi while drinking iced latte. Cookie cutter tutorial

me: *snorting with laughter* sharp metal? and stuff from the hardware store.. I'm thinking not.. hmmm I wonder....

my brain: wait... what?

me: what if we got a round cookie cutter and reshaped it?

trundles off to a cook shop and purchases a large round metal cookie cutter.
tweets
meridianariel Have bought a round cookie cutter and am going to bend it into a skull shape! I will win or die trying.

--------------------------dude zombies...go see it NOW!

Then Matt met me at the mall and we went to go see Zombieland and the cookie cutter was forgotten.

Me: OMG Zombies!!! *zombie glee*

Matt: *zombie glee*

My brain: dude zombies rock! *zombie glee*
-------------------------------------------------------------
The next day I sit at my desk and get the pliers out and being to shape and bend the cookie cutter, using my hands, the desk, and the pliers.

My brain: that’s not a skull….it’s a mushroom!

Me: It’s not finished yet!

My brain: just saying like…sheesh.. trying to be helpful and all.


…bend…straighten….twist…fiddle….skull…

My brain: it’s a skull! It’s a skull… It’s ALIVE!!! *mad scientist laughter*

Me: *sighs*

My brain: cookies cookies cookies cookies…

Me: *face palm* it’s not the Day of the Dead yet…

My brain: … cookies?

Me: no

My brain: you suck…

me: whatever...

the end

what? True story it totally happened that way.

sweet cornbread with maple butter

Sweet Corn Bread with Maple Butter

Ingredients
3/4 cup cornmeal (semolina)
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup white (caster) sugar
2 eggs
1 cup milk (any)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted


Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C).

grease muffin tin or line with paper muffin cups (I used silicon jack o' lantern shaped muffin tin from Salisbury's).

Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar. egg, milk, baking powder, salt, and melted butter: mix until until blended. *

Scoop batter into prepared muffin pans. The batter will be very liquid because of the amount of milk and melted butter this is fine no need to worry it will be absorbed by the cornmeal/semolina.

Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of muffins before baking if desired.

Bake for 15- 20 minutes remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before removing from the muffin tin.



*Fresh chopped jalapeno peppers can be added at this time, as can chopped red pepper and/or tinned sweet corn(about ½ to 1 cup tinned sweet corn). I left the muffins plain so that they could be topped with maple butter.


Maple Butter
½ cup butter (slightly salted) at room temperature
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Mix the syrup and butter in a bowl with a spoon or electric mixer. The amount of syrup is to taste if you like the butter very sweet add more, or use very little for the slightest hint of maple flavour. Place in a small bowl or ramekin and refrigerate until needed.


cook's notes: I have been living in England for over ten years and it took a good 8 years to figure out semolina is cornmeal... yeah I know I should have been born a blond.

I made maple butter as I ran out of honey to make honey butter, but M says the maple butter knocks honey butter out of the ballpark... you know big sports enthusiast that he is. H was very pleased with the pumpkin shape and thinks that all muffins should be Halloween shaped!

Clarence the cat

say cheese!

Meet Clarence the Halloween Cat! He is a little bit shy but fancies himself a wildlife photographer...

Whoa... dude did you see that?

the only problem is he has this tendency to eat the mice he is supposed to be taking pictures of....His ambition is to have a coffee table book of nocturnal creatures. Unfortunately Clarence is deathly afraid of bats, owls, moths and spiders....

does my bum look big with this ribbon?

Did I mention Clarence is terribly vain, and likes to bathe in a mixture of coffee, vanilla and cinnamon?

primitive candy corn

I wish I had the real thing

This is my first foray into the world of primitive arts and crafts, though some may allude to my more primitive style to begin with. Its a muslin triangle machine sewn and filled with poly-fil, painted with acrylic paints, then dirtied up with a mixture of espresso grounds, water, cinnamon, and vanilla extract, and then baked in the oven for a bit. The whole house smelled like autumn, it was gorgeous. For a first attempt I think it turned out pretty good, and I may do some more candy corn to make a lovely Halloween display on the heart as Halloween is by far my most favourite holiday. I started a black cat in the primitive style as well but it has yet to be dirtied up and baked... I'm just happy to have the time and inspiration to craft again!

p.s. I wish I had some candy corn....

p.p.s. I did not make any typing or spelling errors on this blog post... shocking isn't it?

Happy Halloween

Vincent the Vampire

A small little vampire arrived on our doorstep this morning. Hiding in the shade of a dour looking jack o' lantern. He was shivering a cold and scarpered into the hall through the living room wall and perched on the chapel chair by the fire. I didn't have any spare blood on hand but he didn't seem that bothered as long as the drapes remained closed. I did find a rather suspicious pile of cupcake cases and candy wrappers hidden behind the chair, and a rather suspicious chocolate stain on the corner of his mouth.

We asked what his name was but he didn't seem to know, so we have named him Vincent until he can remember properly.

Vincent was made by the very talented Katy of I'm a Ginger Monkey and he is totally brilliant, H loves him to bits! thank you Katy!

Now I have a pumpkin to carve some cobwebs to hang and some garlic-y (sorry Vinnie) tomato sauce to make.

Happy Halloween!

Good Spirit

Gilbert the Ghostie

I'd like you to meet Gilbert the Ghostie, he is a little bit shy and tends to wear his heart o his sleeve. Well he would if he had sleeves that is. He is a bit rubbish at being scary, in fact he is proably more afraid of you then you would be of him. He loves musicals, spagetti westerns, hot cocoa, and popcorn. You can often find him wandering round the forrest singing show tunes to his friends the trees.

onyx, orange carnelian, and sterling silver, bracelet

I know its over a month until Halloween but its my favourite holiday of the year, candy, coustumes, monster movies, more candy whats not to love about it? The bright orange carnelian faceted bades arrived in the post yesterday from Bobbi and I couldn't wait to pair them with some black onyx for a scintalating Halloween treat.

Gilbert on a small recycled paper notebook

And here is Gilbert again, gracing the cover of a tiny recycled paper notebook that has been floating around various boxes since well before the move. all items with any luck should be uploaded to etsy later this afternoon.