Wormless Mother's Day

I don't like to brag, but I didn't have to make Dirt 'n Worms for Mother's Day this year.  Either my children have finally outgrown it or just forgot because we're all in this weird limbo of depressing Covid19 funk.  Don't get me wrong, I am truly grateful to be riding this low grade fog of gloom.  It means that so far we've been spared the horrors that so many others have faced. 

I am also grateful my kids are old enough to be self-sufficient, but still young enough to be here at home with me. Not that I normally go for a bunch of fanfare, but this Mother's Day was definitely more subdued than usual and it wasn't because of the absence of gummy worms. But there's two things worth mentioning as they pertain to this blog.

First, my son got me the Pumpkin King. I haven't paid attention to the Disney line of minifigs, because I could care less about princesses or Mickey Mouse. That it would also include The Nightmare Before Christmas, never crossed my mind. It's a good thing my son is looking out for me. He also special ordered the white spider web with the clear blue spider because he thought it went with the theme. Obviously he has good taste. You'll be sure to see a reappearance of Jack this Creepmas. I do hope they come out with a Zero minifig.

The second thing is a request I got from a friend. She had a last minute Mother's Day gift idea and wanted to know if I had any bottles of a certain size that she could use. I might have had a few... Can I just take a moment to say it's not hoarding if you put it to good use? Maybe one more time for those in the back row? IT'S NOT HOARDING IF YOU PUT IT TO GOOD USE! Obviously my super power is holding on to things until the universe requires their services.

So this what I, and a number of other mothers who are lucky enough to know this wonderful, creative woman received for Mother's Day. I almost feel bad that every Halloween I practically make her pee her pants by scaring her. I said almost. Her screams are much too delightful to give up.

GingerDead Houses & Creepmas Pies

Here are few Creepmas confections for your viewing pleasure.

Gingerbread Zombies at Madison Public Library

No this isn't one of my creations, but I think I could handle this level of cookie decorating. Maybe that's why I love it so much. It's just so friggin' cute. I also love that a library held an event to decorate gingerbread zombies.

Curious Creations of Christine McConnell

I don't know if you've seen The Curious Creations of Christine McConnell, it's kind of like an Addam's Family baking show with muppets.  Most of her creations are far too elaborate for mere mortals, like this gingerbread house, but it's still fun to watch.  And it has a snarky mummified cat, so what's not to like?  She does a few things throughout  the series that are Creepmas worthy like shrunken head cookie ornaments and chocolate covered candy cane horns.  I thought the latter might be a fun way to make Krampus horns, but my first attempt at reshaping candy canes didn't go so well and I haven't had a chance to try again.

This face hugger gingerbread is also attributed to Christine McConnell on pinterest, but it doesn't link to any actual source.  It certainly looks like other Alien confections she's made.

Winchester Mystery House photo by AnywhereAtHome

The family I were on the west coast this summer and had the opportunity to visit the Winchester Mystery House.  So I thought it was cool to run across this photo of a gingerbread version along with an interesting read about the Flashlight Tour.  We just did the regular tour and I will say I'm glad I got to see the house, but don't expect much from the tour guides.  Sarah Winchester was a very private woman, and all the speculation on why she did things the way she did is just that, speculation.  So the guides don't have much to offer, but the good news is the house speaks for itself with it's unique architecture and details.   

This video shows all the Disneyland Haunted Mansion

gingerbread creations from 2001-2017.  

Zombie Cookies by NotQuiteNigella

This must be the tastiest horde of zombies ever.  Making zombie flesh colored gingerbread is dedication to detail.  Follow the link for the recipe and more pictures.


This time of year it seems it's all about the gingerbread, but I couldn't not share these pies, they are just too wonderful.  Click on the links for more info and videos on how they were made.

The Nightmare Before Christmas Carousel by PiesAreAwesome

Bad Bunny by PiesAreAwesome

Wilton Haunted Skull House

This isn't the most exciting house, but I wanted to share the techniques, which even a novice like me could do.  In fact last year I did something similar with a cobbleskull path.

The Nightmare Before Christmas Lego Style

I love Legos and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The combination of the two is Creepmas delight!

This is a stop motion short of "This is Halloween".

This is a Nightmare Before Christmas set with moving parts.  

This is an overview of a build of Jack's house.
You can buy the instructions for it here. 

This is a Lego product idea build.

This is another great build of Jack's house.  Be sure to check out some of the other builds from monstrophonic, lots of them are fantastically twisted.

I love this Jack build by J.B.F. 

Again check other builds, some of them are pretty wicked.

 This is another favorite of mine by graznador.  

There are so many awesome details but I really love the wreath.

A fabulous build of Jack and Zero by Christopher Tan.
He has a lot of geek builds that are worth checking out.  

Last but not least, César Soares is another great Lego artist,

besides this he also has a Santa Jack and sleigh build. 

Be sure to check out the other participating Creepers at Creepmas.com.

Nightmare Before Christmas Stuff

Shopping is one of my least favorite things to do, but managed to dragged myself to the nearest Walgreens last night.  I remembered Spooky Vegan's post, referring to Spooky Little Halloween's post about TNBC merchandise at Walgreens. There was still quite a bit of stuff left, now 50% off.  I exercised restraint and only bought this oversized mug and this Jack Skellington.  My daughter asked if he is like an Elf on the Shelf, which he sort of looks like with his knees in his chest.  Jack on the Shelf would certainly be more fun and less creepy.  Fully extended he is a little over 2 feet tall.

I would've bought the Jack Snowman, but just

about every time he spun around he tipped over. 

This Jack looks adorable, I would've like him as just a plush. The sound was horrible, and all that bouncy didn't really go with the music and really would the Pumpkin King ever bounce like that anyway? 

There were also a lot of dog toys, which I thought was an odd niche to market to. Not that I wasn't tempted even though I don't have a dog. Although even if I did I would still get the toys for me and not let any dogs chew them.  

Anyway, lots of good stuff from wreaths & trees to snow globes & nutcrackers.  If you have a Walgreens nearby, you should give it a look. 

While I'm at it, I might as well totally brag, I got Jack Skellington pj's for xmas.  

Creepmas Yard Displays

First of all I should have pointed this out day one, but I forgot all about it.  There's this cool Krampus Advent Calendar online http://regina.bayern/.

Continuing on, earlier this year after admiring the Krampus set at a local haunt, I was curious if with the latest surge of Krampus enthusiasm if homeowners were including him in their holiday displays.

I did find this display which caused quite an uproar in the neighborhood decorating contest.   I love the Krampus, the homeowner did a fantastic job creating him.

At the end of the article they said they had a few "Nightmare Before Christmas" entries also. I love it when people come over to the dark side. I failed to find pictures of those, but I did something a little closer to home...

You have to read the article where there are more amazing pictures, but basically this guy makes all his own props to create a display that spans down the block.  After Halloween it gets pulled back to just his yard but he changes it up to match the movie's timeline. I can't imagine the time and effort that goes into this.  Some people are truly extraordinary. Currently the facebook page is posting Christmas Town.  While this isn't quite in my backyard it's close enough that I'm embarrassed that it's taken me this long to find out this exists.  

This is a cool video of the display:

Creepy Gingerbread on the 1st Day of Creepmas

Every year on the first day of Creepmas we bring our neighbors Creepmas treats. This year we made Sam (Trick 'R Treat) inspired ginger cookies.  I had originally planned to do full body gingerbread men cutouts, but none of the button mold sizes were small enough to look right, not that these guys look quite right.  Then I decided to drop the whole cutout thing and make ginger cookies.  I deviated a little from the recipe at joyofbaking.com. I used one whole egg instead of two egg whites and dark brown sugar instead of light. Also a plus, the kids liked the milder flavor of these ginger cookies as opposed to hardcore gingerbread. 

I might have to make gingerbread cutouts in the future, I love these headless gingerbread people and I think an egg shaped cutter with the button eyes would make a perfect Mr. Gosh cookie. 

I love this Samta Claus from i-mockery.com.

In past years my daughter has always dressed up as Santa Death, but this year I decided to change things up.  I got a ghillie suit for Halloween, which was so much fun by the way.  I highly recommend putting out a bowl of candy and pretending to be shrubbery nearby.  I decided to don my ghillie suit for Creepmas as a demented tree, with some battery operated lights, including color changing eyeballs, a little garland and a Santa hat. Hard to tell from the picture. 

I know there is a lot creepy gingerbread out there and this isn't holiday themed.  This lovely scene by Rosa, is really Game of Thrones. I just can't help but think this is exactly what it looks like to be walking in a winter horrorland.  She does have a really awesome The Nightmare Before Christmas themed one, which is more appropriate, but I really love those trees.  And how cool is it to have an entirely gingerbread art based website?

Creepmas Reading

 

 

Last year I picked up a copy of 'A Christmas Cthulhu' by David Griffiths and I really enjoyed it. I'm reading it again right now in fact, to get into the Creepmas spirit. 

 

It's 'A Christmas Carol' steeped in Cthulhu mythos and done quite well I might add.  There is also a Lovecraft inspired version of Dickens' 'The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain' called 'The Haunted Man and the Reanimator's Bargain' and a short glossary in the back if you need to brush up on your mythos terminology. 

 

 

 

Another book I thoroughly enjoy is 'Santa Claws' by Laura Leuck and illustrated by Gris Grimly.  I'm a huge fan of Mr. Grimly's artwork. The story is a fun read and the characters are awesome.  It's also chock full of Creepmas décor ideas and festive holiday dishes, like poison berry pie, cookies topped with flies and eggnog with spider legs. 

This weekend I made chocolate chip cookies, with the sole purpose of making cookies topped with flies.  I've seen spider cookies where they just dragged a toothpick through the melted chips to make legs.  I thought I could do something similar, but fly wing shaped.  It didn't work out like that.  If I try again, I'll try piping on some melted chocolate in a fly shape.  I also got eggnog. I thought I'd sprinkle on some chocolate jimmies and call them spider legs.  Nobody wanted fake spider legs in their eggnog. Maybe I should have just bought a cherry pie, said it was poison berry and called it a day. 

Another one we read every year is 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' by Tim Burton.  I'm probably in the minority, but while I like both the book and the movie, I prefer the book. Like 'Santa Claws', it's fun to read aloud, the artwork is gorgeous and full of Creepmas inspiration. 





Then there is the classic (classic used to mean old stuff, now it means things that have been around since I was a kid),  'How the Grinch Stole Christmas', by Dr Suess.  This one is fun to read too, but unless you sound like Boris Karloff, it pales in comparison to the cartoon and the book doesn't have a theme song. 

Finally I'll end with M. R. James. If you'll be telling scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago, you'll need a little M. R. James.  At Thin-Ghost.org you can read all his ghost stories.  

Creepmas Presents

Every December 1st, Death and I go around visiting neighbors and handing out treats to kick off the first day of Creepmas.  That was the plan for tonight, but we are still making Creepmas Fudge so it's not going to happen.  In the meantime I've been window shopping over at Etsy while the fudge sets, so if you've been wondering what to get me for Creepmas here are a few ideas:

 

This cute fuzzy guy has already been sold, but there are other goodies over at AlwaysSugarCoated

 

 

Over at theshadowfarm you can find Ebenezer and his good friend Jacob Marley.  Don't those two make a handsome pair? 

Here is a dolly for little Nell at FadedRoseFactoryEtc, she's so sweet. 

 

 

If I had this doll from IckyEcoDolls , I would also have a bumper sticker that said, "My Icky Eco Doll can beat up your Sock Monkey."

 

 

I'm not a hardcore The Nightmare Before Christmas fan but Jack's house by HauntedConstruction is to die for, or at least to kill for. 

 

 

This slightly psychotic Rudolph from TinyTurds is adorable.

 

 

Cross stitch usually doesn't trip my trigger, but after seeing this piece by StichinbyKristin, consider my trigger tripped.   

 

  

Nothing says Merry Creepmas like tentacles, and this print from wibbleyworld has them in abundance.   

 

 

 

Aside from tentacles this Snuffy-thulhu from RavendarkCreations really doesn't have anything to do with Creepmas, but it's so cute, cuddly and eldritchly. Surely one of the Old Ones will leave it under my tree. 

 

 

This bookmark from uncannyartshop has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Creepmas, but I love to read and this is the best bookmark ever. It's like we were made for each other.