Close your door, lock and latch it, cause here comes Lizzie with her hatchet!

You might not be familiar with the rhyme in this post's title, but I bet you'll recognize the poem it comes from:

Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother forty whacks. And when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty one.

If you're wondering why I have Lizzie on my brain (that just sounds wrong) it's because of the very exciting package that arrived a few days ago! This package contained a gift bag full of prizes I won from my blog buddy Holly. She has a spooky blog over at Holly's Horror Land: http://hollyshorrorland.blogspot.com/.

From the gifts I was sent, it's clear that Holly really knows me! Hands down, my absolute favorite gift was the pair of earrings Holly made! They're a set of dangling, silver axes:

I love the way these little axes swing from side to side as I move my head. Check out this happy little photo accident! 

I guess I was moving my head slightly as I took this one. The axe earrings came in this adorable coffin box:

 
You can see a bit of my new skull scarf beneath the coffin. I was in a Keith Richards/pirate type mood when I found a couple of those scarves on ebay. Anyway, here's a photo of me wearing the axe earrings as well as an eyeball ring Holly made!

The ring is an evil eye, that sits on a cute little bow, and I like that it matches the color of my actual eyes.

That pink flower doesn't have anything to do with anything. I was just having fun playing dress-up for this little photo shoot.

Holly also made me this cute little skull hair clip:

It's clipped to my shirt here so you can see it. I have a lot of hair and it overtook the little clip in the photos. She also made me a witch hat clip, which you can see alongside the other prizes:

As you can see, Holly also sent me a Lady Gaga mini book, some pumpkin lip gloss, and a trick-or-treat load of candy! This all came in an orange and black polka dot bag. Opening this bag made me feel like it was Halloween and Christmas!

I can't wait to delve into the Lady Gaga book and learn more about one of my favorite singers! Here are a few pages from the book:

Holly plans to sell her homemade fashion accessories on Etsy. Here's her Etsy profile:

http://www.etsy.com/people/HollyHorrorshow

You can join Holly's Etsy circle from this page, and be updated as she adds her creations to the shop!

Now here's a treat for you: The Lizzie Borden themed episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The Older Sister:

This twisted episode will stay on your mind for a while... Even if you don't have the time to watch the full episode, at least watch the intro. It's funny as usual!

I'd also like to share an episode of Ghost Adventures. This video shows a paranormal investigation at the Lizzie Borden House. There are some silly parts to this, but I wanted to share it because 1) The tour guide is wearing my little axe earrings! and 2) I learned a few things from this. For instance, I had no idea that Lizzie was acquitted of the murders and inherited a pretty hefty sum of money from her dead parents.

There's also some explanation about the first double murder that took place in the Borden house. No, not the murder of Lizzie's parents. This murder happened in the same house several generations earlier!

I know this is kind of a long video (at 45 minutes) but it's worth watching to the end. There are some potential bombshells revealed by one of the psychics. If what is heavily implied here is true, Lizzie would have had reasons to go nuts. This visit to the Borden house is far more entertaining than most ghost shows I've watched. Usually, there's some mumbled EVP I can't even understand, but these are pretty clear. Even if you're skeptical of the whole episode, it's interesting to watch.

Have any of you visited The Borden House? It's now a bed and breakfast! Not like you'd catch me wanting to stay there...

On a somewhat lighter, prize related note, this is my favorite Lady Gaga song: Paparazzi! I feel the need to issue some sort of warning before you watch this. Not that you haven't watched more explicit things in horror movies, and not that you don't already know what you're getting with Lady Gaga. Still, some people in this video look dead in a glittery sort of way. That and there's some sauciness between her and what appears to be an 80's hair band. I always wonder why Lady Gaga chooses the images she does for her videos. Probably these images are the type that the paparazzi would try to capture of her.

Oh whatever. It's fun to sing along to. "We're plastic but we still have fun!" Thanks again Holly!

Illustrating for Alfred

Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I had a nice, relaxing day full of food and TV shows. Every year I watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the National Dog Show. This year I enjoyed watching the Lady Gaga Thanksgiving Special. Did anyone else catch that? It was slightly nontraditional, but still quite classy!

Several months ago, I was contacted by Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine to illustrate a story. I've done some illustrations for this magazine before, and it's always exciting for me as an Alfred Hitchcock fan! Here's my latest illustration:

The story I illustrated was called "Calculus for Blondes" and is on page 112 of this month's issue. So if you find yourself in a book store or grocery store in November, see if you can spot the magazine. Then you can tell whoever you're with that you're friends with the artist. That's what I do when I see one of my online friends' creations in a magazine. That's always an exciting moment for me!

In case you're wondering, that one character is supposed to be wearing a terrible toupee.

This is the cover of this month's issue. It's printed with January/February 2012, but this is the one on the shelves now.

My Twitter friend, Eric (lugosi6) was thoughtful enough to go to the grocery store and take some pictures of my magazine on the shelf. I really appreciated this, since my local bookstore was sold out of the magazine. It's in the upper middle spot, between Ellery Queen and Analog.

Eric also snapped a few photos of his sons reading the magazine. A frightening moment!

Considering the words carefully...

They're such good actors, because the story wasn't all that scary or thought provoking! Eric's Twitter page is here:

http://twitter.com/#!/lugosi6

He's a fun person to chat with, so I suggest following him!

I don't think I shared this before, but last year one my pieces was on the cover. I'm sharing this now, because some of you who are familiar with my Halloween Old Maid cards might find this interesting:

The tombstones on that card were just calling out for some text! I remember turning to the back of the cover last year and seeing my name near Alfred's. It was a surreal moment, because I'm flattered to be associated with him in any way. I am such a fan of his movies and TV show. One of the best parts of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents show were the story introductions. You know how there are some people who manage to say potentially offensive things, while still remaining innocent and classy? Well, Alfred Hitchcock was one of those people. An example of this is my favorite intro:



Not many people could pull that joke off in such a serious way. He somehow made macabre topics acceptably lighthearted.

I have one more Alfred Hitchcock related video to share. I meant to share this in October, but that was a busy month for me. Since this is a Halloween themed blog, there's no reason for not posting it now!

If you aren't familiar with the Threadbanger how-to videos, you're in for a treat! Actually, you're in for a treat either way. These crazy, crafty people put together tons of Halloween how-to's. In fact I would have had this blog post up last night, if I hadn't been distracted by all their videos. This is their Alfred Hitchcock themed episode. You'll have to suffer through a few advertisements in the middle of this video, but it's worth it.

Watching the first part of this makes me think of my Dollar Tree crows again!

Well, tonight I'm in for something spooky. My friend Stacey will be joining me for a Children of the Corn movie night. This will be the first time either of us has watched the movie. We're making Children of the Corn themed treats, and I'm sure it will be a good time! I'll have to let you all know what I think of the movie in my next post.

All dressed up and nowhere to go! (Where could I go in one of these?)

I saw something today that I had to share with you guys! This will be short and sweet, since my last blog post may have caused you to have sensory overload. :) Remember when I shared some photos of the skeleton dresses displayed at Paris fashion week? (If you need to be refreshed Click Here) Well, the runway is going goth again! This time Dutch designer Iris Van Herpen has done more than paint a skeleton on a dress. Instead of endoskeletons, we now have exoskeletons as the skeletal structure becomes a dress it its self!

I actually find this beautiful and delicate. The reason I'm not disturbed by this design is that it doesn't take the shape of any real creature's body. It's more of a bone sculpture.

I would have gone with white heels, but whatever.

Iris also designed this snake dress! What kind of material do you think this is made from? I bet it's surprisingly light weight. Is it gross if I say this reminds me of intestines?

Some shoes Lady Gaga would approve of!

I realize that no one short of Lady Gaga would wear looks straight off the runway. (I'm actually starting to think her style is influencing runway looks.) Even toned down, I'm not sure where a person would wear these outfits. Maybe to open the door to trick-or-treaters? Although, if someone were to open their front door to children while wearing the first look, they might be arrested...

If you would like to see more of Iris' creations, here is her web site: http://www.irisvanherpen.com/

P.S. ~ My blog buddy VainGlorySinner, suggested the perfect pair of shoes to wear with the first outfit! Check out these spinal cord heels:

I'm not into ankle boots at all, but if these heels were attached to something a little more delicate, I'd wear them. In my opinion, skeletal shoes are subtle enough to wear in public. If these shoes are your thing (and you just won the lottery) you can buy them HERE.