A Gothic Easter Celebration Part II


A Gothic Easter Celebration Part II -By Debbi Decker

In my last post, I shared some ideas about Gothic Easter decorations. By now, you should be well on your way to gathering your items for decorating, and even have come up with some ideas of your own! In this post, I want to share some great food ideas for your Easter menu.

Cracked Easter eggs are so easy to make. All you need to do is boil your eggs as normal and let cool. Take the cooled eggs and crack by rolling gentle on a paper towel. Do not peel. You can use any kind of regular egg dying kits you buy in the grocery or craft stores but when mixing the colors, omit the vinegar. Immerse your eggs in your colors of choice and leave overnight. When you are ready to serve, completely peel the eggs to uncover the interesting crackle effects left on the egg white by the dyes. Some will look like spider webs too! The eggs can be used for deviled eggs or sliced in wedges or large rounds for salads.

Gothic Sugar Cookies. I love the idea of this because you can be as wild as you want. Using your usual sugar cookie mix, you can create sugar cookie skulls,rabbits, bats, coffins, chicks, etc. Decorate the cookies using colorful spring colored frostings and candies, or pipe tattoo style designs on the cookies. You could use crosses, pagan symbols that represent spring, steampunk themes, the sky is the limit.

I am not a big fan of sit down dinners when I have get-togethers. I prefer to have what I call easy eating food that does not interrupt the conversation flow and fun. So, finger sandwiches with a variety of fillings in shapes such as rabbits and chicks, with bits of veggies for the eyes and faces. Radishes and other vegetables cut into floral shapes, molded cheese in creepy shapes. Dips for the veggies can be created in many colors and flavors. Thin slices of ham and cheese wrapped around slightly steamed asparagus stalks. Fruits dipped in chocolate. Use serving dishes and utensils that have a Victorian or Gothic feel. Cracked and crazed pottery, old slightly tarnished silver, frayed table cloths, lace, and mats. Did you get that Zombie Peeps tableau set up yet? Beverages using cherry, pomegranate, or grape juices are great and follow right along with whatever theme you end up with. They can be fancy or plain. Sangria is a wonderful punch for any time of year.

Remember the masks that were discussed last month? Well, here is a great Easter egg hunt idea for either before or after the party using those masks. Find a location that is easy to get to, such as a wooded area on your property or a friend’s. A cemetery that has lots of trees and natural settings would be great too. Create fancy invitations for each of your guests, giving the location, time, date, a reminder to bring the masks they made, and to dress in their interpretation of Alice in Wonderland, Steampunk, or Victorian. Ask everyone to bring a basket for their eggs and a camera. Digital or those throw away cameras are fine, and settings are preferably black and white. Right before the party, eggs should be hidden throughout the location.

Once everyone has arrived, off you go to hunt for eggs and taking pictures of everyone while they are hunting. Don’t try to stage your shots. Rather just take shots randomly and from different angles, far away and close up. After the hunt, everyone’s pictures are shared. The best pictures can be used to create a book to commemorate your event and the good time had by all! Some of the creepiest and best pictures I have ever seen are people in costumes and masks taken in black and white.

Have great Easter celebration everyone!

Debbi Decker is proprietor of twistedpixelstudio Art & Assemblage Emporium. Check out her artist page to find links to her shop and blog to read more of her writings. Visit again next month for the telling of hauntings and ghostly tales by Debbi Decker.

Easter Hares & Springtime Scares Art Event 2014

 

  Happy Spring!

Special edition offerings from participating HAB artist members for the Easter Hares & Springtime Scares art event 2014. We’ve taken Spring and mashed it up with Halloween for one of a kind holiday decorations and jewelry. To find more search HAB Easter on Etsy and HAB on Zibbet! Be sure to enter the Easter Hares & Springtime Scares Give Away from Halloween Artist Bazaar to win a special edition basket filled with Springtime art! Enter here.
 

 Check back often through April 20th as more entries to the Easter Hares & Springtime Scares Art Event are added. Happy Spring!

Easter Hares & Springtime Scares 2014


“The Easter Hares and Springtime Scares Give Away” has concluded!

A winner has been chosen. Thank you to all who entered the contest and visited our shops. Come back through out the coming months for more promotions and holiday revelry. Look for the Halloween Artist Bazaar “Trick Treat Give Away” this fall. Happy Spring from all us at Halloween Artist Bazaar

In conjunction with the give away we are hosting a Easter Hares & Springtime Hares Art Event. Click HERE to find more Easter Halloween mash ups for sale.

Official Rules of entry:

Must complete all three steps to be eligible to win. Entry deadline is Midnight on April 15th 2014. The Winner will be chosen at random. One entry per person. Winner will be notified via email. The prize will ship on April 16th 2014. The winners name will be posted on the Halloween Artist Bazaar website and Facebook page. Members of Halloween Artist Bazaar are not qualified for entry. Contest open internationally, however please note that prize may not arrive before April 20th for Easter due to international shipping times.* your countries custom charges may apply. *

Contributing Halloween Artist Bazaar Artists:(check back as the list grows and photo’s of the winnings are posted!)
Twilight Faerie
twistedpixelstudio
Sauvage Raven Creations
Gothbunny
Jan’s Beads

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Krampus, The Valentine Devil


Krampus, The Valentine Devil -By Angelique Duncan

Krampus originated in early history as a winter holiday icon as the antithesis to St Nicholas or Santa Clause. He was a reminder to children to be good. He is the horned devil like creature with one human foot and one hove and a long tongue who would carry away naughty children in his basket to his liar in the Black Forest. In his early incarnations he was depicted as menacing and gruesome, a sight to be feared.

Greeting cards in the early nineteenth century with the frightening image of Krampus became popular as a way of giving warning to children that Krampus was watching. As the greeting card industry grew in popularity, images of Krmapus became more tongue in cheek and humorous in nature and were targeted to adults. Krampus remained sinister in his appearance despite his more comical and sometimes romantic escapades.

Krampus began to emerge in modern history on greeting cards in a more adult context depicted seducing and voyeuristically interacting with attractive and often scantly dressed women. This more romantic and erotic version of Krampus began to appear not only at Yule and Christmas time but found their way to the lowbrow Valentines Day greeting card market. Krampus evolved into a less gruesome monster to a more sophisticated and human like devil form. He began to be featured wearing suits and sports jackets and sometimes wore a cape. With his new smoother appearance Krampus sometimes took on an almost cupid like role matchmaking couples or “pulling the strings” of romance. The card sentiments were subversively erotic in nature and Krampus had become synonymous with deviant sexuality. In a role reversal Krampus cards sometimes displayed a woman in a “Krampus” suit seducing or chasing a man. Some cards even put Krampus in the submissive role, shown as the captive of a pretty woman.

In last 50 years Krampus began to appear outside of his activities with seduction and would commonly appear in traditional Valentine settings with his switch broom, hearts and symbols of romance as a Valentines Day Devil. During the 1960’s as sugary kitschiness gained in popularity in the greeting card industry, Krampus became sweeter and gentler in his appearance and youthful. His basket and chains were replaced with a pitchfork. He often was illustrated as red or wearing a red suit and more traditional devil-like with smaller horns and more human. The Krampus card sentiments became cheeky with puns and plays on words. Krampus had become the pre-curser to the Valentines Day devil we often see today.

Angelique Duncan is proprietor of Twilight Faerie Nostalgic and Capricious Objects. Check out her artist page to find links to her shops and vintage inspired traditional holiday art. Visit again next month for more traditions and folklore.

Valentines Day 2014

 

  Happy Valentines Day 2014!

Find dark and unusual as well as traditional retro Valentines Day decorations and gifts from your favorite Halloween Artist Bazaar artist by searching HAB Valentine on Etsy and HAB on Zibbet!

The Legend of the Christmas Spider


The Legend of the Christmas Spider-By Angelique Duncan

One of our cultures most common holiday customs comes from a very old German and Ukrainian legend of one of the tiniest and misunderstood of creatures. The tradition of covering ones holiday tree in shiny sparkly tinsel originates from the Legend of the Christmas Spider. There are different versions of the legend however the root of the story is mostly the same across cultures.

Once upon a time a gentle mother was busily cleaning the house for the most wonderful day of the year. Not a speck of dust was left. Even the spiders had left their cozy corner in the ceiling and had fled to the attic to avoid the housewife’s busy cleaning.

At last, it was Christmas Eve. The tree was decorated and waiting for the children to see it. The poor spiders were dismayed, for they could not see the tree, or the presents that waited for morning. The oldest and wisest spider suggested that perhaps they could peep through the crack in the door to see this glorious sight. Pretty soon all was quiet, so the spiders quickly crept into the room. The tree towered so high that they couldn’t see the ornaments on top. In fact, the little spiders’ eyes were so small that they could only see one ornament at a time. They all scurried up the trunk, out along each branch, filled with a happy wonder at the glittering beauty. The spiders loved the Christmas tree. All night long, they danced in the branches, and every place they went left a trail of dusty, gray web. When at last they had inspected every bit of the Christmas tree, it was shrouded in the dusty gray of spider webs.

In one version of the story the spiders realized what they had done and were panicked to undo what they had done to the tree and feared once it was discovered they all would be killed. They prayed for mercy as they tried to figure out how to fix what they had done. An angel appeared in answer to their prayer. She offered that one spider would have to be sacrificed to save the rest. The oldest wisest spider offered himself since it had been his instigating that brought the spiders to this dilemma. The angel turned the spider to sparkling ice and transformed the webs into glittery strands of shiny metal. The spiders were in awe that what they had done had made the tree even more beautiful.

This story is told in versions with different entities transforming the webs to silver and gold. Some cultures tell that it was Santa Clause or Father Christmas who upon discovering the web covered tree felt sympathy for the spiders, and for the housewife who had worked so hard on decorating the tree. He touched his hand to the web and transformed it to what we now know as tinsel. The story is also told in a version that arrived much later in history that the baby Jesus helped the spiders and transformed the webs.

Another telling of the Christmas Spider legend from the Czech republic tells that a poor woman who could not afford traditional holiday decorations or gifts yet wanted to provide something beautiful for her children. So she went to the woods and found a tree to put up in their home. She spent the day polishing and cleaning her humble home in hopes of brightening their meager holiday. As she swept her floors a spider narrowly escaped the broom. The women noticed the spider and felt sorry for it. Rather than kill the spider or toss it outside into the winter cold she let it live but asked that she retreat to the attic out of site. In gratitude for the woman’s kindness and mercy, the spider crept down from the attic and labored through the night spinning beautiful webs onto each branch. On Christmas morning the sun shone through the window and hit the webs turning them into silver. The women and her children woke to find the magnificently decorated tree and the exhausted spider on a branch. The story spread and from then on a spider on ones tree was seen as a sign of good fortune.

One rendition of the legend tells that a woodsman went to the woods to cut his tree before a pending snowstorm. A spider had taken shelter in the branches in hopes to avoid the cold and had fallen asleep. When the spider awoke it found it had been moved inside. Seeing the blizzard of snow falling outside the window the spider was overwhelmed with gratitude to the woodsman for bringing him into his warm home. The spider spun decorative webs over the tree in pure joy. When the sun rose the next morning the webs turned to silver glistening on the branches. The woodsman was so pleased with the silver the spider had spun he revered the spider as a token of fortune and each year there after when bring in the annual holiday tree he would collect a spider to shelter the winter in it’s branches.

The Victorians would hang one small ornate spider on their Christmas trees to up hold the tradition and as a reminder of where tinsel came from. This tradition like so many others has fallen to the wayside and has become buried in obscurity of the lost history of the winter holidays. So when your decorating your holiday trees this year, hang a little tinsel in honor of its origin. And when you’re cleaning your home before your holiday company arrives, if you see a spider go scampering past your broom have mercy and spare its fragile little life. It just wants to stay warm and the act of holiday kindness may just bring your home good fortune.

Angelique Duncan is proprietor of Twilight Faerie Nostalgic and Capricious Objects. Check out her artist page to find links to her shops and vintage inspired traditional holiday art. Visit again next month for more traditions and folklore.

A Slight to be Righted

A Slight to be Righted

By Intricate Knot

“Things don’t always begin the way we think that they should.
And they don’t often end that way, either.
However, things do always begin and end the way that they’re meant.”
~ Intricate Knot

How long had the three friends stood in that very spot in the Forest? An hour? A day? Nay, longer still. The silver sparkle they’d sprinkled, liberally as they had, was powerful stuff. It formed a barrier between them and the wicked thing (who happens to go by the name Diavex Clop) stalking them. As they peered through the dissipating sparkly cocoon they found themselves inside of, their hearts sank. Instead of Spring Greens and golden sun rays, they saw the sun resting low in a cold sky and the Forest floor strewn with dried-up orange and brown leaves. What of the others? You might ask. It’s not an unnatural question. No sooner had they sensed his presence, they had sprung into action, using one of the few weapons in their disposal that they knew could keep the beast at bay. “At bay,” doesn’t last forever though, and in fact only lasts six months.
The three, Fiddler, Wilber and Fizzy stood suspended for six months, taking them from the Merry Month of May to –
Six months? Holy cannoli, things were going to get tricky for our heroes now.
With a shrug of his sleek furry black shoulders, Fiddler turned to Wilbur,

“So, we over shot, eh?”
Words said any drier would have crumbled to dust. Stretching his long owly-raveny wings, Wilbur answered just as drily,

“A tad, yes.”
Fizzy looked from one to the other,

“Over shot? What are we talking about boys?”

“You may have noticed the leaves on the ground?” Asked Wilbur.

“And that nip in the air?” Fiddler added.
Foxy Fizzy took that very moment to look around.

“November? We’re in November?” Fizzy didn’t wait for an answer, though. With a twitch of her white-tipped, fluffy red tail and Foxy grace, she leapt through the trees and brush to investigate. While Wilbur and Fiddler sat on a large rock by a stream, silently contemplating the situation.

Fizzy was back in two shakes of a – well, she was back quickly. Hands on hips she informed,

“You do realize that there is no Harvest.”
Sadly, both Fiddler the Cat and Wilbur the Owly-Raven shook their heads.

“I’d hoped that wouldn’t be the case, but we over shot, you see,” Wilbur explained.

“While we were in our sparkle bubble, which it appears did not extend to Diavix, he captured not only our good friend and Spring Easter Bunny Hero, Aloysius-”

“And all the Springtime Flowers!” Fizzy interrupted.

“Yes, those, too,”

“And all of Loy’s bunny helpers,” Wilbur added helpfully.

“I was getting to them,” Fiddler said, a bit kitty-miffed, but he continued, “And now it seems Autumnal Artemis-”

“And all of the Fall Harvest Pumpkins!” Fizzy interrupted again.

“Have been taken, as well,” Wilbur finished.

“What are you two doing sitting around? We need to do something.”

“We’re thinking Fizzy. Now, perhaps you should sit for a moment and help us think this through,” Wilbur suggested.
She threw up her hands, then flopped down next to them,

“I suppose you’re right. Okay, I have a question, what were you two hoping to accomplish with your glitter?”
Ruffled feathers,

“It’s not glitter, its silver sparkle.”
Fiddler laid a calming paw on Wilbur’s wing,

“It’s been quite some time since we’ve used the sparkle, but our intention was to capture Diavix in the bubble with us. Then we would have been able to split the bubble and send him back to his world.”

“That’s what we tried to do long ago. He doesn’t belong here in the Forest. I’m sure that’s why he’s so angry and unpleasant. He probably just wants to go home,” Wilbur explained to Fizzy. Then a light dawned, “But Glassy stopped us back then, and perhaps she stopped us this time, too.”
As if on cue, they heard rustling in the brush behind them. And moaning. The trio can move very quickly and together they discovered a woozy-headed Glassy, both paw and wing flicked (a much smaller amount) of sparkle and a silver cage fashioned around her.

“Nooooooo,” she moaned some more, while shaking her gorgeous blue bejeweled and befeathered head.

“So,” Wilbur turned to his companions, “we managed to pull her in with us.”

“But no Diavix. Shame.” Fiddler shook his head sadly.

“Hang on here, boys, I’d say we’re in good shape at this point. We have Glassy!”
“True,” they two said in unison.
Fizzy turned to Glassy,

“Wake up you and stop playing about. You’ve turned loose a monster in our Forest. A monster who belongs somewhere else. Now, you’re going to help us.”
All wooziness disappeared in flash and Glassy hissed,

“And why would I help you?”

“Because we’re going to give you a Holiday of your own.”
If anyone ever knew what to expect to come out of Fizzy’s mouth, this would have been last on a very long list. They all stood gapping at her: Glassy, Fiddler, and Wilbur.
Fizzy merely rolled her eyes, addressing her friends,

“Oh come on. It makes sense. Glassy started the Great Holiday Maker Tribe with you two and she helped shape the Forest into the place that is today. She was only jealous and resentful that no one in the Tribe thought to bestow a Holiday on her in the first place, which by the way, would have not been overlooked if I had been a member back then.”
Hurt, Wilbur turned to Glassy,

“But why didn’t you say?”

“Of course we would have done that for you,” Fiddler added softly.
A fat tear rolled down Glassy’s glittery, scaly cheek. Fizzy intervened,

“If you have to say, then where is fun in it? The Tribe should have offered. It’s not a gift if you have to ask, you know.”
Seeing how low the two felt, Fizzy gave them a hug,

“Oh you boys and your mysteries, we females are actually very easily understood. We wish to be appreciated and only acknowledged every now and again.”
And with that, they unlocked Glassy’s cage. Hugs all around. Glassy led them to the Faeries, Aloysius, Artemis, bunny helpers and fall assistants, flowers and pumpkins! Everyone was back where they belonged. More hugs all around. The celebration would have to wait, though, for actually not everyone was back where they belonged. What of Diavix?

To be continued next month’s installment, “A Tale of Winter”!


Illustration “November” by Angelique Duncan. Appearance of Wilbur with permission of Intricate Knot.

Intricate Knot is proprietor of Cards For A Gloomy Day.Check out her artist page to find links to her shop and blog to read more of her writings. Visit again next month for more adventures of Fiddler the cat.

 

Black Friday Cyber Monday Savings!


The week of November 25th through December 2nd visit the shops of Halloween Artist Bazaar members for special holiday sales and offers. Look for participating HAB members shops using the coupon code HAB2013! Some shops hosting sales through the holiday season!

Participating Halloween Artist Bazaar Artists:
 
Twilight Faerie 15% off Etsy shop and Zibbet shop.
 
Lttle Shop Of Horrors 20% off, plus a free item to first 5 customers! Etsy shop
 
Jan’s Beads 10% with coupon code Etsy Shop and Zibbet Shop
Jan’s Supplies
 
twistedpixelstudio 20% sale during the week of Thanksgiving. Zibbet shop
 
Gothbunny 20% off sale. Etsy Shop and Zibbet Shop
 
Sauvage Raven Creations Etsy Shop and Zibbet Shop
 
Wicked Alterations Sale through Christmas Etsy Shop and Zibbet Shop
 
Cards For A Gloomy Day Etsy shop and Zibbet shop
 
Twinkleberry Cottage Etsy Shop
 
Rockerchic Boutique 20% discount with coupons. Etsy Shop
 
Jynxx Designs Eclectic Arm Candy 20% discount with coupons. Etsy Shop

Art By Sarada HAB2013 will get you 20% off. Etsy Shop

Winter Holiday Give Away 2013


The Winter Holiday Give Away has concluded!


Warm Winter Greetings!

A winner has been chosen. The winner will be contacted via email. Thank you to everyone who entered the contest and for spreading holiday cheer.

To all our friends and followers warmest regards for a bright and happy Winter season!

How To Enter:

Step 1: Visit one of the contributing HAB artist from the list below Etsy or Zibbet store or website and contact them through their shop or email. Leave them a message that that spreads Winter Holiday cheer, in the form of your own holiday salutation whatever that means to you.
Step 2: Visit our Facebook page and “Like” us and comment your salutation spreading Winter Holiday cheer on our wall.
Step 3: Fill out the official Winter Holiday entry form below.

Official Rules

Entry deadline is Midnight on December 19th 2013. The Winner will be chosen at random. One entry per person. Winner will be notified via email. The prize will ship on December 20th 2013. The winners name will be posted on the Halloween Artist Bazaar website and Facebook page. Members of Halloween Artist Bazaar are not qualified for entry. Contest open internationally, however please note that prize may not arrive before December 25th due to international shipping delays.*your countries custom charges may apply.* Information collected for the Winter Holiday Give Away will not be sold or shared. Phone number asked for in the event problems arise with shipping and only used for that purpose.

Contributing Halloween Artist Bazaar Artists:(check back as the list grows and photo’s of the winnings are posted!)


Art Enxebre
Chaos In Color
Jan’s Beads
twistedpixelstudio
Art By Sarada
Gothbunny
Sauvage Raven Creations
Jynxx Designs Eclectic Arm Candy
Lttle Shop of Horrors
Wicked Alterations
Cards For A Gloomy Day
ShrineMaiden
Twilight Faerie

The Giving of Thanks


The Giving of Thanks-By Angelique Duncan

Most of us have been told since elementary school the Thanksgiving story. That in November 1631 the early migrants from Europe to North America celebrated the “first” Thanksgiving feast after surviving the perils of arriving to their new home on the Mayflower. The story is told that the pilgrims were grateful for their first successful corn crop and for the help of the Wampanoag Indians for their generosity. William Bradford called for a grand feast of celebration and thanks. This story stuck and was passed on for generations and is the commonly held legend today.

However this story although some what based in factual events is highly disputed by historians for it’s complete accuracy of how we have arrived at the annual November holiday feast. A commonly accepted theory among historians is that the story of Thanksgiving is an amalgamation of many first feast that celebrated migrations to North America combined with varied religious and cultural influences.

Fasting followed by feast days had long been a practice of Puritans in Europe as part of Reformation that eliminated many more elaborate festive church holidays that had Pagan roots. The legend of the Thanksgiving feasts celebrated in North America of the 1600’s combined elements of the religious observances of the church to give gratitude to God for deliverance while incorporating the elements of ancient harvest festivals celebrating bountiful crops. Through out the colonies there had been many First feasts or Thanksgiving celebrations in honor of a multitude of hardships over come. giving debate to the accuracy that Mayflower pilgrims were indeed the first to hold a Thanksgiving feast in North America. Given the similarities of Thanksgiving feast and that of Harvest festivals many historians believe that these feasts were most likely held in the months of August and September. Thus, coinciding traditional celebration dates of Lammas and the Autumn Equinox, a more likely time to finish reaping crops for the season in New England.

George Washington declaring November 26, 1789 as a public day of gratitude issued the first official proclamation of a unified national holiday for Thanksgiving. However for decades after each state celebrated Thanksgivings on different dates with out unified celebration. Later President Lincoln issued a proclamation that a national day of Thanksgiving would be recognized on the last Thursday of November in an effort to foster the union of North and South during the civil war. It would not be until 1941 that Franklin D Roosevelt would declare the fourth Thursday in November to be the official national holiday of Thanksgiving that we celebrate today. The measure was an effort to bolster the economy and give an earlier start to what we now recognize as the winter holiday season proceeding the Christmas Holiday.

The traditional meal and foods associated with our modern celebration are closer to the Victorians Thanksgiving celebrations with interpretations of what the Pilgrims meal might have been. Our current Thanksgiving practice with emphasis on family, neighbors and unity surrounding a traditional family meal arose from a 30-year letter writing campaign by Mrs. Sarah Josepha Hale. It is widely believed that her pleas for a national day observing family and unity is what encouraged Abraham Lincoln to proclaim the national holiday on a uniform day for the country. It is from the writings of Victorian women to periodicals and newspapers of the their time that the recipes we now know became a mainstay to the celebratory meal. As well, the traditional potted mums, brightly colored centerpieces and horn o plenty marking the Thanksgiving season were the creation of the Victorians rather than the décor of pilgrims. What had once been a day celebrating the harvest that transformed to a somber day of deliverance and prayer, had become a festive day to unify family and celebrate home.

The Thanksgiving holiday as a day to celebrate family was further reinforced in importance in American culture after World War Two ended and soldiers returned home from war. The holiday took greater importance to emphasize family and a unified feast after so many had been separated from family shipped over seas, and was welcomed after the rationing of goods encouraged by the war effort. The nation collectively celebrated the greatness of the nation in gratitude of winning the noble cause of a World War.

Whether you are celebrating the bountiful harvest, acknowledging hardships over come or celebrating the gathering of family and friends, be grateful. During the day-to-day monotony and frustrations of life it is easy to forget how much we have to be grateful for. Count your blessings and all that you have to be thankful for.

Angelique Duncan is proprietor of Twilight Faerie Nostalgic and Capricious Objects. Check out her artist page to find links to her shops and vintage inspired traditional holiday art. Visit again next month for more traditions and folklore.