|
The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
A Very Gothic Holiday Autumn and Halloween aren’t the only highlights of the Gothic seasonal calendar. Death lingers in the air during the winter and the pure white snow only emphasizes the pallor mortis-chic some of us have going on. ‘Tis the season to be jolly which, if you think about it, means something different to everyone. Why have a holly jolly Christmas when you can have a creepy weepy holiday? For me, ‘tis the season to enjoy more barren-branched trees with spider-like appendages against the backdrop of an overcast sky. The Nightmare doesn’t have to come before Christmas. I realize that not everyone is a fan of picking dead vines and making dead flower bouquets, so here’s how to cast the loveliest shadows upon your holiday existence: Discounts on Gifts to Die For Gothic life hack: a little budget-planning goes a long way. Reap the grim rewards of post-Halloween sales. Halloween is a lifestyle, which is why it’s so great when everything gets discounted to Hell by the time Christmas rolls around. You might as well strike while the iron’s hot and exploit the hell out of the fault in our corporations. Stores are trying to get the skulls off of the shelves and replace them with elves. Give them a home! In case your home isn't a suitable and safe environment for a skull, it doesn’t even have to crash at your own pad. (Although I must say, they are very low maintanance and content with sleeping under the bed all day.) Mr. Skullface is a well-mannered guest whose contagious smile will brighten your heart with gleeful darkness. Repeat the following mantra until you feel the letters engraved into the inside of your skull: Claire’s Clearance. No, really! If you don't have time to order from one of your most beloved online retailers, this is the cheapest place you can find in the mall where you're most likely to get a bang for your buck. It's especially great for giving holiday gifts to your fellow darklings when you're in a pinch; all of their Halloween paraphernalia go straight to clearance section once their seasonal appropriateness vanishes into thin, flurry-dampened air. If you spend some time wading through the sparkly pink stuff and frills, you’ll find cool accessories like fishnets, crazy-patterned stockings, lace gloves, makeup, nail polish, spiked collars, metal bracelets, arm warmers, necklaces with skulls or spiders that are way better than the overpriced crap that you’ll find at Hot Topic. Also, I recommend exploring Amazon.com's expansive market of discounted and used items. Note: Please show some community ectoplasm by only telling other batkin about about Claire’s dark secret, the double-C word. Anyone who reads Quail Bell = Cool. Undead Trees Are you in charge of the tree? Keep it classy; deck it out in black lace and ribbons. The size of the tree is irrelevant. Accent the black lace with different colored ribbons and lace, but make sure that none of the materials within the vicinity of lights. #firehazardswag  Or, if you only have a white Christmas tree, you could always do this! Hold on. Let me light the candelabra...  Just a little something they threw together... The Nightmare has just begun. A Poison Tree Undead Christmas trees are de rigeuer on the dark side. You, too, can have a poison tree that doesn’t require “[watering] it with fears/ night and morning, with your tears” like the one that Blake wrote about. And they’re not at all hard to find - just gather stray sticks and glue them into an arrangement which allows the structure to stand. Think of Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree, but sexier.  I've done something similar with stray tree branches... Orb-ituary Orbs are creepy any time of the year except Christmas. They're everywhere! After all, most trees have sphere-shaped ornaments of some kind! Get creative and start converting Halloween decorations into clever Christmas adaptations. Get some white or clear sphere ornaments and paint skull faces onto them! You can also personalize them for your friends in those goodie bags that you’re always giving out at parties.  Something like this! Fallen Bouquet Wake up and enjoy the dead leaves while you can! Here, it hasn’t snowed yet so they’re still ripe for the reapin’. Fall(en) bouquets are just like any other bouquet except the more autumnal one has dead leaves. Some people simply incorporate leaves into a flower arrangement and use the stems to hold the whole thing together. I think it would be great to bundle some sticks, tie them together with a crimson bow, and use candle wax to hold the bundle into space as well as decorate it. You can decorate it with acorns, skulls, lace, etc. to encapsulate the remnants of Autumn before that ice queen, Winter, suffocated her.  Master leaf-igomi and learn how to create the world's only rose genus with petals entirely made up of dead leaves!  THAT. Is. Sheer. Brilliance. I would feel so fortunate to catch that bouquet. If you really want to kick it old school, you can offer a sacrifice, but that's a different issue entirely... #Real #GothicHoliday #DIY #HalloweenIsaLifestyle #NightmareDuringChristmas #Crafts #RozzWilliamsAltarPieces Visit our shop and subscribe. Sponsor us. Submit and become a contributor. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
CommentsComments are closed.
|
© Quail Bell Press & Productions, 2024. Founded by Christine Stoddard. Based in Brooklyn. Contact us.
