Shop Review: Howdy, Garters by Lori!

Good evening, Fanatics!


In the slow, drunken wake of my 21st birthday, I thought this week's Shop Review would cover a trade I recently did with Garters by Lori.

I stumbled upon GbL in the lineup of artists participating in my trade groups latest event. I fell in love with both the utility and simple, pleasing look of her flasks and garters. Originally,

Shop Review: Howdy, Keyhole Crafts & Supplies!

Good evening Fanatics! 

 Last Friday, we kicked off our new weekly series, "Shop Review: Howdy ______!" Last week, we featured a lovely seller who makes hair accessories with a creepy twist, and if you missed it, I highly recommend you go back and read the review here. 

 This week, we are featuring Keyhole Crafts & Supplies, a shop on Etsy that offers unique magnets, assorted pieces of art, and ready made goodies to craft with. 

Another participant in the Dark Trading Team's Christmas Trading Blitz, I received a set of Snarky Death Magnets in exchange for one of my Zombie Kitten dolls. 

 

My magnets came handsomely packaged in a simple yet striking labelled cello bag. As an added bonus for me, the shop owner included extra goodies with the shipment, including a handmade feathered hair clip and a fold-able cardboard coffin box that is now holding all of my hair accessories.

Let me share a few of my favorites from this shop with you.

A wine bottle decorated with a poison label and gold embellishments. A piece of home decor I think Aaron would appreciate. (He loves props.)

Some corset magnets that I didn't notice the first time, but now I really want. 

And some Edgar Allan Poe inspired magnets that I will be getting my sister.

  I would recommend this shop to people looking for affordable, unique small gifts or stocking stuffers. 

So how does Keyhole Crafts & Supplies hold up?

Quality:                                                                                           9

High quality magnets with crisp, clear designs. Large enough to display without being too large.
Price:                                                                                               9
A decent price for what I ordered and shipping was very reasonable. Most of the items posted in this shop are inexpensive with low shipping costs. 
Shipping:                                                                                        10
Low cost and quick shipping. No problems here at all.
Shopping Experience:                                                                    8
The shop owner was very responsive and courteous. While I adore the magnets and antique prints used in the items, I wish there had been a bit more variety in the shop and more supplies to choose from.
 Overall Rating:                                                                               9

Post-Halloween Internet Roundup

Hello everyone! Halloween is over, which means the internet is absolutely saturated with neato Halloween pictures. While not a huge fan of the holiday itself, I love all the creepy, weird stuff that it produces. I've round up a few of my favorites to show you fine fanatic folk. Keep in mind that this is only a tiny portion of the good props that I've seen this season, and I encourage you to find your own favorites out there in the big, wide web.

From instructables.com

My favorite Halloween costume I've seen this year, one of The Others from hit HBO series "Game of Thrones" . You can see how much effort went into this costume here. If you've never seen the series, this is a spot-on representation of the character from the show. Beautiful, really.

Also from Instructibles.

What this Cthulhu costume lacks in detail it makes up for in being creepy as all get-out and waterproof. Jesus. I can't think of a worse thing to come slithering up out of a bayou after you. Not that anything pleasant has ever slithered out of a bayou, especially in the middle of the night while you're camping out under a bridge because you accidentally set off a pack of roach bombs in your house because you were trying to play a hilarious prank on your friend, but you set off the bombs prematurely while switching their labels out with Glade labels. You're pretty sure you'll have to replace your carpet and you doubt you'll be able to wear any of your clothes without breaking into some sort of radioactive rash. On the other hand, you have a feeling that you won't be seeing any roaches around. It's a good thing too, because you found that one on your toothbrush. And kept using it.

From DeviantArt

DeviantArt user Meddling-With-Nature brings us this anatomically correct skull and housing. This Halloween prop even has a crank on the side that rotates the skill for a full view. One of my favorite non-costume pieces I've seen this year. It's a little too bulky to display in my house, otherwise I'd try to get one of my own.

From Zanne at DeviantArt

This expertly-carved pumpkin really got me. There are a lot of pumpkin carving shots uploaded this time of year, but all of the little details really make this one. I haven't seen anyone use marbles in their pumpkin carving either. More ideas for next year. Also, be sure to check this out in the link up there because there are a lot of details you're missing out on otherwise.

Also, this guy:

Don't know who he is. But I thought it was hilarious.

Stay fanatic.

Aaron

Call of Cthulhu and Propnomicon

Short blog post today. I decided to highlight another favorite website of mine, Propnomicon. The name being derived from the infamous Necronomicon of yore, Propnomicon is a gallery of horror-themed props from across the internet. Updated monthly, Propnomicon showcases both amateur and professional sculptures, carvings, books, and crafts that embody the Lovecraftian spirit.

The type of props and projects you'll see are quite varied and you  might wonder why certain things like old photographs and admission sheets for an insane asylum might be doing in there. The answer is a game called Call of Cthulhu, named after the H.P. Lovecraft story. Call of Cthulhu is a live-action roleplaying game (or LARP) that uses a wide variety of props to set the mood for a scenario that will be played out by a group of people. It's basically one of those fun murder-mystery parties mixed with ancient evil tentacle-faced demons, the difference being a game of Call of Cthulhu requires a bit more in the way of props and design to be pulled off right. Propnomicon is a massive resource for people planning these kinds of games, as you'll be able to see my checking out their "Resources" label on the side.

Below are some of the more Cthulhu Mythos-related pieces posted in the last few months, excluding the seemingly-endless Cthulhu idol pieces:

An elder god idol.

A page from the Necronomicon itself.

An infernal polyhedron, lit through some mysterious internal means.

The Mighty Old One

This one is actually a light fixture.

Beyond the specifically Love-craft related props, they also have numerous fantastic and paranormal props as well. Some of my favorites:

A life-size mermaid fossil

The Mongolian Deathworm (For Megh)

And another

A preserved fairy

An alien fetus in it's containment capsule

Another, uglier fairy

The hand of Sasquatch itself

Propnomicon also features a slew of props from other media like video games, movies, and television. The recreations are always of top quality and fantastic workmanship.

I highly recommend checking it out (at propnomicon.blogspot.com, once again) and scrolling through a few pages, I'm sure you'll find something you'll like. There's a little something from everyone, and a whole slew of tutorials to be found as well. They even inspired me to create m' own cthulhu out of sculpey:

That's all for now! Have a good day. Sit down, relax, brew up some chamomile. Maybe eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, like you used to when you were a kid, back when you had time to relax and enjoy the little things. Don't worry about your chores, do them later. Today is about YOU, so enjoy yourself. Because you deserve it. You deserve Tazo® Calm™ Full Leaf Tea, a soothing chamomile blend with rosebuds and herbs, available only at Starbucks®.