The stuff dreams (Nightmares??) are made of....

This scene opens with Lady Nemesis staring glassy eyed at the computer and hyperventilating.
*Vapors~ swoon* Somebody get me a glue gun. If this isn’t the most fabulous interior then one of my middle names isn’t ‘Gaudy’.

http://www.rawvision.com/pastfrontpages/rhinestone.html

Ok, the beloved man about the ghoulie grotto would be having seizures for a whole different reason by now; he has much the same reactions to feathers, faux fur or fairy lights. I have taken to having oxygen at the ready.
But really this is amazing, it reminds me of an exhibition where someone had beaded the entire interior of a room. *sigh, truly this is the stuff that ghoulie Goth-ess dreams are made of……..

The story of Miss Jeannie Kitty Princess

In a cattery far, far away, lived a vast number of kittens and their “nannies” two enormous Bull Terriers (Who were surprisingly serene and not at all bothered by the little balls of fur that ran and played around them.)
The house was filled with beautiful and talented feline divas, beauties with coats of silver and black and gold, who liked to lay around in their favorite vantage points and eye the others suspiciously. These beauties would periodically disappear from the cat house only to return with prizes and ribbons for singing and dancing and elegance on the catwalk.
Being surrounded by such glamour and competitive disposition meant that some of the occupants of the house would be a little Catty with one another. Not wanting to break one of their fabulously manicured claws, they sharpened their intellect and were ever ready with a snide remark or caustic retort.
Laying around, attending to their magnificent coats and thinking of witty verbal slaps took up a great deal of the Diva’s day, leaving time only for cat napping and eating (A time when they dropped all pretence at diva-dom and dove “every cat for themselves” style at the whatever was on offer.) so any extra duties were off loaded onto the “Lesser gorgeous”- whom were decided upon by the reigning ‘Best In Show’ at the time. More often than not these fell to Jeannie and MacGyver. MacGyver was the house clown- daring and crazy in a shaggy patch work coat. One minute he was leaping from buffet to coffee table and the next minute scaling the curtains, he was a born show off, but good natured and out going and his scallywagging about caused him to be totally unreliable, so the Divas would only employ him in a pinch. Jeannie on the other hand was mild and shy and completely intimidated by the Cattery High echelon, so she was often a slave to the Divas. As is a cats nature sometimes they toyed with her for fun- “my goodness your coat is drab, haven’t you another?” and “Brown tabby was so last season.” Jeannie wasn’t particularly wounded by all of this, but she really wished they would let her get back to her nap.
One day a very strange couple arrived at the cattery. The Divas were not at all impressed with them and barely gave them a second glance, but MacGyver was in fine form and eager to meet any new comers. Jeannie wasn’t at all sure about the whole situation and preferred to peep from a safe distance behind the sofa. Soon the couple were cooing and clucking over all of the furred inhabitants at the cattery and even the father of most of the feline brood made a brief but regal appearance. By now the man had spotted Jeannie in her secret lookout and proceeded to coax her out gently. Jeannie was quite embarrassed at this sort of attention and reasoned that it would probably be rude not to make his acquaintance, so she timidly left her hidey-hole and accepted the hand he procured.
When he encouraged her to meet his friend, it was totally and utterly love at first site for all three of them and soon she was willingly, but somewhat bewilderedly, whisked away from the Cat house and the Divas and Nannies were left far behind.
Not long after that she discovered she was actually a kitty Princess and soon she ruled her very own kingdom, with her two willing servants and her very own Palace- the ghoulie grotto.

Kitty foot note- Miss Jeannie hastens to add that “Brown Tabby” is ALWAYS in fashion.

Kitty Pot Plant 

Miss Jeannie Kitty Princess in her steamer 

snarfling out of the cat box and other Halloween treats

Ok Halloween proper fast approaches (even though some of us have been celebrating for about a month!! Perhaps we just want a chance to wear our finery?- Like I need an excuse; “oh goodness we’re going to the supermarket, just wait till I put on my new frock and some more hair, maybe a little more make-up!”)
Now if you haven’t made them yet, now is the time to organize your jack-o-lanterns and ‘Kitty Litter Chocolate box”.
The kitty litter Chocolate box was a big hit at the ghoulie grotto for our Halloween celebrations. You’re going to need a cat litter try or similar plastic type container (super cheap from your local discount place. A foil baking tray would look great too. If you want to be fancy and as obvious as possible you can print out “Cat Litter” signs for the sides and maybe some little kitty cats- just to re-enforce the message.
Then you need to lay down a deep layer of breakfast cereal- I used puffed rice, but some sort of flakes, bran or Nutrigrain would look just as good.
Finally add your chocolate- little mini bars look great so do those little “chocette” bits.
Now the idea is not to serve any other chocolate so that your guests have to dig for it- accessories with a slotted spoon or pooper scooper.
Final note: use new bought containers and scooper/spoon. Treats for your guests are fun, but a Halloween dose of Salmonella is more chilling than thrilling..

Here in Australia it is generally hard to get good carving pumpkins, like those fabulous golden ones you get in the United States. Chances are you are only going to tackle the *Queensland Blue Jackolantern once. Even boiling doesn’t seem to make the carving task any easier.
So unless you plan to spray-paint your “jacks” (which looks pretty neat, even better in un-natural colors, bright blue, pink, neon’s!), here are some more manageable carving choices.
Melons- so easy even children could do this with a little help. Watermelons look good with a little pink flesh left on the skin inside to add a pink glow; Ditto for Dew Melons for that green alien glow.
Butternut pumpkins.-These are the long, slightly pear shaped pumpkins. You can cut them down a little which is quite good since the narrow tops contain most of the flesh and the bulbous part is a little hollower with the seeds.
Miniature Pumpkins such as “Sweet mischief”, (these are the cutest and perfect for Tea light candles). Trawl your local quality Green grocer and your better supermarkets and markets.
Finally a super easy alternative- Oranges! You can also scoop out the flesh through a small opening in the top and then fill with jelly crystals and hot water which you let set before carving out your face.

So get carving!


*Queensland Blue is a variety of pumpkin widely available here with a fabulous shape and attractive grey/blue skin. But it is extremely hard and the skin is extremely thick.

The children of the severed fingers- a ghouliebaby tale.

Sharp little white teeth gnawed away at his little pink fingertips, not sated until one was torn loose and discarded and even then stopping only to move onto the next digit.
The dolly cringed inwardly at this latest of dolly degradations. How he had wished to belong to a sweet little child who would play tea party and wheel him around in some sort of gaily-coloured stroller. He had even had dreams of being part of some much-cherished collection of dolls, his only contact with mortals being a quick caress to re-arrange him to look his best. But alas these were privileges not usually reserved for the plethora of massed produced dollies who grace the shelves of toy stores.
The child’s interest in his tasty friend soon waned and the dolly was tossed unceremoniously into a corner, bereft of his not only his blue fleecy playsuit, but also minus several fingers from his earlier mauling. It was a routine he knew well. But also he knew what happened eventually to dollies who had lost their lustre and turned raggedy and soiled and for now he welcomed any interest in him at all.
But of course children grow and all too soon the little plastic baby doll found himself thrust into a green garbage bag among the other forgotten play things, destined for the local thrift shop. There he was dumped into a crowded and overflowing toy box, full of strange, musty smelling objects. For a dolly eternity the box was rummaged through and he was passed over. Just when he thought he would never see the light of day again he was suddenly collected up, inspected and finally carted off with an array of ravaged dolly specimens.
The dolly couldn’t believe his eyes when he was finally drawn from the depths of the plastic shopping bag- he had finally found nirvana. He and the others were placed upon a shelf crowded with broken and battered dollies, naked and proud in their disarray.
When night fell there was much excited whispering within the plastic community. Fabulous tales were told of makeovers and new identities, opulent and outrageous new clothes and a strange and wonderful person they referred to as the “Dolly Master”.
Now and again a dolly would mysteriously disappear from the shelf, sometimes spied later mid-recreation and barely recognisable. The dollies all came to know that this was a wonderful thing and each anxiously awaited his or her turn.
Finally the great day came and the poor fingerless baby doll was drawn from the shelf. He was scrubbed and rubbed, painted, clad in strange new clothes, pierced and primped and when the dolly master finally deemed him ready he was granted a fine new ghoulie name. From that moment he was destined for an exciting new life, much more than he had ever dreamed of.

by Lady Nemesis.
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/ghouliebabies

Glimpses of halloween at the ghoulie grotto

Well i just wanted to share a few glimpses of Halloween at the ghoulie grotto. One would have to say that Halloween isn't widely celebrated in Australia so Halloween at the grotto is a big event, planned well in advance and with much anticipation. Trick or treat bags bring all sorts of ghouls out of the woodwork.
Happy haunting!

Skull duggery 

The gloom 

Vampire bat 

what beyond yonder curtain waits? 

Zombies 

three wise jackolanterns 

Babies are scary 

Fraidy cat 

Dolly and friends 

George 

ghosties 

giant spiders 

hanging from the chandeliers 

haunted mirror 

head-less roses for the hostess 

menacing cats 

Mr bones 

scary friends 

Domestic Goth-ess

I once heard someone say "I don't do housework, I just redecorate...." These may well be words to live by! Of course I think having a spooky house like the ghoulie grotto is a head start in the housework department- I mean you don't need to worry about cobwebs.
So what is with this Housework issue, well we are about to embark on our annual entertaining event of the year, so I am feeling a bit of hostess anxiety. At the best of times the ghoulie grotto is more 'creative living' than 'Home beautiful'. The gorgeous boi and I have a lot of “Stuff.” Indeed I vow never to move anywhere bigger as I know we would only accrue even more “Stuff”. I do admire those elegant homes, the living rooms straight out of Ikea, the neat, organized workstations, but alas I just don’t seem to have it in me.

Domestic Goth-ess tips from the ghoulie grotto-

Newspaper is the best thing for cleaning a grimy oven, or windows.

There are fabulous removable adhesive strips which you can use to put little plastic hooks onto your walls and they have a pull tab to remove them ( I believe 3M command adhesive is the product name)- these are your best friend for hanging pretty much everything. Use the tabs alone to hang pictures ;( perfect for creating a whimsy, art/correspondence collage over an ugly wall without killing the paint underneath.)

Decorate your Laundry – a little escape while you are washing and scrubbing.

Don’t let the housework rule your life- I mean you don’t want uninvited/unintentional critters lurking around, ditto for unfortunate aromas and dust bunnies. But housework is a thankless task with fleeting results, Live a little!

Go see “Art for Housewives” one of my favorite places on the web!

Halloween meltdown

Ok, any second now I am officially going into Halloween meltdown! *imagine big pool of make-up and glitter , squealing “I’m melting… ahhhhh I’m melting….” Very wicked witch of the west.
I just love this time of year, it’s the one time that I go all out and really dress up the grotto (which retains a lot of it’s ghoulishness all year round.; and each year a few less decorations get packed away….) But as to par for me I have left myself a lot to do in a short time. Perhaps I am just injecting a little Halloween excitement into my life…

Decorating and party tips from the grotto-
Everyone loves trick or treat bags- even the 30+ years.
Everyone loves “Kids” party food. Make all of the sophisticated fare you like, but everyone will still wait for party pies and cocktail sausages.
Guests thrill at unexpected things in unexpected places- decorate the garden, the bathroom, the loo!

Great sources for decorations- if you are in Australia or Melbourne (Because Halloween is a little scarce here and it’s a bit late for overseas mail order now)

www.swiedas.com.au
Don’t forget my website (yes, I know shameless advertising…)
www.users.bigpond.net.au/ghouliebabies

The “reject” shop chain of stores have a small selection of hanging ghosts, skeletons, masks and make up.
Lombards the party supplies if you are here in Melbourne
Also Bernards Magic shop on Elizabeth st if you are here in Melbourne.

For a bit of DIY Halloween- Printables- there are some great printable projects at
the HP website-
http://h10050.www1.hp.com/activitycenter/us/en/index.html

Happy haunting everybody!

The ghoulie garden 

more of the ghoulie garden Oct 2004 

Haunting the garden

It's an awesome time of year here at the ghoulie grotto- yes it's nearly Halloween, a reason to get most beside oneself with excitement; but it’s also very much spring.
Now here in Melbourne that means a bit of lunacy with the weather- just when you manage to wrestle those winter woolies into mothballs, the weather turns savage and you need to wrestle them out again. But it also means all of that good stuff- cute little feathered friends setting up love nests and the plants go on a rampage. We are just enjoying a little respite from a rather menacing drought and it’s so nice to see everything turn lush; no more mouth to mouth with your leafy lovelies willing them to live, now they are making up for lost time.
I don’t mind if things get a little rambunctious in the garden. My whim is “I don’t want to see dirt”. It’s survival of the fittest sure, but it’s always an adventure.
A sense of humor is always nice in the garden, a flash of the unexpected or the eccentric. So you will always find weird stuff hiding amongst the undergrowth in the ghoulie garden. Naturally there are a few ghoulie dollies haunting the plot- they are secretly potting to take over the entire grotto.

Gardening tips from the ghoulie grotto-
Geraniums and Canna Lilies are very under rated. They are tougher than your average dragon and look fabulous when everything else is gasping. *Ditto for Nasturtiums who although being somewhat annual, do you the favor of popping up again of their own accord. If they get a little crazy they are quite easy to discipline.

My Nana was a lovely lady, quite spiritual and her greatest gardening advice was “You aren’t married to your plants, so it’s ok to hoist them out if the relationship isn’t going well.”- well it was along those lines anyway.

Take a moment to enjoy your handy work, even if it’s only a spiky little cactus on your window sill. Take the time to see how it’s grown, notice any little critters that might have taken up residence. Enjoy something you can’t control- Nature, its very grounding, especially for we “highly strung” types….. Hey that’s just about everything these days isn’t it??? If you don’t have your own garden (or cactus) then enjoy someone else’s- get yourself down to a park, pack that picnic, look out that window, at the very least flip over to the nature channel!!

Ghoulie blog welcome

Ghoulicious greetings all, welcome to my weblog. As some ghoulie friends will realise i also have a web based business making dolls (www.users.bipond.net.au/ghouliebabies) but I thought a blog might be a fun way to share ideas and interestes with some other fiendish friends. After all i can't be the only one who likes this stuff!!
So what do i like and therefore what you can expect to find here:
ART- fine art, fringe art, outsider art.
HISTORY- social history mostly, i want to know how people lived.
RECYCLING- I just can't throw anything away that might just be useful.....
HALLOWEEN- spooks for itself really.
CATS AND CRITTERS.

Cast of characters:
Me- Jen, also known more exotically as Lady Nemesis-more about that later
Lord Strange- Man about the ghoulie grotto
Miss Jeannie- kitty princess in residence at the ghoulie grotto.

Scene- the ghoulie grotto, humble but eccentric abode of the above characters.

So i do hope you will come on back regularly and share a little eccentricity with me.

wicked wishes
Jen