The City Sage

Inspiration Board: Ghostly Glamour

 

This morning we woke up to pouring rain and no electricity---an unpleasant Halloween surprise indeed! But now that I have my internet connection back, I present to you this Halloween inspiration board. The mood is haunted and mysterious, the palette faded and timeworn, the textures wispy and ethereal. May your Halloween be full of chills down the spine and things that go bump in the night!

For more Halloween goodness, be sure to check out the official Snippet and Ink Halloween offering from Kathryn, aka the Inspiration Board Queen! I adore Kathryn's boards, and her latest one is no exception!

Image Credits
First Row: James Merrell, Thomas Klementsson, Ditte Isager, Paul Massey
Second Row: David Prince, Marie Claire Maison, Tobias Regell, Denise Grunstein
Third Row: Marie Claire Maison, Wild at Heart, Gentl & Hyers, Martin Morrell
Fourth Row: Eric Dover, Roland Bello, Eva Marie Rundquist, Uli Schade

Frighteningly Simple Project: Pet Spider's Lair

Here's yet another Halloween how-to that literally look me five minutes to make but is SO effective! For me, spiders are amongst the creepiest creatures out there, and there's nothing creepier than keeping one as a pet!

I got the idea for this one from my homegirl Jen over at Raising Granola. She's discovered that the Halloween crafter's best friend is a can of glossy black spray paint, and it couldn't be more true! Below are the supplies that I started with: an ugly green pillar candle holder and decorative cage (I honestly can't think of a non-Halloween use for this cage!) that I scrounged at Goodwill, as well as a cheap plastic spider from the dollar store. Total cost? Eight bucks!



This little set-up would look amazing as the centerpiece of a Halloween buffet table, surrounded by a forest of various sized candlesticks also painted black. And doesn't it cast a spooky shadow?!



For more Halloween inspiration and devilish DIY's, be sure to check out:

• My earlier post on Eerily Easy Halloween Glassware.
• Ghoulishly Gothic Halloween wreath and candlesticks over at Raising Granola.
• Fabulous repurposed mantle arrangement and tabletop lovelies from Grace at Poetic Home.
• Wondrous web doilies at Eddie Ross.
• Hilariously hairy disguise via Rachel at Heart of Light.
• Fun and fanciful Halloween mood boards from Design Lovely. 
• Best costume in the world by Chelsea at The Vintage Chair.
• Scariest antique store ever featured by Katie over at KatieDid.

To Die for Recipe: Sweet 'n' Salty Cashew Toffee

What would Halloween Week be without a recipe for candy? Salty/sweet treats seem to be everywhere these days---from the unexceptional Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate at Starbucks to the out-of-this-world Vosges Peanut Butter Bonbons. This recipe is the homespun answer to the salty/sweet trend. It features salted cashews ensconced in a crunchy foundation of sweet, buttery toffee. I don't always eat my own baking---it's safer to send it to the office with the huz!---but I couldn't keep my sticky fingers away from this stuff!

You'll need a candy thermometer for this recipe (I had to go out and buy one, and it was SO worth it!) but other than that it's totally brainless to make. It's also fun to see how simple ingredients like butter and sugar come together to make something totally different---a real lesson in the magic of chemistry. I think making this with kids (under adequate adult supervision of course) would be so educational for them.

Salty 'n' Sweet Cashew Toffee
Recipe courtesy of Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Connor

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons water
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 heaping cups salted cashew halves

In a large saucepan, combine butter, water, sugar and lemon juice. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until butter is melted. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, stirring all the while. Once the mixture starts to boil, stop stirring and cook until it reaches the hard-crack stage (about 300 degrees) on your candy thermometer.

Immediately remove pan from heat and stir in baking soda, salt and cashews. It will fizz when you add the baking soda; this aerates the candy, making it lighter and easier to bite into. Pour the candy mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper an let it cool completely. When cool, it will be hard and shattery; break it into generously sized pieces and serve. This toffee would be terrific packaged up as party favours or even as gifts for the winter holiday season! If you can bear to give it away, that is :)

Oh, and just in case you needed it, here's proof that my love of Halloween has been many years in the making!

Absolutely Enchanted...

 

...by these images from stylist Hannah Read-Baldry. Spooky, sophisticated, and sultry. A rare combination indeed!

Not to mention spot on trend for fall, what with all that black lace :)

Images courtesy of Hannah Read-Baldry.

Update: I just realized that my links actually were to a map of my local election polling station! I have corrected this and apologize for the oversight!

Project: Eerily Easy Halloween Glassware

In case you haven't noticed yet, I LOVE Halloween! I especially like to browse the shops at Halloween and brainstorm how to recreate similar effects at home. For example, I just adore spooky tableware such as these skull highball glasses from Z Gallerie, but I could never justify spending that kind of money on something that I'd only pull out once a year. So I hit up Goodwill, where I found this red glass carafe and glasses for $6. A trip to Michael's Crafts yielded some skull-shaped rub-on transfers and silver alphabet stickers, and I was in business!

Obviously the skulls are a one-off (not much creativity to be had there) but the alphabet stickers really got my imagination going! You could spell out anything your evil little heart desired. My personal favourite is the 'Trick or Treat' set below....wouldn't this be an awesome project for kids just learning to read? I think little kiddos (and big kiddos too!) would get such a kick out of seeing their everyday cups and plates transformed for a pre-trick-or-treating dinner.
 

The best part? The stickers and rub-on transfers peel right off. So I could leave these as is and store them for next Halloween, or I could remove the decorations and I'm left with a funky set of glassware! Ooh...I can just see snowflake decals looking awesome come Christmas...

Stay tuned for more Halloween crafts, recipes and inspiration later today and all this week!

Bloodlusting After These...

Okay, so I know it's Halloween Week here at The City Sage---and these babies have nothing to do with Halloween. Unless you count the fact that I'm frightened by how much I want them...

I'm a sucker for clever color names; these Dinah Riding Boots from Loeffler Randall are 'Elephant' grey. And maybe they're Halloween appropriate after all, because their $750 pricetag had me screaming and running in the other direction! Sigh...

Absolutely Loving...

...these fabulous haunted table vignettes from stylist Tanya Goodwin. How much would you love to attend a Halloween party like this!

There's that creepy cloche effect again! And do I spy my favourite wallpaper in the background?

Images courtesy of Tanya Goodwin.

To Die for Recipe: Frozen with Fright Cheesecake Pops

In keeping with Halloween's age-old tradition of food on a stick (caramel apples and tootsie pops, anyone?) I present to you these sinfully delicious frozen cheesecake pops. Bite into one and the crackly candy shell shatters away to reveal a thick and creamy vanilla cheesecake. Aren't they so darn cute?

Making these little fellows is very straightforward, if a bit time-consuming. Just be sure to leave yourself plenty of downtime for freezing. I cut the recipe in half because it made a gargantuan quantity, but you could easily double it back up for a crowd. And you don't have to decorate them, of course, but it adds to the fun! I picked up the lollipop sticks and ribbon yesterday at Michael's crafts---my Mecca!---along with a bunch of other fab stuff. Keep checking back for more Halloween insanity!

Frozen with Fright Cheesecake Pops
Recipe adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Connor

2 1/2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cups sugar
1/8 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 large eggs (crack one of the eggs into a bowl, beat it, then measure it and use only half)
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 cup heavy cream
boiling water as needed
About twenty 8-inch lollipop sticks

For the candy coating:
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
icing pens such as these, or make your own colored icing using confectioners sugar, water, and coloring

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. With a mixer on low, combine cream cheese, sugar, flour and salt. Beat in eggs and egg yolks until smooth, then mix in vanilla and heavy cream. Pour the mixture into a 9 x 13 baking pan, then set that pan inside a larger lipped baking sheet or roasting pan. Place both pans on the middle rack of the oven then fill the outer pan to the top with boiling water; you've just created a water bath for your cheesecake. This will help it cook evenly and smoothly without burning. Bake until barely golden brown on top, about 35-45 minutes (though for some reason mine took a full hour).

Let the cheesecake cool to room temperature and then freeze, at least three hours or overnight. Scoop the cheesecake into rounds about the size of ping pong balls, shove the sticks into them, and freeze until firm again, about an hour. Meanwhile, in a double boiler or in the microwave, melt one cup of dark chips with 1 tablespoon shortening, and 1 cup white chips with two tablespoons shortening; the shortening helps make it runny enough to evenly coat the cheesecake. To create the coating, just hold a pop over the chocolate mixture and use a spoon to dribble the melted chocolate over the cheesecake ball. Shake off excess, return to freezer until hard, then decorate as desired.  You can keep them in the freezer or just in the fridge until ready to serve. They're devilish AND delicious!

Stylist (Blood)Lust: Laura Fulmine

How fun would it be to work as a stylist and dream up interesting and innovative ways to display ordinary objects? In honor of Halloween Week, feast your eyes on the work of stylist Laura Fulmine. The still life arrangements she creates are absolutely haunting!

This light fixture looks as though it sprouted and grew from that branch, almost like a parasite---so creepy yet so cool. The two lamps below seem to have sinister intentions as well. They've taken on a life of their own!

I'm also fascinated by Laura's series of spooky vignettes under glass cloches. I'm obsessed with terrariums in general---and with the tiny habitats that they enclose---but these are positively otherworldly!

I'm pretty sure that butterfly paperweight is from John Derian, but I never expected to see it under these circumstances! Is anyone else with me on how freaky birds are? I think it's those beady eyes...

I've saved my favourite for last. The greek urn, the teeny tiny bones, the crystal anemone: just looking at this one sends chills down my spine.

Of course Laura does non-scary work too. Her interiors are phenomenal; check them out here. And stay tuned for lots more Halloween goodness (badness?) coming up soon!

All images courtesy of Laura Fulmine

Halloween Recipe: Pumpkin Scones

Here's the first of several ghoulishly good recipes I have planned for Halloween Week! My mum shared this one with me, and it's definitely worth rising from the dead for. The subtle pumpkin flavour blends seamlessly with spices like cinnamon, ginger and cloves, and the crumbly, butter texture provides a tender foundation for gooey, drippy icing.

The taste and appearance of these is a blatant rip-off on the Starbucks scones that I always long for but never eat because they're the size of a small child. The beautiful thing about baking your own is that you can create much more manageable portions...of course you'll probably eat two or three to make up for it...I would serve these at a Halloween-themed brunch or even take them to a school bake sale as a fresh alternative to all the cookies and cupcakes out there.

Find the recipe here. When I make these again I will add an extra half cup of flour as I found the dough to be a bit moist. And I ALWAYS freeze scones overnight before baking them as it guarantees a flaky result. Of course you can omit the icing if you're feeling virtuous. Or if you're like me and believe that sugar calories don't count in the week before Halloween, go ahead and smear it on thick---and shamelessly tint the swirls with orange food colouring for an extra festive effect!