Happy Leap Year, Halloweenies! Here’s a delicious Halloween cookie recipe that we’ve been saving since last year’s Halloween party. Put this extra day to good use and get to baking!

If you’ve never made the acquaintance of Madame Talbot, you are in for a treat. Madame Talbot’s “Victorian Lowbrow” is like an e-curio cabinet, brimming with “one-of-a-kind gothic death-themed creations”. Entering their online store is like stepping back to a time when science was nearly synonymous with magic: when a few leaches and a mixture of alcohol, opium and a little sugar cured all that ailed you. As you navigate through the endless, eerie categories, you’ll be greeted with circus freak shows, folklore creatures of the night, southern Gothic, traveling medicine shows and archaic Victorian funeral practices. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?

They offer “unique dark art”, much of which is produced by Ashleigh Talbot herself. A skilled pen-and-ink illustrator, she creates such wondrous art as tombstone paintings mourning dolls, and creepy Victorian posters. To add to the period-perfect mystique of these one of a kind items, Talbot does everything by hand, without the use of computers or a sewing machine. Now that’s dedication. Her sophisticated art style paired with the bizarre and ghoulish topics is our favorite mix for spooky decor. Like haunted portraits, it gives a more subtle, yet extremely creepy vibe that most Halloween/horror themed decor and art just don’t have.

There is also a selection of vintage items that would be equally great for grim room decor or as props for your Halloween haunt. Our favorite from this section is definitely the poison bottles, some of which are still full!

Whether you’re looking for nightmarish inspiration or want to go vintage Halloween this October, you can do no better than Madame Talbot’s. Step right up, and tell em’ 365 Halloween sent you.

It’s been a while since the last Zombie Friday, but I’ve got a handful of news that will satiate your hunger for the undead. Spanning film, design, zombie walks and more, it’s been a good week for zombie fans…


First up is an incredibly useful roundup of Photoshop tutorials for those of us with a darker artistic sense. 70 Horror, Blood and Gore Photoshop Effects and Brushes covers everything you’ll need to know to transform even the prettiest of photos into a decaying mess… but in a good way.

If you’ve been following the progress of George A. Romero’s latest zombie movie, you know that a release date for Diary of the Dead was uncertain until January. For a while it looked like it would be a direct to DVD release, but thankfully it will have a wide release on February 15, 2008. W00t! (As if that weren’t enough, Zombie Honeymoon will also be playing on Showtime around the same time. Talk about a bloody Valentine’s Day.)

There’s a new entry into the world of niche social networking websites, and this one’s actually useful. Crawl of the Dead has a section that lists Zombie Walks, allowing the undead hordes to better plan their attack. If you know of a local Walk/Crawl going on, please list it here. If you’ve never attended one, now you know where to look!

And because zombies and bad jokes were made for each other, I have a bit of cheesy humor for you, in Photoshop form: What do vegan zombies eat? LAWLS!!1

Know of a website that zombie fans would devour? Tell us about your online zombie finds in the comments below.