This giveaway has closed. I’ll be in touch with the winners soon. Finding we were super early for an appointment last week, my mom and I decided to stop off at a rock shop tucked away in the upper level of a uniquely designed strip mall. (I can’t hear the phrase “strip mall” without breaking into a chorus of the theme from the old Comedy Central sitcom by the same name, starring Julie Brown. Anyone else remember that one from 2000? Okay, maybe it’s just me. Never mind… back to business. ) Going along for the rock shop ride, because I know minerals and gemstones are a huge passion of my mom’s (not so much for me), I didn’t really expect to find anything I couldn’t live without — but, I was wrong. Well, almost…

…Actually, what I found won’t be staying in my hot little hands for long. Instead, I’m passing my purchase on to you guys. Two separate winners will each receive one of these hand carved skulls artistically whittled from a rock called snowflake obsidian. I immediately fell in love with the colors, since they sort of look like the black and gray of Season of Shadows. The half dollar in the photo provides a rough idea of their size, and each solid skull weighs 1.5 ounces. While these skulls aren’t really going to add much to a home haunt, I think they’re perfect for knicknack or tchotchke-like Halloween displays in your home or office.

By the way, if you’re ever in Albuquerque and you’ve got a thing for rocks and gems, or just a thing for carved skulls (’cause they have lots of them done in all sorts of mediums!), I highly recommend a visit to “Mama’s Minerals” tucked away in a strip mall on Lomas and San Mateo. And if you never make it to Albuquerque, you can still have a Mama’s experience through their website.

Please, only one entry per household. Duplicate entries from the same IP will be deleted. These giveaways are really based on the honor system, but I do my best to make it as fair as possible for everyone. There’s no catch here, everything is free — including payment of shipping and handling for the stone skulls — I cover all costs. To be entered, leave a comment below showing your interest.

Depending upon the volume of entries, comments may only be displayed under this post for a short time. As entries grow, I may remove comments to make it easier for visitors to scroll to the comment box and enter. However, I guarantee all entries will be saved in the order they are received.

When leaving a comment, be sure to include your correct e-mail address and be certain to keep track of your spam or bulk folder after the drawing closes, just in case. Each winner will be contacted through the e-mail address that’s registered with their comment. I will never share addresses, provided by entrants, with any third parties and you’ll never receive unsolicited mail when entering.

This stone skull contest will end at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) on September 7th, 2011. All legitimate entries will then be assigned a number in the order they were received. Two numbers will be randomly drawn to determine the winners.

Both winners will then be notified, via the email addresses they provided, no later than September 9th. If one, or both don’t respond (with their shipping information) within two weeks, then one (or two) more number(s) will be drawn to determine the new winner(s). Upon receiving their permission, the winners’ names will be featured at the top of this post.

If you would like to see your Halloween or paranormal website or business promoted through SoS and you have some appropriately themed items to give away, please contact me.

Last year, when Ethan Black was super generous in giving some of his Halloween artwork to Season of Shadows for a giveaway, he went above and beyond by presenting me with his original, amazing zombie piece, called “Alice.” For a year, I’d been drooling over a pic of Alice the way most men slobber over a centerfold model. Ethan eventually got wind of my infatuation with his zombie-ette (I think that’s the politically correct term for a female zombie), and slipped her into the giveaway goodie box without my knowing it. One of the best surprises I’ve ever received; there was all this great artwork waiting to be given to SoS visitors and mixed in with it was a note from Ethan saying Alice was all mine — talk about being bowled over!

It’s just such a great piece — hands down my all-time favorite when it comes to graveyard, zombie-corpse artwork. Looks as if it jumped right out of the pages of a wonderful old dark, comic magazine like “Creepy” or “Eerie!” I have plans to one day get some Season of Shadows t-shirts printed with Alice gracing the front, though Ethan has tried to talk me out of using the image, because the t-shirt would have to be a non-spooky white color. Sorry, Ethan, but I still have tunnel vision when it comes to having “her” incredible image represent SoS clothing — even if the shirts are white and just a limited printing as giveaways to all the great folks who visit regularly.

What can I say, I’m obsessed with Alice. Anyway, for now, she sits framed, overlooking my desk, until I can get her displayed on the threads of my willing visitors.

If you haven’t swung by yet, be sure and checkout Ethan’s cool, new blog.

Also, if you’re a fan of old horror films, you’ll recognize my word play in today’s post title. A bit of trivia: The movie, Alice, Sweet Alice, dates back to 1976 and was one of Brooke Shields first films.

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If you read the comments posted under the Music to Corpse By entry, you may have seen the conversation ssflipo, Camile and I were having about ssflipo’s really cool wax scarecrow (with perched bat) creation. He was kind enough to let me see this pic yesterday and I think it looks great! I’d love to have a ‘crow like that sitting on my desk watching over me as I work on SoS. Ssflipo did have a question pertaining to sealing and hardening the wax sculpture. So, I offered the suggestion that he may want to try “Sculpt or Coat” found at Sculptural Arts, as that seems like it would be a good product for protecting it.

Speaking of Sculpt or Coat, a big thanks goes out to “Krough” over at Grim Visions for first turning me onto the product back on the old Methods of Madness forum at Terror Syndicate. Anyway, I know a lot of EXTREMELY talented, artistic folks visit here, and I wanted to see if anyone has any suggestions for another good sealant (maybe one that is meant to be used specifically for wax) to harden and protect his scarecrow.

Again, great job, ssflipo, and thanks for sharing the pic!

Speaking of which, today’s vid features just that. The project is called, “Arduinna”; the song is “Memento Mori”; and the album (though there’s no CD released yet) is “Weris.”

Source: YT user, azze12

I’d love to feature this track in the Halloween Radio section. I’ve been in touch with the creator of Arduinna and I’m keeping my fingers crossed I receive permission to bring the song on-board the player.

Since this type of music puts me in that creative spooky mood, I’m headed out to the shop to get back to “corpsing” Little Grim. I’m hoping to have him finished come mid-summer, so I can post him in a giveaway before Halloween.

As I watched their vids and checked out their site, it’s obvious ScareFactory worked liked fiends to prepare for 2011. Their catalog appears to be loaded with more props making a debut this year than ever before.

This first vid is a quick teaser of some of their best of 2011… makes me wanna get out in the shop and get to work (even with stitches in my gut).

Up next is a more detailed vid shot in the “Dark Zone” as it’s called at Transworld. Gotta love the oversized prop with the little corpses riding his back! SF is calling him “The Necromancer.”

Source for both vids: YT user, ScareFactory1

Maybe that’s a clue as to why I’m so anal retentive about detail work when building my props.

Source: YT user, mckiggins

Source: YT user, bonbichie

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Source: YT user, DaywaltFearFactory

Damn, that creepy thing looks an awful lot like me, even right down to the fact it wears glasses too.

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Update — 12/05/10: This giveaway has closed. Thanks to everyone who entered. I’d like to congratulate Autumnforest of Phoenix, AZ; Fiend4Halloween of Hemet, CA; and Franz McLaren of Tustin, CA. Autumnforest won Lot 1, Fiend4Halloween won Lot 2, and Franz won Lot 3 of Ethan’s awesome Halloween artwork.

Based on recent correspondence, I know how excited some of you are for Halloween to hurry up and get here. The e-mails I’ve been receiving lately tell the tale of a thirst for October 31st like I’ve never seen before… okay, so I’m exaggerating a bit, but not by much. And while I can’t do anything about speeding up Halloween’s arrival, I can certainly try to quench that thirst a bit with some wonderfully spooky Halloween artwork in this latest giveaway. Ethan Black, an EXTREMELY talented artist and regular visitor to Season of Shadows, has been kind enough to provide me with nine pieces of Halloween-themed artwork to give to three separate winners.

I’ve divided his work into three lots; each lot contains three spooky renderings. The pieces range from small and medium-sized prints of his work, to an original drawing by Ethan.

Up first is Lot #1 (pictured in the top paragraph – click image to enlarge). This group of three contains the lantern waving zombie resting on a tombstone; a wicked-looking page from the Necronomicon (a fictional book of magic found in the works of H.P. Lovecraft) – the Necronomicon piece is an original of Ethan’s; and a matted, grinning jack-o-lantern print. Up next is Lot #2 (pictured in this paragraph – click image to enlarge). This second group of three contains “The Old Witch” performing her rituals over a cauldron; a framed print of a pumpkin-headed scarecrow standing guard over the harvest; and a matted print of a devil’s silhouette.

Last but not least, is Lot #3. This third group contains the hooked skeleton; the matted “Witch And Moon” print; and the matted haunting “Ghost” print. Lot #1 will be given to the first random number drawn. Lot #2 will be given to the second random number drawn. And, Lot #3 will be given to the third random number drawn. For more giveaway details, see the Guidelines section below. Again, I cannot thank Ethan enough for his kindness and generosity! Be sure to check out his Deviant Art page, where you can enjoy more of Ethan’s fantastic artwork and purchase his prints.

Please, only one entry per household. Duplicate entries from the same IP will be deleted. These giveaways are really based on the honor system, but I do my best to make it as fair as possible for everyone. There’s no catch here, everything is free–including payment of shipping and handling for all three lots of Halloween artwork–I cover all costs. To be entered, leave a comment below showing your interest.

Depending on the volume of entries, comments may only be displayed under this post for a short time. As entries grow, I may remove comments to make it easier for visitors to scroll to the comment box and enter. However, I guarantee all entries will be saved in the order they are received.

When leaving a comment, be sure to include your correct e-mail address and be certain to keep track of your spam or bulk folder after the drawing closes, just in case. Each winner of Ethan’s Halloween artwork will be contacted through the e-mail address that’s registered with their comment. I will never share addresses, provided by entrants, with any third parties and you’ll never receive unsolicited mail when entering.

This Halloween artwork contest will end at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) on November 15, 2010. All legitimate entries will then be assigned a number in the order they were received. Three numbers will be randomly drawn to determine the winners.

All three winners will then be notified, via the e-mail addresses they provided, no later than November 16th. If one, or all three don’t respond (with their shipping information) within two weeks, then one (two or three) more number(s) will be drawn to determine the new winner(s). Upon receiving their permission, the winners’ names will be featured at the top of this post.

If you would like to see your Halloween or paranormal website or business promoted through SOS and you have some appropriately themed items to give away, please contact me.

Zombie Zombie is essentially a stop motion nod to John Carpenter’s The Thing, using G.I. Joe action figures. The sets are amazing in this film and the stop motion action is very impressive, especially considering the limitations of action figure limbs.

Yo Joe! They’re coming to get you (Barbara)!

Source: YT user, JeanCarpentier