Witches and Black Cats and Pumpkinheads, OH MY!

My family and I have been working our little fingers to the bone making things for Glitterfest!

It is really fun to do it together, hubby is making awesome little witches brooms to display with your dolls (pictures to come) Mom has been busy yo-yo ing and after 3 over 7 foot garlands, she is very yo-yo'd out! I am making banners and tags and doing a crown tutorial for the Year of Color Blog, I will show you those soon too.... It really helps to have all the support and definitely makes it more fun!

Here are some pics:

Yo-yo-yo-yo........ cute and whimsical! I love layering them around the house or hanging things from them. $30 ea.

A "Haunted" banner....sorry, I loaded the pics wrong but you will get the idea...

This banner is for sale here for $35 If you are interested, just leave me a comment and I will email you.

Doing all this creating has put a damper in my thrifting but I did walk into Goodwill last week on my lunch 1/2 hr. and found this little felt treasure...I left with a smile on my face!

Well, I hope your week has started off nicely.... I am off to cut out more banners!

Ghoulishly yours....karen....

Wicked and Boo banners

I have been working hard on banners and such for the Glitterfest show and here are two of the banners which are complete. Unfortunately I only own a point and shoot camera and the photos are not as good as I would like...in person they are really charming and have lots of texture.

This first one is the BOO banner. It is sewn onto a gold tassel fringe and is made using illustrations from a vintage children's halloween book. There are felt flowers, glitter, vintage cupcake toppers and more used to embellish it.


I love this image of the child wearing big gloves and a pumpkin head!

You gotta have a tiger costume....
Here's the whole gang:

And some homemade masks are important!

Trick or Treat!

This banner is selling for $25 and each of it's penants is an individual collage.

Next is my WICKED garland. This baby is a witch themed garland using fun vintage images of witches. This garland is sewn onto a black opal bead fringe and decorated with lace, buttons, glitter and more:

Here is a baby witch holding the number #31

And a haunted tree.....

An evil old witch!

A bewitching young witch:

A mezmorizing leather -wearing enchantress:

And some darling little witches creating some Hocus Pocus:

Of course you need a haunted house!

And to finish it all off, a spider priestess:

This banner is selling for $35.

I have had a wickedly fun time creating these....I hope you enjoy them too!

If anyone is interested in buying one, just leave me a comment and I will get right back to you! Have a happy start to your week! karen....

Feeling Fallish.....

I am really excited to announce that I will be showing at Glitterfest in October... It is an art and craft show that several big mixed media artists also show in and it is Halloween themed.... I am making collaged banners for it , paper crowns and some other goodies and my mom is making some whimsical yo-yo swags for it... I saw one of these in Mary Englebreit's last Christmas magazine (sob, I miss her mags!) and loved it so my mom made me one in red and white and I use it at Christmas and in Feb. Anyway...here is our halloween version!

These are darling on a mantel too and added to other garlands...here is a close-up of the yo-yo's....

Yummy fleur de lis fabric, pumpkins and ghosts, gingham, spots and swiss dots....I just love black white and a little orange for the season.... If anyone is interested in purchasing this one, it is up for grabs...it is 7' 9in. and is $30

My last picture for tonite is of Mila.... right in the middle of folding clothes yesterday morning...she plopped her rascally little butt!

Pure chaos she is....and I love her whole furry devilish self! I will be posting soon with pictures of my banners, I have 2 done and 2 on their way to being done and want to share them here....I also am doing a tutorial on the Year of Color Blog so I will share more about that also!

Have a hauntingly good week...okay, maybe a little too soon for the halloween stuff but I am hooked...........karen.....

Kits and a swap.....

I hope you are all enjoying the end of your summer. We are having a heatwave here in Southern California (and horrible fires also) and it does make one cranky at times....especially at night when you want to sleep!
I realized that I have never shown you a swap I did with my friend Marlene. She has 2 Wheaton terriers and loves scotties too so as you can see, one little guy is peeking out of the basket. The flower on the basket is made by me...I just loved the basket and had to make a flower to embellish it:

I finally finished a few sets and got them listed in my etsy;

I was lucky to get a pretty lot of English tins for a good price on ebay and have filled them with more goodies for creating.....

The one above is a large set... this is one of two that I have listed, more fun things to create with....

And this time I am adding some nice surprises before mailing them...it's nice to be surprised occassionally! Well, I am off to finish dinner preparations...ham on the grill, potato salad, deviled eggs and fresh slice tomatoes from the garden...yum! Hope you have a good monday tomorrow! karen....

What's new.....

Well, most important on the agenda is my cute mommy is home! She did not want me taking her picture but I had too... gotta show off that pretty nightie! Anyway she is doing well, better than she has all summer and we have a nurse coming every third day so I am calmer because I know we have support. So hopefully we are getting back to our normal routines because I have to go back to work on Wednesday.
My mom felt so good, she wanted to help me get started on some projects for a halloween fair that I will be doing in Oct. called Glitterfest. So she helped me sew some backgrounds for some new banners....I love halloween and am really excited to work with all my fun stuff!

I promised to show you my loot from last weeks flea market adventure. I noticed after I took the picture that everything is in the same color pallette...Anyway, there isn't much but I do love what I got:

Vintage religious cards....they are just so pretty and calming...some tiny little christmas cards, a couple of pretty rhinestone brooches and a cross/medal. And two powder boxes that make my heart smile. The one has a Marie Antoinette era picture on it and little feet on the bottom of it...that one I am going to keep, the other will probably become one of my kits...I have only seen newer powder boxes that are glass bottomed and these are just wonderful!

Here is a closeup of the jewels...

Anyway, thanks for the well-wishes for my mom, I am definitely a happier person and calmer that she is doing so much better!

I will be posting soon about some things that I have listed in my etsy...I am finally getting some things put together! Have a great weekend! karen....

This and That

It has been awhile since I last posted, our lives seem to be forever busy but in a holding pattern at the same time!
We did go camping! That was so calming to me, I guess because I couldn't fuss, just beautiful nature and books and family.....

This was the only good picture we got, my camera batteries died right away, but that's okay, we will remember it in our hearts.....
My poor mom was put back in the hospital on thursday for yet another surgery!

We were both so upset at first but now realize it was a godsend that her wound was still looking funky because when they opened her up , they found a huge blood clot! She has also recieved 3 units of blood and she said she feels like a different person. She finally has her pink cheeks back and doesn't look so ashen so we have decided that we are greatful for this stay.....

I was able to list exactly 2 things in my etsy....more kits to come...

First this darling hand-blown glass salt and pepper set. I love the polka dots!

And the second is one of my inspiration kits but this time in a large size...lots and lots of pretty goodies to create with and a beautiful English bisquit tin to boot!

Well, that's about it for now. I may try to slip over to our flea for a short time this morning. I will be back to show you my goodies if I do...

Here is another little vignette from my mom's birthday. The doll at the is one my mom stuffed and dressed in a beautiful old silk years ago and we took it out of storage...I just love her!

Happy Sunday! karen....

A Camping we Will Go!

Last night I took a rosary class with Robin, I had soooo much fun! This was a beginning jewelry making class and a friend of Robin's had it at her house in Topanga Canyon. It was like having a class in a tree house! I loved it! I didn't take pictures, I forgot my camera but these are pictures that Robin had posted on her blog. My rosary isn't done, it will be made with green beads and vintage brass findings.

We are leaving to go camping for 2 days tomorrow. I am excited to go, thought I wouldn't be able but family and friends have rallied together to help us have our little getaway. My friend will come and check on mom and my cousin Al is spending the 3 days with her. I am so glad to get away...now I need to go finish gathering and shopping!

I have added a couple of pictures for you to copy from a vintage child's book that I purchased awhile back. I think they are just so charming!

It is a board book and the paintings were wonderfully done for the book.....

Hope your next few days are wonderful...I am off to romp in the woods! Talk to you when I get back! karen.....