Happy Halloween!

My 38 lb pumpkin I scored for a only $2.70 at Safeway before Thanksgiving (since no one there knew how to figure out how to calculate the total because it was too big to weigh at the cashier).



Of course this is Dakotah's favorite holiday...



Do dis cat one!


Sorry Tawnee, I already decided I was going to carve the Headless Horseman...

The real pumpkin joins two other foam ones done for previous Halloweens...outside is ready.

Candy is (munch, munch...) delicious, er ready. 

Look closely Tawnee! I made the cat pumpkin in foam (on the step)

Inside is ready...



I'll open with a pair of Jacks

  Now I have to make dinner.

Yeah, I love Halloween... how'd you know?

Eek!

During our shopping trip to the US last week, daughter and I spotted the same type of Halloween decoration in both department stores and gift shops. They were blocks of wood with letters spelling out "Boo!" or "Eek!". The price per set of four blocks ran about $20.

She nearly bought a set - until I told her I thought I could make some for her instead.

So  the next day after we got home, I started my project.

First I searched through the pile of scrap wood in the garage and found two pieces of 1 X 4s that were of similar size. I wanted them to be a bit rough; not perfect. Hubby cut each piece in half so that I had four pieces all of differing heights.

Since daughter has a lot of black in her place, I gave them a coat of watered-down black acrylic paint. Then I found some striped Halloweeny-type paper in my stash:

This glitter sheet we bought a few years back. It's TPC Studio's "Class Act Stripe" #2010143. I cut strips 3" wide and then matted them on white cardstock, attaching them to the wood using Scor-Tape:

I got out my Spellbinders dies and cut eight ovals on the Cuttlebug; four in white and four smaller in black. My Cricut was perfect to make the stencil-style letters; and everything was layered and secured with more tape:

Done! I sealed them in a plastic ZipLock bag to protect them from the rain and delivered them to her place while she was out, hidden between her front doors so she'd get a surprise when she got home...

and yes, she was surprised all right! She loved them!

What an easy, quick and fun project that cost me zero dollars since I had everything on hand -- and saved her about $20 too!

I think these would look great on a fireplace mantel, strewn with a cobweb or two and a few spiders crawling over for a spooky effect...

EEK!

Small and Big

Well, it was a SMALL trip, but we had BIG fun. Daughter and I headed down to Grand Forks and Fargo for an overnight trip to a few shops - including two antique malls, natch.

As usual, I was on the lookout for goodies to add to my art studio. Happily, I found some great deals on a few SMALLS:

A vintage reindeer for my growing collection (I try to get one on every trip away from home), two pocket watches for parts (although one still does work!), a key that was in with one watch, an oval flower frog to display cards on, a vintage button card with "Latest Paris Novelty" written on the front, a great old lion head drawer pull, another silver creamer, two vintage office tins: correction tape and typewriter ribbon and a wonderful cast iron Victorian string holder daughter found for me!

Yep, some wonderful treasures indeed. But the best item I brought home was BIG.

Something I have been searching for at a decent price for nearly a year. I have BIG plans for it too:

Tawnee waiting for a ride

Thanks to Donna for posting this on Funky Junk Interiors last December, I have been wanting an old sled for my Christmas decor. The photo of her log-laden beauty was one of the very first pins I posted on Pinterest.

I haven't decided whether this Garton Silver Streak cutter sled will grace the fireplace leaning up on end all decked out with holly/fir, rusty sleigh bells and ribbon, or slide under the tree stacked with gifts or firewood... we'll have to see. All I need to do is add some old rope. I just LOVE it and after doing some research, discovered that these were manufactured from 1879 to the 1950s. This one looks early 1900's.

"To Victorian children, winter meant snowmen, snowball fights, hot chocolate and sled rides," comments O. Henry Mace, author of Collector's Guide to Victoriana. "Even before the first snow fell, the trusty wooden vehicles were pulled down from the shed rafters or out from beneath the bed, and were dusted and waxed in preparation of the big event."

And the best part? The owner took my first offer of only $30! I have seen smaller, newer sleds with broken runners or incomplete decks for up to $80 here.

So yup, it was a SMALL run across the border, but it yielded some BIG scores!

Linking up with:

Christmas Tag Swap

I can't believe that I was actually creating CHRISTMAS things already...

Last week I mailed off a package to Calgary - 56 Christmas tags; my commitment for a Christmas Alphabet Tag Swap an online stamping group is doing this year. Each participant makes 1 (or 2 if they wish - and I did!) set of 28 identical tags - stamped and embellished based on a letter of the alphabet with a Christmas theme. I chose "C" and "R". So one set was Christmas "Cards" and the other, "Reindeer".  I didn't want beige backgrounds so instead of purchasing office tags, I created my own using my Sure Cuts A Lot software and Cricut.

When I saw that little Reindeer stamp online, I just HAD to find it! No luck here at home, or when I was in Minneapolis earlier this year, so I ended up purchasing it directly from Stampendous. It is toooo cute! I bought baker's twine just for this too... perfect for a festive bow on his wreath. I used Copics to colour him in and the "R" was cut on my Cricut, and sticker-ized using my Xyron.

For the "C" card, I made teenie tiny envelopes on my Cricut, then slid in little Christmas cards, stamped and embellished with a small jewel for the tree top. I embossed the tag on my Cuttlebug and punched out snowflakes using my Martha Stewart punch, stamping it with a "C".

The hostess of the swap will put everyone's tags into a booklet and return them to us, keeping two sets for herself as well. So I get two sets back. We had to make sure something was stamped (as it is a stamping group), that they had low profile embellishments, and had to be a specific tag size. I can't wait to get my set back in time for Christmas!

Antique Shopping

It's been awhile since I shared the new treasures found on recent shopping trips daughter and I have been on. On my birthday, we spent the afternoon at two favorite shops where I found these:

An old bottle for a buck, a silver match tray from the UK for half price (it has a crown embossed on the top, so how could I resist?), red Waterman's ink (bottle unused inside!), two pie birds (I have been looking online for these; to find two, one white and one black for $12 for the pair was amazing!), an aqua insulator (my 4th) and two white chippy posts I left on our last trip ... I was hoping they would still be there, and after hunting up and down, I finally spotted them just waiting for me in another part of the shop!

Besides the ink, I also brought home some other great additions to my vintage office/art supply collection:

This bottle was a mere $3.50... dated 1890, it is photographic retouching medium by Johnson & Sons, Manufacturing Chemists, London England. It's still half full!

This old empty tack box was an unbelievable 50 cents... I love the graphics!

Excelsior! Speaking of great graphics, I ADORE this old box... and for $7.50, I was thrilled to find it wasn't empty! Yup, that envelope is still full of bronze powder!

The box side side is hilarious too. "Ask only and distinctly for this brand".... Here's a shot of both sides:

I also got this great old file box on a previous trip to that shop. Perfect for storing homemade cards, no?

Before that in mid-September I picked up these at various thrift shops:

A great heavy silver candlestick, more salt and pepper shakers, an old Japanese ceramic bird, a white small (newer) bird, a crown-shaped perfume bottle and a silver butter dish!

Oh and four Thanksgiving transferware plates for $2 each:

Yep, quite a haul alright... and daughter and I are headed down to the US for a short shopping trip this weekend. So hopefully I'll have more treasures to share afterward!

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Thanksgiving Decor

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, I am looking forward to a weekend in my Studio! But first I thought I would update you on what I have been up to for the past two weeks. Because I was hosting Thanksgiving again this year, I was busy creating some Fall decorations for last Sunday's dinner (before I was immersed in cooking and cleaning!):

The fireplace - using branches, bark and pine cones from our back yard:

The foyer:

The table centerpiece, made with some vintage tarnished silver from my Studio and real white mini-pumpkins:

And finally, the front porch, featuring a nearly 38lb monster pumpkin I got from Safeway for a mere $2.70. Yep, three cashiers and a manager couldn't weigh it properly so I got it for a steal....

I made the "Welcome" pumpkin myself using a foam pumpkin I had on hand that I hadn't carved yet (yep, I have a whole slew of Halloween foam pumpkins).

First I used this image from The Graphics Fairy as an example of the fonts I wanted to use:

Then I manipulated the letters to create the word "Welcome" and drew it on with a Copic fine line marker. I sprayed it with a couple of coats of varnish so it would last:

Now I can use it for many a Fall to come!

Linking up with Graphics Fairy Brag Monday!

And Funky Junk's Pumpkin Party 2013!