LOVED

The costume and makeup of the blind witch from the translation of "Hansel & Gretel" on "Once Upon a Time" today... LOVED LOVED it....

On the lookout for.....

Exquisite vintage or Halloween inspired miscellaneous teacups with or without matching saucers to help with the party theme for this year. Please cue me in if you find any little treasures that you think I cannot live without for the event. I can't wait for the freezing weather and snow to break so that the neighborhood yard sales and estate sales start opening up for my treasure seeking fulfillment. Second hand stores might prove to harbor a set or two as well. I will need about 48 different cups wish me luck.

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Faux Wooden Shelves are done!

So I made 4 of these. 3 large and one shorter one. Thank you Angie for the inspiration I just LOVE them. Below is a sample of one of the shelves with the witch jars and a few other items tucked inside. The little black drawer piece is an old jewelry box I picked up at a local thrift store for eighty cents... under a buck, sprayed it black and was lucky enough for it to crackle on it's own. Notice the twisted wand up on the top shelf.


24 days to go until our bash.....

Voodoo Bottles

So I started playing around with the Voodoo bottles in my lower level china cabinet last night to get a feel on how I wanted to display them, and photograph them since I am thinking of listing a set or two of the labels on etsy or one of the other online sites, thought I would share. I used vintage white spice jars that I painted with a flat black like the rest of the bottles on the shelf, I think they turned out quite nice and I am very pleased with the look...27 days to go...

However, this am we had a minor set back, while taking boxes out of storage in the garage, we discovered we have been invaded by field mice this year... I sat and sobbed for about an hour this am as I watched JT set fire to a slew of boxes and decorations in the burnpile that have been completely ruined RIP decorations you will be sadly missed...... I am fearful of how many more we will lose.....

Creeping to the Finish Line

So I spent a few hours this evening working on the shelves for my witch kitchen. I ended up at a screeching halt when I ran out of black paper. I did however manage to get the rest of the cardboard applied to all of the shelves minus the back because I found it easier to cover the back cardboard with black paper on both sides before it is attached to the shelving unit, learning lesson from the first shelf. After I run out for more black paper on Friday, I will have them all wrapped up ready for paint the next day we have. Fall has come and hit fast with overcast, high humidity, rainy weather in Ohio.

Meet Louise... she has been hanging on my kitchen light fixture for about 2 months now, she has been my "inspiration" for this years "Season of the Witch" party... when I finish the shelves she is going to get a wardrobe makeover, and move a little more creepy for the dark holiday.

If you have a Pat Catan's craft store, RUN don't walk they have this sign and another that says "Trick or Treat" they are almost 30" wide and about 7 inches tall, wooden and retail for only $2.97 each! Perfect for decorating or as thank you gifts for some of your "Best Witches"

A store bought costume???? Quick someone pull the dagger out of my heart....

So I have gone to great lengths to allow my children to pick out their annual haunt attire since they were old enough to say yes and no...usually I am able to customize my own costume around theirs, for instance on year Elaina was Dorothy from the "Wizard of Oz" I was able to be the wicked witch.....we were all pirates and wenches one year, and 2 years ago Elaina was Ariel from Disney's the Little Mermaid" I was Ursula the sea witch... (see a reoccurring theme here....)? We scour the second hand stores for great fabric finds and plot out our ideas well in advance. It is a little more work, but so worth the outcome in the end... and the memories we are creating at the same time working together.

This year... something has gone drastically wrong.. in my best Bill and Ted's Adventure voice... "Something is array at the Circle K" my sweet innocent beautiful 8 year old daughter has announced to the world that she wants to be Padme from Star Wars.. o.k., I think I could deal with that... doesn't exactly match the whole Season of the Witch party theme I was planning on... but I could make a killer Darth Vader for trick or treat at least right??? Then slip into something a little more complimenting my cauldron for our party. So I start researching photos.. planning and my wonderful, sweet, highly opinionated 8 year old announces, NO I just want you to buy this one.. online.... sigh.... I caved... hopefully this is not the end of an era.....


so here I go, "suck it up mom" is what I keep hearing my inner self taunting me with... not my idea of Halloween.. but in the end, she will make the best Padme ever....somebody quick pull the dagger out of my heart.....

Potion, Spell and Voodoo jars in Progress

My hands are tea stained, my lower level has been turned upside down and is serving as my "workspace" corks, bottles, labels, glue, gadgets and more... photos are some "in the works" projects....above is my first attempt at Jellyfish stingers... unhappy with the amount of "stingers" hot glue strands in the bottle will most likely redo the bottle... the jar is an old glass McCormick spice jar.
Dried Tapeworms is a bunch of multi colored yarn strands-no need for a cork, they are not going anywhwere.
my first try at a Dragon embryo in a jar... gone bad... so I think this one is going to be labeled "Experiment Gone Wrong"

Spice Rack I picked up at yard sale for a buck, sprayed the rack with flat black paint. Need to get the labels done... Left to Right
Blue-laundry detergent will be Ghost Tears
Purple-hair gel will be Goblin Slime
Pink-robbed some glittery body spray from my 8 year old will be Essence of Fairy
White -is clear aloe with pearl beads inside, will be Infatuation
Dark blue is Distilled water and lots of blue food color will be Squid Ink
Red is corn syrup with red food color will be Dragons Blood


My first attempt at Voodoo Jars....simply flat black spray and some old corks. The center bottle is an old vinegar bottle that I sprayed the lid black and glued on a little plastic skull $1 for a bag of 9 at the Dollar Tree store. I salvaged the netting bag the skulls came in and wrapped it over the bottle of the bottom then secured it with wrapped twine up the neck. Inside is a package of black slime that I found in the toy section of the Dollar General store the label for this bottle will be Essence of Death... I just LOVE the way the slime slides around in the jar.


Another old spice rack waiting on labels, my version of a poison apple under glass, some more old bottles and what nots...

Instant Monster in a Jar

I have seen a few versions of this type of bottle/jar on the web and decided to try my luck in creating my own. I adapted Deadspider's style of label making to create my own label... some poly fill, a disassembled foam bead candle ring, a set of eyeballs cut from an old teddy bear, some twine, a plastic skull, and a large glass pickle jar that I flat black sprayed the lid and wala....

I will say... when my 8 year old sproglet entered the room and saw the teddy missing the eyes she screamed in horror... then proceeded to tell me "now he is going to bump into walls" they eyeless teddy has taken refuge on her bed again...sigh.... I heart her....I guess it is a good thing I didn't cut off his head....

Double double, Toil & Trouble

Ok, so the Trouble part I get hands down... I always seem to find some sort of trouble somewhere, somehow....

I mentioned before about the potion bottles, I am having a blast with these, I have a slew of them started already and have managed to get a good template together for the labels.... with only 58 days to go until our big event, I feel so behind this year....