Creepy Cool.....

We just love these Bethany Lowe 

Halloween Boards!

So....

what's the story behind these 

creepy characters?

They are figures taken from 

calendars taken from 

The Antikamnia Chemical Company

The skeletons were created from  1897-1901 

by Louis Crucius

who was a physician as well as an artist.

The Antikamnia company used these calenders 

to promote their drug "Acetanilide"

it was sold claiming to treat

pain, nervousness &  blues

Acetanilide 

worked wonderfully....

but you'd go blue after taking it,

 for it prevented red blood cells

 from releasing oxygen to your tissues!

shhhhhh!

Maybe that's what this skeleton is trying to say!

Well...thankfully 

Acentanilide isn't around today...

but these great drawings still are!

Frightfully Fun Retro!

Do you miss the old pumpkin heads
kiddo's carried to collect candy? 

I have to admit...when the kids come trick-or-treating 

I really miss seeing these.....

This lovely jack-o-lantern

was a great find....and we were lucky 

the light still worked!

ahhh....the good ol' days!!

I don't know that there are real ghosts and goblins, 

but there are always more trick-or-treaters

 than neighborhood kids. 

~Robert Brault

IT's time for 

What's It Wednesday

over with the sisters from Ivy & Elephants

Paula & Patti have an adorable display idea

of their herbs that we just might have to borrow!!

~do join us for a fun party!

Wednesday Words

Couldn't resist this picture....

and how lucky were we that there was that

"BEWARE"

sign with spider behind her....

We don't know about you ~ but we'd think we'd run!

Are you all spooked out at home yet?

Pick Your Poison

A couple of weeks ago we had our

Pick Your Poison

bottle class and we had wayyyy to much fun!

Since then, we've got lots of questions on how to create

these concoctions.....

First we had to find the lables...

we found some great free ones on the web

Marilyn from Seeing THings Art Apothecarium
 has some really great labels
 and she gladly said we could use them!

We printed them off on some parchment paper

and then we burnt the edges around the labels

(may we suggest doing this outside....be safe!!)

After burning the labels we used Mod Podge to secure the label to the glass....

Then the fun began...filling those bottles with "Toad Bladders" and "Moon Dust" and such!

Bits and pieces of twine went on the open bottles

Some bottles we covered with burlap, and Mod Podged it down

Then we would add embellishments...

Tea Stained cheese cloth, twine, vintage buttons, old washers...

we used our imaginations!

Another fun detail was the blood red wax...

We got the plate warmer out and melted the red wax in a heat safe dish

After adding the burlap and cheese cloth we just dipped that top 

right into the wax several times.

Awesome!!

(singing that by the way!)

Well, we couldn't let that bottle have all of the fun,

so we just used that melted wax on some of the other bottles...

a touch here and there!

Some bottles even got the wax right in them 

for an eerie look!

Ta-Da!!

See what kind of fun 

 Poison Bottles

you can make..
.it's super fun & they look fantastic!

Today we are joining the friendly sisters over at
Ivy & Elephants for

What's it Wednesday

Stop out and see what Patti & Paula are up to this week...

You'll have a frightfully good time :)

Wednesday Words

Whooo's Whooo's Got a Costume??

Just found these pictures I took last year

of my daughter's Halloween Costume........

She decided that she wanted to be

an owl....

so....

and owl, eh??

Well, we went into her closet

and found a dress from the summer,

that happened to be white

and stained....

PERFECT

to create a costume out of!

Then we took some fabric that we had and found on our sewing project shelves,

and bought a 1/4 of a yard of two other fabrics we found at the store.

We then cut out some half-circles out of all of the fabrics together.....



We started at the bottom of the dress

and pinned those semi-circles (really semi-ovals)

onto the front of the dress and then stitched them on...

We continued all the way up to the top of the dress...

It was a bit cold for an owl without sleeves....

PLUS

we wanted some

"wings"

so we went up in the attic and got the cape that I had for my wedding

(it's all furry and cozy)

and added it to the costume!

Voila!

We added white sweatpants

 and some wise-old owl glasses

and we had a great

 Halloween Costume :)

What are some of your favorite Halloween Costumes

 that kiddo's have "'treated" in at your house?

Halloween Words

Wooop Wooop!

It's Tuesday...

and time to share a fun

Halloween Decorating Tip!

 



 

 For a fun project....

take some old plates

 (we took some vintage corelle dishes)

 

 

and some vinyl lettering

to create

some great spooky words

 

 

You can hang your creations

on some old shutters

or put on a plate stand!

 

We think that these

would look great

outdoors as well as indoors...

 

do tell....

what would your sign say??

Toss the Moss

Hello All!

It's Tuesday....

and we all know what that means...

another

 Halloween Decorating Tip

 from The Summer Kitchen Girls!

 

 

Today we are going to talk about

Spanish Moss

 

 

It makes such a fun....

creepy look

 for Halloween

 

 

Especially

when paired with one of these guys!

 

 

Skulls....

skulls are very good sitting

 on top of some

Spanish Moss

in an apothecary jar,

a plate, or under a cloche.

 

 

Here we took an old basket

 and turned it on it's side and put a vintage tray

in the back then added Spanish Moss,

 a skull, spiders and a great box sign!

One of our favorite things we did this year was

to take a Wardian case

and, instead of filling it with beautiful plants to gaze at...

we added one of our skull light boxes,

Spanish Moss

and LOADS of creepy spiders...



 

EEEEEK!!

 

Get out there and

Toss

some

Moss!!

 

A Haunting Effect

Are you

so excited?

It's Tuesday....and that means

there's another great Halloween

decorating tip

from The Summer Kitchen Girls....

 

 

This year

 we wanted to have a hauntingly

good time decorating outdoors

 

{of course this is LOADS of fun indoors as well!}

 

Just find yourself some cheesecloth

{we got ours from Lowe's}

 



 

We opened the package up

and unfolded the cheesecloth

and then we stuck it in a bowl of tea

to stain it a bit....

 

we can't have cobwebs

looking like they are right out of the package now!

 

After we pulled the cheese cloth out

we let it air dry...

then

the fun begins....

 

S  t  r  e  t  c  h

that cheese cloth out and cover as

little or as much as you want!

 

It's an easy

Halloween effect

No

BONES

about it!

Wednesday Words

We just love

our new Halloween Bethany Lowe

and we love the message

 that Jack-O

shares....

 

 

 

Happy Wednesday everyone!