Sunday, October 26, 2008

Shop Update and Trick or Treat

It's hard to believe that in a month Thanksgiving will be here!!!
These were part of a group of collages that I made for a custom order. I just loved
the way that they came out!
I was thinking about making some more for my etsy shop but I wasn't sure how many people
decorated for Thanksgiving. Do they ????
Thanksgiving is the one holiday we didn't do BIG at our house growing up.
It was just a day to eat (a lot!) and discuss Christmas plans with family.
Leave a comment on this post if you care to~ do you decorate for Thanksgiving???

So, I saw a woman wearing a pin like this~ but with Halloween-inspired fabrics~ So CUTE!!!
I decided
I would try and make some romantic-style versions of my own~ now available in my etsy shop!
I think these would make adorable Christmas gifts!!!

Also, I can't shake my love of vintage cowgirl themed stuff...
I have it all around my house and I just love making it...so I decided to make some
ornaments for our Christmas tree this year~ also made some for etsy :) Now available.

Back to LIFE~
Today is our 6th Wedding Anniversary!!!!
And it was trick-or treat in our neighborhood!!!
Does it get any better than that????
I had a house full of friends and family~ kind of a "Halloween Open house" it was a blast~
I hurried and snapped a pic of the table before people got here (and all the food was out!)
I just love Halloween! It looked so festive!
"I'm with Creepy"
Happy 6th!!!

More Thanksgiving collages for the custom order...the more I see em', the more I love em'!

At a garage sale this summer I bought a big box full of old trims and lace (it was THE BEST find!!!) anyhoo, in the bottom of the box was this pretty old blue floral fabric~ that is what I used for the largest layer on this Posie. Now available on etsy!

Vintage Cowgirl Award Ribbon Ornament
I just LOVE those old horse prize Fair Ribbons~ I am always trying to win them on ebay to no avail. Someday....
Anyhoo, till then I will make my own versions :)
One more posie before I go...now available on etsy.


Happy Trails...Craft On!








Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Welcome To Sleepy Hollow's Autumn Gathering Celebration!

Thank You to Kari a.k.a. Artsy Mama for hosting this AMAZING Autumn Gathering!




Go over to her blog and see the grand list of all the BEAUTIFUL blogs that are participating today!!!




Now on with our "Autumn Gathering" here at Sleepy Hollow Craft Company...


as many of you have read here, I am a HUGE Halloween collector(really, it's a sickness, I see orange and black ANYTHING and I have to consider buying it LOL) and FALL is by far my favorite time of year!!


I love decorating the house for Halloween..and we, I am not ashamed to say-(because I read so many Blogs that reveal many of you feel the same way about Halloween)- we get REALLY into it around here :)


I spend a day or two putting everything out and then I tweak it about everyday :)


But, just like many of you, I LOVE decorating...especially seasonal decorating!


The ritual of unwrapping tissue paper bundles to see what treasure lies within...


and then finding the perfect spot to display a treasure...it's all so FUN!!!




So...sit back with your make-believe mug of Hot mulled Apple Cider~ and let us see what Autumn has brought this year to my home...


I just love this vignette~ it has brought me many smiles this year!



The crow tree was a "borrowed" idea that I saw in a booth at the CL Fair this year.



For the life of me I can't remember the name of the store that was using it in their display, but I thought it was just too-neat!



I wanted to do a theme this year for my Halloween decorations~ usually I just go with what I love~ anything vintage or vintage-inspired~ and always CRAFTY.



But after reading about the Sweet and Sinister movement(can I call it that?) I fell in love with the romance of the black and cream...the doll heads and crows..apothecary jars full of pretty yet scary tidbits...



ooo...I just love that.



Well, I am starting out small with this theme~ and this was my BIG attempt, so no wonder I have shown this picture a bunch because I just love it.



I can't wait to Flea Market and garage sale all year long to pick up more sweet and sinister pieces so next year I can spread this "look" around a bit more...



Oh, Oh, Oh this next pic is of one of my FAVORITE Autumn surprises of ALL TIME! By one of my favorite Blogger/artists..Jenny Heid of Everyday is a Holiday!!!



I was so fortunate to have Jenny as a partner in HopHopJingleBoo's Halloween Black Cat and Pumpkin Swap a few years ago and this was one of my swap surprises that I received, I just adore it!!!



Isn't it just too FABULOUS???



And so now I want to show you my freshly painted "green" cupboard :)



Well, It's not so green anymore..I painted it a favorite Martha Stewart shade-buttermilk biscuit. And then I glue-painted old sheet music and book pages in the back~ looks pretty neat if I do say so myself.



I leave this guy full of Halloween collectibles all year round. I just can't bring myself to put these sweeties away.



Some close-ups of the little treasures I keep inside...



I have a REAL love affair going on with Nicol Sayre's All Hallow's Eve Line...this "kitty ride" is one of my Favorite pieces.



This little scarecrow is a Bethany Lowe I picked up at a gift shoppe before


I even knew who Bethany Lowe was...I cherish him. He reminds me of me and my husbands' 1st Halloween together...





I also LOVE Autumn because this is the season of my Wedding Anniversary too!



We both LOVE Autumn so much~ it was the perfect time of year to get married.



Our Anniversary is October 26th~ this Sunday :)



I love it because we trade Halloween cards and Halloween-inspired gifts in celebration of our Anniversary...these little black cat and pumpkin cars were a gift last year!!!



More Nicol...her witches make me swoon...



I also collect the Spooky Town village by Lemax (I get my pieces at Michaels craft stores). It is so magical! I really can't wait to put it out every year...and I usually just take this one down right before we put up the Christmas tree...and I make way for my Christmas village...



Village collections~another sickness LOL



And Before I leave you to join other Autumn Gatherings...one more piece from



Jenny of Everyday is a Holiday...Autumn Fabulousness!!!!




I hoped that you enjoyed my Autumn Gathering tour...



Celebrate this beautiful time of year!!!!



My Favorite things about Autumn...



the colors of changing leaves



crisp cold apples from the orchard



the smell of burning leaves



celebrating our Wedding Anniversary



having to zip up my hooded sweatshirt



decorating - goes without say :)



Apple Cider



Carving Jack-o-lanterns



Remembering Halloweens from my childhood



watching OLD scary movies



Charlie Brown's The Great Pumpkin



Candy Corn and those little candy Pumpkins



And it's the Unofficial Beginning of the Holiday Season...





Thanks again Kari for hosting this FUN party!!!!



HAPPY AUTUMN!!!!!








Saturday, October 18, 2008

It's a Halloween-Party-a-Go-Go!!!

It's A Halloween Party sponsored by A Fanciful Twist!!!
Welcome to our SPOOKTACULAR HOME...
YOU'RE IN LUCK!
THE WITCH IS IN!
(PLEASE PARK ALL BROOMS AT THE DOOR!)

Walk Into My Parlor
- by Mary Howitt
"Will you walk into my parlor?"said the spider to the fly;
"Tis the prettiest little parlor that you ever did spy.
The way into my parlor is up a winding stair,
And I have many curious things to show when you are there.
""Oh no, no!" said the little fly,
"to ask me is in vain;
For who goes up your winding stair can never come down again."

PLEASE, TAKE SOME CANDY....

BUT BEWARE!!!

THERE IS DANGER AS THE CROW FLYS!!!!!

NEXT....
STOP AND TAKE A MOMENT AND
FEAST YOUR EYES ON SOME "EYE"CANDY...

GHOSTS AND GOBLINS AND BLACK CATS~ OH MY!!!!

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT!!!

On Hallowe'en the thing

you must do

Is pretend that nothing

can frighten you

An' if somethin' scares you

and you want to run

Jus' let on likeit's Hallowe'en fun.


As spirits roam the neighborhoods at night, Let loose upon the Earth till it be light...

joke break:

Do zombies eat popcorn with their fingers?

No. They eat the fingers separately.

MMMWWWAAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!

AREN'T I THE GHOSTESS WITH THE MOSTESS????

DON'T BE AFRAID OF THIS SPOOOOOKY DISPLAY...
GHOULS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN!

LET'S SAY A CHANT!

Five Little Pumpkins
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh, my, it's getting late!
The second one said, "There are witches in the air!"
The third one said, "But I don't care!"
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun!"
WOO-ooh! went the wind and out went the lights.
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

From THE RAVEN

Once upon a midnight dreary,

while I pondered weak and weary,

Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,

While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

`'Tis some visitor,' I muttered,

`tapping at my chamber door -Only this, and nothing more.'

-Edgar Allan Poe, 1845

AND NOW, MY BOOTIFUL PARTY GUESTS...

LET'S SIT AND WATCH ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES WITH ONE OF THE MOST MAGICAL AND SPOOKTACULAR HALLOWEEN SCENES OF ALL TIME...

MEET ME IN ST.LOUIS!!!

AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WANT SOMETHING A LITTLE MORE

FRIGHTFUL...

WE CAN WATCH

BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN!

"OH FRANKIE!!!"

THANKS FOR ATTENDING MY LITTLE SHIN-DIG!!!

GO TO A FANCIFUL TWIST TO "ATTEND" OTHER HALLOWEEN PARTIES...

BATS ALL FOLKS!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Trojan Horses, New Finds, and Winnings!

Before I get into the meaning of the strange title to this post~
I have to first say~ the NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK concert was so so AMAZING and
SO SO Fun!!!!
The pic above is of Kelly and I at the show~ we had a great time!!
It's so weird that we look so old in this pic because I swear, I felt like we were twelve years old again LOL!
The show was so good~ they played all the songs I would ever want to hear them play~ from "Please Don't Go Girl" to new faves like "Dirty Dancing" and they ended with a super great version of "Hangin' Tough"!!! I highly recommend going to see them if they come to your city! Even if you weren't that into back Then...they have grown up ALOT and have grown musically and are super hotties too :)
They put on a great show~ and the people-watching in the lobby of the venue is priceless.
As you can see, I wore some of my old buttons~ and I gotta alot of compliments~ but I saw tons of girls in full-on 1990's NKOTB gear!!! LOL! It was awesome!!!
Kelly and I are still texting each other about how magical the night was :)
I HEART NKOTB!!!!
And so...
This might seem like a strange title for a post but OMG! what a Freekin' week...I have to tell ya!!!!

We got a "Trojan Horse" Virus(says the IT guy at my "real" job) on our old computer and it killed it in the most slow and painful way~ it was so hard to watch.

Matthew and I are both kinda web savvy but both sorta idiots when it comes to the inner-workings of one of these machines. We gave it a shot, tried to save it~ but alas we spent Tuesday night at Best Buy with Kevin, out customer service specialist, and we broke down(literally-we're broke now LOL) and got a new computer!!! Woohoo!!! And I must say it is a top-of-line beauty. So shiny and new...feels so nice.

But I gotta say there is a part of me that misses the old one~she wasn't pretty and was really noisy, but we had a comfortable working relationship~ RIP old gal.


Anyhoo~ look at ALL these new FINDS!!!!

After taking a good portion of the Summer off from our usual haunts we headed back

down to our favorite antique stores last weekend and had a blast!!!

I got a whole bunch of little things (pictured above). I was in a little stuff mood I guess.

I did manage to find this AMAZING old barbers cabinet at the Paradise Flea Market in Navarre, Ohio. And you know~ I love the Johnny Depp Sweeney Todd movie and also my great grandpa was a barber too~ so it was just meant to be. I love the old chipped white paint and the little glass window. I am going to display some special things inside.

It is a bit stinky though so I scrubbed it out this morning and it is sitting in the sun on our back porch to dry out. I think I am going to spray it with Febreeze a little later too.

I have read that is a good way to get STINK out of wood.


I have seen so many ARTSY bloggers using old baby dresses in their decor and I guess after looking at pics on their blogs and flickr sites I fell in love with the idea.


I spotted this old little girls cotton dress at the Rt.57 antique mall and just had to have it.


It is absolutely beautiful. The picture barely does it justice.


I am looking for a smaller old wooden hanger for it but for now I hung it from an adult-size wooden hanger. I love the little cabinet card hanging over it.


It has a couple condition issues~ a small green(marker?) stain and a little tear. The stain I would like to remove but I kind of find the little tear endearing~ so I am not going to mend it. Any suggestions for how to clean up the marker stain? Just a good hand washing??


Or some other product? Your suggestions would be highly appreciated as I know many of you have done this sort of thing before.


Also last weekend I painted some cabinets that I have had for a long time and always meant to paint...well, I finally did it!!! Old with the old..and in with the new...


BEFORE


AFTER


After: WHITE PIE SAFE!!!


I love it :)


I also painted this cabinet~ because of the virus I lost some of my old photos~ and I don't really have one of this guy when he was green~ but I know I posted pics of it on here a few times.

I love it this creamy color~ and then I decoupaged old sheet music and papers on the inside of it~ it looks magical!



Lost and Found kit necklace


I posted a few posts ago that I had got some neat little kits from JoAnns to make jewelry~ well, this is the necklace :) It was so easy to make and it looks so pretty..I also made a little charm bracelet for my friend Kelly~ go to JoAnns and get yourself some of these ~ it is a fun FALL craft :)


And LAST but NOT Least!!!


MY FABULOUS GIVEAWAY Prize from Scrappy Jessi came yesterday!!!


Isn't all this stuff great???


She is great!!!!


Thanks Again Jessi!!!!


and...she included these YUMMY glass ice cream cone ornaments~ too cute!!!


I just LOVE THEM!


I can't wait to hang them on our Christmas tree!!!



Well~ this has been a long post!!! I felt so lost without a computer~ I felt so disconnected and I missed blogland so much!!! It feels great to be back :)


I hope everyone is having a lovely FALL weekend!!!

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Fabulousness on Etsy


Pleated Convertible Clutch
made with Amy Butler fabrics
(I heart Amy Butler fabrics!)

by Amie j Designs



"Spirits"

Junque Revival : art and jewelry by Jessica Moreau-Berry


I decided to spend some of my hard-earned cash this week on a splurge of fabulousness from some of my favorite stores on etsy!
There are so many amazing artists that have FABULOUS stores on etsy!
My favorite sellers list has over 30 pages!!!
What to choose???
I decided to stick with 2 of my most-favorite things right now~
clutch purses and steampunk jewelry.
I am really looking forward to getting my items in the mail :)
That is another thing I love about etsy~ the delayed gratification because I LOVE getting mail!
It always seems like I am having the most BLAH day and then I pull in the driveway and
see a package on the porch~ I get so excited!!!!
Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!

And now onto other FUN stuff...


Tomorrow night is the NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK concert~ finally!!!!
I am so very excited!
Not only just to see Joe, Jordan, Jon, Danny and Donnie~ but to spend
time with my bestest childhood friend, Kelly.
It is so funny~ I remember going to NKOTB concerts in the early 90's ~ we have seen them a bunch of times, anyhoo~ and the night before I remember
being so excited I couldn't even sleep. LOL.
Being 31, a little of that has worn off...but I gotta confess, both Kelly and I have been listening to their new CD "The Block" all week and we have been texting each other like crazy with messages of anticipation for tomorrow night :)
Anyhoo~ I am sure the New Kids are going to deliver~ I saw a little special on VH1 of their concert and it looked AMAZING!
A BIG difference from their concerts of the past~ the audience that is..no more screaming, crying, psychotically-excited 13 year olds. LOL
The women in the audience all looked like me and Kelly-OLD(er) LOL!!!
I can't wait!!!!
And their new CD "The Block" is so good~ so fresh and modern sounding~ they have come a long way from"Hangin' Tough" that's for sure.
I can't wait to hear "I'll be Loving you Forever" and "You got it-The Right Stuff" (Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh- you know you're singin' it...LOL!!!!)


Oh and I can't wait to here them do my new favorite song of theirs, "Dirty Dancing"
~ with the Patrick Swayze references-it's an instant classic.
(above picture is mostly for my mom) ;)

Anyhoo~ have a fabulous weekend, buy yourself something!!!!
Buy Handmade!!!
Support your favorite Etsy shops!!!!
Craft On!!!!