The 2011 Halloween Cupcake SPOOKtacular!

Well folks, it’s that time of year again.  Melanie and I’s 3rd annual Halloween cupcake extravaganza at the office! After meticulously working late into the night, we came up with THESE creations…

 New additions include the creepy cat…

 The zombie arm reaching out of the grave…

The bats…

The night-time pumpkin patch scene…

The miniatures…

…and the EEK!!!

And now…the CLASSICS!

 Mel and I call these (below) “cop-out” designs…where we use the pre-made decorations! Still cute though…

…and ya gotta have an eyeball when you work in the eyeball office!!!

The beloved pretzel monsters, this year with beady little red eyes…

and finally, Me and Mel in front of our masterpieces!

And yes, they tasted as good as they looked, if I do say so myself! It’s become a Halloween tradition that we look forward to ALL year…and it makes the day at the office a little more fun!

Hope everyone has a SPOOOOOOKY weekend and a Happy Halloween!

P.S. For those of you who looking for the broken glass cupcakes…well, it was a flop. After TWO failed attempts at making the glass, I gave up. Oh well…something to work on for next year!

Vintage Inspired Craft Supplies & Other Randomness

I rarely feature the “eyeballs by day” part and tend to focus more on the “crafts by night.” So I thought I’d share one of my favorite images that, over the weekend,  won 3rd place at the annual Ophthalmic Photographer’s Society international photography contest! This patient had some major blood vessel abnormalities in their retina. Here, the vessels are illuminated with fluorescein dye that was injected about 30 seconds prior to this shot being taken, bringing out the fine detail of these microscopic vessels.

Kind of a creepy, eh? A little creepiness just in time for Halloween! And speaking of photography…I snapped these pics of the sun hitting the trees in the back yard after a quick thunderstorm just now.  Damn I love Fall! It was suddenly a gorgeous sight out my back door and I had to grab the camera and capture it…

Anyway, the real reason for this post is to share some wonderful, vintage-inspired craft supplies my friend Christine and I found at Michael’s over the weekend! The best part is…they were only $1 a piece! Yep, a dollar!!! If you have a Michael’s near you…go get ‘em now before they disappear!!!

First, we found these porcelain knobs, that are very reminiscent of knobs from Hobby Lobby and/or Anthropologie (but for a quarter of the price)!!!

Imagine a cute cabinet made-over with these knobs?…And how about a skeleton key stamp, and dinner & drink themed marble magnets! Not too long ago, I paid a LOT more for a stamp just like this!!

My favorite are these Victorian-style skeleton keys!!! I totally would have missed these if Christine hadn’t dug them out from one of the bottom bins. We scooped them ALL up, and I plan on going back soon to look for more! I have so many ideas for these!

There was also a nice selection of stationary, like these cards with cute country tea cups. They are blank inside – and it never hurts to have some cute cards handy to jot a hello to a friend or a quick thank you note!

Along with these great finds, I picked up a few more Halloween cupcake accessories. I am so excited…this week is time for Melanie & I’s annual HALLOWEEN CUPCAKE SPOOKTACULAR! Here is some of the fun stuff I have picked up over the last few weeks! My favorite would have to be the blood spattered cupcake holders…

Pictures surely to follow!!! We can’t wait to try the “broken glass” cupcakes, as featured this year by Martha Stewart!

Well, have a great week…I’ll be back Friday night with lots of cupcake pix! And since this post has been incredibly random, here is the other thing I bought this weekend! LOVE all the EYEBALL stuff out this time of year! Yes, they are salt & pepper shakers…and yes…I might have to leave em out all year ’round!

Do you get the feeling you’re being WATCHED? Muah ha ha ha!!!

Fall in WNY!

The view of the hills back home over the weekend was awesome. The Fall foliage is at it’s “peak” in Western New York. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves!

While I was home, I also scored a few primitive pieces out of my step-grandfather’s barn, that I can’t wait to clean up a bit and get into my booth. To start, I thought this rickety old stool could be very cool with a little TLC!

This piece is an old mailbox with lots of little cubbies – perfect for displaying all kinds of little knickknacks! The holes are for poking your fingers through to lift your mail, so it’s easier to grab. I may have to slide in a little piece of wood or heavy card stock in the slots that I plan to display stuff, so they aren’t falling through the holes! I gotta clean it up a bit, but I am going to leave the worn, chipping paint as is!

The other really cool piece is this antique seed bag mover. Love the rusty hardware! Would make a great garden piece!

So Sunday night I finished up the pumpkin patch for our “Pick a Pumpkin Out of the Patch Discount” at The Carriage Place! Can you tell I used “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” for my inspiration? LOL! I added the little tree for a scary factor. Picked it out of the weeds in the field behind my house!

We are going to fill up the pumpkins with slips of paper that indicate a prize, discount, free appraisal, etc. for customers at the co-op to “pick” on Halloween weekend!!! I can’t wait!

Hope everyone is having a great week so far. Can’t wait for my best friend Teeny to come down this weekend and do a little craftin’ with me. It’s always more fun to do that stuff with a friend. We are going to try out a few NEW projects that I’ve never attempted before. I’ll letcha know how they come out!

Later gators!

Super Duper EASY Thrift Store Make Overs, and Some Pretty Jingle Bell Ornaments!

So my booth is stocked with some items found at thrift stores that ended up being really EASY make overs. Make overs that required very little time or effort. Sometimes it doesn’t take a massive over-haul with tons of meticulous painting or whatever…it’s can simply be a matter of cleaning them up and adding a small decoration to make them super CUTE!

Here’s a couple of grapevine wreaths I got at the Salvo…

I added a few rusty stars and some berries found at AC Moore (on clearance after last Fall)…BAM! Fall CUTENESS!

Remember this jar with the wooden top?

There it is, filled with mini pumpkins, after a quick coat of black spray paint on the lid. I sanded the edges…it took literally 30 seconds. The other small jar is from the dollar store, which I can’t find anymore. I’m sad, because I loved using them to fill with stuff.

Found this picture frame at the Amvet. I printed out this cute Halloween poem from my favorite FREE graphics website The Graphics Fairy and it looks so adorable displayed with some other Halloween stuff!

I  found this crock lamp at the Amvet also. It was a mess. Dusty and really grimy. I cleaned it up and it looks brand new! Added this basic shade and VOILA!

This gothic looking window frame was originally REALLY tacky, covered in fake pink and green flowers. I mean COVERED…you couldn’t even see the metal bars inside the window frame. I took them off, scraped off the gobs of hot glue, and here it sits waiting for someone to scoop up and plant some herbs or small flowers in those little pots.

Lastly, these were not a thrift store find per say, but a clearance find at AC Moore’s last January. I like the snowflake cut outs on the bells, but I don’t care for the bright reflective surface.

I decided to tone them down a bit with this metallic spray paint. It’s pretty expensive, but at any give time you can find a 50% coupon on the craft store websites. I never go craft store shopping without checking for a coupon first.

Finished with a piece of twine as the hanger and homespun fabric as a little decorative tie. Wouldn’t these look neat all over your Christmas tree, or in a giant wooden bowl on the table??

You could do this same technique on smaller bells, like these below, found at the Dollar Tree! I’ve also used barn red, forest green, and a navy blue spray paint (in a satin finish, not metallic) to paint these kinds of bell ornaments. Any of these are cute for the holidays.

I’d love to try to do a post about other people’s thrift store finds and/or make overs. What’s the BEST thing you ever found at a thrift store? Send me a pic!

So anyway, I plan on trying to photograph the beautiful foliage around here and I’ll be sure to post them next time. Have I mentioned I LOVE FALL?!?! hehehe. Have a great day!

 

 

Scarecrow Fest & Updated Booth Pictures

Happy Monday!

Well, the Scarecrow Fest was a bit of a flop, as far as making any money. BUT we  promoted the heck out of the co-op, and I also met the owner of Parkyka Farms in Kendall, NY, who was interested in carrying some of it in her gift shop! I met up with her on Sunday and sold her some snowman pins, country night lights, and a few other items. It was my first time selling “wholesale.” If nothing else, I made a great contact on Saturday and got the word out to the town of Kendall about The Carriage Place!

Check out the Partyka Farms website to read about the very cool “Country Barn Quilt Trail of Western New York.” Many barns scattered throughout WNY have these massive, hand-painted, “quilt” patterns on their barns. Each pattern has a special meaning. It’s really interesting!

Anyway, at the Scarecrow Fest, it was a pretty small space unlike my big show up in Potsdam. Here are a few pics. I had one table, and my friend June had the other.

I got this antique wooden tool box at an estate sale on Friday. I almost don’t want to sell it…it’s got a neat leather handle and big metal latch.

 

I love how the folk art pumpkin magnets look on the green enamel pan. I love displaying magnets on enamelware or those big tin stars!

After the Festival, I headed right over to the co-op to bring back some of the inventory. I rearranged and took some new pictures!

10 things on this table were Goodwill/Salvo finds. Can you guess which ones??

See that cool enamel coffee kettle with the colorful graphics (below)? Garage sale find last weekend! It’s so cute in person!!! The wooden table in front was also a garage sale find. It’s amazing what people want to give away for next to nothing!

There’s my suitcase display….love, love, love it!

 

It’s getting to be the end of garage sale/estate sale season so it’s time to gear up and power buy for the winter months. I am however LOOOOVING this Fall weather and all the Fall stuff that comes along with this season. It’s an absolutely beautiful day today in WNY. Hope you have a great week and check back soon!

 

 

Preparing for the Kendall Scarecrow Festival!

First off, I’m so happy to announce I got my first official “blog award”!  Be@Home Decor blog named my site as one of the “Best of the Web”…how COOL! I am so honored. Here is the website and little blurb! Do those snowmen look familiar?!?

http://pocketchange.become.com/2011/09/best-of-the-web-be-home-41.html

Anyway, I have been busy, busy, busy getting ready for my first FALL craft show this weekend with my friend June. I have always done winter shows and have never had the chance to make/sell HALLOWEEN stuff…my favorite! I made a big batch of marble magnets to sell, including lots of fun Halloween ones.

I laid out these images in Photoshop…

…And then punched them with my 20mm circular hole punch – found in the scrapbooking section at the craft store. It’s totally worth it…so much easier than cutting by hand! (For more details on how to make these, there are a couple marble magnet posts in the craft tutorials section!)

To package them, I cut down some grubby tags and slipped ‘em down into a little baggie…

…then cut a small hole in the bag for the string to come out. I folded over and taped the top of the baggie, and finished with a little fabric tie.

Aren’t they so cute?

Here are the Halloween ones all finished!

The ones on the left were my inspiration for the packaging (got them a while ago at Roses In the Hedgerow). I think mine are just as cute!

I also packaged up a ton of “fixins” that I scented with pumpkin spice. I stamped the little owl on some craft paper stickers to add a little Halloween/Fall flair.

After talking about this idea a few posts ago, I decided I’d give this suitcase display idea a try! I found this suitcase on the side of the road last Fall and have had it sitting in my craft area for a year…I knew it’d come in handy!

Those long seed boxes I picked up a few weeks ago fit PERFECTLY, length-wise, in the suitcase and will hold my “seed packet” sachets. They have vintage flower images on the front, and smell AWESOME!

I tied a long strip of fabric around the suitcase flap (that unbuttons and folds down) and then clothespinned on some of my pins.

Can’t wait to get this set up at the show…I think it’s a real eye catcher!

Well, that’s all for now. Lots of pictures of the show coming soon….wish me luck! Happy FALL everyone, and stay warm…summer is officially gone! What Fall or Halloween inspired crafts are you working on? Send me some pics and I’ll post em here!!!