It's here! It's here!

I'm just giddy....Halloween has arrived!

There's a huge Halloween party going on here. So get your favorite costume on and join us in the fun!! Come on in and sit down for a treat. The kids have been working very hard on some cupcakes for all the party goers. Because I love Halloween so much, I want to do a fun giveaway. Please share your favorite Halloween memory in the comments section and leave your email, so that I can reach you. I will have a drawing tonight at midnight for three lucky winners. Each winner will receive one of my favorite fall banners (pictured below). They are made with vintage wallpaper and original pictures from a vintage Dennison crepe paper costume catalog. I love these! Growing up, I had a neighbor that really went all out and definitely instilled the love of all things Halloween in me:) She would transform her garage into a haunted house and had a party every year. I looked forward to it all year long. It was fabulous! It took many years just to get the courage to wander through. I loved the anticipation of what lay ahead. She really made the holiday memorable, while not being gory or too scary. It was good old fashioned Halloween fun:) Here is a pic of my sister and I circa about 1980.

Here are my little ghouls today...

Tonight is the night
When dead leaves fly
Like witches on switches
Across the sky
And gnomes & trolls
Creep out of holes
Mossy & green
Tonight is the night
When the leaves make a sound
Like a gnome in his home
Under the ground
And elf & sprite
Flit through the night
On a moony sheen
Tonight is the night
When pumpkins stare
Through leaves & sheaves
Everywhere!
When ghoul & ghost
And goblin host
Dance round their
Queen
It's Hallowe'en
Harry Behn~1944

Counting down...

I'm practically to the point of counting down the the hours til' Halloween. I can't wait!! Chloe and I carved a pumpkin at my parents yesterday. She is holding a spoon in this picture, not a big sharp knife, like it looks.
I took my mom over to Nature's Harvest today. The little heaven on earth store I found and shared tons of pics of here. Well, it was just as delightful as the first time and they had even changed a few things and added more! Here was the new door decor.
The weather here in Minnesota has been so fabulously fallish. It's cool and crisp and the dark rust of the oak trees sends my Halloween giddiness over the top!

Oh my, look at the crown on this guy!! The dining dungeon was changed a bit since last time, so I took a few more pics.

And what a cutie she is!

Halloween fun at its finest:)

Blessed...

After sharing so many goodies that I have received from generous folks on my last post, someone commented that I am very blessed. Indeed I am and these two are my greatest blessings....

It's the perfect fall day here today!

Halloween high....

My Halloween high continues as the mailman came to the door with several boxes in hand. Two were from my wonderful Sweet and Sinister Swap partners, Jenny and Lesley. Lesley's partner disappeared...poof!...so I gladly adopted her as my own:) Debra was also my partner and I shared what I received from her here.Jenny gave me several pieces of Halloween artwork. They are all absolutely beautiful and are perfect additions to my Halloween decor. Love it all Jenny!!! Can't wait to meet her and her sweetie Aaron in a couple of weeks at Silver Bella!I am now a proud owner of one of Jenny and Aaron's Charlotte portraits. FaBulouS!!!!Lesley gave me this neat spooky glitter tree that reminded me of the card I bought at the House of Seven Gables when I was recently in Salem.She must have been hungry when she put my package together, look at all of these yummy Halloween treats. Thanks Lesley!!

I went to several very good estate sales this morning on my usual Saturday rounds. I found some neat stuff. This dress form fits perfectly with my metal facination lately. The sash is made from a bat garland that Jenny gave me. This old victorian album was just a couple of dollars because it's falling apart. It contained a few pictures inside and the gorgeous pages will be perfect to take out of the book and use in a project. The chenille comforter in the background also came from the sale. It's in perfect condition and just screams cozy:)

I can't wait to use these fabulous cases for my supplies when I go to Silver Bella in a few weeks.This old printers tray is in great shape as well. Can't wait to play around with it! Maybe I'll do something like this. Oooh...more fun stuff to look for at estate sales!

I couldn't believe it when I found this neat black glass glittered Wendy Addison bat chandlier at the thrift store last week. It was even new in its box. I love it!Did you know that there is going to be a big Bloglandia Halloween party!? See all the details here. See you there!

Have a great weekend!

Full Hunter's Moon....

Wow, the full moon is spectacular!

The front yard...

Scenes from the party last night...and the ghouls....
We had a fabulous time!

Ghouls gathering...

I'm hosting a sweet and sinister gathering of ghoulfriends this evening. I thought I'd show you some pictures as I prepare the house.
Each place setting will have a sinister little garden pot. The tombstone is a wonderful pumpkin spice scented soap. The gorgeous witch card to the left is by Angelina of Angelina's Cards.

All together...Should be a fun evening. Let the Halloween festitivies begin:)

Feeling rustic...

Thanks so much for all your kind words about potty training. It really is amazing how much it alters the life of everyone involved. Lowell did really well. After hearing some heartbreaking stories about autistic kids not being potty trained until well into elementary school we were a wee bit scared. He is really stepping up to the plate and making great strides. Yay! I did take some time out and I went to a really fun estate sale this weekend:) I bought some rustic goodies (above). I fell in love with this weathered and aged house shaped display cabinet. I added the "home" blocks to it. I may use it to display some house themed found objects and art pieces. I'm looking for some small white pumpkins to put candles inside of and place in the metal holder (at left). The wire basket at the right I couldn't love more. Ever since seeing this I can't get enough of the primitive aged metal look.
Went ahead and bought Ali's new book before even looking beyond the cover, because I just knew it would rock. She is just so over-the-top inspiring. This book is absolutely wonderful!! It's full of inspiring projects, tons of eye candy and wonderful ideas about capturing the stories of our lives in a creative way.

Be...Love...See

Another giant art journal page... It's a gorgeous fall weekend here in Minnesota. We're spending most of our time in the bathroom potty training Lowell. I can think of better ways to spend my weekend, but we gotta Make it Happen:)

Showing up....

For some reason I've been having a mental block about doing art journal pages. So I decided to try a different format and use different mediums and just show up and see what happens! Oooh I can tell I'm going to have fun with these pictures. Just getting loosed up. I'm doing these as large 11x14" art journal pages on canvas. I'm working through the book The Way of the Wizard by Deepak Chopra right now and doing a page for each lesson with my fave quote. Fun! Have a great weekend!