Home Sweet Home...

We just got back in town from a 4 day road trip to Pittsburgh, PA for Tom's best friend's wedding. Our hotel was only a mile from Sewlickey, PA (a very historic town) so of course in our few hours of free time we headed across the Ohio River into Sewickley to sight see and treasure hunt.Every single house was to die for...I'm not kidding, not a bad one in the bunch!

Of course I had to snap a photo of this sign that was on one of the residental streets...love the way the little guy is stooping down to scoop the poop.
The tiny town had two antique shops but alas, all the treasures were very English, not my taste at all.

This is the Sewlickey Library, built in 1923...

St. Stephens Church was so lovely...although we didn't go inside. Church doors are always supposed to be open but much to our surprise, we found all the doors locked on the little Lutheran Church in town. Some nice church ladies did let us in to look around and take photos but told us that churches are now having to lock their doors...that's really too bad. What is this world coming to?

So after practically breaking into the Lutheran Church I just decided to photograph the outside of the remaing 1120 churches in town. I'm exaggerating of course but I've never seen so many churches in such a small town. This one was by far my favorite.

And, I just had to show you a photo of the groom, Joe, the Best Man (hubby) and my little guy who was the cutest groomsmen EVER! Tom and Joe have known each other for 28 years and Joe is Sebastian's Godfather so these three share quite a bond.

And finally, this is what greeted us Saturday morning as we were packing up the car to make the 13 hour drive back to Minnesota.

I'll post photos of the beatiful Sewlickey Cemetary tomorrow...appropriate for Halloween! Hope you all had a nice weekend...we sure did...but it's soooo good to be home!

Happy Monday

I can't believe it's Monday already!

I've been spending every free minute in my studio crafting...

I almost feel guilty...

almost :P

Hope you had a happy Monday too.

Wonderful Bloggy Friends...

Aren't the people you meet through blogging and Etsy just marvelous? I've met some really fantastic people that I simply adore and Mindy of Timssally is one of my favorites. I sent Mindy my newest Halloween Tiny Book as a little "trick-or-treat" gift but NEVER expected to get this wonderful little painting in return (it's hanging on my metal filing cabinet in the last Trash to Treasure post.) The envelope it was delivered in was even so pretty that I'll be saving it to use in one of my shabby scrapbooks! If you've never seen Mindy's work you've got to check out her website and Etsy store! Thanks Mindy! xoxo

Something Wicked this Way Comes..

Does anyone watch the new FX series American Horror Story? Well, I'm a sucker for scary...scary anything, especially around Halloween, so when the hubby and I saw the previews for this, coupled with the fact that it started mid-October, we immediately set a season pass on the DVR...a 'you-had-me-at-horror' sort of thing. I wasn't so sure about it after the first episode, I was so disturbed by it I wouldn't go to bed alone and I snuggled in really close to Tom the whole night. Now that we've seen episodes two and three I'm hooked...can't wait until next Wednesday! It's a real puzzler though, very macabre and mysterious...and it's one of those that's going to unravel very slooooooooowwwwwwly! Check it out if you like dark and frightening...you can watch all three aired episodes on the FX website.

From Halloween to Christmas in the blink of an eye...here are some burlap and muslin stockings I'm making for the Handmade Christmas craft fair.
And I'm stocking up on my fabric and paperbag mini albums. I hope to have gobs done and ready by December 3rd! Gotta try to squeeze my Christmas crafting in between scary Halloween stuff!

Trash to Treasure...

I bought this old filing cabinet from a barn sale a few summers ago. It's been sitting in our garage for over a year so decided it was time to give it a make over and move it into my studio.

I'm not sure what the white stuff is...possibly paint but it had the consistency of flocking used on Christmas trees...but it certainly didn't come off as easy as the flocking does!
We scraped, sanded, and stripped all weekend and finally gave up when our bodies couldn't take any more. Here is it in it's final resting place...full of cardstock, fabric, wool, felt and all sorts of other craft junk.I've been spending a lot of time in my studio making Christmas goodies. I'm setting up a table at The Handmade Christmas on December 3rd. So, if you live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area please stop by, there will be 41 vendors selling their treasures at Trinity City Church on Marshall Ave in St. Paul. It should be fun! I'll post photos of what I'll be bringing as it gets closer...and all this Christmas crafting has me a little out of whack...I'm listening to Christmas Carols and we haven't even celebrated Halloween yet! I'll be sure to tune in to The Walking Dead tonight to get me back on track!

Going Batty...

Well, the halloween decorations are up and we're ready for a few weeks of scary TV and family pranks! We went with a bat and doll head theme this year. I ordered some creepy bat postcards from this etsy store and made a garland to drape along the mantel with them and some old cabinet photos I altered a bit.

I put my collection of doll heads on the mantel along with a herd of Martha Stewart black cardstock bats that are flying along the mirrors. (I had to get my 10-year olds permission first...didn't want him to be too scared to go into the family room)

And of course I had to bring out some of my all-time favorites like this vintage-style paper mache pumpkin man. Halloween just won't be the same this year with the two older kids gone, they both LOVE halloween...and Sebastian hates it, not sure where that kid came from ;)