I've been holed up in my studio getting ready for the Handmade Christmas Craft Fair that's less than a month away. (Ooops...looks like one of my little snowmen is making a break for it!)

I've been making tags, burlap stockings, pinecone santas, ephemera journals, ephemera packets and my favorite fabric and paper bag albums. The craft fair is Saturday, December 3rd from 10:00 - 7:00 at Trinity City Church in St. Paul (Minnesota). Check out the website for more details and a glimpse at the 46 vendors! Looks like it's sure to be a good time!

Dia de los Muertos

I didn't get these Sewickley Cemetary photos posted on Halloween as I'd hoped (too busy scaring kids!) so I figured The Day of the Dead and All Saints Day was the next best thing. The photo above is the view from the highest point of the Cemetary. You can see the Sewickley bridge in the background and if you look really close you can see the church clock tower to the right between the trees.

Most of the grave markers were so old and erroded that you could hardly make out the inscriptions. Tom managed to find one from a person who passed away on his birthday 100+ years before he was born....kind of eeeeerie!

The cemetary road went around and around in a corkscrew fashion and these were some markers that were over a cliff, not really with the rest of the graves...not sure how their visitors make it down there but judging by the flag, they get there somehow.

And this mausoleum had gates with a lovely green patina...that were padlocked, but don't get me wrong, there's NO WAY I would have dared opened the gates had I the chance!

It felt like a very peaceful cemetary...we were the only visitors Friday morning aside from the grounds keeper that was clearing leaves. And considering there were no strange orbs in any of my photos, I think it's safe to assume that all these souls are at peace. Happy Dia de los Muertos!

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!