Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Come Inside

For our yearly Halloween
store display.


Yes friends come visit via my blog.
This year our theme is a funeral home
for the dearly departed.
Family members seated near


the coffin of our dear friend
OTTA B ALIVE
RIP


Notice our friend the vulture.


EMMA GONER and her son BARRY D ALIVE


Calcaterra Memorial Chapel
(this is a real funeral home in Michigan)
Bob bought these plates.


Harris funeral home was in Detroit Michigan.
Bob picked up this old cardboard sign.


Visitors sitting outside the chapel,
with their dog
FANGS


They even brought their pet goldfish
FISH BONES


Plus their pet bird in the cage.
CACKLES
is his name.


This fella wanted a better view
so he is looking down at everyone.
We don't know his name,
so if you do please let us know. 


Day 2 of our decorating we decided
we needed some cobwebs all over.
This was the refreshment table.


The mice are now invading the area.


Don't you just love our hanging funeral light
and our touchier behind the coffin.
Bob added the purple lights.


BARRY D HATCHET was hanging around.


While 
YUL B Next 
was sitting nearby.


OTTA B ALIVE
looks pretty darn good for his age.


His pet 
FRAY D KATT
stays by his side.


We added a wig to
EMMA GONER


STELLA LIVE
is sitting at the desk writing in the guest book.
YUL B NEXT is chatting across the room
with EMMA GONER. 


Night time view of the coffin.
We found these red velvet curtains 
up in our our store attic.
They worked perfectly behind the coffin.
Then Bob added purple lights.
{what we could find}
Wish more stores around here would sell
Halloween lights.
We went to every Halloween store in our county
and every Dollar store looking for these lights.
We purchased all that we could find.


The other lamp lit next to
EMMA GONER.

Hope you enjoyed the tour
of our Halloween display.
We had fun putting this together 
and even sold some of the props...
after all we are a store.

Tomorrow night we pass out candy
with our skeleton friends.
Hope the rain passes us by though.

Come Inside Blessings To All!
Janice




Sunday, October 27, 2019

What's This


Hello Friends, Folk and Enchantresses
Hope your weekend finds you doing
all that is magical.

Tonight Bob and I will be going to 
a Halloween party given by a friend of ours.
She will have spooky food and drinks
served by a zombie bartender.
(which is what her invitation said)
Should be fun!

It rained most of the day yesterday,
which is causing more flooding again
for folks who live along the canals 
of our big river.

I decided to make chicken noodle soup last night.
For dessert I made apple caramel burritos.
It warmed us up! 


Do you know what this is?


This Summer as I was looking for goodes
on our yearly antique trail here in Michigan,
I came across this old beauty.


Made from linen and hand painted.


From the 1930's and only cost me $2.00.


A real steal.


For this early Halloween witch mask.
In great condition.
It even fits my big head. LOL
With my gray hair, 
all I need is a black witch hat and dress,
and voila I could become a witch of the 30's
I'll get you my pretty!

Do you collect vintage or early Halloween?

What is your favorite soup that warms you?

Early Witch Blessings To All!
Janice





Thursday, October 24, 2019

Lil Autumn Delight


Now that my secret is out...
with me decorating for Christmas already,
you all know I did not do to many
Autumn vignettes.


However I did mange to do this one lil one.


Just gathered up a few things.


My script crock.


Grain measure.


A few white pumpkins and some grass.


A simple display.


As this is all I could do this time.


Notice in the background my new
hooking project.
A sneak peek of my new house.
It is completed now.
Just needs to be steamed and finished.
Working on one more design.

Were you able to put out some Autumn displays?

Lil Autumn Delight Blessings To All!
Janice

Monday, October 21, 2019

October CupboardScape


Witchcraft
Potions
Black Magic
Oh My!


Incantations
Enchantment
Hexes
Oh My!


Spell Books
Brews
Alchemy
Oh My!


Concoctions
Herbs
Boots
Oh My!


Acid
Glycerin
Tonics
Oh My!


Witch House
Tallowberries
Witch Hazel
Oh My!


Drieds
Hocus Pocus
Halloween
Oh My!


Bear Claws
Spectacles
Salem
Oh My!


After watching my all time
Halloween movie
Hocus Pocus


I wanted to create a CupboardScape
all that is witchy with a few fun things added in.
Like my bear claw quilt piece.
The colors are great for Halloween!


Am so looking forward 
to passing out candy soon.
Love seeing all of the kiddos dressed up.
We pass out candy at our store as we
do not have any kiddos in our neighborhood.

Do you pass out candy where you live?

Witchy October Blessings To All!
Janice


Friday, October 18, 2019

Old World Quail


Hello to All!
Autumn sure has approached 
us here in the North.
The trees are in full bloom.
The wild Turkeys are foraging for food more. 
 Squirrels are gathering black walnuts and acorns.
The Deer are getting their dark brown winter coats. 
 Crows and Bluejays are squawking.
The Blackbirds are coming together
for their migration South,
along with the Canadian Geese.
Like our birds that migrate South for warmth,
we humans up here are nesting inside more.
Furnace is on and all is well. 


Back in early Spring I decided that my
Christmas theme this year would be a
"Colonial Christmas"


This Summer the ladies of the historical society
 had asked us to be on this year's holiday tour.
  I don't want to jinx myself,
because the final houses have not yet been revealed.
The route for the house tour is determined by
the houses that are willing to do this.
Keep your fingers crossed for us.  


Since we might be on the tour,
I started back in September to decorate
for Christmas starting with our bedroom,
so not as much Autumn decor was put out.

Let me begin by saying that even though
 I wanted to do a Colonial Christmas,
 this is just my version.
The Colonists did not celebrate
 Christmas as we do today;
 even though Colonial Williamsburg
would like you to believe they did.
My upcoming  Colonial Christmas version
 will not be from the 1700's either.
Just my own interpretation of it.

Today I would like to talk about my colonial
partridge in the pear tree.

Now mind you the first Christmas tree did not
appear until the 1850's.
Again this Christmas theme I have chosen
will be my interpretation
of a colonial one.

However the song the 12 Days of Christmas
was written in 1790.
A verse from that song was
"my true love sent to me, a partridge in a pear tree"

This gave me the idea for my first colonial christmas tree.  


I printed a page of colonial writing on brown 
cardstock {first pic} and with a quail pattern
that I drew out,
cut out 6 quails for my tree.

Old World Quails back in the 1700's
were called partridges. They were brought over
from England and are smaller than our present
New World Partridges which are found out West.
These partridges are now called
 the Common Quail, 
and are found throughout the East.
They nest on the ground and their diet
consists of seeds and small insects. 

The Old World Quails are smaller and plumper
than their cousins the New World ones.
Originally there were 6 species of these quails
across the world, however two are now extinct.
The New Zealand and Canary Island quails.

My last picture gave you a sneak peak
of my Partridge in a Pear tree.

Hope you stay tuned as I show you more
in the upcoming months
of my version of a 
"Colonial Christmas"
and the research I uncovered.

Old World Quail Blessings To All!
Janice







Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Ring Tail Pheasant


Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.
We had a chill in the air all weekend...
thus the furnace did get turned on.
Plus last night we had our first freeze.


Last week driving home I was privy
to a sight I have not seen in a long while.
There were two female pheasants
 on the side of the road.



It has been over 10 years since I had
a glimpse of a male pheasant...
and over 30 years since seeing a female one.


As a teen and young adult,
my dad enjoyed pheasant hunting
and always brought many home to eat.
Without a bird dog.


That was a time where they were very plentiful.


So much land has been cleared for subdivisions 
that the poor animals including the pheasants
have disappeared.


What a shame it is.
Even as a kid I loved hearing 
both the pheasant call and that of the bobwhite.


Needless to say I have heard neither since a teen.


There are a few farms that breed pheasants
here in Michigan and release them
to be hunted for those willing to pay the price.


I so enjoyed creating this display
as pheasants do like a ripe apple in their diet.
I added this feather boa just for fun!

Bob created this Primitive sign for me eons ago.

Do you have pheasants or even bobwhites
in your neck of the woods?

Pheasant Blessings To All!
Janice