September was CRAZY

 That went by in a blink!  I created more fall goods than I think I ever have and they actually sold, so I just kept making it.  I pretty much sat down at 8 to paint and create and did not finish until 10 pm every day, stumble bleary eyed in to bed, get up and do it all over again.  In between all the pumpkin paint, I ordered massive amounts of bottle brush trees, the most expensive being the tiny little guys on wood blocks. Most places I looked wanted $38 a dozen!  I did a little better, but they were still crazy expensive.  I bought some large trees in grays and browns, decided they are a little too somber, so will be trying my hand at dyeing trees, I will let you know how that goes.  I decided I would absolutely not make any paper doll creations this year, then Mr. Tim Holtz showed up on youtube giving demos of his new Halloween and Christmas lines, and the next thing I knew, I had ordered every single thing in the line and then some.  I cannot put those dolls down, they are so much fun to create with!

Here is a bit of the Halloween I did with my purchases:

This is "The Spirit Merchant", my paper doll fortune teller, loved creating this little spooky room for her to work in.

"Bewitched" has a black tree atop a cauldron, twiggy witch broom, love it!

No paper doll here, just a little spice tin converted for storage of graveyard dirt.

My piece de la resistance, the haunted music room.  I started this years ago but just couldn't make myself put the finishing touches on.  Got inspired to finish and here it is:

Hmm, maybe this one is my best instead...I love love love how this turned out.  I usually would not alter such an expensive and early piece, but I knew black milk paint would make it so perfectly spooky and it did.  The mirror really needed the haunted doll photo.

Overwhelmed

There are times when I go in search of antiques in America and come up empty handed.  Then, there are times like these when there are so many flea markets and antique shows and the shops seem very well stocked, at least until I show up and take it all home to add to the pile.  I recently told my husband I didn't have any money left, and he looked at me like there were radishes growing out of my ears because I have been shipping about 20 items every day.  I had to explain that while I am selling hundreds of dollars of merchandise, I am buying thousands of dollars in merchandise.  I seriously can barely get to my computer and work table because there are Cat in the Hat piles of bowls and firkins and boxes filled with old tin, all needing to be transformed.  My music room is now the hoarders nest, the dining room has things lined up around the walls and I have to clear a place for us to eat every single night.  Although we cleared out the Clarinda house a year ago, I just now was able to go through a few of the boxes we stuffed in the attic, so much more left to deal with.  We also have the husband's parents home to clear out and it is getting stacked on the front porch and in the garage.  I feel like all I do is fill up the trailer, go to the landfill and dump stuff where ever we can find a bare spot.  Not liking it at all.  With too much to do and not enough time to do it, how did I spend last night?  Went to the casino at 7, looked up from the slot machine to find that it was now 2 am.  I don't even know how that happened, but I can still see spinning reels when I close my eyes.  Of course, I won a lot, and of course I lost it all, but it was fun at least.

The latest dark and spooky items that I have managed to create amongst the chaos:

A Little Bit of This a Little Bit of That

 It has been a roller coaster July.  My husband had a hip replacement and it was a month of recovery.  He fell on the ice a couple years ago when he was out jogging, pulled a muscle that never healed and the limping ended up destroying the hip.  Miracles is what those ortho guys do.  Still, I was in charge of all the fetching of things for the first week, lots of work and worry about blood clots and other disasters, but we came through at last.  I am going to have a hard time when he retires--I barely had a minute to work on my shop, so been putting in overtime now that he is back at work.  Scattered, I am doing everything at once, and here are the results:

Could be fall...

or maybe just jump in to Christmas

but don't forget about blue

and maybe a little red for good measure

Teal Blue and New Photographs

 I wasn't happy with my teal milk paint photographs, so I did them over, much better!  I love the color so much, I painted one million more things with it and now I have to order more paint.

I was patting myself on the back for finally getting some Independence Day goods done early....then I realized it is only 2 weeks away, so I am actually very late.  I may start doing fall now, as it crazily seems to sell in July and August better than in October.

The Once in a Lifetime Antique Find

I stumbled upon this set of toy graniteware quite by chance--someone had listed them in the pretend play toys section and called it spatterware.  I knew I loved it and wanted it and could not believe I was the only bidder.  There were 30 pieces!  Further investigation found that it is confetti graniteware, or "end of day" graniteware, when the factory workers used up all the bits of enamel color left at the end of the day to create this beautiful pattern. It is rare to find any, let alone this many pieces, most in excellent condition.  I am only slightly surprised that I re-sold them so quickly.  I think this is my most wonderful find of my antique career.

 

Studies in White

I have become a bit obsessed with early ironstone, old photos and black and white graphics. I would love to do an antique show using just this style.  If you have never heard of 1871 Farmhouse, look up the etsy shop and her blog and Pinterest, I love, love, love her style.  I am so inspired by all her photos--she takes gray and white and all things neutral and makes them "catch your breath" beautiful.

 

Just Working and Working

 I have nothing interesting to say, just painting and painting, no fun these days.  This is the new teal milk paint I just bought:

These are the tins that just needed blue calico:

and some more odds and ends: