Happy Hallowe'en!!!

...And a Blessed Samhain to all those who observe it!

Around here, Halloween is more of a season than a day, and this particular Halloween has been just FILLED with wicked cool goings on...

The celebration began with the fourth annual Ghoultide Gathering and will end tomorrow as the last day of summer (Samhain) passes into the Celtic New Year.

In between of course, was LOTS of painting, the Willy Wonka party, and last night my friend Jen's Day of the Dead Halloween party. Jen's parties are always fun - she decorates the house to the hilt, has an interesting mix of guests, and makes great food and drinks...My own contribution was a pan of enchiladas verdes, and these wicked cool Halloween cookies from Kim Short of Kim's Artistic Confections...

I think my favorite was Poe. Of course, Jack Nicholson was pretty amazing too. :)

The kids had a great time, and really, that's what Halloween is all about...

Munchies galore...

And our hostess, dressed in her Day of the Dead finery...

I also spent part of the weekend with the Cabin Ladies, sort of a girls weekend we do several times a year at one of Pennsylvania's beautiful state parks. Very relaxing, and it gave me a chance to drive some of the backroads I hadn't seen in a while. Lancaster County has some great sights, one of the more unusual being these old graveyards set in the middle of farmland, many not even accessible by road...
A one room Amish schoolhouse...

The little town of Terre Hill, where John and I lived when we first moved to Pennsylvania...

And I snapped this one not so much to show the sheep, but the trees...

As you can see, summer is indeed over, and the glorious colors of autumn are fading from the trees. Frost will appear soon, and we'll catch the scent of woodsmoke as we pass these farms. The roadside markets (now selling only pumpkins, cabbage and winter root vegetables) will close for the season, and we'll wait for the snow to fly.

But tonight is All Hallow's Eve, and since the trick or treaters have already been here (see previous posts) I'll get into the *spirit* of things by checking my friends' wicked cool Halloween work on the EHAG Emporium update. :)

In the meantime, on the eve of the Celtic New Year, I'll leave you with a little Van Morrison...



Until next time,

¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`• ~ Carolee

Munchies for Monsters....

...And for princesses, and for frogs, and for the Mad Hatter too!

Last night was "Trick or Treat Night" here in Lancaster County (don't even get me started on changing the day Halloween is celebrated around here), and the kids were out in full force - we went through 14 bags of candy!!

At this rate, and at the price of candy we may have to take a second out on the house next year, lol...But aren't these guys adorable??? Some of this year's best costumes included a bumblebee and her sister the fairy (tinkerbell maybe, not sure)....

A dog...

A Frog...

Fairies, skeletons and ninjas (this guy is a ninja, right?)

I thought this Dad dressed as an Amish guy was pretty funny, hehe...

And is this a great costume or what? I'd bet Mom and Dad are Renn Faire people...

The two goth vampires and the Mad Hatter proudly told me they made their own costumes from bits of this and that they'd found at thrift stores or in Mom's closet - made me feel like some of that old fashioned Halloween spirit still lives...

Amazingly, we had NO older kids this year - not one! OK, there was one guy in costume, who looked about 16 or 17, walking by the house with a pillowcase, but he was SMOKING, and I guess he thought the better of saying "trick or treat" with a cigarette in mouth, so he just grinned and passed by. ;)

We did have one mom who made her kid put back the candy they'd chosen, pointing to another saying "No - get THAT one for Mommy!" I gave the kid both. Nervy, eh?

But all in all everyone was so polite, saying "please" and "thank you" and "Happy Halloween!" Oh, and I should add that the photos shown here are with the parents' permission. :)

Next up - a Halloween/Day of the Dead party at my friend Jen's house (photos soon on that!)....In the meantime, I'm off to hang out with the girls at the cabin weekend for a bit (scroll back two posts)...

Happy Halloween!!!

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`• ~ Carolee

"Peppermint Tea"

I had such fun with this one - the first Christmas piece of the 2010 season! It's listed on eBay now, and I hope it brings a smile to someone's holiday celebration. :) Update ~Sold~

I love the little mice, hehe...

Next up: lots of commission work and several small, Christmasy trinket boxes (great gifts!)

Back very soon....

♥ Carolee

Changing Gears

I know, I know, it's not even Halloween yet! Believe me, I'm nowhere near finished with autumn, and as usual the season is flying by far too fast for me to capture all the ideas I'd planned to paint before the big day!

But I'm afraid all it took was one listen to my winter playlist yesterday, and I was off and running with the first Christmas piece of the season; a large lazy susan (shown here in progress), tentatively titled "Christmas Tea", or possibly "Peppermint Tea"...

Hmmmmm, thinking the teacup may need a peppermint stick, hehe. :)

I love the concept of cats and mice as friends, especially during the season of Peace, and am having great fun with this one. :)

But not to get completely ahead of myself, there's still Halloween to celebrate!!

Some of you may have read my little facebook rant about changing the date of Halloween, which they do here in Lancaster County with regularity. The Powers that Be always seem to insist that "Trick or Treat Night" fall on a Friday or the occasional Saturday, but NEVER EVER, heaven forbid, on a Sunday. Don't even get me started again, lol...Halloween is October 31st for crying out loud!

*Ahem*, now that I have that out of my system, where was I? Oh yes, celebrating!

Friday and Saturday will find me spending time at one our beautiful Pennsylvania state parks with the "Cabin Ladies", a get together regular readers may remember from this post. (I may run home to see the trick or treaters Friday night though!) ;)


Much as I'd love to send the entire four day weekend, Thursday is booked with household obligations, and there's what promises to be a fabulous Day of the Dead party my friend Jen is throwing Saturday night (a MUST!), so I'll scoot back here for that. Sunday is up the air, and may find me back at the cabin, but I'm playing that by ear.

In the meantime, there's work to be done, including the lazy susan. It may list on eBay tomorrow evening, probably with a "buy it now" option, and I should mention I will not be taking orders on this one. Some pieces are just too labor intensive to repeat, and this is proving to be one of them. ;)

I'll be back very soon with photos, and probably another Halloween post as well. In the meantime, I wish you a happy and creative Wednesday!!

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`• ~ Carolee

'Tis the Season....

...For Halloween parties!

With John feeling a bit under the weather, my friend Jen was my date for a wicked cool Willy Wonka Halloween party last night. The decorations and goodies were so FuN, I thought I'd share a few pics. :)

A huge Wonka bar on the wall...

Portraits of characters from the original movie, keeping watch over the martini station. The flavors? Vodka infused with either root beer barrels, swedish fish, or jolly ranchers...

A poster from the Tim Burton re-make...

Lollipops and candy buttons...

The buffet, with truffles on the conveyor belt, and assorted goodies below. My favorite was the phyllo cups with micro greens, blueberries and a white chocolate balsamic drizzle - sooooooo good...

Guests getting ready for a game of guessing classic childhood junk food while blindfolded...

Lickable wallpaper...

And last but not least, our hosts, Augustus Gloop and Willy Wonka...

It was altogether great fun, and I'm told these two are already planning a pirate themed party next year...Yo Ho Ho, hehe!

Next up is Jen's Day of the Dead party; bright colors, sangria and Mexican food - I can hardly wait! Stay tuned for photos...

In the meantime, look for new work here very soon! With the Christmas and Yule season fast approaching, I have lots of goodies planned. ;)

Until then, Happy Halloween!!
♥ Carolee

Winner :)

The winner of the Halloween party trinket box giveaway is Tamara C, of Magic Molecules!

Look for another giveaway soon, and in the meantime, don't forget to run over to the EHAG Emporium blog to drop your name in the hat for TWO giveaways this month!

♥ Carolee

*Enchantment* to Share!

(This will probably get long, but I have much to tell, hehe!)

Last week, my friend Jen (the photographer here) and I visited Ravenbrook, the enchanting realm of our friend, artist and collector Hugh Luck. Having seen Ravenbrook in photos, and knowing Hugh's exquisite taste in antiques, we were something like children in a candy store. It was like stepping into a folk tale...

The exterior of Ravenbrook, decorated for Halloween, a gargoyle standing watch over the front door...

Even the garage is enchanting....

The handsome Mr. Luck, seated in his study. Notice the collection of antique globes...

A few of those globes displayed with a Scott Smith original Hugh acquired at last year's Ghoultide Gathering (love this piece!)

In the living room, an English tavern sign with carved raven. Just magical!

In the same room, an antique table once owned by Carolyn Wyeth - and I do believe another Scott Smith piece. :)

A view from the opposite end of the room, with an antique wrought iron gate in the doorway...

In the tavern room, a surprise; the fellow sitting on the corner is an original figure from Disneyland's "Pirates of the Carribean" ride!

In the "Halloween Room", whimsy abounds...

And one of Hugh's original paintings hangs on the wall behind the display case. I wish I could show it larger here, it's just infused with Halloween spirit. If you look closely, you'll see Hugh's black cat Spooky painted in...

And here's the real Spooky in the kitchen, one of my teapots to the left, and another of Hugh's paintings behind. Again, I wish I could show the painting in it's entirety; it's a mouse-eye view from inside a jack-o-lantern!

Truly one of the most stunning homes I've ever seen!

Bidding a reluctant goodbye to Ravenbrook (but not to Hugh) we all set out for a drive up the Delaware river to the first annual Spookytime Jingles Soiree, an art show where a few EHAG friends were exhibiting. We met these friends and a few others, old and new, and had great fun seeing all the Halloween goodies offered.

As many of you know, I don't do photos, but here are some of my friends, who DO, hehe...From left to right, here's Amelia Schaefer, a.k.a. "Sweet B", Chris Klingler of Designs by CK, Jennifer MacNeill Traylor of Gypsy Mare Studios, and Lori Rudolph of Retro Rudolphs...

And a shot of Sweet B's display, with Lori's right behind it...

We also met fellow EHAG artists Kim Hardt and Jorge de Rojas, as well as several other STJ artists, who were all just so sweet.

After a good bit of time oohing and ahhing at the show, a few of us ran up to Lambertville for lunch, to this wonderful place Hugh recommended (if you're in the area, you must go!)

It was an altogether delightful weekend - good friends, good art, good food - what more could anyone want? (OK, maybe the good wine my friends enjoyed at lunch, but I was driving, so had to behave myself, hehe)...

Back to reality, I settled in the next day to tackle some overdue commission work (those of you with orders, I'm making headway slowly but surely, I promise!), and begin a few sketches for Christmas and Yuletide pieces, and hopefully a few cards. Stay tuned...

Next up are two very cool Halloween parties (one an over-the-top Willy Wonka themed gathering, complete, I'm told by the hosts, with "lickable wallpaper" (martinis needed for this one, methinks!), followed by Cabin Ladies Weekend over Halloween. More on this in another post!

Are you cross-eyed yet? Either way, I suppose I should give both of us a break and head back to the studio, where those commissions are calling my name. ;)

Stay tuned for new goodies on eBay and Etsy very soon, and in the meantime, I wish you a magical and enchanting Halloween season!!

(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`• ~ Carolee

Come In, Dearies....

I've been waiting for you....

I'm offering a wicked sweet giveaway to share in honor of Miss Vanessa's *fAbULoUs* and oh-so-magical annual Halloween party...

But first, would you like a treat?

I baked these myself - they're devil's food, of course (what else for a Halloween party?)

How about joining me for tea? There's plenty to go around, especially in cyberspace, hehe...

Do you love the mug? It's one of my favorites, a gift from a collector last year, and I love how it magically depicts the Owens sisters from "Practical Magic" when the mug is heated.....Which reminds me, it's almost time to put that one in the Netflix queue again. Much to John's chagrin, there are some movies I really need to watch during the Halloween season, and this is one of them. ;)

I think the Owens house is probably the best house-porn I've ever seen (with the cottage from "The Holiday" a close second)...I mean, how great is this kitchen???

*Drool*....

That's the fantasy. Here's the reality - complete with retro (read "old") range, and steaming kettle of soup...

Now, where was I? Oh yes - tea....But maybe you'd prefer a stronger sort of brew with your cupcake?

TeeHee....

Are you quite enjoying this Halloween blog-hop?

I must you the truth - as you read this, I'm actually out of town, so will have to do my visiting when I return. But I want to leave you with a little token of appreciation for your visit; this original, hand painted, Halloween trinket box...


No hoops to jump through, just leave a comment and you'll be entered to win. (If you don't have a blog, you need to leave your email so I can contact you!) The magical sorting hat (a.k.a. the random number generator) will pick a name next Saturday, October 23rd.

In the meantime, I'll be back very soon with new photos and new work to share...

Happy Halloween!!
♥ Carolee