This is the next set of pages in my book. The dancing Jack-O-Lantern is the image that I most wanted to use. He is just like a decoration that my family had when I was a kid. There are a few different versions of the dancing Jack-O-Lantern, but this one will always be my favorite.

I saw online that was for sale and saved the image. These routinely go for $40 or more so I wasn’t going to be getting my own any time soon. I decided to do the next best thing and using the image I’d saved, I drew in all the missing parts to create my own miniature version.

These are some of the old Trick or Treat Bag images that I’ve collected. I even found some vintage candy bar wrappers to print out and put inside them.

When we were young my mother always filled these little treat bags with popcorn and a small piece of candy. Back then no one worried about home made goodies being handed out. I was always more of a chocolate kind of gal, but I can remember some of the kids being excitied about getting a bag of popcorn.

We lived in a large neighborhood. I want to say there were about 400 homes. Somehow we managed to stop at each and every one of them before Halloween night was over. As we got a little older we even managed to hit up the apartment complexes on the outer edges of our neighborhood. I can still remember the excitement of coming home and dumping out my loot in one big pile on the floor. That’s when the real fun began, the trades with my two sisters. Luckily our tastes were just enough different that no one had to end up with many pieces of candy that they didn’t care for.

I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed working on this Halloween Book. I’ve been looking at tons of old Halloween images on the internet lately, and that gave my sagging sense of creativity the boost it needed. I have over 1000 images in my Halloween folder so the hardest part of this project was deciding which images to work with.

I started with a couple of children’s books from the dollar store. They were the type with hard pages. I cut the pages apart and used them for the base of my new book.

Part way through the project I decided to take apart another child’s board book and switch to larger rings. It was just too hard to limit the images, or to think of my fun coming to an end. As it was, I added several pockets on the pages so that I could cram in extra goodies.

I’m going to spread this out over several days to keep the posts shorter, and prolong my fun. I’m enjoying sharing this almost as much as I enjoyed making it.

While surfing the web I came across a magnificent bracelet at Novelties & Illuminations. A very talented crafter with great imagination saw new life in some vintage cupcake picks. From the moment I laid eyes on it, I knew I had to get my hands on some vintage picks and make my own bracelet. I don’t normally wear much jewelry so I’m a bit surprised that this funky chunky one had such a strong pull on me.

After a bit of looking around, I found enough old picks for 2 bracelets and I invited my dear friend, Billie, to come and make one with me. I suggested that we add some custom beads between the picks, and Billie suggested we use the letters to spell out Halloween.

I think it is safe to say that Billie and I work well together.

Can you believe it is more than a week into October already? I finally got out my box of Halloween decorations today. Mr. Bear is decked out in his ghost costume and ready for Trick or Treaters. By tonight I will have all my decorations placed inside the house where I can enjoy their brief visit, made briefer by my delay in decorating. I have a somewhat good excuse for the delay, I’ve been busy working on a Halloween book. I’ve been collecting images of vintage Halloween items for a long time. This year I decided to put some of them to good use by making a little book. I’ve been having a blast working on this. There are a few more pages to go and then I’ll show you the entire book.  For now, here is a sneak peak:

The pups are growing and becoming more adorable each day.

We’ve decided that they aren’t a Chihuahua mix after all. Now we think they are a Rat Terrier mix. If it weren’t from Batman’s wiry hair they would look just like many of the pure bred Rat Terriers that we’ve seen online. The behavior descriptions of  Rat Terriers fit them to a T as well.

Happy October! It seems like there should be a chill in the air but we are still feeling summer’s warmth here in Phoenix. We hit the triple digits this afternoon. Cooler days are not far away though, the weather report is calling for upper 70s and low 80s by the end of the week. I’m more than ready for it. It is time to open the windows and let some fresh air in.

October is also a great time for being creative and playful. I’m planning a girl’s night out with 3 of my friends and we decided to make it a Witches dinner date. That meant a trip to the Dollar Spot at Target for a pointy black hat, and to Micheal’s for some purple ribbon. The hat was terrific, only $2.50 and it had a veil on it. It also had a couple of grey roses made from ribbon, but they were a bit wimpy and I ripped them off. I had other things in mind. After picking up a couple of new do-dads at M’s and getting my box of odds and ends down from the closet, I have a pretty sweet hat for my big night out.

It is hard to see in the photo, but I cut the veil into points. I liked the more wispy look that it gave.

I wish I had been thinking about blogging when I started the project. It would be cool to share a before and after shot with those old grey roses. You will just have to take my word for it, these purple roses are way better.

I made sure to add decorations all the way around. The skeletons  and the raven were left over from last year’s run to the dollar store. The bat and owl were new from M’s.

I’ll be sure to get a picture of the group in our hats to show to you later. In my next post I’ll show you the Halloween bracelet/necklace that I made.

The first set of harnesses was a success so The Boy asked if I could make a little Batman cape for his puppy, Batman. How could I say no to such a cute idea?

Who knew it could be so fun to dress up puppies? I didn’t want his sister, Sasha to be left out so I made a new outfit for her also.

Sasha seemed to like her party dress, but her brother took one look at her and decided that she looked like a toy. He took off after her, grabbed the ruffle in his mouth and kept running. Poor little girl didn’t know what hit her. The next project will be teaching Batman some manners.

The first Vet visit is later today. I’m anxious to hear how old the Vet thinks they are.

The Boy purchased some dog harnesses that were marked X-SMALL for puppies and Toy dogs. It turned out that the puppies are more like XX-SMALL. The problem was that the store didn’t sell any XX-SMALL harnesses. There is a good chance that I’ll be taking them to their first vet visit and I was a little concerned about how I’d control all the wild puppy action if they weren’t on leashes. That got me searching the internet for answers and I found a great one on a blog called, “Dog Under My Desk.”

The blog owner is Erin. She is very good at sewing, and giving directions so others can sew her great projects. One of her projects is a “Little Dog Harness.” (I’m linking to the tutorial for the harness, but be sure to look around her site at all the other great ideas.) I printed out her smallest pattern at 75% of its original size and made a couple of harnesses using left over bits of fabric in my stash. It has been way too long since I did much sewing and my wobbly curves and top stitching show it. Other than that I think they turned out pretty good.

Doesn’t it figure, I’m the one who did all the work and Recliner Man is the one who gets all the grateful puppy love from Batman.

I’m sure that has nothing to do with the fact that I was behind the camera and it was Recliner Man’s job to dress and display the puppies. It looks like Sasha knew who to give her attention to. I didn’t have the puppies with me while I was sewing so I couldn’t measure exactly where to put the Hook & Loop tape. I worked around that by putting longer strips on and making the harness adjustable. It worked out pretty well.

With their new harnesses, the puppies were ready for their first walk on a leash. It went pretty well but their attention span isn’t very long yet. They didn’t get far before they decided it was time to frolic in the tall grass and wrestle with each other.

Part way through the project we got to thinking that we may have been able to fit a cat harness on them. I think the little cloth harnesses are adorable and a better way to go. When we tried the X-SMALL harness on the pups they immediately started trying to bit it off, but when we wrapped them in these harnesses they didn’t mind them at all. The fabric harness also gives you more options to personalize and there is a rumor afloat that the next one may have a tiny Batman cape on it.

(Edit: I’ve made a second set of harnesses for when they want to be a bit more fancy – LOL)