Hallowe'en Masque

Last weekend was our Hallowe'en Masquerade Party. It was wonderful; we had a great turnout for the party, almost 30 people, and everybody seemed to like the idea of wearing masks instead of costumes for something different.

I had the lanterns and pumpkins on the front porch lit.

This is a real pumpkin; I carved a spooky castle!

This one has a hanging bat!

In the front hall I had the treat bag favors ready to go. I did take a picture of this at night with the candles lit, but I think I accidentally deleted it. :-(

The masks I had placed on a rotating card rack that I borrowed from my mother! Guests had fun choosing a mask to wear, although some people brought their own. I bought all these masks at Oriental Trading Co.

I made sure that I took pictures of everything "before" the guests arrived! As usual, during the party I was too busy to take many pictures "during". The dining room spread is pictured here.

There were Caprese picks and deviled eggs............

And Dead Man's Cheese Ball (covered with toasted black sesame seeds!).

We added some dry ice pellets to the punch bowl to make it look spooooky!

The punch bowl was filled with "Ghoul-Ade", a non-alcoholic very yummy and very sweet punch that I make every year.

We also had a large tray of sandWITCHES.....No really. They were just sandwiches. There was also sliced fruit with a chocolate mousse dip, a veggie tray and other snacks. I also made my "Sinister Sludge" avocado dip, but I seem to be missing the picture that I took of it. (My new camera uploads pictures differently than my old one and I think I may have accidentally deleted a few of them while I'm still learning how to use it!)

I do have a picture from last year, however:

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

We had plenty of desserts too:

Stenciled brownie cakes and gingerbread cakes (brownies were stenciled with powdered sugar, gingerbread cakes were stenciled with a mix of ground nutmeg and powdered sugar).

I also had Hallowe'en decorated cupcakes (some with molded candy skulls) and  Witches' Finger cookies.

The "fingers" are just sugar cookie dough shaped into a finger, with an almond "fingernail" held in place with a little decorating icing.

We also had this fabulous cake made by my mom. The flowers are real; they are crystalized. She glazed them with some egg white and covered them lightly with sugar. The cake was chocolate, with a delicious mocha creme filling.

Erik and I wearing our masks (we also had cloaks on). I made us these bird masks.

I did manage to snap a few pictures early on in the night:

Thanks for stopping by!

I'll be joining

My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday

French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

Home Sweet Home at The Charm of Home

A Visit to Hawthorne Hill Farm

A couple of weeks ago the hubby and I went to visit a great place near our home called Hawthorne Hill Farm. I heard about it at a craft fair that I went to in September.

It's a 150 year old farmstead that is open to the public and features the work of local artisans and crafters, as well as unique collectibles and vintage finds.

There are also art workshops and women's retreats held here, as well as special events.

One of the large barns holds three levels of vendor booths.

This particular weekend was the Harvest/Halloween Market, so all the booths were showing fall and Halloween items. Coming up in November is the Holiday Market, when everyone will be showcasing Christmas themed items. I will be out of town that weekend, unfortunately. :-(

It's such a lovely farm and, of course, full of adorable vignettes everywhere, like this one above. I love the blue wicker and the red table and chippy red bench paired with the pumpkins and fall flowers. The color combination is unexpected, but lovely.

Inside the barn there were lots and lots of goodies. I especially loved this cloche on a stand with a bird and flower figurine inside. There were two of these.

Everything was displayed beautifully and creatively.

I especially liked what one artist did with this old door. Some of the panes of glass were covered in old newsprint and crows were nesting in the middle where a pane of glass was missing. A few spooky spiders added just the right touch.

I bought a couple of decorated vintage cabinet cards from a booth filled with neat things and used them to make two Halloween collages. Click HERE to see that project.

Thanks for stopping by!

I'll be linking up with A Southern Daydreamer for Outdoor Wednesday!

Crafty Things: Hallowe'en Collage

One of my favorite crafty-type projects when I was in high school was making collages.

Art was one of my favorite classes in high school (I bet you couldn't have guessed that), and when we had to make a collage for class that respresented "you", I became sort of hooked.

I made several more for my bedroom, just for fun. I even made a collage that actually encircled my entire room. I mounted it on the wall just below the ceiling; kind of like a wall paper border. I wish I had a photograph of how it looked.

Recently I visited a place called Hawthorne Hill Farm, which is near where I live. It looks like an old farm, but it's now a place where crafters and artists can sell their handmade items. The booths are set up inside a large barn and another outbuilding. I took some pictures of that visit, which I will share soon. I saw something there that inspired me to make some wall art to be part of my already extensive Hallowe'en decor.

Here is a picture of one of the finished collages that I made. The central piece is an antique cabinet card photograph which had been stamped on and had some cute paper witches' hats decoupaged onto the woman and her children in the picture. I bought the cabinet card this way at a crafter's booth at Hawthorne Hill Farm, then I put it together with some scrapbooking paper and stamps and embellisments from my stamping closet. After it was assembled, I placed it in a black frame I bought for 50% off at Michael's.

This is the second one. Again, I bought the cabinet card, which had a spider-web and the "Happy Halloween" stamped on it, and a paper witch's hat and kitty in a pumpkin glued onto the card. I added the rest to complete the collage. On the back of the cabinet card, the subject's name was written in pencil (Mary Flemming), so I made sure to add a little tag on the front with her name written in flowing script. The lady that I bought the cabinet cards from said she felt a little bad "desecrating" the pictures and hoped the ghosts of the people in the pictures wouldn't come haunt her for making their serious portraits whimsical. I told her "better you than me" and we laughed about it. Then I told her,"Better to make them into interesting art than tossed into the garbage."

After they were done, Erik hung them in the entry hall above the piano for me.

                                                              Thanks for stopping by!