Happy Halloween

Our theme was The Great Pumpkin this year and we did silhouettes in the window and some hanging decorations on the porch like at the party in the Great Pumpkin cartoon. I'm including images of the window silhouettes of Lucy in witch costume, Charlie Brown in his hole-y costume and Snoopy rising out of the pumpkin patch.

Hope you all had a spooktacular Halloween!

Jenn:)

Vintage Halloween Noisemakers Article

I was interviewed for an article on vintage Halloween Noisemakers in the St. Louis Beacon, click on this link to read up on these fun--and for the most part--inexpensive collectibles:

http://www.stlbeacon.org/arts_life/neighborhoods/collecting_in_the_heartland_halloween_noisemakers

To see a lot more neat noisemakers and get some values, check out Mark B. Ledenbach's Vintage Halloween Collectibles: An Identification and Price Guide, and you can order it through his website:

http://www.halloweencollector.com

Jenn:)

Cute Pumpkin Decorations at Lillian Vernon

Check out these cute pumpkin silhouette decorations:

http://www.lillianvernon.com/catalog/product_display.jsp?pdId=12351&name=Black+Metal+Pumpkin+Decorations&parentCatId=1&catId=1151&subCatId=1140

Too cute!

Jenn:)

Matthew Mead Halloween, Country Home, & Martha Stewart

In need of a few last minute decorating or party ideas!? Check these out:

Have you seen this book?! You can find it online at book sellers like Amazon or locally at your bookstores and even at places like Wal-Mart or Walgreens! I happened upon it at Walgreens one day, and just fell in love with it!

It has a great array of party ideas and recipes and so many of them are really easy! The author is Matthew Mead, a Country Home Magazine editor! We were featured in Country Home in the October 2007 issue in a vintage collectibles section. It's a fun magazine, I recommend it!

In this book I recommend especially the owl party--I love owls, so this was quite cute! Martha Stewart's Craft Line this year has a line of owls--punches, stamps, window clings, stickers, etc. that would add flair to any owl planning!

What I enjoy most about this book is the vintage flair--in the imagery and the style of decorating! Plus the art deco feel that is reminiscent of the 20s and 30s Halloween imagery! The countdown of 13 days and tricks is great as is the trick or treat tower. There are neat templates in the back and a lot of great downloads at Matthew's website:

http://www.matthewmeadstyle.com

Check out the October 2008 issue of Country Home as well--Matthew has some neat "bewitching ideas" on page17+ including great container favors and a pumpkin party starting on page 84. Check out the pumpkins painted with chalkboard paint--cute idea!

Martha Stewart's October 2008 issue was, as always, spooktacular--the decorating ideas and the gorgeous photography--especially of all the pumpkin varieties was great. The pumpkin clock on the cover was superb. I'll be trying out the mouse motel pumpkin this year! The clipart invites inspired by vintage invites were great. All of the good things were especially fun.

With so many of the magazines out this year being a disappointment as to their Halloween decorating--some having very little Halloween at all!, these three are stellar!

Jenn:)

Halloween Antiquing

I was in Ohio recently and went by Jeffrey's Antique Gallery located in Findlay. That place is huge! Tons of dealers and quite a bit of Vintage Halloween collectibles! Many were pretty pricey, however some were more reasonable. I'm including a picture I snapped--click on it for a larger image. If you are near Findlay, OH, I'd recommend stopping in--it's located right off the main highway, 11326 County Rd. 99, phone number: 419-423-7500.

I tend to find mostly noisemakers, paper decorations and some paper mache lanterns in my area (which I often suspect have reproduction inserts), but back East you really seem to get a nice variety, so I love antiquing on trips back that way. I was recently in the Lancaster area of PA, and there were some nice antique shops there too.

Jenn:)

Vintage Halloween in Collectors News Magazine

Well, this season of Halloween just totally got away from us! We've been keeping busy at the store with orders, that my blogging has been relegated to not much! I thought I'd try to keep up a bit before the Halloween season is finally over!

In this entry, I wanted to mention Collectors News magazine! There is an article featuring my collection and an interview in the October 2008 issue.

http://collectors-news.com

I'll also have an upcoming profile on my Nancy Drew collection in early '09--not sure which issue yet.

I'm previewing a cover here. Featured in the article are some of my reproduction postcards, noisemakers, and some games, it turned out very nicely!

Jenn:)