Halloween House!

Of course I have to dress up every year for Halloween as a witch (although my husband says I'm a witch year round (I rather embrace this statement). I thought I might add some pictures of my house because it's chock full of my spell books, potions and more during October!

Here I am with my fancy Etsy witch hat.  I bought this before I became crafty. 

The broom I hold is a handmade decoration I made this year.  It is a real branch (magical of course!) wrapped in Kraft and decked out with moss.  The broom rushes are made of blackish raffia wrapped around the stick in rusty wire and twine.  I only made 2 of these and they were such a pain, I doubt I'll ever make any more!  However, it turned out mighty cute. 

Here's a picture of my living room.  The pillow on the rocker was made by a very talented artisan Danielle Crane of  Sew Creepy Confections http://sewcreepy.blogspot.com/  I love her creepy portraits! 

Of course, I had to set up a spooky Halloween table.  Can you see my creepy chandelier in the upper left corner of the picture?  It's the centerpiece for my craft tent.  I love my little witch too, although my naughty cat Rudy knocked her over this year and broke her nose clean off!  I had to hot glue it back on and my daughter says she looks even scarier now. 

Here's a closeup of my table. 

Thanks for visiting my witchy halloween house!

Vampires and Werewolves!

Well, I've been toiling away in my studio (or shall I say my witchy lair!) and making spell books and potions for Halloween 2012.  So good to be making these again!    New for this season, a spell book that includes potions for Vampire and Werewolf repellant!  I have two of these! 

The first one has a black paper rose.  I found some vintage black lace that was fun to include. 

As usual, the spell books are decked out with various moss.  The color and print papers are also new for this year. 

What's the key for?  I'm not sure....to open the coffin?  To open the cabinet with the stakes?  You decide.

 I'm big on the details this year.  Many of my spell books include small potions attached with organza ribbon and twine.

 Here you can see how the black lace is trimmed around the edge of the book. 

 Our mysterious key is attached to the book via some raggedy vintage black ribbon. 

 This book will be available for sale at Graces Place in Paw Paw, MI. or by contacting me via my blog. 

Here is the second vampire/werewolf book I made.

 This one is a bit more rustic with the sticks. 

Aga

 Again, I used the black lace, but in a different way on this book .

 The page dividers are two red crystals hanging from black organza ribbons.

 The page is permanently curled and worn. 

This is a fun and sexy little book, I think.  I'm really happy with the lace.  This will sell on my etsy. 

Light box pictures

I've been struggling with my camera. I'm not a great photographer and I realize it really shows up here on my blog.  Don't even mention Etsy!  I've made many attempts for great pics but to no avail, although I know this is a necessity at this point in order to sell my work.   My books don't photograph well anyway, but they are great in person.  So I'm trying hard to learn some photography basics.  One big recommendation in the craft biz books and on the websites is to build a "light box".  Here's my feeble attempt.  I've taken the pics that follow with both my crappy 3G iphone camera and my digital camera.  I struggle with the ease of posting pictures from my phone, but the quality is pretty bad. 

Maybe this experiment will inspire me to start using my digital more!

So building the lightbox...you know, I take my time when I can be creative, but I have absolutely no patience for nuts and bolts stuff.  I know I've done a messy job with the paper inside the box.  :) 

 

I had to find a box big enough for my books. 

Luckily, my son has an art easel that had white roller paper, so I stole some from him.  I just tucked it into the box and taped the outer edges.  I think I was supposed to cut off one of the box sides but again, I get in a hurry and want to get to the fun stuff--the picture taking!

I just bought this handy white craft table on craigslist that will eventually end up in my studio once I get our big screen tv out of there.  I plan on setting up a permanent corner for snapping shots of my work before it goes out, once I have the room.  But for now I dragged it up into my plant/hot tub room and set it by the slider for some indirect light.  I'll take the pics there.  I also brought up a small task size ottlite for

additional lighting.

So lets compare....the pictures on the left were taken with the iphone.  The ones on the right were taken with my digital.  Both were in the the lightbox with the ott-lite on for some brightness. 



I see a little bit of difference here, but not much....

 


Big difference here I think!

 




And a big difference here (look at the color diff!)

Let's try some closeups.... wowza, big difference here!

I'm definitely seeing a trend.  Looks like I'll be taking more pictures with the digital.  **sigh**

 

Continue to scroll down for more pics of my work.  See if you can determine which are the iphone and digital.  I'll bet you can. 

**Note: most of the items pictured here will be going to Vineyard Gourmet Chocolates in Coloma for sale, although a couple of the potion bottles will be posted to Books Enchanted on Etsy.   You can also buy similar items from Lotsa Little Things/Gallery 248 either online or in Kalamazoo, MI or Grace's Place in Paw Paw, MI.