Pumpkin Carving

I found these pictures from last year and thought I would share them. We went wine tasting a year ago on Old Mission Peninsula (Traverse City) and stopped at the Jolly Pumpkin behind Bowers Harbor on the west bay side of the peninsula. They had a pumpkin carver there earlier in the day, Most of his pumpkins were gone but I did get these pictures. I haven't attempted this kind of carving but think it looks great!

BTW, the homemade potato chips are tasty there-as well as the white fish! Yum~now I am hungry!

Don't eat too many treats today!

Boogedy Boo!

HaPPy HaLLoWeEn!

Enjoy the weekend~but don't lose your head!

May all your spooks be small and your enjoyment large!

I will miss Halloween but there is Christmas looming in the future...

Halloween Lamps Continued....

I did say I love lamps and this time of the year I find I have several Halloweenie lamps.

I found the Harry Potter lamp in Petosky a few years ago and knew it would be great with a colored bulb during this season!

One of my personal favorites has to be the witch hat lamp I made myself. I saw what I thought was a witch hat lamp in a store but the price was high. I was perusing Target and found a toddlers witch hat so decided to make my own lamp. I bought a cheap black lamp at Hobby Lobby (half price) and changed the lamp shade by making a cone shape out of parchment paper, adding bat shapes to the parchment which show when lit. This wasn't quite stable enough so I searched for something heavier and found a clear plastic cone (and I cannot remember where I found this-maybe in the floral section of a hobby store?). I added black netting over this. I dressed up the witch hat with fancy netting and bead trim (glued on) and Voila!

Hope you can tell how cute this is from the pictures! And BTW, the witch lamp I thought was so expensive turned out to be just a hat on a stand~not a lamp! So my idea came from misinformation. So glad I took initiative and made it myself!

New Halloween Lamp

I have a weakness for lamps~don't know why but I do enjoy buying them!

It all started with an expensive agate lamp I bought years ago-which took the place of a vacation out east that summer (my husband was relieved-he hates to leave Michigan in the summer).

I found this new Halloween lamp two weeks ago when I stole time away from the miniature show I was working on to shop (with coupon in hand). I immediately knew I wanted it, but have started questioning whether I have a place for it. Of course I found a place and I love it!

I thought I would share pictures for those of you crafty bloggers (Kim-this is for you!). It doesn't look very hard to make-good luck!

Zimmerman Girl's Weekend.

It's quiet now, but this weekend I was host to my Aunt Jeanette (90 years young), two cousins, Mom (who just turned 87) and two sisters (I won't reveal their ages). The cottage was the place for our mini reunion and we thoroughly enjoyed our time together.
Friday we drove into Traverse City for supper at a favorite restaurant-Apache Trout Grill. The restaurant was generous and allowed us to celebrate both Mom's and Aunt Jeanette's birthdays with yummy desserts (I am notorious for asking for birthday desserts!).
Saturday we drove up to Petosky, stopping along the way at a favorite upper Michigan art gallery-Bier's (http://www.biergallery.com/ ). Many of us found gifts and treasures to take home. I don't miss attending Ann Arbor Street Fair every July since finding this gallery. Ray&Tammy Bier traveled the art fair circuit until they became established in an old red school house/gallery just south of Charlevoix. We drove on into Petosky for lunch at City Park Grill-terrific place where Hemmingway spent time (at the beautiful bar-many years ago). We walked around town a bit, helping the economy before getting back on the road. It started to rain by then so when we drove through Charlevoix, we had a quick drive-by tour of the stone houses built by Earl Young. I took an inside tour of eight of these house this summer so I could share some of the highlights. It is always a treat to show these 'smurf houses' to others~the houses are so unique and special. We stopped at the Charlevoix Public Library for a potty break. I just discovered how special this building is this summer. A public school was converted into a magnificent library with many amenities. Wonderful place to check out if you are in the area!
The weekend involved delicious food-Aunt Jeanette brough homemade apple sauce made the same way as Gramma used to make it. The cookies, muffins, white chili, salsa and so many other terrific food choices made us all feel the love of family (although too stuffed!), not forgetting to mention the wonderful pies from Grand Traverse Pie Company. Yumm!
So I am here alone now, resting up for our drive home. John is outside working on something (no football game on at the moment). We have already decided on another weekend together in a warmer month. Looking forward to it!

An inspiration....

While sitting in my big chair, daydreaming, I had a sudden inspiration. I have two topiaries for my mantle during the spring and summer seasons. The topiaries have been relocated to a corner during Halloween. I also have a toddler sized witch hat which my big bear has worn in past Halloween seasons (he is a Monarch butterfly this year). One thought lead to another and now my topiaries have hats and glasses or a mask which makes them very festive. I also turned miniature topiaries into witches with bat masks. There is always some small spot ready for transformation into Halloween!

Boooooooooo...!

I am exhausted but had to share a picture from the miniature show I am helping put on this weekend! Some friends made miniature glitter houses from using printables from this website-

http://www.littleglitterhouses.com/paul/howard_how_to.htm .

I used my Halloween pedestals to display some of them and added my Haunted Clock and a few other goodies to made a terrific display at the show! It was especially fun to turn off the lights to see the display in the dark-the glitter houses have flickering lights! Don't you love the new lamp?! Found it today! Love the colors.

Now off to bed to be ready for another fun filled but busy day!