Things That Go Bump in the Night...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope this Monday finds you all doing well out there! Things here are so busy and so good I scarcely know where to start. Let's start with some business! I was recently hired to photograph a lovely couple on one of the prettiest Fall days we've had up in Maine this year. The light was perfect, they were delightful and they were very happy with how their shots came out. Winning all around! Here are some of the shots from that day. Such fun.

What else? Oh, I was also hired to do promotional photography for a local salon's website this past weekend. Those shots will be ready next post, but this group of women is so fun, I had to share this outtake of one of the owners. (This shot is totally her in a nutshell and I smile every time I look at it.) Such a rocker. Amazing.

And now that Halloween is behind us, the holidays are just around the corner! In light of this fact, I have found some amazing clothing recently for STAG that I will be adding for vintage gift-giving to the special men (or women) in your life! So many great things coming soon, including this group of vintage men's leisure shirts from the 60's and 70's and winter tweed! Including an entire vintage women's tweed dress suit (the coat is shown below paired with that amazing purple tie). I'm making it super easy to find beautiful, signature pieces for your loved ones this year, right at the push of a button!

But it's not all work and no play here. This past weekend, my friend invited me to a Halloween costume party and it was such fun! Every single person dressed up, which makes it so much better, don't you think? A couple of my favorite people came as well and their costumes were creepy-awesome. Take a look! Love it.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Bonfires & Autumn Nights...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all well this fine October week! I have a ton to share as usual. To start, the business end. I have just finished listing some amazing vintage Halloween items over at STAG. Including the two 1940's era Halloween costumes used in my Halloween card shoot this year! These costumes were made by Halco, a big manufacturer of costumes back in the day and they come complete with their original boxes! What a cute idea for those of you who love vintage. I also listed some great vintage Beistle Halloween decorations that haven't even been opened yet with "Swingin' Watusi Action"... whatever that means. Oh, and a cobra candleholder and 1950's copper art. In other words, top-notch things just for you.

What else? Oh. In my ongoing effort to enjoy every last bit of Fall (I've been fairly successful so far), I've done more Fall baking. This time, I decided to try a recipe I've been meaning to do for over a year: a pumpkin cheesecake with a pretzel crust. Some savory, some sweet. Well, the recipe didn't exist, so I just substituted pretzels for the graham crackers and Folks, it came out really, really well. The pretzels caramelized around the edges and almost tasted nutty. (I consider this a recipe modification win, in other words.) Oh, and then a whipped up an old fashioned pumpkin pie that was also very good. I love Fall baking so much!

And then, a friend decided to throw a Columbus Day bonfire, complete with Mexican cuisine, a fire, some ghost stories and my pie. Needless to say, we all had a really good time. The weather was cool and drizzly, the laughter flowed effortlessly and there was pie. Which, winning. Fall in Maine. It really doesn't get any better.

It almost goes without saying that I love original art, being an artist myself. I have a ton of it in my home and I really enjoy looking at other peoples' work on a daily basis. So, when I came across the Drunktweets project by Josh Ellingson on Laughing Squid, I was completely charmed. When I found out he was selling the originals for a very reasonable price, I ran right over and snapped one up. The one I circled below is now mine. I love these. If you're interested in grabbing one for yourself, here is his Etsy shop. They're going very fast, so hurry and support an artist who does wonderful things!

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Off to the Fair!!!

Hello Lovelies~

I hope this week finds you all well and settling into Fall if you're in the Northern Hemisphere. The weather up here in Maine has been almost perfect: warm days, cool nights, plenty of days of sunshine. In fact, I took last weekend to make a trip to our Common Ground Fair up here and I have a ton of pictures of that to share with you all!

But first, I shot my annual Halloween card last week and I am very, very excited with how it's coming along! Here is a teaser of things to come. My adorable model Katie is sporting a vintage, 1940's Halco Brand cheetah costume with hood. Cute. And soon, it will be available for sale over at STAG for Halloween buying!

And then, I shot the next piece in my Rein It In Series (#5!!!!). These are going so well and they're such fun. I mean, how often do you get to put a grown man into fake mutton chops and eye makeup just to make him a smarmy sea captain? (Answer: not often.) These are looking terrific. I will post the finished shots very soon.

Okay, so now that we have my project teasers out of the way, I will share the fair shots with you! My good friend Brian and I ventured a couple of hours north to our Common Ground Fair, which is the more "natural" and "organic" (read: hippy) fair in Maine. A ton of great food, an entire section on alternate forms of energy, robust livestock: in short, it's beautiful and quiet. I found the quiet a bit odd given the number of people. I'm used to fairs with rides and 80's rock and yelling, but there was none of that here. It was delightful. We had such fun and so many laughs! And then I wrapped the weekend up at my favorite friends' house which is always full of sweet animals, good food and good humor. A perfect Sunday ritual that ends the weekend on a calm note.

Fall is off to a very good start, my friends.

 

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Flying Winds & Flying Monkeys

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you're all doing well on this Fall day. I am under a blanket typing this and listening to both Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder soundtrack on record and the wind howling like crazy outside. What weather we're having up here in Maine! But I won't bore you with the weather. A lot has been going on up here that I can't wait to share! To start, some shop news. As I bulk up both Stapelia & Stag for the holidays (especially Stag), I wanted to let you all know that Etsy now makes it possible for you to buy gift cards for that hard-to-shop-for person on your list! In light of this, both of my shops now accept gift cards, Paypal and credit cards to make things as easy as possible for you. (Because really, finding the perfect gift should be the hard part, not checking out.)

What else? Oh! I am running a fun promo for my Stapelia Facebook page to gain some new followers and to give away a pretty neat item that I think my followers would enjoy! Here are the details: Go to my Facebook page (HERE) between now and next Monday 11.5 and find the promo post that has the below image. Share that post on your wall and give a shout-out to my page. This will serve as your entry to win an almost complete deck of rare, 1960's era Monster Old Maid cards! Featuring the Universal Monsters, like Wolfman, the Mummy, Dracula, these cards are very hard to find and I am just giving them away! So pass it on and get your entry in. Winner will be announced next Monday!

And speaking of monsters, this past weekend, my Sweetie and I and some good friends went on a history walk through the Glidden Cemetery up north and it was such a good time. An old cemetery, a group of funny friends, and a tour at dusk in October? Please. It's a no-brainer. We also learned some neat facts. Like the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard. Do you know what it is? Take a guess and post it below...

I got further into the Halloween spirit over the weekend by putting a flying monkey costume together for my niece complete with special red feather wings and makeup! She was really happy with it, which made me happy. It was tough doing makeup on such a small face, but considering my limited skills in this arena and her limited patience, I think we did okay. Check it out:

I have been doing a ton of junking recently to stock Stag up with some great items for the holidays and in the course of my elbow-deep pilfering and wading through a metric ton of things that I can't believe anyone would want, I have found some records that display some top-notch artwork. While I try to keep my record collection limited to things I love musically, these are so neat, I may just have to hang them up in my studio. Take a look:

Any horror movie fans out there? I'm going to wrap up with a movie recommendation. I recently watched The Moth Diaries and if you're into vampires and/or subtle, classic horror and suspense, this is the movie for you. It's rare that you find a movie that implies more than it shows, but this movie does this in spades. The characters and tone are great. Give it a watch this All Hallows Week.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...