Primitive Halloween Folk Art

Time got away from me this busy holiday season, and I never got a chance to post all of my newest designs for fall and Halloween before it was time to start working on orders for them.  So now that I have already started working on Christmas versions of the two primitive dolls below, I figured I should finally post their Halloween versions first.

primitive cat doll in a witch hat

This is a reclining primitive Halloween cat doll, dressed in a black witch hat and a black cheesecloth scarf.  Look for her in a Santa hat in my Etsy shop later this week.

handmade spooky Halloween moon man in a witch hat

And this is primitive Halloween moon wall decoration wearing a black witch hat. I envisioned him as a Halloween man in the moon, but some think he looks like an old crone, which I can see too. S/he will also be in my Etsy shop wearing a Santa hat later this week.

handmade spooky Halloween moon man

Halloween Spun Cotton Ornaments

spun cotton ornament

Halloween spun cotton ornament

spun cotton Halloween ornament

spun cotton dog ornament

spun glass Halloween ornament

The ornaments pictured above are my newest spun cotton and spun glass designs for the 2011 holiday season. I am now working on another batch of Halloween primitive dolls – a black cat, a witch cat, and a witchy moon. More spun cotton Halloween ornaments will be added next week, and perhaps a Halloween paper doll or two.

spun cotton ornament display

Halloween Ornaments

The orange and black chenille Halloween ornaments below are the latest additions to my line of chenille ornaments for the 2011 holiday season.  Click an image to visit them in my Etsy shop.

halloween folk art

primitive halloween ornaments

What will emerge from my workspace today?
artist workspace

I have new spun cotton ornaments and spun glass ornaments in the works – they will be added to the Old World Primitives Etsy shop later today and tomorrow.

Chenille Cat Ornaments

A new set of Christmas kitties are available now from Old World Primitives!   I think they are my favorite set of cat ornaments that I have made yet.

chenille Christmas cat ornaments

I also realized that I never posted the new set of black cats (for Halloween – or any time of year!) here on this blog yet, so they are also pictured below. They have been available in my Etsy shop for a few weeks now.

chenille black cat ornaments

Both sets of ornaments are available at either my:

or my brand new:

Both online storefronts allow you to shop my entire inventory, with the main difference being that my ArtFire shop allows you to buy in larger quantities without requesting a custom listing.  ArtFire also does not require you to register for an account in order to make a purchase.

Celebrate 365 Magazine Halloween Issue

I just received my Fall 2010 issue of Celebrate 365 magazine in the mail and I am drooling over all of the wonderful talent on each and every page!  There are so many unique and creative Halloween goodies in this issue – I would love to have one of each in my collection.  This is the cover of the issue:

Celebrate 365 Magazine Fall 2010 cover

And here is a peek at pages 18-19, the spread that includes three of my sets of vintage style chenille Halloween ornaments – I am so honored to be featured here!

Celebrate 365 magazine Halloween 2010 issue

And a closeup:
Celebrate 365 Magazine Fall 2010 issue

Chenille and Spun Cotton Halloween Ornaments

I am busily assembling a cast of characters for Halloween this week… the last spooky spun cotton ornaments and chenille Halloween ornaments are below.  The spun cotton witch kitty will have a sister tomorrow.

spun cotton black cat Halloween ornament

spun cotton skeleton Halloween ornament

Halloween chenille ornaments

I have a few new dolls in progress too.   I am excited to use my new antique shop finds – grungy old buttons and antique lace – in some primitive creations.

antique buttons and lace

Time Flies When You’re Going Bonkers

I have been all over the place since my last post… oh gosh, where to start. I’ll start with the embarrassing part first – my husband and I attempted to move for the second time within three years, and our plan flopped once again. We have been trying to move from the suburbs to an older farmhouse in the country… something that I always thought was my dream… to live in a 1700s or 1800s farmhouse decorated like one of the homes I have so often drooled over in Early American Life magazine. But our attempts to move have taught me that this may not be my ultimate dream after all. The country escapes that we found ourselves pursuing were still just a little too bit “more of the same,” albeit in less developed areas. We don’t have the big bucks required to completely “get away from it all,” and we just couldn’t find anything that was quite enough away.

So now we have a new plan in mind… bear with me here, as this may sound crazy… to save up enough money to REALLY move into the country… or rather, a step closer to the wilderness. We are going to save up, purchase a motor home, sell our current home, and pursue the freedom of living full time on the road, camping at remote, wild and beautiful spots along the way. This is an idea I have been toying with for 6 years now, but I never thought I would be able to make it happen. I felt too entrenched in my current way of life despite how much I wanted to give this a try. But now, if we can save enough to make this plan feasible… there is a new goal in the horizon.

So. I’ve wasted a ton of time this summer house-hunting, packing… and then un-packing (ugh!), but I’ve still managed to get some new dolls and ornaments created, and to do a bunch of gardening and pickling too.

garden

Do you think my tomato plants are happy?? :D

tomato plants

And now I invite you to meet an extreme primitive doll named Nadine, and a primitive witch make-do named Hexe:

extreme primitive doll

primitive folk art witch make-do

Plus my newest ornaments in spun cotton, spun glass, and chenille:

spun cotton ornament

spun glass ornament

chenille Halloween ornaments

All of the new creations above can be found in my Old World Primitives Etsy shop.

Welcoming Summer

The unofficial start of summer is here, so I have decided that I must get out of my gardens and back to the creating table.  There are many dolls and ornaments in progress that are calling for my attention!  Here is a look at the spun cotton ornaments that I have added to Old World Primitives Etsy shop since my last blog post… yes, I am already preparing for Halloween!

spun cotton ornament

spun cotton ornament

spun cotton ornament

spun cotton ornament

And this is Laura, my latest primitive cloth doll with a sculpted Paperclay face – she is traveling at the moment, preparing for her feature in a future issue of Prims magazine.  :)

primitive doll

I have been working ever so slowly on my Izannah Walker doll class, which thankfully has stayed open long enough for slow pokes like me.   This is where I am at with my doll now – her sculpting is done, and I am ready to apply her stockinette next.  I think that perhaps I have been hesitating with moving onto that step for so long now because I’m a bit nervous about messing her up!

izannah walker doll

Chenille Christmas Cat and Dog Ornaments

I added two new sets of chenille ornaments to the Old World Primitives Etsy Shop today, especially for cat and dog lovers (like myself!).

chenille cat ornaments for Christmas or everyday decorating

chenille dog ornaments for Christmas or everyday decorating

They can be used as feather tree ornaments for Christmas or everyday, and would also make nice handmade wedding favors.

While starting to create for Christmas, I am still enjoying counting down to Halloween!  Last weekend I went to a spooktacular Halloween costume party that featured some truly out of this world decorations and interactive displays.  Below are some of the photos that I took during the evening, including pictures of the *least* scary decorations. In one room, the walls reached out and grabbed me… twice!

Halloween party

Halloween party

Halloween party

Halloween party

Halloween party

The Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze 2009

This past weekend I made my second annual trip out to the Great Jack O’ Lantern Blaze in the Hudson Valley of NY.  It featured a display of over 4,000 individually hand-carved glowing Halloween pumpkins on display in the form of dinosaurs, a UFO surrounded by aliens (my favorite part this year), pirates, a beehive abuzz with bees, sunflowers, and more.  The setting was on the riverside grounds of the historic 18th century Van Courtland Manor.  It was a cold but thankfully dry night as we wound our way through the spooky sights and sounds, sipping hot apple cider and munching apple cider donuts from a local orchard. Below are some of my photos from the evening.

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY

The Great Jack O' Lantern Blaze 2009 in Historic Hudson Valley, NY