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.

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.

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.

Do you think my tomato plants are happy??

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

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

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!

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 the second issue of Prims magazine. 

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!

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!).

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!

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.

Primitive Santa Doll + Halloween Fun

Santa Claus is comin’ to town! I just added this new primitive doll to the Old World Primitives Etsy shop – a robed Santa carrying a Christmas stocking. The sweet annie in Santa’s stocking came from Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm in Pennsylvania (I never miss their delightful Harvest Festival).

Santa is SOLD, thank you!

Although I have started making Christmas items already, I am still having fun getting into the Halloween spirit and enjoying the season. Last night I went to the Great Jack-O’-Lantern Blaze in Hudson Valley, NY. It featured over 4,000 individually hand-carved, illuminated pumpkins on display in the form of dinosaurs, pirates, snakes, spiders, mummies, an undersea aquarium, grave angels (my favorite part!) and more. Below are some of the photos that I took at the event that came out well enough to be recognizable (it was dark and spooky! which meant that sadly many of my favorite parts of the display didn’t photograph well).