Oct 27, 2013
For Halloween, I made a special playlist for the store… so I thought it might be fun to share it with you guys. To start, I compiled a few “halloween-music-must-have” lists with several of my own seasonal faves. I think it’s fun and not too spooky (my kind of Halloween). Looking forward to making the most of this lineup for the next few days!
Halloween Playlist
Nightmare – Artie Shaw
I Put a Spell on You – Nina Simone
Old Devil Moon – Mel Tormé & Al Pelligini Trio ‘live’
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (1961 Version) – Ella Fitzgerald
Headless Horseman – Bing Crosby
That Old Black Magic – Dave Brubeck
Superstition – Stevie Wonder
Miles Runs the Voodoo Down – Miles Davis
Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead – Ella Fitzgerald
Mack the Knife – Louis Armstrong
Witchy Woman – Eagles
Witchcraft – Frank Sinatra
Thriller – Michael Jackson
Smooth Criminal – Michael Jackson
Haunt Me No More – Mike McClure
I Put a Spell On You – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
The Joker – The Steve Miller Band
Love Potion #9 – The Clovers/ The Searchers
Werewolf – Frantics
Mysterious Ways – U2
Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon
Supermassive Black Hole – Muse
Ghostbusters – Ray Parker, Jr.
Time Warp – Rocky Horror Picture Show
Tremble for My Beloved – Collective Soul
Rock Lobster – The B52’s
Full Moon – The Black Ghosts
Bella’s Lullaby – Carter Burwell
Black Magic Woman – Santana
Monster Mash – Pickett, Bobby “Boris”
The Pink Panther Theme (From the “Pink Panther”) – Henry Mancini
Main Title Theme (Ghostbusters) – Elmer Bernstein
Dana’s Theme – Elmer Bernstein
Purple People Eater – Halloween & The London Fox Singers
The Addams Family – Halloween & The London Fox Singers
I’m Your Boogie Man – Halloween & The London Fox Singers
What do you think? Am I missing any that you think I really need? If so, tell me please!
Oct 25, 2013
For my #booksandbirds Halloween party, since I was going with a literary-theme, I thought that books would be the perfect vessel for the menu, AND serve as place cards too!
Using a few books on hand, I created these with pretty minimal effort, using:
– Black grosgrain ribbon
– Scissors
– Hot glue/glue gun
– Existing books
– Printed “Name Plates” for each guest (you could also do this by hand if you needed to)
– Printed Menus
1. Cut the grosgrain ribbon to fit around the cover of your book, overlapping about 1/2 – 1 inch.
2. Using a glue gun, secure the grosgrain around the book cover.
3. Use a dab of hot glue on the back of the “name plate” and affix it to the grosgrain ribbon, carefully hiding the “overlap”.
For the menu, of course I went with literary-themed courses. I even made it look like a “Table of Contents”.
For this get-together, this is what was on the menu:
Julius Caesar {Salad}
Crepes of Wrath {Main}
Sense and Sensibility {Greens}
Edgar Allan Poe-tatoes {Side}
Adventures of Huck Finn {Dessert}
Tequila Mockingbird {Cocktail}
Oct 21, 2013
For my #booksandbirds Halloween party, I decided to make definition straw flags to coordinate with the literary theme. Using the definition of “drink” related words, such as beverage, drink, tipsy, sip, and potion to make these straws extra fun and festive!
Want some for yourself? Lucky you, here’s a definition straw flags! Simply print, cut out along the dotted lines, and use double-sided tape to adhere to your favorite paper straws!
Cheers!
Oct 20, 2013
As most of you know, it’s been a rough couple of months around my house (if you’re lost, you can catch up here and here). So I decided that this Halloween, I would focus more on happy, fun and colorful- definitely not black and death. Old books make me happy, and I have a bunch of them, so that’s part of why I went with the #booksandbirds theme. Since I’ve already shared that, I thought I might go ahead and show a few more decoration/party details as well!
From now until Halloween, I’m going to share the details of my own little Halloween get-together ( really, I mean LITTLE – just a tiny party of just a few close gal pals this year). Even with a small crowd, I can’t help but put a little effort in the details – that’s all the fun for me! So in this post I’ve decided to do a “step-by-step” of my table centerpiece. {Stay tuned over the next week and a half for other fun party ideas and recipes if you’re interested.}
1. With a blank table as my slate, I layered two tablecloths. First a black one, then a vintage “lace” one.
2. Then I gathered a few books (pretty much my entire Zane Grey collection that I got at an estate sale – it’s been “filler” in my favorite hallway for awhile, so I knew I could use them and not disrupt my general “book order”.) I also collect old glass milk jars, so I thought those might be great for adding flowers (and color) to the centerpiece. I used a few I had on hand as place-fillers here.
3. Next, I added a few crows, candle holders that I got at an estate sale ($5 for the set!) and white candles.
4. Finally, I wrapped a few cobwebs (and plastic spiders) around the entire display. I also added some flowers to the milk jars in a loose arrangement. For these I used mostly yellow blooms, with some textural greens and “odd stems” (such as Safflower and Billy Balls) which I got from my friend Pam at Box of Rain.
I love how the whole thing turned out, and it was pretty easy to do (bonus)! Do you spy the place card books I used? A post with details on that is coming up soon!
Oct 5, 2013
Since I already shared a small part of my transition into fall decor, I thought I might show you the completed Halloween mantle look. Each year I slightly change up the “theme”, and this time I decided to go with Old Books & Birds (well, specifically, crows). Even though I annually change the theme, I still like to re-use/re-purpose bits and pieces from previous years. Last year I created this “mirror” to fit a frame I found at an estate sale and made the paper bunting to spell out “All Hallow’s Eve”. This year I added the crow, glitter skull and potion jar. Everything else is part of my normal, everyday decor.
On the left side, the paintbrushes were from my grandmother (who was an artist) and the artist brush washer container was from my other grandmother (who just thought it was cute). I added the crow inside the glass box just for fun. The books, clock, and candle sticks are usually on the mantle anyway (just in a different spot).
On the right, I brought in one of my favorite items- a vintage birdcage- more books, cardboard ampersand, glittery black skull and potion bottle. Instead of the typical orange and black, I thought it might be more fun to have a little extra color this year – so I swapped out the usual black books for some colorful ones. For some reason it amuses me that the bird is in the box and not the cage (ha, I know I’m kinda weird). I might still add a couple of tiny pumpkins to the mantle shelf, but other than that, I’m calling it done- trying to keep it simple this year. So what do you think? Do you switch up your mantle look or stick with what you know already works?
Sep 9, 2013
In preparation of creating the Tailgating Guide for Calligraphy Etc., I’m not gonna lie – I needed a little help. Well, a lot of help, actually. 
From the prepping of the food to gathering the props in 95 degree heat (thank you Suzanne!), the styling of the shots for the guide, this project ended up being more work than I originally envisioned. I am pleased with the result, but I can’t take all the credit for how smoothly the project went. I dealt with the products to feature, but I also enlisted a few talented ladies to tidy up the details for me.
I feel so SO blessed to have had the opportunity to collaborate on this project with two fabulous ladies – Allison Fannin (Two Thirty Five Designs) and Linda McMillan (Linda McMillan Photography). They’re fun gals, they both have a great energy, and they’re super easy to work with. Plus, they’re totally on my creative “page”, so I can just give them my initial idea and let them each run with it! For creative-types, that’s not easy to find (and it’s such a relief). There’s nothing more exciting than knowing that others “get” your idea and make it even better (and nothing more frustrating than those that JUST. DON’T. GET IT.)
Allison is a local fashion/DIY/design blogger and Linda is one of the few local photogs that I recommend. If you don’t know these ladies yet, you should! Feel free to show them a little love across the social media-verse:
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Linda’s Facebook Instagram Twitter Email Pinterest
