Dia de los Muertos / Day of the Dead Party Invitaiton

So I was over at my friend Cathie Filian's house the other day when she was working on this awesome Day of the Dead Halloween Tree. I just love it! She used 99 cent store skulls, jewels, Mod Podge, fabric flowers, paper plates and more! To visit her site for more information and the tutorial please visit here: http://www.cathiefilian.com/new-traditions-for-the-filian-family-have-a-peek-our-dia-de-los-muertos-tree/

I loved it so much I got inspired to whip up my own Day of the Dead party invitation.

You can view / purchase it from my Etsy store here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/SarahTacomaDesigns 

Victorian Mad Laboratory

This year I came up with a new Halloween display for our dining room! A few months ago at an estate sale I found the centerpiece to this display - an old expandable pharmacy file and bwahhahhaha the Victorian Mad Laboratory display was born.

Once I had decided on the theme - I hit the 99 cent store and got a few ghouly body parts - a heart, a brain and a bunch of fingers! I also grabbed a few bags of spiders and other creepy crawlies. I was lucky enough to already own the Victorian condiment cruet set on the far left. It is a family heirloom from Mike's side of the family. He had this fashionable great grandmother who lived in Chicago during the Victorian heyday and boy oh boy did she have fabulous taste (we also have her late 1900s tufted chaise lounge and pretty threadbare oriental rug (that I can't bear to part with). I filled the bottles up with salt or water that I tinted with food coloring.

I found vintage pharmacy labels on GraphicsFairy.com and added descriptions to them in Photoshop.

Then I hit the thrift stores for vintage books with gothic designs, worn covers or bindings and potion bottles with stoppers.

I even found an 1899 reproduction of Merck's Manual - a list of pharmaceutical ingredients for physicians.

 Last but not least I found an old mid century beverage server that I thought looked like an old Victorian style Bunsen burner with flask! I filled it with water and green food coloring for that perfect witchy potion color and on Halloween we'll put dry ice in it to spook it up!

Get Spooked!

Finished a new Halloween invitation design for my Etsy Store.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/161764294/bat-spiderweb-spooky-halloween-party?ref=shop_home_active

Also had fun this morning curating a spooky, victorian, crafty themed Etsy Treasury. Take a peek - there are so many amazing artists in this treasury.

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTI4NTE4NjF8MjcyMjQyOTkzNw/get-spooked?index=0&atr_uid

Red Tricycle Finalist! Halloween Invitations are around the corner!

I am so excited! I am a Red Tricycle Finalist for their 2013 Totally Awesome Awards in the WEB - Announcement, Birthday & Holiday Card Suppliers - Category. Which means I get an advertising link on their site!

http://awards.redtri.com/2013/announcement-birthday-holiday-card-suppliers

I have been working on a few new invitations for Halloween and will be getting those up in a few days. But here's a sneak peak of some of the invitations available:

For more invitation examples please visit my etsy store!!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/sarahtacoma

Got Brains?

This post is dedicated to Zombie lovers everywhere! A few years ago Mike and I decided it was time to come up with a theme to decorate our front yard for Halloween. It came down to 2 ideas - Meat the Cleavers, a gory ode to June & Beaver Cleaver or a Victorian Zombie graveyard. We settled on the graveyard because it was a little easier to flesh out (he he).

 My husband built the Cemetery sign and the graveyard fence from recycled wood we had.

Then I thrifted a few cosmetology heads and Victorian looking clothing. We have talented friends and our friend Karen Sartario painted Mr. Zombie and Aaron Lyle painted Mrs. Zombie for us.

Last year the week after Halloween I found this 1950s life sized doll. She had to hang out in the garage for a whole year until finally I could get her all zombied up for this year's display. She stares creepily out at everybody from the front of the cemetery.

This little one is another addition to the walking dead family.

And that concludes our Zombie graveyard. Hopefully I'll be able to add another ghoulie ghoul
next year.

Last but not least - I had the opportunity to take my 2 boys on a family zombie walk a few nights ago. Both of my sons had a blast - groaning and lurching down the streets of Glendale. I am always amazed at the ability of children to suspend disbelief and just have fun! I highly recommend it if your city has one!

HALLOWEEN - Part I - COSTUME ATTIRE REQUIRED!

I love Halloween! And so does my family. We make a big effort to decorate both the front yard (coming soon in the next blog post) and our house. In the house I like to get everyone involved in dressing up for the season - costumes are mandatory! And that includes our taxidermy, stuffed animals, vintage toys and various artwork that's on display. See below for some of the fun disguises I have used to "spook up the crib."

We love Jesus and thinks he must have a sense of humor! So he gets to sport devil horns for his costume.

I found this painting 20 years ago at one of my first thrift store visits after I moved to Los Angeles. I took a piece of black cardboard paper and cut out a bat mask for her.

Would you believe this is a monkey!??

This is Pancho Del Muerte. Even skeletons need a get-up.

 

Mr. Deer gets a snappy top hat and a wolf snout.

This is a vintage cosmetology head that we painted to look like a zombie and added an morbid Victorian mourning bonnet.

Stay tuned for our Zombie graveyard in Halloween - Part 2.