Monday is Market Day!

This weekend has found me fighting my allergies :(  I missed joining my friends over at Southern Lady Vintage for Saturday Vintage Love which was vintage china. Please stop by and see all thier lovely  peices. The bright spot now is visiting the virtual flea market called..Market Monday...over at the Etsy Cottage Style Blogspot It is an eclectic mix for vintage and hand-made finds perfect for the upcoming holiday gift-giving season. I've added new items to both my Brown Gingham Creations website and to my Apronation Etsysite. Please stop by and visit all my fellow sellers. And, remember this market is open all week..24/7...!!

Click the button and go directly to the Market!



Happy Halloween !

HI Everyone!

We've been getting ready for All Hallows Eve. We love to decorate for this 'spook'tacular holiday.
The walk to our house is a long way...especially through the woods..... our long drive goes by. We use torches along the drive to light the way for those who dare the trek. Once at the 'haunted' House we have seating set up all around. Today I'll focus on our Kitchen Porch.

The table will be set more buffet style and the fare pretty simple.
I still haven't decided on the edible delights yet...............................


Blood Soup (tomato soup)
Hannibal's Delectable Stew (Beef Stew)
Freddy's Skewers (metal skewers with meat and veggies)
Lady Finger Sandwiches (hotdogs)
Ghostwiches  (white bread with PB & Jelly cut out with cookiecutter shape of a ghost)
Whodovoodoo Chili (chicken chili)
Zombies Brain Food (spaghetti and sauce)
Werewolf  Bites ( hamburgers)
Froglegs
Moldy Veggies ( celery, carrots, radishes, cauliflower, etc for dipping in a Blue Cheese dip)
Eyes of Newt (olives)
Fungus Soup (Cream of Mushroom soup with mushroom bits added)
Deviled Eggs
Fried Demon Skin (saratoga chips or pork rinds if you dare)
Dirt Pie (oreo and chocolate pudding concoction that when done does look like dirt)
Worms and Bugs (Gummi candy)
I'm really not sure what to serve the ghouls, goblins, and monsters that come. They always eat whatever is served..... I hope you don't find my suggestions in bad taste...hehehe.
Drinks vary..depends on the crowd. They can bring thier own 'poison', but I always have
Witches Brew (punch)
Vampire Juice (Creme Soda)
Swamp Water (Mountain Dew)
Dark Water (Cola)
We usually set up the tailgate of the pickup as the 'Bar'. We have games too.........................................
Pumpkin Seed Spitting
Apple Bobbing
Vampire and Werewolf (played like Duck Duck Goose)
Pin the Wing on the Bat
OMG What  Is It (you fill plastic bags with items. Place the bag in a brown paper sack so it can't be seen.
                             They reach in and try to guess what it is.  I've used ham, eggs, cotton balls, bolts,
                             cooked rice, jello, press on nails, even pickled pigs feet...it's so much fun and the
                             faces are priceless.)
Batmitton
Volleyhead (volley ball is decorated as a head)

Well, you get the idea.....we are monster mash central :)
Here is a close up of our table...............................................................................................................

The plastic Pumpkinman is vintage 1960's. the other ceramic and metal
decor is from Home Goods and the Dollar Store.

For serving I'll use my vintage Mochaware mugs and plates, bean pots, and serving bowls. The white-glazed terracotta pumpkin will serve stew or soup.

I'll also use these hand-painted plates.

 When Trick or Treaters come, Jim'll be all ready..................................................................................

 See, I got Jim to dress up..lol

and his partners, Punkinhead..our garden help...and

Peter the Greeter.

We'll be sure to have plenty of candy. These plastic and ceramic containers will be filled with more candy. They sit on an old oaken barrel I topped with a pre-cut round from Lowe's and covered it with a plastic tablecloth I found at Wal-mart. I change the covering seasonally.

The pine hutch, which I stained to match the cedar siding of the house, has vintage Amber bottles usually sitting on the top shelf year round. Inside the open cupboard are seasonal what-nots. For this occasion I've added votive pumpkin heads and houses with candles that we'll light at night for the great glow. The drawers will be filled with goodies too..maybe toadstools (meringue) or other creepy candy.

I love this vintage inspired woodcut Pumpkin Miss. Her hat and the cat are flocked and the little bucket can hold candycorn.

This  1950's glider was great find. The elderly couple that was having the yard sale was just about to pack it in the for the day when Jim and I turned in. I fell in love with a vintage oil lamp the Missus had and bought it and while Jim was talking to the Mister he asked Jim if he'd like the glider cause he didn't want to drag it back in the garage. Jim said we probably couldn't afford it, but he'd help him put it back in....well, he picked up his end and started to drag it to our truck. Jim asked what he was doing and the Mister said it was free.

Sooo, with a little sanding and black spray paint we have a glider :) It didn't have cushions, so I bought 2 of those big body pillows they sell at Wal-mart in a green flannel. With sun they have lightened to a pale green, but I sometimes use a throw, like the one shown, with some fall colors to cover them. I do bring them in when it rains or for the winter...they are not waterproof.

Well, I'm gllad you all could stop by. I have some little Halloween Treats for you before you go...............

You can click on these vintage images and then copy them to use in your own spooky decor! 

Now today I'm joining 

and

Now why don't you join me for a little fly by on our brooms to all the other Goblins, Ghouls, and Witches

for a spell and see thier bewitching tablescapes and magical tranformations of decor.............. 

10x10 Porch + a few finds and.............

We have a 10x10 porch off our kitchen. I have a flower garden and herb garden right there...we actually call this our kitchen porch because it's set up for cooking at a grill and dining...I love outdoor rooms. Nothing fancy, but today I'm only showing the porch part...you'll see the other parts in the next few posts ;) Today I'm showcasing the pieces that make up the  bones of our outdoor room.  After church we sometimes do a little brunch..maybe just for two..maybe a few more....but This is a little vignette of how it's set up..........................................................................................................

This is our Kitchen Porch. The oak barrel 'table', rocker, glider, and pine cabinet stay out year round. It gets accented seasonally. As you can see there is a very bare patch behind the table...well, that  is my herb garden...mints, thyme, chives, basil, cilantro, and they all did very badly this year.Usually I have mint and others all year round in this garden The drought took its toll. I can only hope next spring it returns .

I love the hutch. We found it at a flea market for $25. It was the perfect size to go between the garden and kitchen door. Being so close to the kitchen it makes a great 'buffet' when you pull out the two drawers. I stained it to match the red cedar siding of our home. It's taken on a great weathered patina.

Today I just pulled out one drawer. The linen in the drawer is actually a vintage window curtain panel. Its red and black with a farm scene motif with chickens. (You can click the pic for a closer look.) 

The pitcher is a 1940's find for $8. The barnyard wraps all around the pitcher. I found the 1950's Rooster and Hen glasses first. I don't think they are really juice glasses, but that's what I use em for...hehe. They aren't exact matches, but they all work together since they are the same theme.

This aluminum Rodney Kent lazy susan was a neat $10 find for me. There are 2 butter dishes, 2 jelly servers, and the center holds slices of toast! Ithought it was for napkins, cause the opening are a little too narrow for todays sliced bread, but Mom reminded me that in the 40's store bought bread was sliced thinner. It still works tho. I accented the shelf with silk fall leaves and see the little hen peeking at the side of the pic?

This is one of the seating areas in our Kitchen Garden area. The table is an oak barrel with a removeable top covered with a portion of a $5 Wal-mart plastic rooster motif tablecloth I cut to fit. It matches the same cloth on the umbrella table.  The plates that will hold pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon are $2 Wal-mart finds. I'll tell ya a secret, but it's only between us...they're plastic...I couldn't pass em up. They look like ceramic, so for outside they work perfect! The juice glass  is there, the fork and knife are an Onieda find at the outlet mall in Pigeon forge years ago and the lapkin is a country cabin/woods motif purchased last year at Meijer for a $1. You've probably seen the oil lamp in past posts. It was found at an estate sale quite a few years ago. According to the Lady it was in her Aunts house since at least the 20's when she visited as a child...She gave it to me for $10! Next to the lamp is a 1930-40 salt/pepper/toothpick chicken. The chicken holds the toothpicks and her eggs are the shakers. I don't remember where I found this, nor how much it was. It's one of those finds back in the  early 80's to go in my Hope Basement.

Here is a view of the rocking chair. I made the chair pad from cotton fabric with a lodge/cabin  motif If you look on the hillside behind the chair you'll see shadows from the trees...yes you see they look like sticks....they are leafless..there should be shade here, but as you can see all the leaves have fallen. :(
These are close ups of the table peices.

I'm glad you were able to stop back by today!  Hope you had a wonderful day.

Today I'll be joining Sue at her It's a Very Cherry World for Wednesday is Rednesday. We can go over thru here and see all the pretty fall reds and vintage finds.

Vintage Linens

Vintage linens are so popular today and thier popularity is gaining. Thrift stores, consignment shops, even antique malls are filled with booths dedicated to this genre. Family pieces that were used when I was young....I thought were new.... were cherished hand-made memories from Aunts. I suppose it was the imputus to my own collecting.

This tablerunner is from my M-I-L. It was given to her as a wedding gift...she said it was old then, but not sure how old............................................

I was so excited. It's a turn-of-the century hand-tatted lace runner. Just recently a friend of mine had been given a tatting set with patterns and examples that dates back to then and lo and behold, there was the runner Now we know for sure how old it really is. This teatowel was given to her at the same time.........

This is a bridgetable cloth from the 40's. I love the colors and the French Knots.

This is a dresser scarf my Grandma had begun and one she hadn't gotten too. 

  Someday I'll finish em for her.

Here are some pics of some other linens in my collection some I will keep, but others will become parts of my creations...............................................................................................

I guess it's no surprize that my Brown Gingham Creations have thier origins in vintage linens...............

A placemat combining vintage inspired papers with a medallion I created by using a vintage 1940-50 tablecloth and then hand-embroidered  for embellishment.






                                                      

This hand-embroidered pillow was a 1950-60 dishtowel

 I hand-embroidered this 1968 pillowcase

 The Southern Belle is from the 1930's and she was a teatowel

This canvas tote sports a band created from a 1940's tablecloth









This autumnal tablerunner was a 1960's dishtowel.

and, this Angelic Light is a trip thru time. A 1960's spun plastic doll lamp has been reworked. A 1950's hankie that I hand-embroidered is added as a skirt. A 1940's hand-crocheted doily creates her apron, decolatage at the bodice, and accent the parasol. Her wings were vintage lace trim.





Rework-----Repurpose----Recreate
I love taking love worn textiles and making them new again.

Don't forget to visit my Saturday friends over at Southern Lady Vintage for Saturday Vintage Love. They are showing off thier vintage linens too! I'm on my over there now. We can go thru here
And, Monday I'm joining Susan at Between Naps On The Porch for Metamorphosis Moday. Let's go over there too and see some pretty vintage inspired tranformations