Halloween on Chilligan's Isle

I work at a children's hospital and we always joke about the Reality TV series we are going to make: "Chilligan's Isle". We already have the words to the theme song written (a complete ripoff of the 'Gilligan's Island' theme song of course).So today is Halloween. Rod Stewart and I were Coach and Mrs. Tressel.The GA suite across the hall was pretending to be a M.A.S.H unit.

Steve and Amy are residents on their anesthesia rotations (today was their last day- boo).

In the clinic next door, Kara (of Karemy and Friends Blog fame) was Cruella DeVille and the staff and residents were dalmatians. How hysterical is that?

Creative Primworks

And these are some of my favorite things that Jill has made (see 'Fall! Glorious Fall!' post).This was the first thing I ever bought from Jill. I love 'O what a tangled web...' and her crazy yarn hair. She is dated on the back 2002. So I guess I've been a Creative Primworks collector for 6 years now.Happy Halloween Pumpkin Head. He perches on top of our desk.Jill makes a lot of dolls and my favorites are the ones with a mouthful of teeth.

Candy Corn Guy with his candy corn nose cracks me up.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Even though I've had my Halloween decorations out for a few weeks now, I haven't posted the pictures of some of my favorite Uncle Tom's Cabin creations (see 'Fall! Glorious Fall!' post).This was Debbie's sign for her booth at the Fall Foliage Festival.

So creative.

Her witch's broom and felt pumpkins on the stair landing.
Witch's shoes on a vintage suitcase.
I love these fancies on the glass pedestals.

G.L.O.C.C. - Gorgeous Ladies of Card Club

What a treat! October was my month to host Card Club so Margo and Kim and Jen and Christi and Heidi and Aubrey came over last night to chat and swap cards and sip warm cider and make this really fun card:It's called a Standing Pop-Up Card because it folds flat to fit into an envelope but when you open it, it can stand up on its little base. I found the directions on splitcoaststampers.com.

I made a Halloween basket out of cardstock and filled it with Hershey nuggets wrapped in fun Halloween-print paper. (The link to directions for making the basket is also on splitcoaststampers.com)
And how stinkin' cute are these black cat cookies?

We missed having Susan with us, but since is was her son's birthday, we certainly understood.

Very much looking forward to our next meeting! See you all then!

The Pumpkin Show

A couple of weekends ago, we (along with seemingly millions of other people) went to the Circleville Pumpkin Show. If for no other reason than to soak in a bit of small town Americana and sample the various pumpkin flavored delicacies- pumpkin chili, pumpkin pizza, pumpkin burgers, and of course pumpkin fudge (which is oddly a little spicy). We usually like to go at night and catch one of the parades- the pet parade, the highschool band parade, or the princess parade (all equally as thrilling)- but this year we went during the day. Will was all about the rides. He rode the carousel and the ferris wheel. He somehow talked mommy into going on the spinning pumpkin ride (much like the infamous Disney World teacup ride) and begged to go on that big battering-ram-like ride that swings back and forth in a huge arc (neither daddy nor I were in the least tempted). In the Fun House/Ball Crawl, Will got to rub elbows with Little Miss Pumpkin Show 2008 who was adorable in her black and orange striped tights. Seriously, when in a person's life do they ever get to sit next to a 1,300 pound pumpkin?

The Stadium Cake

Will's godmother, Jen, and her family raise money every year for a scholarship fund by constructing the most amazing cake in the shape of the Ohio State Stadium. Jen is usually tasked with painting the tiny little football uniforms on the tiny little football players. Amazing! They display the cake before one of the games, then slice it and pass it out for donations after the game. We try to make it down to the Horseshoe every year to support Jen... and get some cake.
It's difficult to read the sign, but it says "Ingredients: 87 cake mixes, 1 1/2 gallons vegetable oil, 261 eggs, 1 1/2 gallons milk. 106 pounds powdered sugar, 29 pounds shortening, 22 ounces vanilla, 183 man hours"Jen and Will check out the cake.The Stadium Cake is filmed for the news
Jen and Will solicit donations.

The cake really was quite yummy. As soon as the game ended, hungry Buckeyes swarmed to the tent to trade their pocket change for an after-game treat and a good cause.

Penn State Proud!

Usually on game days in the fall, because his daddy is an OSU Alum, Will looks like this...
Tonight, because his mama's a Penn State Alum, he looked like this...

We Are Penn State!

Pigeon Roost Farm

I found this place on a website called Pumpkin Patches and More.org. Apart from the fact that the weather was perfect, Pigeon Roost Farm is a picture-postcard place about thirty minutes outside Columbus, where the land starts to get hilly and picturesque.
You can pay $4 a person for admission to the play area where there are goats and chickens, turkeys, bunnies, and (really) camels. There was tons for Will to do: pretend to drive the antique tractors, crawl through the hay fort, slide down the slide from the tree house, navigate the corn maze with dad, ring the bell on the model train, rock on the rocking horses. His very favorite (and the thing we finally had to drag him away from crying) was the rubber duck races where four little hand pumps pumped water down four sluice ways to float rubber ducks to the finish line. Very dramatic.
There was a little pick-your-own pumpkin patch and tons of lovely already harvested pumpkins to choose from. We got one of each and Will picked out a pie pumpkin so that dad could make him a pie.
Dad told Will that if he could get this one to car he could take it home. Needless to say, it still lives at Pigeon Roost Farm.
The people there were very nice and we were there for THREE hours! Will had a blast and I think we'll make coming here a fall tradition.

Fall! Glorious fall!

Fall is officially here and with it comes Fall Foliage. To most folks that might mean a colorful change in the normal appearance of local trees. To me and my family it means heading to Bedford, PA to visit Grandma and Grandpa and revel in the crafts, music, antique car parades, quilt shows, and apple dumplings of the Fall Foliage Festival. It's like a pilgrimage for us. Even when I lived in Iceland I made it back for Fall Foliage. It is also an opportunity to visit with some of my favorite crafters (more on that later).

Grandma's Autumn porch.

The crowds strolling, browsing, enjoying the beautiful weather.

Jill and me at her booth 'Creative Primworks'. This woman truly has a love for all things Halloween. She's so talented and I have a couple of her creations out all year. The rest I love to unpack and rediscover this time of year. It's like Christmas morning... or Nightmare before Christmas.

Debbie and me at her booth 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'. From what I understand, Debbie started crafting when she made dolls for her daughter. Her husband suggested that she make some to sell and the business grew from there. All her creations are so obviously made with love. My favorites are the things she makes with vintage linens.

Another of my favorite crafters, Jamie, was not here this year with her Fripperies. I did get to see her this summer and catch up. Hopefully she'll be back to Fall Foliage next year.

As I get out my Halloween decorations this week I'll post more pictures of my Creative Primworks and Uncle Tom's Cabin collections.