The Waynesboro Wizarding Festival has come and gone for another year. The ceramic studio was busy creating all sorts of oversized candy so we could transform into Honeypots a magical sweet shop. We offered a make and take of painting your own chocolate frog necklace or magnet which worked out really well and seemed to be a big success! I walked around a little this year and most of the focus seemed to be on the Farmers Market area which is new for our town this year. While I understand wanting to promote this great new area of downtown I did prefer it when main street was closed and vendors and local businesses got into the spirit with decorating and dressing up all along main street. While it is only the second year for the Wizarding Festival and I realize it still needs time to grow and expand I was just a little disappointed that there didn't seem to be as many activities as last year. Still I am hopeful and excited for next years event. You can see my blog posts from 2017 Wizarding Festival here, here, and here.

I thought it was time I talk a little bit about some of the books I've been reading this Summer. There is of course book club, but that is a bit sporadic so I do a lot of reading on my own. I like to listen to audiobooks while I sew or work on pottery, and then every night I have a second book that I read on my ipad before going to sleep. Currently I am reading the book pictured above. The Sewing Machine. This book hops around in time from the Singer Factory Strike of 1911, to present day. The people and their stories all relate to a vintage Singer 99K hand crank sewing machine. I've been enjoying it thoroughly and its one of those books that I find myself not quite wanting to end. It just gives me a cozy nice feeling reading it. That's not to say everything happening in the book is happy, but overall it leaves me with a nice feeling. Next up is a book I finished recently called Picture The Dead. This was a gothic young adult novel with lots of interesting illustrations through out. Its a combination of historical fiction, ghost story, and mystery. Quite a fast read but charming none the less. This Summer I read a series of three books called The Southern Reach Trilogy. Book one is Annihilation. I really enjoyed reading all three of these books. The books center around an area of land classified as Area X. Some unknown force has changed this part of our world, and the book begins with an expedition into the area known as The Southern Reach. While there is a sci-fi element to the books there is also mystery, and horror. It gave me a lot of the same feelings as when I read House Of Leaves. Each chapter left me with so many questions and I wish we had read these in book club so I could of joined in a discussion. Once I was done I tried watching the film adaptation. Many things are changed in the movie including the ending, so I just didn't care for it. The books however-I recommend! Audiobooks I've listened to this Summer include… -Good Morning Midnight:I heard about this book on an epsiode of What Should I Read Next podcast. I loved this book. While it is a story about the end of the world, it is also about loneliness, the choices we make, and human connections. If you liked Station Eleven I think you would like this one too. -Sleeping Giants & Waking Gods: The first book took me two tries to get into the story and I'm not sure why but I think the style of writing held me up at first. Parts are written as interviews, interrogations, etc. Once I got into things I was excited to move onto the second book. I'm still waiting on book three from the library. The book begins when a little girl named Rose falls into a hole. When firemen arrive to rescue her they see she is resting in the palm of a giant metal hand. There were parts of these books that made me think of the battles in the Neon Genesis Series between Eva's and Angels. Then in book two that series is brought up by one of the characters Eva who says she was named after a robot in a Japanese anime series!

You can find a list of all the books I've read so far this year here on my Goodreads account. Have you read anything this Summer that really stands out to you? I am always looking for book recommendations!

Please note that the Amazon link above is an Amazon affiliate link and if you purchase something using it I will receive a small Amazon credit.

I've got some new prints and stickers in the shop. Trying to plan early for Halloween this year.

At the ceramic studio we were discussing needing ribbon or cords for our upcoming Wizarding Festival. Someone mentioned the Ribbon Factory and I had never heard of the place even though it's only one town over. I decided I needed to go and check it out, and what a treasure trove! When we pulled up there was a tent out front with ribbon 10 for $1! (The lady inside said they'll actually keep this tent sale going all Summer) The 10 for $1 ribbon while mostly plain, most of them had over 150 yards of ribbon per spool. An amazing deal for the type of ribbon. Inside was bigger then I expected! I found ribbon cording that was perfect for our frog project at $2.99 a roll, but they also had all kinds of other fun things to look at. The day I visited they were also offering an additional 25% off your total if you spent at least $8. I'll be back for sure, and highly recommend checking them out if you are in the Hagerstown MD area.

I recently took a trip to NYC with my 15 year old son, my friend Katie and her son who will turn 16 soon. He wanted to check out the city for his birthday, and so we planned lots of things two teenage boys might like to see and do in they city. We took the train out of Harrisburg which is really my favorite way to do New York. No worry about a car or where you'll park once you arrive. Below I'll provide links to all the things we did while we were there. You can also check out my previous posts from trips to NYC for ideas too, I'll put links to these at the very bottom of this post. Some of them no longer have photos (the really old ones) but do still have active links that may be helpful when finding things to do. Toys! Toy Tokyo- This is my favorite spot for toys in NYC. Always some fun blind box to buy, and lots to look at. Lego Store- There are two in NYC so we stopped into both. Nintendo Store- I loved this for all the fun Animal Crossing stuff. Books & Comics Kinokuniya- My favorite book shop in NYC, a huge selection of Japanese craft books, magazines, manga, and lots of toys. Midtown Comics- Huge comic selection, several floors with lots of toys too. Forbidden Planet- lots of comics and toys! This place was really crowded when we went so it made it hard to look, but its also located right next to The Strand which is fun to browse too. Other Shopping: Elizabeth Center Git Shops- This is located in Chinatown and is a funny little mall filled with gift shops. You can find some really cute things, but keep in mind some shops only take cash. Kam Man Supermarket-Three floors, the main floor is grocery, lower level is housewares, tea and ramen, and the top floor is gifts, stickers, and beauty items. I always find fun things here. Flying Tiger- My friend Molly told me about this place. Amazing prices on fun little gift items from Copenhagen. Fish Eddy- super cool dishes and a fun shop to walk around in. David's Tea- several locations in NYC. You can get tea to drink but also a nice sized store to shop for tea and tea merchandise. Food Beetlehouse- This is a themed restaurant Tim Burton/Halloween and we were all really excited to go. The only things to keep in mind are #1 its very tiny. #2 they have a policy where each person has to order an appetizer and a main entree. This means each person's meal will range between $35-45 for the food, soda's are $4. They do look to have a lot of fun cocktails but we stuck to soda & water. Now some of the apps are quite big and by the time we were done those we didn't even want our meals. Its a fun place but something to keep in mind. They play themed music, and there was a gal dressed as Corpse Bride. Our phrase for the entire trip then on was "well it wasn't as expensive as Beetlehouse" Lillie's Victorian Establishment- One night we walked down from our hotel to Time Square and on the way spotted this beautiful looking restaurant. We made reservations for the following day for high tea and it was wonderful. The inside has so much to look at, the tea and foods were great. We all loved it. Totto Ramen- We all loved the ramen here. Small place but we didn't wait long. Ramen was delicious and we all had to take some back with us to hotel. The Donut Pub- Yummy soft donuts, we stumbled upon this when getting off the subway near The High Line. Only complaint is the girl taking our donut order was so rushy, even though there wasn't anyone else waiting. I felt like I didn't have a chance to even see what they had before having to just pick a donut. Places we had coffee… Rex Coffee Gregorys Coffee, Caffe Bene there were a few more stops but I forgot to keep track of the names. try to go to a diner one night close to Time Square where the servers sing to you. It was raining when we set off and we were looking for a diner since there was talk of wanting Coke Floats. When we reached the restaurant the line was down and around the block, so we back tracked to a diner we had passed on the way instead. We also had some great pizza, and pasta in Little Italy. Everything Else: Dowtown Abby: The Exhibition The Evolution Store The High Line We also made sure to take a cab so her son could experience that and made lots of trips on the subway getting around. I'm sure I am forgetting something. We stayed at the Watson Hotel (which is where I stayed with Molly last time, so kind of funny!) I didn't realize they had a rooftop pool, but this time we did make time to swim one evening. -NYC 2017, my trip with Molly -NYC 2013, another trip with Molly to Blythecon -NYC 2011 mini book tour -NYC 2010 blog post 1, and 2 -Renegade 2008 -Renegade 2007 -Renegade 2006 part 1, and part 2

Just some mug experiments to share today.

The idea for the Summer Plush Of The Month Club box came to me as I thought about Summer reading, and book clubs. I decided on a plush book of fairy tales and my first step was to design the cover and order a few variations until I found one I was happiest with. I chose a striped flannel fabric for the inner book to mimic the book pages, and the covers I had printed on fleece with Spoonflower. For the add-ins the candy was a easy choice, book-worms in the form of gummi worms. I created and had bookplates printed to match the plush books, and then the whole thing was wrapped up and topped with a vintage library card. These were really fun to have come together.

I've been busy stitching up all kinds of zippered pouches for two shows I have coming up this fall. For my pouches I am using all of my fabric designs from Spoonflower. First in September I will be selling my wares at Baltimore Comic-Con. Then at the end of October I will be heading to Anaheim CA to sell at the Halloween parade. It's been a lot of fun working on goods for shows again. Plus focusing on all Halloween stuff for the parade has been a real blast. I'd love to start selling at a different Halloween event each year, so let me know if you know of one I should not miss.

My parents recently moved back to Pennsylvania after living in South Carolina for the past ten years. We decided to spend the day recently taking a trip to Weaver's Candy and Nuts, some thrift shops and lunch at Tomato Pie Cafe. I found a yellow fiberglass chair for $10 and some cute vintage toys, and egg salt and pepper shakers…oh and of course candy.

Worked on some Halloween filler blocks for my Halloween quilt. I also printed out more potion patterns but haven't had a chance to work on them just yet. Ever slowly making progress of the Epic Halloween Quilt. You can see more of my quilt here and here, and follow the quilt along here.

My friend Lesley and I took a trip to The Ceramic Shop here in PA. While it's not a bad drive, its a little over two hours so not something we would do very often. We had so much fun looking at all the glazes, underglazes, and clays. In the end we each bought a small bag of blue porcelain clay to try out, and split a bag of very dark brown clay called Brown Bear. Looking back on this mini road trip reminded me that I never posted about my time at NSECA (the ceramic convention in Pittsburgh) so I am going to work on gathering up my photos to share from that trip. It's always so much fun to look at all the possibilities when it comes to ceramics. So many things to explore!!

In late June my son and I joined my friend Katie and her son in Winchester VA to check out the lego exhibit at The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley. The museum also includes the R. Lee Taylor miniatures collection, extensive gardens, and ever changing art exhibits. It was such a beautiful day when we visited, sunny but with a nice breeze to keep things from being too hot. There are many Lego sculptures by Sean Kenney through out the gardens, but I also really loved looking at all the dollhouses inside.

Our town is hosting a Wizard Festival again this year. You can find blog entries about last year's event here, here, here, and here. Again this year I am helping transform the Ceramic Studio into something magical! The studio shop will be transformed into our very own Honeydukes candy shop with loads of oversized candy, and decorations. We will be offering a make & take paint your own ceramic chocolate frog necklace that comes with a wizard card. This is by donation and will be our fundraiser for the event. We will be doing the frogs on Saturday Aug 4th 9-afternoon (until we run out of frogs)

I am doing a Halloween themed show this October and will have more info on that soon. Meanwhile I have been trying to get a stock of Halloween ceramics made so I will have plenty for my online shop, as well as selling in person. Here you can see some of the steps involved in the slip transfer process.

I am excited to finally announce that Breakfast Monsters! are coming soon. It's been so wonderful to work with Super Impulse (you may know them for their amazing World's Smallest series) I'll have lots more info soon on where you can find Breakfast Monsters! but for now just a peek!

You can find my double cheeseburger fabric in my Spoonflower shop here. Perfect for sewing up burger gift bags!

A Gnome Mobile Printable for you to print out and create! Print yours here: springgnomemobilefinal.pdf

You can find my Alice fabrics on Spoonflower here. If you create anything from my fabrics I would love to see! Just use the hashtag #heidikenneyfabric on social media so I can find it.

One of my favorite techniques to do on pottery is called slip transfer. You start off with a green piece of pottery. Green means it has not yet been fired. I like to build my pottery and then begin the transfer process, I don't like the pottery to dry out much at all before transferring my design. You take newsprint (newspaper works too) and I like to draw out my image with a pencil. Then using black underglaze in a bottle with a tiny point I make my drawing. If I'm doing color I will fill in each section in reverse order allowing every color to dry in between. When my transfer is dry I coat the whole thing with white slip (this is like a very watered down smooth clay) and I coat my pottery form with slip too. I allow each of these to dry just slightly. It begins to have a look of velvet texture to it. Then you press your transfer onto your form, and rub, and roll and take peeks to see how the image is transferring. Its such an interesting process and usually has a neat texture to it.

The first plush of the month box to ship this year went out March 1st. For a long time I had wanted to create a spaghetti and meatball plush, but went back and forth about how I could do the noodles. One day it hit me that I could make cartoon like noodles like a spaghetti drawing I had made and have it printed with Spoonflower on their fleece fabric. I didn't get a good photo of the add-ins this time, but they included a mini fork necklace, and a heirloom tomato air freshener that really smelled like a tomato plant! Since there was an air freshener in this box I decided not to include any kind of candy.

The other week we decided to take a mini road trip through Hanover and onto the the Lancaster area of Pennsylvania. We stopped in at the Utz shop in Hanover, some antique malls, and a place that makes things like peanut butter & jelly cinnamon rolls. In the end my only purchase from antique places were these little Alice ornaments, but I am very happy to have found them.

I am part of a book club that rotates giving each member a chance to pick a book and host a meeting. During my meeting I decided we could ready anything from The Paper Magician series. I loved these books and knew the newest book The Plastic Magician was coming out before my bookclub meeting and meant I could read that one. We had a good time with lots of treats to eat, and general book discussion. I can't wait for the next meeting as it is one of my favorite things to sit around and talk about books with other people face to face. Please note that the Amazon links above are Amazon affiliate links and if you purchase something using the links I will receive a small Amazon credit.

Back in May as I do every year I attended the Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary Fabric Sale. This one was in a new location that apparently was secured rather quickly after the sale of their previous spot. Things were a little more crowded then usual in this set up, and I probably purchased the least amount of stuff I ever have. I still had lots of fun looking through goodies, and I am in no danger of running out of craft supplies as is it, but I still managed to come away with some treasure pictured above. My best buy was the two vintage dress forms for $5 each. Now on display in my living room.

As you may know I have been working on my Epic Halloween QAL quilt for some time. I've gone off original plan, but keep finding really cool patterns to insert into my quilt, and I figure as long as I am having fun sewing it, that's all that really matters. These two new patterns are free foundation paper pieces I found on Craftsy by Unicornharts. The skull pattern can be found here, and the cat here. They are so great, and I love how large they are. I can see doing a whole quilt of just the skulls with pastel backgrounds like she has in the sewn sample. You can find another post here about my Halloween quilt here if you want to take a look back.

Toaster Pastry box for your printable pleasure. You can print them here: toasterpastryboxes

I realized looking back that I have missed posting about several plush of the month boxes, and will attempt to play catch up on those this month. To start with I need to post about boxes shipped Dec. 1st of 2017. This is the winter holiday box and always a fun one to come up with. I decided that a holiday movie on a vintage television set might be just the thing. I created the fabric for the set and ordered it on Spoonflower. Boxes came with buttered popcorn flavored taffy packaged in vintage popcorn bags, and a little paper tv dinner DIY to complete the box.

Coming this September to quilt shops everywhere (and online) is my fabric Friendly Faces with Robert Kaufman. There are already three free patterns for preview that use my fabric and I'll have links to each below. These will become available in September when you can find the fabric. You might remember that this fabric also makes excellent english paper pieced hexagons. You can find the three free patterns on Robert Kaufman's website. First up the fun sewing set seen above created by Elise Lea. Elise also created this great quilt pattern called All The Things. I just love it. This next quilt Circle Of Friends was designed and made by Ariga Mahmoudlou. I love the color grouping on this one. If you end up creating anything from my new fabric I would love to see! Please add the hashtag #friendlyfacesfabric on social media so I can find it.

Just some pottery from my last couple of shop updates. I've still been very interested in creating work using slip transfer where you draw and paint your designs onto newsprint and use slip to transfer the image onto the clay. It leaves such a neat textured appearance.

I created some new fabric inspired by my Pottery pieces and you can find them all on Spoonflower here.

In May my husband, youngest son and I took a trip to London England for a week. I had been dreading the overnight flight with an hour layover in Iceland, but in all honesty it really wasn't that bad at all. We slept very little on the plane but still managed to make it through the first day with a short nap right before dinner. We had really amazing weather the whole trip. Every day was sunny and in the 60's. It was wonderful sweatshirt weather. I'm going to try and list some of the things we did below incase you ever want to take a trip to London, and find it helpful. We stayed at Kip Hotel in Hackney Downs. It was super conveniently located right next to the London Overground Hackney Downs station. I know a few reviews online said they could hear the train, or that they booked a room that didn't have windows. However we never heard the trains at all and booked a suite with windows, a small kitchen, and a couch. The hotel offers free espresso drinks any time of day or night, which I took full advantage of. We got a great deal for the room, and I'd stay there again. When we arrived we added £30 onto an oyster card for each of this. This card allows you to use London Underground, Overground, buses, and some trains. They have a wonderful app that lets you put in your location and where you are heading, and it makes it so easy to get around using the London transit. Again highly recommend. Before we went on the trip I was worried about getting around without data on my phone. I checked with Sprint and they offer low speed data and texting included with our plan, and for $25 for a week I could add overseas high speed data to any of our phones. I thought this was a great deal and we added it to my phone to make using the underground app easy, and help with anything we might need to look up even if we didn't have wi-fi. And it worked perfectly. Anyhow we had an amazing time, and were all so glad we finally made the trip. Below is a list of all the things we saw and did…. -Paddington Bear Statue -Tesco This grocery store was in walking distance from our hotel and there is nothing as fun as visiting a grocery shop while traveling for inexpensive souvenirs like candy, a £4 Orla Keily reusable shopping bag, and food to try. -Kip Hotel -Moomin shops (there are two) Camden Market and Covent Garden -Warner Bros Harry Potter Tour -MinaLima for Harry Potter fans! -Hardy's Sweets -V&A Museum Of Childhood -Jack The Ripper Museum -Highgate Cemetery Tour we did the East & West admission -Walrus And Carpenter Pub and of course all the normal touristy things like Buckingham Palace, The Eye, Westminster Abbey, Tower Of London, and Tower Bridge.

I have a new monthly email newsletter. Once a month I'll send a quick email with shop update info, info on plush of the month club, and any other exciting things I want to share. Each email will come with a free printable paper download. My February newsletter will be sent out soon and include these paper toaster pastry boxes. Sign up here!

Here are a few photos from my phone all taken in December… Here is a big wrinkly quilt I made my sister for Christmas, it's not my finest work, there are a few areas I'd love to requilt…but I hope it will be used and once washed the things that bother me will hopefully be less noticeable. I spent a lot of time in the ceramic studio. This fancy photo was taken in the studio bathroom, and I probably looked like this most days..messy hair. I was very pleased to sell a lot in the ceramic studio shop this December. Selling online is great but it does mean photos and then packing up breakable items to ship. Selling in the studio shop is as easy as attaching a tag! The day I was working on the witches we had a bunch of carolers come in and sing. I'm sure they were thinking "what is this weirdo doing making ceramic witches days before Christmas!" I found this gingerbread doll at an antique shop a few years ago and have never been able to find anything about it online, not even any other photos. I tried searching old cut and sew printed fabrics too because it looks like it might possibly be one, but no luck. This year I drew the gingerbread and printed two sizes with Spoonflower. I made the tiny ones into bean bags but want to turn them into ginger scented sachets before next year. I also found this silly Santa at the thrift shop and brought him home with me. My husband bought me this rubber chicken coin purse for Christmas but gave it to me early, I use it to hold my meter change and whenever I get it out to feed the meter it makes me smile! I did so much baking in December. I made so many batches of these cinnamon scones, homemade bread followed by my first bread pudding later in the week with some of the leftover bread, and of course cookies galore. We've been having some bitter cold around our area the past few days so I've been making lots of soups and stews for meals. Tomorrow I have plans to bake banana bread, throw some mugs, and finish up some plush ice cream cones for a Valentine shop update I'm planning for the end of January. I hope everyone's year is off to a great start.

Nothing says Merry Christmas quite like goat cookies from a movie about witches, am I right? Last week while in Target I stumbled upon this goat cookie cutter. It's part of their new Hearth & Home line, and because of the color immediately brought to mind Black Phillip from the movie The VVitch. We have a friend who really loves this movie, and he has a black Christmas tree, so goat cookies from a movie about witches is actually a perfect Christmas gift for him, and maybe someone you know too? The cookies are simply a dark chocolate cut out cookie. Now you could add sprinkles or dip the tops into chocolate, but I found if you use a high quality chocolate power you won't need anything on top. I used the recipe found here. Only I used flour to cut them out and the flour wasn't noticeable after baking. I created Black Phillip gift toppers which you can print out below: Black Phillip Tags Package up some cookies in a clear bag with a topper, tie on a goat cookie cutter and there you go! **For personal use only. Personal use means non-commercial use of the labels/images including copies and print outs for yourself, your personal crafts/scrapbooking and to give to friends. The labels/images may not be used in any way whatsoever in which you charge money, collect fees, or receive any form of remuneration.***

My Cyber Monday sale starts Monday 11/27 at 8am EST. I will have all kinds of new ceramics, AND I am offering FREE domestic shipping all day long! Just use the code CYBERMONDAY….AND every order comes with a free gift! My shop has all kinds of goodies from handmade plush, product royalties from other companies I license to, and even some craft supplies. Shop Here!

Spoonflower is offering 10% off sitewide through Monday 11/27 at midnight SHOP HERE

11/23-11/24: 48 HR - Black Friday (starts Thursday) SHOP HERE 25% Off Everything + Free Shipping on Almost Everything with Promo Code BLACKFRIDAY *Free Shipping excludes Framed Prints, Canvas Prints, Metal Prints, and Floor Pillows

Spoonflower asked me to take part in their Handmade Holiday Blog Hop by creating a holiday project to share. Inspired by vintage holiday mail bags made of felt I created a cut and sew mail bag that you can use to either store all those holiday cards as they arrive, or to hold your own holiday mail writing tools (cards, stamps, envelopes etc) You can find my design here, and Spoonflower is offering 10% off with the code PAPERCRANE and is valid until December 31 for one order of fabric, wallpaper and gift wrap. It can not be applied with any other promotional offers. My project is designed to print up on a fat quarter of lightweight cotton twill. When your fat quarter arrives it will look like what you see above. While there are instructions printed on the fabric itself, I wanted to walk you through the process here so you can see just how easy it is. The first thing you will do is cut out all three pieces. Front, back, and pocket. I like to leave some of the pink around the front and pocket so you can sew right on the edge of the illustration. There is no need to leave any extra around the backing piece since its slightly larger then the design. Take pocket and iron the top of pocket down at the green line (green will be on inside of pocket) Then top stitch across top as shown. Now use a piece of ribbon, or cord and make a loop to hang your snowman mail bag. Stitch this in place at top of hat. I like to stitch this in the pink area so the stitching will be hidden once sewn. Then line your pocket up on front of bag using sides as a guide. Pin pocket in place and you'll notice a small line in center of pocket along the area you topstitched. Sew a few stitches to tack the bag in place, this way when you put in your cards and envelopes the pocket does not hang open. With right sides facing once another lay the front of the bag on top of the red backing. I like to use a pencil to trace any of the illustration edges that are not easy to see through the fabric. Mostly around the face. Pin in place and sew around entire thing on edge of illustration leaving a 3 inch opening in bottom for turning. I like to pay special attention to curves and do a little extra stitching so that when I trim and turn they lay flat. Trim around entire bag with pinking shears and turn right side out. Tuck in raw edges of fabric from turning, iron in place, and then top stitch along entire curved edge of pocket sewing the opening shut. Now you are ready to hang your holiday mail bag.

I've been working on a few lap quilts to use as gifts this Christmas. The first one I made using half square triangles and lots of my cotton & steel fabric stash. The second I used a bunch of blues from my stash and started a rising star quilt, I messed up the second star and decided to just go with it. Creating a quilt that has stars and + signs. Both quilt tops are done, now to just figure out the back fabric and quilt them up. My hope to is finish at least 4 quilts for gifts, so it will be nice to have 2 down. Do you have a favorite quilt pattern that is fast and easy? My go-to is foundation piecing but I do feel it is time consuming and since I need these done in time for Christmas I am looking for quilt patterns that are on the faster side.

Just the other night was my snowman napkin ring class at the Ceramic Guild. I taught eight students to each create a set of six napkin rings, and they all did such a great job. I baked up two different kinds of bars as treats and played classic Christmas music to get us all into the holiday mood. I know its early but when it comes to the long process of firing ceramics, you have to get a head start.

Come create a set of 4 vintage-style tea bag holders, drink tea, and enjoy homemade treats with me on Friday December 8th 6-8pm. You can register for the class here, but space is limited so don't delay! No previous pottery experience is needed.

First I'll start off with some things I saw at the thrift and antique shops but did not buy. First up this strange sign? It was a very heavy cardboard but it wasn't clear exactly what it might be selling. I loved the colors and thought it would make an unsual Thanksgiving decoration but it was around $25. I loved this little Ice Man tin, another great inanimate object with a face! This Mrs. Claus was cute but I already have one like it make from an old dishwashing liquid bottle. Along the same lines as the Ice Man tin, I loved this Annalee flower for its face & the fact that it was an Annalee doll (and one made in Meredith New Hampshire) but the price was a bit high so it stayed behind. Lastly this cute lemonade pitcher, which was really cheap (I think 25¢) but I don't need anymore pitchers so I took a photo instead. I did end up finding some fun Halloween ghost salt and pepper shakers, a embroidered panel, and some deer at one thrift shop each item priced under $1.

Today Society6 is offering 30% off anything when you make a free account and log in. The account is good to have if you are placing an order any way so you can log in and check on status at any time. They now even have dufflebags and backpacks (click each photo for a direct link) Or you can check out my entire account here.

I've still been making spooky ceramics even though Halloween is quickly approaching. Witch mugs are never out of season! My friend and I decorated the studio store for Halloween with some black contact paper cut outs, and some honeycomb paper decorations. Feels downright festive!

The first package that arrived most recently was one all the way from Scotland. Laura sent all kinds of fun candy, one little guy filled with smarties was damaged during transit, but still tasted just as good. Some spooky spider socks, light up jack o'lantern balloons, and two pouches that she made. One even contains glitter, but glitter sealed up inside a pouch (which is so fun!). The next package was from Keetha in Mississippi. She created the little Fall Daybook with recipes, some of her watercolor paintings, and essays on autumn. A cute little bracelet, some Jim Holtz Halloween ephemera, a little newspaper flag, and a wooden pumpkin sign. I am still expecting two more Halloween parcels in the mail so I'll have one more post when those arrive! I hope everyone who took part in the swap is having as much fun as I am.

Just some photos from the month…. October has been all about pumpkins, apples, baking baking baking! Discovered a good big double pie crust recipe that really makes enough for both crusts. You can find that here. Have made this cinnamon chip scone recipe twice this month, it takes extra time because you need to make homemade cinnamon chips but they are so worth it! Really amazing and got high reviews from everyone who had one. Did some Halloween thrift shopping, and trying to wear something festive every day! I hope you too are enjoying this wonderful time of year.

Today I wanted to share two more Halloween Swap packages that have arrived! Did I mention I swapped with 11 people? The first one is a box from Kjerste. Check out that amazing little Halloween mouse she sewed up? Isn't it a cutie? I am in love with the vintage cookie cutters, and can't wait to bake something so I can use these sprinkles! The treats from Daiso are also fun since we do not have any of those shops in my area. Next up is a box from Josie. I had to take two photos so you could see all the festive packaging she created, and then another so you can see all the treats. She handmade a bunch of little felted Halloween friends who I plan to add to my Halloween tree, sent some very yummy smelling soap. Her label said it was lemongrass, but it smells just like when you open up a box of fuity pebbles cereal. If you know me well you might know my favorite body spray of all time was a gummi bear scented spray, so fruity pebbles smelling soap is right up my alley. She also handpainted tiny Halloween masks on that bracelet and sent a big generous cut of Cotton & Steel Halloween fabric, can't wait to sew something fun with that. Opening these festive packages each day has been such a treat, and I can't believe how thoughtful and generous everyone is. Thank you so much to everyone who is taking part! More to come as surprise goodies arrive.

Crafterween (my annual Halloween crafternoon) was last weekend. We made spooky apothecary bottles for decorations using bottles, and all sorts of spooky labels. My friend Heather made a baked mummy brie, and my friend Lindsey made a pumpkin shaped cheeseball for the occasion. You can see our costumes from left to right…Brittany was Bee from Bee & Puppycat, Lindsey was cotton candy, Katie was Mary Poppins, I was Little My, Heather was a cereal killer, and Molly was Ash from Pokemon. That orange colored hair spray was a pain to wash out, but the stiffness helped hold my hair up in that kooky bun of hers. I'm still not sure what I'll dress up as for Trick Or Treating but I've got a few ideas!

The Halloween Swap is well under way, and I've been getting some fun Halloween mail the past two days. In order of arrival here is what has come my way so far. First to arrive was the package above with lots of cute vintage items. The ceramic witch is so fun, and the paper scarecrow bunting is just so darn adorable! I was excited to receive some treats from See's candy too as we don't have any nearby and I love how they have a vintage look to their items this year. This Halloween package was from Susie, and you can tell from her instagram that she loves Halloween too! Next to arrive was a Halloween box from Niku. She sewed me up some little Halloween ornaments and a Halloween fabric bunting from some of her favorite Halloween fabrics. She also made some drawstring bags out of fun Halloween fabric and filled those with the candy and little Halloween treats you see pictured. Today's box came all the way from Susi in Germany. Besides creating this beautiful mini quilt, she created these detailed little Halloween hexies pictured to the right along the edge. I've gotta find an extra special way to use them. My son is taking German in school so I can't wait to share the cookies & marzipan with him. I'm pretty sure he's going to want the witch sign for his room too. It's been so much fun opening all these packages and I can't thank my swap partners enough :) I'll post once again when I receive more boxes. You can also check the hashtag #heidihalloweenswap over on instagram to see what other people are sending and receiving.

My October ceramic class took place earlier this month on a Wednesday evening. We made witches whose hats can double as a ring holder, or my favorite a donut holder! The creativity of those who take the classes never ceases to amaze me. Since I teach teen and up my own 14 year old gets to attend and make an item too. He likes to kind of go off on his own creative adventure and made a medusa head instead. I love the little snakes. The night before the event he and I created some yummy treats for the students. Caramel apples, pumpkin spice shortbread witch finger cookies, and trick r' treat brownies. The brownies just involve baking up a pan of your favorite brownies and once you pull it out of oven immediately pressing a mixture of halloween candy into the top. We used a variety of fun size candy bars, mellow cream pumpkins, and marshmallow monster of Frankensteins.

Found some goodies at the thrift shops recently. I was out looking for Halloween, but came away mostly with Christmas goodies.