Halloween gifts on Folksy

Halloween will soon be upon us and Folksy has a great variety of  handmade items, here are just a few that are lovely all year round gifts but especially great for Halloween.

A ceramic bat brooch by    Willow Gifts

A cute knitted vampire by  Knitting & Crafts by Jo

A fabric zippered purse by Jiggle Ma Wiggle

A Scull in a Bottle by   Handcrafted by Picto

These and more can be found on Folksy


Happy Halloween Hunting

Jan x

My Pumpkin Patch Post

It's that time of year again, that spooky fun time. Each year I have a table at a local Pumpkin Patch Event, you can check out their Pumpkin Patch Facebook Page Here, it's held every week end in October, this year I've only managed a couple of week ends but non the less I've had a great time. Here is one of the wooden pumpkins I made......

My Hanging Pumpkin

So many pumpkins to choose from.......

Pumpkins Galore

I love this Haunted Caravan, a great opportunity for family photographs.....

The Haunted Caravan

I love all the different sizes and shapes, great names too, green button, turban, Italian Snake and Speckled Swan are just a few.....

Gorgeous Gourds 

These are some of the signs I made for the event, these are all 13 x 51/2 inches (33cm x 14cm)....

Hand painted Halloween Signs

...................

A few more Halloween Signs

Like the sign says, have a Happy Halloween

Jan x

I've linked this post to Handmade Harbour's Link up  do pop over and check out some great posts

The Pumpkin Patch Craft Fair

As some of you may know, every year in October I take part in a local Pumpkin Patch Week End Craft Fair, (check out the link to the 1st one I attended), this year I'm attending 2 week ends, this being my first one. It is held in a large marque in a huge field.  It was extremely wet and muddy and not as many visitors as there usually are but it was great to see friends and the other regular stall holders, some of whom I only see at this yearly event. It was also great to meet new faces and new stalls.  

This year I decided to have a carved pumpkin as a decoration for my table, here is the one I chose

My Perfect Pumpkin

 No traditional Jack 'O' Lantern for me........

Pumpkin Carving

I carved a Fairy Door and swirly grass, (and a couple of toadstools around the other side).....

Carving a Fairy Door in a Pumpkin

I'm going to pop over and visit Handmade Harbours linky party so I'll leave you with a newly painted House with a Halloween theme...

A Halloween House

I've put in a request for dry week, I'd especially love a dry couple of days at the week end of my next Pumpkin Fair, so fingers crossed..... I'll report more next week so for now I'm wishing you all a great week..

Jan x

Halloween Craft Swap

I have taken part in my very first Craft Swap and it's the big reveal tonight, can you guess the theme? Yes, it's Halloween. The swap has been organised by the lovely Kat over at With-u-in-Mind.

I received my parcel in plenty of time and was so tempted to open it but keeping to the rules I put it to one side and practised patience.

So tonight's the night and I got my chance to open my parcel, I knew it was from Osk & Oly (because it was written on the back of the package) but I don't know who Osk & Oly are so I really don't know what to expect, so here goes......

My Halloween Swap Parcel

Wow, this looks an interesting selection, let's have a closer look......

 I love this wreath, everything about it is perfect, the 'roses' are great and the ribbon sets it off lovely.

Halloween Wreath

  The pin cushion is lovely, it's a great choice of fabrics and the centre is a real twig.

A Halloween Pin Cushion

The jar of sweeties is great, don't you just love that label. That will certainly be opened this evening.

Halloween Bon Bons

What a great selection of items, I feel so lucky with this swap and I'd like to say a big Thank You to Osk & Oly for sending such brilliant items and a huge Thank You to Kat for organising the swap, especially as throughout the last few months she has been moving house.


I hope you have all had as great a swap as I have.

Jan X

P.S... I now know that Osk & Oly is Penny over at Osk and Oly.com, 
So once again, a big thank you to Penny x
 

Mushrooms or Toadstools?

I looked out of my window and saw these.....

and these.....

and these.....

 and more......

So what is in a name, do you call them toadstools or are you mushroom person?

Which links me straight on to my most popular plaques this weekend, they have been my Welcome to our home' Plaques

'Welcome to our home' plaque

and my Scarecrow Plaques...

'Happy Halloween' Plaque

I'm popping over to Wendy's Handmade Harbour blog to see what everyone else has been up to.

Have a good week all and take care

Jan X

Chalkboards for Halloween (& dare I say it... Christmas)

Busy, busy, busy, at the moment I'm making lots of stock ready for The Pumpkin Patch Fair. This event is nice and local to me and lots of fun, I only attended one weekend last year, you can read about it HERE, but this year I'm attending every weekend in October, phew 8 fairs in one month!!......my hubby Pat and my son are going to help out and it is close enough to be able to pop home for short bursts, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good weather.

My chalkboards were very popular last year, both the Halloween and the Christmas ones.....

Pumpkin Chalkboard

Scull & Crossbones Chalkboard

Christmas Chalkboard

I will be putting these into my Folksy Shop  and my WowThankyou Shop  and as some of you may know, I have a few of my items in a local Bricks & Mortar Shop, mainly my Fairy Doors and Diary/Book Covers, I wrote a bit about it HERE as a guest blogger, well, things are doing well, quite a few items have sold (I had a nice cheque in the post) and I've happily taken more stock to the shop, I'm going to pop in with a couple of Chalkboards next week so wish me luck that they will be accepted to display.

I've also been busy making some zombie and monster type items for Halloween but they are not ready to show just yet so watch this space.

I mentioned being a 'guest blogger', it was great to do, so if you would like to be a guest blogger then pop over to Jill at Christmas Pie Crafts, I'm sure that she'd love to hear from you.

Once again it's Handmade Monday Time so this post is linked to Wendy's Handmade Harbour

Wishing you all a good week

Jan x

H is for a Happy Halloween, Handmade Monday & a Husky Plaque

Hello all, I had a great time (and a full Order Book) at a local event this week end, I was at the Undley Pumpkin Patch for a Halloween Bonanza, in a marquee set up in the middle of a field, not only could you pick your own pumpkins but you could 'get lost' in the huge Maize Maze. I wasn't alone at this great event, there were some great other exhibitors and entertainers along for the fun.

There was the lovely Laurie at Mondays Child  whose face painting was truly  fantastic, along with the Amazing Adam Strange, Childrens Entertainer & Balloonatic who made the most wonderful balloon spiders and ghosties. The equally lovely Natalie aka  Hungry Hippie, Natalie makes great button jewellery, and a selection of fabric items including the aprons and pumpkins shown in the picture above.

We also have the tasty jams and preserves by Jo-Anne, I can attest that the pumpkin and apple is delicious, not that I had much, honest!! The colourful Letter Pegs by Justine and the fantastic Wacky Wax colourful candles in a jar. There was jewellery, books, cards, more tasty food (MMmmm cinnamon donuts and hot chocolate) and of course, ittle ol' me.

Plaques and Pumpkins

Some of my popular plaques

The Scull and 'Warning' plaques always do well with the boys and the scull with the bow is a big hit with the girls. So I had a great Halloween week end, I hope you did too.

As it says in the title, H is also for Husky Plaque as mentioned in my last post...

A Husky Plaque for Jackie

and also for Handmade Monday so don't forget to pop over and see what everyone else has been up to.

Take care all and if you are off trick 'n' treating tonight have fun and take extra care.

Jan x