Fall Festival photos

The Jefferson Avenue Fall Festival went very well, especially for a first time event. The weather was perfect, and I'm sure that helped bring out the crowds. We were busy in the store all day.

I didn't get too many pictures, but here's what I had out front on the sidewalk........

How about those warty pumpkins! Kevin grew those in his garden. Click on the picture to see them better.

Why is there a cooler sitting in the display you ask? It had fresh eggs in it from our chickens!

After I took this photo, I looked up to see my sister Jo posing outside the door with the slate I painted. Clearly, by reading it you can tell I had her in mind when I painted it. She on the other hand thought it referred to me.....



If you can't read it, it says...........

If you think I'm a Witch, you should meet my Sister!

x Wicked Witch of the East

Yep, yep, that's talking about her.

Oh, by the way...thanks for helping me out yesterday Jo!
Love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Halloween Potion Bottles

These are my first attempts at Potion Bottles.

So much fun to make!

Sorry for the poor pictures.

My camera doesn't do well with closeups.

But hopefully you get the idea of how they look.

You can click on the photo to see it bigger.

I'm designing my own labels, using words from the list you can see here.

Instead of making potion labels, I should have been making potions.

I picked up a cold somewhere, & have been running a fever for 2 days.

Lousy timing!!!!!!!

Our niece just had her first baby, & I can't go see him!

And...we were going to have a weekend trip to DC with Jessica & Brian.

Can't do that either. Grrr.

On the bright side though, Kevin told me about a dump site he found.

He's thinking it had lots of bottles.

As soon as I'm feeling better, we will be going bottle hunting!

Halloween Potion Names

I'm going to make some Halloween bottles, and I've been looking around on the internet for some potion name ideas. I love, love, love fall, but I get a bit squeamish about Halloween. Witches I can handle, (wonder why?), but fear & blood & gore are NOT my thing. So, potion names are a bit out of my comfort zone. But, I'm trying.

One site suggested several words, and I have added to it. Mix and match them to come up with some potion names all your own!

Ready? Here we go........

Fresh, Dead, Mad, Aging, Reformed, Poisoned, Instant, Live, Life, Old, Young, Sleeping, Death, Un-nerving, Haunted, Eerie, Haunting, Bewitching, Love, Howl

Crushed, Pulped, Diced, Minced, Mixed, Whole, Char-grilled, Poached, Dried, Black,

Wort, Wart, Worm, Pupae, Vetch, Egg, Juice, Weed, Blood, Milk, Spawn, Eye, Intestine, Spleen, Wings, Dust, Soup, Slime, Teeth, Brain, Tongue, Marrow, Nerve, Skull, Skullcap, Breath, Hair, Skin, Bones, Skeleton, Fever, Sting

Tincture, Effusion, Elixir, Speciman, Spirit, Potion, Draught, Spell, Magic, Bitters, Concoction, Brew, Cordial, Dose, Draft, Dram, Libation, Mixture, Remedy, Restorative, Stimulant, Tonic, Compound, Formula, Poultice, Preparation, Prescription, Salve, Soother, Unction, Gargle,

Toad, Frog, Bat, Spider, Scorpion, Rat, Dog, Snake, Cat, Dog, Jellyfish, Dragon, Serpent, Hog, Slug, Skunk, Werewolf, Wolf, Newt, Owl, Raven

Vampire, Witch, Troll, Demon, Faerie, Mermaid, Lovers, Warlock, Wizard, Zombie, Mummy, Phantom, Grim Reaper, Goblin, Ghoul, Ghost, Dracula,

Grave, Cauldron, Pot, Gravestone, R.I.P., Tombstone, Mausoleum, Cemetery, Coffin, Cobweb, Casket, Apparition, Broom, Broomstick, Salem, Moon

Some examples:

Toad Skins - may cause warts.

Black Cat Bitters

Witching Hour Elixer

Aging Potion

Dragon's Breath

Black Raven Wings

Faerie Dust

Love Potion

Ok, enough of that! I'm off to make bottle labels! But if you think I'm going to offer you any of my Elderberry Effusion or Wormwood Tincture, you're wrong. I'm keeping it all to myself.

Bahahahahaha!

We're free! Well...kinda

Remember the construction nightmare?

Such loveliness just a few feet in front of the shop. In front of every shop. In the whole block. The whole looong block from 3rd to 5th Streets.

For our end of Jefferson Avenue, the worst is over. At least I think the worst is over.

They put that lovely yellow fence up on July 19th. They took it down today, September 12. Yep, if you count on your fingers & toes that comes up to almost 2 months.

Oh yeah, that was good for business.

The construction is not over, but at least the bulk of what was happening right in front of us is over. For us. Now the whole kit and kaboodle is on the northern end of Jefferson Avenue. Now they get to deal with the fence, the noise, the booms that literally shake the buildings. The lack of business.

When either end of the street is worked on, it effects both ends, because this is one of the main drags through town - the main business district - and they have it completely shut off. Parking is still scarce, it's still hard to navigate through all the road closed signs. But at least on our end now, the fence is gone.

We feel like we've been let out of prison!

It's fall!

There's lots of fall crafts to choose from in the shop right now.

Love pumpkins!

The next batch of photos were hard to take.

They were taken in the tight confines of the display windows.



There are more fall crafts to come...

after all, it's only the beginning of September!