Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Signs of Sleepy Hollow Stirring


The residents of Sleepy Hollow grow bigger with each doll...but I must say, it does the Horseman some good to finally have a ride.

Here's the Headless Horseman...



...and meet Hobble D. Hoy (the fastest thing on no legs, I promise).



Scary, what's riding out of the woods these days, no?

Monday, September 22, 2008

Two-Faced Dorian Gray

Forget the Devil Within...this is the Devil Without a Cause.


Dorian's before/after physique lives on in the two-sided portrait: the good and the bad and ugly...

Which one is real? The Dorian you see...or the one in the frame?

Friday, September 19, 2008

Send Me a Postcard From ...

For all those readers curious about the postcard feature at the bottom of the blog, I wanted to do a post on our love for postcards (of any kind, but especially vintage).

(A Magic Curious Kitten Sponsored Post)


Flea markets, antique stores, estate sales, and forgotten drawers in old writing desks are full of these miniature letters accompanied with colored pictures. My first postcard was wooden, from a primitive arts and crafts center. Hummingbirds were delicately cut and blackened in the wood grain, along with curving trumpet flowers.



The ones you see above are a mixture of gifts from friends on various trips (the zany one is from a Norman Rockwell art exhibit), which have spent years pinned to message boards or sticky-taped to dorm room walls...



Included above, Stork Island and the Shores of Galveston


Several of those we feature on the blog are from a vintage lot purchased at a flea market. The lot dates from the '40's and '50's era, with technicolor-ish scenes of U.S. landmarks (like "oranges and snow in the California mountains"). Three seperate stories unfold on the back of these vintage cards, with notes scribbled on the back and old-fashioned pink and green stamps (and equally old-fashioned postmarks across them).

One set of colorful U.S. attractions features the cross-country road trip made by a family en route to visit their uncle. Another set of cards chronicles a married couple's tour of medical clinics in search of treatment for a debilitating disease. A few others are simple notes mailed from home, remarking on the weather, the birds in the backyard, or a recent conversation.


(Above, Penguins and the Manhattan Skyline, circa 1987)

Whether kept in boxes or tucked in books as markers, a good postcard is always worth keeping ...

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Shrunken Heads and Skeleton Keys

Marie Leveau would have one of these hanging outside her door for Halloween...



Three heads with mouths stitched shut...two worn skeleton keys...and a few rusty wire spiders dangling from each end....


Nothing says Home, sweet home, like shrunken heads strung across the mantle...

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The Scarlet Letter Girls

Eat your heart out, Gilmores -- the original mother-daughter team is all Hawthorne's making...




Hester may have earned her "A" (hand-stitched to the front of her somber Puritanical garb), but it's serious little Pearl's pale figure that I find creepy...more like a ghost than a child.


Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The Mystery of Edwin Drood....Solved?

The Mystery of Edwin Drood was the last novel of Charles Dickens. A dark, brooding story regarding the sudden disappearance of an innocent young man, the mystery was destined to remain unanswered with Dickens' death prior to the story's end.


The unfinished manuscript has been "completed" by several authors, both great and clever, but the speculation regarding Dickens' real ending continues on. Was Edwin Drood murdered? If so, who killed him? And where did they conceal his body?



By far, the concept of the gloomy church crypts overseen by grim Durdles, the masoleums locked away with their mouldering bodies and carved inscriptions, remains the most popular place of concealment for Drood's body.

Poor Edwin Drood

Buried in the grave.

Look upon the stone

But none can find his name

Sunday, September 7, 2008

OFG Spookfest on Etsy!


It's time for Old Farmhouse Gathering to shine! Their latest celebration is Halloween -- Spooks, that is. The talented prim and folk artists of Etsy and Ebay have assembled the best of their All Hallows' Eve artwork for the OFG Spookfest on Etsy.

Dolls, paintings, tinware, ornies, home decor, and much more, ranging from the spooky and scary to the whimsical, including our own Trick or Treat Twosome below.


Please click on the Wandering Witch button below to visit these fine artists and their work this Halloween! You won't be disappointed in the unique items on display.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The Page Phantoms

Drum roll please....it's the first time the all-new Page Phantoms log has appeared in original size on the blog.


In case you haven't scrolled below to see the newest slideshow, the parade of faces are the ghouls, ghosties, and dark villains of literature...like Dorian Gray and his portrait and the evil Madame Defarge.

Mummy Evolution

Here's a pic of our first-ever set of mummies...they're a work in progress, even here (and we did eventually sew button eyes on them). We learned a few lessons in the art of "doll mummization" from our first try....

...and the model evolved into the little guys you see below (on auction this week, actually). Seed bead eyes, raggedy muslin bandages, more cuteness that chillingly fearful.



Last, but not least, is the stage of "Mummy Dearest", like the one below (the one on Ebay right now is the new "mother-son" design). The mother and child dolls may be a pun, and one of the oldest corny jokes in history, but the design was an official departure from "Pocket Prim" mummies for ornie trees.


There's more evolution to come with future designs ... maybe mummies will emerge from the animal kingdom next....

Monday, September 1, 2008

The Headless Horseman Cometh

Dare to follow his lead if you will...but the broken sign at his feet suggests maybe the village hotel isn't much to see...
The wicked little ghostly pumpkin vine is my favorite part, almost more so than the burlap pumpkin head beneath his arm.