Don't miss all the wonderful offerings on tonight's TDIPT Mercantile update. We're celebrating our 2nd annual "White Christmas", with Christmas items in tones of white and cream. This terrific group of artists offers new goods twice a month, on the eve before the 1st and 15th.

I have a very detailed new Santa to offer, so please stop by and take a look at my page

Also, don't miss the chance to win a door prize, just by signing up for the TDIPT mailing list. You'll find it on the main page, along with a link to view the prizes.

Thanks from the Dog and me.

Super Spooky Candle for Halloween

Doesn't this look like all those great drippy candles in your Halloween imagination? It's the work of Dave Lowe, a very talented professional prop and set designer. And he has posted an excellent tutorial, so you can make your own.

Skull is optional.

Tonight's the night for the TDIPT Mercantile website update, Be sure to visit, there are so many wonderful pieces to see! I have some new offerings, including .....



A set of Primitive Indians with a Turkey



A pair of Primitive Pilgrim Crows with Pumpkins



Little Primitive Mouselings

Also, don't miss the great recipes TDIPT members have been sharing on the group blogTo Dwell in Primitive Thymes"

More Halloween Treats

More of my decorating for Halloween. As you can tell from the photos, I have a great fondness for little cubbyholes! Such fun to fill with seasonal objects.


This piece came from some old garage. I found it at the Hwy. 127 "Worlds Longest Yard Sale", that runs past the end of our road.



This cubby and the table it sits on are in our entry hall. I found them in different times, while we lived in California. The big doll on the left is from the TDIPT Fall Swap this year, and was made by the very talented Ragpatch Primitives. The Pumpkin girl, on the right, is from last year's Swap, and was made by Alleghany Annie.





Save the vintage images for your own Halloween projects!

Pumpkin Project

One of the blogs I like to read is by the wonderful Kimba , whose weapon of choice is spray paint.I had kind of forgotten about spray paint, or put it aside, since it's not really "Primitive", now is it? After seeing what Kimba and some others have done with it, and considering the other things I manage to qualify as "Primitive", I have decided to reconsider. So at the risk of losing my somewhat shaky "Primitive" credentials, here's a little project that's quick, fun, and cheap.






Here's what I started with:

Pumpkins and glass candlesticks from the Dollar store.
I would have liked to use different size Pumpkins, but this was all they had, and the price was right.

Spray paint - some I had had already, but I bought a can of Metallic spray in as close to Bronze as I could find

Glue - glue gun, E-600, or white glue, like Alenes

Spanish Moss

Ribbon, strips of fabric, raffia


I've seen some black Pumpkins recently, I can't remember where, and thought they were just terrific. So I started by spraying the Pumpkins with flat black, and spraying the glass candlesticks with the bronze color metallic. That stuff they always tell you about using lots of light coats of paint is true, by the way.

Also, try to pick a day when it's not windy. You can see the newspaper flapping in this photo, which adds to the adventure.














After the candlestick had a good coat of the metallic,
I used the flat black to kind of "dust" over it, to
make it less shiny, and more weathered looking.








Here are the two main parts after painting.
















This is the point where I start putting things
together temporarily, and standing back to decide
if I like what I see, and what it needs. I added
the moss around the stem, and then glued the
Pumpkin to the candlestick, and glued the
moss in place.









After looking at these for a minute, I decided one way to change the size would be to stack two together, so I
used a pencil to make a hole in the bottom of the
top Pumpkin, added moss between the two, and glued,
using the stem of the bottom pumpkin to help
secure them.










Here's the finished project, in the dining room. I tied torn
strips of black and white check homespun around the top
of the candlesticks.

Consider this a jumping off place. There are so many things
you could do starting with this. Different colors, lots of glitter,
different bases, ribbons, raffia, paper letters, and on and on.

If you're not taking photos and writing about it, it should take
about a half hour, start to finish. Have fun! The Dogs and I did!