A table set for murder

Last weekend Jon and I hosted a midnight murder mystery party. This is what the table setting looked like. I think the evening was an all out success.

McQueen on Halloween

Sharing the love of Gothic designer Alexander McQueen on this ghoulish holiday.

Butterfly face

Thinking I might want to try this Manish Arora look for Hallween. But how to get the 3-D butterfly half to stick...Any ideas?

And She Blogs...

Hooray! My dear friend Julie Elton has finally joined the blogging world, and what a blogger she is! The gorgeous yet macab decor she has up for Halloween is truly inspiring. I can't wait to see more of her beautiful home. Thanks Julie, what a treat! (I'm nuts about the chandelier btw).

black apples

I had fun last craft night spray painting apples (plastic ones, not real ones) with black spray paint and then topping them off with glitter. I think they turned out well. Such a fun Halloween addition that I think will also go well with my Christmas theme (love those double duty items!).

My Christmas Blueprint

OK, so I think the recent holiday issue of Blueprint will join my list of magazines stripped to the spine. As I've mentioned before we are showing our home on a Christmas tour so seasonal decor is of up most importance this year. I had already decided I wanted to go with a black and white vintage-glam look throughout with silhouettes and cameos. I've been looking for black and white wrapping paper with not much luck. That is why I was super excited to see this down-loadable wrapping paper from Blueprint (now just to fine a large scale printer!). I had also purchased a pink tree to go with the glam look and lo and behold, Blueprint has one on the cover! I'm also a sugar cookie fiend and liked the ideas they have in this issue. Can't wait for Christmas!

Indie Craft Experience

Hello friends of the South! It's time for this year's Indie Craft Experience Holiday Shopping Spectacular in Atlanta. I really hope to make it our there this year. If you wanted to sell your goods, the application deadline is Oct. 20th (tomorrow!). Too late for me but maybe next year I'll get my act together. Should be lots of fun.

Anthropologie love

I just received the latest Anthropologie catalog and wanted to share with you some of my fav's.

words, words, words

I'm such a fan using words, letters or numbers in home design (the graphic designer side of me has always liked the aesthetic structure of lettering). I'm especially loving the way these works of art incorporate lettering in a unique way. Very inspiring.

Frightfully Festive

It's time to get out all of our delightful, frightful decorations in honor of All Hallows Eve. I've been so preoccupied with the Christmas Home Tour that I have only been virtually enjoying Halloween (via my blog). Now however we are slowly adding more and more spooky trimmings to our haunted home.

Halloween on Etsy

Etsy is such a great place to find one-of-a-kind Halloween treats. Above are some of my favorites. You can go trick-or-treating for these goodies at the following shops: Middleburg, Wool and Water, Belle and Boo, babaialainn, Baby Rocks Mohawks, Creatures By Chelsea, Loopy Boopy, Old But New, MemrieMare and Designs by Nana Home.

Matthew Mead

You must check out Matthew Mead's website. It's full of great festive and surprisingly simple ideas for the holidays. I love his down-loadable treat box and his fabulous easy pie recipes!

Rag Doll Alice

Oh and here's a great rag doll by Magda as well. This simply must sit in my entry...one day...

Magda Trzaski

I cut out of all my magazines and save articles that inspire me. Only a few magazines have been stripped to their bindings. One of them is the Paris issue of Romantic Homes and the other is this month's Home Companion. It's filled full of fabulous Halloween inspiration and highlights some great artists. One such artist is Magda Tzrzaski. I've blogged about Magda's work before so I was especially excited to see a full fledged article about her and her studio. It's great spooky fun!

Currently Craving...

...wide collared jackets. These are so delicious I just want to nuzzle up in them and go for a brisk walk in the falling leaves (which won't be any time soon since it's hot and muggy here and the trees are still green). The first jacket I found on overstock (don't you just love the bubble hem!) and the second is by Sweetface.

Room Makeover

Jon and I have been making over our home in anticipation of participating in the Knoxville Christmas Historic Home Tour, and we recently have been focusing on our "entertainment" room. I've dubbed this Jon's room as he's the entertainment/tech guru of the family but I have added a few of my touches. He's always wanted to have a green room (to mimic the study from the game Clue-it's a guy thing I guess) so we went for green (which he painted all himself!). I'm not usually into warm and cozy (I like light and airy) but I really like how this turned out. He wanted a comfortable sofa for watching movies on (I go for thin, streamlined/modern or antique/decorative) as well as a couch bed for guests. We've put his portrait up in the room and it goes great. On Sunday afternoon I made pillows for the room and I'm quite proud of how they turned out (yes I know it's just a matter of sewing straight lines to complete a square but I'm still really excited). Now to tackle the rest of the house before the end of November...