Here Comes Halloween and Penelope the Witch

Jack o'lanterns, ghosts and ghoulies, and things that go bump in the night! 

We are entering that delightfully shivery time of year when the days grow shorter and darker, and the veil between the worlds thins. The perfect time of year for Penelope the witch to make her debut!

Cute enough for even the most faint of heart, but still surrounded by pumpkins, bats, and even a Venus fly trap or two, this little witch may steal your heart.

Working diligently to get her done for you by October 1st so you can light your pumpkin scented candles and drink your Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte while you color.

Penelope picking Love Heart Daisies for a potion

 Please tell me if you like her, or if you can think of anything you would like to see growing in her midnight garden.

xo

My Pet Ghost

I had my first pet ghost in the 70s.

I saw it on a commercial while watching Sabrina on Saturday morning cartoons.

This little ghost could fly! It could dance!

On the commercial...

At home it was basically a tiny Styrofoam ball, some gauze, and a rubber band hooked up to some fishing wire. It did come in a cool haunted house box which was actually the best part of the toy.

A few years ago Hallmark came out with their own Pet Ghosts, and they were totally adorable. Complete with flashing lights, spooky moaning sounds, and a floating ghost in a jar, they were every spectrophile's dream.

But they were almost $30, so not everyone ran to the card stores to pick them up.

How cute is this!

I looked them up recently and found a crafter that did her own version, and they are adorable! See the how to HERE.

Although I have not done it yet, I am going to do my own version based on the Penny Wise version above--I'll post it when I'm done.

Have fun! 

xo  

Illustrator's Weekly Challenge

Every year around this time I pull the decorations down from my attic and transform the inside of my house into a glowing black and orange Halloween explosion.

Starting on October 1st I began drawing ghosts to post on my Instagram account because the spirit moved me. I decorated a box of matches with a fiery little apparition, then I made Mod Podge Ghosts a few weeks ago and hung them in the dining room. 

I love Halloween and not only wanted to share my art, but wanted to see art from others too.

So I started the Weekly Challenge.

The prompt will change weekly. Feel free to add paintings, sketches, or crafts--whatever medium grabs you. You can grab the Illustrator's Weekly Challenge button if you like from the right column. 

This week's prompt is PUMPKINS~!! 

Post below, I can't wait to see yours--I can't get enough.

To join the brand new Illustrator's Weekly Challenge Facebook group just CLICK HERE! A new prompt weekly--show us your work.

You can find us on Instagram too at @IllustratorsWeekly. I am on Insta at @dealenihan

xo 

An InLinkz Link-up

A SPOOKY CRAFTY Find!

Today as I perused Instagram I came across one of the cutest, easiest spooky crafts of the season.

Posted by muminthemadhouse, these Clay Tealight Ghosts were done by one of her nine year olds.

What you'll need:

Air dry clay (Crayola makes one for under $5 HERE)

Rolling pin or smooth bottle

Butter knife

Shot glasses or bunched up paper towel

Just roll out the clay to about 1/8 of an inch. Cut appx. six inch diameter circles. Form ghost shapes over the shot glasses or paper towel, then make marks where the eyes and mouth will be. Lay flat again, then cut out eyes with butter knife. 

Drape ghosts over glasses again and let dry.

When dry (about 24 hours) place a battery operated tea light beneath ghost and place in a very dark corner to create a spooky atmosphere.

I love these! Hope you do too.

Thanks Mum in the Madhouse!

xo

CRAFT for KIDS ~ Make a CUTE HALLOWEEN GHOST!!

Ooooo!! It's almost October, that spooky time of year. Trick or treating and Jack o'lanterns abound.

Kids love this chilling time of year so every weekend of October we will post a creepy craft for kids.

This weeks craft is Adorable Apparitions. What you will need for this cute craft is:

Mod Podge fabric stiffener (Buy here)

Cheese cloth

A bowl

Balloons

Wine glasses or other cups or containers to hold the balloons

Scissors

 A small amount of black felt or a black marker or Sharpie

First blow up as many balloons as you will make into ghosts

Insert them into the glasses so they are about halfway in, and popping out of the top. You will be resting the damp cheese cloth on these balloons so make sure they are blown up enough that they will not sink into the glasses. Tuck the knot into the side so you don't get a bulgy ghost.

Cut the cheese cloth into thick strips, about 3 or 4 inches wide. Make the bottoms of the strips uneven. This makes for a spookier ghost. If you are going for cuter use more of a square shape rounded off at the bottom.

Pour some Mod Podge fabric stiffener into a small bowl, and dilute a bit with water. Now dip the strips of cheese cloth into the Modge Podge, and wring until slightly damp.

Place one strip over the top of a balloon with the ends hanging spookily down, then place another strip criss-cross over the top, the ends hanging down also. Set aside to dry.

Repeat on the other balloons.

When they are dry to the touch, you can glue some little black pieces of felt for eyes, or use black markers or googly eyes from the craft store.

Now take a pin and pop the balloons, and remove them carefully from the bottom. Thread a bit of fishing wire or floss through the tops of their heads and Voila! You have a happy little family of spooky ghosts.

You can hang them anywhere, but I will be painting a branch black and adding them as the season goes on to make a Haunted Halloween tree. (I'll show you next weekend.)

Show me your ghosts! I'd love to post them.

Happy Haunting!

The craft next Friday will be Pet Ghosts--see you then for more spooky fun.

xo

Welcome September! A Ghostly Book and a Bit of Ghost Hunting

Click here for link to Amazon

Fall is a fun time to have kids and it's a fun time for kids.

But it's also a fun time for moms.

I love to read dark and shivery books during this time of year. I also like spooky crafts, and the occasional horror movie.

The book I am just starting with my Poison Pen Book Club is called Shutter. Although it is a YA, it is about Micheline Helsing, one of last descendants of the great vampire hunter Van Helsing. She is a tetrachromat, a girl who sees auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum, and came with a glowing review. So we can possibly kill two birds with one stone here--find something we like and then maybe pass it on the our teens. 

Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film.

The book club just started reading last night. After a brief set up in the first chapter, the not so subtle ghostly actions starts. These ghosts are NOT of the Casper variety. Missing teeth, and other body parts, kick right in as soon as we know who the main characters are.

This is another book recommended by an agent, so I have high hopes.

Reading Shutter will also be fun because after we finish, the Poison Pen members will be meeting at the Hotel Somerset, a supposedly haunted hotel in Somerville, New Jersey. Although we are not experienced ghosts hunters, we will be bringing cameras in honor of the Shutter theme, and hopefully catch some orbs or other ghostly manifestations on film, like Micheline does.

Several years ago there was a horror film called Shutter, not to be confused with

Shutter Island that starred Leonardo DiCaprio. The main character had her own personal issues with cameras and evil spirits, but the story is not the same.

Although I have not finished the book yet, I just wanted to write this blog because the trilogy of the book Shutter, the movie Shutter, and the amateur camera ghost hunting might set off an idea for your own spooky autumn book/movie/ghost hunting fest.

Have fun!! And tell me what you end up doing.

xo

P.S. I'll review Shutter when I'm done. 

Penelope's Garden Coloring Book~~COMING SOON!

Penelope the Witch in her garden.

Penelope the witch is visited by her friend Heather, a famous author who sells her books at The Black Hat Bookstore--and can only speak in RHYME!

After Penelope and Heather harvest the Love Heart Daisies they go and visit Wiser's Bookstore and talk to the old wizard Aleister Wiser to see if they can break the rhyming curse put upon Heather by Merlin hundreds of years before.

Will they be able to get the ingredients from the goblin who lives next door? Or will the creature that is growling in the bushes get them before they can run home to safety...

Read and color Penelope's Garden Coloring Book and join the OUT OF THIS WORLD Art by YOU Coloring Club on Facebook today. See your pictures posted and win fun prizes :) https://www.facebook.com/groups/478108415587906/?fref=ts

 

 

Not TOO Scary...

Charles and Frances are ghosts, and their house is infested with PEOPLE!  Will they be able to find a home before Officer Splot and Goblin Grime have them arrested for unauthorized scaring?  See if their friend Penelope the Witch can help them out of a jam--or will they end up in Otherworld Jail forever!