piehole-less

circa 1951. the grand prize winner got $25,000!!!! that's a lot of money back now.
the funny face hamburgers (seen below) were my favorite in the booklet. the idea was from a 12 year old girl and she won $1,000.

recipe
(click to enlarge)

i recently acquired a few other neat old recipe booklets and cookbooks that i plan on displaying here. and because i have nothing else of interest to share i think i will space them w-a-y out.

peeperless

i recently purchased this little guy at a thrift store for a mere 50 cents. i have named him eyeless eddie the optically impaired elf. the sad irony is it's his job to paint the eyes on the toys in santa's workshop. now we know why those "hand painted" figurines always look off.

i am not completely sold on the name yet so if anyone has a better one to offer, please do!

courtesy of mikwright

derby bake sale

i am a volunteer for the emerging roller derby team in my town. a few weekends back we had a bake sale. here's a sampling of what i made. it's record bowl/cupcake galore.

i made little plates out of 45s for individual cupcakes.

and used the regular records for sets of 3.
these cupcakes were made by another girl but were plain. so i added some chocolate eyeballs to spiff them up and then cuddled them together in one of my bowls.


also had a few with little plastic skates.

unfortunately the sale didn't do so great. this town is a tough crowd. at least i was pleased with my presentation.

items to view with bemused interest

it has been some time since i have come across any interesting vintage finds until this past weekend. i happened across a yard sale that was nothing but vintage stuff. only the folks who were doing this yard sale knew this and were asking astronomical prices on most everything but....this really tall glass (nearly 8 inches), $1 and this set of melamine bowls, $10. the dinosaur is merely to help illustrate the TALLness of the glass, it didn't come with it.
i like the teeny feet! they remind me of little witches cauldrons.
the larger bowl has a rubber plug, i guess so it can be filled with warm water? thus the flaming "therm-o-bowl" mark?
if anyone has any info on these items i would enjoy hearing it! the guy at the sale thought the glass was actually a cocktail shaker but he didn't have a lid.

dead shakers

these etched glass shakers are a DIY deal (not by me) but such a neat a idea. just thought i would show them....

criswell predicts....

during a local showing of the film Plan 9 from Outer Space the dixie dolls (my crafty girl gang, in case you aren't aware) put together some vintage horror/ b-movie/ cult classic (you get the idea, the movies that the cool kids watch) inspired items to push on the unbriefed public. the photo below is of our table...it was dark...

details:

center top on the orange metal bucket are bottlecap magnets with movie images that were lovingly bejeweled and glittered up by the dolls. bottom left are shrinky dink tattoo flash ear rings (not movie inspired but still very nice and of fine quality)


top left are refrigerator clips, halloween themed. on the right are shrinky dink tattoo flash necklaces. bottom right are some new necklaces i have been experimenting with. they are made from shrinky dink material that prints from a home printer.
here are a couple of the necklaces close up. i think they turned out fairly nice. the process is to lighten the image until it looks washed out, print on the transparency setting, then the rest is shrinky dink old hat. oh, also seal the image with clear nail polish.


lastly are the tote bags. a really bad photo but the only one i have. a better view of a tote here. and the plan 9 bag sold. yay!

btw, did you happen to notice the tags i put on the items? toe tags....

halloween sugarcoated

ghastly confectionery happenings in review, sorry to post them too late for recreation for the current halloween. but if you are like me these are treats fit for anytime of the year.

first, is this brownie cake (that just means it's a sheet of brownies with icing on top) pumpkinbutt and i collaborated on for one of my dearest friend's birthday...happy birthday again brent! we didn't have any pre-existing plan, and pumpkinbutt started by dumping black sugar sprinkles in the middle, which in turn brought to my mind a pile of dirt. so i then placed a glow in the dark skeleton in the heap. we charged the skeleton up with a flashlight and it turned out looking pretty cool....

spiderweb cupcakes. i found the idea online. i am not going to post an image of the original because it puts mine to shame. you can google it and have a good laugh at my shoddy rendition.



i love these!!! zombie hands emerging from the depths of a chocolate cupcake. i found this idea online also......ordered hands from here

book sale finds

i recently attended the local friends of the library book sale (book sale past here). i acquired a few books on intriguing topics however this 1954 cake decorating book by the wilton's was a real find.

within the pages i discovered this cake idea:


i thought this cake was very interesting. it is to celebrate washington's birthday but since that is a tradition i have never been into i see it in a bit of a different light. it recalls to me the scene in the movie napoleon dynamite when pedro "builds" summer a cake as a way to ask her to the dance. he makes the cake with the script on top asking her out and then leaves it on her door step. now with that seed planted, i see this cake as something one would leave on the door step for their next murder victim. it's nice really... have some cake and just understand that i plan on doing you in with a hatchet!

baby vamp

i bought this sweet little red velvet baby dress at a thrift store for coco...
then sketched up a flame pattern, cut it out of vinyl along with a bow, and adhered it to the dress with fabric glue. much better! now she matches her daddy!

and to compliment the outfit, i am altering a pair of fishnet stockings to baby size.

cutest fabric

very cute halloween fabric i picked up at joann's recently, and on sale for 3.99 a yard! it's got vintage style beistle cats (as seen below)!

not sure what the fabric will become... for now, i think i am going to go for simple and use it as a tablecloth. perhaps a girl with more time on her hands could turn it into a dandy apron or a halloween trick or treat satchel.

thrift score!

newest find and for a mere dime!

martha, martha, martha

martha has put out a new halloween holiday mag this year along with having a few halloween inspired crafts in the living mag. have you seen these yet? oh martha, i am displeased with your offerings. waaay too many rehashed ideas from previous issues. to save you all some money i am putting up some of the best ideas (some old, some new) featured in the two current issues . seen above is the best and freshest idea she has to offer this year, entitled Harrowing Handicrafts. the spider webs and tatters are made from tissue paper. how to.

from here on out everything below was copy/pasted, not my words. i don't want any of the blame for the dorkish descriptions.

broomstick favors

Give witches-for-a-night a proper send-off with broomstick favors. You need two lunch-size paper bags for each broomstick. Unfold one bag, and push out its base while folding in the left and right sides. Using scissors, cut the bag into thin strips, stopping short of the base. Cut thin strips into the top inch of the second bag. Open both bags, and place the second bag inside the shredded one; fill with candy. Insert a small branch 1 inch into the bag; cinch the tops of both bags, and secure with black twine.

spiderweb eggs

Ingredients

• 1 dozen large eggs
• 8 cups water
• Gray sea salt, for serving
• Freshly ground black pepper, for serving
• frozen blueberries
  

Directions

1. Place eggs in single layer in a large saucepan, and cover with water and blueberries. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Cover; let stand 10 minutes.
2. Using a slotted spoon, remove eggs one at a time, and place on a folded kitchen towel. Lightly crack shell on side with the handle of a whisk or a wooden spoon. Transfer egg to medium bowl; cover with cooking water. Repeat with remaining eggs. Let eggs cool completely in water in refrigerator.
3. Carefully peel shells from eggs. Serve with salt and pepper. Spiderweb Egg How-To: After boiling eggs, remove them to a kitchen towel. Using the handle of a whisk, carefully crack one side of the egg and transfer to a bowl to soak in the blueberry-tinted water they cooked in. Wipe up any spills quickly; blueberry juice stains.

spider picks

With scissors, cut the bugs off plastic spider rings (available at party stores), then puncture their centers with a needle tool (from crafts stores). Insert the toothpick into the hole from bottom; color tip with a black marker. Set out with nibbles, such as mini mozzarella balls.

tissue paper garland

Cutting the strings of shapes won't drive you batty, since the paper comes accordion-folded in its package. With black tissue paper you can craft bats, cats, rats, or witches; orange makes great pumpkins; and white is perfect for skulls and ghosts.

Trace or draw desired design across full width of a package of folded tissue paper; we used a cookie cutter as our guide. Cut along the outline, leaving a bit of uncut fold at both sides so figures connect to one another. You'll end up with several strings of five or six shapes each; tape together for a garland.

the record bowl....

since a few of you asked what one was, here you go!


here's a link to a how-to.

bad kitty

i have been making a few record bowls for an upcoming function and thought i would share this odd album cover with you all.

moonlight madness.... a man (?) in a tiger suit and a scantily dressed fishnet stocking wearing female tweaks his whiskers....i just can not interpret this scene as anything but a sick sexual role playing fantasy (but really, who am i to judge) or maybe this is the hallucinations concurred after OD ing on cherry flavored robitussin. didn't listen to the record yet so that possibly insightful bit of info is lacking. i am sure it's all about creating some ambience in regards to... "moonlight madness".

my new best friend

i'd like to think that if i could run in the same circles as amy sedaris we would be best friends. i'd like to think that. i got her "hospitality under the influence" book as a gift from my mommy recently. have you seen it?! it's a book on entertaining, but my kind of entertaining which involves weird themes, unusual decor and interesting menus all reeking with sarcastic humor.
for instance, this cake:


there is also a chapter on crafts for hostess gifts... most are scrap craft kinda stuff and very goofy. she mentions in her book belonging to a craft club, the crafty beavers, where they make stuff while under influences that they give to nursing home patients as decor for their trays. i like that idea.

the photos and illustrations alone are worth buying the book. this one seen below is my favorite. and it has white powdered donuts....yum.
speaking of food, there are ALOT of recipes/menus and they aren't joke ones. they seem to be sound and quite tasty, covering an array of different cuisines. she covers basics like mac and cheese along with other less traditional ones such as shrimp and feta cheese appetizers in scallop shells.

her book also gives a glimpse into her personality and how she has fun with ordinary situations. she sells cupcakes to her friends for 25 cents when they come to visit. she has movie nights where she sets up a concession stand on an ironing board. she tells of beauty secrets such as to keep color on your lips after your lipstick wears off stain your lips prior with a cherry popsicle. she also recounts past family traditions such as when she was younger on her brother's birthday he requested eating duck but also requested that the rest of the family eat just spanish rice so they would envy him. now that's funny. she gives out helpful hints like "cashiers will notice patterns like ice cream at midnight three days in a row. the same is true for liquor. rotate your stores." point well taken and " buy organic lemons, if for no other reason than because the puckered tips make great nipples to stuff your bra." good idea!

the book is just so lovely and i must say, i like you too, amy...

screaming skull tote

here is a fairly recent crafty type endeavor. really bad of me to photograph a black bag with a dark brown background...sorry, i wasn't thinking. the black tote bag is prefab from a craft store. i then printed an image of the movie poster, The Screaming Skull, which happens to be my desktop background, onto iron-on transfer paper. tangent: i thought it would be an idea, maybe not a great one but an idea nevertheless, for someone (not me) to have a "what's on your desktop wednesday", kinda like the illustration friday and whatnot. yeah.... okay, back to the bag. i then applied the iron-on onto a piece of cream colored canvas. then did some crazy stitching around the border.

the dixie dolls and i made a few of these with the intent we would sell them at an event. maybe something that has to do with scary-ish old movies and such...

rainy day fun

pumpkinbutt merged goggly eyes and plastic toy foods together and came up with this:


i made this one. he's a mean cabbage...
cute huh?

memo...

i have removed the link to the recipes which was previously off in the sidebar. i can no longer get into my flickr account because i was being stubborn and didn't want to change my account over. i have tried every way possible to get back into the system but can't. i can't remember my password and then when i fill all the info out to get the password it sends me back around to a yahoo account that i know nothing about having or have forgotten having ever set up, and guess what? i don't know the password! so for now, consider it dead. i have been doing some editing within mhicty and many of the links in the old flickr will not work now. i may set up another flickr account one day but right now lopping a finger off sounds like a better time.

Crap Hound

i just discovered the most lovely series of magazines during the trip to atlanta called crap hound. it's nothing but clip art from front to cover. each edition focuses on a few items/topics. i have only been able to acquire edition 5 (hands, hearts and eyes) and the newest 6 (death, telephones, scissors).

******************

apparently the upcoming 7 &8 are to have a focus on church and state... i don't have much info on ordering but these guys may be able to help: reading frenzy