And So It Begins...

The countdown to Halloween officially kicked off today and the minute my feet hit the floor I could feel it. The room had a chill and it was a bit over-cast. The haunting season is finally here!

Since things are pretty much on their way back to normal around here, I'm hitting the blogosphere again just in time to celebrate properly. Like so many other bloggers, I've committed (notice I did not say I'd been committed) to posting daily during the month of October in the 2011 Countdown To Halloween. Be sure to pay a visit to the long list of blogs oozing with Halloween goodness.

Now here's the scoop on my best laid plans (you regulars know the routine of what that means)....a new feature I want to bring in for this season is Wicked Vintage. There's nothing quite like vintage Halloween but why stop there? When scrounging Ebay, thrift stores and yard sales grab the orange and black but don't overlook the other wicked cool stuff.

Case in point and my first Wicked Vintage piece for the season:

You may remember in one the earliest Ghoulie Girls posts about this great haul of vintage porcelain dolls. Perfectly broken and abused, they fit in well with the Halloween theme. A few months ago I managed to snag the vintage devil costume on ebay. The child's vintage wicker rocker is another ebay score from several years back. Put them all together and Wicked Vintage is on display.

Other plans include a return to Ghoulie Tunes on Fridays, some product reviews, a few creepy crafts and a bit-by-bit reveal of the office make-over...Halloween style of course. Yes, you heard me right. Amongst all the chaos of my life the last couple of months I managed to redo the office.

Here's to a frightfully fun haunt season!

Get The Hell Out Of The Way Barbie!

Being a girlie ghoul, I fondly remember playing with dolls while growing up. You may (or may not) recall that our second post here had to do with some vintage dolls I scored at a friend's auction. Well, ghoulies, this ain't your childhood Barbie doll we're talking about today!

Over the past several years there's been a movement afoot bringing to life a whole new genre of dolls - the creepy kind. Maybe it started with the Living Dead Dolls or Chucky from Child's Play but now the creepy doll selection is bursting at the seams.

About five years ago I had the good fortune to stumble upon Zosomoto on ebay, aka Jodi Cain of TatteredRags.net. I just had to have one of her hand stitched rag dolls and managed to snag this little wicked witch.

Another of my favorite creators of creepiness is Kerry Kate of October Effigies. She makes the most amazing stump dolls. She even has a Jill Tracy version (refer to previous blog entry). Her other creations include corset dolls, rag dolls and the Opium Poppy doll among others.

I recently stumbled upon Jade Perez's New Age Dolls. Below is her Nurse Betty creation. I can imagine a character like Nurse Betty overseeing the patients in an asylum - she's that creepy!


I'm only scratching the surface of the creepy doll artists out there but I want to squeeze in a couple of doll inspired creations.

Check out this baby doll bits and pieces rack created for the 2008 Design*Sponge DIY contest. Someone out there is totally twisted (and we so love it!).

And for the truly over-the-top creepy doll project check out this collection of Toddlerpede's on Inventor Spot. This one is sure to give me a few nightmares!

Thrill of the Hunt

What do you get when you cross an early Thanksgiving visit home with an old high school friend that is auctioning off her store antiques? It's what I call a "Halloween Score".

Jeanise and I go way back. Don't even ask me how far as I like to think I'm still 2o-something. We share a love for old stuff but she's much better at sniffing it out, so, when I realized she was having an auction on the same day I'd be home for Thanksgiving I thought it was a bonus.

After scarfing down the Thanksgiving feast I headed out to the auction which was already well underway. I perused the trailers loaded with miscellaneous vintage wares faining disinterest (no sense letting anyone else know I might be on to something). My eyes caught a glimmer of old orange and black - bingo - vintage Halloween. Now we're talking my language! I casually made my way around the trailer and eyeballed the paper mache Jack O' Lantern - hmmmm tiny and in bad shape. Next. The pan style noisemaker. Dang - already have that one. What else? That's when I saw them!

I placed myself close to but not in front of my target and waited. And waited. And waited some more. Why is it that when I zone in on one thing the auctioneer takes his precious time getting to it?

Finally. The box is moved to the center of the trailer and the prizes are laid out before the crowd. The bidding begins. I bid. Ack - competition! I bid again - she bids - I bid....back off lady these are mine! What's this? She bows out? Ha! She must have sensed she didn't stand a chance.

The contents are carefully placed back in the box and presented to me. Inside lay 5 vintage composition dolls in various degrees of decay. Like a protective mother I wrap my arms around the box and stare lovely at my new pets admiring their cracked faces, missing limbs and disintegrating clothing. Faces only a Halloween fanatic could love.