Halloween, Christmas, and everything in between

The dust from Halloween has settled and it feels like a new year. I've started working on new Christmas cards, which will hopefully be available later this week. The EtsyGreetingsTeam is doing a Great Greetings Giveaway, which I'm participating in. You can find details, here or in my shop announcement. But, back to the party... my cousin came up from D.C., most everyone dressed up, the decorations were great. The day after Halloween is always a bit sad for me, but I now have a whole year to start planning my next costume and party! But first, some photos from the event:

My cousin Lindsay (as Rachel from Glee), me as Satan (or a satyr), and my roomie Leslie (as

Vampira)

Marie Antoinette, Seaweed, a Jellyfish, and a skeleton.

Me, a scary lady, and Tyler as a werewolf... you can't see it, but he has hair all around his hair, chest and coming out of his sleeves.

A better pic of Tyler and Leslie
The jellyfish (again, though slightly deconstructed now), Superman, and my cuz.

The Witches Pantry

To help you witches get ready for Hallowe'en, I've put together an Etsy Treasury of potions, appendages, and other accessories for conjuration. The perfect starter kit for any witch-in-training or even the more seasoned spellbinders. Take a look!

The Witches Pantry - Treasury

For more from Halloween items, find my store here: The Painted Peep Show

New Halloween cards listed! Finally!

After searching (endlessy, it seemed) for a decent printing service, I finally decided to purchase my own decent printer. I now have new merch in my store! AND, it's not just any merch, it's Halloween cards! My favorite time of year is approaching. I've listed a set of 4 brand new cards, and reprinted/relisted last years cards on a matte card stock. I will be listing another set of spooky cards next week.

Make sure to check them out, or I'll put a spell on you!

Etsy thePaintedPeepShow

For more cards, prints, watercolors, head over to my store!

The Painted Peep Show

Sleepover Games

Continuing from my last post. Here is another illustration I've completed, which I'll be addingto my store shortly. This series is based on games children play, which are generally considered harmless fun, but to a child can be quite scary. This is Bloody Mary.

Here is (a detail of) the completed illustration:

For more:

The Painted Peep Show

The Haunted Tea Party?

Here's a sneak peek at a little project on which I've been working (for no particular reason, other than the fact that it's what I wanted). It started out as a sketch. A little girl having a tea party with her stuffed teddy bear. Inspiration came from a vintage photo of a young girl having a tea party.

Cute, right? But, it quickly morphed into something else. Something a little more... sinister. I lost the teddy bear, added another little girl, a Ouija board, and...

I'll be turning it into a print, or a card, or both for Halloween this year. I've also completed another illustration in the series, and am in the process of a third. Stay tuned!

ThePaintedPeepShow

Sorry Casey

Found these old Halloween pics and I just had to post them for all to see! But, to show that I'm a good sport, I even threw in a pic with me. I call this, my tragic period.

Here we are... Casey (dressed as an 80's hooker), Rachel (um... wearing a pink wig is something, right?), me (dressed as I usually did when I wasn't in school uniform), Wes (looking like he's trying to channel the spirit of Papa Smurf).

Here's Casey again... showing her True Colors!

And, here she is getting ready to meet up with her john.

Unleashing her most seductive look:

The Day After...

Well, my favorite day of the year is over and I'm in a bit of a slump. I don't usually look forward to Christmas as it's fairly hectic what with buying presents, going into debt, scheduling family events, etc. I'm more of a laid-back, no stress, kinda holiday guy. Anyway, I've just taken down my Halloween tree and decided I'd rather be online than do anymore clean up right now. I didn't get very many pics, because, as usual, I forgot. Here's what we ate yesterday:

We started with a black pasta in pesto sauce (I found this photo online since I forgot to take one)

Again, forgot to take a photo, but we got this recipe from Martha Stewart and it was AMAZING! It's a puff pastry with gruyere and parmesan cheeses, and a paprika/butter glaze.

Here are the cupcakes my mom and I made, and the haunted brownies that I made.

Another shot of my haunted brownies.

And, finally, the only person who was dressed up. Casey was dressed as a black eyed pea, and had fun making people guess what she was. Also, the Cheshire Cat pumpkin she carved. Very nice! (and a little glimpse of my Halloween tree) It was a low-key kinda Halloween, but I had a lot of fun with family and friends.

Pumpkins!

I went, with my mom, to a pumpkin patch (for lack of a better word) and bought pumpkins today. Minutes before we arrived they had just finished unloading the trucks, so we got first dibs and found some really beautiful pumpkins and gourds. Here are pics: !

I'm not sure what the big red one is called, but the Red Worty Thing is called just that. The green and yellow striated gourd is italian in origin, but can't recall the name. The dusty, gray orange pumpkins are, I think, called Fairytale Pumpkins. The two dusty gray/blue/green pumpkins are, I believe, Jarrahdale Blue... or Australian Blue. The other two green things are gourds.
We got these in Bixby. If you're looking for less traditional pumpkins this year, now is the time to buy, because they will be picked over soon!

Etsy - The Painted Peep Show!

Hey All! I haven't been online in a looong minute! But, I have a new computer, and internet connection again. I also have my own Etsy.com store, where I've just began selling Halloween greeting cards. Take a look and tell your friends! Also, check back because I'll be adding more items later on.

thePaintedPeepShow.etsy.com

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade thePaintedPeepShow.etsy.com

Confetti

It only took a week, but here are a few pics from my Palm Springs/Pasadena weekend... plus an extra pic from Halloween!
Ooo...the famous grass bench! Not really.

Look! Another bench! Palm Springs is filled with old people so they need lots of public seating. The spider veins will burst if they stand for too long.

Tyler and I at the Pasadena Rose Bowl. One of the biggest monthly antique shows in the nation. I saw a lot of really neat things. Of course, the one thing I wanted, an antique asian console was $1,400 (a little out of my price range).

I really like this pic. My friend Jess was photographer.

Halloween party pics! FINALLY!!!

As I promised, here are the pics from my party. I dressed up as a scarecrow, a costume that monopolized most of my time in the past few weeks. I used corn husks, burlap, etc. and sewed my own costume. Below are pics of decorations followed by pics from the party.

Here are a couple of spiders who took up residence in the living room. That's a pretty big egg sack! I had rigged the spider in the back, so that when the front door opened, he would drop down from the web. It was pretty creepy!

Here's my Halloween tree.

Old, tattered cheesecloth surrounded the entrance to the dining room. You can't tell much from this photo, but Tyler had made a nice spread on the table.

Here's the cocktail table, also draped in old cheesecloth. Lots of candy, and a book of witchcraft.

Here's my candy cauldron.

Here's the cauldron (minus the flash from the camera). I put orange lights under the cauldron (inside of a branch wreath) to look like a fire. and I have a little fog machine that lights up (hence the purple light inside the cauldron).

Now, for the party pics! here I am sneaking up on James.

James and Kristin as Justin Timberlake and Madonna from the "4 Minutes" music video.

Adam and Jess as "Deadites" from one of my favorite scary movies, "The Evil Dead"

Here I we are again. The burlap and corn husk mask was incredibly itchy, so it had to come off.

Tyler went as a deadbeat 50's husband... although some people thought he looked like a 70's porn star. It was a cute costume.

And, finally, a group shot. There were more people at the party, but I haven't gotten everyone's pics yet. In addition to the people above are, Kim (anime witch), Gabe (Elliot Ness), and Gabby (in the back as a hippy). It was probably one of the best parties I've had. Everyone seemed to have a good time, and then we went dancing afterwards.