Giving Thanks ....

Just a little note wishing all of my friends and family a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have many things to be thankful for...do you?

I am thankful for meeting so many wonderful, creative, and imaginative people online and in person!

I am thankful for being part of so many wonderful online groups.

I am thankful that my family is safe and well.

I am thankful that, though I don't have as much money as I used to, I can still afford the things that are needed, and am rich in many other ways.

I am thankful that I still can be generous, even in my own "poverty."

I am thankful that I have the opportunity to use my imagination and spunk to hopefully get another job.

I am grateful for my imagination and spunk in guiding me through life.

I am grateful that I have a warm house and food, even if that means high grocery bills and electric bills.

I am thankful my little sister is here with me this year for Thanksgiving! I never see my family except for Christmas, so this is a treat!

I am grateful people seem to like my art...speaking of which...

THE WILD AT HEART CREW WISHES A HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU!

Ok, I know some of these guys look like they're laying about--but obviously they've eaten too much Thanksgiving supper and needed to lay down!

More soon!

Monster Tails --err, Tales..

Yikes!

Where does the time go? How is it now a week after the Monster Mash?

Well, while I am STILL trying to catch up to myself, I promised you I would give you a few background stories on some of our delightfully creepy creatures. These are based on some of the descriptions the artists sent me of their monsters! Enjoy!

Frankencat by Lisa of Lisa Nelson Art

It's Frankencat - created in my catbratory especially for this swap! His head is half tuxedo cat, half Siamese. He has one orange tabby arm and one gray tabby arm and one calico foot and one black foot. His tail is from a Persian cat.

Som-Som by Amy of The Heart of A Seed

"Som-Som" was a "monster" that used to wake my oldest son when he was around 4. He would wake up crying" the Som Som"!~

Josef Knob by Caroline of Caroline's Crafts

Knobs were once happy little creatures traveling through time. After the darkness came, they were banished to an unseen portal in your closet. The Knobs derive a twisted joy from implanting nightmares while you sleep – a devilish habit thwarted only by the skeleton key lashed to their neck. As long as the key remains in place, they are dormant. If the key is ever untied, the spell is broken and you will never know another night’s rest.

Frau Honkerbooger by Athena of Miss Millificent's World

A Honkerbooger is everything that balls itself up into a big THING: dust, hair, buttons, etc. My sisters and I absolutely hated those things, and couldn't stand being touched by them (we used to play and hide under our beds, so we came in contact with them more than we liked!). I couldn't really do that (I didn't really *want* to do that!), so I made up a story about Frau Honkerbooger; an old hag who creeps out and collects things from under beds, desks and couches.
She has wild hair and a badly-stitched dress, and stained cheesecloth dressing, and errant threads and buttons throughout her hair and dress. I also gave her some fake blood stains because if she finds you, she'll try to collect you, too.

Hope you enjoyed some of our little Monster Tales and, once again, thank you to all of our Monster Swappers!!

And, I am still trying to get to the big news that I've been trying to share with you forever. So, maybe next time? I hope?

THE MONSTER MASH!!

Whoa! Don't you hate when life gets in the way of the fun stuff? Sorry for the delay!! Without further ado....

This Halloween was exciting---

How far away, I did roam!
To Pennsylvania, downtown NYC, and a theater party,
and then, back home!

When I opened my door, though, something didn't seem right...
I heard noises in the darkness,
and then saw eyes, shining bright!
I shivered in the darkness, then turned on the light!

And there all around me, surrounding me in a flash
Were the craziest monsters, in a Monster Mash!!

Click on pics to enlarge

The night was cold, and the moon was high,
As monsters, devils, and witches surrounded me--oh, my!

There were SCARY MONSTERS!

Scary monster by Raedell of DellaRae Dezines


Candy Corn Monster by Theresa of Sycamore Moon Studios


Alexander by Waxela of Spirit Mama Art and Soul


And cute monsters galore....

Lavender Lulu by Jeane of Wild Woods Studio


cute monster by Vivian of Viv's Whimsy


Cute Little Monster by Genevieve of Bella Enchanted

Sweet Monster by Moriah of MLB Studios

Oggy Monster by Kim of Soggy Dog Studios


....and witches...

Witch by Stephanie of Pixies In the House

...banshees....

Bad Banshee by Georgina of La Llorona Arts


...evil characters, and more!

Evil Scary Nanny (Alice In Wonderland inspired) by Kaerie Faerie of Twigs Faerie Land


There were strange creatures upon which to look!


Otto by Hope of Pixies Ponderings


Herbert by Cindy of ThimblePrims Studio


Monster by Michelle of The Studio At Crow Haven Farm



Ms. Harriet Booberman by Shawn of QuiltinFairy/FairyDustFabrics


Alien Monster by Denise of Odd Imagination


Monster by Becky of WhosiesandWhatnots


There even was a monster book!

Book of Monsters by Sue of Rabbit Hollow Prims


There were elegantly spooky creatures....

Isabella and DuPree Dust Bunny by Sue of Barton Originals


Gabriella by Colleen of Loopy Boopy


Mary Anne Nicols by Sonia of Dark Raven's Nest



Gothy Lovely by Jandee of Jandee's This And That



Som-Som by Amy of The Heart of A Seed



..and some with creepy and amazing features!

Frau Honkerbooger by Athena of Miss Millificent's World



Josef Knob by Caroline of Caroline's Crafts




Baby Monster and His Bunny by Deanna of Blue Dragon Arts


Halloweeny Monsters...

Frankencat by Lisa of Lisa Nelson Art


And Halloweeny monsters spooky and well-fed...

Punkin Head by Cindy Lou of CLBCreations


Even Christmas-y Winter monsters...

Scary snowman by Jacqui of Odd Dollz


And let us not forget those monsters that are under the bed!

Monster Under the Bed by Diane of Dianie Mac Designs

Evil Dust Bunny (from under the bed) by Nicole of Mealy Monster Land

The Monster Afraid of Monsters Under the Bed by Zan, Your Host


And as I shooed them away, after they gave me a fright,
I said: "Happy Halloween to all, and to All a Good Night!"

(and after all of this fear, I can't wait to see the monsters coming out of the closet,
NEXT YEAR!!)

MWAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Here IS THE FULL LIST OF PARTICIPANTS OF THE SWAP!

*Mealy Monster Land ~Nicole
*Barton Originals ~ Sue
*Odd Dollz ~ Jacqui
*Thimbleprims Studio ~ Cindy
*Blue Dragon Arts ~ Deanna
*Kaerie Faerie ~ Kaerie
*Odd Imagination ~ Denise
*La LLorona Arts ~ Georgina
*Dark Raven's Nest ~ Sonia
*"Q Bee C" ~ Marlene
*Spirit Mama ~ Waxela
*Pixies In The House ~ Stephanie
*Viv's Whimsy ~ Vivian
*Pixie's Ponderings ~ Hope
*Halloween Jingle Bells Boo ~Debb
*DellaRae Dezines ~ Raedell
*Loopy Boopy ~ Colleen
*Soggy Dog Studios ~ Kim
*QuiltinFairy ~Shawn
*Whosies ~ Becky
*Peach Street Primitives ~ Jamie
*CLB Creations ~ Cindy
* The Studio At Crow Haven Farm ~ Michelle
* Bella-Enchanted ~ Genevieve
* The Heart of A Seed ~ Amy
* Rabbit Hollow Prims ~ Sue
* Jandee's This and That ~ Jandee
* Daphne White
* Dianie Mac Designs ~ Diane
* MLBStudios ~ Moriah
* Lisa Nelson Art ~ Lisa
* Miss Millificent's World ~ Athena
* Sycamore Moon Studios ~ Theresa
* Caroline's Crafts ~ Caroline
* Wild Woods Art Studio ~Jeanne

* And ZAN YOUR HOST

Many, MANY Thanks to the wonderful swap participants! Your creative expression, talent, and time are soooooo very appreciated!

STAY TUNED, I'll have some of the artists' interesting stories about their dolls, coming up next time!

Halloween Part III/Monster Mash Part I

Alrighty Folks!! I know we are supposed to be getting to our MONSTER MASH--and we are-- but first, I wanted to finish posting up my Halloween excursions--otherwise, it will just be a huge tangle of Halloween insanity all over the place, right?

So I'll post up part 3 of the Halloween festivities (part one, in Pennsylvania is HERE, and part two at the Village Parade is HERE) and a WEEE bit later today, the monsters will come out and play!!

You can wait just a little more today, right?? Mwaahahahaaa, yes, I am evil!

Ok..so...when we last left our Wild Haired Main character, we had just finished watching the Annual Village Halloween Parade. We were stoked to go the Theater for the New City Halloween party afterwards--I mean, the puppets in the parade were created by a well-known puppeteer FROM the theater.

It also helped that my dance troupe danced there a few times FOR Halloween. The gist of the whole thing is that performers perform for free, and they get a HUGE audience because it's relatively inexpensive to get in--so A LOT of people come to the shows. Because the performers aren't auditioned before being "hired" (there's no pay, remember), there is a huge bit of unpredictability in the shows you will see. But that's the fun part...

Because there are 4 theaters within "the" theater, there are four shows going on simultaneously. Plus, they have tarot readers and a spooky homemade haunted house in the basement--so you get to pick and choose what you will see! Fun, hilarity, craziness abound!

Here are a few pics of our night (CLICK ON PICS TO ENLARGE):

Here is the announcer at the main theater, where we first stopped off. I love the big spider web in the background!

Here is the first act--Jon Grimaldi, who is a magician and acrobat. He actually was a client of ours when I was a veterinary technician. He had circus dogs :)

Here he is with flaming sticks!

Back out in the main hall, this guys lay in a coffin ALL night like this in the area of the coat check ins! Nope, it's definitely not a mannequin!


In another theater, this strange lady mostly sang about love lost. I think she eventually realized where she was and finished with "An Ode to Psycho"--yes the movie!


After her came an amazing yogini. While it still wasn't very Halloween oriented, it was definitely entertaining! She's 54 and could do these amazing contortions!

Yes, I'd love to be able to do this when I'm her age! Wow!

Besides the performances, it was also great to see the creative decorating the theater did for Halloween! It was quite a feat as much of the stuff was created by hand by staff....

Haunted pony and masks at the entrance of the basement haunted house...

One of the giant scary masks hanging out in the lobby!

Little coffin signs near the bathrooms indicating which side was the "men's" and which side, the "women's"!

One of our favorite places was the ballroom theater. They had converted it into a Halloween Swing Party, with a huge swing band and plenty o' ambiance!

Here is the back wall of the theater, lit by a "witchy" spotlight....

One of the spooky long banners that lined the side walls...

Here's what it looked like when I used my flash

Here is the swing band! I loved them because: 1. The conductor was a woman 2. She was funny and witty 3. Most of the band wore some sort of costume.

We laughed, danced and had much fun!! What a night. Even after all of that, we still went out and grabbed something to eat...

After the parade, at a restaurant--one tired-but- happy-witch!

AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS THE STORY OF HALLOWEEN!
UP NEXT, MONNNNNSSSTTTERRRRS!