Inside my miniature Halloween house.

Today I'm spending a quiet day at home sewing! I have several boxes and racks of vintage in my basement that needed repairs, small alterations or things that were damaged beyond repair that I thought I could make into something else.  I love piles of beautiful fabrics with all of the prints, textures and colors like this.

I've gained weight over the past few months and so many of my cute skirts don't fit anymore, which is a major bummer. I started going on daily walks and eating better but those things take time and I'm impatient! I've been letting things out here and there and moving buttons a bit. I know I'll have to adjust them all again later but I love to sew so its okay.

                                                    

Since Halloween is around the corner, I started decorating already. My vintage Halloween garland is a free printable from Made in a Day. For my fireplace, I laminated it with clear contact paper.  I set up our miniature Halloween house that we made last year. When my mom was in high school, my grandma made a Halloween house exactly like this with help from my mom's friends. I loved it when I was a kid but after many years and many moves, it was ruined and parts lost. I wanted my kids to have a Halloween house of their own so I talked to my mom, grandma and sister to try to piece our memories together to recreate it. My sister and I sculpted the people and I made thier clothes with scraps of vintage fabrics, trims and beads. I made the little bags of candy with  printed tiny candy bar wrappers, wrapped around a little rectangle of aluminum foil. The twizzlers are of a piece of wire from an old computer, twisted together and wrapped in clear tape. The life savers and hard candies are tiny seed beads also wrapped in clear tape.

                              

The pumpkin guts are made with sesame seeds, sewing thread and glue, sitting on miniature newspaper I found online. The foods are my favorite. Our original Halloween house didn't have a lot of food but I got some great ideas from Pinterest and you tube videos and I made most of these things myself using polymer clay, glitter and shavings of cheap chalk pastels for sprinkles and coloring. We even printed tiny paper plates and cups and little vintage Halloween cut outs to decorate the paper table cloth.

The fortune teller's table has miniature vintage tarot cards and a miniature Ouija board with a crystal ball that glows from a Christmas light under her table. Her skirt is made of vintage gold brocade fabric. The old witch in the hall has a candle that lights up and scarf made from a scrap of 1950s fabric. Her hair is made of vintage wool yarn.  Through the window is a cemetery and an ominous sky. The moon glows and the lightning flashes. The fireplace is also lit behind a bundle of twigs and flames made of cellophane that I colored with red, yellow and orange Sharpies.  If you love miniatures too check out my Pinterest board, Halloween Dollhouse DIY for ideas, tutorials and printable resources!

Since I was home sewing all day, I kept my outfit comfy with black pants and a new thrifted sweater. I have several cardigans by Designers Originals that I've found at thirft stores and they're great vintage basics. I found this modern high collar sweater by Designer Originals at the thrift store last weekend and its super soft, perfect for fall and winter. I think I'll wear it with circle skirts and pencil skirts too. I'm definitely going to look for one in green. This style is a great 50s-60s wardrobe staple.

I wore a few bakelite bangles today, which I haven't worn in a long time. I recently did a live chat with Margaret from Texas Gal Treasures on her YouTube channel talking about how to identify bakelite in the wild and showing a few of my favorite bangles.

Outfit:

sweater- Thrifted, Designers Originals

black stretch pants- garage sale

black lace up flats- Amazon

micro mosaic brooch- heirloom from Great Grandma 

bakelite bangles- antique mall finds