Bee-you-tiful Festival of Trees for PCMC

So back from Finland for 9 months, we had missed doing a tree for The Festival of Trees, a fundraiser for our local Children's Hospital, for two years.  It was good to get back in the saddle. 

 Here is the entire set up.  The skirt of the tree was made from half a dozen dollar store tutus.

We decided on a Bee tree theme in June.  We registered the name, Bee You Tiful with the Festival then.  Two months later my son died in an gun accident while camping, and our We Can group chair, Carolyn, kindly agreed to dedicate the tree to him.  At that time we added the 'B' s for 'Ben' to the design.

These are the ornaments our group made in monthly meetings for three months. There were 8 to 12 ladies at the meetings.  I finished up the ornaments the weekend before Festival set up, which is always the Monday after Thanksgiving.

The ornament to the right is my favorite of the group.  Ladies spent a lot of time making these hives out of sculpy clay.

 A larger B, and a large Bee top the tree ...

 Along with the tree, we added a small pie safe, rocking chair and table.  The contents of the pie safe were donated by various people, some items were donated by members of We Can, some came from a customer at the antique mall where I work, some came out of my stock at the antique mall, still others came from friend of mine,  my daughter Becca, a successful realtor in the area, purchased and donated the rug and the Bee Skep in the lower left corner was made by me with my craft group. So much goodness came together to stock the cupboard.  

The hand embroidered dish towel set, and a sampler were hand stitched by Carolyn, our group leader.

 Here are the We Can ladies who were able to come to the set up day.

 I loved the fun the bee wings, I got at the dollar store at Halloween time, added to the tree.  Best bang for our buck.

This is our dedication to Ben.  We miss him so much, but the focus on this tree, where I worked, and sometimes cried over my crafting, really was a healing experience.  We have done 18 trees over the years, this is the third one to be dedicated to someone.  My first was dedicated to my mother in 1999, then in 2013 we dedicated our tree to a member of We Can, who passed away.

Thank  you for joining us in our journey.

Kim's Witches' World of Delights and Tea too.

 Welcome says Skinny Jack, as I arrive at Kim's Witch's tea ... I see that 'the witch is in'.

More porch fun!

I was a bit early, and had the opportunity to take pictures of the decor before it was all covered with eager witches.

 Isn't this the best, a black and white display themed, Opera!  Ooo ...  I wonder if the phantom is here?

 If you sit here, you get to sit by a ballerina witch, who may or may not have overdone it on her diet ...

 Kim's been collecting Halloween for more than 30 years, and weeds her collection continually, 

which means, her decor is THE best. This is her dining room.

Spooky lace over the blinds with a banner, also in the dining room.

 Here's another friendly witch seat mate.

I could spend hours checking out every detail of this amazing display.

 ... and this one too ...

 Kim has the most amazing collection of mushrooms, a favorite of mine as well.  They stay out year round, but mix perfectly with every season, here we see a talented witch out gathering magic mushrooms for her brew.

 This full size ballerina witch is Jennine.  She used to be a vendor when I used to do fleaology.  Such a talented girl!!  I hear that she and Denise from Vintage Pelican are going to be sharing a booth at the Provo Vintage Market on Friday Nov 16, 6-9 and Nov 17 9-3  220 W Center Street in Provo. 

 More fabulous collectibles.

Boo!

 And if you're a 'Village Girl' you came to the right place ...

 Here's Kim's holiday tree dressed up to scare you!

 My favorite witch sits high on the stair landing overlooking the festivities. 

 Her 'higher up' overlooks the fun from the upstairs landing.

I'm such a fan of 50's graphics, though I AM older than Kim and experienced them as a child.

 More witches arrive, and they must be very wise, because they come bearing gifts, while wearing splendid costumes.

 Whoooo wants to play Halloween tic-tac-toe with me .... Whoooo, Whoooo

 "I would", said the Halloween Cat, "if I weren't in another room."

We are both fans of Mary Engelbreit's work.

 I love these. I always tell Kim I don't come to her parties for the goodies, I come for the eye candy, I think you can tell why...

 though there is certainly nothing to complain about when it come to the other kind of goodies, here is her delightful spread, including my witch finger bread sticks.

 There are also select treats 'tastefully' displayed, throughout the house.

I love the inclusion of the star in this fun bit.

... and isn't this tablecloth to die for?

 Witches checking out the brew!!

 Here's is Kim with her nieces and her red headed daughter.

 This is me with Kim and Jane, another wonderful vendor of vintage delights. (She's xoxohellogirlie on instagram)

Since all good things must come to an end, I pass this pair on my way back to the real world.  Thanks for a wonderful evening Kim.  You really are the best. 

My Best Witch Party Ever

What a fun day ... the morning of the day of my witches party, for which I had been decorating for weeks, I got the idea, to put Edgar Alan Poe's face over my husband's in the period portrait I had commissioned when we bought our 125 year old house, 20 years ago. I loved the effect, and one of my party guests even asked if I always had the Poe portrait on display in my library. 

 This is the desk in the library, with its decor including a specimen case with 'fairy remains', I'd made the day before. Doesn't it look scholarly?

 Then my helpers began to show up.  My grandson Scott dressed as Harry Potter, and worked the library for me.  His sister Eva was in charge of the craft in the garden house ... and since it was Eleanor's birthday she was in charge of having fun.

 This kindly witch was in charge of the entry way, she greeted guests and gave them the checklist for activities.  She also made sure the small graveyard in the front was full of goody bags for the witches to find when they went 'grave robbing'.

When it was dark enough Hubs added dry ice to the fountain, which looked pretty cool, because the bubbling brew animated the pumpkins .... oh soooo spooky. He also turned on the projector that projected flying witches against the house.

 With the help of early comers, like Becca, Wendy and even Hubs the table was laid by 7.

 There were Mummy Dogs, Jack-o-lantern oranges, Deviled Eggs, and Tomb Stone and cookie dirt puddings.

 There were also cookies (Thanks Jann), trick-or-treat candy, spooky brownie bites, Witch Finger Bread Sticks, Spider Ice cubes, and a cauldron of Bubbling Brew brought by a neighbor.

My birthday girl granddaughter asked me if they were real spiders.

My friend Cheryl brought Candy Witch Fingers, which were yummy, and we floated 'hand ice' with a spider ring in the punch bowl.

The birthday girl had a friend come to keep her company, since her siblings were hard at their spooky work.

 Here are some of my guests ... my dear friend Robin, who stopped at the grocery store on her way home in her complete costume, and ran into a lady who said "How cool, you're like a real witch out doing her regular grocery shopping ... I wish my kids were here to see you."

This is Wendy who flew in a bit early and made the deviled eggs for me.

 Here I am with neighbors, and my daughter-in-law in the orange sweater.

and more of my darling neighbors.

 These girls are all related, and its fun to see that they are color coordinated.

 Tara and Andrea

The details of costumes was so amazing, like this sweet spider pin my friend Lyn is wearing.

Now that you have met some of my guests, I thought I'd share pictures of the 8 witch activity stations for the evening.

1. Above and to the left are friends who are sitting in my family room watching 'Young Frankenstien'  We chose it because everyone knows the basic story so you could catch a few minutes for a laugh and move on if you wanted to.

2.  This witch watched over the Witches Ball, where witches danced around a steaming cauldron to classic tunes, like the Monster Mash ....

 Don't you think my friends are good sports?

 3. My Granddaughter Eva helped everyone make poison bottles for the spooky craft in my garden house.  I love this peek through the window.

 My friend Shirley is in my art group and is one of the most talented people I know.  I'm not sure how I missed getting a picture of her bottle, but I did get others.

 Here are friends Andrea, Tara and Kim, hard at work.

 Here is Lillian's bottle.

... and Carolyn's.  They are both in my book club.

Here are four of the six members of my art group who were able to come, Ann, Jann, Kimmy and Margo.

4.  My Grandson, aka Harry Potter oversaw the Library activities, including getting my guests to reach for a book on the shelves, which action triggered a trick book which moved in and out of the shelf while emitting spooky sounds and admonishing them concerning scary stories.  He then read part of The Raven, by Edgar Alan Poe (Who you will recall is overlooking the scene), then he administered a Halloween trivia game, for which they could win a prize.

 5. Then my guests stepped into the room next to the library to have their 'fortunes told' by my friend and walking partner, Ginny.

Since we are not 'that kind of witches' all of the fortunes were jolly, such as new grand babies, trips, treasures to be found and new friends...

 6. All the witches were reminded to spend some time in the dining room, eating dirt and witches fingers, and the like.

7. Then it was photo booth time, the witches were invited to use the props on the front porch to take pictures to remember their spooky evening and scary witchy friends.

 8. Last of all the witches were sent to the graveyard out front to do some 'grave robbing'.  We had hidden bags of 'Witches Loot', for them to find.

I  thought the 'candy stealer' grave stone was particularly funny, since the bags included a fair amount of candy, and the witches were there to rob .... beware ... There was even a strobe light to make it harder to focus and find the black bags.

So that was my 6th witch party.  I had done one for each of five years before heading to Finland.  This was my first to be held in the evening, as I decided it was time to take advantage of the fact that my house looks haunted.  Thanks for coming along to share the fun.  I hope your spooking season is your best ever.