Our Gravely Ghouls and Goblins

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!  I think the best part for us was the past few days we've spent putting the finishing touches to (as Denise calls them ) the newest additions to our family!

These were fairly easy to construct with pvc pipes as the forms and then newspaper and packing peanuts were used as fillers.  Denise used stakes that the pvc pipes could fit perfectly into and drove those into the ground to support each character.  The costumes were really inexpensive at the thrift store - less than $5 bucks for each costume.

I think Denise calls him the 'Mayor".  His face is a large foam pumpkin with an inexpensive white mask attached.  The hat of course a brown paper bag and even though we've been making these for over 20 years they still are a great, inexpensive and creative accessory!

Who can resist a face like this?  This little guy is made out of all kinds of things - see if you can 'spot' any familiar household items!

Our family had lots of fun tonight and we hope yours did too!

Spooktacular Halloween Figures

These figures Denise made with Halloween costumes from the thrift store and pvc pipes as the 'bones' of each figure.  We've had lots of rain recently, so hopefully this week we'll get the entire front decorated and post the final pics by the weekend!

Perfect Pumpkin Dip for the Holidays

Our friend Jackie from West Virginia was out here last week and she brought over the ingredients and recipe for this amazing pumpkin dip!  It was easy and fast to make, and delicious!  She had the girls put the dip in canning jars with bags of gingersnaps to take to their teachers, it was the perfect gift for this time of year!

Pumpkin Dip with Gingersnaps
4 cups confectioners sugar
2 packages (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1 can (39 oz.) pumpkin pie filling mix
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger

In large mixing bowl, combine sugar and cream cheese until blended.
Add rest of ingredients and mix well.
Store in refrigerator.
Yields 7 cups

Serving Suggestions:  Serve mixture as a dip with gingersnap cookies (old fashioned are the best)
OR pour mixture into small canning jars and attach a small bag of gingersnaps as a gift during October/November!

Denise's Many Faces

Denise has painted faces, people and images on chairs for many years.  This year she has been working with blacks, grays and taupes as her color palette on a variety of furniture and home decor.  Here are some examples of her latest series of faces on chairs, tables, and clocks.

Unique Themed Baby Gift Baskets!

These Themed Baby Gift Baskets are unique, one of a kind gifts for that special mom and newborn.  They make great gifts for the holidays and baby showers.  They range in price from $85-$145.  Please email me - whitehorserelics@gmail.com -  if you would like more details, each basket includes fun, unique items to fit the theme of each basket.  I can customize the gift basket with baby's name or parent's names.

June 2015....Most of these were created back in 2009, but since that post gets a lot of views, I'm adding some additional pics of baskets that we created that same year...Several people have messaged us over the years with other fun themes including Pirates, Environmentally Friendly, Organic, Ocean Theme, Superheroes & more...Even though these were made 6 years ago, there are some fun ideas that can be adapted for not only newborns but toddlers too.

Bath Time
Styrofoam balls painted blue and then dabbed with a bit of white make great bubbles,
we used a lot of skewer sticks in baskets to prop up items 

Antique Bike

Under the Big Top
The lion's hat is a Christmas ornament and we use actual baby bibs to tie onto the
stuffed animals.

Sweet Treat Trike
These bikes are from the garden department at discount stores

 

 





Giddy Up

Sweet Style
You really don't need a lot of items, tying on big bows and accenting each item with ribbons
and tags fills up the space

Beary Sweet
Containers like these are quite easy to find at discount stores

Pink Picket Fence

Safari Sweetie

Wagon Wrangler

 

Sweet Treat



Cupcake Cutie
Dressing up the stuffed animal in a newborn outfit is a cute way to display it
Her hat is just a plush slice of cake pinned to her head
We used the styrofoam balls here as ice cream scoops

 

Tea Time Picnic

Hoppy Baby



Baby Bloom

Vintage Toy Luggage

 

Sweetest Goal



Garden Party for Little Miss Iona Taylor

 

Secret Garden

Froggy Trike

 

Old fashion diaper pins you can find at the dollar store and they make great accent pieces

You were made perfectly to be loved-and surely I have loved you, in the idea of you, my whole life long.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you've made me smile
The entire evening sky would be in the palm of my hand.



babies are such a nice way to start people
-Don Herold