A Much Anticipated Return to Farm Girl Antiques

I am so excited to share this year's photos from Farm Girl Antiques! Part of my excitement comes from them being open. You might remember that we weren't able to get in last year. The other reason I'm excited about this trip is because I photographed some new, unique items. Starting with one of the more unique decorations, how about this guy? What a character.

This is part of the window display. I may have mentioned in the past that this store has open display windows you can walk into. Can you spot the little yoga skeleton? 

I took a few photos in what I call "Squirrel Vision" where I stoop down on the floor and just tilt the camera up. I didn't even know what I'd get in this one. There's something about taking a photo at ground level that really works with mice. 

Another view from inside the display window:

Classic!

Can you guess what these are?

Shark teeth! They seemed spooky enough to be included with the Halloween theme. They were marked 10 for $1.00, which is probably a pretty good deal, as far as shark teeth are concerned. Not that I'd even know. I wonder how someone amassed such a large collection of these.

Here's a ghostly image of a little... mouse? Bear? It's cute, anyway. There's something ghostly about the man in the photo too. I didn't even notice him until looking through these photos at home.

There's a lot going on here. It's always interesting to look at the details in a photo like this later. I like those mini lantern pumpkin lights.

Some more dollies:

And now onto the costume section:

This looks like a ghost prom or ghost bride getup. 

This gives a nice view of the tin ceiling.

A possible autumn floral inspiration pic. 

Now this. THIS. This is my own photo and I have trouble looking at it. The longer I look at this, the more uncomfortable I feel. I discovered her while crouching down to take one of those "Squirrel Vision" pics. 

I found this guy down near the head. He's also creepy. I know he's kind of ridiculous looking in some ways, but he had a vibe. 

I love this jack-o-lantern! He nearly fooled me into thinking he was an actual antique, but after checking his tag, I saw he was a Bethany Lowe. They do great recreations. 

I can tell that little pumpkin on the tree is also a Bethany Lowe. 

Here's a close-up view of one of those party hats. 

Each year they set up this old carriage with a different Halloween display. I remember it decked out for Christmas as well. I still remember the year they set up a skeleton "driver" in the carriage. 

Now onto the owl section. 

How cute are these little guys? 

I found it so surreal to be photographing this antique camera with my modern camera. Lens to lens, it felt so personal. Try taking a photo facing an antique camera some time and see how it feels. For me, it felt like an object that had been looked through many times was now looking at me. Can you see the old building reflected in the lens?

Some of you may be familiar with the Brownie cameras. I'd heard about them, but hadn't seen one in person before. 

I took a pic of the door to the store on the way out. This will give you an idea of those display windows. 

I thought I'd include a few photos from in front of a Mexican restaurant near the antique store. 

This skeleton sculpture was inside another large display window. This space was used as a gallery years back when I took those Day of the Dead photos. Perhaps some day those gallery events will take place again.

I hope you enjoyed looking through these photos as much as I did! It's always fun to revisit photos like these at a later time. I've looked over my Farm Girl Antique photos years later. There always seems to be something hidden. 

Halloween at JoAnn's ~ Part 2

I returned to JoAnn's to see what had been added to those empty shelves I saw last time. There were a few new goodies. For the most part, the new items matched that classic Halloween theme you saw in the last post.

Here are more of those cutie jack-o-lanterns you saw in the last post. I think that "BOO" wood square decoration is sort of a take on wood lettered blocks for kids. I feel inspired to craft something like that. A "BOO" painted on totally square blocks with sort of a vintage look would be cool. 

This funky glam beetle and spider were fairly large. If someone was decorating a large-scale Halloween tree, these could be a fun addition.

This different type of spider looks like a fun way to display treats.

I love these twisted spooky trees. Of course one could look cool alone, but they're pretty striking as a forest. Imagine how fun it would be to decorate these as a group. Maybe some tiny fake leaves could go under them.

Of course there were some skeleton decorations. This guy was cool because his eyes changed colors off and on.

I know you see some form of skeletons doing yoga on my blog each year, but these are metallic. 😉 They're really gritting their boney teeth in holding those poses, which is understandable for that one on the left. 

And then there are these two. He's just bathing in his top hat, swigging away. I'm beginning to think that I'm with skeletons how some people are with garden gnomes (that I find them funny just doing anything). Those "bubbles" are actually marbles. 

There were a couple new skeleton creatures too. "New" is saying something, because every year I feel like I've seen it all with skeleton critters. Isn't this a happy skeleton rooster?

This metallic rainbow sea creature lights up. A bright blue light emanates from his brain.

There were a number of patterned Halloween fabrics out. Here are some of my favorites:

Look at those spooky cat eyes! And it goes without saying how cool those Day of the Dead patterns are. I guess the first one is kind of a Day of the Dead/Halloween mashup.

And a few classic patterns:

Like last time's JoAnn's post, I'm going to end with a few Dollar Tree finds. You're looking at a pack of eight wood fox cut-outs that you can make into a garland. Below the foxes are some wood acorns and mushrooms.

I still love the truck carrying something craze and I guess everyone else does too, because I keep seeing trucks everywhere! These could look cute on a wreath.

These velvety small pumpkins are a great deal for $1.00! (You're looking at two sprigs here.) These also come in a bright reddish orange and white. I have a white set that I'm planning to put in with some silk roses for autumn.

Can you even believe that these three signs came from a Dollar Tree? These vintage-inspired signs were above and beyond what I'd expect to see there. They're pretty sturdy too! It might be hard to see here, but they're on stakes. The heads are roughly the size of a human head.

Dollar Tree has had a pretty impressive Halloween selection this year, and it's fast moving. So if your store is anything like mine, grab what you like when you first see it! I haven't seen most of the same Halloween items on my next visit. But the good news is that they always seem to have a different Halloween item in place of them!