Phoneix-bound and more Halloween projects to share

Hi Blog friends! I need help from any of you who live in the Phoenix area (Linda T, I'm talking to you! :) My mom and I are going to the area in a few weeks for our third annual Girls' Weekend. We're taking a couple of art classes (soldering & beeswax collage) at this great place in Mesa called Blissful Living Studio, but we're looking for a few other fun things to do. We plan to hit Melrose Vintage and we have some family in the area we might like to see, but we're wondering if there's anything else we should put on our must-see list? We're flying in Friday morning, taking classes during the day on Saturday and then leaving Sunday afternoon so it won't be a long trip. We like antiques, crafts, funky stores like Anthropologie, and my mom knits so local yarn shops might be fun as well. We're open to all suggestions!

Now that the business is over, let's get back to Halloween! First, head over to my friend Angie's blog and see the darling wreath she made! She used a simple grapevine wreath form and a selection of ribbon from the $1 bins at Michael's. All she did was cut lengths of the ribbon and knot them around the grapevine branches. So simple, yet so cute--and it's even cuter in person, let me assure you! What I really love about it is the colors. For me, purple makes the whole thing just pop! What an easy decoration that could easily be adapted for any holiday or to match any decor.

And here's a little decoration I made:

I can't remember exactly how I stumbled upon this blog, but as a lover of Halloween it had me instantly hooked! My favorite thing are these very cool apothecary labels that the designer has very generously shared for public use here on Flickr. Just right click and save the images to your own computer and you can make your own potion cabinet!

For my bottle, I used the large poison label. I measured my bottle (a decanter I thrifted with just such a project in mind!) and sized the label accordingly in my Word program. I printed it out and added a bit of brown chalking to make it look appropriately aged, glued it on the bottle and filled it with colored water. Easy but fun! Wouldn't you love to have a whole shelf of old bottles and jars with scary labels?