Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Our Halloween Trip!

Today is the day!


Our train ride and a night in a hotel!

We arrive at the train station in the middle of the night.


We are lucky that the hotel is close by, 
as the fog seems to be getting more dense by the moment.

As we walk up the driveway to the hotel, 
we pass a rather spooky looking gazebo.






Here we are at the hotel.

The front desk clerk has our reservation,
asks us to sign the guest book
and gives us our key.



The lobby is...nice.




Oh!  Hello!  I've just checked in!  Are you enjoying your stay here?

This nice bellboy seems quite efficient.
It must be fun driving that little car all around the hotel all day!

Oh, this is a rather dark stairway.
And, did you see what I have seen under the stairs?

Here we are, Number 13.

This is a lovely room!
Very opulent!

Oh Dear!
This room is obviously already...umm...occupied!

I don't think I can stay here tonight...

We will go back to the train station
and wait for the next train...

There, we will be home soon now.
What a shame it is that our outing didn't turn out how
we had planned.

I'm just happy to be away from that hotel!



Happy Hallooooooweeeeeeeen!!!!!

I'd like to thank the following nice folks for the images
I have used in my collages today.

I'd like to thank Patricia of The Old Barn Door on Etsy
and Sue of Magpie Sue on Etsy
for the great postcards they sell and which 
originally inspired me to create the collages for this post.

Next, I'd like to thank all of the talented artists
for their amazing digital collage sheets!!
How amazing was it that I had already planned
to do a Haunted Hotel post and then I discovered
their Hotel Hell series?!?!
So, specifically, I'd like to thank the following
for their amazing work which inspired me so much!


I would also like to thank
for the spirit photography collage sheet!

While You Are Waiting...

Hello to you, Dearest Friends of The Tearoom!
While you are waiting for trick or treating to begin, I thought I'd give you a little something to amuse you in the meantime!  I hope you will enjoy watching The Addams Family enjoying their Halloween!



Saturday, October 26, 2013

Halloween with The Babies...

(This post is dedicated to My Mommy Cupcake, who left us to go to Heaven two years ago this week.)

Dearest Friends of The Tearoom,
Today, I welcome you warmly here at The Gossamer Tearoom for the Haunted Halloween Tea Party, a fun blog party sponsored by Our Very Dear Friend, Mademoiselle Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist!  After you have visited with us here, won't you also please visit with her here at her festive party and then go on and visit with the other participants as well?

Today, Dear Friends, I introduce you to some of the members of my dear family of vintage dolls and stuffed animals!  Some have belonged to me for a long time and some belonged to my own dear mother and were adopted by me!

Some people think old dolls and toys are creepy.  I think they are lovely and even though they are no longer perfect, they are still beautiful to me.  I am very touched by how much love they have received over the years.

A little over a year ago, I started a project.  I gathered some of the members of My Old Doll and Animal Family together with My Mother's Doll Family.  I had to scour through some of my boxes in the basement to find Teddy, my oldest friend along with Betty Boop.  Darling Thursday was still in parts in a box in the basement as well.  I found my mother's Dear Babies in an old suitcase behind one of the bookcases in our bedroom (yes, we have secret bookcases and hidden hiding places in our house, thanks to my Grandfather, who built the house and tended to be a bit eccentric!).  I also found quite a few of the clothes that I had worn as an office minion while living in Washington, DC.   They were either worn out or no longer fit me, so I selected the ones that were black or black and white prints and I cut them up for clothes for all of these lovely dolls!  Now, they are all dressed in black and look quite sweet, if I do say so myself!

This is Bebé Agnès and Bebé Noisette
These two little girls were my mother's.  She told me that she didn't think she had ever given then names, so I have now named them Bebé Agnès, named for her and Bebé Noisette, named for her sister Hazel (Noisette is French for hazelnut, something we occasionally called Aunt Hazel, because she had such a cute sense of humor!)  Noisette wears a mask I made for her because the paint on her eyes is almost all worn off.  

This dear little baby is now named Baby Petunia and was also once owned and loved by my mother.  
Some of her poor sweet babies look very ravaged by time, not from lack of care on her part, but because they were given to her during the Depression by an organization that gave toys to poor families who were unable to buy Christmas presents for their children.  Judging by the condition of them, I'm sure they were not new when they were given to her.

This baby, also one of my mother's dolls she loved as a girl, is now called Baby Adin (Adin is another name from my mother's family.  It is my Dear Uncle Sherwood's middle name!).  I made his striped suit from some fabric I found in Mommy's sewing boxes, his bowtie is made from the skirt of a party dress I owned in the 90's and his steampunk hat is made from various items I found around the house!  You might recognize him from the Halloween Party last year!

These little ones were probably bought by my mother at her first job.  She worked at the toy counter in the dime store, here in her hometown.  I have named them Cannelle and Clafouti.
(Cannelle is French for "cinnamon" and a clafouti is a French homestyle dessert and it often has cherries in it!  Scrumptious!  All you have to say is "cherries" to me and I come running!)

This is my porcelain Betty Boop Doll, with a black organza headband and chunky necklace, very speakeasy chic!  She had a great adventure once.  One of her arms had sadly come apart in pieces.  I remembered reading about a wonderful place called The New York Doll Hospital in New York City.  I sent them a letter, telling them about her and they asked me to send her to them so they could repair her.  They did and sent her back to me!  She travelled to New York many years before I did!  Sadly, the hospital is now closed.  Mr. Irving D. Chais was an angel of a doctor to the sweet little dolls he repaired.  Betty is most grateful to have once been under his care.  Now, he is retired as a doll doctor and is now just an angel.  I wonder if my Mommy has met him in Heaven?

This is Teddy.  He is my oldest friend!  My mother got him for me before I was born.  He was the first toy she bought for me!  His very happy face never fails to cheer me!  You may recognize him from here, one of The Mad Tea Parties, now long past, where he appeared as "The Teddy Bear Bat"!


Here is Teddy again, with our Dear Little Girl Thursday...

...and here he is in a picture with Betty Boop, 
from a party such a long time ago, 
from a time which now feels a lifetime away...

(Teddy is a much beloved member of our doll family.)

And so, who is "haunting" The Tearoom today?
My Dear Babies, of course!

Oh looky!  It's Dear Bebé Agnès,
with the twins Cannelle and Clafouti!
They are in their most festive dresses
for the tea party today!

And here are Bebé Noisette and Baby Adin,
waiting for you at the tea table!
They can't wait to take tea with you!

Don't Dear Little Thursday and Sweet Baby Petunia look sweet?
They have been waiting for you to arrive!


Betty Boop is looking very lovely, swaddled in her dark shroud,
like something from an Edward Gorey book.
Teddy and Brownie McNutt are admiring her
fashion sense!
(As you saw in the picture above,
Teddy and Betty have been the greatest of
friends for a very long time!)

And what are we having for tea today?

In honor of that classic Halloween favorite the caramel apple,
today we will be having a new pastry from The House of Ladurée in Paris,
the Saint-Honoré Pomme Façon Tatin.
It is described as such:
"Puff pastry and cream puff pastry with caramel icing,
smooth heart of "Tatin" apple, caramel custard cream,
caramel Chantilly whipped cream"
(A Tarte Tatin, which inspired this particular version
of a Saint-Honoré, is a French apple tart, made with 
only apples, butter and sugar and sometimes a splash
of apple brandy, but not a bit of spice like our apple pie!)

And for even more yummy caramel,
(I had caramel tea at a beautiful tearoom in Paris
and it was lovely!  I'm sure you will enjoy it!)

The Babies are so happy you have joined us
here in The Tearoom today!

A special note:
Our newest family member has not yet arrived,
but when he does, I will drop everything,
make him a new suit of black velvet,
and he will make his debut appearance
here in The Tearoom!

The images for this post are from the following sources:
All images of the dolls from photographs
taken by Mr. V and myself

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

The Mail Arrives Here at The Tearoom...

Oh, Dearest Friends!
Sometimes it is so hard to be patient when you are waiting and waiting and waiting for something you want to arrive in the mail!  Each day, we go and look and each day, nothing.  And then, the day arrives!  You've nearly forgotten to check that day and then, it occurs to you, today just might be the day!

And so, following much anticipation, the invitation we have been waiting for has arrived!!  Oh!  Such excitement!

We have received our invitation from our most Dearest Dear Mademoiselle Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist for her Haunted Halloween Tea Party!

Won't you please join us here at The Tearoom this coming Saturday, October 26th for a very special party?  Then, continue having even more fun by visiting Dear Vanessa at her party here and then, make the rounds and visit the other attendees' parties on their blogs as well!

So exciting!

And, now, we have another very special invitation for you (just because Halloween is just not Halloween if there are not more and more and more festivities to celebrate it!).  Please join us back here at The Tearoom on Thursday, October 31, Halloween Day for another treat!  On that day, we will be taking a train ride and having an over-night journey!  Please pack a small bag to bring with you, as we will be staying in a very grand hotel!  Oh!  What fun!


Please keep checking back for even more Halloween treats!





Saturday, October 19, 2013

So Many Parties!!

Hello to you, Dear Friends!
I am scrambling around The Tearoom, preparing for parties, parties and more parties!

First of all, please be sure and check out the Linky Party at Butterfly in the Attic !  Colleen is chatting about her love for linen postcards and it's one that I share!  I have posted two of my digital collage sheets made with linen postcards at the party today.

Another good thing to check out is this BNS too!  Colleen chose my Vintage Sepia Butterfly Digital Collage Sheet for the treasury she calls "The Harvest Moon"!



As some of you might know, I am the Mommy to a very sweet family of vintage dolls and stuffed animals.  They are so dear to me and I can't help but indulge them this time of year because they love Halloween so much!  First of all, they insisted that I let them play dress up, so of course, I had to capture these images in two new digital collage sheets on Velvet Revived.

This is the first sheet, showing how much fun they are having dressing up for Halloween....

...and this is the second one!

And, just remember, the Vintage Sepia Butterflies, both of the Halloween Spooky Doll Masquerade Party and Victorienne's Halloween Party are all on sale for just $2.00 each, for a limited time!

In more party news, the dolls have asked if they could have a party here at The Tearoom and now could I say no?  It will be your chance to meet them all, including a new member of the family as well! 



I will be posting the invitation for this party very soon!

And finally, we are waiting, as patiently as we are able, for the invitation to the party at A Fanciful Twist!!  

You should probably dust off your party hat, as it will be well used in the next few days!

Thursday, October 17, 2013

What We Listen to Here at the Tearoom...

Here at The Tearoom, delightfully spooky sounds at Halloween fill us with delight!!  Lovely news comes to us today from a great 80's music blog that Mr. V follows called Slicing Up Eyeballs!  They are reporting today that David J, one of the founding members of those seminal 80's bands Bauhaus and Love and Rockets, is releasing a "cinematic re-interpretation" of that brilliant Halloween classic "Bela Lugosi's Dead"!  It will premier on his website at "one minute past The Witching Hour on Halloween 2013"!  More information about it here.  We are so excited to see it!  Other than some live performances, which were recorded, Bauhaus did not make a video for it at the time.

However, the video for the cover version by Nouvelle Vague was quite good, as it uses scenes from the original Dracula movie starring Mr. Lugosi himself!  I like to post it here each Halloween and so, once again, may I present to you the cover of "Bela Lugosi's Dead".



And for more of your Halloween listening pleasure, this is a track list of a mixtape I made of my favorite spooky tunes a few years back!  I never tire of listening to it...

Peter Murphy - All Night Long
Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up
Gene Loves Jezebel - Desire (Extended Version)
Specials UK - Ghost Town
Temperamental (Pull Timewarp Remix)
Yaz - Ode to Boy
Cocteau Twins - Sugar Hiccup
Massive Attack - Inertia Creeps
Tricky - Love Cats
U.N.K.L.E. - Bloodstain
The Cure - Lullaby
The Church - Under the Milky Way
Massive Attack with Sinead O'Connor - Special Cases
Tricky - Hell is Round the Corner
Cocteau Twins - My Love Paramour
Joy Division - Candidate
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cities in Dust
Cocteau Twins - Beatrix
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Halloween
Tricky - Pumpkin
Joy Division - Transmission
Gene Loves Jezebel - Influenza
The Cure - Fascination Street (Extended Mix)
Tones on Tail - Twist
Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead

Happy Listening, Dear Friends!

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

The Donuts Luncheonette



I do so love Edgar Oliver!  And I love his little giggle at the end even more!!

Monday, October 14, 2013

Next in a Series of Halloween Treats...!



For your viewing pleasure, a delightfully cute and creepy video, featuring the adorable Baby June and Mr. Peeps!

More treats to come!

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Victorienne's Weekend

Hello to you, Dear Friends!
Our darling little Victorienne is such a good little girl!  She is so good all week, practicing her French pronunciation so diligently, making botanical drawings for natural science class, adding up numbers in neat little rows, taking her harpsichord lessons after school.  But on the weekends, she loves nothing more than to dress up!


Here she is in her collection of dresses showing scenes from Vintage Paris!!  They are some of her favorites and that's why I have chosen to post them in the Linky Party on Butterfly in the Attic!  Victorienne would love it if you would go take a peek at the other fun postcard-related items posted there!!

And here is what she has just been so excited to show you as well!
Little Victorienne loves Halloween as much as we do!  Here are some of the costumes she is considering for her Halloween Party!  What fun she is having getting to play dress up so much!

Keep watch for more Halloween festivities....

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Welcome to October...

Dearest Friends,
Welcome to October!  Oh, I do have treats for you this month to celebrate Halloween!


Even though our friend Morticia Addams is correct, Halloween is what makes this time of year fun for me!