*Happy Hallowe'en*

*Happy Hallowe'en Everyone*

The above picture was James and I at our Hallowe'en party on Saturday night!

We had a fab time and we had lots of lovely friends come in some fab costumes!!!

I did take some pictures of all the decorating and things that I had made but for some reason they all keep coming out blurry and odd, so I can't post any good ones!

Some spooky halloween fairy magic no doubt!

Anyhoo, I hope you are all having a fab Hallowe'en!

*Happy Halloween*

Come Wizards, come Witches,
come Goblin & Fae
The time is nigh for Magic & Play

The Candles are lit and gleam in the Night
It’s time for all Broomsticks to rise
and take flight

Come dressed in your Cloaks,
fine Hats & array
And Drink & Be Merry ‘til night turns to day!




I love Halloween, so of course I love to dress the house in Halloween style!
Here are a few examples of the Halloween spookiness that is going on in our home.
Oh and the above little ditty was part of something I wrote last year for our Halloween Party invites!

The first photo is of a little primitive stichery I made and is hanging from our fireplace.
The little witches boots & hat I made last year, they are made with calico and then painted black once made up and then grubbied with a scented cinnamon & apple mixture ~ I found they still actually still smell delicious when I got them out for this year!



This is a bat that I made in the same way and he has red beads for eyes! He is hanging from the mirror in our living room!



Here are some bottles and jars that I made up last year too, all in the style of witches potions ~ these are standing on our dresser in the dining room.

Not to forget the trick or treaters we have lots of sugary goodness for them on a pumpkin plate waiting in our hallway, the sign is handmade by me too.

My broom is propped in the hallway also and my wonderful velvet witches hat is sitting close by too ready for me to take flight at any moment!

Anyhoot have a wonderfully wicked Halloween everyone & enjoy yourselves!

x

*A Sneak Peek at our Autumn Loveliness*

I thought I would share a little sneak peek at what Autumn loveliness is going on in the Vintage Amethyst home this October.

As you can see above we have some wonderful gourds on display in the living room. I absolutely love it when these beauties (or should that be uglies) arrive in florists & boutiques in the Autumn months. These here were such a bargain at 50p each too!



Of course we have our ever so cute mini pumpkins on display again, aren't these little cuties adorable? They are so fairy-tale like & delicious.
They sit in this bowl on our coffee table in the living room and they always get a comment from guests. People can't believe they are tiny dried pumpkins!



And here is a snippet of the fab fabric leaves I picked up in Hamburg last year.
Lovely to adorn tables and fireplaces with.



Here we have a little Autumn pot-pourri mix that I made up from dried orange & lime slices, bay leaves, tiny dried chillies, dried rose hips, sticks of cinnamon & a few conkers thrown in too.
This all sits in a lovely hand-turned wooden bowl in our hallway.



Yay, conkers! Well it wouldn't be Autumn without conkers would it! This is a selection of conkers that we picked up last weekend over in Appleby in Cumbria whilst we had a lovely Autumn walk by the river.
I must admit I can't resist a conker lying on the ground, I do love these little fellas don't you?



And lastly here is a hanging chili heart that I made which hangs from the dresser in our dining room. I love the colour of these chillies as they are so orange & teamed with the raffia I think it looks so rustic & Autumnal.

Hope you enjoyed the little sneak peek into our Autumnal goodies that are decorating our home at the moment, eeek it won't be long before the Christmas lovelies will be adorning the home will it?
Well until then enjoy the beautiful Autumn days everyone.
x

*Eeek, the Darker Nights are a Coming!*

*Clock available in the Vintage Amethyst Boutique*

Don't forget to turn your clocks back tonight everyone in the UK!
Can you believe it is this time of year already?
Ooohhh those dark nights are definitely upon us now, but of course we get another hour of sleep tonight, so stay cosy & warm everyone and I hope you all have a lovely lazy Sunday morning.

*Sweet 'n' Spicy Butternut Pie*

Whilst whiling away a few spare minutes looking for seasonal recipes I came across this delicious sounding recipe Sweet 'n Spicy Butternut Pie.
I absolutely love Butternut Squash and doesn't this just look scrumdiddlyumptious?
Obviously being the kind gal I am, I thought I would share the recipe with you ...

Ingredients

250g butternut squash, peeled weight, cubed
250g shortcrust pastry
¼tsp ground cinnamon
¼tsp ground ginger
¼tsp ground nutmeg
100g light soft brown sugar
2 large eggs
142ml pot single cream
Icing sugar, to dust

Method
1 Simmer the squash in just enough water to cover for 10 minutes until tender. Drain, then blot on kitchen paper. Allow to cool slightly. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6.
2 Roll out the pastry and line a 23cm flan tin. Prick the base, line with foil and weigh down with baking beans. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Put in oven for 4 minutes more. Reduce heat to 180C/Gas 4.
3 Purée the squash with the spices and sugar. Whisk eggs and cream together in a large bowl until well combined. Whisk in the squash purée and pour the mixture into the pastry case.
4 Bake pie for 30 minutes or until just set in centre.
Cool.
Dust with icing sugar and serve.


Mmmmmm, this would be wonderful for an autumn dinner party or even a Halloween party treat wouldn't it? Something a little different to impress your guests with.

*Haunted House Cake*

Oh my, how utterly amazing is this Halloween Cake from Martha Stewart!?!
I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it, I just love it don't you?

I'm not sure I'm up to making something so wonderful, eeek it just frightens me (well it is a Haunted House Cake I suppose!) but if you want to have a go yourself for Halloween find the recipe *here*.

*Halloween Treat Balls*

Eeek, can you believe Halloween is only next week!
I absolutely love Halloween and love decorating the house in Autumnal & Halloween lovelies.
Oh and I do love getting 'Trick or Treaters' I love getting all the sweeties in ready for them and hearing those little knocks at the door don't you?

Anyhoot thinking about 'Trick or Treaters' I found this really cute idea from Martha Stewart Halloween Treat Balls, don't they just look so cute and imagine handing out these on Halloween ~ every little trickster would be over the moon wouldn't they?

Well if you want to have a go yourselves here is the what to do part!

Cover small balloons with one layer of orange tissue paper and then one layer of yellow.
Cut out your own shapes, or download and print these *silhouettes* then trace them onto black tissue paper; cut out each shape.
Affix the silhouettes to balls with diluted glue.
When dry, make a hole big enough to pop some sweeties in then fill the balls with goodies and paste a circle of orange tissue paper over the hole so that the balls are complete again.

Then all you need to do is sit back and wait for some little tricksters to come along and make their night!

*Autumn Display*

Well Autumn is well and truly underway now isn't it, and as it was the Autumn Equinox last weekend and we were having guests over I decorated the house with lots of lovely Autumnal lovelies, so I thought I would share some pictures with you all!

Below is a candle display on my dining room table.

The glass candle holder is stuffed with cinnamon sticks, dried bay leaves nuts and cloves.

***

This is at the fireside, although I have now moved this blue jug into the dining room now, things don't stay put in one place for long in this house!!!

The candle holder is stuffed with the same as the other one, these candles are well and truly burned down now since these photos were taken!

***

Below is the top of the fire ~ I decorated a small willow wreath with some of the lovely fabric leaves I brought back from Germany with me! Although this was only for the weekend and now the leaves have been taken off and it now sits on a bookcase!

The little stars I have just made the other day, I made them for Christmas but they looked so good with all the other Autumnal things that they got placed here for a while! (They have now been moved to a book case though ~ see I told you things don't stay put for long!)

They are made with fabric that I coffee stained and rubbed with cinnamon and then baked for a lovely primitive grubby look! The star on the right has a stick of cinnamon tied to it too. I scented them with some delicious smelling Cinnamon Roll fragrance, which is yummy and bakery smelling!

I tend to go all 'Primitive' when it gets to Autumn/Winter time, I just love the cosy look and then when Spring arrives I tend to go all Shabby Cath Kidston-y!!!

***

Here is a bowl of mini pumpkins that I bought to have around Halloween time, but they are just too cute that I have put them out now and they are on my coffee table and are still there now, one or two are dotted around in different places too!

Ooohhhh they are just *sooooo* cute!

***

Well I hope you are all enjoying our early Autumn days and keeping cosy and warm.

*Last Days of Summer*

Well its the first of September today, I just can't believe it!
How quickly this year seems to have flown by and especially the Summer, and now here we are in the final days of Summer.
This will be my last post for a couple of weeks as we are off to Pomorie in Bulgaria on Monday for 2 weeks.
When I get back Autumn should have arrived.
I love the Autumn, it is my favourite season.
I love September as the sun starts to gets weaker but is still warm.
I love seeing the leaves turn golden, red and orange and then start to fall to the ground.
I love getting wrapped up that little bit warmer as there is starting to be a nip in the air.
I love opening the windows first thing as the mornings seem to have that wonderful chill that seems to breeze through the house cleansing as it flows.
Ooohhh it feels so good to be having a holiday and then coming back and it being Autumn, it feels just right, a good way to say goodbye to the summer months.

The picture above is of some wonderful fabric leaves I bought in Germany, I got a big pack for 1.50 Euro, and there are lots of different style leaves and so many of them for the price!
I love all the Autumn-y things Germany always seems to sell, I wish I could have bought lots more things but I just couldn't get them all back in our bags!!!

Anyhoo, I shall bid you all farewell for a while.
Enjoy the last days of summer everyone.
x