Tales of the Traveling Tote #25 and A Giveaway

Welcome to our December version of 
Tales of the Traveling Totes where we 
MacKenzie-Childs loving women bring 
you along to the many places our totes 
travel with us. 

Today Miss Madi K and I headed north to 
visit the elves at 
Gardner Village for Christmas in the Village.
Here we found lots of Santa's helpers at work.   

We also found plenty of his helpers 

just goofing around.  

It was a cold but sunny day, a good day 
for catching a sighting of the many elves.

This little one and her helper baking 
gingerbread cookies was one of my favorites. 

We also fell in love with this little guy up 
on the ski lift.

Gardner Village is a quaint shopping and eating 
experience centered on the Old Gardner Mill. 
Historic homes and cabins have been moved 
to the site and they house retail shops.  

It is fun to just walk around the property, cross 
a couple of wooden bridges and be on the 
hunt for elves everywhere.  We enjoyed the magic 
of Christmas in the Village. 

We brought our own little Christmas helpers along. 

My daughter was on the hunt for 
Dept. 56 North Pole Village pieces.  Alas, 
the shop that used to carry them is no longer 
in business at Gardner Village.  We did a quick 
search on the internet and we quickly 
headed to another store and found plenty of 
North Pole Elf Houses. 

 

Haw's Floral is a magical spot that we had never 
visited before and 
Miss Madi K and I were especially drawn to 
this fabulous table and display.

Even though the store was no longer in business, 

we had fun seeing all of the elves, and we now 

have a fabulous new Christmas store to enjoy.  

You don't even have to leave home to have some 
fun,  just visit Sarah and Miss Merri Mac 
and leave a comment to win these fun 
MacKenzie-Childs Courtly Check party 
plates, napkins and straws.

Also visit the rest of our tote traveling group to see where they have been off to lately.
Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

Cherry Kay and Carrie Ann Hall @ Entertaining Women  

 

Freeze Dried Candy Board

Beaulah wants to share our new treat with you,
whether it is Halloween or not - 
Freeze Dried Candies.  These freeze dried Skittles 
even look like colorful eyeballs, so they are 
great for Halloween, or any time of year.


Using the same black and white checked tray, 
we put together this sugary delight. Starting on 
the left side and going counter-clockwise we have 
Chewy SweetTarts, Gummy Bears, HiChews (cut in half) 
and Milk Duds.
The little goblins and even the big ones can't get 
enough of it.  Beaulah and I have not been able 
to keep things stocked.  One little granddaughter 
even asked for a really big jar of the Freeze Dried 
Skittles for her birthday in December.  How cute is 
that.  

Personally, I am not a huge sugary candy fan, so I 
threw in a little chocolate again.  The little jars held 
M&M's and non freeze dried Chewy SweeTarts.
Of course, these treats don't need to be freeze dried, 
but it changes the texture and they just melt in 
your mouth. 
I have a Harvest Right Freeze Dryer which we 
purchased several years ago.  I think these will 
stay on our menu for years to come.

Ghostly Halloween Table

It's time to show our Halloween Feast in the
Great Hall!  
This year the ghosts gathered to join us.

The ghosts help push aside the furniture to make 
room for all of the fun.

Black and purple candles adorned the Great Hall.

The plate stacks were simple with silver 

chargers and white square plates set on an angle.

Images of haunted windows and gardens 
adorned every placesetting.

These skeletal goblets adorned the table too. 

There was plenty of "eye" candy on the table.

And there was lots of purple - my favorite Halloween color.

These creepy spooks were there to greet everyone!
It is always a party here at Purple Chocolat Home.
My little spooks heard we were coming as 
Zombie Bride and Groom, so they wanted to 
match us.  Loved it!!

I will be posting with Tablescapes Thursday

Goblets - Dollar Tree

Ghostly Images - Etsy

Skeleton and Pumpkin Cart - MacKenzie-Childs

Plates - Home Goods

Rats and Cats Cheese and Chocolate Board

This Halloween cheese board is so fun and 
kind of creepy - the kids just love it!

So did Hubby, since he started playing with his cheese!

The rats and cats picked out an assortment of 

their favorite cheeses.  Living at our house, 

they get lots of opportunity for munching 
on cheese, and chocolate pairs so nicely with cheese

They requested Parmesano Reggiano, Jalapeno 
Monterey Jack, Extra Sharp Cheddar and Drunken 
Goat Cheeses.

This was so easy and such a big hit.

You can find the skeletal pets at most stores now.

Haunted Miniature House

Decorating my house this year
for Halloween
 wasn't enough;
I had to decorate a miniature house too!

There is something so magical about miniatures, 
and I have been bitten by the bug.

Miss Beulah has not been very happy with me 
that I haven't featured her yet on my blog, 
but I had flown off on my own broomstick!

The house has been decorated since the last week 
of September, but with parties and travel and 
everything Halloweenish, I haven't blogged about 
any of it!

I really wanted to find a dollhouse and paint 
it in spooky colors, but even used doll houses 
are going for a fortune and I didn't have time 
to build one (and I am not sure I would ever 
finish it), so when I went into Michaels and 
found this top piece all painted and with a 
sparkly, purple, shingled roof, I bought it.  

I thought I would bring it home and have just a tiny, 
tiny haunted house, but this adorable cupboard, 
which I had purchased at Hobby Lobby was too 
tall to fit into any of the space.  

So I went back to Michaels and purchased two 
unfinished wood boxes, circled above.  The bottom 
one created the base, and the top one created the 
living space.  A quick spray with black paint and 
a little glue, and now I had a house.  

I had ordered a few things off of Etsy, like these adorable 
pillows.  I frayed the edges of a piece of orange and black 
chevron fabric and glued the edges under for a rug.

The dresser on the right came from the dollar store.  My 
daughter found that and bought it for me.  

The Halloween plates, cake and cookies were also 
from Etsy.  I had made the bottle brush trees a few 
years ago for Halloween. 

The spooky apothecary jars were from Etsy, 
along with the manuscript tied in string, but 
the packages, letters, books, table, pots and plates 
all came from Michaels and Hobby Lobby.  

This spooky toadstool rests in moss in one 
of the valleys of the roof.  I purchased him 
from a local holiday boutique - The Holy Cow. 

 

I added windows and fireplaces inside and out. 

The cool candlestick stump was also from Holy Cow.

You can find things in the fairy garden section, 
the dollar store, craft stores, and online.  There 
are also wonderful youtube videos on how to make 
miniatures.  Hunting for things has been half of the fun!

Of course, now I want to make a Christmas one.  
I had picked up a lot of beautiful miniatures 
a few years ago when we went to the 
Christmas Markets 
in Germany, and this would be a fun way 
to display them.  
Young and old were fascinated with it. 

Glad you stopped to visit!  Beaulah 

has made me promise we will post more! 

I will be posting this with
Metamorphosis Monday