Flapper Girl Mannequin Head

I have been out and about junking,

and have not been very good about documenting it.

Yesterday I spent the good part of a day at an outdoor auction.

Nothing went cheap, but I did manage to purchase a few things.

Maybe I will share a few more of the treasures I bought.

But this 1920s flapper mannequin head is my favorite.

I am selling her on ebay.

Freaky Friday Halloween Upcycled Vintage Hats, 2017 Edition Part II

More vintage tweaked Halloween hats from this year:

SKELETAL CREW HAT

 VILLAINOUS VISOR HAT

 HAIRY EYEBALLS HAT

GLITTERY GHOULS HAT

 

RHINESTONE ARACHANOID HAT

ICEPICK HAT

Halloween Upcycled Vintage Hats 2017 Edition

 I have been taking cheap vintage hats and upcycling them into classy (yet freaky)
Halloween toppers for several years now.  If you wish to see past years click:
2014 here, 2015 here, 2016 here.

Without further ado, I would like to present the 2017 Halloween hats:

GREEN SNAKE HAT

I made two snake hats this year, this is the first.

RUBBERY SNAKE HAT

This is the second snake hat.  

I like how the snake tail hangs down the back,
 like decorative ribbon.

REAL BUGGY COLLECTION HAT

This hat was inspired when I found a huge dead bug in my yard,

he is front and center. I added a couple more real, and a couple fake bugs.

 I had to figure out how to put them on pins,

without pinning anyone's head.  

Pinning them to a huge furry spider was a good solution.

ME & MY DOLLY HAT

This is my only Halloween doll this year.

I found her at a flea market, no legs.

But she is not really very scary, 

I gave her a fancy "matching" hat with a feather.

 I'VE GOT MY EYE ON YOU HAT

DRIVING ME BATTY HAT

Bat in front glows in the dark.

This gives you a nice view of my model.

FURRY EYEBALLS HAT.

Eyeballs made out of pingpong balls.

This one is my favorite hat so far.
 So far .... because there are more coming tomorrow.

In The Millinery Business

I purchased all of the hats in this post at the 7.01.2017 auction.
 I went a little hog wild on hats.

I basically bought all of these (and about 25 more)

for about $1 each.

Most of the hats in this post are straw hats.

I find when I put things on ebay it helps if I do it in categories.

This cutie also had flowers on the outside of the

satin streamers.

I thought that this one was such a great shape.

I love all the different shapes and sizes,

the adornments....

and mostly the millinery flowers.

 These will be listed on ebay,

others will be for sell in my booth,

and some will get "enhanced" for Halloween.
Just the ebay hats sold for $157.

Halloween Upcycled Vintage Hats 2016 Edition

One of my favorite ways to "elegantly" celebrate the season is making Halloween themed hats from vintage hats that have seen better days.  All the hats that I used cost me less than $2 each.  Most of the decorations came from Dollar Tree, and it was just a matter of creative composition and securing everything securely -- just like a real millinery. 

"Rat's Nest" Hat

I thought the white feathers helped

set the rat apart from the black hat.

"Black & Orange Glitter" Hat

"Mad Masquerade" Hat

"Bat Wings" Hat

"Give Me A Hand" Hat

"Orange Tarantula & Web" Hat

"Glow-In-The-Dark" Hat

"Crow's Nest" Hat.

Crow is motion sensitive -- and makes cackling noise.

Click here or here to see last year's editions.

Halloween Upcycled Vintage Hats 2015 Edition, Part II

This is the second part of the reveal on the 2015 Halloween Upcycled Hat Collection.  Click  here  to check out Part I (hats 1-7).  The somewhat eerie, vintage hat parade continues:

#8  Last year my Halloween hats had titles.  The title of this one would have been "I'm The King Of The World!"  Made with a crown and little skeleton from Dollar Tree.

#9  I loved the sparkly orange tarantula so much, that I just added a few more sparkly orange highlights.  Killer hat.

#10  Snake hat.  I liked this one so well, that I made a second one.

#11  Loved the sparkly tarantulas from Dollar Tree this year.  They also had dark purple roses that paired well with the creepy crawlers.

Couldn't resist taking an early morning photo of this little guy,

he went along so well with my theme.

And his web is awesome.

 

#12  It is a little hard too tell, but the "photo" is a Dollar Tree transparent

adhesive.  I had a broken old frame that fit it perfectly.

I also added the feathers, veil and ribbon.

 

#13  This is the little beauty that I did the most work on.  I sewed on the flat brim.

I glued florist Styrofoam on to the top and poked in black and purple flowers.

Plus a little sparkly tinsel.

 

#14  OH RATS! Hat.  My dad gave the hat to me as a joke.

 Because it had a hole in it, he thought it was ready for hat heaven.

Little did he know.

Click  here  to see how it got featured on Funky Junk Interiors

(lower right of photo) a few months ago.

And now this.  Maybe it has nine lives.

Eighties Paper Towel Holder Turned Vintage Hat Stand

I can't remember the first time I saw this done, or the first time I did it.  About this time of year I am starting to dig out all the old black hats I've been collecting (a lot!)  Each one will painstakingly become a gorgeous Halloween hat with a vintage vibe.  And most are displayed best on a hat stand. 

Not many of us can afford real vintage hat stands.  But ALL of us can afford to makeover the slightly outdated wooden paper towel holders that used to grace so many countertops in the 1980s. 

I am working on an estate sale now that is using many of these "as is" as hatstands.

But, with just a little work (the fun kind!) they can look very authentic.

Fortunately, many start out as oak.  First remove the little stick on the side.  That will leave a small hole that will need to be filled with wood putty.  After that is dry, sand the putty smooth and give the whole thing a quick sanding.


For mine, I gave it two thin coats of my favorite chalk paint. Let dry. Then a quick sanding to distress.  If it doesn't look old enough for you, a little light brown wax will do the trick.  Even though I mainly use them for Halloween, I generally paint them a lighter color to help accentuate the black hats.

Halloween Upcycled Vintage Hats 2015 Edition, Part I

I collect cheap vintage ladies hats all year -- $2 or less per hat is my rule.  This year I think I have 20.  All of them have seen better days, so you don't have to feel sorry for any of them.  Most are dark colored, but a few are white.  Any that are not black, are given a coat or two of flat black spraypaint.  Then the fun.

 #1 Thanks to Dollar Tree (I say this out of a deep appreciation, not because they sponsor me in any way) for offering $1 Halloween decorations to spice up my hats...their new addition this year is these great glittery flies!

#2  I was thinking that I needed to buy some black roses from Dollar Tree but ended up going to an auction and getting some white Hobby Lobby roses that I just sprayed black.

I bought this half of a doll head for 25 cents at a church sale.  The lady who donated it said that she couldn't bear to throw it out.  Lucky for me.

#3 This hat came with the cutest veil, with black polka dots. 

I wanted the veil to continue to be the star.

So I glittered a few bugs and pinned them on.

#4  Really ugly doll head didn't sell on ebay, so I gave her a plume and a veil to mimic the hat she is sitting on.

#5  Inserted another doll head in center of this hat, surrounded it with some of the flowers I mentioned above.

#6  I purchased this nest with bird at a garage sale last week.

It fit perfectly on this flat-topped hat.

"What's In Your Nest?" 

For this sweet little bird the answer is skeleton bits.

 

#7  The same day I made hat #6 this trashy little

nest appeared in my yard.

Not one to waste...

I added a bird, a few little bones and attached it to the top

of this elegant hat.

 

Special thanks to my very patient model Bionca.

(If you have never seen "Lars and The Real Girl"

you've missed a great movie on the healing power of kindness.)

More hats coming soon...