fantasy art and tree chatter of aquariann

"You thought I was just another bubble-headed blonde bimbo! Well, the joke's on you, 'cause I'm not even a real blonde." - Harley Quinn After years of wanting to dress up as Harley Quinn, I finally felt confident enough to go crazy for a Halloween party last weekend! The dangerously talented Beadmask designed my superhero mask and white leather wrist cuffs. I pieced together the rest of the Halloween costume from cheap eBay auctions, and plan to keep building on the sexy Batman villain's outfit for Comic Cons to come.

EDIT: Giveaway is officially over. Congratulations to Mai Tran for submitting the randomly-chosen 842nd entry. I may have a taste for frugality, but you won't find me devouring deals instead of dinner with family on Thanksgiving. There will be plenty of time for holiday shopping on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Or you could score Christmas gifts even cheaper by winning great giveaways! To thank their customers for supporting them spread magic, the mother/daughter team at Life is the Bubbles is giving away a $35 gift card to their fantasy jewelry shop AND two free downloads of choice from their new Etsy shop, Main Street Printables . They've designed several signs inspired by Disney movies, Bible scriptures and other famous quotes. Many go hand in hand with words they inscribe on their magical bottle necklaces. For example, the perfect gift for a Lilo and Stitch fan would be the Hawaiian necklace above and a framed print of Ohana printable art , ...

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web." - Pablo Picasso No, I didn't get that close to such a large spider. Ogre spied the web while we were walking through Elizabethan Gardens and bravely stepped in as photographer. He took the perfect Halloween picture for me to share during his birthday week.

EDIT: Giveaway is officially over. Congratulations to Alexandru Rusu for submitting the randomly-chosen 130th entry. Temperatures may have reached 80 degrees in Delaware this week, but I've already seen flocks of birds flying south. No matter how cold your location gets this winter, you could have at least one bird migrating your way from India. Vishruti from The Indian Bazaar is giving away one bird wallet of winner's choice. Each organic cotton canvas wallet has been appliqued with a cute bird design using an array of fabrics. They measure 10.5 inches long and 4.5 inches when closed. Inside is six card slots and two wide sections with plenty of room for cash, check book and mementos. There's even a holder to secure a pen instead of losing it in the deep abyss of your purse again and again. Even if you don't win, you could buy the affordable wallet and still have plenty of money to put in it - most of the listings in her Etsy shop are priced below $10. <a...

"Tis but an hour ago since it was nine; And after one hour more 'twill be eleven; And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe, And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot; And thereby hangs a tale." - As You Like It quote by William Shakespeare A few Octobers ago, I photographed a leaf that clearly exhibited zombie decay . This autumn I found a tree that had several skeleton leaves still clinging to its branches. Humans aren't the only things that dress up for Halloween.

Black magic women will be on the loose this Halloween! The crew at The Jetty invoked their style early during a Treasury Island spotlight attack. Magical gift ideas include beaded Victorian cameo brooch by Salix Cinerea, fairytale mushrooms painting by The Whimsical Frog and my dark fairy magnet .

EDIT: Giveaway is officially over. Congratulations to Oksana Vladimirovna for submitting the randomly-chosen 412th entry. Whether you believe in cat superstitions or not, luck will be on your side if a black cat mask by Beadmask crosses your path this Halloween. Andrea is giving away a black leather mask in her classic cat style to one lucky winner. The handmade mask is sculpted from tooling leather and measures about 7" wide x 4" high at its highest and widest points. Both sides are painted and sealed with an acrylic topcoat. Durable stretch lace straps are attached to tie comfortably in place. Yours truly will be wearing a similar superhero mask for a Halloween party. Andrea custom made a mask and bracelet cuffs to accessorize my Harley Quinn costume! It's crazy how talented she is with leather - the quality and quantity of her creations will make you roll around her galleries like you were dosed with catnip. <a href="http://blog.aquariann.com/2014...

"I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall." - Eleanor Roosevelt There weren't many roses left in late September at Elizabethan Gardens, but I did find one named after Queen Elizabeth that had a few bright petals left. I'm not sure what type of pink rose is in the third photograph, but I liked how the wall framed it.

Last Saturday was the annual Dewey Goes Pink 5K, the perfect time to sport the Love Fern nail wraps I picked as a prize from Still Being Molly's Jamberry giveaway. The pink nail art design retired for fall, but my accent nail choice, Gold Crisscross , is still available. My mom made the pretty pink ribbon I'm holding - and nine more for each member of her team to celebrate her being a breast cancer survivor of almost 20 years. Want to be a guest blogger for my Manicure Monday when I don't have new nails of my own to show off? Please contact me using the form on my contact page if you're interested in a free feature. Or if you've done a pink manicure for Breast Cancer Awareness month, comment with the link and I'll add it to my featured finds below. Pink Ribbon Nail Art Finds:

"Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine." - Jeffrey Glassberg Did you miss me last week? Ogre and I were celebrating our anniversary in the Outer Banks. I'm fairy lucky to have a husband that doesn't mind watching me chase butterflies for many minutes like I did at Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo, NC.