Craft Festival 'How To', 1974

Morning cupcakes! Today's the day! Old Oak Festival breaks out on the campus of Tusculum College for the first time in 20 years! Old Oak originally ran from 1975-1992. And to open the festivities and celebrate the terrific arts and crafts there both then and now, I give you...."How To Sell Your Craft...At Fairs, Festivals, and Flea Markets" from 1974.

Chunes of the Day: Odetta

To go along with this weekend's Old Oak Festival, I'm going to add to my crafty posts and post some great folk music as well....since it was originally called The Old Oak FOLK Festival! How droll!.... I know!

Up for you now on Dolly's mainstage, a fitting opening for the weekend's festivities, Odetta...the queen of them all, y'all.

Ad of the Day: Raleigh Cigarettes-Art Festival, 1975

I thought this would be fitting to kick off the Old Oak Festival this weekend!

String Art, 1974

This is so super-'70s-hippie-kitsch that I just can't contain myself....that, and the fact that I remember doing these in art class when I was about 8ish. Oh, the possibilities!

Ad of the Day: Forest Primeval and Rocky Mountain High in Your Living Room, 1975

I've always thought these were officially the coolest things EVER and I want them....all.

Crafty Bags, 1975

Hey bunnies! Didn't get these posted last night! Hope they're worth the wait!
Not only are they WAY cuter than those awful Vera Bradley monstrosities that are inexplicably popular...where I live anyway...they're also made of recycled materials!
These are hippie-licious.
And notice, all you 'nouveau' hippies, that there is NO TIE-DYE anywhere to be seen. Just pointing that out.....

Ad of the Day, Volume Two: Craft Ideas, 1974-75

I have a couple of more ads for you today, poppits! The first is from 1974. It's for a craft publication. Notice that most of the things in it are needlepoint, macrame, and crewel.....

Then, an ad for 'Decorating and Craft Ideas Made Easy' Magazine, 1975. One year later, the focus was on quilting. Quilting, quilting, quilting!...oh, and notice the Applehead creeping around to the left of her feet. *shivers*

Coming up later tonight....crafty '70s purses! Stay Tuned! And don't forget the Old Oak Festival is this weekend!

Ad of the Day, Volume One: Women's Lib-GAF Flooring, 1974

Last Saturday, Sarah Ames decided maybe the WLM isn't all it's cracked up to be....

Ad of the Day: Silver Dollar City--Ozark Country Dolls, 1974

To follow today's Applehead doll post, I give you more Appleheads along with an entirely new genus, Cornheads....not to be confused with Cabbageheads, Coneheads, or Cornballs.

This advert is from Silver Dollar City in Missouri. We had a Silver Dollar City in Tennessee too. I remember going there as a child in the early '80s. Here's some pics of me and the fam enjoying ourselves...I was about 3 years old at the time:

Notice that Daddy and I put Mom in the front to take the full fury of the Log Flume!

Mamaw and Pappy...geez, Pappy hasn't changed in almost 30 years!

Mmmm, cotton candy.....


My Grandmother in front of the waterfall

...Still going....


Not long after, Silver Dollar City closed. It was then bought by this pretty lady...

...who plopped her name (and my nick, by the way!) on it and turned it into an even more smashing place than before, as we Dolls are want to do.
I wonder if they have any Appleheads or Cornheads in any of the shops at Dollywood today?
....I truly hope not.

The Scariest Craft Craze of the '70s: Applehead Dolls, 1973

If you don't want nachtmares for the next couple of weeks, read no further. If you do, you're truly sick and twisted and that's probably why we get along so nicely!

Alright my dears, are you ready to be terrified? How about freaked out? Damaged beyond belief? Well look no further, my little ghouls...and boys. Today, the Doll brings you...well, dolls. But the most morbid, the most demonic looking, the most creeptastic dolls of all time: APPLEHEADS.

Yes, peanuts, you heard me right. Dolls with heads made out of decaying apples.


This is from a magazine from 1973, when they were all the rage, but these were still around in the '80s at craft fairs. I even remember being freaked out by some in the Baileyton post office when I was little. But I've not seen any in ages...thankfully. They ARE truly scary.

Yes, friends, they even had their own museum for these kooky, kitschy, monstrosities.

Should you be wacky and warped enough to want to make your own, they very kindly give detailed instructions:

Just so you know, if you think these things are scary now, just wait a few years. Once they really start to decay, they start looking like mummies. How would you like to wake up to one of these staring at you from your nightstand in a semi darkened room?




This one's actually for sale on Etsy. She's actually kind of cute...in a Leatherface kind of way...

Well, that's enough creepy for one morning! Toodles, sweet-peas!!
xx