Birthday Stillness and a Radio Debut

Today I turn 33. This morning, I received a call from my 81 year old grandmother offering to take my children for the afternoon and promising a casserole so I wouldn't have to cook dinner on my birthday. Really, just in case you don't know, that is the most appreciated sort of gift you could possibly give to a work-at-home mother of young children; the gift of time. Time to just be, just to breathe and think without being responsible for some other little person's every physical and emotional need. Time to make an extra special birthday coffee drink with real whipped cream and enjoy it before it's cold. Time to listen to a new album all the way through with no interruptions. Time to stare at a blank, intimidating sketchbook and wonder how to get started. Time to just be still.



And as the icing on the birthday cake, she passed down this beautiful celluloid topped vanity jar, a 1930's hair comb with rhinestones, and hand-painted Bakelite bracelet, all of which she'd owned since childhood. Treasures for sure.



And in other recent news, (which will be old news if you follow me on Instagram or like Welcome Little Stranger on Facebook) a childhood dream of mine came true on Thursday evening. I heard my own voice, singing, on the actual freaking radio when The Spy FM in Oklahoma City played our song "The Governor's Ball" on The Oklahoma Rock Show. That was a ginormous thrill, and hopefully, a sign of great things to come in 2013. Hope it's off to a wonderful start for you as well!

Governor's Ball Remix

I don't think I ever shared this silly (but completely awesome!) dance remix The Mister made of our Welcome Little Stranger song "The Governor's Ball". Who knew a gruesome, Spaghetti Western-style tale of Old West horrors would lend itself so well to electronic dance beats and Auto-Tune?

Johnny My Jewel

I've been enamored of this Civil War ballad for a few years, so tonight I decided to do a quick recording of it. Hope you enjoy!

WLS Photo Shoot

After thirteen years, you would think that Mr. Hall and I would have boxes and boxes of photos of the two of us together. Sadly, that isn't the case, and photos of the two of us since we became Mama and Daddy are even more rare. So, last weekend we decided that it was high time we had a little old-timey Welcome Little Stranger photo shoot. We enlisted the help of my Mama for a few shots of the two of us in the wild plum thicket, where the humidity coupled with it being 4 million degrees lent a spooky, ethereal mist to the photos.



We also snapped a few shots of one another in front of an old-timey dilapidated building otherwise known as our detached garage. Thirteen years later, and I think he's more handsome than ever.



Here I am channeling Mother Maybelle with June's hair.

Where The Magic Happens

Get your dirty minds out of the gutter! This post is about mine and The Mister's shared office/studio/crap containment area. Adding a new member of the family means that some room swapping is in order, so I've pared down my vintage lovelies and craft supplies and somehow managed to squeeze what's left into a rather tiny bedroom.


This is where the designing, creating, and packing + shipping required by Sweetheartville takes place, along with Welcome Little Stranger songwriting and recording sessions. It's also where a whole lot of interneting happens.
On the top of this old medical cabinet which holds crafty odds and ends and enough vintage rick rack to choke a magnetic donkey, I've displayed some artwork by my talented friends Heather, Sam, and Sara, and some inspiring photos and bits of paper that I change out from time to time. The vintage beauty products are just a few sent to me by my incredibly, amazingly generous friend Bob. Thank you Bob!


Wanda just returned after her whirlwind tour of OKC, and now resides in a place of honor overlooking one of my most favorite possessions, a tintype of my mom and dad made on a trip to Silver Dollar City a few years before I was born.
Just a little peek inside Sweetheartville!

Wallpaper Wants and a New Shop

Hello there! Sorry to be such a stranger around these parts. Between getting ready for baby, record breaking blizzards and cold temperatures (-31 degrees!), sick relatives, and just general exhaustion and pregnancy woes, the ol' blog got put on the back burner. One thing I've been up to is opening up a second Etsy shop to sell some vintage wares as well as some handmade goods that don't quite fit in at the Sweetheartville Shop. Stay tuned for lots of vintage craft books and patterns and more housewares in the near future.


Another thing going on around here is some serious wallpaper coveting thanks to these designes from Elli Popp.



Really, doesn't this last one just scream "Sweetheartville"?


In the works are some new Sweetheartville prayer candles, a giveaway, and maybe a new Welcome Little Stranger tune or three. I promise not to be so scarce around here!

Reba's Rocker

My sweet in laws gifted us with a bit of cash earmarked for some new furniture, specifically a rocking chair, and this is the one that I settled on. According to the seller, the chair and its mate (which I didn't purchase) most recently belonged to Oklahoma's own Reba McEntire, and came from an auction at her ranch house near the little shop where I found it. Judging by the wooden peg construction, I believe it must be somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 years old.



A rocking chair will be very nice to have in the house come next spring. Yes, the members of Welcome Little Stranger will be welcoming a new little stranger into our family sometime in May, and we couldn't be happier!

Welcome Little Stranger

Know what Mister and I did on our Summer vacation? We went and started ourselves a band. I use the term "band" pretty loosely here. "Recording project" is more accurate. Actually, "Whatever we can accomplish with our crappy recording equipment after Sugar Pea has finally gone to sleep for the night, if we're not too tired, or don't have a Netflix movie with dirty words that needs to be watched Project " is probably the most accurate term. I'm not really sure why it took us eleven years to combine our talents, but we're having a big time doing it. I'm lucky to be married to a very talented musician/songwriter/recording engineer who lets his less gifted, but extremely enthusiastic wife strum away at an autoharp and write dark, folky lyrics about Masonic funeral rites and Voodoo. Life is sweet.


The name comes from the heartbreaking Victorian tradition of waiting to see if a baby would live before he or she was named, just in case this life didn't take. Presents of small pillows and pincushions were often given to a new mother with messages spelled out in pins, which in themselves were a valuable gift. "Welcome, Little Stranger" was a common sentiment from that time. Bet you didn't know I was an Old-Timey Goth, did you, Dollfaces? I'm just full of surprises!
So if Folky Goth holds any appeal for you, click on that pretty little picture up there, or on the "Welcome Little Stranger" button on the sidebar, and have a listen. Add us to your friends and drop us a line, if you like. Why suffer longer?