To celebrate Halloween, here are some of my favorite spooky picks!  Have fun whatever your plans may be tonight.

Sleepyhollow soap from Arcana Soaps and available at buyolympia.com $7 ::::: Crow Pillow by Binth at Reform School $72
Spooky Storytime Print from Nut and Bee $6 ::::: Bat Plush from Soto Softies $50
Death Bunny Plush Toy from Chocolate Log Industries at felt $38 ::::: Glass Candy Corn Earrings from Shanalogic $12
Cut Throat Tie from Cyberoptix Tie Lab $30-$50 ::::: Ghost in the Woods Print from Liz Riccardi at Little Paper Planes $14
Halloween card from Mademoiselle G $2 ::::: Halloween Gourd Skeleton from Vintage by Crystal $45
Spooky Halloween Tags from the Paper Pixie $3.25 ::::: Skull Necklace from Paraphernalia $17
Witches Brew from Irena Sophia $20 ::::: Halloween card set from Creative Thursday $16
Jumbo Pumpkin Cookies from Brooklyn Cookie $16 ::::: Felted Pumpkin from Jmday $11
Halloween Barn Dance Sign from Sleepy Hollow Prims $17.99 ::::: Bat Attack Pencil Skirt from Zombie Kitten Originals $65

Kathleen Lolley for TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday. I featured Kathleen last week in my post about my visit to Art Star in Philadelphia. If you are in the area, you should go see Kathleen’s exhibit there before November 23rd. You can also find Kathleen’s work on her website and in her Etsy shop.

For those of you who regularly read Indie Fixx, you know that I don’t regularly feature indie goods for kids.  I don’t have little kids, so I don’t have as much of an interest in stuff for kids, and it’s just not my forte. That doesn’t mean that I don’t recognize that many of you do have little ones or that all of us have some small humans that we need to buy gifts for. Luckily, my bloggy friends over at Cool Mom Picks put together a daily dose of goods for kiddos and their moms.

They’ve actually just released their 2nd Annual Safer Toy Guide. Sounds like a good idea, right? Especially with the latest concerns about lead & melamine and other crap ending up in products for kid. Plus, well-made toys crafted from sustainable materials are better for kids and the planet….and that’s not to mention the idea that quality over quantity is better as well.

In the Safer Toy Guide you will only find small, indie, family-run businesses that carefully pick the toys they sell to insure that they’re safe and kid friendly. It’s a great guide and I’m sure you will be able to find lots of new goods and shops that will help you shop for the little kiddos in your life.

I’ve chosen a few of my favorite goods from shops featured in the Guide to highlight below.

~ Printed Dollhouse Assemblage from petit flaneur $145 ~~~ Colored smencils made from recycled newspaper available at stubby pencil studio $14 ~
~ Honey Dipper Maple Wood Rattle from Little Sapling Toys $29 ~~~ Tutus from Ellie Bellie Kids $53- $58 ~
~ U Roll by 10 grain and available at fawn & forest $175 ~~~ Car Carrier Semi by East Laurel Woodcrafts and available The Pajama Squid $28 ~
~ Brown Bag Lunch Play Food by Lily Bean and available at Mahar Dry Goods $40 ~~~ Organic Play Dough Kit from Clementine Art $38 ~

Each month, I curate the Indie Fixx Galleria, which is a juried showcase of indie shops and each week I like to share a few of the participating shops with you. This week, I’m highlighting: Underglass Jewelry , ShanaLogic & Bestiary.

You can read more about the mission of the Galleria here.

Underglass Jewelry - Snowflake jewelry, special message jewelry, stained glass window jewelry, little book jewelry…just a few of the offerings from Snowflake Jewelry.  The designs are eclectic, poignant, beautiful and totally unique.  I really like the Artistic Soul Necklace and the Spring Green Earrings. Use the code “Indie fixx 10/08″ for a 20% discount. At checkout , please type the code in the notes to seller box and then wait a revised invoice, to receive your discount.

ShanaLogic - Looking for cute indie goods? Then ShanaLogic is the shop for you. This Cameo Owl Necklace and Birdcage Mug are just some of the cute goods. ShanaLogic features only handmade and independently designed goods—including hip jewelry, unique accessories, awesome apparel, pet gear and more! Shop Indie. Pass it on!

Bestiary - Bestiary features fun one-of-a-kind handbags and accessories with fanciful animals and modern designs. They are made with recycled upholstery fabric for lush textures and colors and you have your choice of a yeti, Lizzie Borden bird, elephant, octopus & Luna moth appliques among many others!

Hot damn, these are gorgeous!  And they are tea towels!  And they are only $12? Why are they not sold out yet?  I don’t know, but I’m off to buy a few.  Screenprinted tea towels from Flower Press via Etsy’s front page.

I just wanted to remind you all to enter the Indie Fixx Autumn Cornucopia Giveaway.  The Prizes can be seen below and the full rules here. Remember, there’s two ways to enter!

1.  Post about the Indie Fixx Autumn Cornucopia Giveaway on your Blog, your Live Journal, your MySpace page, over at Facebook, Twitter,  Friendster, Crafsteretc…read more of the rules here.

2. Read about the contest on someone’s blog, Live Journal, MySpace page, etc…and leave a comment on the official contest post (click the link, this is not the official contest post.) with the name & link of where you read about the contest…read more of the rules here.

How to win - there will be 2 winners:

At the contest end, I will choose one random comment. The person who left the comment will win a prize and so will the person from the referring site!

The Prizes:

Prize #1 (value $389) is made of the following goodies:

1. Sublime Stitching embroidery patterns.
2. Print from The Happygirl Shop
3. Necklace from Starving Artist Bazaar
4. Soap from Feto Soap
5.  Necklace from Karalee Designs
6. Bag from Becky OH!
7. Journal from Ex Libris Anymous
8.  Goodies from Mau Studio
9. Wall Vinyls from studiojk
10. Shea Butter Sugar Scrub from Bidwell Botanicals
11. Print from Berkley Illustration (not pictured)
12. Goodies from Sprout Studio (not pictured)
13. Lace Knitting to Go (by Andrea Tung), Home Sewn (Kaari Meng) & “Little Notes” card set (by Susie Ghahremani) all from Chronicle Books

Prize #2 (value $386) is made up of the following goodies:

1. Print from The Happygirl Shop
2. Earrings from Kutuu
3. Soap from Boh Bon Soap Co.
4.  Bag from Faite Designs
5. Journal from Ex Libris Anymous
6.  Goodies from Mau Studio
7. Bag from IMOOI
8. Baby tee & cards from Goh Girl
9. Print from Berkley Illustration (not pictured)
10. Goodies from Sprout Studio (not pictured)
11. Shea Butter Sugar Scrub from Bidwell Botanicals
12. Scarflette from Marketta New York
13. Little Stitches for Little Ones (Amy Butler), Picture Perfect Knits (by Laura Birek), Sublime Stitching Craft Pad (by Jenny Hart) all from Chronicle Books