halloween: 2011

i am under no delusions that i will always be able to get them in 'theme' with each other..

but i'm going to embrace it while i can :)

when mason decided he wanted to be harry potter,

i knew right away i wanted to make rance hedwig, harry's snowy owl.

i absolutely love putting together costumes..

and the older mason gets, the harder it is to convince him to let me do so..

he always wants an EXACT duplicate of whatever it is he wants to be.

(such a little stickler for details!)

(i love moments like these!)

in a situation that i'm sure is a result of karma..

his wand disappeared into the house a week before halloween.

(a few weeks ago he wacked my aunt with it)

we spent a good portion of sunday really SEARCHING for it.

i'm convinced house elves made off with it.

we had no luck in finding it..

so on monday morning i decided to make him one.

'cause you REALLY can't be harry potter if you don't have a wand!

i used this tutorial i found on pinterest.

30 minutes later & even i was pretty impressed with how it came together!

after being bummed about his missing wand,

even mr. stickler couldn't believe i had MADE his new wand.

and from a sheet of paper no less!

as for this little guy..

his costume was inspired by several different versions of owl costumes across the web.

i wasn't planning on posting a tutorial on how i did it, so i don't have pictures of the process..

but here's a quick rundown..

for the body:

i bought a $2 white onesie from the clearance rack at target.

i had some leftover white fabric &

 i purchased a fat quarter of fabric from joanns of a piece of white with black circles.

i drew a elongated wide scallop shape on a piece of cardstock & cut it out.

traced it on the white & the patterned fabric over & over & over again

 & then cut them out.

started at the bottom & laid my 'feather's out & hot glued them down at the straight part of the shape..

leaving the bottom loose to 'ruffle'.

for the pants, i bought a set of women's knee length socks & used this tutorial.

for the hat:

i bought a grey beanie from the dollar spot at target

cut out circles from the left over white & printed fabric.

sewed on white buttons

cut out a little triangle from gold felt

it looked a little bla, so i added a few left over feathers around the eyes..

 & hot glued it all to the hat.

mason was so excited everyone knew he was & kept calling him harry potter.

my mom (like most mom's) kept bragging on me every time someone complimented rance's costume.

(which seemed like everyone!)

no one could believe his pants were really socks! :)

we went trick or treating with my cousin's family..

this is their little girl.

the phrase 'she's a pistol' applies SO well to this little one.

full of personality!

we didn't even pose her, she just hitched her thumbs in her pockets! :)

this may be my favorite halloween picture of all time.

and i'm not sure why. i just love it.

and if you look REALLY close you can see the marks of the first scar i drew..

because mr. stickler made me draw it three times to get it right.

and that revlon lipstain. it STAINS.. had to rub off a layer of skin in between drawings!!

that's about the best photo i could get with the three of them.

one was ready to trick or treat.

one just wanted to walk.

and one was just trying to get everyone to listen to her for a minute :)

and i said i wasn't going to do it, but i am..

i'm crossing 'celebrity sighting while trick or treating' off my bucket list..

we totally trick or treated at john travolta & kelly preston's house.

(one of them anyways)

and while i wasn't star struck like some of the others around us where.

i'm just amazed that in the po-dunk town i live in..

my kids got candy put in their buckets by kelly preston dressed up as a witch.

(and no, i didn't get a picture!)

hope you had a great halloween! :)

xo-k

linking to:

today's creative blog

tip junkie

sugar bee crafts

whipperberry

sun scholars

diy: halloween decor

i think i mentioned that i LOVE halloween.. once or maybe even twice.

so it really shouldn't come as much of a surprise that all my recent craftiness has entailed halloween decor.

last year i was in such a post baby funk, just adjusting to life, that i couldn't get into the mood...

i mean really, who cares about decorating, when you are just happy to find time to take a shower?!

so here are some quick halloween decorating ideas..

for busy mamas of kids, big or little..

or crafty ladies who want a quick-fix for their crafting urges!

bloody drippy candle:

supplies:

-candlestick holders (these are pewter from my parents wedding reception!)

-white candles

-red candle

-lighter

there really aren't any 'step-by-step' pictures.. pretty much you just light your white candles & let them burn down to a height you like. these are more of a decoration, than a functioning candle... once your white candles are at the height you'd like, blow them out & let them cool until all the wax is hardened around the top.

next, light the red candle, and hold it at an angle so that the wax drips down onto the top of your white candles. let the red wax pool & drip down the sides of the candle for a 'bloody' effect & viola.

simple gory-esque candles to add to your halloween decor! and definitely do this someplace where you can scrap the wax off of, because it does splatter just a bit...

trash bag fringe curtain:

supplies:

-black yard/lawn bags (found at the dollar store for $1)

-duct tape/heavy duty adhesive

-scissors

i can't honestly remember where i first saw this idea. martha stewart seems a likely place, but to be honest with you, i just kinda went off my memory of having seen the picture of it however long ago... again, no real 'step by step' pictures. just cut up one side of the bag & then across the bottom seam to open the piece up into one long panel. attach it to your wall with your chosen adhesive ( i used scotch heavy duty outdoor adhesive, it's a SUPER strong foam tape). once attached start at one side & cut varying widths of strips from the bottom to the top. once you've cut fringe across the width of your panel, start at the top of each piece of fringe & pull lightly in two inch sections to stretch out the piece. you can then adjust the length by cutting/ripping off the bottoms. 

i'm kind of smitten with this little curtain...

we have a black light (which you can see in the above picture) that lights up at night..

it's spooky & eerie & not at all well photographed :(

the dude thinks it's 'AWESOME'.. rance laughs when he goes through it..

and my husband eyeballs me with a look that says he's contemplating my sanity,

and asks 'you stuck trash bags.. to the house.. on purpose?'

he likes to give me a hard time.. and he just doesn't get it! :)

these projects cost me $6 total.

$1 per white candlestick

$1 for a box of 7 black trash bags

$3 for outdoor foam adhesive tape

i already had the candlestick holders, and the red candle,

but you can get both of those items at the dollar store as well!

cheap is good after you invest $30 in a harry potter ensemble...

but costumes are something i'm okay with investing a little money in, because it's one thing the dude gets good use out of, he wears them until they are holy & ripped, or he is too big for them!

what halloween decorations have you made this year?

i'd love for you to link them up in the comments!

xo-k

ps.. just a tip.. if your kid is like mine.. snag up discounted halloween costumes the day after halloween & save them for christmas presents! my mom & i have done this a few years now, and i can't tell you how much money it's saved us, as we have to replace spiderman, & batman costumes almost every year because he wears them soo much!! :)

linking to:
get your craft on
tip junkie
sugarbee crafts
ladybug blessings
whipperberry

movies: fit for halloween

i'm in heaven every october.
october is a MAGICAL month for me.
aside from the fact that my birthday is in october (it's today, the 17th, if you really wanna know :)..
 i LOVE every activity that goes on.
just can't get enough of it all! decorations, parties, costumes, festivals.. ALL of it.
 i tend to lean towards the creepy/scariness of it all now that i'm older...
but i've ALWAYS loved the 'magic' of it all.
.....this may very well explain why i'm addicted to vampires.  :)

(one of my personal all time favorites... even though it's more 80s cheese than scare!)

so... it goes without saying that my dvr is chock FULL of horror flicks right now.
one of my favorite things to do in october is search & record all my favorite scary movies.
i don't know what it is, but watching them in october just makes that magical/crazy feeling bump up a notch.
so i thought i'd share a list of my all time favorite scary & not so scary halloween movies.

kid-friendly:
halloweentown
halloweentown II: kalabar's revenge
halloweentown high
return to halloweentown
nightmare before christmas
hocus pocus
corpse bride
coraline
edward scissorhands
ernest scared stupid
labyrinth
the addams family
addams family values
teen witch
harry potter movies
the haunted mansion
casper
the witches
it's the great pumpkin, charlie brown
monster house
teen wolf
the worse witch
gremlins
gremlins II
arachnaphobia

for adults:
practical magic
sleepy hollow
sweeney todd: the demon barber
beetlejuice
ghostbusters
ghostbusters II
halloween
halloween (remake)
the omen
the exorcist
the amityville horror
the amityville horror (remake)
rosemary's baby
poltergeist
nightmare on elm street
nightmare on elm street (remake)
the shining
the evil dead
insidious
rocky horror picture show
haunted honeymoon
1408
pet cemetary
the sixth sense
the people under the stairs
the grudge
van helsing
resident evil series
the lost boys
underworld series
constantine
thir13en ghosts
the burbs
the witches of eastwick
dracula
dolls
mirrors
the exorcism of emily rose
once bitten
silver bullet
american gothic
killer klowns from outer space
flatliners
the prophecy
the haunting
house on haunted hill
stir of echoes
bless the child
an american haunting
2001 maniacs
cursed
dark water
the covenant
silent hill
the wicker man
30 days of night
the messengers
the reaping
the strangers
case 39
drag me to hell
the unborn
the haunting in conneticut
twilight series
queen of the damned
legion
daybreakers
the rite
the haunting of molly hartley

and then there are those that i'm determined to see this year:
paranormal activity
the fright night remake
i don't do gore.
i can't handle it, for the most part.
i've only seen two of the movies from the 'saw' series, and that was two too many.
i saw hostel... and if you haven't... let's just say the ripping fingernails bit sent me over the edge.
the hills have eyes, wrong turn, etc.. ya.. can't do those either.
i can't watch 'the children of the corn'. i have, and, i can't.
something about freaky kids just puts it over the top for me.
i remember my brother could never watch 'village of the damned'... he said it was the eyes that did him in.
and WHY do they always make kids toys all creepy like in those movies?
my husband swears that those monkey's with the cymbals are possessed.
it's probably movies that keep those things off the shelf now.. along with those 'my buddy' dolls that were doomed after the 'chucky' movies.. which aren't something i'm into either.

it's a little ridiculous.. but i can't do those leprechaun movies either. had a crazy bad dream one time about that crazy freak, and enough said...

my cousin used to have this girlie little yellow frilly room.. and in the midst of her 7 year old haven, a poster of freddie kruger. scared the bejesus outta me (when i was 6) & her mom would always have to take it off the wall when i came. i think after i saw the movie i slept in the hallway of our house for a week & to this day i can't really get comfortable in a bathtub. those memories stick with you! and having seen the remake now.. i can say the original must be stuck in my 6 year old psyche because the new one didn't freak me out the least bit.

so there ya go... my halloween round up :)

xo-k