Halloween 2012

This month has been crazy!! If I didn't have carpal tunnel, than I sure do now. Lots of face painting, hair dos, balloon twisting, crafting, young women award night, camping, childhood illnesses and ... oh my! Let's just say, there have been lots and lots of mountains of laundry and dishes, but at least we have been having some fun 'round here.

It is entirely possible you don't know what my costume is. But in person, I was surprised by how many people could figure it out within a few quizzical seconds of looking at my fascinator headband and my flashy, blingy diamond ring. Yep, a trophy wife. Which is seriously the best costume for me ever because it is so far from the truth!

My little bit, angel baby was a cheetah girl, and she was so adorable. She is almost 6 months old and is the sweetest (and fastest) baby in the world. I totally planned on coming up with some awesome homemade costumes for the kiddos, but business prevailed, reality set in, and I went the easy way out. I was thinking of everyone going as a different kind of cloud: tornado, rain cloud, thunder cloud, rainbow cloud... (inspired by this and this costume) but the boys didn't buy it. I was a little relieved not to do all the work. And well... every one was happy, and that is all that is important.

I did make my headband which took a total of 5 minutes and I made the baby's several months ago back when she was a wee, skinny lass.

Face painting at the salon for downtown's trick or treating night. Everyone wanted my face design, so I just came up with a super fast and cute spiderweb tiara type thingy for them since we had a really long line.

I convinced my boys to be ninjas, because they were easy and on super sale. Isaac protested a bit, he really wanted to be The Arrow or Spiderman, but oh well. And to add to my luck, the store sold out of his size in minutes. Caleb wanted to be the white ninja, but they only had the red in his size. The red one is super duper.

green noodle monster by Isaac, white noodle man by Caleb

I did my first magic show in like, a year. I was a little nervous but prepared some cute things and the party was a hit. Fortunately, my baby isn't too scared of my clowny look.

And of course, the balloons and face painting this season was insane, as usual! We premade lots of balloons to bring to events we knew would be daunting. It worked out quite well!

 5 loaded bags weren't enough for my son's school carnival! His class booth sold out of them quickly, and his classroom earned the most money for the school. Yeah! We couldn't make it b/c we went camping that night and the kids weren't feeling too well, so we dropped them off at the school before the carnival.

 I love the cute little Jack-o-Lantern balloon wands I came up with. So did the kids!

My first attempt at a Sugar Skull. She had a specific design in mind, I think it turned out pretty great!

I hope everyone's Halloween was a blast! Now it's time to hide some candy and do some major cleaning before the next holiday rush begins.

Homefront: Halloween Decoratng

Our kid corner is getting a little bit of  a spooky glam makeover this month! I added blackout curtains in a pretty magenta color (clearance for $7 a panel at Wal-Mart)... that perfectly matches my Garden Ridge floral lampshade that graces my Goodwill crystal lamp. A pretty black and white geometric area rug from Garden Ridge grounds the area and provides a soft place for our new little, 5 1/2 month old speed crawler baby. Our dresser that has served as a changing table, kitchen storage, and now a toy storage and staging area, fits this space perfectly. An IKEA poang chair for $20 from a garage sale, and cheap and sparkly goodies make this space ready for Halloween.

  

 We love our fuzzy spider, I think we should name her Harriet.

Our large, ornate frame (from a garage sale we used for our family portraits) is a perfect backdrop for a small little vignette on our Expedit bookshelf.

I am going to be mega busy this weekend, doing tons of face painting and balloons for lots of Halloween parties! Here's a fast little pretty eye design I whipped up last weekend :) I hope to get a chance to breathe and update the blog soon, but if not, I hope you all have a very safe and very happy Halloween!!

A Pretty Halloween

I have seen some very pretty crafts that would make even the most cottage chic or elegant home ready for the holidays. I love Halloween, but I am not into things that are too scarey, so these would be perfect for 'round these parts.

 Blinged out Spider Web and Spider on a White Pumpkin via BHG

 

Pretty Lace Ghost Tutorial by A Beautiful Mess

Glittered Spider Web Doily, just glue a web on wax paper, glitter. let dry and peel! *full tutorial here*

Lovely Halloween ideas by Rhonna Designs

 Shabby Chic Fabric Chandelier Tutorial 

Shabby Chic Pumpkins

Halloween wreath by 36th avenue via snap creativity

DIY Sonic the Hedgehog and Knuckles Halloween Costume

This is an easy, no sew project that everyone loves, especially our boys!! We got so many compliments! It's just a little time consuming to make, so don't do it right before you have to leave to go trick or treating, like I usually do. Since it's a no pattern design, you just have to "eyeball it" and make lots of revisions on cuts. Maybe cut out cereal boxes first would be a good idea.  Look at lots of Sonic pictures to get the idea, or just use my placement for the triangle spikes.

Materials: 

* blue fleece (or red for Knuckles)
* foam, about the 1 1/2 inch or 2 inch thick kind. I bought one large sheet.
* sharp scissors
* red small section of red fleece or 2 pieces of red felt (for shoes)
* one piece of yellow felt (for shoe buckles)
* white fleece, or low pile fur (for tummy, ears and strip on shoes)
* strong headband
* elastic (for under the chin, and shoe straps)
* hot glue gun
* lots of hot glue
* sweat pants and shirt (blue for Sonic, red for Knuckles)
* yellow tubing for ring (can spray paint yellow, I think we cut down a hula hoop and tape it together)

Directions.


Fleece is great because it does not fray, and you don't need to hem. I originally had the spikes going down the back, but it wasn't  comfortable, and sort of flopped, so I took the back apart, cut off the triangles and glued them to the headpiece. For the head piece, I simply cut out a large square of fleece and tucked, cut and glued on angles to make it helmet like. (Except for Knuckles, I didn't fit it to the head like this, I kept his a little longer and rolled the edges and glued them like that). I put it on my child's head to see where it sit would sit on a headband, than glued it on the headband.

Next, cut foam pieces into triangles, with slight curved sides. Cut fleece to fit and hot glue fleece to your triangles. To make a nice 'edge', glue fleece strips to outline it out, I slightly rolled it under to make it look more like a sewn finish. Look at your Sonic pictures and glue your triangles down in a pattern closest to the photos, or how I did mine.

Knuckles doesn't need these triangles. I simply rolled pieces of red fleece into 'tubes' and glued them to the underside of the headpiece. Once the head piece is shaped and done, put on child's head and add your elastic strap under the chin. I covered mine in fleece, you don't have too.

For the body, cut an oval tummy and glue it on the shirt. Sonic has flesh colored arms, so you could cut the sleeves off of the shirt, but I didn't mind the long sleeves since it was a little chilly. For the shoe covers, I simply laid the fabric over the shoes, cut a hole out over it and glue pieces together to look like Sonic's shoes (like the white band and yellow buckle). (Do not glue ON the shoe, this is just a simple shoe cover!) Glue your elastic down under the sides of the red fleece and simple slip them on over the shoe, than have your child put their shoes on.

I added this project to Cut Out + Keep. (And yes, I realize the title is badly misspelled!) If you do it, I would love to see it!

Colorfully Delicious Halloween

monster cupcakes, the bonjour family

trick or treat topiaries, tutorial, craft sisters

halloween hot chocolate recipe, the farm girl

monster brownies amanda's cookin

glitter spider art, ameroonie designs

crow art, made with love and glue

More adorable ideas at Tator Tots and Jello, and in my old posts here and here.