Halloween 2010: Presto Change-o

I think we've established that I have a deep and enduring love for costumes, right? In light of that, is it really that surprising that I should have two this year? I know. Out of control!

Anyway, in my desire to avoid ruining the surprise of my original costume, and since I'm attending two parties, my roommates and I have come up with another fun but not too complicated idea.

Thus, the muses were born. (Actually, I'm pretty sure there is some myth that relates to their birth, but I don't remember nor do I feel like wikipedia-ing at the moment. Check yourself, eh? Report back.) If you loved the classic Disney films, then Hercules probably was a favorite of yours, and those lovely, toga-clad Muses narrate his story. They are sassy and harmonious, and we knew that was our costume!

So here we are, in all our narrative glory!



Here is the breakdown to do it yourself -- we kept it cheap!

• Full or queen-size flat sheet (mine came from Saver's!)
• Metallic belt or ribbon (Dollar bin at Michael's!)
• Metallic hair accessory (99 cent christmas decor, sewn onto a headband!)

Depending on the weather where you are, you can vary what you wear beneath your toga. We wore leggings and tank tops since it was rather chilly! I wore it again on Halloween night with jeans under it, so it's flexible in that way. But please, do wear something under it.

• Wrap your toga (I'll post my methods of wrapping another time, but there are plenty of videos to instruct you on the internet) and secure with safety pins.
• Tie your ribbon or fasten your belt in place.
• Place your hair accessories, and in our case, spray with gold glitter hairspray. It gets everywhere!

Done!

How do you like them? Have any easy but cute costumes you wouldn't mind sharing? Comment and fill us in!

I DIY: Tu-tu-tu-tu-tu-tu

The I DIY is back! After my cousin had her unbelieveably adorable baby, and showed off her cute Halloween onesie, I knew I needed to make her a tutu. However, I had never actually attempted such a thing before, so it was an adventure all in itself.

I did a little bit of research (otherwise known as googling "tutu diy", "how do i make a tutu?" and "tutu or tu-tu?") but was still unsure of the best method of tutu creation. (I did find that tutu is preferable to tu-tu.) The most common version was the tied tutu, like here by Mammalicious, in which you merely tie tulle onto an elastic band and then slip it on. Though I appreciated the simplicity of this idea, I was really aiming for something a little more... authentic looking.

I didn't find a whole lot of gathered tutu tutorials online, so when I went to the local fabric shop to buy the tulle (My Joann's got snowed in last year. Sad face.) I asked the lady who cut my fabric how she would go about it.

Nice Fabric Cutting Lady: You're just going to gather it, right?

Me: Oh... Um... yeah!?

Nice Fabric Cutting Lady: Right. How much did you want?

So it was a foregone conclusion then. I went home with my nice black stretch tulle and got to work.

Here is how I did it, and I apologize for the lack of photos! After folding my (already doubled) tulle in half, I sewed a straight stitch along the length to gather it with, and gathered it by hand. I'll try and post a video of my method for gathering.

After I had all my fabric gathered up into cute and even ruffles, I sewed just above my initial straight stitch to hold the ruffles in place and then snipped the folds at the bottom of the skirt. Done!? Not quite. Since my sweet baby cousin is pretty tiny, I decided to shorten the tutu so it wouldn't look like she was hiding under a blanket made of tulle.

Now it's short and cute and -- well, not so fluffy like a tutu should be. Since I didn't know any other way to fix it, I decided to cut a few zig-zags in the top layer and about halfway down. I would guess I had six or eight layers. It still was laying rather flat, so I sewed a straight stitch to hold up the top two. At first, this seemed like a horrible mistake, since they stood straight up, but once patted down, they were perfectly fluffed! I did the same thing for a couple layers near the bottom.

Fluffed and chopped, all that remained was the elastic. I merely guessed at my little cousin's size, snipped and then sewed a button and cut a button hole into the ends. Done.

Here's my finished work!

It's not my best photographic work -- can you believe my roommates weren't interested in modeling?

Good news? My cousin loved it. Her sweet daughter? Halloween isn't here yet!

Any fun projects? How about any sweet babies you are crafting for? I can't help it.

Halloween 2010: Wrapped Wreath

Back for more? Sick people, you readers. Welcome to the club!

Today I wanted to share with you a cute idea for your front door this spooky season. I've seen hundreds of ideas for wreaths for every season and for no season at all, so unfortunately I can't give credit to any one source. However, I'll link to a few similar ideas at the bottom, just in case you want some other options!

Spooky Ribbon Wreath!

First your materials:

1 straw wreath (mine came from michael's)
20 yards of 1 1/2 inch ribbon (i used satin in two colors!)
+ another 5 yards ribbon (i used sheer black)
glue
patience (you might run out...)

Step 1: Attach your ribbon to the wreath.



Step 2: Wrap the ribbon around your wreath slowly, securing with glue if you think it's necessary. (If you are using two colors, like me, leave a ribbon's width between each wrap, then come back and fill it with your other color.)
I also stapled mine, thinking it would work, but I just used a regular paper stapler and it fell out after a few minutes. A nice thought, though.



Step 3: Tie a sheer ribbon in a long loop around your wreath, and hang it up! Ours will soon be hanging on the front door here, and then traveling home to do the same. :)



Easy, right?

Hopefully that will give you enough information to jump right in. I still haven't hung my on the door. Maybe I'll go do it right now!

Any fun last minute projects for me? We're almost there!

Halloween 2010: Spooky Scenery

Since the date is fast approaching (and my fete will actually take place the day before), I have my nose to the grindstone for the decoration portion of this hoedown. (Did that sentence mix metaphors? I'm not sure.)

After rounding up some ideas for you all, I've narrowed down the things that I would like to put into practice at my party. First, let me share some purchased items:

At my local Savers, I picked up this fun glittery candelabra (and for less than you can get it new on Amazon! Ha!):

And these creepy handprints are up in our dorm until I head home:

These will be accompanied by some glittery spiders, those stretchy faux spider webs and other such things. I will hopefully also get some black crepe paper to use around the house.

But for DIY (which I imagine you love as much as I do) here are a few selections that I can't wait to put into practice.

Martha (are you surprised?) has a bunch of great resources like these rat and mice templates to scatter around your floorboards and cabinets. Easy and very inexpensive, I might whip them up early! One of her other ideas is to transform a wine bottle, or in my case a 2 liter bottle of Dr. Pepper, into a convincing mummy:

Some eerily black poms a la Martha should also make an appearance. But the final touch that I am especially proud of? Let me tell you about it. (Perhaps this excitement stems from studying a chapter called "Uncanny" in my Literary Criticism class...)

On a site that I just recently stumbled upon, called Vintage Printable, you can print any variety of images free of charge and copyright restriction! Conveniently, many of the images are strange hand-drawn botanicals and even portraits. The best way to use these bizarre images? Replace your regular photos with something like the particularly detailed Hawaiian octopus study:

All in all, I expect a frightening but simple set up. I want it to look cool in the background, but you should know I'm not gonna slave over it!

Any ideas you know I would love? See anything that you are gonna try or have already? Fill me in!

Halloween 2010: Brainstorm

Still don't have a costume picked out? Baffled by the array of scandalous interpretations of your favorite childhood characters? (I'm looking at you mini-skirt Little Red Riding Hood.)

My friends, your time is running out! So, in light of that, I've gathered together some of my favorite costumes with the hopes that if I can't inspire you to choose one, you can at least get a running start on your own idea!

A couple of nerdy ideas to start you off with: how about going as Calvin and Hobbes?

(photo borrowed from wikipedia)

Not only is a pretty simple costume, but you can choose to either go solo or as a pair -- either you carry a stuffed tiger, or your have a friend dress up as one! Fun, right?

Or there is this fantastic option:



And it comes with a "Dress Like Flo" instructional website! Click on it to see exactly what she is wearing. Slick, eh?

One of the costumes that I have wanted to do forever is Marie Antoinette, with the costuming based on the movie starring Kirsten Dunst. The whole movie is beautiful, and the look from the masquerade is one of my favorites:

(This photo comes from Yahoo!)

And of course, you can be just about anyone if you throw a zombie in front of it.
My current favorite would be a Zombie Waldo! Whenever someone walked up to you, you could yell "You found me!" and give them some candy.

I just think I am soooo funny...

Any other ideas? We're getting down to crunch-time people! And I'm now working on two costumes! It's gonna be a wild ride.

(PS: Can someone be a brainstorm, literally, for Halloween? I just love the idea.)

Halloween 2010: Haunted House

Hiya friends!

For each of the categories that I'm writing on related to Halloween (food, costumes and decor, approximately) I wanted to start with a post that detailed what I've done in the past. Unfortunately, I have to report that as far as decor is concerned, I haven't done much more than stretch a few dollar store cobwebs! I guess we have some spiderweb outdoor lights, but the inside of the house has been pretty bleak.

So for decor, we're skipping straight to ideas and inspiration. Isn't that the fun part anyway?

For Halloween decorations, there are essentially three options: creepy, cheesy or classy.

I'm leaning towards a mix of creepy and classy. But really, who am I kidding? I'll have all three with a healthy helping of cheese!

Here's what the cat dragged in for each of the three:

Creepy: You get some gross stuff with this option!

A grotesque tablescape, roaches come with no extra charge.

You might want to avoid this if you have squeamish guests! If you like it, see these specimen lanterns or dissection favor bags.

Cheesy: Your traditional decorations;

Cutesy tablecloth and lanterns can surround your candy offerings, too. But spiders, angry black cats, pumpkins and fake cobwebs are ideal here.

Classy: Eerie, but stylish, too.

These sparkly skulls are quite the representatives of that, eh?

This relies on subtle changes to your every day decor (like diy silhouettes), and of course, glitter.

Anyone else notice the excessive alliteration in this post? Weird, and unintentional, believe you me. Are you a fan of decorating the house or would you rather just get yourself all dolled up?

Halloween 2010: Historical Accuracy

Guys, I'm gonna be honest with you.

I LOVE costumes.

Halloween ranks up there with my favorite days in the whole year, because when else do you get to dress up and look completely awesome? Can't think of a day? That's because Halloween is the only day. So before delving into my costume for this year (which you should remember is a secret) I wanted to fill you in on past costumes and how they came to be.

When I realized that I could throw a Halloween party as a freshman, I jumped on the chance and sent out invitations to my friends, with only one requirement: you must wear a costume! I had quite the plan up my sleeve for my own costume. Though I had been growing my hair out since the beginning of the year, I wanted to be a very authentic Edie Sedgwick (sans drug addictions and eating disorders).


I came home the night before the party, had dinner with my two best friends (long hair still intact) and then the next morning -- chop chop! I lost my locks all in the name of Sedgwick. Fun, right? (I should be honest and tell you I had been considering the hairstyle for a while, and it lined up well with Halloween.)

Last year, I day-dreamed about Amy Adams' sleek look in Night at the Museum II, and then decided to dive head-first into Amelia Earhart research. I picked out a great jacket, borrowed a hanky from a friend, wore very little makeup (big change from the year before!) and voila!

The movie starring Hilary Swank came out a few weeks before, but I still haven't seen it! This was a nice costume as well, because people recognized me a little quicker than they did when I was Edie. The airfield in my hometown actually has a very similar plane to what she flew, but I never got to get my picture with it. Next time!

So now that you know what I was in past years, here's a few tips on how to have a great costume without emptying your (probably already meager) wallet:

Don't buy new/full price: My Edie dress was $9 dollars at Ross. It was a great deal for a dress that I figured I would wear once, but I've worn it several times since then, so it's an even better deal! For Amelia, I already owned the pants, shoes, shirt and borrowed the hanky. The jacket came from Marshall's!

Do your makeup/hair: Though you may think that your costume will look fine with your everyday 'do, makeup and hair are in many cases the "make or break" factor in a good costume. Edie, for example, would have been a flop if I had long hair. For Amelia, I could have done a little more, but I wasn't cutting my hair off again!

Be creative: This probably seems a little obvious, but it's important, and applies to all facets of a good Halloween costume. If you search for a clever costume, you are far less likely to see someone else dressed like you, and if you put a lot of effort into yours, even if you do see a twin, you'll probably look better! Don't think that because you don't want to spend a lot that you have to have a lame costume.

Brainstorming? I hope so.

Did you have an awesome (or maybe not so awesome..) costume? Comment or leave a link, I'd love to see it!

Halloween 2010: Nosh

Who doesn't want to talk about food, right?

While I don't plan out an entire meal for my annual Halloween party, I certainly want to provide a spread of snacks and drinks for the party. However, until this year, it seems I haven't made anything especially tasty or fun! I know, how uncharacteristic of me.

(This gravestone cake comes from Martha Stewart's website. I feel bad that I have so many links to her website, but she just has a lot of great Halloween ideas!)

So as there are no desserts, snacks or drinks to reminisce on, instead, let's forge ahead with some really fun ideas that I'm looking into. Plus, I'll categorize to make it easy to navigate because I love lists.

Cupcakes: As you might have noticed, I love cupcakes. Not only are they simpler to deal with than a cake, they are just adorable most of the time. While my "Hello, Cupcake!" book has a few ideas, here's a few that I have seen on the interwebs. For the zombies who make it to your party and refrain from eating their fellow guests, serve some Brain Cupcakes by Martha.

Decorative Treats: Now, though that sounds like a weird category, there are some things that are kind of cookies, kind of not. They would be things like these meringue bones or the tuile ghosts and bats. They are tasty, but they are also great to place in or around other desserts or snacks.

Drinks: Since I'm 21, I could potentially serve alcoholic drinks, but since all my friends are underage and I know nothing about alcohol, we'll stick to spooky drinks of the non-intoxicating type. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time finding any neat-o drinks, only a recommendation from a friend to ice some punch with eerie ice cubes (more on that later). Any ideas?

So that's all I've got for now, and I'll come back with more details and ideas as I start to test out a few of these recipes. Any nifty Halloween foods you really love? Or maybe you just like your trick-or-treat booty?

Halloween 2010

Though I love Thankgiving, Christmas and Easter as much as anyone else, I never ever have as much fun on those days as I do on Halloween. Halloween is tied with Thanksgiving for the infamous "Favorite Holiday" spot -- and that's only because no one has served me turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes on Halloween yet!

For the past two years, I've thrown a pretty casual Halloween party at my house, with the only condition to the invitees being that they must wear a costume (and have fun!). My costume is always a secret; the first year I chopped my hair into pixie cut the day of the party and went as Edie Sedgewick, last year I was Amelia Earhart with a (p)leather jacket and penny loafers. This year... well, you'll just have to find out!

In any case, with only 49 days left until the holiday arrives, it's time to kick costuming and party plans into high gear!

While I get to work on brain cupcakes, spooky lanterns and a sweet get-up, I'll also post inspirational costumes from the web, photos of my past costume successes, recipes and DIY ideas for you try. Here's one to whet your appetite:

This, my friends, is a disco ball costume, by user atozfriendly on Instructables (this photo is property of atozfriendly, and it's awesome.)

Excited yet? I am. So fill me in on any cool costumes or H-ween things you've done before, and let me know if there is anything you wanna see!

P.S.: Have you ever thought about the word brainstorm as a noun? Weird, eh?