this is a first

I think this may be the first year that I haven't loved Halloween...shocking, I know.  I have been so tired and overwhelmed with health issues that the house never got decorated, no party planned and I murmured during most of the costume making process (who am I kidding, I always murmur during the costume making process)

Having said that I think the kids looked adorable this year.  We ended up with Robin Hood (Megan), Circus Ringmaster (Emily), Mad Hatter (Nathan) and Dracula (Luke)

Lets start with the  most time consuming costume of the lot - The Mad Hatter.  I found a tutorial on the internet for making this costume and it deceivingly said it would take 4 hours to complete - lies, all lies!  I started it Thursday afternoon at about 2 pm with Derek jumping in to help later in the evening.  He went to bed sometime around 1 am and I finally put down my elementary school child safety scissors (yes, we created the whole costume with a stupid little pair of scissors) at 3:15 am.  Four hours, my foot!

Looking at the costume I'm trying to figure out what took so long since there wasn't much sewing (jacket was a brown jacket from Goodwill and pants were khakis from Target - both dyed) but trust me when I say it took us forever.

The hat was the hardest to create but since I'm married to the best man in the world I had lots of help.  Let's just say we can now understand why the hatter was "mad".

Megan was on make-up artist duty and I think she did an amazing job.  This was one costume where the make-up really added to the whole appearance of the costume.

Emily looked adorable in her "I didn't have to sew a thing costume"  I love those types of costumes!  The shirt and jacket were purchases from Goodwill (man, I love that store) and the rest of the costume was pulled together with stuff from Target and a local Halloween store.  

All Megan wanted for her costume was something that allowed her to carry weapons and wear boots.  She would have loved to have been Katniss but I was not feeling terribly creative with that idea so we went with Robin Hood.  The only sewing here was the vest which turned out cute but while sewing I decided that sewing isn't really my thing.  I don't have the easiest time with it so I'm not quite sure why I keep sewing costumes every year.  Her shirt was from a costume I made her in 7th grade and everything else was Goodwill or Target.

Then there is Luke.  He wins for easiest costume...church pants, shoes and shirt put together with a purchased vest and cape from the dress up box.  Oh yea, I forgot...also a sweet little Dracula necklace.  My little blood sucker looked fantastic.

I'm glad the costumes are done and that Halloween is on its way out but I am hoping I'll be back into the Halloween spirit next year.  I'm also hoping that all my kids want to dress as Dracula next year!


And just because I love these pictures I'm including some photos that my girls (and their friends) took Tuesday after our youth Halloween party at church.

attitude of gratitude

so we've been told to have an attitude of gratitude...having insomnia is a good thing when your child needs a Halloween costume for school on Friday and you don't start making it until Thursday.  


See how grateful I am for my 5 months of no sleep.


In all honesty...I'm hating costumes right about now.  Hopefully I'll feel different tomorrow (today, I guess) when Nate wakes up and puts it on.  It better fit and look good or I might just lose it!

a not so wicked witch

I have been trying to download this picture forever - blogger has issues (but then again, don't we all?)

Emily was off to our churches youth Halloween party last night as a witch. SHe had a great time and looked good too.
Excuse the mantle decor that is falling off and one of my boys dirty socks. Hopefully Emily's smile is enough to distract you from all of that.

not done but close

Megan and Em are off to another Halloween party/dance tonight at church so I had to get Meg's Jane (of Volturi fame ) costume done. Unfortunately I didn't get it finished but it was ok for the evening.

I never hemmed the sleeves so they are just rolled up (hence the uneven sleeves in the picture - that will be fixed) I also need to make a few adjustments and clean up the edges around her neck but other than that It's mostly done and I'm pleased with how it came out.
The contacts are sweet and way creepy. Megan's eyes make this costume.
I need to get some pictures with the hood on because I like how it looks. When Meg gets all made up for Halloween we'll get more pictures.

curse you halloween costumes!

Yes, I love Halloween - we are all very aware of that but the costumes, the dreaded costumes...

After some stressful days wondering how I would get 4 costumes done along with a bunch of other stuff I have going on the kids all decided to use costumes out of the costume box or in Nate's case a simple diy costume - bless you sweet children! Unfortunately there wasn't much for Megan in the box except her Ravenclaw Hogwarts uniform which she was happy to wear. I on the other hand let the "your not a very good mom" guilt trip enter my head and decided she needed to have a costume she hadn't worn before. I don't mind costumes being worn more than once I just prefer that a new kid get to wear it.

I tell myself that I only have to make one costume and I'll pick something easy. Here are the pictures we used for inspiration...

Jane Volturi, of New Moon fame. How hard can it be, I ask myself. Simple black cloak, tights. mary janes and some great black make-up. I can handle this - yeah, right!

It is now 2:23 in the am on Wednesday as I type this. Megan needs the costume tonight (she actually could have used it last night/Tuesday -(she and Emily went to a Halloween party/dance at the neighboring LDS Stake Building) but lucky for me she was willing to go as a nerd so I could work on the Jane costume. Well, remember what time it is? Yes, I'm still not finished with the costume. It is mostly done but I still need to add trim, hem it and accessorize - will it ever end?!?!? Not tonight it won't - I have to get to bed.

So look for pictures tomorrow of the dreaded Jane costume. This costume thing is making me so crazy I'm wishing a vampire would head my way, bite me and get me out of this mess. Why, why must I love Halloween so much?

coming up with costumes

Halloween is popping up in stores and I have to admit I am giddy with excitement.  We even have 3 Halloween Super Stores opening up in our general area - yippee!  

No Halloween party this year which is currently depressing me a bit but I'm not in a place to handle the work load of a full blown party this year.  I'll have to concentrate on just decorating the house.

I have also started thinking about kids costumes.  Here are a few I ran across today that I love...

the Yip-Yips from Sesame Street - I love these guys

Hello Mrs Butterworth - how cute are you?

I am in no way encouraging anyone to be a YouTube "Drunk Guy At Party" with this next picture but I am encouraging you to imagine the possibilities with this costume.  

Not sure what the costume is on the right but it downloaded with the picture on the left - I'm loving the garden gnome costume - simple and cute.  Put it on a teenager or adult and it becomes simple and funny.

If anyone has fun, creative ideas for costumes please let me know - I'm always looking for good ideas.

can't forget the other kids

Luke was not my only child dressed up for Halloween - it was all just a blur that went by quickly with not much picture taking.  Bad mom or busy mom - you make the call, just be kind.

Emily got to go to her first dance at church - always an exciting event.  This picture is of the girls right before the left to go and get their Halloween Dance groove on.  

My kids were great about costumes this year.  They all knew that I was probably not going to find time to sit at the sewing machine to make costumes but none of them got bent out of shape.  All 4 kids have are so considerate and easy going when they sense I am on the verge of a mental breakdown - I love them for that.

Emily was a creepy doll - it was a costume I made Megan a couple years back.  In fact Megan wore it to her first dance.   She looked cute and she loved the new red shoes I bought her to go with the costume.

Megan said she would be whatever I could find at the costume store - this proved to be difficult. I'm now stepping up on my soapbox...what in the world are people thinking?  Every female costume is so inappropriate it's unbelievable.  I am not going to send my 14 year old out in a hoochi-fied costume.  Think of any character - snow white, a baby, a butterfly, even frankenstein and they have that costume available completely skanked out for girls to wear with everything exposed.  It was making me crazy.  I ended up finding an almost decent witch costume - everything was good except the length - it was so so short.  I found black fabric that matched the sleeves on the dress and so I made an underskirt for the costume to give it more length (so I guess I did get on the sewing machine for a few minutes)  The costume turned out well and Megan stayed covered.

Nate was the easiest.  We have a gorilla costume - doesn't everyone? and Nate said that was what he wanted to wear.  Alright by me - how easy can that be?!?!  He loved the costume so much I would occasionally find him wearing it before Halloween.  The picture below was days before Halloween - he just put it on to watch tv.  Not sure how that could be comfortable but you can't really mess with a gorilla so we let it go.

I spy with my little eye something that is yellow

Can you find it?  

This is the contents of Luke's trick or treating bag.  I have been meaning to post this for weeks because I think it is the strangest thing.  It's not even really edible.

from the mean streets of london, circa 1985

So much for my favorite holiday - it came and went without much fanfare.  

I managed to pull together costumes for four kids without much sewing.  Luke's costume above was all Goodwill with pants from Target and a can of red hairspray from the costume store - not to bad.

I'll have to dig up some pictures of the other kids in their costumes - in addition to not being in the Halloween mood this year I obviously wasn't into a picture taking mood either.

A bit behind but there's a prize

I have some family posts that I need to catch up on but we've been so busy with family life that I can't stay caught up.  The posts are coming - the post are coming!  (there's a familiar ring to that)

In the meantime I'd love it if everyone would head on over to Little Ant and check out the new giveaway.  I am eager to get the word out about Tim and his company The Ghoulish Gallery. He offers high quality changing portraits for Halloween and he agreed to do a giveaway with me - I'm thrilled.

To thank him I want to get as much traffic as I can to his site through Little Ant Design.  He has never ventured into the blogging world and I want him to see how allowing me to post on my blog with the giveaway will generate folks over at his blog.

So head on over for your chance to win!  And let your friends know.

get your spook on - cutest little creepy

I just ran across this adorable vinyl spider and fell in love.  Well lucky for all of us this little guy can be yours if you win the Studio JK Vinyl giveaway.  Not sure how long the giveaway lasts so head over there right now and leave a comment.  If I'm the lucky winner I plan to give him a home on the window by our stair landing.  

I also have some other Halloween ideas that use vinyl wording.  I plan on heading back over to Studio JK to see if she does any custom work. If my idea pans you'll see it in a future get your spook on post.

JUST ADDED:  I went for a longer visit over on the Studio JK site and saw that the giveaway ended today - big fat hairy spider bummer!  You should still check out the site and the cool vinyl creations she has.  

get your spook on - eye candy

I can't get pictures to copy over to my blog for today's Halloween idea so drop what you are doing and click here and go to pages 11 thru 16.  This masterpiece of a Halloween table is from Amy Atlas and it's fabulous.

I want to have a table like this set up in my front living room so that when trick or treaters look through the door this what they see - can you imagine how the kids eyes would light up?!?!  The problem I see is that we live in a world that most parents (myself included) wouldn't let our kids touch any unwrapped candy or goodies.  Maybe I can come up with something similar with packaged treats - it just wouldn't have the same impact as these gorgeous homemade morsels.

get your spook on - etsy

Looking for some Halloween inspiration?  Have you been invited to a Halloween party and want to take a unique hostess gift?  Need a fun little Halloween treat for your child's school teacher? My suggestion today is to head over to Etsy and check out their Halloween guide.  

countdown to halloween is now...

Get your spook on!  Catchy, huh?

Here is an easy idea to give your ho-hum boring everyday house a little haunted style.  Replace the pictures in your picture frames with Halloween images or other spooky feeling images. Granted, silhouettes aren't the spookiest of things but they did add to the over all feel we were going for last Halloween.  I found these Victorian silhouette dingbats (dingbat - name for a font that is pictures/images and not letters or numbers) at Font Space.  I also use Da Font.  Just type in Halloween in their search engine and see what comes up.  For the dingbats you might need to go specifically to that category before searching Halloween.

Can't find a dingbat you like?  Try spelling out words in your frames using a cool Halloween font.  I could use my four frames to spell help, boo!, eeek, fear - you get the idea.

My second idea for the day (yes, you get two ideas - what a bargain) is...Good Will and black spray paint are your friend.  Hit up your local Good Will or a similar store and find frames, candelabras, light fixtures, clocks, anything you like really and get some black spray paint on it - instant haunted house decor or in my case year round decor since the frames pictured below that were last years Halloween decorations are still up.  In case anyone is wondering I did take down the black plastic tile "marble" fireplace - I have to draw the line somewhere.

You would be amazed at what some spray paint can do.  I found a cheap plastic clock at Big Lots for $8 last week that I plan to hit with black spray paint and change the face to a 13 hour clock.  This will make a great haunted edition to my entryway.

countdown to halloween

Today's countdown to Halloween idea really is a countdown.  I saw this idea on Kristi's blog and I love it.

You can find the directions here.  This is a fun way for your kids to countdown to Halloween. If you are not in the crafty mood you can sometimes find Halloween advent calendars at Target or Cost Plus. Pottery Barn Kids has one this year that I am totally in love with but not enough to fork over the $100+ dollars it costs.

How cute is it?!?!  My kids would love this (who am I kidding - I would love this)  How fun to open up a door each day and find a little treat. Maybe I can pick this up after the holiday when it's on sale - I'll have to keep my eyes open.

countdown to halloween

So I didn't love Martha's Halloween idea so I'm sharing a Halloween product that I love.  I am amazed by the work over at Ghoulish Gallery.  I have purchased portraits from this company and they are unbelievable.  As you walk past the portrait it changes.  The one below (Isabella) is one of my favorites.

Lately I have seen very, very cheap knock offs of these portraits at stores and I have to tell you that they don't even compare to the work you get from Ghoulish Gallery.  In addition to getting a great product from Ghoulish Gallery you also get amazing service.  A few years back I needed to get a portrait asap for a friends October birthday and Tim the owner hooked me up.  He is local so he allowed me to come and leave my money in his home mailbox and pick up the portrait all wrapped and waiting for me on his porch.  He was helpful and kind and a pleasure to work with.

I think that these portraits are a necessary purchase for any true Halloween fanatic.  In fact, I think this is my year to purchase.  Believe it or not I have purchased 3 of these beauties and they have all been for other people.  I don't have one hanging in my home but should you come and visit this Halloween keep an eye out for Isabella - hopefully she will be haunting my walls.

countdown to halloween

I know Martha bugs a ton of folks (myself included) but you can't doubt her creative genius and that of her staff.

On marthastewart.com they have a countdown to Halloween with a new Halloween idea of everyday.  I am a few weeks behind with it because I just found it today but now that I'm on board I will share her idea or one of my own every day here on the blog to help us all get ready for the big spooktacular - Oct. 31st.

Here are some of the ideas I like from the past few weeks...

tombstone candy bags - super simple and way cute

This roasted turkey costume almost makes me want to have a baby.  I in no way want more children but I would possibly consider a 5th child if I could put them in this get up.  How hilarious is this costume?  If anyone does this costume for Halloween please send me pictures - I have to see it.

I have wanted to make these paper lanterns for years.  I love seeing the words all lit up.  I like the idea of there being a spooky message to welcome visitors to your home.  I like that this is a cheap idea with a lot of impact.

Have I said how much I love this holiday?  It makes me giddy thinking about decorating my house for Halloween.

sad decision

After a lot of thought I've decided to not have a Halloween party this year.  I may still do a small open house or something else to commemorate the spookiest of holidays but it will not be on as big of a scale as our Ghost Town party would have been.  I feel sad but at the same time I feel a ton of relief.

Life is busy right now.  I'm involved in (or my kids are)...soccer, primary teacher, activity day leader, a church assignment to decorate for a big women's conference, the return of school (including a high schooler) and homework, kids costumes, Luke and Emily's birthday parties, and little things here and there.  None of these activities on their own are too overwhelming but together they start to make my stress meter rise and I find it hard to carve out time for planning and executing Halloween in a way that makes me happy.  I also have a much bigger assignment then all those mentioned that I am involved in and feel the need to be completely focused on it until election day on Nov. 4th

I am helping with a coalition, Protect Marriage to pass Proposition 8 on the November ballot.  I (along with many other Californians) have been busy and will continue to be busy up until election day as we work to save marriage in our state.  Many have been out walking each Saturday contacting voters to find out how they plan to vote in Nov. Phone calls have been going out to voters as well.  More work is planned in order to get the word out before the election.

For those who are interested in reading more about this proposition and why I support it please read this article, The Divine Institution of Marriage.

I realize that there may be some that disagree with my support of Prop 8 - I respect that and would not criticize you for your stand.  I hope that same respect would be shown to me especially if you comment here on my family blog. I am happy to hear others views in a civil, kind way but please do not handle it in an ugly manner.

So as sad as I am to see the ghost and goblins take off down the dusty road of Tombstone to ride off into the sunset (man, I was excited for the ghost town theme) I feel like my time is better spent in other pursuits at the moment.

alice says she sees a party in my future

Pottery Barn has these to die for place card holders that I have my eye on.  Once I saw them I immediately started to figure out a reason to buy them.  I'm thinking I might have to have a pre show party for the Twilight movie.  Anyone want to come?

As I have been checking out sites for new Halloween goodness the last few days it has made me wonder who decides the trends for holidays?  I am still seeing tons of skull stuff for this year. Granted some of it is really cool - Pottery Barn has some nice stuff and Z Gallerie has some nice skull stuff as well but skulls have kind of seen their day.  That is why I was so stoked to see these silver vampire teeth.  Retailers should have run with this theme because I think there is a ton of interest in vampires at the moment.  I also think a nod to creepy haunted house objects would be a great sell - I'm picturing antique replica items with a creepy twist to them.

This time of year seriously makes me giddy with excitement.  Halloween jive is popping up at nearly all the stores (no Target yet - come on people, clear out the school stuff and bring on Halloween)  I love seeing all the holiday goodness!

thanks janae

Janae emailed me yesterday with some music ideas for Halloween from the Wall.E soundtrack. I loved the music and was grateful to Janae for the ideas.  

So now I am issuing a plea.  Before I spend hours searching the Internet I thought I'd ask the masses out in blogville...anyone have ideas for western music that has an eerie sound to it?Classical music that has a western feel to it? Any music that would work for our ghost town theme?

While we're at it...any ideas for decor, games, etc.  I have most of it planned out but I'm always looking for good ideas.  

Anyone have pie tins that they are willing to give up?  I need to collect about 90 tins.  I plan on heading over to Marie Calendars soon but I'm sure I won't be able to get as many as I need.  If you have them and are willing to let me have them I will send you money to ship them.

Anyone live in a really rural place that has cow skulls lying by the side of the road?  I am waiting to bid on a few that I found on ebay but there are not enough online.  I need about 12 total.  If anyone can help let me know.

What other strange requests do I have...uuumm, can't think of anything else.

Thanks again Janae!