Trunk or Treat!

Halloween's a little past but I need to post this for Geoff's sister.  Hi Rebecca!

Charlie's school had a Trunk or Treat event this year, and since I have a station wagon and like making stuff, we volunteered.  We did a Harry Potter car, and I was McGonagall.  Note my in-character, not amused stare.  

I made all our costumes.

Charlie was Harry, natch.  I wish we'd gotten a better picture of him :/

I'm really really proud of all of this, but the thing I feel like I really want to point out is the balance because if I don't you would never see it. 

It's an ornament hanger from the thrift store, the bottom of two Ice Breakers containers, some round picture hangers, and bent wire, all painted gold, then finished with some jewelry chain, lobster claws, and a brass stamping from my stash.   

Kind of involved, but a witch cabinet isn't complete without a balance right?

Potions, ingredients and books.  I've been collecting cool little bottles for a while because I like witch cabinets for Halloween, so I just added a few recognizable ones to my collection to make it Harry Potter (see the Veritaserum and Polyjuice).  They're all filled with 99 Cents store stuff, junk from my yard, household items, etc.

For books, I found a bunch of Harry Potter book covers on the HP wiki, and then I filled them out with some old faded books I found at the Salvation Army.

That 'herb' is the top of a bunch of carrots, no real herbs wasted.

Bubbling brews.

The top cauldron is dry ice in water, heated in a very tarnished chafing dish I scored at the Salvation Army with a Sterno.  I put it on a spare tile I had in the closet, to try to keep it fire safe.  It still made me a little nervous, but it was really spectacular and the kids were all fascinated.

The near one, however, is just spiderwebs :)

Geoff loaded a small tablet with a shot from the movie and looped it, and then I stuck it in this fancy picture frame.  Moving picture achieved!

The floating candles are these candles from Amazon.  Kind of a splurge but they are so cool!  

I hung them from the ceiling by spanning a wooden board between the back seat handlebars.  The candles are strung on fishing line, and then threaded athrough a piece of posterboard supported on the board.

I have them hung in Charlie's room now because they're so pretty.

Every Harry Potter car needs a Golden Snitch.  I bought this from Amazon, and then painted it gold because it should be gold, why is it not gold?  It's hung with fishing line.

And Dumbledore!  Geoff rocks the beard.  We forgot his glasses though, I am kicking myself.

Finally, the two dementors are wire and cardboard draped with various scrap and 'spooky' fabrics, and then I glued some skeleton hands to the ends.   I'm keeping them to hang on my door next year.

How was your Halloween?

HOWTO: Toddler Totoro Costume

You may recall Charlie was Totoro for Halloween, and I promised a tutorial, way back then. Well, here it is, finally!

This costume was really easy and I finished it in a single (long) afternoon naptime, about 3 hours.

Supplies:
1.5 yards charcoal grey fleece
(you could also use blue)
18"x12" scrap of ivory or white fleece
1 sheet craft foam (the thickest white one)
1 22 inch matching grey zipper

First, to make the basic jumpsuit pattern I laid down a set of my son's clothes and traced VERY loosely around them:



This was how I made sure it was roughly the right size - much easier than trying to measure a two year old! The fit is very baggy, so it doesn't have to be perfect.

Trace one side, then fold the fabric in half and cut that piece out for the front. Then fold that whole piece in half, and use that as a pattern piece for the two back pieces, leaving a half inch for seam allowance:



So the body is composed of three pieces that look roughly like this:


Pin & sew the back pieces together from the crotch up to the "butt", leaving the rest open for the zipper. Then pin and sew the front and back together, right sides together, around the arms, body and legs.



Like the body, I also traced loosely around one of my son's hoodies to make the pattern for the hood:



Again, it's loose, so the shape is approximate, but make sure the length of the bottom will approximately match the size of the neck on the body, after hemming.



Sew these two pieces together starting at the top of the head (the zipper opening has to go all the way to the top or your baby will get stuck), then hem the front around the face opening. Pin into either side of the neck hole, right sides together, and sew in.



For the belly design, I cut a 17.5"x11" oval out of the lighter fleece and then ironed it on with fusible web. I sewed this down for safety, like an applique, and then did all the little triangles, similarly, on top of this.



The tail is just two elongated "D" shaped pieces, sewn right sides together, flipped inside out, and stuffed with scraps of fleece.



Tail pattern is about 7" long.



To finish the body, sew the tail on by pinning it to the butt, the round part of the "D" facing up. Sew across, then fold down. Finally, install the zipper from the butt to the top of the head.

The ears are made using this general pattern, pattern piece is about 6" tall:



Cut four ear pieces from grey fleece, then each pair sew right side together and reverse. Trace the resulting shape onto craft foam then stuff the foam piece into the ear so it's stiff.



Then sew onto the top of the head, the same way as the tail. I also sewed in a craft foam "head band" on the inside of the hood, for stability, and sewed the ears to that as well.



I finished with a leaf made out of craft foam - this didn't survive the night, but you could make one out of felt, or even grab something from the floral department.

And that's how to make a super easy Totoro toddler costume!

Hey let's go!

Charlie is Totoro for Halloween...





This costume was super easy... like, it took me about three hours, for real. Tutorial coming soon :)

Halloween Ahoy

Hello all! I have Halloween pictures.

We had a whole other plan for Charlie, where he was going to be Captain Kirk and Geoff was going to be Spock and I was going to be, I don't know, one of those green chicks, but I could not find a gold colored baby shirt. Or gold dye. Or anything, it was so frustrating. So at the last minute I took one of his t-shirts, stuck some grommets in it, got some black string and gold rope, and a bandana, and called him a pirate.


He's a very cute pirate. He has a parrot too (okay I know it's an owl). Look at him just eating it, I mean, wow. This pirate is out of his mind!


"Hey, mom, are we done taking pictures now? Because-"


"-I really hate this stupid bandana!"


Charlie also "helped" with the pumpkin.


The pumpkin was supposed to be angry!Jack Skellington, but the eyes came out more like giant tear drops. I still think it looks pretty sweet. Geoff did the actual carving, although I'm sure Charlie feels very proud of what he accomplished with that big spoon.

Metafiltered

This photo that Natalie took of me ended up on Metafilter last night. Surreal! Geoff is the polar bear. More on that later.

Bride of Ghost and a Taste of Fall

I made these ghosts out of glittery satin and tulle last year. They are stuffed with paper, and the eyes are painted on with acrylic. I think they look sort of bridal. You can make up a story about why there are four of them.

I made the bats out of craft felt. I also made these felt leaves to put on tables, around the appetizers for our Halloween party.


Geoff's mother sends him colored leaves in an envelope from New Hampshire every year. It's very sweet, and they smell good. I used one as a stencil to design the maple leaves.

Potions and Such

Happy Halloween everybody! This idea has been around for a while, but I took inspiration mostly from this page.

Many of my supplies are from Party City and the dollar store, and all my jars are recycled. Vinegar jars are the best; they come in many interesting shapes. From left to right:

• Pickled Succubus Fingers - clear plastic Halloween fingers, covered in hot gue and soaking in water (with red food coloring) in a salsa jar.
  
• Faerie Dust - sparkly confetti, in an old spice jar.
  
• Werewolf Bones - plastic Halloween bones, burnt with a match and touched up with red paint, in a jelly jar.
  
• Eye of Scrod - gooey Halloween eyeballs, in yellow food-colored water, in a caper jar.
  
• Hair of the Muse - fake hair from the dollar store (what is this for?), in a vinegar jar.
  
• Dried Amaranth - selections from cheap potpourri, in a pickle jar.
  
• Vampyre Blood - orange hand soap mixed with red and blue food coloring, in a mustard jar.
  

If you are using water and want to keep your jars for future years, mix the water with household cleaner to keep the water from growing stuff.

The labels are laser printed on linen paper that has been scrunched up, dipped in coffee, and pressed dry between paper towels and heavy books. I used Excellentia in excelsis for the titles and Note This font for the writing (both are free). I also used the letter "e" from Floralia for the corners, and various Flourishes found online. I arranged them all on one piece of paper, for easy printing.


They are glued to the glass and then Mod Podge'd for durability.

Halloween Costumes p. 1

We had a Halloween party last night. I dressed as Sarah Palin, and Geoff dressed as John McCain.


Oh! Did you see what I did there? Sorry. Geoff insisted I make that joke. He came up with this costume by himself, and he really enjoyed it.


Makeup was from a makeup kit he found at CVS meant for making a puppy dog (?).


The jacket he already owned. He bought it many years ago at a thrift store thinking, and I am not kidding, "Hmm, this would be cool if someday I wanted to be the joker for Halloween." He bought the vest at a thrift store yesterday, just hours before the party, and painted it green with thinned out acrylic paint. The pants, we dyed purple with RIT dye.


The craziness, Geoff supplied himself.

Baked Alaska (Earrings)

Usually for Halloween I just pull out my Comic Con costume and lovingly wear it again. This year, however, I've assembled my best fitted suit, peep toed pumps, and square glasses for a topical costume...


I sculpted the above Alaska-shaped earrings out of polymer clay, then baked 'em in the oven and painted them gold.

I made this oversize American Flag pin out of Shrinky Dinks. The finding is an old Siggraph pin (and to think I almost threw that schwag away).


Are you doing anything for Halloween?