Halloween Countdown

It's that time of year again. When I completely lose my mind with all the busy-ness of life. Baby Q turned 1 year old yesterday, Halloween is on Saturday, parties, parties, parties, then there is Thanksgiving, E's birthday and Christmas. Whew. I'm already into 2010.

Wait...I'm slightly ahead of myself...Back to Halloween. I made this Halloween Countdown calendar using Harmonie products for The Scrap Review because Halloween is almost as important as Christmas in our house and sometimes I just need to know exactly how many days are left until the big spooky night of complete and utter chaos.


Materials: Harmonie calendar kit, Harmonie acrylic stamps, Harmonie pattern papers (Bal Masque collection); 3L pop dots; Paper Studio chipboard fence; Ranger distress ink; StazOn ink, Sakura crystal lacquer; Sharpie pen

I love these little jack-o-lanterns. I added crystal lacquer to the eyes and mouths to give the illusion of light.


A close-up of my doodles.


Another close-up.


That cute spider is the key to this calendar. Each day she moves closer to Halloween! E was my hand model. She loves helping me with my picture-taking. She always holds my photo tent to make sure that it doesn't blow away. Really sweet.


I'm so excited that this project appeared on Scrap Scene today! Yeah!

I hope that you have a spooky and safe Halloween!

xoxo
Bethany

Mini Halloween Projects

For my review on The Scrap Review, I made a few tags and gift bags. I used Harmonie double-sided stickers on these. Those things are really cool.


Materials: Harmonie double-sided sticker; Making Memories glitter; tag by Ali Edwards for Two Busy Moms (purchased ages and ages ago); unknown ribbon manufacturer



Materials: Harmonie double-sided stickers (Bal Masque collection); Harmonie buttons; Harmonie ribbon; Making Memories Glitter; stitching; my own mists; text page

Happy Halloweening!

xoxo
Bethany

Halloween Tree

I made this Halloween tree for a ScrapFriends review of the new Somerset Holidays and Celebrations magazine. I have some directions in my review here.

Happy Belated Halloween

Is Halloween already long past? I completely forgot to post pictures of the kids' costumes until Shanne reminded me. Thanks girl!

The costumes turned out fantastic. Here's a picture of the four kiddos together. Q-tip didn't dress up this year. I just couldn't wrap my mind around that one.

D is Ashoka from The Clone Wars, Z is Princess Leia, C is Luke and E is Hello Kitty. For this picture, I told them to act their part. I think that Luke has the fate of the empire on his mind with that serious look.



And now a close-up. I think that I should be a makeup artist. Just take a look at those eyes! D was really self-conscious with so much makeup on. Every time someone told her how beautiful she looked, I thought that she might melt into the floor. You can see her mom-just-take-the-picture look very clearly here.


Yep, Z's got sassy down. And Z was just the opposite of D. She relished wearing all that makeup. She even asked for her lips to be darker. I told her that fire-engine red was about as dark as she'd ever get. She couldn't get enough of herself. I had to pry her away from the mirror.


I'm not sure when Luke did this face in the movies, but it seems to fit.


And finally, Hello Kitty. She also wore some eyeshadow to match with those whiskers. How could I resist those sweet eyes?


Today is my first day alone with all of the kiddos and so far everything is going very well. I even cleaned the kitchen! Unfortunately, C is sick so I'm taking him to the Dr. this morning for a strep test. In the meantime, I'm washing my hands so much that I think the skin might fall off. I really don't want Q-tip to get sick. He's just so little. My biggest fear was realized a few years ago when E ended up in the hospital with RSV and I DO NOT want to repeat that experience. It wasn't as much fun as I thought. (giggle)

I'll keep you posted.

Halloween Costumes

Getting all the kids ready for Halloween reminds me of a few favorite costumes from my childhood. The first is a ladybug, that my mother made. It was just so cool and what made it even better, was that it was easy to get into. I remember that a group of us went to a rollerskating rink for a Halloween party and there were various costume contests. We had to skate around the rink so the judges could observe us. At the end of the song, we all stood in the middle of the rink for the grand announcement. I won most creative costume (or rather my mother won) so I had to skate, by myself, mind you, to the DJ tower to claim my big prize. It was more than nervousing to skate while a billion people watched my lovely form. I tried as hard as I could to do that graceful arm swing and hip move while all eyes were on me. Luckily, because of fervent silent (and maybe not so silent) prayer, I didn't wipe out and I got my gift certificate for a free skating session which, by the way, was unused.

My second most memorable costume was never fully defined. It was a princess/fancy lady. I borrowed an old bride's maid dress from my neighbor across the street. It was taffeta and peach and long and a bit revealing in the front (to a 10 year old.) I believe puffy sleeves were involved and it was BEAUTIFUL. I looked like a beauty lady in it. Because the front was a bit low cut (it went lower than a turtleneck) I needed a special shawl to cover myself. So my mom found a lacy shower curtain that worked perfectly. As I write this I cannot believe that I combined a shower curtain, even if it was of creamy lace, with a fancy dress, but as always, I was not aware of the fashion gauche that I was committing (and still commit even today, but not with dresses and shower curtains.) All the neighbors thought that I looked just like Princess Diana (she was just getting famous at the time.) and I was more than pleased to be compared to such a lovely person. I loved that dress and I cried when I had to return it months after Christmas. Moreover, I'll forever remember that wondrous feeling of being greatly admired by the masses as I walked around in my puffy-sleeved, peach dress with accompanying shower curtain shawl.

Halloween Inspiration Volume II

Another post dedicated to Halloween. This time I have a few photos of projects. The first is of a small plaque that my mom gave me a few years ago. This inspired me to try glittering decoupaged images. Isn't she just the cutest witch ever? I love the ribbon ties and the sweet innocence.

She inspired me to do this plaque that is hanging on my family tree. Don't worry. I'll post it another time. You can't really see the glitter because it is white, but if you look closely, you'll see the stripe on each petal. Very light and pretty.

And I was totally inspired by Elsie Flannigan's skeletons last year so I bought up all the discounted Provo Craft wood skeletons at Michaels and made a few of these beautiful ballerinas. Many of them have found apartments around the country, but here are two that still live at home.

My mom had the great idea of tying a fuzzy yarn around her neck to she'd be warm in the freezing cold Chicago Halloween. My Arizona babies will be fine without such climatic precautions, however.

You may be able to see the doodled buttons on them. I learned this from Adrienne Looman who is about to publish her book on doodling. What she does is she puts a bit of runner tape on a scrap paper, temporarily adheres her buttons, doodles with paint pens and removes them from the paper when she is ready to use them. Genius. I drew the eyes and shoes on with plain jane markers. The skirt is tulle sewn on ribbon and glued to the hips. Quite easy, yet oh so stylish. If only we could all wear tulle skirts...

And finally, I have my cat that was made using Provo Craft precut wood with DCWV paper decoupaged on. I painted her black before decoupaging. The stripes, eyes and nose were made with the same paper. I drilled a hole with a hand drill and tied a ribbon for hanging. If you've seen her before, she has a few sisters who have found homes around the country too.

Halloween Inspiration Volume I

Since Halloween is just around the corner, I thought that I'd dedicate a few posts to this fun holiday. I did a card for Scrapbook Circle that I think you'll find amusing.

I got this "rule" from a list of Halloween Rules that Paper Crafts magazine published a few years ago. Since these are perfect for this time of year, here are a few more.

When it appears that you have killed the monster, never check to see if it's really dead.

If you find that your house is built upon or near a cemetery, was once a church that was used for black masses, had previous inhabitants who went mad or committed suicide or died in some horrible fashion, or had inhabitants who performed satanic practices in your house -- move away immediately.

Do not search the basement, especially if the power has just gone out.

Never read a book of demon summoning aloud, even as a joke.

When you have the benefit of numbers, never pair off and go it alone.

As a general rule, don't solve puzzles that open portals to hell.

If appliances start operating by themselves, move out.

Do not take anything from the dead.

If you're searching for something which caused a noise and find out that it's just the cat, leave the room immediately if you value your life.

Let me know if you were able to use some of these in your projects!