Lumberjacking

This year for Halloween we all went as lumberjacks!

Pumpkinbutt doing a skull and crossbones.... lumberjack style!

Why lumberjacks?  Good question... because I can not directly located a single immediate source. I, myself, have never been a lumberjack nor do I know any.  I have no desire to chop down trees. I don't live in a region that has a high lumberjack population or industry.  I feel it was truly a metamorphosis from subliminal inspiration starting with watching a lot of Roseanne.... particularly Halloween episodes, as seen below from season 3 when she dressed up as a lumberjack.

 I was additionally inspired by some super cool crafts I saw on the nets in the last few months. This lumber project made from pool noodles was so fun I wanted to use it for something.....My initial thought was an inside pretend campfire or using it for a fake Christmas fireplace....or lumberjack prop! Then I recollected other projects such as a  fake beard and a lady lumberjack shirt (which did not happen sadly). It all came together really easily and was super cheap. My costume set up was 3.00!  I borrowed the shirt from a friend; the jeans, boots,and hat I had on hand; made the beard from fleece scraps I had in the stash. The 3 bucks was buying an axe, pool noodle, and wood grain vinyl shelf liner from dollar tree.

I feel the whole lumberjack thing was a decision made else where and out of my control! Wonder what the planets have aligned for next year.

Haunted House Tour

 A couple of weekends ago, the historic district of my town hosted a haunted Halloween fall festival.  It was super cool! It included free tours of many of the historic houses, several of which are said to be haunted. One of the houses, the Dorr house, had Victorian mourning rituals and items on display:

 Funeral notices and human hair woven jewelry.

 Examples of attire.

 Speaking of woven human hair.... This framed piece that hung on the wall was about 2 feet wide.

AND!  A freakin' shrunken head!  The tour guide didn't even point this out to anyone.  We just happen to turn around and see it in a display cabinet behind us!

I leave you with a bit of haunted history in regards to the Dorr House!

"This home's most infamous secret may be the tales of the spirits that haunt the Dorr home. Tour guides have admitted to being uneasy inside the Dorr home. Stories of shadows and pulling on clothes have been reported along with objects being moved around. Females who wear short skirts or shorts to the home have experienced tugging on their hems as perhaps the ghost is trying to cover the indecent young women. Historical records show that some of the Dorr children died while living in the home. Locals, who speak of the spirit, believe it is the ghost of Clara who refuses to leave her charming home.

The most revealing story is that of the "translucent lady" who appears to be in her mid 30s, dressed in her 19th century style dress, and commonly seen dancing in the upstairs' rooms. Those visiting the Dorr home for a paranormal experience are advised to be watchful of certain locations including the sick room and fainting chair located in the parlor. Maybe you will be one of the lucky (or unlucky) guests to encounter the spirit that haunts the Dorr house."

Second place!

BTW, I won second place in the dollar store halloween costume contest with Eleanor dog's spine chilling chia pet costume!

Halloween Decor

 Here are a few shots of the Halloween decor this year. I didn't add much new to the mix.  One of my most favorite thrift stores that I generally can get a good haul from, decided to not sell Halloween stuff this year because it's the stuff of the devil.....

Spooky cool angles of the same shelf!!!!!

These images are of a smaller display shelf that contain tinier or more fragile items:

I didn't quite finish my Halloween decorating yet... I am declaring that the Halloween season be extended until at least mid November.  I am, at the very least, not taking anything down until then!

Krispy Skremes!

I collect a lot of junk...and I don't mean that in the cool-kid way of saying it's vintage stuff.  I mean I collect trash. As seen below, the card board boxes that krispy kreme doughnuts come in:

I am not sure when they started making Halloween themed boxes, I noticed them 3 years ago and thought I should start a "collection".  

This year's box is by far the best yet (seen below)!  The box is able to be cut into a puppet Monsterpiece Theatre!

On the bottom of the box is more cool stuff and a website to upload your own monster movie!

The  Krispy Skremes website is super cute too!  Free coloring sheets and other activities.  But the coolest thing is the last link for seeing what other Krispy Kreme websites in other countries are doing for Halloween. Australia has a doughnut with cotton candy right now and UK has a salted caramel and this:

" Hand dipped in orange icing, topped with chocolate popping candy and filled with smooth orange Kreme"

Below are doughnuts from Korea.. Note the skeleton skull ones !!!

 Here is one of three free printable coloring sheets: CUTE!

Seeing all of these neat packagings and displays from other countries only makes this trash collecting seem even more tempting!  

Mad Scientist Toxic Slime !

Last week, I hosted the Make and Take at our public library!

Pumpkinbutt and I dressed up like Mad Scientists and taught everyone how to make their own vial of Radiation Run Off Toxic Slime.

The marquee!  So official! I felt like a celebrity!

I was able to obtain medical supplies from work and then added printed images/labels I found on the internet to make them more "mad scientist-ish". All the kids got Mad Scientist badges to wear also.

Infectious Substance= green food dye.  I made sure to don my latex gloves as part of the show while placing the drop into the vials.  I made sure to say things in reference to the toxic components burning a hole through the table, so be sure to handle them carefully.

While waiting for all the kids to arrive, I had prepared printed out coloring sheets for them to draw and design their own evil specimens (color sheet found here ).  I put the crayons in a medical sharps container. 

Here I am measuring out Contaminated Water for a young Mad Scientist. 

On the back of the coloring sheet, I made a list of scientific instructions and calculations for making the Toxic Slime.  The real recipe is below.  I found it in a wizard party planning book last year while preparing the potions class for Pumpkinbutt's Harry Potter Party.

We all had such a fun time at the Make and Take! I was happy that they let me do it and really excited that they asked me to host another in the summer as part of a Science Education grant they were awarded.

3 spookerific halloween projects!

 I am really excited about this plain old empty 1 liter plastic bottle!  huh?  yes! really!  I have 3 super cute projects for halloween for big and little peoples to share and make!

Basic supplies needed for all of the projects are very few... many empty dry plastic 1 liter bottles, black and white spray paint, black permanent marker and scissors.

First up:

Halloween Treat Cauldrons

How-to: Use scissors to cut off lower portion of plastic bottle (save upper portion for next project). Apply black spray paint to cauldron and let dry. Once dry, use a hole punch to make one hole on each upper side of cauldron to thread a black pipe cleaner handle through.  Place halloween stickers on outside of cauldron if desired.  The stickers shown above were left over from some martha stewart party invites. Next, fill cauldron with little treats and trinkets.  To create a smoldering, steamy look I topped it off with a bit of fluffed up polyfil and a plastic spider.  Lastly, place the whole thing inside a treat sack. I made these last year for pumpkinbutt's class halloween party and they really liked them.

The next project is going to use the left over upper portion of the bottle to make a.....

Ghost Attack Parade! 

Start by cutting jagged edges of the ghosts lower regions with scissors.  Next apply white spray paint and let dry.  Lastly draw on spooky faces with a black permanent marker.  Pumpkinbutt created these creepies faces!

 ooooooooooooohhhhh!!!!!

These ghosts can be hung with fishing line from the ceiling, the living room/shower curtains, plants/trees in the house or yard..... We like to stick them in surprising places around the house to "boo!" each other (freezer and medicine cabinet are great spots!) Because they are weather resistant the possibilities are really limitless! Another idea is to string white christmas lights in the top section or place battery powered tea lights under them for an eerie glow.

Last project:

Spooky Cute Spider!

 This guy requires a whole plastic bottle, spray painted black, with the top section cut away:

Next, cut away a section (about 1-2 inches wide) in the front and the back, leaving enough room at the top for the body and enough on the sides for cutting four legs on each side:

another image of the cut away section:

Next, cut the remaining length into four legs on each side and bend up and flat:

Then bend each leg at the "knee" and position legs how you like them:

 Lastly, hot glue eyes:

 I drilled a hole through the top of his head and strung a piece of black yarn so he could "hang" out. A whole nest of these would look super cool hanging low and menacing in a front entry. Or better yet, wait till a  victim is in the shower and toss a spider over the top rod! EEEK!!!!!

All of these projects would work well with smaller and larger bottles and grouped together. I am very tempted to make a bunch of 3 liter ghosts (with solar powered yard light stakes under them) and place them peeking out from tombstones in the front yard!

ghostly pancakes

 we made spooky ghost pancakes for breakfast this morning! ooooooooohhhh!

pre-fill a squirt bottle or a turkey baster with pancake batter.  squirt outline on hot griddle first, then fill in with more batter.  griddle (is that the right term? "fry" sounds wrong, like it's a chicken leg or something) one side of ghost and then flip.  let second side get to the point of being almost done and then insert chocolate chip eyes.  Let ghost "griddle" a moment longer til done.  we shook powdered sugar on ours right before eating to give them more of a ghostly glow!

cookie stuffed cookies

this is not my idea originally (i am unsure where i saw it...sorry!), but it is brilliant!   the original was with regular oreos on the inside and chocolate chip cookies on the outer. my very minimal contribution change was to make them for halloween with orange cream oreo cookies. i also used oatmeal chocolate chunk cookie mix for the outer cookie. 

the "recipe" is to glob prepackaged choco chip cookie mix around oreo cookies and bake as directed!
yum!  pumpkinbutt has plans on slathering his with chocolate icing and halloween sprinkles!

Spine Chilling Chia Pet Costume

This year for Halloween, we are offering a Special Limited Edition Macabre Spine Ch-Ch-Ch-Chilling Chia Pet!  Comes complete with creepy crawlies and entangling spider webs! We recommend minimal watering to further the weed-ish deteriorated look.  Fun for the whole family! Be the first on your block to be plagued with chiggers! Call within the next 5 minutes and we will throw in an extra stink bug!
But wait...... there's more! 

So, here is the Halloween costume I came up with for Ellie this year.  I saw a Chia Pet costume online and thought it was adorable. But then, without warning,  my mind became possessed by the demented spirits of Halloween and something a little more dark and eerie was produced.

I made the costume primarily from items bought at the Dollar Tree (not all pictured below):  green woven fabric place-mat, floral moss, plastic bugs, and spider webbing. 

I did not take pictures during the process of making the costume because I didn't know if it would turn out.  Last thing I need is a bunch of photos of failure and constant reminders.  However I do still have memory of the process and can share that with you:

I started with a piece of black stretchy fabric that I sewed into a "tube top" to fit Ellie.  I then sewed this to the underside of the fabric place-mat.  I saturated the loose floral moss with mod podge and glued it down to the outer side of the place-mat. After it dried, I loosely attached the longer gray spanish moss all over the fine moss to make the Chia more full looking.  Lastly, I attached bugs and spiderwebs.
(I entered the Chia Pet Costume in dollar store crafts.diy-costume-challenge)

Last year, Ellie's costume came out of the scrap pile....she was a Mortifying Mummy!

Halloweenie garland

Halloween decorating is in full spook around here!  To add to the crypt this year, I made a vintage inspired garland. It is comprised of printed images of vintage Halloween photos (found on the internet) and basic craft items: pom pom trim, rick rack, glitter glue, ribbon, and plastic spiders.... (sure, they can be seen as craft essentials!). Everything is held together with indispensable hot glue.