halloween sugarcoated

ghastly confectionery happenings in review, sorry to post them too late for recreation for the current halloween. but if you are like me these are treats fit for anytime of the year.

first, is this brownie cake (that just means it's a sheet of brownies with icing on top) pumpkinbutt and i collaborated on for one of my dearest friend's birthday...happy birthday again brent! we didn't have any pre-existing plan, and pumpkinbutt started by dumping black sugar sprinkles in the middle, which in turn brought to my mind a pile of dirt. so i then placed a glow in the dark skeleton in the heap. we charged the skeleton up with a flashlight and it turned out looking pretty cool....

spiderweb cupcakes. i found the idea online. i am not going to post an image of the original because it puts mine to shame. you can google it and have a good laugh at my shoddy rendition.



i love these!!! zombie hands emerging from the depths of a chocolate cupcake. i found this idea online also......ordered hands from here

book sale finds

i recently attended the local friends of the library book sale (book sale past here). i acquired a few books on intriguing topics however this 1954 cake decorating book by the wilton's was a real find.

within the pages i discovered this cake idea:


i thought this cake was very interesting. it is to celebrate washington's birthday but since that is a tradition i have never been into i see it in a bit of a different light. it recalls to me the scene in the movie napoleon dynamite when pedro "builds" summer a cake as a way to ask her to the dance. he makes the cake with the script on top asking her out and then leaves it on her door step. now with that seed planted, i see this cake as something one would leave on the door step for their next murder victim. it's nice really... have some cake and just understand that i plan on doing you in with a hatchet!

baby vamp

i bought this sweet little red velvet baby dress at a thrift store for coco...
then sketched up a flame pattern, cut it out of vinyl along with a bow, and adhered it to the dress with fabric glue. much better! now she matches her daddy!

and to compliment the outfit, i am altering a pair of fishnet stockings to baby size.

cutest fabric

very cute halloween fabric i picked up at joann's recently, and on sale for 3.99 a yard! it's got vintage style beistle cats (as seen below)!

not sure what the fabric will become... for now, i think i am going to go for simple and use it as a tablecloth. perhaps a girl with more time on her hands could turn it into a dandy apron or a halloween trick or treat satchel.

thrift score!

newest find and for a mere dime!

martha, martha, martha

martha has put out a new halloween holiday mag this year along with having a few halloween inspired crafts in the living mag. have you seen these yet? oh martha, i am displeased with your offerings. waaay too many rehashed ideas from previous issues. to save you all some money i am putting up some of the best ideas (some old, some new) featured in the two current issues . seen above is the best and freshest idea she has to offer this year, entitled Harrowing Handicrafts. the spider webs and tatters are made from tissue paper. how to.

from here on out everything below was copy/pasted, not my words. i don't want any of the blame for the dorkish descriptions.

broomstick favors

Give witches-for-a-night a proper send-off with broomstick favors. You need two lunch-size paper bags for each broomstick. Unfold one bag, and push out its base while folding in the left and right sides. Using scissors, cut the bag into thin strips, stopping short of the base. Cut thin strips into the top inch of the second bag. Open both bags, and place the second bag inside the shredded one; fill with candy. Insert a small branch 1 inch into the bag; cinch the tops of both bags, and secure with black twine.

spiderweb eggs

Ingredients

• 1 dozen large eggs
• 8 cups water
• Gray sea salt, for serving
• Freshly ground black pepper, for serving
• frozen blueberries
  

Directions

1. Place eggs in single layer in a large saucepan, and cover with water and blueberries. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Cover; let stand 10 minutes.
2. Using a slotted spoon, remove eggs one at a time, and place on a folded kitchen towel. Lightly crack shell on side with the handle of a whisk or a wooden spoon. Transfer egg to medium bowl; cover with cooking water. Repeat with remaining eggs. Let eggs cool completely in water in refrigerator.
3. Carefully peel shells from eggs. Serve with salt and pepper. Spiderweb Egg How-To: After boiling eggs, remove them to a kitchen towel. Using the handle of a whisk, carefully crack one side of the egg and transfer to a bowl to soak in the blueberry-tinted water they cooked in. Wipe up any spills quickly; blueberry juice stains.

spider picks

With scissors, cut the bugs off plastic spider rings (available at party stores), then puncture their centers with a needle tool (from crafts stores). Insert the toothpick into the hole from bottom; color tip with a black marker. Set out with nibbles, such as mini mozzarella balls.

tissue paper garland

Cutting the strings of shapes won't drive you batty, since the paper comes accordion-folded in its package. With black tissue paper you can craft bats, cats, rats, or witches; orange makes great pumpkins; and white is perfect for skulls and ghosts.

Trace or draw desired design across full width of a package of folded tissue paper; we used a cookie cutter as our guide. Cut along the outline, leaving a bit of uncut fold at both sides so figures connect to one another. You'll end up with several strings of five or six shapes each; tape together for a garland.

the record bowl....

since a few of you asked what one was, here you go!


here's a link to a how-to.

bad kitty

i have been making a few record bowls for an upcoming function and thought i would share this odd album cover with you all.

moonlight madness.... a man (?) in a tiger suit and a scantily dressed fishnet stocking wearing female tweaks his whiskers....i just can not interpret this scene as anything but a sick sexual role playing fantasy (but really, who am i to judge) or maybe this is the hallucinations concurred after OD ing on cherry flavored robitussin. didn't listen to the record yet so that possibly insightful bit of info is lacking. i am sure it's all about creating some ambience in regards to... "moonlight madness".

my new best friend

i'd like to think that if i could run in the same circles as amy sedaris we would be best friends. i'd like to think that. i got her "hospitality under the influence" book as a gift from my mommy recently. have you seen it?! it's a book on entertaining, but my kind of entertaining which involves weird themes, unusual decor and interesting menus all reeking with sarcastic humor.
for instance, this cake:


there is also a chapter on crafts for hostess gifts... most are scrap craft kinda stuff and very goofy. she mentions in her book belonging to a craft club, the crafty beavers, where they make stuff while under influences that they give to nursing home patients as decor for their trays. i like that idea.

the photos and illustrations alone are worth buying the book. this one seen below is my favorite. and it has white powdered donuts....yum.
speaking of food, there are ALOT of recipes/menus and they aren't joke ones. they seem to be sound and quite tasty, covering an array of different cuisines. she covers basics like mac and cheese along with other less traditional ones such as shrimp and feta cheese appetizers in scallop shells.

her book also gives a glimpse into her personality and how she has fun with ordinary situations. she sells cupcakes to her friends for 25 cents when they come to visit. she has movie nights where she sets up a concession stand on an ironing board. she tells of beauty secrets such as to keep color on your lips after your lipstick wears off stain your lips prior with a cherry popsicle. she also recounts past family traditions such as when she was younger on her brother's birthday he requested eating duck but also requested that the rest of the family eat just spanish rice so they would envy him. now that's funny. she gives out helpful hints like "cashiers will notice patterns like ice cream at midnight three days in a row. the same is true for liquor. rotate your stores." point well taken and " buy organic lemons, if for no other reason than because the puckered tips make great nipples to stuff your bra." good idea!

the book is just so lovely and i must say, i like you too, amy...

screaming skull tote

here is a fairly recent crafty type endeavor. really bad of me to photograph a black bag with a dark brown background...sorry, i wasn't thinking. the black tote bag is prefab from a craft store. i then printed an image of the movie poster, The Screaming Skull, which happens to be my desktop background, onto iron-on transfer paper. tangent: i thought it would be an idea, maybe not a great one but an idea nevertheless, for someone (not me) to have a "what's on your desktop wednesday", kinda like the illustration friday and whatnot. yeah.... okay, back to the bag. i then applied the iron-on onto a piece of cream colored canvas. then did some crazy stitching around the border.

the dixie dolls and i made a few of these with the intent we would sell them at an event. maybe something that has to do with scary-ish old movies and such...

rainy day fun

pumpkinbutt merged goggly eyes and plastic toy foods together and came up with this:


i made this one. he's a mean cabbage...
cute huh?

memo...

i have removed the link to the recipes which was previously off in the sidebar. i can no longer get into my flickr account because i was being stubborn and didn't want to change my account over. i have tried every way possible to get back into the system but can't. i can't remember my password and then when i fill all the info out to get the password it sends me back around to a yahoo account that i know nothing about having or have forgotten having ever set up, and guess what? i don't know the password! so for now, consider it dead. i have been doing some editing within mhicty and many of the links in the old flickr will not work now. i may set up another flickr account one day but right now lopping a finger off sounds like a better time.

Crap Hound

i just discovered the most lovely series of magazines during the trip to atlanta called crap hound. it's nothing but clip art from front to cover. each edition focuses on a few items/topics. i have only been able to acquire edition 5 (hands, hearts and eyes) and the newest 6 (death, telephones, scissors).

******************

apparently the upcoming 7 &8 are to have a focus on church and state... i don't have much info on ordering but these guys may be able to help: reading frenzy

Rock and Roll Monster Bash 2007

Also while in atlanta, heather and i went to the Rock and Roll Monster Bash. loved getting my picture with this guy (this could be why...).

first up, blastoff burlesque performed...i have big plans on making myself some of those bat pasties...

and the folks from Zombie Walk Atlanta were there doing free zombie makeovers...i should have taken advantage of it...

here's a person getting done up. i was so impressed with the amount of work these folks put into doing the makeup. along with giving someone that general zombie look, they airbrush the skin and apply all sorts of oozing lesions for the full effect. why again did i not do this?

heather and i with a zombie dude. this guy was amazing...stayed in character the entire time and came to the event already looking like this...i don't think he gets out much.

also at the fest was an array of artists and crafters with creepy wares. got to meet c. martin croker (involved in many ways with space ghost, but most importantly to me, he is the voice of zorac "I'm chartreuse").
other fun stuff to see and do includes but not limited to was a hearse show, a few decent bands, and my favorite all time activity, gawking at people.
Loads o' fun...waay better than drive invasion... hands down.

ICE

heather and i went on a mini vacation weekend to atlanta a few months back. the main reason was to go to ICE (Indie Craft Experience), an alternative craft fair. just now getting a chance to post about it. and because it's not as fresh in my mind as it could be, i don't have alot of details to share...sorry. i wish i could blame it on drugs and alcohol because that would at least be a fun reason but no... anyway, back to our story. below is a booth, who's booth? the hell if i know, but i liked it.


my dearest heather, trying to eat a crocheted pastry. the girl loves her cupcakes....



me, at the esty booth. along the bottom edge of the table were crafty offerings. i hope i didn't mess up the karma by picking up this...er, i'm not sure what it is but it's cute. maybe a food item of some sort, i think it's living in a bowl.


here are some girls that know how to pose for a picture the way i like, all over dramatic-ish..unfortunately, i don't recall their shop name or i would give some props.



now meet the Geets... heather and i bought this little monster fam and toted them with us everywhere for little photo shots . the Geets got to go to IKEA and enjoy swedish meatballs among other "vacation in Atlanta" hotspots. they are seen here in the park in front of the world of Coke. they were just a few of many purchases we made.


if my memory serves me right, it was a very cool craft fair, lots of neat stuff ...i highly recommend going...maybe one day the dixie dolls will be representing.

it's an oooh la la baby soiree!

one of my dearest friends, dixie doll heather got herself knocked up just so we could throw this cool baby shower soiree! we knew she and her hubby were getting a little girl and since the nursery is done up in pink and black with french poodle decor, we decided to carry that idea into the shower theme. we did our best to hose the room down with anything pepto bismal colored ala steel magnolias and briefly entertained the idea of even painting the walls pink. above image is the fabric i bought as decor for the shower and then to make into a gift...notice in the script it says Coco (this is the baby's nickname!)

princess heather at her throne. we all dressed in pink and black.

seen below is the hors d'oeuvres set up. the baby's nickname is spelled out in foam letters atop the table. the pink Eiffel towers are photo holders with ultrasound images along with french words and sayings relating to babies on them. heather's mom made the black/pink polka dotted table cloth. all the hor d'oeuvres were french inspired or within the color theme: croissant sandwiches, chocolate eclairs, strawberries and mini quiches.

here is a cheap decoration i came up with using paper plates and streamers suspended from the ceiling. kinda snagged the idea in part from martha stewart magazine.

here's the beverage table. more pink and black! heather came up with the neatest idea. you see that thing hanging on the wall? well that is a framed print that was already there of something that just didn't go with our decor and we just couldn't have that! so heather covered it in black/white polka dotted paper and affixed the extra ultrasound photos and frenchie saying on it. genius, really.

these, well, didn't quite turn out as i had hoped. they are pink tinted white chocolate little Eiffels. they are weeble woobles really...and not as pristine as i would have liked. not to mention these few took forever to make.

forgot to mention that it was heather's birthday as well as her shower! yay! here she is with her own little birthday cake i did up for her. notice the candles match the decor theme. the little crown was my birthday present to her.

here are the "petite fours" i made for the rest of the guests. they are actually upside down cupcakes.

the hat boxes are from coco's nursery. we put the thank you gifts in and around them.

close up of the "merci beaucoup" parting gifts.

okay, now for some other details. it's going to get lengthy here on out so stick with me if possible....

:games:
i didn't want us to play the same old boring shower games. i was able after some time of searching online to find a few suggestions that weren't the same sad overdone ones. first was the string game. i'm sure it could have a much punchier title but i can't think of anything right now...maybe "how huge is the pregnant woman really?". in this game, all the guests cut a length of yarn that they think is the circumference of mommy's belly, the closest guess wins. the second game involved giving every guest a disposable diaper and a permanent marker. they are asked to write a funny saying (ex: loaded! it's daddy's turn! beware of fallout! poops, i did it again...) on the diaper so that when the parent's are changing said diaper at 3 in the morning it will give them something to laugh about, maybe... the winner is whichever one mommy thinks is the funniest. the third game takes some prep work but it is humorous along with being a bit disturbing, if you are into that kinda thing. take photos of the mother and father's face foward. cut out nose, eyes, hair, lips, ears ect. then find in a magazine a photo of a baby's face/body that will as close as possible work ratio-wise to the features cut from the parent's faces. pass out pre-made forms with facial features and some personal attributes are listed (eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, sense of humor, sense of style ect). mommy-to-be decides beforehand which of each features she would like for baby to have of her or daddy. the guests are asked to guess what they think mom will say, closest wins. for the visual part of the game put magnets or double-sided tape on the cut outs and place them over the mock baby face... it can become very creepy looking. to

:parting gifts:
example seen above with the merci beaucoup sign. to keep with a girly theme, the gifts were such things as pink lip gloss, pink nail polish, pink candles... you get the idea. the wrapping for them is pink netting on the outside with pink easter grass inside surrounding the gift then tied with matching ribbon.

whew, i hope i explained everything clearly, typing it all out was more exhausting than doing it...