stuff from stuff

i am not hip to the terms...upcycle, maybe? reconstructed, yes, there we go. i took a pair of guys cargo shorts that had been worn far past the expiration date (they didn't have much more to them than what you see) and fashioned myself a snazzy hip pocket deal. no no boo boo, it's not a fanny pouch. it is on my hip.

cut off waist and a pocket...

stitch together....

hands free and no more purse burden weighing me down!

but wait, there's more!

also on these cargo shorts were some small pockets that i made into backpacks for pumpkinbutt's g.i. joe mans:

spaceboy

Recently pumpkinbutt's school had Space Day, where the kids could dress up as an alien (or space man)!!! we didn't have the least bit of interest in the astronaut look but something more like....

we decided to go with this attire...

Then using these fun facts about the film:
1.The trim on the aliens' costumes is made from masking tape, and their space boots are men's dress shoes covered by socks.

2.The filmmaker was on such a tight budget that the film's ultimate weapon, the "focusing disintegrator", was actually a Hubley's Atomic Disintegrator toy cap gun, bought for a dime, with a flashbulb added as a beam. (In some scenes the words "Hubley's" can clearly be seen embossed on the side of the gun.) Atomic Disintegrators can be bought today on eBay for upwards of $300.

I came up with this... .

The space suit is grey duct tape attached on a large black tee turned inside out and sleeves cut off.
The Focusing Disintegrator gun is a water gun from dollar tree spray painted black.
And the antennae... well, not an original idea from the film but super cute, are silver metallic pipe cleaners attached to a headband.

If i would have thought of it in time i would have found/made some kind of lobster...i mean Gargon, to further accessorized the assemble.


I must resume radiovision contact!

creepy pops

Recently Pumpkinbutt got to enjoy these creepy clown jolly pops at school. Yikes! I asked him if he wanted me to order the shirt and/or cap but he declined.

Day of the Dead Decor

For the Krewe of Hades Mardi Gras float this year the theme was Dia de Muerto rather than the ever standing Zombie theme of the years past. The craniums that generally flank the sides were given a skull-lift. Here is the one that I contributed. It was based on the design and idea of Phrenology.

Before:

After:

Each of the numbers corresponds to the original organs of Phrenology only with personal interpretations. For example 17. The sense of sounds; the gift of music = the band "The Dummies" (a band that pumkinbutt made up which is not quite music).
22.The sense of satire; the sense of witticism = MST3K.
6.Guile; acuteness; cleverness = Make Stuff! the cleverness part.

But at the end while they were decorating the float.. the bag-o-skulls got overlooked and forgotten! so now the skull just rests with the bar ware only dreaming of being in a parade.

easy peasy

very simple yet very cute. premade pot holders and oven mit embellished with some cute fabric (it's by michael miller) for my mommy!

madonna of the cookie

i recently found one of those Fred Flare Madonna toast stamps at a thrift store for 25 cents.Way cool yeah? think of allll the fun toast could become! this image directly below shows what it's suppose to turn out looking like...

Yet the below image is more along the lines of the real world... Not as cool. kinda sad, really. Probably why it ended up at the thrift.

so what to do?! use it as a cookie cutter! not too bad of an idea. especially if you strategically place it over a design resembling a radiating beam!

there must be more ways to use this thing....any ideas?

it wasn't a pretty picture...

crafting Social Distortion stuff. here are some picture frames deals i made some time ago for someone that referred to herself as mrs. ness. the dice exterior parts were clocks that did not work. i trashed all the tick tock stuff and then inserted images of mike ness in their place. the circle frame part can be pulled off revealing a secret hiding spot for...secret stuff like obsessive love letters to the man or possibly even small offerings and/or sacrifices.

cute tin toys

pumpkin butt and i recently went to see a collection of tin toys at our favorite museum of oddities in town. they have a small room that has rotating shows of interesting collections belonging to local people. hmmm... i am somewhat interesting.... i have several collections.... possibilities?

more tin toys

here are a few more shots.

the showing before this was of salt and pepper shakers. i really thought i had posted about it but can't locate it. (they weren't allll that great anyway.) this is the same museum that had the doll house exhibit.

xmas gifties

i made some containers/cookies as gifts this christmas. i searched for disgruntled holiday leer, added snark and stuck them to the front of cute glass cracker jars.

here is the final product:

the top layer consists of mexican wedding cookies (homemade) and the bottom layer is walnut brownies (box). the cookies tasted a bit salty to me so i drizzled melted chocolate over the tops. i would suggest omitting the salt or maybe find another recipe all together.

MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES 1 c. butter 4 tbsp. powdered sugar 1 tsp. vanilla 2 c. flour 1/4 tsp. salt 1 c. chopped nuts (fine) Cream butter and sugar; add vanilla. Add flour and salt; mix well. Fold in finely chopped nuts and chill dough in refrigerator about an hour. Shape into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) about 15 minutes or until light brown. Remove from pan and while still warm, roll in more powdered sugar.

wishing you a bleak and horrid holiday

the tree color/ theme for this year was black/red/ white/gothy. for the last 3 years it has been demanded by pumpkinbutt to be Creature from the Black Lagoon...which isn't bad at all but we decided to try something different this year.
i only had a few hours to pull it together. i am sure that way more could have been done... dripping blood icicles? ehhh. maybe not. that's a bit extreme. It is basically red and black ornament balls with plastic black rats,bats, spider webs and skeletons.
it's simple but turned out fairly well. here are two riveting close ups :

vintage stinky, rubbed off felty, christmas wreath

there's been minimal crafting and free time within my world for oh.... two years or so. i happened upon an opportunity to get together with best gal pal, dixiedoll heather last week for some holiday craft cheer. yay!
i have been scouring thrift stores for 7 or so years collecting little vintage christmas stuffs. i didn't care if the eyes were missing, Rudolph had a non repairable bent antler or they reaked of that old plastic smell. misfit ornaments need a home too! I accumulated a decent sized box worth... but wasn't sure what was the best way to use them. Until I remembered seeing a huge wreath in an antique mall several years ago that was covered in these kinda odds and ends. Aha!
heather and i rummaged through the box and made wreaths together. Behold my results:

The box is still about 2/3 full. I plan to do some more adding to the wreath eventually... it's just not there for me yet. heather ran off with her wreath before i could photograph it. heather bought the wreaths at big lots for 10 bucks a piece. her's was red and she went with a simple approach, inserting a smaller plastic holly wreath in the middle with a plastic fireplace with Santa sitting on the mantle in the middle lower section. Very cute indeed! when i get an image i will put it up.

back from the dead!

this post is going to move alot like a zombie but here goes.... in that vein here is a new piece of decor i made and wanted to share. it started out being one of last years christmas trees and has since lingered about. Over the past few months it has been used for a funeral themed birthday party, the dining room table center piece, general halloween ambiance and then back around to christmas. it's comprised of a few thin branches spray painted black, a strand of flame flicker lights (from target halloween), spanish moss, and little brains. I carved the brains from some yucky rotten green/brown floral foam i got at a thrift store. i was quite excited to find this foam because yucky translates so well to zombie brains. i then dry brushed the exterior with a bit of brain matter tinted acrylic paint.



i was asked to do a review type deal of a few products from Sourpuss Clothing several months back. it seemed to me that these products could have a tie in with some of the zombie-ishness going on around my place...because after making the tree i felt the need to make these brain cupcakes, with which i retrieved from the oven with a ever so cute tattoo flash hot pad from Sour Puss Clothing!
but it gets better......., it has a matching mitt!
and to accompany the cupcakes i mixed up some Zombie cocktails. (note the gummy brains and body part garnish)



with which i placed on these darling coasters (from Sour Puss Clothing).....

and then, while in a drunken stupor actual zombies* appeared scrounging for some brain matter (*as portrayed here from a page in My Zombie Pinup Calendar, i couldn't get to a camera during the chaos).......

i then used the legs of this nightlamp (from Sour Puss clothing) to jab 'em in the brain for protection!

i know....

it's a really really late post for halloween stuff BUT this is an idea that can be used with any old t-shirt which is outgrown or stained that still has a great image on it. Seen below is a halloween tee of pumpkinbutt's that was outgrown along with having acquired a bizarre blue stain across the back. so i cut out the good stuff .... and sewed it on to a new tee! I used a really neat stitch option that is all jagged and irregular (used here as well) which in my mind translated as close to "spooky" as i could get.

Here is pumpkinbutt in his new tee pulled up over his head. this is generally the only way i can get him to take a picture...... if it allows him to be goofy with the proof being captured on film.

post halloween treats

i know it's a bit late in some mind frames for halloween stuff but i have a few i wanted to share. first are the treats shown below. i found the recipe in a little free halloween idea booklet from my beloved Target. if Target is not carrying the pumpkin spice kisses anymore i am sure there will be something else just as interesting to try out in the same way.

so yummy i couldn't even keep the plastic mice away!