Back so soon? October 24, 2009

Why yes yes I am! I just dropped by for a few minutes because I’ve been feeling guilty of neglecting you dear blog. I have had readers galore due to the mix up that comes about from a post titled “Michelin man costume?” but unfortunately none of them have stuck around because it wasn’t actually a Michelin man costume. (as I mentioned last time around)

I do have some pictures of my more finished Halloween costume tho and I’ll share a few of them. This is photography stuff so they’re posed and I have some of the J’s too due the fact that we all took a trip to the cemetery to take these pictures.

This shot is one of my favorites altho it was one of the worst to sit for- the top of that tombstone is not even close to level and it was hard on the butt.

This one of the girls really makes me smile. I was trying to get a shot where they looked like they were conspiring together and I think I managed just that. They were so great about dressing up to go take pictures on a very cold day.

This one really shows the whole costume which I like. The shawl conveniently was one I bought when we were living in Mexico a couple of years ago. I bought two for myself (they were 12 or 13 bucks) and one as a Christmas present for my stepmom and I have loved them ever since. They’re a nice thick warm fabric with a lovely crocheted edging and since I am the tomboy that I am I can grab them in a pinch when I don’t have a nice jacket to wear over something like this.

I can’t help but wonder tho what the people who saw me pumping gas in this outfit thought….

Peekaboo… October 19, 2009

Okay so I’ll be honest. I’ve mostly disappeared from my blog due to Facebook. Strangely enough as Halloween (also known as my favorite holiday) draws nigh, I have had more and more visits to my very neglected blog. Sadly tho none of the visitors have stayed because what they were looking for I didn’t actually have to show. Namely I had no Michelin Man costumes. That’s right folks- the only reference to the Michelin man on this blog was actually aimed at my sister in law’s Renaissance Festival costume. Sorry to disappoint all of you but there it is.

I do have some pictures for you of random bits and bobs from the last month that I’ve been gone.This is my fireplace mantle in the main living room (our house has a double fireplace thats open on both sides witha  double living room as well) I added a streamer like you’d find at any party store that has been cut like paper dolls into the shape of bats. (not pictured are the red ones that look like blood dripping cut from red crepe paper streamers) The hanging skulls are from the dollar store and everything else lives on the mantle year round. The dolls are art dolls that I made a couple of years ago and the wine glasses came from a thrift store still in their original box. The picture is my mom’s original artwork. This small decoration makes me grin every time I see it.

I’ve been working on decorating our basement a little at a time for our Halloween party. I’d show you pictures but this blog posts to my facebook account and since I want it to be a surprise for as many guests as possible you’ll have to wait til afterwards.

 Jarell is still in Virginia and won’t be home in time for the party but at this point I’ll be happy if he makes it home for Thanksgiving because things have been going really bad for them out there. Its going to be rough waiting even that long for him to come home but the money is really needed after this summer with no work and when he gets home we hope he’ll have made enough to take the winter off which would be nice since he works outside in the cold.

This little church was a dollar store find as well. It was a paint your own Christmas village type of church that I mangled with a bead rasper and painted in spooky colors. Really simple  to do and a quick cute way to have some spookier decorations without spending 50 bucks a piece on the Halloween villages that they sell at Michael’s.

Have I really been gone that long? September 21, 2009

Oh dear its been almost a month! I keep thinking about posting and then I get sidetrack (Ooo whats that? A kitty?) Sorry about that folks. Knowing how you all depend on me for my daily dose of…. crazy or…. whatever it is you come here for when none of the good blogs have an new post to look at. So we’ll go over what I’ve been doing for the last month.

First I was getting ready for Jarell to go out of town and working on my Halloween costume.

Front and back shots

Its been quite a bit of fussy work which I absolutely love but now I’ve reached the point where I have to have a few items for decoration that I don’t want to buy yet so it has moved to the back burner. I have also started on a costume for Jarell this year- a new venture because I’ve never actually sewed anything wearable for him. How hard can it be tho right? (ha! famous last words)

Jarell left on the 15th for the West Virginia job so I’ve been trying to keep busy without tying up my phone line in case I get a chance to talk to him. Thats a big part of the reason for my absence from the computer- I take every chance I can get to talk to him because our conversations are about 5 minutes long at a time and he only has one day off a week. Some of you who’ve been around for a while will know that this is the third September in a row that he’s been gone and so maybe you’d think I’d have gotten used to it by now but in fact the opposite is true.

Each time he’s gone it gets harder and I have more days where I feel like I can’t get enough to breathe. The phantom pain of a missing limb haunts me at the strangest times- I roll over in bed at night after a particularly nasty dream and he’s not there  to comfort me. Or I go to call him at lunch time to see what he wants to eat and then remember he’s a thousand miles and a time zone away. Its not a lot of fun and I’m sure there are a lot of you out there who can understand what its like in one way or another.

We’re planning on having a Halloween party this year and so thats my other way to keep busy right now. Turning our basement into a haunted house or something resembling one with as little money spent as possible because its more fun that way- seeing what we can come up with from the random stuff we and my sister in law have collected over the years. It has the potential to be really cool because between J11 and myself we’ve managed to come up with quite a few low cost high impact ideas for absolutely disturbed and scary decorations. It helps that we’re working in an unfinished basement because whats creepier than the basement torture chamber right?

So other than all of that I have just been trying to keep busy as much as possible. Talking to a few friends from school through Facebook- dealing with some stuff from my past that I wish I’d known about back then. Trying to stay sane. Watching lots of movies and playing a few video games too. Just your average everyday ordinary life I guess.

And with that awkward segue I leave you to return to more interesting waters.

I really just have nothing to say…. thats all September 2, 2009

I’m not like ignoring you guys or anything, I’m just finding that I lack anything of interest to talk about.

Since deciding to sell my truck I’ve had only one person call about it and he wanted us to fix it before we sold it to him. Apparently the whole ’selling as is to get rid of it’ thing got lost in translation altho I’m not sure how honestly because thats what it said in the ad….

Jarell will be leaving roughly around the 14th to go to Virginia for a month or so. I will most likely be completely vehicleless during that time because his brothers are going to need our truck (which is technically a business truck) for a job over in Kansas. I can’t even begin to explain how ecstatic I am over that proposition right now- a whole month all by myself with absolutely no transportation? Yay me! I’m practically crying tears of joy….. or not

That added to the fact that Jarell will be gone just makes me really sad.

On a higher note Halloween is on its way coming faster than the speed of light so theres that to look forward to. I’m working on my costume here and there- procrastinating and puting off stuff that I need to do for my sister in law’s ren fest costume that needs to be finished by this weekend when the faire starts. If you’ve been around this blog for awhile then you know how much I enjoy Halloween. In fact by this time last year (give or take a few weeks) I was already getting started on decorations to keep me busy while Jarell went out of town to Oregon and the year before I was trying to keep busy while he was in Pennsylvania and Washington for almost 3 months. I’m getting pretty good at finding ways to keep busy while he’s gone but this time will be harder because I won’t be able to go anywhere. The idea has been tossed about that I might be able to drive my brother in law’s little Sunfire while he has our truck but I can’t help but shudder a bit at that thought… because he has a tendency to drive the ugliest little piece of crap cars and then have minor fender benders in them so that they’re all banged up as well. I guess beggars can’t be choosers tho and I’d really rather not be stuck completely.

Sorry this is such a downer of a post- I feel like I’m lacking something important in my life right now but I can’t quite pinpoint what it is. Oh well I’m off to spread the joy somewhere else….

Photos from this weekend (Image HEAVY!) November 11, 2008

These pictures are of course all clickable and to really see the detail you’ll need to do just that. I appologise in advance but the internet hates me so this was the best I could do.

In order left to right, top to bottom

My baby brother Clifford in all his finery, My darling dearest in one of his many costume incarnations, J11 putting the finishing touches on J13 for his Pyramid head costume, J11 and my MIL as Mrs. Doubtfire, Jarell again in another incarnation of the costume and his mom, J9 as the redneck Spartan (complete with Uncrustables box helmet , J13 posing in the basement in full regalia, Me in my not Tia Dalma costume, and again me, J13’s back with fake scars and cuts, J’s 9,11,13, and 14, J11 in her costume- how cool are her eyes here, T-bucket in his not costume, A couple of closeups of my make-up – I was feeling bloodthirsty, J14’s full costume- aren’t she and her sister beautiful dolls?, J12- the other twin LOL and yet he’s not the one witht the nickname of Bubba, and the last three (sorry Dana!) are of our pumpkin display and haunted house candle holder.

Photos courtesy of myself, Jarell, and the rest of the J’s.

*oh and J11 went for the Jigsaw from the movie Saw look while J14 was leaning towards the look of a female Joker a la Heath Ledger.

Creepy Projects October 20, 2008

I’m sure some of you were wondering if I was ever going to show you the things I’ve been working on and talking about. Well I have the crappy broken camera so getting pictures is…. a bit tricky…. but I did finally get some taken. This first one is an altered book. The only changes I’ve made at this point are the cover but I may be adding a picture inside that will look like the spell book that belonged to the evil step mother from Snow White. I have it all drawn up but can’t find my sketch book- it seems to have wandered off on its own. The cover of this book is actually paper maché made of toilet paper to get a nice leather look. I then coated the whole darn thing with a couple coats of mod podge, spattered on some Adirondack inks, and a bunch of acrylic paints in various orders. I think I like how it looks, but I may decide differently later on because it doesn’t “feel” finished yet.

Altered book for Halloween

These next pictures are of the oft mentioned not Tia Dalma dress that I’ve been working on. The first is the underskirt followed by the dress itself and finally the corset from hell that was a pain in the ass to make but fits great. The skirt is entirely finished. The dress needs either lacing up the bodice or a belt sewn on and then it will be done. I left all the seams unhemmed to add to that whole ragged look and sewed coins from an old coin bra along the hem so that I’ll jingle when I walk.

not tia dalma underskirt

 

The corset from hell….

The corset needs some bias tape added to it to cover the boning that is actually long zip ties of all things and then it will be done as well. I feel inordinately proud of this costume and can’t wait to get a couple of pictures of me in it so you can get a true feel for the whole thing.

 

Witch

Last but not least are the Witch’s Kitchen supplies that I’ve gotten put together so far. The blue jar on the top left is “Jellyfish stingers” made from hot glue, the top right is a headless grows in water snake, bottom right is “Helles Bros. Powdered Pixies” which is really Hills Bros. cappucino mix, and the bottom left is a grows in water Starfish which is huge in its little pint jar. And several of my late tomatoes worked their way into the shot there as well as you can see. Boy my kitchen looks clean here! If only it was like that in real life LOL!

 

Not Tia Dalma Dress

Oh no its that time of year again October 8, 2008

The time of year when I feel the uncontrollable urge to make myself a Halloween costume. This year since we’re going to have a fortune telling tent, I thought I’d be a gypsy. And then I thought, Hmmmm gypsy- been that like 3 or 4 times already…. kinda boring….. But I was resigned. And then I watched PotC the black Pearl and was reminded of the character, Tia Dalma.

Now I’m not black so thats out, but the dress is amazing so I can’t resist the chance to make my own version. I found these pictures in my research.

I got a Mccalls Pattern for a dress that is similar to hers and with some alterations it should work for me. Fingers crossed, right. Will keep you posted folks.

Potentially newsworthy but probably not October 5, 2008

Ever have one of those weeks where the biggest happening is your visit to the dollar store? Yeah well that was my week and for the most part that is my life. That is not a complaint because I am very happy with the every day happenings in my life- I like things to be calm and reasonable and steady and safe. These are good things. It just makes for a boring blog. I prefer not to bore you with my hours of Spyro the Dragon domination (yes I’m a bit of a video game geek) or my hours spent perusing the internet for that perfect project. My dogs and their antics are rarely amusing altho Tinkerbell is soooo cute when she grabs my hand with her paw whenever I try to stop petting her. Can you tell she’s the favorite? The bits and pieces of my life are very simple and sedate and therefore not necessarily tales worth telling to the general public.

I can tell you that this week I have gotten more objects (of food thank you very much!) stuck in my throat than I care to count. This evening when it was a chocolate chip (that is still a bit lodged) J11 looked at me like I might be a bit slow and asked about my swallowing abilities. I felt like an idiot believe you me, but I know this whole thing is not my fault. A lot of it has to do with the fact that my throat is swollen up from this lovely cold that the young ones shared with me. It feels like someone let a cat loose in my esophagus and that particular cat had a scratching post fetish. The rest of it is because of the pouches in the muscle wall of said esophagus. Apparently my ass ran out of fat retention pockets so now my throat is installing built in storage.

In other news I have begun the final countdown for Halloween. We’re planning a big party this year and I’m all about the decorating. My current project searches I will share when I’m not feeling so lazy about doing the link and photo thing. Currently in the works are such wonders as the creepy growing starfish in a jar, Jack Skellington’s head (maybe), A fortune teller’s tent (in our tent from this year’s camping trip), skeletal hands made from Crayola model magic clay, and maybe even a costume if I have enough time.

Finally the truly newsworthy. Well maybe just to me, but eh we’ve had the talk about whose blog this is, right? So I didn’t marry my husband for his looks and the sex- those were like super bonuses on this pleasure cruise that is my life. (As an aside because I know you can’t hear me, I am not being sarcastic here- I love my husband and my life and I’m not afraid to brag about it) Well he is especially wonderful when I’m sick like I am right now. So the other night (and here comes a bit of an over share) we were in the mood if you know what I mean and he’s kissing nuzzling my neck when all of a sudden out of the blue he asks, “Hey would you like a massage?” And in my head I’m going, “Dearest is water wet?” But since my voice is almost gone from this nasty cold I merely sighed a wheezy yes. Well he snags this massage oil that I bought at a craft fair once apricot oil in some delicious scent called fruit salsa and OH MY GODDDDDD I turned into a large slightly feverish puddle of me. Sorry about the bragging for those of you not fortunate to have your own love god(dess) but this is the interesting parts of my life. That and our evening watching the sunset yesterday in the back of his sexy ‘79 Blazer aka the Ultimate Redneck Mobile.

Picture this- a field of blowing grasses bordered by trees on three sides. If you zone out enough the sounds of the nearby highway could be a babbling brook (okay maybe if you had enough hallucinagenics) and the sun sets in a ball of fire. We chat happily about this and that, snuggling together because there is a brisk breeze and the cap is off the back of the Blazer. He tells me he loves me and calls me a brat. I tell him I love him and call him a butt head. We have a very special relationship- very romantic. LOL. In all reality tho, he makes me happier than any one else ever has. Yes I know- make myself happy and I can, but Jarell makes me happy too. He’s a wonderful man and the perfect fit for me.

So a simple life, but a very good life.

Busy little bee July 17, 2008

I have been a very busy bee here lately which is my reason for not posting much. I have been experimenting with making stamps out of craft foam with surprising success and I plan soon to show you some pictures of those. In the meantime, here are a couple of links I found while looking for images to use on the stamps. These sites have a huge amount of content and the first one has tons of categories. The second is a little bit more limited, but has tons of antique images so that makes up for the smaller range of categories.

My particular focus here lately has been Halloween as that and Christmas are my favorite holidays and Halloween will be here before I know it. So that explains the card I did the other day along with the others that are in progress. I will try to get a picture on here later of a really cool tombstone that I made last year out of cardboard and newspaper. The plan would be to make several more of those and plant a graveyard out in our field behind the house and then have a good old fashioned Halloween party. I should be back later to show and tell so check back. I’ll try to get a tutorial put together for the stamps altho they really are pretty self-explanatory.

 

Antique furniture Clipart

Antique Clipart