I know, I know... it's November 17th. But today we finally celebrated Halloween. Diva never seemed to let go of the holiday. She kept talking about the parade and trick or treating... so I (very last minute) threw together a Halloween party with just a couple of kids. The good news was that Diva FINALLY wore her Rapunzel costume and I was able to get some photos of her and Little Loo! And as a bonus I got Halloween decorations and treats for 75% off!!!
As per Diva's demands our party had to include Halloween music, trick-or-treating, fun food, and a parade.
The menu consisted of the following: pumpkin vomit (otherwise known as guacamole) and chips, Dead Man's ribs and intestines (BBQ ribs and little hot dogs), bones and blood (breadsticks and marinara sauce), Spider Cider (apple juice), and for dessert Ogre toes(sugar cookies).
The kids even got to go trick or treating. Two adults stayed out with the kids while the rest of us hid behind the doors waiting to distribute the loot. First I decked them out with glow stick wands and axes (that I picked up on sale for 25 cents each!) and sent them upstairs. The lights were off and all the doors were shut so it was just dark enough for the glow sticks to set the mood. The kids came upstairs, knocked on each of the bedroom doors and the hall bathroom door and shouted trick or treat to us as we plunked candy and goodies in their bags. They had such a great time!
It seems that Diva's peacock costume is always the show stopper on this blog. I have to be honest it's one of my favorites too. The year I made that costume, in the >hours< before Halloween, I decided to make myself an adult version for a party that we decided to go to last minute. Since so many people seem love Diva's I thought I would share the grown-up version as well. It's not nearly as adorable, but it does the job and was super easy to make! Please note the feather eyelashes... they were my favorite part!
For the top, I bought a corset. I made the skirt with scraps of fabric leftover from Diva's costume, and a black tutu I found, and the tail was done using leftover feathers and a fan, in the same way that I made Diva's.
From the front.
From the back.
For the peacock feather tail:
I bought a fan from the dollar store (you know those feather fans you use for a flapper costume) and hot glue gunned the peacock feathers onto it layer by layer. It was super easy, and kept the feathers perfectly fanned out. Then I just laced the fan into my corset and used a safety pin on each side (hidden of course) to keep it upright. A store bought peacock headband finished the look.
I have no idea if this will be included in the Let's Get Acquainted blog hop, but if it is thank you for stopping by and please excuse this post.
For those who don't know me, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jaime. I'm a happily married (barely) twenty-something with two adorable girls, Diva and Little Loo. I live in Jersey which is why this post is an epic fail. Let me explain.
For my Let's Get Acquainted debut I was planning on doing a big reveal, complete with before and after photos, of my sewing space. Unfortunately some things went wrong.
A couple of posts ago I mentioned that I got a Babylock Tiara. I was so excited when I got her home, and I unpacked her that very night. Unfortunately, once I got her all up and going, I learned that the stitch regulator that I bought along with it wasn't working properly. After several phone calls and a shipment of a new stitch regulator, things still were not working. We're thinking the machine is shorting them out... ugh. So it was determined that I needed to bring the whole machine, plus the two stitch regulators back to the shop-- which is over an hour away. Oh, and did I tell you the lady wanted me to bring it in on Thursday Nov. 1st? Well, I was smart enough, seeing as Sandy was headed our way at the time, to push off the appointment until the following Tuesday, November 6th. But Sandy was far worse than I ever could have imagined. Although the store had never lost power, we had only just gotten ours back. And between the road conditions and gas rationing there was just no way I could justify the trip.
So no big reveal. Sorry. Instead I'll just show you some my favorite projects, in no particular order. Click on the caption for the related blog post.
This was one of my first cakes. I'm also self taught in this hobby. I don't have a post for this cake but I made it for my cousin's 18th birthday almost 4 years ago. This is when I surprised everyone with my mad skills. Now they aren't surprised when I do anything creative anymore...
Stacey from The Tilted Quilt Edited 11/13/12: I seem to get a lot of comments about Diva's peacock costume, so I went ahead and posted the adult version here. Enjoy!
Let me preface this post by saying that where I live had no way near the devastation of other parts of New Jersey. That being said, however, allow me to tell you about how the rest of us fared...
This storm was like nothing I have ever seen before. We lost power on Monday, before Halloween. (My last post was a scheduled post, and in fact, with the exception of that quick picture we took, the girls have not been in the costumes I made. More on that later.) We had a generator and made out fairly well until Wednesday when our generator broke and we were forced over to my brother's house, who was also running off a generator... four adults, five kids age 7 and under. Fortunately our house was spared, and our family was safe, which is more than I can say for others in and around our town.
The trip over was not easy. Most roads were closed, cars were few and far between, and we had to pack hefty supplies of food, clothes, formula, baby gear, gas cans, etc., since we didn't know how long we would be staying. The doors of our car barely closed, but at least we had someplace relatively warm to go.
On Wednesday, once power started getting restored (not to us though), and roads started getting cleared, people began the hunt for gas. Even by then some gas stations had already been drained of gas, and many of those that were fully stocked were out of power and unable to pump. By Thursday morning at 9:30 am gas lines in our town and the town next door were over a mile long. Being relatively close to the PA boarder (about 30 minutes), we went west for black gold. By Saturday the gas rationing started, and our town instituted a 15 gallon max, which meant you either filled your car or heated your home... not both.
Luckily we got power back Saturday night around 7 pm but my parents (who live in the same town) and my brother (in the next town over) are still without. I spent the day yesterday throwing everything out of our fridge/freezer and our garage deep freeze which, might I add, was filled to the brim.
Diva's school, which is about 3 towns away (and the schools in this town and other nearby towns) is still closed and without power, and (their words not mine) tomorrow is doubtful. Poor Diva is still talking about how Halloween is coming at the end of the month... she has no idea. Halloween has been postponed not once, not twice, but three times (now scheduled for Nov. 10!), making this the second year in a row that Halloween has essentially been cancelled. Soooo glad I busted my butt on those costumes!
And I would be amiss if I didn't mention that the forecasters are predicting a Nor'easter to hit on Wednesday and continue on slowly through Friday, which may only mean more power outages, gas shortages, and a prolonged state of general chaos for us here, never mind along the coastal regions.
All in all though, we've nothing to really complain about. There are those who have lost so much, and I have spent my morning putting boxes of clothes and diapers together to send along to those who are in desperate need. I urge anyone who can help to do so in whatever way possible.
PS- The big reveal scheduled for Nov. 12 probably won't happen since I haven't been able to get my sewing space together and my Tiara seems to be slightly malfunctioning. More on that later.
