spooooooky

Our second annual Halloween Masquerade was Saturday night and we had a blast! It was a lot of work but the girls and I really got into the decorating this year and now that it is over we just want to share all the details:


The Costumes

We actually got a photo of all of us together this year! Daisy made the coolest skirt from tulle netting, using a pattern we found on Etsy. She added a cute hat and a pair of fishnet tights and had a really cool costume! Hazel came up with her alien costume idea with her 2 best friends, and I made her dress to her specifications. She painted polka dots on her tights and added a wig, glasses, and antennae to complete her look. I couldn't locate my camera when we had the 3 aliens together, so I'll have to snag that photo from Sarah when she gets it uploaded, because they looked GREAT together! Stella wanted to be a Native American and I was able to sew her costume very quickly from one of the easy patterns they put out for Halloween costumes. She had a great pair of hand-me-down boots to complete her look (thanks, Hubbards!!) Jason was sporting the thrifted scrubs we picked up at the Goodwill and looked great as a nurse. The hair net that I had kept from my only hospital birth was the perfect accessory to complete his outfit too! Lyle has had a fascination with Super Why lately, and he was so thrilled that I was able to come up with a costume for him. I got the green shirt and pants on clearance at Target and then added the logo and cape and mask for his transformation into Super Why. He looked so cute! Lastly, I was very excited to find a formal gown at the Goodwill that fit me perfectly, and had a lot of fun wearing it since I never EVER dress like that! I added some pale makeup, gigantic false eyelashes, and a spider web shawl to make it a little bit creepy.

And just look at the fabulous costumes our guests came up with!















The Pumpkins

Daisy did everything for hers this year- the cutting and all, and made our first ever puking pumpkin. :) Lyle's is the "mean" one on the right, Hazel's is he one with the little fang, and Stella designed the big smiley one. We also invite our friends to bring their pumpkins to display during the party, so we have an even larger group out on the porch. They looked great together!



The Decorations
We are starting to accumulate a few more items here and there, and had a lot of fun putting our displays together. More candles than last year, and some branches and dead flowers again, as well as a few new ideas.


Stella helped me make this ghost garland out of freezer paper, and it looks so great on our black walls in the entry way! We also tucked a piece of fabric around the light fixture to give a nice orange glow to the front hall.


A piece of sparkly fabric draped over the mirror made a really nice effect too. Hooray for buying fabric on clearance during the off season for $1 per yard! That really helped me bulk up on draping material this year.










The vase above was something that was in the house when we bought it, only I updated it a bit :) It was all white so I took some acrylic paint to it and made it into a beautifully spooky Halloween vase. I added some silk flowers and I just love it!




And lastly, our mantel was the biggest project and got lots of ooohs and aaahs at the party. Our display of creepy specimen jars:


We scoured the internet for tips and picked up creepy items from dollar stores, craft and toy stores to put these together. We got jars and bottles from the Goodwill, and Jason even scored us some authentic laboratory glassware from work. Water colored with neon food coloring made all the stuff look even creepier, and candles placed behind lit it all up so everyone could see them well.




This is turning into a long post, so I'll just throw in a few photos of the fun quickly so I can get off the computer and start packing all the spooky stuff away until next year. Thank you to all of our friends who helped us celebrate- we had such a great time and can't wait for next year!














More photos at Flickr. Hope you had a Happy Halloween!!

Update: the 3 Crazaliens! Gracie, Hazel, and India. Thanks for the photo, Sarah!

some excellent finds

My sister and I got a chance to get out of the house without kids- (twice!) while she was here so that we could do some serious thrift shopping. What a treat for me- this is something I love and don't get to do as often as I'd like. Not only did we have a great time, but we scored a few really great finds- the kind that make thrifting one of my very favorite things.


She found this black skirt (new with tags!) on our first day out, and then the top and shoes at a different shop on our second day out. Everything fit and looked great on her! I just love when you get an entire outfit, and it came in around $12 all together- not bad at all.


I got some ultra cool elephant fabric and some vintage linen pillowcases to add to the stash.


This little trivet will be painted black and go on a wall in my house- not sure where yet but I really love it. Having Tammy there really made a difference too- I was ready to pass this up because I didn't like the brass color. Never even considered painting it- 'doh!


The dresses featured in my last post were actually our birthday gift to Ava- I picked up 4 for her and one for Stella (because when you are 4 years old sometimes watching someone else get so many new dresses is too much to handle) and then altered them to fit the girls perfectly. I just buy very small women's dresses, and watch for sleeveless or spaghetti straps as well as stretchy fabric. I take tucks to make them fit, but don't trim the fabric away inside, and then the tucks can be repositioned as the girls grow. They absolutely LOVE these- so much better than the cheap junk that stores often try to pass off as "dress-up" clothes.


Ava's favorite color is pink and this little number has criss-cross straps in back. So cute!


This one actually needed no alterations at all- the straps tie behind the neck and the stretchy fabric made it work for all the girls- from 4 to 13! I LOVE when that happens!


Stella's dress needed to be shortened, so she got a bonus matching scarf out of the deal!


This is actually the part I cut off the bottom of one of the other dresses, but I think it looks like chain mail so there is a Knight's costume in Lyle's future.


And lastly, the absolute Find Of The Day (week, month... even year, maybe) was this pan Tammy snagged at a little tiny shop. It was marked $5 and was in near perfect condition. It sells for over $100 new! The very best part was when the guy in the shop downright denied that it was All Clad, because he had missed it (whoops!). He knew how much it was worth once Tammy pointed out the marking underneath the handle, but there was nothing he could do then. SCORE!!

stella style

Rockin' to Modern Skirts in her oh-so-color-coordinated ensemble of thrift shop satin jammies (25 cents, thank you very much) paired with Mom & Dad's red iPod (free with rebate when we purchased George, and incidentally, named Ruby). Now that's style.

thrift style

So after 3 years of wearing the same uniform every day to work, Jason has to wear actual clothes again. No ties necessary, but business casual. And some of the clothes he had from that category were getting a bit old. So off to the thrift shops we went!

It gives me enormous pleasure to shop for secondhand clothing. Granted, you sometimes come across a large amount of clothing in less than desirable condition. But if you check often and have time to sift through lots of clothes, you are bound to come up with some great deals. And a big plus for our family is buying items that are already out in the world, instead of purchasing brand new things and adding to the demand for further production. It doesn't have to be brand new to fit our needs, and we save a lot of money buying used as well. Often we find items that don't even appear to actually be used, but just cast off. Which is the case with most of these dress shirts we picked up for Jason at less than $4 each. Those are $25-$30 shirts! Not too bad a deal, and so much better for our earth. Most shops benefit one charity or another as well, so the money you spend is actually doing some good in your community instead of lining the pockets of some big clothing company.

If you haven't been to one lately, check out your local thrift shops soon. You might be surprised! Here are a few links to get you started:
Goodwill Store Locator- US, Canada, and International
Salvation Army Store Locator- US
Salvation Army Store Directory- Canada
Habitat ReStore Directory- US
Habitat ReStore Directory- Canada

tunnel ahead

Lyle got a tunnel from my parents for his birthday, and he LOVES it! We also picked up this little tent with the short tunnel at our thrift shop back in Fort Irwin for $4! Pretty nice deal, and it works well with the new tunnel to make a big play area right in the living room.



Lyle likes to experiment with entering and exiting through places other than the doorways. He really seems to enjoy knocking things over and barreling through!





Stella has a great time getting in on the fun as well. The tunnel and tent are the perfect size for the two of them to play together.

trick or treat

This year I was unable to do a whole lot with the kids costumes like I have in previous years, since we have been so busy with the move. So we pulled out some costumes from previous years for the younger kids and did a quick sweep of the thrift shops to pull one together for Daisy. It turned out pretty well! Everyone had a lot of fun trick or treating, and we had a nice walk through our new neighborhood. Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!