Running With Scissors: halloween

baby

Baby Bride of Frankenstein Costume

1:03 PM

Costume

Gru and Minion Halloween Costume

4:00 AM

Part two of our Halloween Costumes even though Halloween is now over.

whole family here.

So for the kids we had Gru and a minion from the movie Despicable Me.

So for RJ we had him be Gru, and it's not that much of a costume.
Just black pants and t-shirt we already had with is church shoes.
But we did make the scarf by dying a navy/white stripe knit I had black.

He did have his ghost costume he wore to some things as well that is a little more exciting on its own.

RJ is a very protective older brother which transfers to a controlling master over his minion, which she resents from time to time.

On to the minion.

RJ decided she should be a one-eye minion, and I designed the costume so the mouth was her face.

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I hacked this minion costume together last Friday during her nap barely in time for a party that afternoon. We got to the house and RJ had to help me force Ellie into the costume, all the while she was crying. I was laughing, and considering what a ridiculous mom I am shoving a toddler in a costume while she wails, and here's the picture we got.

But once we got in there she got lots of attention and candy and seemed not to mind the costume.

One little boy came up to her and said: "oh how cute, a Cheeto man!"

The other occasions she had to put on the costume, she didn't cry but I think realized it meant candy was soon to come.

As for the costume construction, it's basically a yellow hooded t-shirt sewn under a yellow rounded cone with arm holes, stuffing between the two layers.

Then I made the pants and top stitched them to the head.
To get in and out, there's a zipper from the top of her head down to her bum. I only had a long pink zipper on hand and just used it exposed.

The eye goggles on the front were from felt and a mason jar ring I painted silver.

The goggles strap is black elastic I sewed the to outer layer before it was stuffed.

The hair is black embroidery floss knotted through the top like you would sew when you tie a quilt.

I've been readjusting the stuffing every time she wears it, and haven't got it where it's both even and standing straight up. But it worked, kept her warm, and was a fun costume.

Happy Halloween!

Costume

Despicable Me and Maternity Halloween Costume

4:00 AM

Here our the Halloween costumes for our family this year:

We're all characters from the kids movie, Despicable Me.
I got the idea for these costumes a few months ago when my belly started showing with this pregnancy. RJ told me I looked like Vector (who has a middle aged man gut) and would always love for me to say "Oh yeah! Oh yeah!" and stick my belly out.

If you haven't seen the movie, here is where the Vector character is introduced...OH YEAH!

So trying to think of maternity Halloween costumes led me to go with the whole Despicable Me family theme this year. Kind of selfish, but our Halloween revolved around my pregnant belly and needing to costume it somehow, luckily the rest of the fam liked their assigned roles...except for maybe Ellie.

In case you can't tell who we are:

Me= Vector: pirhana gun weilding villain

RJ= Gru: villain determined to steal the moon

Ellie= minion: mindless servant to Gru

Rhett=Dr. Nefario: old man scientist who works for Gru in the laboratory

I'm planning to post the other costumes separately this week, so here's a little about mine.

It is a total hacked job during one afternoon nap trying to sew as fast as I could just to whip it out, so the ankles and wrists aren't even hemmed.

I used an athletic mini mesh because it was the cheapest orange fabric I could find, so I have to wear leggings and a shirt underneath, but that's OK since it was snowing a few days ago here.

The front is only a zipper half way, I faked the bottom half by just top stitching twill tape down the center.

Vector's "V" nerd gang signs

I used the same pattern I've been sewing for the maternity skinny jeans, which helped make it a fast project.

All the white track stripes are just knit strips I top-stitched on with the raw edges that won't fray.
The collar is the fun part and I did actually not finish it all during the nap and had to go back that night and draft/ sew the collar.

Glasses were sunglasses from the dollar store and I busted the lenses out, wig $6.00 from walmart that was as sexy vampire bob I cut into my attempted bowl cut.

This is a funny clip where they discuss Vector's wardrobe and I realized I should have had a black fanny-pack to complete the costume!

It was kind of fun to dress up pregnant actually.

Someone that knows I am expecting even asked me if the belly was real or if I stuffed it.

Oh no, it's real, and I've still got 12 weeks to go.

If I was huge full term pregnant I had an even better Halloween costume idea.

Happy Halloween!

halloween

Zero the Ghost Dog

1:38 PM

art & quilt

Fence Wall Hanging: Halloween Sunset

4:00 AM

We've used all the same creepy Halloween decor we made the last two years.
But this time around it's all on the mantle, and the nature art that usually hangs there just wasn't working, so RJ and I planned a new Halloween art piece for the mantle.

The wall hanging is a base of old fence I snagged from a neighbor.
On top we painted with craft paint, stain, and more paint.
It was really quick and thrown together, leaving some raw wood and uneven edges.

Here's how it looks with all the other creepy mantle projects.

A few of my favorite details include the small but creepy dead man hanging on the smallest, most distant tree.

I debated about putting it in as it's pretty morbid, but I doubt too many people will notice...and it's Halloween and there's not really any other time to be creepy.

The haunted house in the distance is actually a mimic of Jack Skellington's house from Nightmare Before Christmas.

previous Jack projects:

Life Size Jack the Pumpkin King

Nightmare Before Christmas Painting

Jack kids tee applique

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So to make your own cheap, easy Halloween landscape:

I used scraps and a nail gun to attach the boards together, not even making them even on the ends or cleaning them up.

Because the paint job is meant to be sloppy to distress later, RJ did the green and I painted the orange. I'd recommend using dry brushes and minimal water for this part if you're planning to sand paint away to reveal wood grain.
We used a mixture of craft paint.

I used a hand sander and 60 grit sandpaper to quickly remove the paint in areas, revealing the fence and wood grain.

To mute the bright orange and toxic green, I applied wood stain on top.

For the bottom "pasture" part that would be in shadow, I used black Winmax ebony wood stain.

Then to muddle the orange sky, I used Minwax Red Mahogany, but really lightly. I didn't paint it directly on, but dipped a rag and used very little over the orange.

The above shot was my first run on adding the elements. I originally wanted to keep it really simple, just the tree and distant creepy house. But the way the boards were painted made it look crappy to me, like half top orange, bottom green, and it looked like I just plopped vinyl stickers on.

So after it sat for a week on our kitchen table, I decided to finally come back and try to add dimension to make it look like what I planned, a sunset and landscape.
I thought about having a creepy stagecoach driving to the house, but kept it easy with more creepy trees and a few head stones. I think the road is what really gave it the depth to look more like a scene.