Halloween Week - Day 1

Since I know I won't be getting back into the studio until the weekend, I thought it would be fun to do a post everyday this week about my favorite holiday - Halloween!!! First up: memories of costumes from previous years. Here we go.....

1. Huge Tim Burton fans, so here we are as the Corpse Bride & Groom. I rarely like the manufactured/licensed costumes so I often piece together my own. Jon's was quite easy with suit pieces he already had and a few finds from Goodwill. A wig and makeup and he was set. For mine, I bought a different type of corpse like dress at the costume store and then made my bouquet and wig. I got a good tip from someone to cut the brim off a baseball hat and then adhere whatever you want onto it - in this case, lots of straggly grey yarns. We went bar hopping this year (2005) and won contests at 2 different places!

2. Huge Tim Burton fans. Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack and Sally. Need I say more. Once again Jon got off easy with suit pieces and only needed the mask and hands (I made his tie). The licensed costumes, again, were crap, so I made my own patchwork dress and drew stitches on the white tights I wore on my arms and legs. Bought the red wig. This year (2006) we went to a house party and our friend Tony went as the Mayor from the movie! On a side note here, I couldn't help but notice how much $ handmade Sally costumes were going for on eBay so I decided to try my hand at it and made 2 extras. Hmmm, not really worth the extra time and effort.

3. Huge Egypt buffs. Would love to go there someday. So this was 2007. I got my vintage dress on eBay and went to the local costume store for my wig and jewelry. Jon rented all of his garb from the costume store too. And my luckiest find of all - a mummy Chihuahua to carry around! Won 2 contests again.

I've also been involved in events at work where I have dressed up. Departments have the option each year to decorate a conference room and then employee's children can come and Trick or Treat. In 2005 we did Wizard of Oz and I was Glinda the good witch and in 2006 we did Addams Family and I was Morticia. We get together after hours during the weeks leading up to it to design and create all of our decorations and props. I rented the costumes from this awesome local store we have. It's a must stop every year and it's one of those places that has anything and everything you are looking for. It's right across the street from my Art Center. I love supporting them rather than the corporate places that roll into town for only a few months every year.

Anyway, what am I going to be this year you ask? I think we are taking a break from dressing up this year. Since I get so into it, it does become time consuming and expensive. But I love sharing my passion and actually am loaning my Corpse Bride costume to a friend who has a wedding to go to (how cool to have a Halloween themed wedding)! I do have an annual luncheon/contest at work that I will probably dress up for. I will either wear something I already have or ??? The one thing we might do is hold a small cocktail party for a few friends. I would love to try some of the cool drink and finger food recipes that I have seen.

I do have a quick jewelry update - I sold 3 necklaces at work today! I think I am going to take the rest to a store that I sell at and let the owner choose which new pieces she would like, and collect any pieces back from her that aren't moving. Once I do that, I will decide what to list on Etsy.