Monster Craft..New Orleans Inspired & Elvis Inspired

I actually made three monsters this year for Halloween.  These two were my favorites.  I hope you enjoy them.  Here you can see an overview of our Halloween decorations and fun food.








All you need are milk jugs -- which you can paint any color...you can see I painted this one red.  No special paint - but each needed at least two coats.  Some others needed three coats.

You can make eyes out of many items - this sparkle paper was fun and it made it fun.  I also gathered jewelry and beads to use.  It really can be made of almost everything.  

You can cut a variety of mouth shapes...I left the handles on them to make them easier to move around.

My "Elvis" Inspired Monster..A little attitude with the hair.  Note the "backwoods hick home" below - my husband made the house for our wedding, but thought the furniture outside made it funny for Halloween.

New Orleans Inspired Monster

Halloween Party - Monsters, Eyeballs, and Bats, oh my!

Here's an overview of our Halloween Party - Lots of monsters and eyeballs.

I am going to create a blog entry focusing on decorations and another on the food, but  I wanted to share the photos right away.   Thrilled overall with how it turned out.

The items that got the most attention - the bats on the wall and the worms treat.  

But, what we don't have pictures of it - I made the vomiting witch with fruit salad - came out great, so I am disappointed not to share it with you.  I'll add some details, but there is a video on the Liddy B. and Me blog.  

Also, no photos of our costumes -we went as "field chefs" - camflouge bottoms with chef jackets.  Actually the DH's island - he even made me a skirt from BDUs - came out pretty well.   

And no pictures of our guests - we had two astronauts, four of the characters from "Despicable Me," and a flapper girl.  Plus the non-dressers - the "preppy," the "ex-pat" (a friend moving to Baghdad in two weeks to work for our government office), and the mountain man (a friend's new guy, who was so tall and that's what he reminded me of).

The kids enjoyed the mask making area, so I'll be sure to do a small post on how we did that.

Halloween Decorations...let the crafting begin

So I am really working on crafting for Halloween this year.

The pictures below are just the beginning.

Photo 1 and 7 - I have made two more banners so far. The first banner was an easy one. So, I stepped it up a notch with photo 1 and 7 below.  I picked up Halloween scrapbook paper from Michael's.  I created my first pinwheels using these directions.  Note to those who try pinwheels - if the paper flakes when folded, they don't look as good.  And really, you need to make the seam seamless. Something I have not accomplished yet.  I cut the paper letters out from paper and glued them in the center of each one. I glued a spider onto a few of the SPOOKY banner pieces just to make it more 3D. A hole punch in the top corners and I used black curling ribbons to string them up over two window in my house.

Photo 3 - I had a photo-fronted key holder behind my front door. It was pretty boring as you can see.  So, using some cool Halloween paper, I put a 5x7 piece in each window and then taped the BOO across the top.  Popped in back in place and now it's a great seasonal piece.  Thinking of doing the same for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines, etc....

Photos 2 & 4 - These were so easy.  Photo 2 is the back of my front door, so you can see parts of 3 & 7. I took magnet tape and cut it into tiny strips.  Removed the tape from the backs and attached tiny magnets on the back of each plastic spider. Voila - then placed them on the door.  Great effect with little fuss.

Photo 5 and 10 - The monsters are just fun to create.  Really making you think outside the box. I am going to give the monsters away at my Halloween party as prizes.

Photo 6 - Loved this ghosts and monster pieces from the Bowdabra blogger. Easy to make and fun. I have to admit I cheated and didn't really make bows. I just tied the tops. I mailed them in care packages to my cousins in college and my grandparents. I also dropped off a few at my hair stylists.  Everyone loved them.

Photo 8 - Simply combine a great sign with an all feather wreath.  Great combination that totally works.

Photo 9 - I wadded up newspaper and put it in the middle of an old sheet.  Attached the arms to the ends of my window valance with paperclips.

I still have more decorations to do, but I wanted to give you all a preview of just a few of the items.