Halloween Redux 08

Halloween morning dawned like this...

A freakishly beautiful sky with a double rainbow and the oddest clouds I have ever seen.



We did not go all out for their costumes because they try to take off everything at this age, including their diapers, so I figured simple is better. Introducing The Greaser and the Soc from the quintessential teen movie from my youth The Outsiders. It is gold, Pony boy.


A little disingenuous but cute. The hair product Tim brought home from RiteAid was not Three Flowers, he went with Wild Root (hair groom). It was greasy and effective.

I think I had more fun combing it through their hair and seeing it stay in one place for five minutes. My kids are fairly clean but rarely well put together, cannot say Halloween was any different.


The real joy was having their Gramma Mona here from Portland. The visit was meant to coincide with the holiday and we have decided this is a new tradition. We had a lovely early t-or-t in downtown, stumbling from business to business as they handed out candy and cooed over the kids. We hung out with our favorite friend Zac, dressed as the sheriff/cowboy.

6 months older, he was pretty good about keeping the kiddos in line and showing them that it was cool to walk up to those folks with the hug bowls of candy. Jenn is my crafty friend that whipped out his costume on her machine, and get this, he is wearing his daddy's jeans...man, they had some style back then.


We went home to eat a real dinner, which was interesting. This is the face Mason made after consuming one DumDum lolly.

Owen would not stop running.

Yeah, I have never given them candy before. They thought raisins were candy until October 31st.

After dinner we went back out to the downtown area, it was madness, like Disneyland on Saturday in July. Homes decorated to the 9s, lots of fun ones and too many scary for little ones. The boys did awesome until it was a bit too much. We ended up visiting our friends' house where they were giving out candy from the porch after the t-or-t'ers has made their way through a fairly terrifying haunted house. We circumvented it to go up and say hi and Owen climbed into my friend's lap and contentedly helped hand out candy for ten minutes. I thought it was adorable that he found the giant box of candy behind her and started handing her candy and looking at her like 'get back to your job, lady'. We kept the boys up an hour past regular bedtime than took them home to a quick bath to wash out the hair grease with a long a wonderful undisturbed night..and a late wake up...yeah, that would be 6:30 a.m. Yep, I said late.

No night time photos, I thought wrangling the kids with camera in tow would be pretty silly. maybe next year.

I have to say this has been the best Halloween I have experienced. I have always embraced the holiday in many ways. This year I had more energy than last year, we had Gramma, we had fun, we had them. I cannot wait to do it again.


Add: Almost forgot, the winner of the Guess The Costume was Jennifer. Hit the nail on the head with that one. Jennifer, I could not get to your profile, could you leave me an email with your contact info?

Finishing for Friday (on Thursday) =

October has shaped up to be a busy month. I have had such a blast preparing and celebrating the season even though our temperatures refuse to back down from the 90s. It looks like we will have cooler weather for our Halloween celebrations which is awesome as the boys 'costumes' really are not complete without their jackets. It brings it all together.

This past week, In a fit of crafting I made a pair of reusable trick or treat bags for the boys to use in our local MOM club party.

Well, we were a little late to the party and the bags did not see any use, but I love them and look forward to trying them out tomorrow. I found a few themed placemats and dishtowel and cut and sewed them into these. I love the idea of keeping them and having the boys use them yearly. I might even add a patch for each year to help us recall how they dressed up.

And it goes along the sustainable, non plastic lines, even though the original materials may have been created in a place where folks do not get paid enough for their talents (sorry, digression, consuming is something I have been thinking about a lot lately).

I loved seeing Halloween come to our home in different ways, the various homages to the season, my favorite of the year. This little display features an antique chair I found at last week's craft fair (my only purchase and quite reasonable at 20$) and a cleverly carved pumpkin, designed by my brother Jon.

I called him Peter the Pumpkin eater, as he consumed his little brother/friend. So very cute, and now collapsed due to our unseasonably warm weather. Glad I had a photo opportunity.


Speaking of Jon, I had to include this shot I took this morning. This is Jon and David, his best friend since the small years.

I know we are all worried at times in regards to the disaffection of the young, the early loss of innocence that seems to happen if allowed. But here is a shot showing that all youth is not lost. My baby brother, now a senior in high school, still gets dressed up for Halloween. Today is their dress up as they are off tomorrow. He was up late chopping up t-shirts and preparing his "Robin" boy wonder costume. Pretty sweet. huh? Creativity definitely runs in the blood. I loved it when he said he was doing it because as a senior no one can make fun of him, he is at the top. Love him.

And to top it off, I have one more Christmas present crossed of the list. This is the Sun Ray Shawl, a pattern I found due to Brook.

She made it look so lovely and I wanted to try a new lace pattern. This one is free, easy and quick due to largish needles and thicker yarn. I have knit a few Xmas gifts with Knitpicks Elegance and I am smitten. It is soft and drapey and has a great feel in the fingers while knitting. And Knitpicks' prices make the slight luxury so reasonable. The photo does not do the color justice, it is a deep blue green with a sheen due to the silk. MMMmmmm. I will not say who it is for as the recipient occasional stops by. But it is a lace piece for someone I dearly love. The deets are on ravelry.

So, Friday, you are not here yet, but I am finished with you so I can get down to the real business of Halloween. So, here are a few shots of the boys 'in costume'.

Now, I did not mean to do two giveways in one week, but I want to see how many out there can guess what they are going as. First commenter to get it right will receive a special little sewn gift, the mystery piece I have yet to blog about. More on that next week.

Okay, folks. Now is the time to embrace the spooky, the altered, the different, the hidden, the scary and the sweet. Hope you have an awesome holiday and find just the right identity for you and your little ones. I cannot wait to see the posts coming up after this weekend. Boo!

We have the Winners!

Wow! I want to say a huge thanks to all the readers who commented, both old and new ones. Let me tell you, one way to garner a whole bunch of comments is to do a giveaway. I loved reading your encouraging comments regarding the jewelry and felt bolstered to take a step forward, but I will get back to that.

So, we did it the old-fashioned way, with little paper bits rolled up tight and the winners are

Preeti

and

Pinku

It is awesome that I picked Kat because she is an Aussie living in Japan, and the necklaces were made in Oz, so, serendipity working in it's best form. And Preeti has a wonderful blog here, she is embarking on sock knitting, something we knitters all have to do at some point. I love that both of the winners are international and crafters and mamas. Once again, thanks for all the comments and interest.

Which brings me to the next point... I have gone and opened my own Etsy Shop.
You can find the remaining necklaces featured there, plus a few Box Bogs from an earlier post.


Apparently, things were a little slow at the craft fair this past weekend, which makes any of you out there winners if you would like to score a cute little bag.


I have been contemplating a shop for some time and I am glad it has come to be. I plan on stocking it with some of the different crafts I dabble in and will always let you know when there are "bits" to buy. Hope you enjoy items and buy, buy, buy. Smiles.

And if you have not had enough of the giveaways yet, go visit Jennifer at JCasa Handmade. She is a huge inspiration to me in the sewing category, really lovely patchwork items and quilts, lot of fun stuff for the little ones. Read about her giveaway and enter if you would like one of her precious handmades. This blogging/craft/mama thing has really opened my life in so many ways and just want to say thanks again.

Pinku and Preeti, I will contact you to get info as soon as I feed the yodeling twins and get another moment to sit at the comoputer. Smiles!

To Give is Divine :: The Giveaway

First I would like to say thank you for the wonderful birthday wishes and the encouraging comments regarding the crafts. I really appreciate all the folks who choose to visit and read, hence the following post.

There was a time in my life, in those dark age years before knitting, when I fancied myself a bit of a jewelry creator. I loved the art of taking wire and twisting and shaping to create links, of choosing precious stones and other bits, of making something. Creating via craft is a very obvious theme in my life, throughout my life. It helps me channel many different emotions and energies. This was one medium I loved for many years, but that fell to the side when fiber came into the picture.


A month ago or so, I was a bit surprised to find a tin of my old necklace creations during a clean out of the hole we call a master closet. Looking though them brought back the days when I made them. Most of the necklaces I found in that tin were made in Australia in 2004, during a long and lazy journey across half of that continent/country. I recall the places, the precision required, the joy in almost finishing one and starting the next. I am a believer that handmade items become imbued with the circumstances of their creation, so these are quite chock full of goodness.Long ago I put down the pliers, but the rediscovery of that time stamped in this way was nice.


I doubt I will pick up the tools anytime soon with my little banshees in the house so I want to give a few of these away as a thank you to my readers, all that stop by and see the latest craft or latest crazy thing that has happened round here. I would love to send out a special little package to two of my readers, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post before Tuesday, October 28, 9 p.m. PST.


A few things.
::All necklaces are made with genuine sterling silver wire and findings, semi-precious stones and freshwater pearls and one with a bit of wood bead I found in Australia.
::They are quite short (choker length) and a few might require a bit of lengthening using sterling silver chain not shown in the pictures.
::Thinking of posting the rest up to my Etsy shop after the giveaway. Any interest?


Again, this is a way to say thanks; for reading, commenting, supporting, befriending. It is such an adventure, to find a new pathway in life via a medium I never thought could connect us all like this. Now, leave a comment so I can put you in the drawing. I will report the winners on Wednesday.

The title of the post is not meant to imply that I am divine. Just that it feels so good to give. Last week saw a few brown packages into the US postal system, entrusted to make their way to two other countries. I felt all giddy when I sent them. Isn't giving fun?