Lucky Kitty

Pumpkininny!

Yeah, I know it's after Halloween and Election Day for that matter, but I still wanted to share our yearly family pumpkin decorating with you guys!

This year, we went for white pumpkins... mostly because the grocery store was sold out of orange ones due to a 'buy one get one free' sale that we were one day too late on...

 
Martha Stewart tells me that white pumpkins, especially smaller ones, are difficult to carve.  She's been to prison, therefore, I believe her.  In addition, I didn't want to have tons of sharp objects around for Little Man to run around the back yard with, or put directly into his mouth.

Sooooo... we went for craft paint instead!

 
My pumpkin has a bit of a Jack Skellington theme, but mostly, I wanted to do a bold simple graphic and I especially wanted to do something to incorporate my awesome black glitter...

 
The Hubs decided to go with an 80s bandito gangster theme.  The name of the stencil pattern (over on BHG.com) was 'Undercover Pumpkin'... He changed up the nose and teeth and added a super sweet mustache!

For Little Man, I decided to draw an outline on his pumpkin and then let him color it in.  My son has a crazy obsession for puppies at the moment - literally wakes up in the morning saying 'puppy?'... 'puppy?'... so, it was a no-brainer what type of character I should draw on his pumpkin...

 

...and now it's time to paint!

 

He's been really into the abstract and avant garde as of late.  I think it came out awesome!

 

...and here they are all together...

 

I highly recommend painting your pumpkin for Halloween - it was fun, easy, far more versatile and way less messy than carving (with the exception of the glitter).  Plus, my 16-month-old got to join in the fun without me worrying about him putting his eye out... which is rare...

...and now it's time to DANCE!

 

Yes, it's true.  For Halloween this year, we decided to be an entire family of DJ Lance Rock from Yo Gabba Gabba.  Why have only one, when you can have the power of three!

It was really fun creating our costumes this year, and not all that difficult either...

I started with white shirts, pants, and a skirt for me from American Apparel.  They had a couple of the items in orange, but not everything - so, I would have been trying to dye pieces to match other pieces which sounded difficult and not cool.  Instead, I just threw everything into one big orange bath...

 

Next, I made our hats.  A little bit of orange faux fur goes a long way - I'm still finding tufts of it around the house...

 

Then, it was belt time.  I decided to put our names on our belts - instead of all of us having the same 'ROCK' belt.  I mean, that's DJ Lance Rock's name, not ours... so...

 

Note to self on gluing belt pieces together - next time, use the fabric glue first.  The regular tacky glue doesn't work so good on the vinyl... lesson learned...

Finally, it was time to sew on the yellow and white stripes onto our shirts, find some big square framed glasses (thanks EBay), and we were good to go! 

 

Little Man was not a fan of the glasses, but he kept his hat on for a remarkably long time... Mommy's little trooper!

So, since our costumes were so awesome this year, I simply had to enter them into the Spook-A-Look Halloween Photo Contest over at Giveaway Blogs... wish me luck!

Giveaway Blogs

UPrinting

 

The Candycorns

When you buy your groceries at Randalls and use your Remarkable Card, at the end of the transaction, the cashier always says "Thank you very much, Mrs. Insert-Your-Last-Name-Here, you saved $3.49 today!"

Our last name is Corcoran.  Pronounced 'Cochran'... I know, I know, we spell it wrong.  We didn't make the rules, however.  Grampy Corcoran did.  It's his name, we can't argue.

One day, many years ago, we finished our transaction and the cashier said to me... "Thank you very much, Mrs. ...uh... Can-a-corn?"

Really? Can-a-corn?  Okay.  I'll take it.  For Halloween, however, I prefer Mrs. Candycorn!

Thanks to my Better Homes and Gardens Halloween special issue, I found the perfect Candycorn craft to whip up for our front porch!

 

This Candycorn family was so easy to make - all you need is some foam flower cones - found in the floral department of the Hobby Lobby, craft paint, and googly eyes.  Couldn't be more simple and best of all - it won't go bad or rot our teeth!

Only 44 more days til Halloween!

Halloween has always been a big deal at our house, but once our Little Man came along, it became one of the single most important holidays of our entire year.

Last year, also known as 'Baby's First Halloween' I went a little bit... well... okay fine, I went overboard... big time...

It all started with my friend Vickie's blog post and an eyeliner pencil...

 
I mean, seriously, this kid is lucky I refrain from painting a moustache on him every day, not just for costumes.

Then it progressed to the pumpkin patch...

 
Check out those sweet handmade candy corn shoes he's wearin!

...and by the time Halloween rolled along, we were a full blown family of werewolves...

 

So, as you can see, I have a lot to live up to for 'Baby's Second Halloween' this year. 

I know my days of getting to pick my son's costume myself are numbered.  I might have one more year before he wants to be a puppy ninja pirate from Mars - or maybe that's what he wants to be for 'Baby's Third Halloween' - but that's a whole year away...

I've decided to stick with a whole family theme for our costumes - I find it hilarious when people all dress in themes. 

This year's theme has been chosen.  It is still a secret, but I will give you a hint... some clothes were dyed at my house this past weekend...

 

Hmmm... interesting... now, just gotta figure out what Q's second and third costumes will be and we'll be all set!  I kid, I kid... kinda...

Wait! Don't throw that pickle jar away...

... make it into a Halloween candle holder instead!

It's super duper easy - all you need is an empty pickle jar (or any type of glass jar), some Mod Podge, and your favorite Halloween ribbon...

Yes, you're right - it's that easy - just slather on a nice even coat of Mod Podge, wrap the ribbon around the jar, then go over everything (ribbon and all) with Mod Podge again...

 

Bing, bang, boom - you've got yourself a super cute candle holder - all you need now is a votive to drop in the jar!

Happy Halloween!

Razzle Dazzle!

We've been watching a lot of Yo Gabba Gabba at my house recently, and let me just say how completely awesome it is...

Sometimes, little man decides he's ready for his nap during an episode, so, I put him down, and then finish watching... yes, it's that great.

One of my favorite segments on the show is the Dancey Dance - where they have a celebrity guest show you how to do a Dancey Dance... the best Dancey Dance in the history of Dancey Dancing has to be Leslie Hall's Dancey Dance - the Razzle Dazzle...

Seeing Leslie do her 'Glitter Hands' and 'Laser Beams Up' completely inspired me to whip up some Razzle Dazzle pumpkins for our front porch for Halloween...

I started with three small pumpkins, a bottle of gold glitter, and some Mod Podge.  You could use any type of glue you like, I chose Mod Podge because I seem to have a never ending supply of it at my house.

I slathered on a nice thick even coat of Mod Podge...

Poured the glitter into a paper bag so as to not get it all over the garage (which mostly worked, but glitter likes to stick to stuff like your hands and face, so, be warned)...

 
I had planned on placing the pumpkin in the bag in order to close the bag and shake it, but then realized that the pumpkin might be just a tad bit too heavy and could easily break through the bottom of the bag leaving me with a glitter-splosion and a sticky pumpkin. 

Instead, I just rolled the pumpkin around in the glitter - worked like a charm with no mess!

Final touch was to paint the stems of the pumpkins black with some regular ol' craft paint.

The result? 

Razzle Dazzle!

Let the Halloween decorating begin!

Pumpkininny!

We heart Halloween at my house!

Pumpkins have been carved, decorations have been hung, candy has been purchased and only dipped into a couple times... we're ready!

Last year we had more trick-or-treaters than the previous year, so, we're hoping - with Halloween being on a Friday night this time - maybe we'll get bunches more!

I need to find a spooky recipe to make for dinner too - oh, and of course, we have to watch a scary movie - this year it's Sleepaway Camp!


Here's a little synopsis from IMDB.com...

After a horrible boating accident kills her family, Angela, a shy and sullen young girl, moves in with her eccentric aunt Martha, alongside her protective cousin Ricky. One summer, Martha sends the kids to Camp Arawak. Soon after their arrival, a series of bizarre and increasingly violent accidents begins to claim the lives of various campers. Who is the twisted individual behind these murders? The disclosure of the murderer's identity is the most shocking climax in the history of American cinema.

Wow! The most shocking climax in the history of American cinema? Count me in!!!

I hope it's Larry's cousin Balki from the hit TV show Perfect Strangers... that would be shocking...