Halloween Wkend Pt.1

I LOVE holidays! And I love holidays I get to dress up even more :) Halloween is definitely ONE of my favorites, for obvious reasons ;) And you can usually get away with dressing up before the day so I take full advantage.

The idea for what I had planned for my nephews and niece on Friday all started 3 weeks ago when me and my husband were having a discussion on Halloween movies. I told him how I love Hocus Pocus and hadn't seen in an a while, and he told me that it was one of the lamest Halloween movies. So I did what any rational wife would do... Exclaim how I wasn't going to watch it with him then ;P Who better to watch a good family movie with then some good family :) So I called up my sister and asked if they would be interested and she said yes.

After getting excited about going to watch a Halloween favorite I knew I needed to wear something to get me even more in the mood, so of course I knew it had to be witchy. Considering I didn't have a witch hat I looked up some DIY tutorials to see if I could find something easy and found one :) (There's a link on my DIY blog) I then went a little further and decided it would be even funner to decorate them with the little ones, so i spent 2 weeks making 7 hats (I didn't work on it non-stop though). I made different colors and sizes for more of a variety.

We had sooooo much fun. Kids really seem to like fabric paint because there was paint everywhere. LOL.

Pictures of the completed hats we made below. (Please excuse the quality of the pics. Took some with my camera too but computer's still messed up so these are from my phone) Warning: picture spam after the cut

Homecoming Mum

Yesterday I went over to my Dad's house to finish up the homecoming mum I was helping one of my little sisters make. When we were buying all the supplies I really wanted her to help as much as possible so that the final product would be "her".

I remember in high school my sophomore year one of my really good friends made me a mum out of supplies she had at home. It wasn't a traditional mum but I still remember it very well. She definitely had me in mind while making it. Cute star as the back ground (instead of the traditional flower), lots of colorful ribbon cascading down and an adorable penguin plushy in the middle. I felt so special when she gave it to me at the dance (we went together, cuz who needs boys ;P) as I had never had something like that before.

I didn't have one my junior year but my senior year I made my first mum with the help of one of my cheerleading buddies and her mom. Since your senior year, the color scheme ends up being mostly white and gold or silver (depending on your school color) I decided it needed more color so I bought some colorful ribbon to add to the white and silver. I was so proud of my "mum" (I actually made mine a garter since it's easier to wear), it was so me. "Traditional" but with lots of color and of course a cute cheer bear carebear in the middle. :) I think I still have it ;)

After getting some of the traditional mum ribbon my little sister found some cute giraffe ribbon and told me how much she liked giraffes. Once I heard that, I knew that we would add it to make her mum something she would like. She also told me how she wanted to add some pink ribbon to add the names of a couple of people who passed away from cancer (since October is cancer awareness month). I thought it was a great idea since it was something dear to her heart so we went on the hunt for some nice pink ribbon. Surprisingly we didn't have much luck but I found some nice foam and asked how she felt about maybe using something like that. She told me that I'm better at stuff like that so we went ahead and got it. I won't bore you too much with everything else, and you can click here for more pictures of the process; but I'm quite glad with how it came out. She seemed to be very pleased with the end product which is all I need as a big sister. Next year (her senior year) she said she wanted it Toy Story themed, so I told her to start collecting things now. lol

I've made a few mums now, but the ones I enjoy making the most are the ones that really have the person who's going to wear it's personality. Going to see if I can find my old one now, just so I can stare at it ;P

Bye! Bye!

Getting into the Halloween Spirt

This past weekend wasn't anything special. I got home Friday after work and took a much needed nap, woke up a couple of hours later and stayed up late as usual. Saturday we did a bit of cleaning and ran some errands. And then tragically our computer stopped working :( Sucks because I had planned to put up my first 2 DIY tutorials I worked on. But that's usually how life is. (shrug) Sunday, Adrian went to work at his dad's shop so I took advantage and spent the day washing clothes (4 loads total, yay!) and got some work done on the DIY witch hats I'm making for a movie night with my nephews and niece. I also played around with make up which was fun because I suck at putting it on ;P. When it started getting late and I knew Adrian would be home, I decided to put on a cute outfit to finish off the weekend and get ready for the long work week.

Since I had been crafting Halloween stuff all day I couldn't help but make my outfit a little Halloween-y.


The black top I'm wearing I've had for ages and mostly use it for work, but since I got these new polka dot stockings and they match almost perfectly I knew I had to put them together.

I bought the dress a while back off Hautelook.com. And although this is the only orange piece of clothing I own (I'm not really a fan of orange) I really like it and have used it way more then I thought I would.
It's very easy to wear and looks great whether you wear it casual or dressy casual, but I do need to invest in a steamer because ironing this dress really is a headache.

I would have liked to wear some cuter shoes with this but my teaparties have yet to arrive. I'm so excited to get them, I've wanted a pair of cute mary janes for a very long time and when I discovered Lolita and saw them I knew I had a to have a pair or 50, but I guess I should get them in and try them on before I decide that. lol.

Adrian got home and we ate and headed to the stores for some grocery shopping. I finally got a pumpkin for carving later, can't wait. :) I even have a pumpkin outfit I put together just for the occassion. YAY! I love holidays!

Today I'll also be going to my Dad's to help finish up my little sister's homecoming mum. I love spending time with them so crafting and bonding at the same time will be bliss :) Until next time...

Boots & Stockings Close-Up

Junior's B-day

Saturday around noon I got a call from my Brother telling me they were having a bday party for my nephew that day. "Why so last minute?" he told me he had made the plans last week but he forgot to let me know. That happens alot, and not just with family. I'm always the last to know pretty much everything and its been like that for years so I'm kinda used to it already. lol. Luckily he said that it started at 4pm so I had more time to laze around since Friday we stayed up late.

Adrian and I watched a few episodes of Naruto since we'd gotten behind and before 3:30 I started to get ready. Adrian ended up staying in bed because he finally caught one of the illnesses that been going around :( . So I went alone. My brother had informed me over the phone that we'd be playing kick ball so to make sure I wore something comfortable and shoes that were good to run in.

So I threw on some shorts, socks and a t-shirt; and packed a cardigan since I always get cold. (took the picture below at the end of the night so I look very sweaty. lol)

Shirt (Converse) Shorts (F21) Socks (SockDreams) Cardigan (Old Navy)

I got there late as usual (I'm never on time) and arrived to a house full of kids (there were 17 LITTLE kids, I counted). It was crazy! Said hello to everyone and met some new people too :) . My bother had picked up BBQ with all the fixings for everyone to eat. It was delicious. Luckily after we were done eating the moon bounce my brother had ordered was set up and ready to be jumped in. I'm not sure how they would have been able to entertain a house full of kids without it. Got to spend time with some of my sisters and brothers; and then it was time for some pinata breaking.

Since my brother doesn't have a tree they tied the rope to the fence and he hopped up on the roof. I joined him because I couldn't miss an opportunity to get up there.

Found a pic my nephew took and you can see us on the roof (hehe)



Pretty sky picture I took on the roof

Unfortunately the pinata only lasted through 7 kids since the bday boy went first and was given a bat instead of a stick. Boy did he do some damage with that. lol.

Then we had cake and opened presents and afterwards alot of the people including the bday boy left, so we never got the chance to play kickball :( . It got dark and with most of the kids gone I took advantage of that and jumped in the moon bounce with my niece and one of my nephews. Man I can't believe how tiring that is; so after a while we headed back inside and that's when the youtubing started. LOL! At one point Gangnam Style was played and the kids and my older Sister (lol) started to dance. Good times. :)

Bonus picture of some of the kids dancing :)

 I left around 10pm to get back to my sick husband. It was a really good day. I love anytime I get to hang out with my family. They really are the best. I didn't get to go to the RenFair, but there's still a few weeks more to go so you never know. As usual I can't wait to see what else is in store for me. Guess we'll see... ;)

Anniversary

This past week my Husband and I celebrated our anniversaries. Our dating anniversary was Sunday (7th) which made 8 years together and our Wedding anniversary was Wednesday (10th) which is 4 years. We used to celebrate our wedding anniversary every month and as a gift I would get a new pair of heels; my Older Sister used to make fun of us and said that it would get old and boy was she right. LOL! The getting new shoes didn't (how could it ever); but we started forgetting, and it also got kinda expensive >_<.

Not even going to lie, our dating anniversary passed by without either of us remembering (I usually don't know what day it is unless I have work), but I knew Tuesday that our anniversary was the next day so I woke Adrian up Wednesday with a Happy Anniversary ;)

We had work as usual, so off to work we went :(

On my way home Adrian called me and asked if I wanted to go out to celebrate instead of him cooking like usual. Normally I would have said yes, but I really wasn't in the mood to be out and about and we should be saving money so I told him I'd prefer a nice low key night at home.

When I got home I decided that just because we were staying in didn't mean I couldn't make the day feel a little special, so I jumped in the shower and got dressed in something quirky and fun to make it feel a little more like a celebration. I had to clip my bangs back since they grew too long and I didn't wear any make-up since we were staying in so please forgive my bland face ;P

Dress (Marshall's) Cardigan (Target) Stockings (Ebay) Shoes (DSW - Steve Madden)

Adrian made beef stir-fry with carrots, broccoli and mushrooms with a honey-terriyaki sauce served over fresh steamed white rice. It was very yummy. Instead of eating in our room in front of the tv as usual, I cleared the table and we ate under the twinkling Christmas lights in the dining room. It was soooo romantic with the dim lights and Adrian's brother in the living room watching Big Bang Theory. LOL!

After dinner we cleared the table and went to our room for some "alone" time. We watched some tv and relaxed and took a few "pictures". It was a nice night and I got a couple of stockings out of it ;). Can't wait to place the order. Next year since it'll be 5 years we might do it a little bigger. Guess we'll see......

Super Heros VS Villains

On our way home after spending all afternoon at the Cook-Off, my husband and I went to the store to pick up a few things for my brother's b-day party. Since it was themed a Super Hero/Villain party we looked around for something for him to wear. After no luck in the clothing section, we headed over to the Halloween section for one last shot. They actually didn't have to much of a selection, but Adrian found a Jason mask and said he could be Casey Jones from the Ninja Turtles. I didn't know who he was talking about, so he showed me a picture (thank goodness for smart phones, we finally got ours a couple of months ago).

This is the picture he used as a reference

He cut off the top elastic part of the mask to allow room for his hair, and I had some white fabric I had bought a while back that we cut into strips and used for fist wraps (some other pictures of Casey have them) and he used my old softball bat as a prop.

For a last minute costume, I think it came out pretty well. Alot of people at the party didn't know who he was and he would have to tell them, but the thing that made it all work out even more was the Teenage Mutant Turtles ended up being at the party. It was awesome. Four of my brother's friends had dressed as them. They did such a good job on matching their costumes all the way down to the boots. :) 

During the party Michelangelo was telling us how they had bought the shirts that day and each one came with all 4 eye masks.

Glad me and Adrian didn't buy those. We had "talked" about maybe doing them, but procrastinated as usual only this time it really did work out. :) Would have been lame for there to be 6 Ninja Turtles.


Casey Jones, Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo & Raphael

 Almost didn't get this picture. I told them at the beginning of the party that I had to get one and we were all having a good time that before we knew it, it got late and Leonardo was about to go when I told her that I had to get a picture before she did.

After a couple of snaps she left and more people joined in, and a flurry of silly picture taking ensued. It was hilarious.

Here's one of the silly pictures

For my outfit, I wasn't sure what to wear but looked at some female superhero pictures and went with Storm from X-men. I made the X-men pins at the bake sale earlier but didn't double check my reference before making it to realize later that the red and black should have been switched 0_0. I also thought she had silver hair so I bought silver hair color spray and found out when I got home and did a little background on her that she has white hair. Oops. Also I need way more spray with my long hair. Overall I was pleased with how it came out. I made the cape out of the same batch of fabric I used for Adrian's hand wraps only black. Threw on some black leggings, a long sleeve black shirt, black corset and black boots and bam, I think I'm Storm ;P. 

Leggings (hautelook.com) Shirt (F21) Corset (Charlotte Russe) Boots (Shiekh)

It took a while to get a good picture. I'm still VERY awkward in front of the camera. Hope to get better little by little. I love taking pictures and love to look at them too, but once the camera's turned on me I either smile WAY to big or just look weird (I pretty much always look like that though). Adrian said my pose was too Superman-ish but I didn't do enough research to know how Storm would pose. I think I may redo this costume for Halloween so I don't have to keep thinking about what to wear and so I can fix all the little things to do Storm justice.

 Overall it was an awesome night and we both had a really good time. I took pictures all night long and when I got home and looked at them you can see how much everyone moved around and socialized. That is always a good sign. I love meeting new people and I definitely met alot of them. :)

Sunday was spent lazing around the house to prepare ourselves for another week of work. Much needed after being out and about all day Friday & Saturday. Hoping we can go to the Renaissance Fair this weekend. Guess we'll see.... ;)

In the Kitchen

Had a blast this weekend. :) I was lucky enough to have an early weekend since I took Friday off to take my Mom to the eye doctor for lasik surgery. At first I was a little bummed about the fact that I had to wake up early on my day off, but once I saw my Mommy there was no way I could be in a bad mood. :)

Here's what I wore that day (minus the kitty ears) I had my hair in braids, but I put it up into odangos to avoid it getting in the stuff we were making. I had this dress sitting out in my put up pile so thought I'd wear it again before I removed the Kitty applique, plus it didn't hurt that it would match my apron later. ;P

Outfit Details: Dress (Plato's Closet - Hollister) Stockings (Leg Avenue) Cardigan (Old Navy)

I made The Hello Kitty Ears & Bows for my Nieces' Hello Kitty Bday in June, Me & My Sister-in-Law made around 25 ears

I also made this applique out of felt since I didn't have anything Hello Kitty to wear

The surgery took less than 15 minutes. It was crazy how fast it was. We were then advised that she should rest for about four hours to give her eyes time to heal so we headed over to her place for a nap. It was just what I needed since I was sleepy and had a minor headache. My mom isn't one for forcing herself to sleep so she had enough after 2 and a half hours.

We woke up and went where my Little Sister works (Subway) to grab a bite and catch up with her. It was great. We caught her on her break so she sat with us. It was nice to talk to her since it had been a while. Afterwards we headed to the store to pick up the ingredients for a day of baking. It was fun to walk around with my Mom. She was so excited yet so freaked out how she could read the stuff without her glasses but was adjusting to the fact that one eye was fixed to see far away and one up close.

Afterwards we headed back to her place to start baking. And boy did we bake....

4 dozen cupcakes (2 doz. strawberry, 2 doz. chocolate), 2 batches of rice krispies (1 regular, 1 chocolate) and 2 batches of brownies (1 regular, 1 w/walnuts)

It was awesome! Little Sister even came home later & helped. Nothing beats spending a day in the kitchen with people you love, jamming out to 80's music and acting silly!

Serious baking going on

Man, I really need to cut my bangs..... They're soooooo LONG!!!

YUMMY Cupcakes!!! (Little Sister said I need to improve my sprinkles skills)

And I'll leave ya'll with a picture of the bake sale (why I baked all day Friday) I had set up at my father-in-law's BBQ Cook-Off on Saturday. Money was donated to Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Walk & Reach Unlimited, Inc.

Next up, is the rest of the weekend! :)