buzzville

where has October gone?!?

For any of you who might remember the days when I actually blogged now and again, you might also remember that I'm a huge Halloween fanatic. For better or for worse, this October has been completely crazy, and I've had absolutely no time to do my usual frenzy of Halloween crafting. Most of the time crunch is related to superbuzzy stuff - moving the inventory to California, getting set up in our new space, and organizing and streamlining.

Luckily, before I knew about all the superbuzzy changes, I had already purchased tickets to Mickey's Treat Night at Disneyland for this past Thursday and Friday. Although I've lived relatively close to Disneyland for quite a while, we have never been to the park around Halloween to see it decorated. Knowing that Disney takes decorating and themes quite seriously, I was really excited to see what it would be like. We drove down on Thursday morning (in horrendous traffic!), and were greeted by this:

Walking into the park, down Main Street, was really fantastic:

Fun jack-o-lanterns were everywhere, and the entire strip had this vintage, small town Halloween feel. Of course, there were even Halloween themed treats, like this pumpkin muffin:

Several of the rides seemed to be having issues on Thursday - we got stuck on Pirates of the Caribbean for a good 10-15 minutes - but everything was running smoothly on Friday. Of course, the icing on the cake was getting to see the Haunted Mansion revamped for the holiday season with Jack Skellington and friends from Nightmare Before Christmas.

After about a half-day at Disneyland, we went back to the hotel so that Brynne could get her costume on. Then, we headed for an evening of Halloween festivities at California Adventures for Mickey's Treat Night.

We weren't terribly prepared for the set-up that night, and it took me a while to study the map to figure out what was going on. The park had trick-or-treat locations, spots to meet and greet characters (dressed in costume, of course!), treat trails with multiple trick-or-treat locations, and party zones with music and dancing with characters. Brynne had a fantastic (but probably overwhelming) night of treat gathering and communing with her Disney friends. If we decide to go again next year, I think I'm a bit more prepared for the madness of the night, and how to tackle it.

We got an early start the next morning for more Disneyland fun. We started at the Princess Faire, where we were at the front of the line for Brynne to meet Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Minnie Mouse in princess attire, and Snow White. Brynne was over the moon with all of this - it was really quite impressive how much time each character spent with each child. After meeting the princesses, you can treat your child to a full royal makeover (for $$$$) - we settled for a much more reasonable face painting. (Even with all of the princess face paint options, Brynne was true to form and picked the cat!)

After a second full day of park madness, we spent Saturday quietly recovering. We crammed in a bit more Halloween fun on Sunday... we went to see Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D (really incredible!) and then to Faulkner Farm for our local pumpkin patch goodness. I've got 3 more days to get my Halloween fun in, and then it's time to get ready for winter holidays! 

Lion-esque!

Such a fun Halloween was had at chez buzzville, despite the fact that everything was *very* last minute and not nearly as involved as we might have liked. Our little lion charmed the neighborhood, and this is the first time she's really understood trick or treating. Last year we were able to make her candy "disappear" (daddy took it to work) and she never noticed; this year she is keeping a mental inventory of each type of candy. I swear this girl's a walking calculator if properly motivated! The true mystery to me is that she's become extremely fond of dots... Anyway, I promised photos of the beast, and here they are:

this is morning when we went (sans lion makeup) for a quick round of trick-or-treating at my work.

and here she is stepping out getting ready for the evening festivities

and here is the after shot, chewing on one of the aforementioned dots...

At some point after we had selected the lion costume, I actually thought there might have been a last minute switch to cowgirl. I found a cute, nice quality cowgirl costume (hat, vest, and skirt) at the thrift store, and I bought it for dress-up play. For a while, she was putting that cowgirl outfit on every day, and I was fully expecting her to tell me that Leo the lion was out of the picture. But, Leo appears to have staying power, even though the cowgirl is pretty darn cute too:

Now that Halloween is over, I guess that means that holiday crafting time is in full swing, right? Boy, am I in trouble...

Happy Halloween!

Loads of treats around here, including Whoppers - possibly the best candy around, no?!? Last night I quickly improvised some baking for a potluck that Jerry had at work today. I had all the ingredients to make some yummy pumpkin bread, and I happen to have a fantastic 2-part bundt pan that makes each half of a pumpkin. Put the two halves together and it makes a gorgeous 3D pumpkin cake - stem and all! Luckily, I had to do some leveling to the halves before stacking them, so we actually got to taste those discards before it was taken to work. So yummy! Here's the finished cake, surrounded by some candy corn and candy pumpkins:

and here's the recipe (adapted from a recipe that appeared in Bon Appetit in 1995):

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

• 1.5 cups sugar
• 1.5 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 15-ounce can pumpkin (or fresh pumpkin, if available)
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 6 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup toasted, chopped pecans (optional)
• 1 cup golden raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter and flour two 9x5x3" loaf pans. Beat sugars and oil in large bowl to blend. Mix in eggs and pumpkin. Sift flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, salt and baking powder into another large bowl. Stir into pumpkin mixture in 2 additions. Mix in pecans and raisins, if desired.

Divide batter equally between prepared pans. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until tested inserted into center comes out clean. Transfer to racks and cool for 10 minutes. Turn loaves out on racks and cool completely. Makes 2 loaves.

Halloween final prep!

What a crazy weekend we had! Unfortunately, one of the down sides of the superbuzzy trip to Japan is the timing - I've had almost no time for Halloween fun. But, this weekend was a total sewing frenzy trying to get Brynne's costume finished up. I had grand plans of working on it before, but as always, everything else seemed to get in the way. Since it was obvious that Brynne would be a lion for Halloween, I tried to find the best possible lion costume pattern. I didn't want just a fuzzy jumpsuit, but something that was more complete and detailed. I came across this pattern designed by Tom Arma (McCalls 8938):

The pattern was impossible to find locally in a larger size (4T), so I ended up ordering directly from McCalls. I think it was basically designed for a baby, but I liked the details and decided to go with it. The sewing actually went very smoothly. I followed the pattern pretty closely, although I eliminated the feet because she'll wear shoes, and I only used one row of elastic at the wrist (who really needs 3 rows of elastic?!?). The real insanity is the mane. This involves cutting hundreds of strips of different colored ribbon in various lengths, using fabric glue to form the strips into loops, and then individually gluing each of the loops to the costume. Ugh! Thank goodness for patient husbands! While I was whirring away on the sewing machine, Jerry was cutting and gluing... his poor fingers were covered in the stuff! In fact, I think he's putting the final touches on the lion hood as I type this!

The good news is that Brynne loves it. Each time I had her try it on to check the fit, she would run through the house roaring and growling and generally being lion-like. I think she might just live in this costume for a while! I haven't got photos of her in it yet because of the aforementioned endless gluing, but I'll get something up tomorrow of the little lion in action. She's a pretty cute lion, if I may say so!

I hope everyone out there has a fun day tomorrow, whether or not Halloween festivities are involved! And, just as a side note, superbuzzy sent out the latest newsletter with a big shop update! If you think you should be getting a newsletter, but you didn't, please let us know!

A Quilt for Halloween

I'm trying to pretend that I'm not currently in a house filled to the brim with Halloween candy and cookies (must show restraint!), getting prepared for a hectic evening of taking Brynne trick-or-treating and hosting our own neighborhood trick-or-treaters. I finished my Halloween quilt in class last Thursday, just in time to display it for Halloween this year.

The basic pattern is taken from the Spooky Sampler from Tea Thyme Quilts. I was pretty faithful to the pattern design, but I made quite a few changes in the methodology. For example, the pattern suggested painting the mouths for all the blocks, whereas I used rough edge applique. Here are some close-ups:

I hand embroidered "Boo"... yes, I still need to work on my embroidery!

I used a blanket stitch in contrasting thread to applique the larger shapes. The light background fabric is one of my favorite reproduction prints from Judie Rothermel. The mismatched button eyes all came from my stash. The quilting for the main panel is in the ditch, and then I added a freehand, spiderweb pattern in silver metallic thread in the outer border.

The narrow strip of black and white fabric (I thought it looked a bit like bones!) is a 3-dimensional flange. This is the first time I've used this technique, and I really like the effect. It adds an extra dimensional detail to this quilt, and I really like the contrast between it and the outer and inner borders. This was a really fun quilt to make - I like the folk art references and the quirkiness of the characters!

Last Minute Halloween Craft

If you're looking for a quick and easy craft to do before Halloween night, this idea, from Martha, is a great one. I picked up a grapevine wreath at Michael's for $3.99 - I couldn't find one as "twiggy" as the one shown on Martha, but this one worked out fine.

Place your wreath in a well-ventilated area (preferably outside!) on top of some newspaper and spray paint one side with matte black spray paint. Once the first side is dry, flip the wreath over and spray paint the second side. You may need to use garden shears or heavy duty utility scissors to cut some of the twigs and pull them out a bit.

Once the wreath is painted and dry, push squishy eyeballs onto the ends of the twigs, completely puncturing the eyeball through both sides so that they will stay on. (I found the small eyeballs at a local shop for $0.25 each and the larger ones were 2 for $1.00 at the dollar shop at Target.) We hung ours on some spiderweb ribbon on our front door. It looks really gross and spooky - perfect! Thanks again Martha!

Crafty Halloween Round-Up

Just in the past couple of days I've discovered some incredible Halloween stuff being made by all the talented crafters out there. I thought I'd share these discoveries in case you're looking for something fun... I know I've missed other amazing things - please let me know!

Sugar Lily has added fun autumn themed cards to her shop:

I just bought this fun necklace from the incredible Amy of aplcreations:

 

and she also has cute adult and kid tees at her Cafe Press shop with an adorable witch graphic!

I can hardly bear the cuteness of this stuffed mummy from cuddly rigor mortis (also see the Frankenstein, pumpkin, and skeleton softies!):

Teresa's new stuff *always* seems to sell out before I can get it, but she had these adorable Mr. Bunny Halloween cards and kitty softies in great Halloween colors:

and, of course, I was also not one of the lucky Sampler subscribers to get one of these:

These pendants at joeyjojo666's Etsy shop are too cute:

So much great crafty inspiration out there! Talk to you later... I've got to go make something!

P.S. Finished projects are on the horizon - promise!

Calaveras!

Since living in Mexico for several years, my love of Halloween is also influenced with the traditions of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). When celebrating and decorating, we use traditions from Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. For example, we create a "graveyard" in our front yard, but we also create a trail of marigold petals leading from the "tombstones" to the front porch. (Traditionally, marigolds are used to help guide the souls of the departed to their loved ones - the luminous petals of the marigolds virtually "glow" in the dark!) I love the traditions of papel picado, the elaborate ofrendas, and the traditional folk art surrounding Dia de los Muertos. Here's a link to a pdf document that is a teacher packet full of fun crafts for kids - a calavera mask, a skeleton puppet, coloring pages, etc.

If you'd like to do something crafty for Dia de los Muertos, here's an easy craft to make calaveras (skulls). Get together some white air drying clay, some colored pens, and jewelry findings (optional). Mold the clay into skull shapes with your fingers. Use something with a point (I used a pencil) to create eye and nose sockets and a mouth. If you'd like to make your skulls into beads for jewelry or into ornaments, insert the appropriate jewelry findings. We placed jewelry loops into the top of the skulls to make these into necklaces. Your calaveras might look something like this:

Follow the manufacturer's directions and allow the clay to dry. Once the clay is dry, pull out your colored pens and get creative! Jerry, Brynne and I each decorated 2 in the batch below:

Google Dia de los Muertos if you'd like inspiration for the designs. Here's a great place to look for inspiration and learn more about the festivities. These are lightweight and great to use for halloween ornaments, or combined with other beads for necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc. If you decide to try this out, I'd love to see what you end up with!

A little of everything...

Phew! Catching up from a hectic, but fun weekend up north... I thought I'd share a major discovery for those of you who are in San Francisco, the East or South Bays, and Silicon Valley. Just a few miles outside of Half Moon Bay on Highway 92 are two *fantastic* pumpkin farms, right across the highway from each other, that are not to be missed! Pastorino's Farm (no web site) and the Lemos Farm are outstanding, especially if you have kids. They have the expected wide selection of pumpkins, but they also have train rides, jolly jumpers, haunted houses, pony rides, petting zoos, hay rides, food and baked goodies, corn mazes, etc. Pastorino's Farm also has a beatifully set up Halloween "Boo-tique" full of fun, good quality vintage and new decorations. What really struck me about both farms is how well laid out everything is - not just a big field of pumpkins, but manicured paths leading from one picturesque spot to the next. If you'd like to visit but aren't going to the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival (which is now over for this year), I'd recommend avoiding that weekend - you'll be dealing with a lot fewer people at the pumpkin patches. Here are some representative pics:

and here's Brynne having a heart-to-heart with Dracula:

and, of course, the pumpkins!

It looks as if both farms also get decked out for Christmas... we may just have to make the trip up north again in December to see what that looks like!

Breathe a sigh of relief

After an extremely hectic past few weeks, we're escaping today for a long weekend north in Half Moon Bay. The occasion is the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival, an annual event I've been wanting to go to for quite some time. We've finally managed to schedule it in, and we'll be staying with my aunt and uncle for some obligatory family time as well. Since we'll be gone for the weekend, I thought I'd leave you with some seasonal inspiration, although it sounds as if no one is quite as Halloween obsessed as we Americans...

I love Nicol Sayre's vintage inspired Halloween paper pulp figures - something's not quite right...

I found these great, handcrafted Halloween softies made by Woof & Poof:

I've also become a huge fan of the Glitterville creations - they also appeal to my love of vintage Halloween goodies.

Have a great weekend!