Sunday, October 30, 2016

Halloween 2016: Over the Garden Wall

Halloween 2016: Over the Garden Wall | Wirt & Beatrice
Halloween 2016: Over the Garden Wall | Beatrice
Halloween 2016: Over the Garden Wall | Wirt
Halloween 2016: Over the Garden Wall | Wirt & Beatrice
Halloween 2016: Over the Garden Wall
Halloween 2016: Over the Garden Wall | Beatrice
"One is a bird 
Two are the trees
Three is the wind in the leaves
Four are the stars
Five with the moon
Smiling down upon thee."

I hope you've had a wonderful weekend. These costumes were rather last minute - but the idea of an Over the Garden Wall Halloween was just too much fun to pass by. Steven is Wirt, and I'm Beatrice (I won't say anymore about these characters because I don't want to let any spoilers slip by). We have been fans of the ten-part Cartoon Network series for awhile, and we had all the elements for these costumes in our home - except for two bottles of Rit dye needed to turn my dree blue. Steven even had a pair of too-short gray trousers from another costume - I didn't have to hem them!

The dress was created years ago, when I wanted to make a regency-era costume. It was off-white, and if you want to see a "before photo" of it, it did appear in a Halloween production of Dracula. I used Rit dye to turn it blue and added some lace. Beatrice's dress in OTGW is a little more complex, with an over-skirt and more lace, but I didn't want to fiddle with this dress too much, and time was short, so this is the final result.

I would have liked to make a longer, full-circle cape for Steven, but I was working with an old curtain and half an old bed sheet. It took a few days to sew up, and the longest part was probably attaching the buttons. Fortunatly, I had six matching brass ones in my stash. Although Steven may not be a dead-ringer for Wirt, this costume suits him so well because he loves garden gnomes. (A garden gnome is kind of his personal mascot at work).

My sister came to visit and helped us take most of these photos. The night before, she and Steven carved pumpkins while I finished up the red pointy Wirt cap. Anyway, after all the Halloween festivities ealier in the month, we plan to have a quiet night at home, waiting for trick-or-treaters. I may even watch Over the Garden Wall again.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Halloween 2016: He's So Fine / She's a Babe

It's almost Halloween! Party time! Excellent!

We were invited to an early Halloween party this year. The costume theme was MTV. My costume was inspired by Toni Basil from her "Mickey" video. Steven wanted to be Wayne from Wayne's World. He bought the hat, and the rest of our costumes were assembled from pieces in our wardrobe and thrift store and ebay finds. I did purchase some yarn to make the pompoms on my shoes and craft felt to create the letters and megaphone on my vest.

In doing a little research for my costume, I descovered that LVH stood for Las Vegas High - Toni Basil wore her highschool cheerleading outfit in the 1980 Mickey video!

I think it's evident from these photos we had loads of fun here and at the party. If you'd like to see our past Halloween costumes, the tag is Anna and Steve's All Hallows Eve.

Are you dressing up for Halloween? Please share in the comments! :-)

Monday, October 24, 2016

"How the Gentle Wind Beckons Through the Leaves..."

"How the gentle wind beckons through the leaves as autumn colors fall ..."
- Into the Unknown by Patrick McHale, Over the Garden Wall
Steven and I took a hike to celebrate our wedding anniversary the other weekend. It was a stunning misty autumn day. The trail was one we've taken many times before, and it leads to an old fire tower. The mountain view from the tower was obscured by the mist, but it was a wonderful experience to be surrounded by clouds all the same.

Friday, October 7, 2016

Around the Clubhouse | Amber and Gold

The Flying Clubhouse: Around the Clubhouse | Amber and Gold
The Flying Clubhouse: Around the Clubhouse | Amber and Gold #blackeyedsusan
The Flying Clubhouse: Around the Clubhouse | Amber and Gold #blackeyedsusan
The Flying Clubhouse: Around the Clubhouse | Amber and Gold #leaf
The Flying Clubhouse: Around the Clubhouse | Amber and Gold #tea
The Flying Clubhouse: Around the Clubhouse | Amber and Gold #tea
The Flying Clubhouse: Around the Clubhouse | Amber and Gold #tea
The Flying Clubhouse: Around the Clubhouse | Amber and Gold #tea
The Flying Clubhouse: Around the Clubhouse | Amber and GoldThe Flying Clubhouse: Around the Clubhouse | Amber and GoldThe Flying Clubhouse: Around the Clubhouse | Amber and Gold #spiderIt's currently a beautiful time for wildflowers. Most of them yellow, but some white and purple too. It's the autumn color before the leaves really change. Of course, I've been guzzling lots of tea and also taking photos of tea. I'm not sure if I enjoy nature or still life photography more, but here are both.

The spider in the last photo is not a Halloween decoration, but part of an art piece in a park. I love the creepiness of it and it always makes me think of the Addams family - probably because it's something they would have in their yard. Locally, I've spotted a lot more early Halloween decorations than usual. It seems that people have gotten quite creative with them this year too. We usually keep it simple with just a pumpkin and a little sign to hang on our door, but I love seeing how other people decorate.