Disney Details

One thing I must give Disney credit for is their attention to detail. Halloween is a small little holiday that you really only get to put forth for about a month. Despite that limitation Disneyland goes all out and decorates to the hilt. That attention to detail has lead to a transformation of the month of October. What used to be a very quiet month in Disneyland is now one of the busiest, with the Christmas Holidays still taking the cake. I wanted to share a few photos of those details with you guys. I know I strive to bring charming, meaningful details into my home. Its a season by season, holiday by holiday focus. Some times that means adding layers to what is already there, other times it means stripping it to the bones and beginning a new. Disney does much the same thing in their parks. I definitely found inspiration for next year. I hope you do too. So, with out further ado.

I love how they put the characters in costume and bring out others that we don't normally get to see.

The fun and the scary. The evil witch still sends a shudder thru Miss H's heart.

And their creativity with pumpkins, oh my.

Amazing!

How fun would this be on my back lawn, watching the world go by?

Happy Halloween!

Whew! Boy has it been a whirlwind couple of weeks around here. It has been non-stop since we got back from Disneyland a week ago. The girls have both been working hard on rehearsals and performances. I will have tell you all about it in another post. But first, can I say something? I mean really? Would the time please change already! The darkness is killing me in the morning.

I will have lots more for you over the next couple of days. Our weekend alone could fill pages, not to mention last week, and the week we have ahead of us.  For now I leave you with this.

Porter climbed in our bed this morning. He didn't think we should be getting up before dawn either.

Have a safe, and fun Halloween all!

We're Back...

We had a blast at Disneyland! Who wouldn't? In fact, we had so much fun that we barely remembered to take photos. I will post what I find...'cuz I really want to share this with you guys. Disney really does a fabulous job of staging family friendly Halloween. Isn't that what we all are trying to do with our holiday decor? So many little lessons.

Happy Halloween!

More of Jack

Have you gotten sick of my inspiration photo yet? Okay, a different view then.

This image not only captures a great moment in the life of Captain Jack, but it also shows his basic costume wonderfully. A basic off white pirate shirt, a blue(ish) vest, and knee length trousers make the base. From there we add the waist wrap, belt and boots.

I started with what I could find.  Inspiration...

An off the rack, Halloween costume shirt got tea dyed and torn up a little for effect. 

We couldn't find anything even remotely close to the inspiration. Linen trousers from the clearance rack at Kohl's were dyed and distressed. 

Two weeks of sun, washing, sand paper and a spray bottle of dye gave us the final look. 

Mr. Shawn requested that we keep the length so he wouldn't have issue keeping everything tucked into his boots. Sometimes, comfort comes first. He'll always have the boots on, no walking on a white sandy beach in bare feet for this Jack. Now, the vest took a little more ingenuity. 

Where on Earth am I supposed to find this?! I searched every thrift store in town. No luck. What I did find was a blue men's sport coat. I wish I had a before pic. It really looked nothing like what it does now.

This was my first attempt to use a piece of clothing and morph it into a different piece. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. My seams are anything but pretty, but they work. The only downside is that the cut is now fairly narrow. It looks great on Mr. Shawn but getting his wide shoulders into it is kind of funny. Now the fun stuff. Jack's waist band, belt and effects make his costume. The devil really is in the details. I'll have that for you guys a little later. 

Stay tuned!

My adventure with Jack continues...

This guy has been a labor of love. Mr Shawn has been Jack Sparrow for more Halloween parties than I can recall. Every year we add to the costume or improve something that wasn't quite right or didn't work out. This year, we upped the ante and decided to Jack back to his roots at Disneyland. If you are going to dress as Jack Sparrow in the home of The Pirates of the Caribbean, you better do it right mate! And so the adventure with the costume continues. 

Remember the inspiration...

We covered the hat earlier. Now its about the hair. We have used the same wig for the last three years or so. Its been a good run. I'd love to upgrade it to real hair, but that is EXPENSIVE. Ain't happenin'.

We started with a wig that looked a lot like this.

Pretty goofy looking, isn't it? Well, we needed it to look a bit more like this.

This is what we have.

Again, not perfect, but good enough. Once you get the hat on and the rest of the costume in place, it works. 

Of coarse a real head helps too. At least Mr. Shawn has hair to pin it to this year. In years past, he had a shaved head. Mighty difficult to get a wig like this to stay on a bald head. The afro is much easier.

That's it for today. More tomorrow.

Captain Jack

Inspiration

Yep, I can do that. But how to do it for almost nothing?

Lets start from the top and work our way down, shall we? Painful I know. hehe.

First up, the hat.

This is where we began, but Jack's hat isn't black and it sure doesn't have gold on it, but the shape is spot on and its not flimsy. VERY important when you plan on galavanting across the high seas. This thing has survived the Kracken, remember?

Inspiration...

Like I said, not black and definitely no gold. A little creative painting and we got this.

I couldn't believe how much craft paint the fabric absorbed, it just did not want to cooperate.  I finally called it good enough. Sometimes that works, sometimes not. Mr Shawn is happy, so this time it works. I wish it would have been a little bit lighter. Maybe next year I will tackle it once again. 

Next up? The hair mate.

Ahoy Matey!

Happy Monday!

I still need to process my photos of this year's Halloween Decor, and I will when I get the more pressing Halloween matter taken care of. Costumes! This one has a deadline...

We are leaving Thursday night to party in Disneyland with Mickey and friends. Part of this trip we get to do something we have never done. (No small feat by the way) We are attending the after hours Halloween Party with some of our best friends. One almost tween, three full blown teenagers *all girls*, and their not so grown up parents are all dressing up. We don't get to do this every day :) and plan to take full advantage. So, in our usual can't do anything half way manner, we are going as Jack's crew of scallywags. Pirates for us all. Of coarse, being the competitive types that we are, its a race to be sure our costumes are perfect. But, as always, as cheap as possible. Its safe to say these are not off the rack costumes.

There will be none of this non sense. 

There has been a lot of thrift store shopping trip, alterations and faux painting. I'll have pics of the finished product before we go. And more from in the parks over the weekend.

Mr. Shawn makes one great Jack Sparrow if I do say so myself...

Free Printable

Its been a busy week. How dare life interfere with my well lid plans? Ah well... So, instead of finishing my Halloween decorating and sharing the process with you guys I have the printable for the book craft I gave you a sneak peak of last week.

I don't have a tutorial, sorry. I just went for it! Bad blogger, I know. I hang my head in shame.

Feel free to print, mod podge, burn and glue to your heart's consent. I would LOVE to see what you create! I appreciate seeing my take on a craft inspire you.   

Lost Friend

We lost a dear family friend over the weekend to cancer. Rathman is one of Miss Montana's single litter of puppies over 9 years ago. He was our golden puppy, the only one we kept from the litter. He adopted my mom several years ago, but he will always be part of our pack. We miss you buddy. I hope Steve Jobs is throwing a few tennis balls your way!

I will have more Halloween decor for you tomorrow, if the weather will cooperate. Fall has definitely arrived!

Halloween Entry Gate

We have the most amazing outside entry to our home. The detached office, garage and house create a gated courtyard. When you approach the house you have to go through our front gate before you get to the front door. I really enjoy having multiple areas to stage. Today its all about that front gate and what you see as you approach it. Remember the Enter if you dare... sign? 

Please ignore the empty pots...I have yet to find mums for those guys. That I am willing to pay for anyway.

I love that my shrubs along the garage are still green. This area gets so boring in the winter until its buried under the snow. Speaking of which...Got our first snow this morning.

 But, I'm not ready for winter yet. (Insert whiny voice here) We were in the low 90's last week. Where did my balmy autumn days and crisp fall nights go? Skipped right on by...barely a hello.

Oh well, Halloween goes on. And so does the decorating. 

I'll shush now and let you see what I did to set the stage.

Okay, I don't really know how to shush.

The crows are all from the Dollar Tree. They have been dang handy as of late. The net on the gate is too.

This unfortunate soul has been buried to the left of the gate. 

His partner in crime is a little closer to the street on the right of our gate.

Front porch tomorrow!

Linking up:
Happy Fall Y'all

Just Around the Corner

I know all of us are gearing up for fall, but the other holidays are just around the corner. Check out the new Holiday with Matthew Mead issue for inspiration.

You can watch the video about it all here.

Looks like more excuses to craft, decorate and generally change things up.

Do you love the other holidays too? Or do you wish you could do a Nightmare before Christmas theme from October thru January 1?

Not my Best Multitasking Moment

This is the obstacle that was set in our path. It just wasn't mean to be. Everything was planned. Platters of sushi on the back patio. Kids running around on the grass. Adults enjoying a glass of wine, a beer, or a shot of sake (if you're into that kind of thing). But no. Mother Nature had to send us rainbows! Two of them mind you...And that dark sky? It was scariest of all! Let me tell you the wind howling of the mountains t our west didn't help matters either. Despite the best laid plans we had to move the shin dig indoors. No time for pretty tables or sparkly lights. Or pictures, except this one. By my hubby's best friend. From his phone no less...

Despite the weather we packed 30 peeps into the house, made a mongo amount of sushi and had a grand ol' time. Everyone was well fed and happy. The kids still ran around, with the dogs in tow. And the adult still enjoyed a beverage. And you know what? Nobody noticed the lack of decorating effort. It was all about the important stuff. Family, friends and good food! I call that a good ending to a not so great week. Even if I did slip on the multi tasking front.

I need to send a special thank you to my top referring sites for last month!

http://theletteredcottage.net/

http://www.nestofposies-blog.com/

http://theinspiredroom.net/

Thanks!

Have a Happy Monday!

Enter if you dare...

Have I mentioned that I like to go all out for Halloween? Have I also mentioned I prefer to not spend a lot?  Those two goals tend to clash once in a while. KWIM?

Piece of scrap wood, my printer, and miscellaneous paint to the rescue!

Easy peasy and cost nuthin'.  Do you know what my favorite four letter word is?

FREE!!!!!!

Short tutorial.

Scrap wood. I didn't sand, prime or otherwise do a darned thing to prep it.  I just got a rough coat of random green paint. I think this color is on my exterior doors?

Printed what I wanted to say on my printer. Scribbled on the back of it, and traced the letters onto my painted board. I told you this was easy!

Color between the lines. Actually, that isn't real important either. This really is a close enough for gov't work type paint job.  After everything as dry I sanded it down lightly allowing the grain and splinters of the wood to show through. The side benefit was that my not so perfect lettering job was obscured. I didn't have any major goof ups, but if I did they could easily have been sanded out. So trust yourself. Its fool proof. Really.

I can't wait to show you this guy in his final spot.

Partying at:

http://www.centsationalgirl.com