Tulle & trouble

Another Halloween costume, inspired by the red hat from Target's dollar spot (for $2.50). "I want to be a red witch!" And so here we are. Lots of tuile and netting, layered and gathered. Matching bag, again with gathered tuile.

Ring around the rosie

My second attempt at craft blogging. I can already tell that this is going to be a time-suck, so we'll see how long I sustain it. I commend those who can!

Anyway, I saw this on Pinterest at the beginning of fall and have been obsessed with folding leaves ever since. My second obsession has been Halloween wreaths, and I made more than I had doors. A natural (pun intended) next step was to make a wreath out of the leaf flowers.

Since I'm new to this, I have no photos other than the finished product. The flower tutorial is here, and has plenty of lovely photos. They are very easy to make and are so pretty.

So I made a ton of these roses, and pinned them to a Target Dollar Spot styrofoam wreath. (Snatch some up if you can, as $1 is a bargain. Only problem is that they only come in orange, yellow, and purple, but that was perfect for this project.) I pinned a circle of larger-sized ones first, tucking the stems underneath as I went. (I did not cut the stems till the end.) Then I pinned a row of smaller ones around the center, but facing the opposite direction. And finally did the same around the outer edge, also in the opposite direction. Only then did I cut any stem stragglers, just to clean up the back. I pinned a ribbon to the back for hanging.

It took about an hour to make, probably 2 hours total if you count my initial attempts to tape the flowers to the wreath (floral tape doesn't stick well to $1 Target Styrofoam wreaths) and having to collect more leaves. You need a lot more than you'd think. I think I should spray it with something to preserve the leaves, but i'm not sure what to use. Ideas?

Whooo's that girl?

I love Halloween.  And one of my daughters always challenges me with her costume ideas. One year it was a rolly-polly bug (a pill bug). Last year it was a "cat bat". This year it's an owl. And I can't give any of the credit to Pinterest (shocking!). The wings were from a pattern found on etsy.com (ChickenHill), and the mask from Woman's Day Halloween magazine (DIY Halloween Masks). Yes, I did pin both so I wouldn't forget where I found them, but I found them from good old fashioned looking through magazines and searching the internet.

We also added a bag, using the same feathers, wrapping them all around the bag. It'll be easier to carry than a plastic pumpkin!

Still trying to get the whole family to go as ABBA.  Maybe next year.
(And this is my first post about crafting, so apologies if I'm doing this 'wrong'!)

Pinned

Okay, so one of my co-workers mentioned this “Pinterest” thing to me a few months ago and I was like “Okay- whatever- I’ll check it out when I can.”  (Sorry, Katie.)  And then my neighbor and co-Daisy troop leader Stacy mentioned how she was losing sleep over it.  I still didn’t bite. Then Stacy started sending me links to cool stuff that she’d found. Braided Spaghetti bread?  Mmmm. This does sound good.  Okay, maybe I’ll just take a *quick* look. 

Thanks, Stacy.

Thanks, Katie.

I hate you both.

Wow, do I have some creative friends!  Really, you could get away with just browsing the cool stuff others have found without even waiting for your invitation. (You can’t just join- you have to be invited.  Very exclusive.) Someone needs to pin P90X ‘cos you’ll need it if you actually try everything tasty that’s up here.

I can equate the feeling to the first time I discovered Facebook.  The range of emotions went from 1) There’s no way I’m doing it. 2) Disdain for others doing it. 3) What, you’re on it, too? 4) Can’t figure out the damn thing. 5) Neglecting sleep.

I haven’t quite reached stage 5 but I'm close.

Again, Stacy, I hate you.

Shoot—did I forget to pick the kids up?

Game of Thrones

If you love Lord of the Rings (and you’re over 18) check out Game of Thrones on HBO.  It’s Lion in Winter meets Lord of the Rings meets True Blood. Medieval warfare and fantasy creatures and lots-- and lots-- of sex. HBO went all-out on this series, spending something like $50M. But you can see that in the details.  These are real castles. No green screens and peeks of palm trees in the background. They spent $50M and got their money's worth on location in Ireland. I thank them for that attention to detail, and thank them for renewing it for another season. There are a bunch of books in this series A Song of Fire and Ice by George R. R. Martin, so hope I see a lot more of this on HBO.


Now, don’t get discouraged at the beginning because there are a lot of characters. Here’s a little cheat sheet for the main ones, grouped by the cities we’ve encountered so far. There are seven kingdoms, and we’ve only been exposed (literally) to three.

Kings Landing

• King Robert: chubby guy from The Full Monty
• Queen Cersei: beautiful and vindictive.  Must have read Flowers in the Attic one too many times as a youngster, ‘cos she’s ‘involved’ with her twin brother. I wonder which of her 3 kids aren’t Robert’s.
• Jaime Lannister:  hot twin brother
• Tyrion: from The Station Agent and Elf (angry elf!). Their dwarf brother. Very smart and very horny. Manipulates every situation to his benefit, but sees The Big Picture, and uses his manipulative skills to help where he sees fit. I see an Emmy in his future.

Winterfell:  stronghold of the north, closest city to The Wall

• Ned:  Boromir from Lord of the Rings. Honest & good. Asked by Robert to be his Chief of Staff in Kings Landing
• Catelyn:  Ned’s wife. Looks like Joan Allen’s sister.

Pentos:  city across the sea. The Targaryen family lost the rebellion, and are trying to get the crown back. Hair bleach must be one of their primary exports.

• Viserys:  albino-looking brother. Sells his sister to Drogo (warrior tribe leader) in exchange for using Drogo's warriors to take back the throne.
• Daenerys:  the sister. She didn’t think she was going to like Drogo too much but after a few *helpful tips* from her slave girl, she’s liking their under-the-sheets action (a lot) and realizes she has some power. (I think she was just happy to get him to turn her around. Doggie style must be popular in the kingdom.)

The Wall:  Apparently, this kingdom has some messed up seasons, because it’s been summer for about 8 years and all of the elders are predicting a winter like they’ve never seen. And when winter comes, all sorts of hell breaks loose.


HBO's website is really good, so check it out for maps & more detailed family trees. Get caught up on the episodes so you can watch on Sunday nights.  You'll wish it was two hours instead of one. And you'll have a fine replacement for The Sopranos. This is a lot better.
http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/index.html

The American (YAWN)

Here's another shout out for you.  But it's a warning.  My husband & I watched The American this weekend.  I really wanted to see it (George Clooney!), my husband did it to appease me, and there wasn't anything else on.  Now, I'm all for small, unassuming movies.  But this one assumed that I was an insomniac who was out of Ambien.  BOR-ing.  Two hours that I could have spent playing Angry Birds.  Heck, I would have watched Spongebob for two hours.  Don't get me wrong-- it was a beautifully filmed movie.  George Clooney does pullups with no shirt on.  The Italian scenery is stark and picturesque (and uninhabited, with no traffic- seriously?).  But it went nowhere fast.  That movie poster of George running, with a gun?  Must have missed that part, or wait-- was that what happened in the last 5 minutes?  Do yourself a favor and put Get Low on your Netflix list if you're looking for a small, unassuming movie.  Don't waste your time with this one unless you're out of Ambien.

Hillbilly Whisperer

I have to give a shout-out to FX's Justified.  Wednesday nights at 9pm CST.  This show is in its second season, and it gets better every week.  The premise is this:  good-old-boy Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) is a US Marshall who shoots first and asks questions later.  This gets him into trouble and so he's removed from duty in Miami and sent back to his home state of Kentucky.  You thought Miami had its drug and crime problems, but Kentucky's got 'em too, only with less chrome and neon.  He maintains a relationship with Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), a born-again, soft-spoken bad-boy-with-a-heart-of-gold who has a penchant for blowing things up.  (The show gets its roots from short story "Fire in the Hole" by Elmore Leonard.)  At least, I'm rooting for him to have a heart of gold.  You're never sure from week to week which way he's going to go, and you like him enough to care. 

The writing is quick and smart, like "West Wing" except that the suits are paired up with jeans, and Raylan wears a cowboy hat.  (Believe me, it's HOT.)

Check out the first season on Netflix.  Then get caught up on season two on http://vod.fxnetworks.com/watch/justified.  And then tune in on Wednesdays at 9pm after watching American Idol.  You won't regret it.