Halloween Flashback

Halloween to me is pure fun! It's when children and adults get to play dress-up and enjoy being silly. Each year, I get a kick out of haunting my house with cobwebs and spiders, and I love creating costumes for my girls. Just when I think "this is the last one..." they still let me have my fun. And although they are getting older, our whole town gets in on the act so it's still okay for teenagers to dress up and beg for candy!

As I mentioned last year, I was tired of trying to sew together elaborate costumes, so whatever I make is mostly from found items in my basement. The picture above is from last Halloween and it's one of my favorites.

My oldest daughter is a "Corpse Bride" and her costume is really just two drapery panels from Ikea that were left over from a job. She wore a white top and leggings, and then I wrapped one drapery panel around her body and simply pinned it in the back. The other panel is used as a veil and was just placed and bobby-pinned onto her head. No cutting and NO sewing. The only thing I purchased were her flowers at Michael's. Once I got them home, I diluted black watercolor paint and brushed the color on in layers to make them look dead--frozen in time. I secured the bouquet with twine and added some Spanish moss for that just dug up, creepy look.

Daughter #2 is my version of "Mother Nature". She's dressed in a brown sweatshirt and leggings. I found some inexpensive grapevine fencing at Michael's and realized I could use all of my nature-inspired Christmas decorations and a few other goodies I had on hand to complete the look. I wrapped her body in the grapevine and then added sprigs of faux berries, branches, and a few snips from my burning bush for color. Her hat... well her hat became my dining room centerpiece for a while I loved that hat so much! I had two twig bird's nests that I layered on top of one another and the affixed a bird into the center. I then attached (yes, with needle and thread) leaves of various sizes and colors all around the outside of the bottom of the nest and literally stuck in more berries, twigs, and leaves until I was satisfied with the results. I then threaded some twine through the bottom so she could tie it to her head. (Every close-up picture I took came out blurry, so simply enlarge the picture above so you can see the details.)

I'm not a big fan of Halloween make-up you can buy in stores (it's like glue), so I just used what was in my own make-up bag. Daughter #1 got a dusting of baby powder and some red lipstick. A bride should look pretty... regardless if she's supposed to be dead, right. Daughter #2 was covered in India Earth powder so her face blended into the background. (Back in the 80's, India Earth was all the rage, and I still have the same jar.)

I hope you enjoyed my costume ideas, and be sure to check out last year's post for even more. I don't know what's in store for this year just yet, but I'll be sure to let you know.