My Life in Pumpkins

Until Next Year...

2009-11-02T19:53:00.001-05:00

Annnd, that's the end of the countdown. :( Technically we ended up with a lot more than 31 posts, even though we missed quite a few days by the end there. Thanks to all who read and commented (or read and didn't--I feel ya, lurkers). Hope you all had a great Halloween. Can't wait until next year's countdown!

A few pics from our Halloween party decor after the jump (along with the great E.T. pumpkin Laura carved, pictured above.)

And many more small corners, not pictured here. :)

Costume Closet 21: The joke's on you--I'm not even a real blond!

2009-10-27T11:01:00.000-04:00

I was doing a makeup test for a possible Harley Quinn costume and thought it might fit here, not-blond hair and all.

The proportions are kind of off. I think next time I would make the mask bigger, especially under the eyes and a little above the brow.

I also want to apologize for the MySpace type of pictures here (and the overuse of the contrast function, haha). Laura's normally the photographer for all of the pictures on this blog, and she always makes me look good. This is what happens when I'm lent the camera!

A few more pics after the jump, as always.

Costume Closet 20: Little Red All Growed Up

2009-10-25T02:19:00.000-04:00

My mom thought I looked more like a vampiress than a Red Riding Hood type of character...oh well. I pulled this one out of the bottom of the closet, where I had completly forgotten about the red bodice and skirt someone gave me to use as scrap fabric. I never did, since it was polyester, but with a few size adjustments I think it could actually be pretty useful for a costume.

The gorgeous lace hooded cape was also a gift, but one I'd picked out myself from an Ebay store a long time ago. I've never really found the best use for it.

Pumpkin Life 16

2009-10-25T02:08:00.001-04:00

Temporarily taking over the pumpkins for Laura, here. She's bogged down with schoolwork this week, but we still have a few blank pumpkins waiting for designs so I thought I'd try my hand. As you can see, I come from the school of sloppy detail, so my work isn't as polished-looking as Laura's!

This design was based off of Maleficent from Disney's The Sleeping Beauty, during the sequence in which she becomes a dragon. The neck part of the body simply wraps around the back in a bunch of spiral arm-looking things.

Costume Closet 19: All Washed Up

2009-10-25T01:53:00.001-04:00

Here is a second type of pirate, this time using my own costume. Originally, I wanted it too look like I'd been in some sort of gunfight or shipwrecked. I did some degree of distressing on the clothes to make them look worn, although I'd probably do a bit more now for a stronger effect.

This costume was made at the same time as the other pirate outfit for a Renaissance faire. It was definitely one of the worst sewing projects ever, since I had to make 3 costumes in a fairly short period of time (and made some hilariously bad mistakes at the last minute. My personal favorite was me altering the trouser pattern to better fit a female body, then forgetting to change the pattern back when I had to make one for a guy. Haha oops.)

Pumpkin Life: 15

2009-10-23T00:31:00.003-04:00

I do have a special affection for the Tim Burton stripes. Not in the current Hot Topic sort of way, but what can you do? So I did this simple pumpkin, but I think it does make a statement. The pumpkin I used was white too so it was nice and easy for me.

The pumpkins all together look kind of cool with all the different sizes and colors. I should try and take a photo of the whole group just to show.

Tacking up the decorations--finally!

2009-10-22T23:52:00.000-04:00

In this house we always end up miraculously broke around Halloween time, so recently we started going for more "budget" type of decorations. Really budget, like made-of-construction-paper budget. This is one of my favorites, a silhouette pantry I made last year. It didn't quite go back together exactly the same this time, but I think it does a decent job of dressing up a plain white refrigerator.

Costume Closet 18: Talkin' 'Bout Coraline

2009-10-21T23:31:00.001-04:00

Today I tried to do a version of Coraline...you know, if she were old. I had been looking for something to do with the blue wig that wasn't its original use (Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury cosplay from a looooong time ago). It kind of looks like Coraline if she got a really bad haircut...or was starring in a 90s Nickelodeon show.

The hat is from the 90s and awesome, but has never been seen the light of day before. :( I love hats, but nobody here wears them!

Closeup after the jump.

My freckles don't show that well here--must be fading for winter.

Costume Closet 17: Old Hollywood

2009-10-19T14:23:00.001-04:00

(This is what the hair looked like when I took the pins and wave clips out--after nine hours, ha!)

So here we have a bit of old Hollywood glamor that's a little more 1920s than anything else. The dress came from Windsor, I think, and I bought it for a costume party a while back (did not do such awesome hair and makeup then, though.) The makeup is really quite heavy--lots of eyeliner and gray/green shadow, baby pink blush, thin eyebrows, and a Cupid's bow mouth that exaggerates the poutiness.

Closeup of the makeup and hair after the jump, along with some hilarious pictures of the hair brushed out (for the look of a few decades later...)

Makeup closeup (this look really illustrates how crooked my face is, haha):

The hair brushed out and looking crazy (my sister says it's more drunk):

Yeah, I was cracking up over it.

Costume Closet 16: Grandma's goin' out, dears

2009-10-19T14:08:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the delay, all (three days?? Yikes.) Definitely failing at the daily post thing this week!

I was setting my hair to do the next costume and couldn't resist using the hair set itself for a costume. So what do you think--someone's crazy grandma, a flapper hanging out in her skivvies, or Ms. Hannigan?

I feel like I should've had a cigarette here. :( Curse you, healthy habits.

Pumpkin Life: Day 14

2009-10-16T02:03:00.002-04:00

This pumpkin/gourd had a few people helping with the ideas. I was going to make a pac man ghost with the pumpkin at first, but my mother insisted that it had to be Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean (though she couldn't actually remember his name). I still wasn't completely sold, but Michelle agreed that it could be cool and so I did it. It's all done with acrylics, and took me a bit of getting used to the technique.

The hat was totally my idea. I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing. Davy Jones needed a hat and I didn't really know how I could make a hat like from the movies. So I went all old school and did a newspaper pirate hat instead. I think the result is pretty hilarious.

Pumpkin Life: Day 13

2009-10-16T01:58:00.002-04:00

I kind of like my bird theme. I like the silhouette on the interesting green pumpkin on this one. I saw this pumpkin at the store and really dug the colors and patterns. The stem is pretty cool too. I guess I don't have a whole lot to say about this one, since it's pretty simple.

Costume Closet 15: Retro Pro

2009-10-16T01:54:00.000-04:00

This costume is supposed to resemble a 1940s/50s professional woman, and was based a little off the Bruce Timm designs for Harley Quinn when she's a doctor. If only I could make my hair temporarily blond...

The makeup here is the same as the previous shoot, only I swapped out the pink lippy for this amazing bright red 80's Revlon color (they sure do not make lipstick that creamy anymore) and darkened up the eyebrows for a sharper look.

A picture without the glasses after the jump (as they were makin' me blind.)

Costume Closet 14: Mad Women

2009-10-16T01:45:00.000-04:00

This costume is inspired by all the lovely 1960s fashions worn by Betty Draper on Mad Men, one of my regular shows that I always seem to have to defend to people. I tried to keep the makeup simple like on the show; it's just black liquid eyeliner on the top lid only, mascara and a horrible pink lipstick that can only come in handy for retro shoots. The dress came from a thrift shop and was a really lucky find for a production of Grease when I was young.

Pumpkin Life: Day 12

2009-10-15T15:24:00.002-04:00

I did another funny pumpkin. This is the "logo" I guess of the British comedy show The Mighty Boosh that also gets shown on Cartoon Network (at like 1 AM on Sunday or something). It's a crazy show, but pretty funny if you can understand their accents. I think I did a decent rendering of it, but it's not like it was all that hard to do or anything. I'm trying to catch back up on my days here. It's difficult because I am extremely lazy!

Costume Closet 13: Back From Davy Jones's Locker

2009-10-14T15:38:00.000-04:00

(Am I getting close to being on schedule yet? No?)

Here we are back with the Rennie costumes again, this time as a creepy, possibly dead pirate. I made this one for Laura a while ago to replace a crummy older version of it that had gotten wrecked by the rain. The patterns for this costume came from Reconstructing History. The boots and excellent Jack Sparrow hat came from online stores I can't remember, and the sword came from a faire vendor.

Costume Closet 12: The Ghost With the Most Makeup

2009-10-14T15:24:00.000-04:00

This pale Victorian spectre was mainly an excuse for me to test out the Ben Nye clown white makeup, which actually gives pretty good coverage without using too much of it. The texture is decent, too, although I haven't quite got the hang of making it look smooth. This was just one layer, intended to give a slightly ghostly cast. (Why no, I wasn't too lazy to cover the rest of my skin...)

The dress is a Victorian bodice, skirt and petticoat I made a few years ago using historically accurate patterns from Truly Victorian (the gothy burgundy and black polyester I used is not so historically accurate.) I also have made corsets from their excellent patterns, but can't wear 'em anymore so I tried to fake the shape a little here.

Picture of the rest of the dress after the jump.

Pumpkin Life: Day 11

2009-10-13T23:37:00.002-04:00

I absolutely love blue pumpkins. Or are they gourds? Whatever, they're awesome, and naturally I didn't want to cover a lot of the pumpkin color up. So this is my Cinderella pumpkin. In a creepy way, I hope. I had fun doing the mouse/rat silhouette. I'm not sure if you can tell that on the right is a voodoo doll/pincushion. It's kind of my take on the mice sewing Cinderella the dress (in the Disney version). Honestly, I'm not completely sold on this pumpkin myself, but I guess doing 31 pumpkins I'm going to run into this problem sometimes.

Costume Closet 11: Not Slytherin?

2009-10-12T01:37:00.000-04:00

Back in the day when I was a fan of Harry Potter and had yet to be disappointed by the direction the series took, I was admittedly more into the Slytherin students/alums. I'm fond of a lot of random characters now, but I kind of miss the old days of speculation.

Half of this costume, too, came out of Laura's stuff, but since I made it...

Costume Closet 10: Breathe in Through Your Eyeballs...

2009-10-12T01:25:00.000-04:00

...and out through your diaphragm, says eccentric fortune teller based on the past life therapist from Roseanne episode "Pampered to a Pulp."

This costume is pretty basic, and most of it comes from Laura's closet. Just a bunch of silver jewelry, scarves, a sparkly gypsy skirt (not pictured, since the closeups were funnier), and some slightly batty makeup.

Costume Closet 09: Gangster

2009-10-12T01:19:00.000-04:00

Old student theater costumes never seem to leave me. This terrible lime-green suit came from a thrift store during a year that I needed something for Guys and Dolls (best time I ever had being in the ensemble part of a cast--guys always get the fun roles, I swear.) The hat is a cheap costume prop, probably from whatever store iParty used to be.

Pumpkin Life: Day 10

2009-10-12T00:21:00.002-04:00

This pumpkin is a little different. It is a character from the webcomic No Rest For the Wicked. It's basically a comic that takes fairy tales and twists them to the creepiest possible conclusion. It's excellent. This character is the Little Red Riding Hood type character, who carries a large axe. The pumpkin itself is part painted and part done with a permanent marker. I think it captures the spirit of the character.

Costume Closet 08: Irma Vep

2009-10-11T22:06:00.001-04:00

Running a little late on the costumes this weekend, so I'll be posting four today. This first one is Irma Vep, femme fatale from the 1915 French film series Les Vampires, as played by actress Musidora. She's probably the only woman I've ever seen in a movie who I actually look like.

For this costume I mainly focused on the makeup, wearing no foundation and darkening the lips, eyes and eyebrows to resemble the crazy amounts of makeup needed in early silent films. The jacket and belt are, of course, not quite period, but hopefully they evoke a little of the "teens" style.

One more shot after the jump.

Pumpkin Life: Day 9

2009-10-11T17:06:00.002-04:00

Again, sorry for the delay in posts. I often times have the pumpkins all done and ready but no time to upload pictures and post.

This little one is my Cheshire Cat pumpkin. It was perfect for the stripes because it's actually kind of an unusually shaped pumpkin. Gives it a sense of whimsy, you know. Painting stripes on a pumpkin is pretty relaxing even though you'd think it wouldn't be.

Pumpkin Life: Day 8

2009-10-09T00:53:00.002-04:00

This is my hilarious pirate pumpkin. Complete with bandana and everything. I sort of like him, particularly his teeth-baring expression. He fits in well with my "silly" group of pumpkins. Now I have to think about what strange characters I can do next. Any ideas?

Pumpkin Life: Day 7

2009-10-09T00:41:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday.

I found this cool yellow pumpkin at a local store. I didn't want to change the look of it too much because I liked it, so I did a simple design on it, some crows flying away. I want to go back and get some more pumpkins from the same place-- they had a pretty cool selection.

I demand more Halloween from TV this year

2009-10-08T16:37:00.001-04:00

One thing I've noticed that TV shows don't really do anymore are holiday episodes--if anything, they do a Christmas or winter-themed show, but that's about it. (Or at least they don't do GOOD Halloween episodes anymore. I've definitely seen some clunkers in recent years.) A few past favorites:

Roseanne: all of the Halloween episodes, even the crazy Absolutely Fabulous crossover. I loved hearing Roseanne in the DVD commentary talking about how no one did Halloween on TV at the time because it offended people (and how stupid she thought it was.) My favorite is a tie between the one where she's trying to outprank odious neighbor Kathy, and the original haunted house episode. Man, the costumes were always ace on this show.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 2: ("Halloween") Heck, this whole show is about vampires, and they still did a Halloween episode. That's joy, right there.

Xena, Season 2: ("Girls Just Wanna Have Fun") Just for the fact that it's Xena, a show that does not take itself seriously at ALL.

I mean, I'm not looking for a show like Lost to do a theme episode--although it would be hilarious. The sitcoms, they have no excuse for being so dull. Even reality shows do Halloween!

Costume Closet 07: Medieval Lady Redux

2009-10-07T15:28:00.000-04:00

Two in a row today since I was too lazy to upload one last night.

This Renaissance Faire dress is actually a mystery. It turned up magically at our house one day, along with a dressform and wig stand. Someone had tossed them into the back of my father's pickup truck, along with the other junk he had in there that was ready to go to the dump. The weirdest thing was that someone had pinned the dress up as if they were going to alter it...and the alterations they had pinned would have made the dress exactly my size. Spooky.

Costume Closet 06: Marie Antoinette

2009-10-07T15:19:00.000-04:00

Technically, this Marie Antoinette costume comes out of Laura's closet, but I made it so it still counts. :P

The dress was made a few years ago from the Mill Farm robe polonaise pattern, and consists of a separate skirt, hip pads, and a steel-boned bodice with an attached overskirt. I used a great brocade from this eBay seller I seem to no longer be able to find, along with cheap lace from JoAnn's and a stunning taffeta. Which I ruined. By running it through the wash before using it, so that all the glue disappeared. Yeah, I don't know. Moment of stupidity.

There's a picture of the dress in full after the jump. As it wasn't made for me, it doesn't fit precisely.

Pumpkin Life: Day 6

2009-10-07T14:13:00.002-04:00

I have no excuse for this pumpkin. I just made it the Count on a whim. He's sort of Halloween-related right? Don't answer that.

Anyway, I just glued a nose on him and painted him with acrylics. At least it sort of looks like him.

Costume Closet 05: Greaser

2009-10-06T00:42:00.000-04:00

Well, female version of a greaser, anyway. I almost wanted to go for the T-Bird look, but this makeup ended up being more fun. Lessons learned: liquid eyeliner is best applied with a plain ol' angled artist's brush, not those awful applicator tips that come attached.

The costume itself is an 80's throwback jacket I may or may not be currently in love with, worn with just a black shirt and jeans so I didn't bother with full length photos. Hair is a messy pomp with the rest pulled back.

Most of the makeup job comes from one of AskMeMakeup's video tutorials. Another photo after the jump, because I dug it just that much.

Pumpkin Life: Day 5

2009-10-05T23:46:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite themes for Halloween decorations is birds. In the Hitchcock kind of way. Black silhouettes of birds covering a room really set a creepy mood perfect for Halloween. Or something. I just like them. So, this pumpkin is my bird pumpkin, and I'm actually fairly satisfied.

I like my Halloween movies soft...with a spoon in them

2009-10-05T22:35:00.002-04:00

I'm a lot more into the campy fun movies than horror when it comes to Halloween, so my tastes may be slightly suspect. Classic horror? Sure. I'm into The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula and Lon Chaney stuff as much as anyone. Maybe I'm just more attracted by the occult aspect than the blood and zombies. For some reason, though, I never seem to end up watching any sort of horror movies around Halloween. The usual suspects?

90's teen occult movies: The Craft, Practical Magic (okay maybe that's not so much a teen movie), Buffy the Vampire Slayer

90's family movies: Hocus Pocus, Double Double Toil and Trouble (oh shush), The Addams Family & sequel, emphatically NOT Halloween Town...

Older movies: Elvira, Disney's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (the ending is full of nightmare fuel), It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

Movies I don't own but would totally add: Clue, Bell, Book and Candle, Beetlejuice, The Witches, The Worst Witch.

Pfft, this is an awesome list, I don't care what anyone else says.

Costume Closet 04: Buffy Summers

2009-10-04T23:46:00.001-04:00

Today's costume also comes from another 90's television show, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, which aired during the days of camisoles, miniskirts and seriously vampy makeup (no pun intended.)

This Buffy Summers look comes more out of season one (again, the most watchable along with season two), mainly because I am not blond, and neither is SMG at that point. Couldn't quite get the kind of hair she's got after being out in the rain all day (professional stylist help, I sure need it.)

The makeup here was surprisingly easy, and I magically seemed to still have all of my old stuff from the 90's (hurray for brown lipstick?) Took forever to get it all off, though. You can't quite see how much there is here, so there's a closeup after the jump.

Pumpkin Life: Day 4

2009-10-04T23:38:00.003-04:00

On this one I really considered making the pattern the one Charlie Brown has on his shirt. Another time, perhaps. This pumpkin is another one with just black paint, but I feel like it has some sort of Halloween spirit. I'm going to try and do some more interesting backgrounds for my photos. My apologies for the dull pictures.

Pumpkin Life: Day 3

2009-10-04T00:49:00.002-04:00

Today I went with just plain silly. Expect a lot of that, by the way. But I do like my little pumpkin witch, she has an attitude problem. I'm thinking about doing a whole group of similar little pumpkins like a werewolf, a vampire, a skeleton, etc to be her little evil friends. I think the cutesy stuff can have charm sometimes.

I'm chomping at the bit to start carving pumpkins, but I know that I just can't. So I've been saving up ideas for when I do start, and some are pretty ambitious. We'll see how I do.

Costume Closet 03: Roman...something

2009-10-04T00:45:00.001-04:00

The theme continues with a Roman lady or goddess of some kind that would be right at home on a kitschy 90's fantasy show (not Xena...then there would be armor.)

This costume I made a while ago for a presentation on clothing in Ancient Rome. My professor wanted to know why I hadn't gone the usual bikini slave girl route. I think I'll stick with looking regal, thanks.

Costume Closet 02: Prue Halliwell

2009-10-04T00:38:00.001-04:00

Okay, so it's Day 3 (or 4??) and I'm already off the schedule. So I'll be posting two costumes in a row to make up for it.

Here I've busted out the "vintage" clothes to put together a look familiar to those of us into late 90's occult T.V. shows. This costume is based on Charmed back when it was still watchable (i.e. before Season 4...and if I'm really truthful, before Season 2!) I know the hair's too light for Prue Halliwell, and isn't quite the style, but hey, it's not too shabby for stuff I pulled out of the closet!

Pumpkin Life: Day 2

2009-10-03T00:46:00.002-04:00

The movie Coraline was a godsend for this project. My ideas for Halloween decorations sometimes get stale, but that movie gave me a lot of options for this year. Can anyone say the other mother's creepy arm? (Stay tuned.)

Anyway, sometimes simple pumpkins are good. Black paint can do wonders, especially when you procrastinate and don't have much time to do anything fancier. My first bunch of pumpkins are going to be painted because I'm hoping that'll make them last until Halloween. Don't crush my dreams.

Pumpkin Life: Day 1

2009-10-02T02:19:00.000-04:00

Filling in for Laura at the moment to post the first of her pumpkin designs. This stripey Cinderella was painted using lace as a stencil and black spraypaint. You can see the lace detailing in the closeups below.

Speaking of pumpkins, does there seem to be a total lack of choices out there for anyone else? I was a little shocked to find only one place around here selling smaller pumpkins and gourds right now. Can't use big pumpkins for all thirty-one!

Michelle's Costume Closet 01: Medieval Lady

2009-10-01T17:04:00.001-04:00

Okay, so I have too many costumes. Too many as in an entire closet full--and the closet is BURSTING. Some are nice, some on the crummy side, and I'll be piecing together a few new ones just for fun (don't judge.) I...don't think I'll have any problems filling up 31 days.

Today's costume is a Renaissance Faire type of medieval lady.

Cue serene! expressions! from me there. At least I didn't post the terrifying Galadriel-looking one? The dress came from an eBay store, though I can't remember which. I wore it once to a Faire. The lovely headdress came from a Faire vendor. As for hair and makeup, I kept it simple--light lip stain, mascara, blush. No foundation--looks more classical that way.

Detail photos of the headdress and dress after the jump.

Next time: Who knows?

A Day Need Not Be Halloween to Be Haunted

2009-10-01T10:52:00.005-04:00

Ask any random person on the street what their favorite holiday is, and you're overwhelmingly likely to get "Christmas!" (possibly followed by gift-anticipation drool) for an answer. Or perhaps "Thanksgiving," for those with fond food and family memories. Me, I'm not a Christmas person nor a Thanksgiving person, and neither is my sister Laura. Cheer and goodwill, what? Bah humbug. Give us a holiday that's frivolous!

At our house, this year's theme is Halloween Every Day, inspired by last year's utter fail of a Halloween Day. Taking the whole month to celebrate means it won't matter if something annoying comes up on the 31st (which seems to never happen on holidays we don't like. I have my suspicions!) We want to try injecting a little bit of Halloween into each day. Laura's set a goal for herself of 31 pumpkin designs, inspired by our own little backyard pumpkin patch (as pictured.) I'll be donning 31 costumes out of my ridiculous collection of junk, in addition to posting plenty of craft ideas, links and more.

So stay tuned for a month of pumpkin life from two cranky sisters with a mission--our excuse to blog about something fun!