Halloween...2012

Our Halloween was pretty low key this year... Believe it or not... I did not make costumes for my kids, and Halloween still happened anyways! (I don't know why I put so much pressure on myself sometimes.)

The kids had fun carving Pumpkins...

They turned out so cute!

My favorite part about pumpkin carving, is roasting the pumpkin seeds...(I have an easy recipe at the bottom of this post)...

And of course we went Trick-or Treating... They went as Ken and Barbie this year...  They really enjoyed creeping people out with their stiff doll poses...







It was so fun seeing all of the different Halloween decorations...

Our night ended watching It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown... a tradition from my childhood that continues on with my kids... And of course eating way too much candy!

So even though my Halloween wasn't very crafty... We still had a fun night... I guess I'm learning sometimes it's nice to take a break...
Happy Halloween!
***Jennifer
P.S. Here is my recipe for roasting pumpkin seeds...
-pre heat oven to 325
-rise off seeds(discard any pumpkin bits)
-pat dry with a towel(you can pour them onto a towel and just let them air dry for a little bit also...)
-meanwhile... spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray
-then add your pumpkin seeds and spread them out
-sprinkle with salt
-cook for 30mins... stirring once half way through... they are ready to eat immediately...

Halloween (^^)

Just a quick hello to say happy Halloween... as promised here are my kids in their homemade costumes...

Let's hear it for Doctor Teeth and Janice from the Muppet Show (Electric Mayhem)...

Hope you had a happy and safe Halloween!
***Jennifer

Ode to the Muppets

So my kids have decided on characters from the Muppet Show... which I loved as a child and thanks to the Internet my kids do too...  since you can not find Muppet costumes in the stores...I of course had to pull it out of my bag of tricks... here's my inspiration, and what I came up with...  Doctor Teeth and Janice from The Electric Mayhem...



First I went to the local thrift shops and found this wonderfully ugly chenille sweater...











Then I cut off the sleeves (leaving the serged seam)... Pinning two strips of ribbon down the center front...







Stitched them in place...

Cutting open the center front... the ribbon acts as a facing (it will not fray past the ribbon edge)...



The vest is complete...

Now to make the hat...

Using this fun feather trim... I pinned it in an S shape to a piece of ribbon to make it look fuller (ribbon is the length of the hat circumference)...

Stitched onto the ribbon...



Pinned and then...

stitched to the inside brim...

 

Add a piece of trim for the beard...



 

With some feather's and more ribbon... the hat is done!

I found most of what I needed my for my daughter at the thrift store...

but Janice needs a hat too...



I pinned loops of yarn (the length I wanted)
to a piece of elastic...



Then stitched in place...



Overlapped the ends... and the hair is done...



Added a flower to the hat and she's complete!

I can't wait to put these on the kids!  We love Halloween... Seeing the different costumes, the candy (of course), and always ending our evening watching It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown... I encourage you to think out of the box for your costumes this year... It doesn't have to be spendy (I spent about $8.25 on my two)... just have fun!

I'll post their complete outfits as soon as I can get them to sit still!

*** Jennifer

***UPDATE***
Here they are in their costumes...