Halloween, nerd style

My husband and I are both nerds, and we're both cool with that.  Mike's nerdier than me, though.
And we love Star Wars.  And I wanted costumes that Mike would get excited about.  So:

{Mike felt like Han Solo probably didn't smile for pictures, so he didn't, either.}

Han Solo, Leia, and our little ewok.  I made/put together most of our outfits myself.  

Mike's wearing a cheap-o Walmart shirt that was the right color under a fishing vest I dyed black (one of my dad's old ones that he said I could have).  He had some navy blue pants already, so I just attached a red ribbon down the sides.  I bought some gaiters at Walmart, but I wish I'd had time to make some- I could have done a much better job.  The holster belt, which you can't really see in this picture, was mostly made of fake suede and spray painted cardboard.  

For the Leia costume, I used a pattern with a high neck as a guideline for the neck and armholes, then just widened it out from there and cinched it with a felt and spray painted cardboard belt, which you can't see.  The collar was easy and totally meant I didn't have to do any type of facing or lining for the top.  

Mim's costume was definitely the toughest.  Turns out, I do not have the skill necessary to work with a fabric that tricky.  I even used my mom's Bernina for most of it and still struggled.  I broke about 8 of her needles, as well.  Uhg.  Three of the four appendage holes were hemmed with hot glue.  Whatever.  It's a costume, not a day to day wear item.  I used a pattern for it- a McCall's one for a lion, tiger, duck, or sheep.  All I really needed to modify was the hood part and then make my own ear shape.  Oh, and I left off the mitts, since I knew that would be a lost cause with Mim anyway.  The leather hood thing was separate- I cut slits for the ears and hot glued that sucker together and left all the ragged edges.  

{One of the most awesome things about Mim's costume is that she really looked like an ewok from behind.}

{A picture of Han's belt- Mike was totally excited when he came home from work and saw it.  It really unbuckles.}

{She was not a huge fan of the costume at first, but once she associated it with candy, she would leave the hood on!}

I hope everyone else had a Halloween that was as much fun as ours!

May the force be with you.

Gettin' spooky up in here

I've never decorated for Halloween before (except for when I was 8 or 9 and I would take a big stack of computer paper, draw pictures of ghosts and pumpkins on every sheet, and then hang them in all the windows) and this still might not count, but at least it's something.

See?
All I did was wrap some branches that I already had up with some fake cobwebby stuff.  It's not much, but I like it.

There's some on top of the piano

 

and some on the mantle.
Maybe next year I'll have Halloween stuff in three places. 

Jack o lantern string lights

Uhg, I am so bugged right now.  I'm looking for a picture of the jars that inspired me, and I cannot find it anywhere.  The one with the frankenstein and the dracula and the pumpkin and the ghost mod podged with tissue paper.  Where ever you are, blogger that did that, I tried to give you credit, I really did.

So, imagine that picture here:


And then this one:

from Amanda at the Hand Me Down House, specifically this post. 
And now this one:

And here's my own little hybrid idea:

Baby food jars, modpodge+food coloring, a sharpie, and a string of Christmas lights.
Ta-da!

There it is (was, I've taken it down).  I don't put up Halloween stuff until October 1st.  I haven't even gotten my fall stuff up, due to stupid pneumonia.
Here's a picture from the process I want to share:

I put the holes in the lid with my rock hammer.  In retrospect, there is probably a much better way to do this.  Like with a drill.  I did improve with the rock hammer, though.  The one on the left is the first one I did (pretty sad, huh?), the one on the right looks more like the majority of them. 

I just like this picture. 


I would love to include some pictures of them with the lights on, but unfortunately the string of lights I used didn't work.  Oh, it worked when I tested it out, but after everything all set to go and I plugged it in, no dice.
And I don't have the energy to climb up into our attic loft and get down another thing of Christmas lights.
Anyway, there you have it- my take on the plastic pumpkin string lights.

**UPDATE**

Thanks to the anonymous commenter that gave me the link to the picture I described.  It was Crazy Domestic!  Of  course!  She's brilliant.  Here's the picture:

 

Here's the post.  I think my favorite is the mummy in the middle.  I love how the tissue strips are all wonky- you know, like the wrappings on a mummy!

An appendix

Thank you all so much for the get well wishes.  They're working!  (Them and the antibiotics, I suppose.)  I'm doing much better (although I still sound awful and need to rest a lot), and I thought I'd post some instructions for those of you who requested them for the vine pumpkin.  It really was so easy, here it is summed up in one picture (that I drew in paint...ummm...it's not great).

It's an incomplete cross section, just enough to show what the vines are doing.  After rubber banding them around the top, you just bend the rest into a circle a few at a time until you've gone all the way around.  I'm hoping once the vines dry in that shape, I can get rid of a lot of the floral tape and the rubber band.
Hope that all made sense- I looked up all the side effects of my medication and hallucinations is on there, so...hmmm. 

I can't wait

For everyone at my house to not be sick. 
To get back in the swing of things at school.
For the leaves to turn.
To make these for Halloween again:

{Owl cookies!}

Mike's grandma (in whose house we now live) passed away about 8 years ago, but she always made these every Halloween before that.  I decided last year that it would be a tradition I would like to carry on, so those in the picture above were my first attempt.  They're adorable and really yummy, too.
In case anyone else wants to give them a shot, here's the recipe:


Owl Cookies:

2 1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 C butter
1 C brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1/4 tsp baking soda

Sift together flour, salt and soda.  Set aside.  Cream together butter and brown sugar.  Add egg and vanilla to creamed mixture and then add dry ingredients gradually.  Add baking soda to melted chocolate.  Remove 3/4 of the dough to a floured surface and knead in chocolate. 

Roll out 1/2 remaining light dough into a 10" x 4 1/4" rectangle.  Shape 1/2 chocolate dough into a roll 10" long and place it on the light dough rectangle.  Roll the light dough around the chocolate dough and mold them together.  Repeat with the second halves of the dark and light dough.  Wrap both rolls in foil and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Remove foil, cut the dough into slices about 1/4" thick.  Join two slices side by side on the cookie sheet.  Place a cashew by the joint for the beak and chocolate chips in the center of the chocolate for the eyes.  Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes.

And that's it.  You have to plan a little ahead, what with the chill time, but they're so worth it. 
Maybe later this week I'll get something new up.  It's hard to say.  I teach at a local university- just a few classes a week, very part time- and I'm always amazed at how much of my time it eats up.  It's fun, though.  Geology is awesome.

Thinking about Halloween...

We love Halloween at my house.  I've never really decorated for it (although I do have plans for it this year), and I'm not a huge fan of all the creepy/scariness, but I do love candy.  And I do love dressing up.  And Mike lets me dress him up (as long as it's a costume he thinks is cool).  I'm super proud of our costumes from last year:

{I made Mike grow out his mustache for a of couple months.}

Mario, Princess Daisy (the yellow and orange dress wearing, brunette version of Princess Peach), and our little toadstool.  The best part of our costumes is that I made them all the night before (I knew what we were going to be for months, but I procrastinated).  Jokes, that's not the best part.  Mim's hat is the best part.
My first idea for this year was to be Mike, Sully, and Boo from Monsters Inc.  When she has her hair in pigtails, Mim looks just like Boo.  We would probably rent a costume for Mike, and then, if I was pregnant, my tummy was going to be Mike Kwasoski.  So, since I won't be pregnant enough at that point (even if I got pregnant immediately, I would only be 2.5 months along).  I just had to share my plan A though, because I think it's such a good idea.  I know we could still do it, but the pregnant belly as Mike was really my favorite part.  Besides Mim being so adorable.
So my plan B:  Princess Leia, Han Solo, and an ewok.  The costumes should actually be pretty easy, I'm thinking.  A huge white dress that I would cinch around the waist with a belt for me, a black vest for Mike (as well as some knee boots- that'll be the hard part to find for cheapies), and then a snow suit-style outfit for Mim made out of some faux fur.  Add in some blasters made from plumbing parts and spray paint, and I think we'll be good.  Except for all the little details.

{Don't worry, it didn't fall over her face, the hole wasn't big enough.  It's just the angle of the camera.}

So, what do y'all think?  Any better ideas out there?  Anyone know where I could get a size 13 knee high boot?  Is it lame that I'm thinking through our Halloween costumes already?  Anybody need to know how to make a huge mushroom top hat?