6th September, 2011 - Posted by ShawnMarie - No Comments
If you need Halloween clip art with a vintage feel then you definitely want to pick up this Dover book which includes a CD ROM and a book so no matter what type of project you are working on this will work out for you.
9th August, 2011 - Posted by ShawnMarie - No Comments
This has to be one of my favorite Halloween costumes ever – a tea bag. I’m still trying to scrounge up my picture of it, but I found the sewing instructions here. You can see a picture of a little girl wearing one here.
Basically it is a large square bag shape worn over the body that has fall leaves in it. The one I saw had a hand drawn tag saying “lipton” on it modeled after the real thing. I thought it was ingenious and definitely doable for most folks.
8th August, 2011 - Posted by ShawnMarie - No Comments
Photo from Family Fun
I’m always on the lookout for cards that look great but don’t take much time. Here is one that needs no supplies other than a color printer with paper and scissors (or an exacto knife.) Family Fun has a printable bat pop-up card that takes only minutes to make and looks really neat when done.
You can find the downloadable pattern here.
It is a two page print, first page is the card piece and second is the instructions. A heavier cardstock will make a more sturdy card but you may have more trouble with the folds. Try using the edge of a ruler to help with that.
8th August, 2011 - Posted by ShawnMarie - No Comments
Little Red Riding Hood (a cape can do wonders!)
OK, it is the day before your kid’s Halloween party at school (or Fall Festival as they are called around here now) and you don’t have a costume yet. You have no idea where to go to get a costume and you don’t want to spend a lot of money and you have limited time or skills to make one. Trust me, it happens all the time but you still have time to whip up something great.
Here are my five top websites for finding cheap, easy Halloween costume ideas:
- Costume Idea Zone - Gosh I love this website. There are so many ideas here that you actually can do the night before Halloween and have a kid who looks great – or an adult! I think one of my favorite sections on the website is “Five Costumes You Probably Already Own.” Check it out!
- Goodwill Halloween Headquarters – This website makes my list not so much because of what it shows online, but what you should be thinking of when you look at it. Thrift stores of all kinds are treasure troves of costume fodder. From oversized clothes for clowns to decades old originals, you can do it all here and for next to nothing!
- The Daily Green – This website is all about reducing, reusing and recycling. Halloween costumes are great for doing that and they have some totally fun examples including my personal favorite – the Etch a Sketch.
- Better Homes and Gardens – This is an article about easy kids costumes and some of them are easy, some are not. The Picasso in Training costume I think qualifies pretty well as does Grandpa Gus.
- Coolest Homemade Costumes – This site is an aggregate of photos of different costumes – lots of them. While not the best for directions on how to make costumes, you certainly will have no shortage of examples of what you could make.
1st September, 2010 - Posted by ShawnMarie - No Comments
I subscribe to this magazine right now so this was my first Halloween issue this year – yeah! I was excited to look inside the magazine because I just love the haunted house card on the cover. Love the black against the colored background.
Here’s what made me go “oooooooo” inside this issue:
- Love BoBunny’s “Whoo-ligans” ad on page 7. Since I love owls and Halloween it does not get better than this for me.
- There is an amazing Halloween card with trees on page 15 (Well, minus the flower) that was in last years magazine. A librarian turned it into the inspiration for a mural in her library.
- Paper Pleating is featured on pages 26-28 and it looks easy and gives a lot of dimension to cards.
- The card on the cover I like is on page 31 and was made by Kim Kesti. She used a circle punch for the background colors but I think you could cut it freehand in a wavy pattern and still get a good result – or use the wave pattern on your Creative Memories 12″ pattern or whatever you have.
- My favorite card in their Halloween collection (the cover card not included) is the spooky bats card by Becky Olsen. It involves very long thin bats which look really creepy – in a good way.
- The bat sticker from K & Company on page 41 is just the cutest… it has wee tiny little teeth and uneven sized eyes. You can see some of his brothers and sisters here.
- In addition to owls, I love plaid so the Halloween card on page 54 designed by Heidi Sonboul is just great. Simple to construct and good looking it definitely will go on my to-do list.
- Candy corn alert on page 61, the Spooky Sweets Card by Betsy Veldman has a candy corn border. I like the text part of this card but overall am not crazy about it. It was part of the article on embossing.
- The happy fall card on page 60 by Kelly Marie Alvarez is adorable, lots of visual movement with the tiny trees. Neat.
- The Thanks card on page 65 has a paper I really like. It is from Domestic Goddess. Couldn’t find it online. <sigh>
- There is a card simply titled “Orange Birthday Card” designed by Natasha Trupp on page 66 that I keep coming back to. It is so simple and the rounded geometric shapes take me back to the 7os.
That’s about it for what I liked. Paper Crafts has some downloadable Halloween sayings for cards. You can find those here.
31st August, 2010 - Posted by ShawnMarie - No Comments
Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween
has a great cover, completely black with an orange/red title. Awesome.
My love for the book continues on till the end. David J. Skal has written a lot on the erie and evil so it is no wonder he got the social history of Halloween right on.
Some great black and white photos in this one and an incredibly readable account of Halloween and how it affects the public and how it has been affected by the public. I just love the part in Chapter 1 when he talks about (It’s a Good Thing) Martha Stewart and her takeover of this evil holiday.
I have to admit that I myself prefer a “kind” Halloween rather than a “fire and brimstone” one so the kids can be interested too, but I do know where the origins of this holiday lie and find it immensely fascinating.
This book is an amazing read if you love the holiday and an even better one if you just “don’t get” what all the fuss is about. You’ll understand after you finish the book.
I give this book 10 candy corns out of 10. To add it to YOUR library, click here: Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween
31st August, 2010 - Posted by ShawnMarie - No Comments
Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night
is a more modern Halloween history book that covers Halloween from the Celtic period to post 9/11/01.
While this book contains a ton of historical information and a few pictures, it has an overwhelmingly negative tone to me – as if the author doesn’t really approve of Halloween and just wrote the book to collect some facts.
The book is easy to read, the content is accurate and thorough and the exploration of Halloween in a post 9/11 world is unique at this time. I just really didn’t like the book. I urge you to read it for yourself to see if YOU like it.
I give it 6 out of 10 stars due to the great content and because someone else might really enjoy it. If you’d like to add it to YOUR library, click here: Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night
31st August, 2010 - Posted by ShawnMarie - No Comments
Halloween Other Festivals: Death And Life
is a group of 12 essays put together by editor Jack Santino that cover various celebrations of death in different cultures.
The book contains an odd mix of frightful artwork and fascinating recounts of celebrations old and new in honor of this ever more famous day of death. As the back cover states “the essays in this volum also suggest that there is something ironic and unsettling about the immense popularity of a holiday whose main images are of death, evil and the grotesque.”
But really, is good and beautiful so fascinating? Not in my book. If you prefer to read about the dark side of things this book will show you how other people celebrate the dead in details that will both disturb and interest you.
This is a hard core study edited by a professor and as such contains numerous annotations and references. While there is no question it is a great reference piece it is just not very reader friendly. You will have to work to get through this one – but in my opinion, if you want to know what real Halloween holidays are like it is worth the work.
I’m giving this one 5 candy corns out of 10, not because it isn’t brilliantly full of good info and wicked little details, just because it is so hard to get through the book to find them! If you want to add it to YOUR library, click here: Halloween Other Festivals: Death And Life
31st August, 2010 - Posted by ShawnMarie - No Comments
Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History
is a fascinating book about the history of Halloween in America. Lesley Pratt Bannatyn begins with the traditional Celtic history of the holiday and follows it to America all the way through to the 20th Century. The book even has a colony by colony breakdown of Halloween activities during the Colonial period.
With black and white photos throughout the book and the occasional recipe for Holiday fare, this is a very readable book on my favorite subject. If you have a middle shool student doing a paper on the history of Halloween this is THE book to get them for reference material.
Be aware this is a social history book and it is not a book of crafts or costumes – though those items are discussed as part of the historical review.
One of the best Halloween references I’ve ever read, I give Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History 9 candy corns out of 10. If you’d like to add it to YOUR library, click here: Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History
31st August, 2010 - Posted by ShawnMarie - No Comments
The Halloween Handbook: 447 Costumes
is the perfect book if you are looking for an adult Halloween costume but can’t come up with any ideas. From Aladdin to a Used Car Salesman, there is something here for everyone.
The book contains mostly black and white photos and very few instructions on how to actually pull of the costumes, but the idea bank of possibilities is definitely worth checking into.
The Halloween Handbook: 447 Costumes also covers the history of Halloween, recipes, makeup and detailed information on TV, Movie and Historical characters you might want to convert into costumes. Many of the costume ideas would be good for children as well (avoid the “come hither” chapter though.)
For someone wanting ideas this book gets 10 candy corns out of 10. For someone needing patterns or instructions the book gets a 3 out of 10. I’ll average it out to a 6. If you want to add it to YOUR library, click here: The Halloween Handbook: 447 Costumes
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