What Ana Does

Halloween in Paris has been quite an experience. This is my favorite holiday to decorate for but there's not a cobweb or over-sized spider in my entire apartment.  In fact, I thought the entire holiday would pass us by, but the girls are always discussing Halloween costumes, starting in November for the following year, and they'd find some reason to wear them. Which they did.  The American Library in Paris hosted a halloween party on Saturday evening, with some "cool" teen events. They even got a few local businesses involved so the kids could "trick or treat." So, we found a local fabric store and crafted-up some costumes. Leah was Ms. Marvel using an old dress and some cool, shiny fabric. Alice was a woodland elf with fake ears I found on Amazon. It took a bit of time, but you know I love making costumes.  They turned out cute! And they were able to wear them to school on Friday and show them off to their friends.  An Elf and a Super ...

Every Halloween, we throw a party. It's really just an excuse for me to create centerpieces and eat M&Ms. But conversing with out adults around my island is a huge bonus. And the girls get added time to celebrate this holiday and run off their sugar highs with friends. Here are some pictures: Creepy! The Graveyard Outside My Door Everyone's Doing It! The Vomiting Pumpkin! Centerpiece We Had a Fancy Witch and a Disco Union Jack Bast from the past: 1st Annual Halloween Party , and 2nd Annual (2014) Halloween .  

I was a princess AND a ballerina. And I'm pretty sure my Mom made this costume, even though my baby sister would have been 1 month old. (How Did She Do It All?!) And I hope I didn't give her too much of a hard time about the white turtleneck. Halloween 1979 Also, that's my Great-Grandpa Jack looking very impressed by my costume in the background. He lived up the street and seemed to enjoy the chaos of my little family. I believe my older sister was a clown. Also a handmade costume. Related links: More History posts 

While I was getting my craft-on, our house was turned into the ocean with this little mermaid swimming around. I made that skirt last year at the request of Alice who is in love with mermaids. Seems to be holding up well. My Littlest Mermaid Side note: Though she loves mermaids, she has no interest at all in swimming lessons this winter. None. Related Post: Sewing the mermaid tale tail

Leah's Rendering of Costumes In the town we live in, they DECIDE when Halloween trick-or-treating takes place. And it's not on Halloween. Oh no, it's far too dangerous in this very rural suburb to let kids walk around subdivisions in the dark. Sigh. So, on Sunday we celebrated Halloween by trick-or-treating at 3pm in the afternoon. We got a sunny, 60degree day. And the streets of our neighborhood were littered with Elsas and superheroes. Leah went as a witch . I made her skirt and pinned on the shawl, belt and bustle. We bought the hat and broom. She was dead-set on finding boots -- which she did at Old Navy. I wanted to do more make-up, but she only allows eyebrow enhancement. We found Alice's costume in a catalog. We had to vote on it, since she liked two different outfits -- shiny mermaid and Little Red Riding Hood . We all voted for Little Red. (I looked into buying the velvet to make the cape myself but it was almost as expensive as the costume.) There ...

A wizard and an owl hit the neighborhood up for candy on Sunday. So, everyone thought Leah looked like a turkey. I should have re-thought the color choices for the wings. Good news is, if anyone wants to be a turkey for Halloween next year, I'll be prepared. Knock Knock! On the Road to More Candy  Selfie -- Having Fun! Then is was back to the house for the Halloween Bash! (More on that later.)

This weekend we had some special guests from New Jersey -- Grandma and PopPop! It was a great visit and a very busy weekend. We went on the Jelly Belly factory tour, had brunch at Wildberry, Grandma watched ballet practice and we gave a quick driving tour of downtown Chicago with lunch at Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinders. YUM! I'm still full. Mermaid Tail - Pining Meanwhile, I'm still sewing costumes! I finished Leah's owl tutu -- so I think her Halloween ensemble is now complete. Then Alice got into her head that she wants to be a mermaid, using some shiny, scale fabric she spotted at Jo-Ann's. But, with "just a bra. It's okay if everyone sees my belly button." Not in this climate. So, we've compromised, and she's going to be the agreed-upon wizard for trick-or-treating, then change into Ariel the mermaid for the Halloween party. Similar to a wardrobe change employed by most pop music divas.  This means, I have to quickly sew up a merma...

The owl wings are done! And I'm more than just a little proud of the work I did on this. Hooray! Leah is an Owl!! Hoot! Hoot!  Here's the breakdown: It took about two weeks (in the evenings, while watching TV) to cut out the "feathers." Most of the fabric is upholstery that I got at Loomcraft. Some was scrap I had left over from other projects -- like the red corduroy. The yellow-y fabric is from a set of napkins Mom found for me a few years ago.  Because I used upholstery fabric, the wings are heavy. So I tacked them to the orange shirt she is wearing.  I also used ribbons to tie the wings to her wrists -- so she can fly! And, more importantly, hold on to her trick-or-treat loot bag.  I could have used the brown base-fabric and fashioned a smock or vest to sew the wings to, but decided against it. Too much work and not much return.  The best time-saving advice from the instructions I used was to sew bias tape around the borders for a quick, clean l...

I've given myself to this weekend to finish the owl wings for Leah's costume. So here they are, feathers are sewn down and bias tape ready to be zipped through the machine. Sunday Night's Progress One problem: Uh oh ... That's Not Enough Thread! That's not going to get it done. Sigh   

I cut out and pinned the feathers on Leah's first owl wing, for her Halloween costume. I'm pretty proud of it, actually. Though, it looks more like a turkey, right? Half Done Ring Wing is Pinned! Hooray!  Now to cut even more feathers for the second wing. My scissors are going to be dull -- but it will be worth it.

Halloween is right around the corner and we're full-speed in the spirit of that most-fun holiday. Leah has decided to be an owl this year. And I, in turn, have decided to make her costume. I found instructions on how to make wings here (a blog called Prudent Baby)   but will use browns and oranges instead of the pretty pinks and blues. And if I feel really ambitious, I'll add feathers to the shirt, too! ( Like this. ) I was at the fabric store last weekend, rummaging through the remnant piles for owl-colors. And will need to make another trip this weekend for more oranges and reds. Then, a search through Etsy.com to find a felt mask -- that I can either remake or buy (likely buy -- I don't have THAT much time.) As for Alice, she's still deciding. For weeks, it was clear she was going to wear her Ariel costume (all that's missing is a red wig), but lately she's wavering. I heard her talking about being a witch or wizard. I gave her a Sunday deadline to m...