Happy Halloween!

Have a FUN and SAFE

Halloween Today!!!!
love, Glamma Fabulous aka
"The Halloween Queen"

And you thought we only dressed up for Halloween!

In our crazy family, putting on a costume is a natural course of events that are not done only for the Halloween season. Here we are dressing up for a "Hard Core" Christmas card in 2005... Celebrating Pioneer Day in 1983...

Attending a fabulous "Tacky Party" in 2003...

Wearing our "Billy Bob Teeth" for Hilari and Jason's wedding in1998...

and dressing up to see a movie together with my girls and friends for my birthday in 2001. Life doesn't get any better than this!

The Grandkids Halloween Party

Our Littlest Baby Ghoul

Here's my youngest grandchild, Sloan- Brooke's 5th. She just couldn't keep up with all the hoopla and crazy dancing at the party the other night. She doe's have a wonderful peacock costume that I hope she will wear today at the party that my grandkids are throwing at my house later on. Boy are those kids excited!!! As you can probably guess, they are the real reason for all this decorating (OK, I love it too, but when you have loving fans, the urge to decorate multiplies)
So here's a Shout Out to Sloan's Grandma Great for making her a Halloween blanket. I married into the right family who has an equal love for Halloween.
And a Huge Loving Thank You for the FABULOUS bag "Ghouls just want to have Fun" to my dear friend Marilee P.!

The Throne

Every Queen Bee needs a throne! I have always wanted to glorify this seat of Kings, but could never seem to find the right objects to do so. But, just last week while I was browsing thru "Hobby Lobby" (THE BEST CRAFT STORE IN AZ) and came upon this crown. At the time, all wall hangings were 50% off and the front was also damaged so I asked for a little more off. (I am getting much more ballsy as I get older) Anyway, the crown was perfect except for the color. I have silver hardware in the black and white bathroom so I spray painted the crown and the plastic tassels a silver chrome. The tassels are Christmas ornaments that were also half off at the time. I then took the crown and on an old wooden shelf, traced inside the crown. I used my jig saw and cut the piece out, then spray painted it the same glossy black that I painted the chest and mirror with. I found this great fabric at "JoAnns" that is heavy and has velvet flourishes on it for the curtain (used my 40% off coupon). I did not sew one single stitch, but used hemming tape to finish off the raw edges, attach the fringe and make a hem at the bottom. I then stapled the fabric to the wood board and used "L' shaped hardware to attach it to the wall.

My dilemma: I think the white wall inside the curtains needs something, any ideas???

Edgar Allen Poe's Library

I copied an idea out of this seasons "Martha Stewart" Halloween magazine, and downloaded Edgar Allan Poe's poem of "The Raven". I deleted all of the poem except the first few lines and changed the font to good ol' blackladder. I then got out an old ink well from my Chinese Watercolor class supplies and poured the rest in a puddle to make it seem like suddenly Poe had to get the heck out of his office! I cut the tip of a black feather to look like a pen and laid it along side of the poem and of course the scenario would not be complete with out the "Raven" looking on......

Oh, I also made a new label for the ink bottle that has a wonderful skull and crossbones and a poison caution on it.

Halloween Party!

Here they are! Our grand prize winners of the Halloween Party that my girls had at our house Saturday night. We didn't know that some of the stars from the new sitcom "Caveman" were going to attend! They are my middle daughter Kelli and her husband Craig. Those two are amazing, they always have the best ideas for costumes!!! We had a blast, Hilari and Devan's personal trainer Lee came and taught us how to do some Hip Hop. Thank you Lee!!! There were so many great costumes that it was hard to pick the winners of the various categories.

My daughters went in together to buy me this cool skeleton that I wanted really bad. I have placed this guy in many positions at many a party. I thought it apropo to have him sitting and dieing to have a diet Pepsi before it is all gone. Alas, I find myself in the same position, being a slave to the cursed drink. I count it as my last vise, knowing full well that I really need to cut back. Anyway, I love this skeleton, I can use it not only for Halloween, but when I teach a drawing class or for just plain practice in drawing white on white. Thanks girls for always knowing what to get me. There are probably not too many other grandmothers who have a life size skeleton on their wish list....

Slade to the Rescue!

My grandson Slade always has a "plethora" of advice on where and exactly how I should place all the Halloween decorations. I was babysitting the other night and Slade had an uncontrollable desire to "do a craft", so we decided to make a skeleton out of plain paper. I helped draw the leg and arm bones and a few other outlines, but He drew in the details, not to mention cutting out the majority of the bones.His scissor skills amaze me. He is actually much better at it than I am, at least He has more patience. Then Slade picked out the perfect spot for his skeleton. It is common for Slade to come running up to me and excitedly tell me of a grand idea how to make the eyes of a skull sparkle, or a pumpkin seem even more scary. His mind is always strumming up new and wonderful ideas. This is an example of the joy that all this "decorating and celebrating any ol' holiday stuff" brings into my life. I enjoy the time that my grandchildren spend with me and the way that they want to be a part of all the action.
Thinking about this simple experience with my grandson reminds me of the quote "Record the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

The Dining Room

To make our dining experience more ghoulish; I hung my black feather boa through the iron work of the chandelier over our table. I did have second thoughts about this, as what would I do if I had the urge to sling that fancy thing on and do a strut...Oh yes, I have other colored boas to choose from as you would suspect every Fabulous Glamma would have at her fingertips! I also changed all the regular deep red candles for black ones. Black candles are hard to find, so grab them when you can. On top of my Great Grandmother Call's trunk I created a small tableau of skeletons and headstones. I used florist's puddy to keep the skeletons from falling when the walls start to vibrate when the fam. "Gets their Groove On"! And what would we do without spiderweb! I made the mistake of buying the cheap stuff, the kind like really soft batting cut up does not do the trick. Stick with the brands that say "Super Strong". That kind of spiderweb is tough and will go a long way.

More Kitchen Halloween Decor

We have a "island with a sink" in the middle of our kitchen and I needed to put something with height to balance that area with the surrounding cabinet area. I went to the local craft stores and a few fancy decor shops to find something. There was a nice selection, but everything I liked cost a small fortune. So I went in the back yard where there are some young fruit trees that did not take the heat well this summer and cut a branch off. I then spray painted the branch with glossy black paint. It took 2 whole cans of spray paint! So, I did save a little bit of $, but it also took a bit of time to do. This is the dilemma of "TO MAKE OR NOT TO MAKE, THAT IS THE QUESTION..." I have gone to many craft shows (not to mention all those early years when I was a vendor) and I have said to myself "I can make that and save the money" well, not only did I usually end up not making the object, but if I did, I spent way more buying all the supplies. Most of the time I would not use these supplies again for a long time and the supplies would take up more valuable storage space...So I say, Buy that darling object if you can, from my experience, most artists do not make enough to really cover their "habit" and use your precious time to create the things that are your passion.
"TO BUY OR TO MAKE, THAT IS THE QUESTION..."
What do you think?
PS The glass jars on the counter have only "Halloween" colored candies in them. I plan to fill them with candies, ornament, etc. to reflect whatever holiday or occasion we might be celebrating in the future. I bought some containers at (heavenly music) Home Goods store and some at the local thrift store.

The Graveyard Entryway

I have been making a graveyard in my front yard since forever. I remember my oldest daughters 6th birthday party (24 yrs ago) that was a Halloween theme and I made headstones for each child and they sat on the ground in front of them. What was I thinking??? Sometimes my "oh, that would be COOL!" ideas are done before my "maybe that would offend somebody" thoughts are even started. Anyway, these scary figures that guard the front door are made a little differently each year. The monster and toddler monster's heads are really decomposing now and I think this will be the last year for them. My grandsons said they smell bad!

The Entry Way

OK, I was excited to figure out a way to make two old photos me and my husband unexpectedly scary! Because I couldn't figure out how to this easier on photoshop (I really need to take a class) I used my Memory Maker program and downloaded each photo on a separate page. I then used these skeletons from a Dover Electronic Clip Art book (I love those!!!) and because the background was white on the skeleton and skull, I made them more transparent. I resized them and positioned them to be as close as possible over our bodies. I then copied the skeletons and pasted them on another page, then deleted them on the page of the photos. I printed the photos on glossy paper and the skeletons on transparency paper. It's fun to see whether people catch on or not when they come in!The "Dead Country Girl" statue was on clearance at Home Goods (MY FAVORITE STORE EVER!!!!) for $7. I just spray painted her all over randomly with white and grey and then sprayed painted her eyes black. I then set her on top of a pot that I placed upside down on the table. I say some statues like this other places for $30!This is fun doing this blog, Can I print these pages so that I can keep them as a sort of journal? Do any of you pros know?

Creepy Additives for Ghoul Foodies

These condiments really creeped my grandchildren out! I went to the Goodwill and bought all these jars and filled them with scary bugs and such. I got a lot of inspiration from the Halloween mags out last month. For the "Spider Jelly" I used cheap hair gel and layered the gel and spiders till almost full. For the "Preserved Eyeballs" I filled the jar with those plastic ping pong eyes and then poured cheap shampoo over them. I don't know whether I'll clean these out before storage or not. The "White Mice Hearts" are just cranraisens! The "Gourmet Girls" will have a heyday with these!!!

The rest of Dracula's Bathroom...

On the shelf sit the glasses Dracula uses when the sun is too bright and all the many prescriptions He needs to keep it going. I saved vitamin bottles and other small containers and made little labels to replace the original labels. I tried to write clever things on them using the names of family members as the Doctors and the patients. I am good at the visual, not so great at the words,(as you can tell) but I did get really good ideas from Martha Stewart's magazines.
I then printed the scull on the mirror onto a "window cling" plastic from HP, cut out the image and placed it on the mirror the same height as the average person's face would be. Spooky! especially when it is unexpected.
Tomorrow, the kitchen!

My Quest Bathroom's Halloween Decorations KILL!

On the chest are numerous items that Dracula and his wife need to keep that delicate balance between keeping attractive and the death that haunts them....

Here's what I did: I bought the porcelain lady at the Goodwill store for $2.99. She was painted in pastel colors and not done very well, so I didn't feel bad about transforming her in to "Death Becomes Her". I just spray painted her with a grey primer and used craft acrylics to paint her dress, I whitewashed her skin and hair. I then smudged black around her eyes and when that was all dried, I sprayed clear acyclic all over to seal in the paint.

Dracula's dentures are those cheap plastic ones at the drug store. I got out some polymer clay and rolled it to fit into the area that your teeth fit into so that the teeth wouldn't collapse (gently taking the clay out of the teeth, I then baked it in the oven per directions on the package). I then placed the teeth in the jar and filled it with that acrylic stuff that you use for fake flower arrangements. The jar is from the dollar store. It's fun to hear my friends remarks after their surprise to have entered Dracula's personal bath.....

I'll be posting fun Halloween ideas for entertaining and decorating all this month.

This blogging is like learning a new launguage!

OK, so I am not happy with how my blog looks, and I am going over and over all the options that I can change, and I don't see any of the cute things that other people have designed on their blogs. My brain is hurting! I know that after a while, I'll catch on, but learning all this new stuff isn't fun yet. I don't know why I stressing, because no one even knows about my blog yet. Tomorrow is another day!!!!

PS I found the spell check. Yahoo!

Horray! It's Halloween Time!

Hi to all you people who like to create! I'm starting out this new blog (my first - I had a website for my art for forever and I think this will be a better way for my clients to see new work and for me to share all the fun stuff I like to do to curb my creative addictions.) Anyway, October might as well just be called "HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!" I love decorating for halloween better than any holiday and I thought I'd start out by showing you a photo of my husband and my very first halloween together as a Mr. and Mrs. in 1977 and one of the two of us last year in 2006. This year will be our 30th halloween! The rest of the month, I'll share with you some of the super cool stuff I made to decorate our house with. (now I've got to figue out how to download or is it upload the pics.......) Glamma Fabulous