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My Punk Rock Girls

So Spirit Week came and went, and with it.... Crazy Hair Day! Last year I did a Liberty Spike Mohawk for Sammi, but Olivia was sick and missed it. She was SO upset. She has waited an entire year for Crazy Hair Day to come back around so she could do the mohawk too.

I did a little youtube searching and found a video that showed me how to do it much better. Last years mohawk didn't stand up nearly as well as this year's.

So here they are in all their punk glory!
I didn't get to measure Sammi's spikes, but two of Olivia's were 18 inches!
She really was excited about the hairdo. She was just trying to be all careful with it at first.

HALLOWEEN!!!

Whew! I finished the costumes at 12:35 a.m. on Halloween morning. Good thing too because for about the last 3 hours of that time my sewing machine foot lever stopped working. It took me a while to figure out why I couldn't get the fabric to slide in and out under the foot as easily. But when it finally got so bad that it just didn't lift at all I clued in. Duh. hehe. So for the last bit I had to pry the foot up and down with my left hand while I slid the fabric in and out with the other. It was interesting.

So Olivia went with Lara Croft again. I couldn't convince her to try something new, and I suppose it's all about making the kids happy... hehe. Here's one of her fancy action shots. What you can't see is the big 3 inch diameter splotch of black paint on top of her head. Some kid's art project fell on her head at school, and I didn't have the time to give her a bath until the next day!


Sammi was Sweeney Todd. And... if you were wondering... it's nearly impossible to find a pattern for a double breasted pointy collared vest in an 11 year old girl's size. I finally found a pattern for a long double breasted coat in a man's size. I figured I could size it down, leave the sleeves off and and leave the long front and back off the bottom. Umm... yeah... sizing down from a man's XS to Sammi.... not fun. My first attempt might have fit a 5 year old. Luckily I tested my new patterns out on some muslin before I committed it to the vest fabric. I finally got it right the 3rd time.

Her shirt sleeves were interesting... I sewed the first one on inside out... unpicked it and sewed it back on right. Then I sewed the 2nd one on inside out... I picked it off and sewed it back on... inside out again... DUH! Why are sleeves so hard for me? Then I sewed the first cuff on wrong... but at least I got the 2nd one right the first time. hehe. Also... I'm very proud of myself because this was my first time to do buttonholes! Each sleeve had six, and the vest had 5. I got lazy and only made one row of the vest buttons real.


Here's Sammi's rendition of Johnny Depp's pose from the movie. Riley & her friends did her make up. Yeah.. I know I didn't make the little razor holder that hung from his belt.. but frankly.. at 12:35 a.m. Halloween morning.. I was just DONE.



Riley's costume came with the customary cheesiness and terrible fit you get from mass made costumes that have to fit a variety of sizes. She was all bummed because she thought it made her look fat. So I took darts in the bodice to make it fit closer and not poof out. Also the costume came with all the detail on the front and nothing on the back. On back the bodice was just plain red, and the skirt was just white. Which if anyone knows Riley, was totally unacceptable and was accompanied by much complaining.

So I bought some white organza? I think that's what that fabric is.. not sure.. it's shiny and a little see through. Then we spread it out on the kitchen floor over cardboard, laid out lines of painters tape and painted it with 3 coats of black fabric paint. The black lines on the costume had black glitter in them.. so on our 3rd coat we had to sprinkle black glitter on the wet paint. Which is a bigger pain in the butt than you might think. The glitter apparently had an aversion to fabric and tried to stick to every other surface in our house and on our bodies. Matt was having a COW. Hehe. Once it was all dry and sufficiently glittery we peeled it up off the cardboard and peeled all the tape off, outside of course since Matt was having conniptions about the glitter. Then I sewed two panels to cover the back bodice. And another panel to drape across the back of the skirt. Then I made several long strips into ruffles and sewed them onto the new skirt back. And used some more ruffles to make the hangy down pieces that she has in the movie. Whew. Oh.. and a side note here.. in the movie the stripes in front are vertical and most of the back is horizontal. I didn't want you to think I would be that lax in my costume design and shame myself.


The 'slip' that came with the costume was a stiff bulky piece of I Don't Know What with a sad little piece of red netting stuck on the bottom. Umm.. yeah.. that was something I couldn't let slide. It was just butt-ugly. So... I got yards and yards and yards of black & red tulle and made my own stinking slip. Oi. That was interesting, but I really think it made the costume look a lot better. Plus maybe we'll be able to use it again.. maybe?


Livie and Sammi did a lot of posing for me while Riley and her friends took over the downstairs bathroom to beautify themselves.



And here is Matt & Riley's Pumpkin King scarecrow! You might recognize it from the opening Halloween Parade on the movie A Nightmare Before Christmas. Riley's been begging for us to make one for the last few years. And Matt finally buckled.

So.. that was Halloween. I now have a little time to get my sewing machine fixed before I have to think about next year's costumes... though... not as long as usual since we already know what Riley is going to be.. I might as well get started. hehe.

Ahhh... Halloween...

It has come too early for me this year. I'm getting a terribly late start! I only have half our decorations up. The Halloween Tree isn't up yet, and there are no lights on the porch.... AUGH! And this doesn't even take into account costumes!

At first Riley wanted to be Mrs. Lovett from the movie/play Sweeney Todd. She of course wanted me to make the costume because, "yours are always so much better than the store ones". Okay, I have to say that did make up for all the work... just a little bit. Hehe.

So.. I started (grudgingly) working on Mrs. Lovett's costume. I love the idea of it, but I knew it was going to be hard. You cant see in the picture that she also has layers of ruffles down the back of her skirt. So.. I finally buckled down and tackled the thing I thought would he hardest. The corset. Yes. It's a corset and she's only 14. BUT, as part of the costume it hides a lot of the top of the dress.. thus making my job easier. So I found one online for $20! I was surprised at the price I didn't think I could find one I'd be willing to pay for. Shipping was decent too. Uh.. did I mention it's coming from the U.K.? Seriously. It's a good thing I love Halloween so much.

So... Matt gets home that night and decides to look online for Mrs. Lovett costumes and "help" me. Of course he finds one that's mass produced... and Riley freaks because it doesn't look like the real dress. There is much pouting. But then he comes across the Alice in Wonderland Red Court dress that she had wanted me to make last year. The mass produced one is actually pretty good. So.... she flips and is now doing Alice. Pros: The dress is already made and will only require a little tweaking. Cons: I have a corset on it's way from the U.K. Doh!

So... I don't even want to know what it would cost me to ship that thing back. Riley promises she'll be Mrs. Lovett next year. Which gives me plenty of time to tackle the dress. Whew. Have we already established that I don't know how to sew? I'm usually just winging it and crossing my fingers.

Livie wants to be Lara Croft again this year. Which is fine, but I'm hoping to talk her into the fairy dress I made for Sammi a few years ago. Just to mix things up a little.


Okay! So we've got Riley in a pre-made dress. Livie in one of two already made costumes. You'd think I've got clear sailing wouldn't you? Nope. Not on your life.

Sammi, after toying with being Katniss Everdeen, (we decided she'd be too hard to recognize since the movie hasn't come out yet) has decided to be Sweeney Todd himself.

So I've been hard at work. I'm proud of myself though, I'm learning to cut some corners. I found black pinstripe pants at D.I. which I will take in and shorten for her. I also found a white blouse. I will be making new sleeves for it since they need to be kind of poofy and have a super long cuff. (Oi.. sleeves) I also got a belt at D.I. I bought the wig, razor, fingerless gloves and a scarf. Now all I have to do, aside from fixing the pants and the shirt, is make his vest! I hope I can find a pattern that resembles it somewhat. because I've got no clue how to make a double breasted vest with pointy collars!

Wish me luck! I'm going in!

4th of July

So my Brother and his wife offered up their cabin again this year for an Allan family get together! It was crazy, and it was fun.

Luckily there was no replay of the Wild Ride With The Barf Sisters that you might recall from the last time we went up. I'd like to take credit for that since I did the driving this year. hehe.

Thanks to Scott for bringing up shotguns, .22's, ammo and clay pigeons! I haven't shot clays in a looong time, so it was fun to brush up on it. I had a bit of a rusty start, but I thought I did alright for an out of practice broad. I missed the .22 shooting, but apparently Riley did really well and Sammi may have a future as a sharp shooter. Livie even got to shoot at some stuff.

Oh yeah. And thanks to Ethan for providing the cap guns.

Scott also hauled his horses all the way up there so we could take a ride. It was Sammi & Livie's first time on horses.




And of course there were hummingbirds! Here you can see a rare shot of the Red-Headed African Hummingbird. (which interestingly enough can carry a coconut by gripping it's husk)
Ethan found out that Deep Woods Off does NOT taste good.
We had a couple of fun nights around the campfire listening to stories and making s'mores.


And I threw in this picture of Sammi lit up by the fire just because I like it.
So thank you, thank you Scott and Catherine! We had a wonderful time!

Catherine I hope I didn't drive you too nuts with my juvenile behavior and jokes. I think I just might be a 13 year old boy at heart. Hehe.

Chocolate Waffles Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

So we did the customary Father's Day Breakfast In Bed thing this morning. It went well, other than the fact that Olivia was the only one who would get up to "help" me. Riley actually did put the frozen OJ and water in the pitcher (I stirred).

We made waffles, with Catherine's oh-so-delicious Caramel Syrup, OJ, sausage & strawberries. Yum, yum, opened the cards, opened the box of See's Candy.

Then I went in to cook the rest of the batter. We'll stick the leftover waffles in the freezer for a quick waffle fix later.

While I was cooking said leftover waffles, Matt wanted me to look up the movie Super 8 online for him.

Then I got sidetracked because there was a link to Thor. Sooo... of course I couldn't concentrate until I'd looked at the glory that is Thor.

Then I saw a link called Top 30 Hottest Actors... well who could pass that up? Right? I mean I wouldn't want to be ill informed. That could be pertinent information that I might NEED! Not to mention I had to ascertain if this list was indeed correct as I would hate to have erroneous information flying about the internet. By the way it WAS erroneous as Gerard Butler was nowhere on that list, but most of the cast of Twilight was. ...Egregious.

I began to smell something funny... at first I thought maybe it was psychological considering the poo I was looking at in that Top 30 List. Then I decided it was real.... what could be making that smell? ... what was it? .... oh. crap.

I tried to trick Riley into thinking I'd make a delicious chocolate waffle, but apparently her nose works really well and she was not fooled at all.

I can't keep up

Sigh. I really kind of stink at keeping this thing up to date. I realize I've missed a lot of things that should go on here. Some of the problem is Facebook. I post pictures on there, but forget that only some of my family/friends are on Facebook. So, sorry to those of you that have already seen these. But here goes.

Sammi had her 5th grade Daddy/Daughter Hoe Down a couple of weeks ago. And sadly Matt had a late meeting he couldn't get out of so he couldn't go. When Riley found out she got all excited and said, "I'll take her! I'll wear my fake mustache and go as Mr. Mustache Man!" And... she did. Hehe. She even put a tie on (after the pic was taken.. and it was a Gryffindor tie too).

Sammi's friend Kristina went with them since her dad couldn't go either.

What a sweet sister... when she wants to be.