Mad Hatter Gone Batty and More Halloween Fun

Happy Halloween!!! It's the BEST day of the year!!!!!!

We already have been celebrating with lots of creative activities around here, and Trick-or-Treat will be a great topper tonight.  For us, it isn't even about the candy, but a way to face and celebrate the shadow side of life.  Plus, all those trick-or-treaters are pretty darn cute!  Even before we had Angelo, we have always loved Trick-or-Treat.  It's a great way to be a part of community if only for a short bit of time.  Our plans for the candy (since we eat such low sugar food and candy is so rare in this house) is to let Angelo have a few pieces tonight and give him the option to trade the rest for a super special toy.  Yes, it is bribery, and it's not a regular feature here, but today is an extraordinary day!

This was for the Altered Alice challenge- the Mad Hatter at his tea party with Twinkles.  So, Twinkle Twinkle little bat it is!  The background (on a plain index card) is a couple of stamps plus some sprayed mica ink (twinkly).  The image is colored with colored pencils and the polka dots have added Stickles (twinkly).  The bats are punched from a book page I sprayed with Tulip fabric paint/dye over cheese cloth.  The border and outlines are made with a Sharpie micro tip pen.

I didn't actually finish this in time to enter the challenge with all the other projects I had going on, especially sewing our costumes.  That's OK, though, since I really like doing challenges for the "challenge" aspect. Sure, winning is great, but going by someone else's guidelines while still having artistic freedom is a great way to stretch your creative wings.  :)

Here are a few more projects I've worked on lately.  I'll keep the descriptions short. :)

A with Sparky the Fire Dog at the Halloween parade, wearing the spider costume, but not the cute Trick-or-Treat bag.  Oops! 

One of A's Halloween decorations.  He cut out this, the skeleton and wolf man (because those are the only ones that actually link) from *Kaboose.  He stapled them together- easy and fun! They're hanging in the living room. :)  He's currently working on some of these coloring pages.  *Warning, the video ads are very annoying!

A having fun cleaning out the pumpkin.

A carved one of the eyes and drew the nose on this 1st one.

I absolutely LOVE this one!! A carved it with only the teeniest bit of help from Mama (holding the pumpkin and encouraging).  Love how children have such natural creativity and it looks extra creepy cool!

A Haunted house I painted, stamped and glued images to.  House form from Art Chix.

A Halloween bunting made from material I bought a few years ago.  It dons our entry-way.

I need to take a moment and mention my self-control.  In past years, I bought every Halloween magazine I saw, OD'd on Halloween art supplies, over-stocked on costume material and generally went nuts buying Halloween stuff.  This year, not a single magazine or decoration was bought, only material and art supplies in our stash were used, with this exception:  I only bought a few paintable forms for A and I to use (and some styrofoam balls for an art doll witch).  And we actually used them (except for the styrofoam... by the time I was into the sewing mode it was costume time.  But, we are a few steps closer to having her done.)!  BTW, the total for all the new purchases was about $15 or less. See below:

Couldn't resist this paper mache witch hat- I'd _just_ been looking in Bethany Lowe's Folk Art Halloween book and the supply list included "paper mache witch hat".  I thought, "yeah, right.  Because all stores carry that sort of thing."  I guess in the Bethel Park, PA Michael's they do!!  Also couldn't resist the antique photo finish here. :)

A picked out all of these himself and chose when and what colors to paint them.  

I know this was a long post!  (Aren't you glad I didn't add the "how to make a ghost costume in about 3 hours" tutorial?) Hope it adds festiveness to your Halloween mood!!!