Zombie Brains!

Back to the Halloween Party Posts!  This year I made zombie brains in addition to melon brains.  I still had the plastic skull cups that I found at Walmart last year.  I am glad I saved them because I haven't seen anything similar this year.  Last year I filled them with brain cupcakes. This year I made Jello shot brains!

Even I admit that looks GROSS!  My sister made red jello (adding a few adult ingredients in place of some of the water).  We let it begin setting up in the refrigerator and then stirred in cool whip after it started getting firm.  I tried adding the whipped topping at various stages, some while it was pretty liquidy and some after it set up more.  The set up jello made the red clots while the liquid jello mixed with the white whipped cream making a pink foam.

Spoon it into the skull cups an serve with a spoon.  Them's GOOD brains!

Pumpkin Patch!

We made our annual trek to the pumpkin patch last weekend.  Prior to this year, Lydia always went with her daycare friends and I took off from work to join them.  You can see past trips to the pumpkin patch here, here, and here.  This year I was SO happy that we were able to go with a few friends and their kids, including Lydia's really good friend from her former daycare.

 We went to "Life Down on the Farm" in Powel.  It was new to me, but I have heard such good things about them I was happy to see for myself.  This family has been SO nice to a friend whose daughter has special needs and when I thanked them for their kindness, they immediately remembered the little girl by name!

 This pumpkin patch was all about farm life an animals.  Lydia got to ride in a donkey cart and pet a pig.  There were baby miniature horses, sheep, ducks, chickens, probably others that I am forgetting.  We paid on price and got to do all the kid's activities, see the animals, ride the rides, and get a pumpkin.

 This was my FAVORITE thing EVERY!  I want PJ to build one in our yard!  It is called a Jump Pillow or Jumpy Pillow and it is like a bounce house with out the house.  It is like a trampoline, but without the risk of falling off.  It was filled with air and surrounded with sand and able to accommodate adults AND kids!  So much fun!  The kids spend a LONG time here.

 They rode a tractor pulled train.

 They played in the sand around the Jump Pillow.

 They raced rubber duckies by pumping water in a trough.

 They practiced their milking skills.

 They played in corn....yes, CORN!  Imagine a big sand box filled with corn.  It was cute and you didn't worry so much about small gritty pieces getting in your eye!

 They climbed hay bales.

 We all stopped for a snack in the "daddy wagon" and then it was time to pick a pumpkin!

 We rode out to the "pumpkin patch".  I have been to other patches that grow there own and the patch is further away, in a field, and the pumpkins were much bigger.  Oh, well.  Maybe everyone had a small crop this year.  This place definitely wasn't growing these, but they were doing SO much else and we were SO tired by this point, I didn't care.

 On the plus side, Lydia can barely hold a small pumpkin, so she enjoyed the size selection!

 You can't do this with a BIG pumpkin!

With her perfect pumpkin selected, we said good bye to Life Down on the Farm and headed home for a BIG nap.

Halloween Food Sculptures

Every year for Halloween I carve at least one, and sometimes several, melon brains for various events.  You can find lots of examples of melon brains online, but I didn't ever see much in the way of a full tutorial.  Besides, most of the brains that I saw only kin of sort of looked like a brain. I have gotten pretty good at the process in the last few years, so here is all that I know about carving a watermelon into an accurate representation of a human brain.  This year, PJ also got into the Halloween melon carving spirit, so I will also share his finished Watermelon witch creation. Sorry, he made it so quickly I didn't see his step by step process... Maybe next year! (UPDATE: I have now made a video tutorial of the watermelon witch.  To see the video click here)

As I tell my art students, to recreate something you really need to have the actual image in front of you.  Do not work from your memory of what an object looks like!  So the first step in my melon brain is to look at a real brain the entire time I am carving.  Here is a real brain: Enjoy!

Also, something that I discuss with my art students.... your brain has 2 halves (and one is better at art!) So the next step, after using a potato peeler to take off all the green skin and a lot of the white rind, is to cut a V shaped groove separating the brain into two halves. Cut down until you get into the red pulp.

 Next you need to refine your separation to look like the two lobes of the brain. Again, an image would be helpful, so here is another real brain!

And here is my melon brain in process.  I usually cut out a triangle shape at the bottom of the melon to add to the brain shape.  I also usually flatten the bottom at this point.

 Next, I start cutting in the twisting shapes of the brain matter.  I cut deep enough to see the red of the pulp.  I also cut out the small triangles of negative (empty) space in between the brain matter twists.  I am constantly looking at the brain picture at this point to get pretty accurate with where and how my brain twists and I think this makes a LOT of difference in the final look of the brain.

 OK, that looks pretty good and that is about where most melon brains stop.  I go one step further for added realism.  The brain matter is ROUND, my cuts so far are FLAT.  If you spend this long carving a brain (I can do it in an hour or two.. and I went to college for this, so yours may take longer) spend the additional time making it look round!

 The first step in going from flat to round is to make a V shaped cut where you currently just have a single straight cut, not a big deal.  After that, try to use the knife to trim off the edge of your cuts.  Either way, you will expose more of the red pulp and that will add a LOT to the over all effect.

 I usually slam a big knife into the brain to make it even more gruesome.... and to aid in serving the melon!

This year PJ added his watermelon expertise to the party as well.  PJ has carved a watermelon Mad Hatter Hat, and a watermelon shark for Lydia's birthday parties.  He carved a watermelon pirate ship for our wedding.  This time, I requested a witch. I thought the green melon turned vertically would be perfect with a witch hat on top.  I also requested a large round mouth, so PJ pulled out the power tools with the big circle cutter.

My idea wasn't just a melon witch, but a fruit salad vomiting melon witch! 

 Doesn't she go perfectly with the veggie dip vomiting pumpkin and with the sour cream and salsa spewing peppers?

Happy Halloween!

Halloween House Cleaning?

My internet will be down for 3-5 days, so forgive me as I hobble along posting from my phone.

 Here are a few pictures related to my favorite aspect if decorating for Halloween: you don't have to be totally clean for Halloween! This year, the house was probably cleaner than any other because PJ was involved with so much of the preparations and he is the clean freak. I like planning the fancy food and creative decorations, but am not overly concerned about making everything spic and span. My belief is that  that if I am adding cobwebs to every room, dusting doesn't really matter so much. Also, while I do pick up the junk in the yard, I think weeds only add to the Halloween vibe. 

So here are a few pictures of the cobwebs in the living room. 

There were glow in the dark cobwebs in the new office area of the addition. ( We did this room up like a little fortune telling nook.  It was a cute idea, but a little secluded so no one really hung out in there.)  

PJ brought an extra refridgerator up from the shop and it was in this little nook, so people passed through to get their drinks from the fridge.  I am glad that PJ anticipated that we would need extra food and beverage storage, because I never would have thought of it.  

I am sick of running into the cobwebs, so they will be coming down TODAY! I am also sick of my overgrown garden.  I am on fall break this week and have plans devote some serious time to this area.  However, I LOVE that I didn't have to get that done before the party.  I think the weeds totally worked with the Halloween theme.

PJ made a few tombstones and I think his decorations and my lack of gardening made the perfect grave yard pumpkin patch. Enjoy!

Preliminary Party Post

We are finished with the big Halloween party,  and recovering from all the work that went into getting ready for it. Unfortunately, my internet is down until AT&T can send me a non-melted modem. So, for now I can only share the pictures that ended up on my phone our on face book from our guests. Here are a few pictures of myself, my  husband, and my sister. I made PJ's outfit and painted my face and my sister's. We were all too into the party to pose for pictures together, which is sad because I won't be doing the day of the dead face paint again this year. I also didn't want to smile in any of the pictures because that spoils the look of the painted on teeth. So I was having a good time, even if I look like a sad skull!

Lydia's Third Costume

This is not Lydia's third costume, as in her third year dressing up for Halloween.  This is the THIRD costume this fall!  First I made the circus wedding costume, wedding cancelled, costume delayed until next year.  Then there is the Cinderella dress (in progress here and finished here) that is her actual Halloween costume. And now this.....

Today is "dress like a super hero or book character" day at Lydia's school.  The big kids at her school wear uniforms most school days (preschool does not) so they try to have themed non-uniform days. Today was one of those days and, while everyday is a non-uniform day for Lydia, I can't resist an excuse to dress up.  As soon as I heard the theme for this week, I stopped at my favorite thrift store.  I spent 89 cents on the Navy velvet dress (I LOVE my AmVets!) and $3 on a white straw hat.  Can you guess who Lydia is dressing up as? Here is a hint......

Madeline is currently Lydia's FAVORITE bedtime story.  She has almost memorized the entire story! (If you need proof of that last statement, check out my YouTube video of her "reading" it) I have stared at that image of Madeline for so many nights that I knew exactly what I wanted at the thrift store and I was SO excited to find a dress that was so close in shape and design.  The ONLY thing I needed to change was the collar.  Here is what I did.

First I cut the lace off.  I used the top piece of trim as a guide and cut just inside of it.

Next, I cut a slit in the collar. 

Finally, I rounded the edges of the collar. I then sewed the layers together with a zigzag stitch at the edge, so it wouldn't fray.  I put a little fray check on the edges to be on the safe side, since it really is the raw edge showing. 

Now for Madeline's hat!  It was a whitish color and a little yellow from age, but in a dingy thrift store way and not a cute French school girl way.  Much like Pepito in the Madeline stories, this was a BAD HAT! So I coated it with a little yellow acrylic inside and out.  After our "univited guest" incident last year, I wasn't taking any chances.  The only thing coming in contact with Lydia's head was going to be a thick coat of paint!

I added a black ribbon on the hat and a red ribbon at the collar.  

Here is my "Madeline" reading Mad About Madeline at bedtime last night, just before I turned out the light and closed the door....

......that's all there is....

......there isn't any more!