I asked my mom the other day if I was ever a princess for Halloween. “No, never. You always wanted to be a witch or something scary. You never wanted to be a princess“, and so it stands. I’ve always been more comfortable with darker Halloween costumes, and darker colours in general – not just at Halloween time. Case in point – I’m naturally blonde, but I dye my hair black because I prefer darker colours and I think it suits me better. Husband however, disagrees. Strongly.
I’m a firm believer in scary Halloween in my house. Not cute and bright – not to say any of those things are wrong in any way, I always find when I decorate my home, out comes the creep. All the old books, my swelling decanter collection takes the spotlight, and more stuff from outside comes in. I’ve almost always decorated from pieces I already have. I’m sure in time, when I produce spawn, the cuter Halloween will come out. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it …
Something that irritates me to no end around this time of year is bad fake blood. It’s either believable and I’m going to faint, or it’s such a high-pitch red ain’t nobody believing that. A good few years back I came up with a recipe for good fake blood, which I use to this day. Mix a couple spoonfulls of instant coffee with a teaspoon of regular red food dye, and dilute with around 5 cups of water. You’ll more than likely need to mess with the coffee / red dye / water ratio, but it’s minimal effort for what I think to be convincing results. Keep in mind this is red food dye, so don’t be mixing it over your 3,000 count Egyptian sheets. Unless of course you’re looking to add a blood stain to a costume, then by all means, drip away.
This year I decorated with mostly pieces we already have. I got fancy on the shelf over our TV and taped a Blair Witch style stick man in our cloche {that movie still terrifies me. Please don’t judge}, I added some discerning labels to our decanters, an awesome skull wreath my dad found at Home Store + More {it was 50% off – and still is!}, and a smattering of skulls here and there – most of which were already out. Because in case you’re new here, I like skulls.
So that is what I’ve added to our home so far this creepy season. I’ve been pouring all my spare time into making my Halloween costume. To go along with the creep factor, I’m dressing up as Lydia in her red wedding dress {which has about one million layers of lace that I’m sewing by hand}, and hubster will be Beetlejuice, obv. I cannot. Wait! What are you guys being for Halloween? And do you try your hand at making your own costumes? xx A
NOTE: no kittens were harmed in the making of this post.
LOVING this post!
K, the blood thing – totes agree. We do a bit of both horror photography (us as the models) with friends of ours and have also done a few of their short films. Same genre. Anyway, ya the blood is a skill for sure.
Our friend and all around creative… i should do a blog post about him one day… anyway, he did blood for a film where I break a dude's arm with my roller skate. It was part Nestle Rolo Quik and part strawberry Quik. Came out great. Dark and sticky.
Also, I had no idea how fabulous your decanter collection was. Lurve.
Blair Witch reference – perfect. Gives me ideas. I am working on a front yard display (graveyard) – may have to steal that idea and incorporate it somehow.
Gush Gush Gush.
I could talk about how much I love every photograph all night, but alas, I need to walk the wee dark one. Gotta work on his adorable costume too!
Later, Sister from another Mister!
(Assuming the other Mister is the Devil, himself)
Mwahahahahaha
Srsly. Sister from another mister.
Oh ma gawd – Kittens paws! I nearly freaked out, LOL! I was looking at them for ages trying to figure out what they are and then I was like, ah!! Those furry bits from that funny plant?! Awesome. Such a cool + scary idea 😉 I LOVE the wreath too. Obviously – it's purple!
There's no denying it… you are a true designer through and through!! The creativity, the ideas, the amazing photos – wow. I am in awe of your talent!
(I'm also very boring, as I'm doing nothing halloweeney!) Can't wait to see your costume, though – I hope they'll be photos of you and Beetlejuice on here!
Maria xx
I demand to see photos of said Halloween costumes please. We are attending a Halloween party this evening and for the first time ever are going in theme together, I will be Wednesday Addams and he will be Pugsley Addams 😀 totally psyched! I love this post and I know I have said this a gazillion times and I know I will say it a squillion times more but can I live with you please? I love it all. Fact. You are the only designer to steal my heart continuously.
I gushed via Twitter about this already, but thanks Kim. I was feeling really crap the day I first saw your message. You made my heart smile. I don't care how corn-dog that sounds.
That's so cool! Particularly loved the kitten paws!
You guys are the sweetest. I find it funny because I had been looking at the pictures so long, I wasn't going to publish this post. I thought it was such a load of rubbish. Talk about Blogger problems.
xx A