Home Goods is like Crack

Granted, I've never done crack or any other drug for that matter - but based on what I learned in school, it can be pretty addictive.

Crack=addictive
Home Goods=addictive
Home Goods=Crack

I try to stay away from that store like the plague.  Paycheck? What paycheck, honey? I didn't get paid today?  *evil grin*

So many things to buy, so little money. 

Take this rustic, country farm section for instance.  Love it!

How about this awesome Halloween section.  Oh, I totally fell in love.

And this sign.

This sign I remember seeing a year or so on Ella Claire's blog.  She did a tutorial on it.  See her post here.  I'm wondering how her sign got into Home Goods.  Hmm.

I'm a horrible DIYer.  I initially went into Home Goods to find the pieces to MAKE a cloche.  You can find the how to from  Fox Hollow Cottage right here.  It's simple really.  However, I didn't find the right components.  Nothing jumped out at me screaming, "Hey you! Make me into a cloche!"  So what did I do?  I bought one.  *hangs head in shame*
It was on clearance though, so don't judge me.

There was also an awesome wooden letter A.  How can anyone turn down their last name initial?  Especially, when the last name is still so new!  Mr. Penguin joked last night, "At least we won't forget what our last name starts with." Oh, hush honey!

I realize that I still haven't started taking photos with a better camera.  Based on these, the ones in my house, I realize I have to.  They are just painful to look at.

I also noticed little clown man is slouching.  I rummaged through my handpainted signs and found this little gem to help prop him up.

 

Ok, all better! (The propping, not the photo quality, obviously)

I managed to get away from Home Goods with only spending $20.  The cloche, the A, and two vases which I'll save for another post.

I'd love to see your Fall/Halloween decorating!

Share your link in the comments and I'll do a feature Friday next week of my favorites!

It's October! *Happy Dance*

All year my Halloween bleeding heart longs for the crisp, cool air of fall.  The beautiful changing of the leaves, the gentle, cool breeze all means one thing to me.

Halloween is creeping just around the corner.

 Mr. Penguin Husband and I love to watch horror movies year round, but it only seems right to make every darn thing we watch in October Halloween or Horror related.  Any other genre would be unsatisfactory.  Though, it is quite hard to watch ANY TV/movies for that matter when we both work 3 jobs.  Yes.  Three.

It should come as no surprise that one of the three is a Halloween themed job.  I'm a haunter and makeup artist for Corner of Chaos.   It's one of the top attractions in the state of NJ, and it sure makes for a very eventful October!

The downside of working three jobs means no spare time.

No time to decorate for Halloween! *gasp*

We aren't home to enjoy it anyway so in reality it makes no sense.

I do try to put some little touches up around the house.

Here is what I did last night:

It still looks too bare for my liking, but it's something and I'm proud of it.  (Considering I haven't done jack to decorate in quite some time)

The zombie baby and Gnome are out year round, lurking in the shadows in the apartment- I just decided to display them in one spot this time.

The Over-sized chalkboard is one of two from our wedding.  We used them to display the seating charts.  As I was searching my blog to link up to what they looked like before, I realized I never blogged about that.  Shame on me.

Remember my post way back about this sign?

It's been a part of my decor around the house ever since.  These lively characters are perched in front of my mantel.  They look like they are in the mood to dance, no?

Hopefully, I can get around to posting more frequently.  I miss it.

I'm also debating on starting up a fitness blog.  More of a "follow my journey" really.  Maybe a fitness blog will help keep me more accountable.

Till next time, little goblins!

Linked to: http://romanceonadime.com/take-it-on-tuesday/take-tuesday-tiot-blog-hop-94/

Overnight Oats *in my spiffy salsa jar*

So, as usual, I'm behind on what is trending.

In an effort to become more health concious and "cleaner" eating- I started browsing the interwebs and social media for some easy recipes to help ease my way into my new lifestyle.

Oats seem to be a popular commodity amongst health gurus so I started focusing most on that. 

Overnight Oats seems to be a huge hit, with no cooking involved.  No cooking?! That's my kind of meal.

I picked myself up a container of Quaker Oats (not the quick kind).  I'm not an Oats aficionado, so to be honest, I just grabbed what I thought sounded good off the shelf.

 After a long day of my full time job AND part time job, I strolled through the door around 10:30pm  and decided to get started on the next days meals.  Tossed some chicken sausage on the stove, sliced up some cantaloupe and searched for some cute mason jars to house my oats.  I have none.  What?! Stop right there. I have no mason jars with lids?  How can this be? I'm a blogger of wedding decor, house decor and some occasional (which may happen more) food posts...and I don't have an abundance of mason jars?  I need to rectify this.

Anyhoo, I grabbed the first thing I saw that would work.  A freshly emptied jar of salsa. Hey now, it's clean. Don't pick on me, ;)

I didn't follow an official recipe but kind of made my own numbers up based loosely on some recipes that I did see.

This is what I came up with:

1/2 cup oats
1 scoop of chocolate protein powder
1 TSP Peanut Butter
1/2 cup of Milk

Mix it up real well (that peanut butter is a pain!) and put it in the fridge.
Voila.  Breakfast is already waiting.  (A little higher in calories than I expected)

In the morning, I mixed it up some more, tossed in the microwave for 45 seconds and added some banana. 

Halfway through, I realize how satisfied I am (trying to avoid the 'stuffed' feeling)
This is great! It's half the calories I calculated, since I only ate half- and now I have breakfast for tomorrow too!

My next concoction will be pumpkin related.  Nutmeg, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, pumpkin puree maybe?

What are you favorite Overnight Oats variations?

I also saw ways to make Oats pancakes, can't wait to try those babies out!

My 'found' treasure- my lovely bouquet

We had a long engagement. Longer than most.  We got engaged May 28th 2011.  We got married June 1, 2013. We were engaged 2 years and 2 days.

2 whole years to plan a wedding!   I entered every dang wedding blog giveaway possible, and believe it or not, I won quite a few!

On June 14th 2012, I won my bouquet.  I never would have dreamed it would come out as gorgeous as it did.  You can see the winning post here.   It wouldn't have been possible without Big Day for 10K hosting the giveaway and EightTreeStreet offering up a free bouquet in the giveaway!

Source

Loved. It.

I seriously don't even have the words for how awesome and perfect this bouquet was.  Maribel from EightTreeStreet was so great to work with (even with it being a giveaway)  She asked what I envisioned and she followed it to a 'T'.  The vibrant reds and yellows, burlap and get this...firefighter flair!  

See for yourself.

Source

How utterly perfect are those firefighter charms?

Maribel loved it so much as well, she submitted it to a few publications. 

Here is the bouquet featured on the blog The DC Ladies 

Here is the follow up post over at Big Day for 10k

Here is the bouquet featured on Pretty Pear Bride

Do yourself a favor and if you see a giveaway: enter enter enter! Any giveaway you see that you like, enter it.  You just never know! It might be your most favorite thing you've ever won! 

Thanks again to EightTreeStreet and Big Day for 10k for the opportunity to win this!

Source

Bubbles, Rice...YAY!

Throw rice at us, it wishes us a prosperous marriage and future.

Huh? 

Tradition or not, I never really liked the rice idea.  Maybe it's because I know the twisted humor of my friends and family.  No, the rice would not daintily be tossed in the air in a fit of joy.  The rice would most likely be pelted at us with wicked and evil laughs, (all in fun of course) get stuck in my eye, or better yet, my ear.  Yeahhh, let's pass on the rice shall we?

(It also helps that rice is banned in most places.  More namely, the state park we got married at.  Whew.)

Lots of brides do bubbles.  Yes! Let's get soapy before our reception.  I decided to pass on that too.

Being a DIY bride, I wanted something fun and different.  I came across some pennant signs like these for proclaiming excitement after the ceremony.

 Source: etsy

Source: Project Wedding

These are adorable!  I had to do them.  

A couple packs of dowels, multi color cardstock, mom's printer and we were in business.

I won't mention the glue gun injuries that occurred.   Oh, who I am kidding, I have serious issues with glue guns whenever I use one.  Yep. I'm special. Don't hate.

 

I found this rusty old milk jug in mom's house.  She was using as as decor in her living room.  Snatchies!  I stuffed it with some raffia and it was love at first sight.  

 Photo Credit: Ulitmate Party Central

My friends had a blast handing them out!

Photo Credit: Ultimate Party Central

My guests loved the sentiment and I loved the photo op!   I thought my husband was going to crouch down too.  We are both on the tall side and you couldn't see the guests directly behind us.  I guess I was wrong, so I just look silly here.  Silly is fun though!

Another successful DIY!

Whirlwind Wedding!

I can't believe I haven't posted since Valentines Day!

Subsequently, that was around the time I got a part time job on top of wedding planning so my free time was basically shot down to oblivion.

The wedding was beyond phenomenal.  All of my little DIY touches were recognized and fawned over. It was a great feeling for people to acknowledge them.  

I'm going to break everything up into smaller posts so as not to overwhelm- I had a lot of fun touches I want to share.

Probably my most favorite was my MR and MRS burlap banner for our sweetheart table and the LOVE IS SWEET burlap banner for our cake table.

Here they are just laying on the couch.
I'm still waiting on the photographer photos but here is a less than stellar one showcasing them in use.

Yes, I am aware we were sitting on the opposite sides as the Mr and Mrs- It makes me chuckle. :)

We've been married almost 2 weeks and I do not want to admit it's over already.  I keep looking at pictures.  It was honestly the best day of my life and I think my husband would agree.  *coughhebettercough* 

That is still so odd to say.
Husband. 
Huuuusband.
Husbaaaaand. 
It is going to take some getting used to.

Valentines Schmalentines

 ♥♥♥

Don't get me wrong, I love Valentine's Day and all the little cute sayings and mushy-ness and romantics.
 However, I think these gestures and flower deliveries should be done any other day other than Valentines day.

Show me you love me on a random day in March. 

Sprinkle me with affection on the third Saturday in September.

My boss buys his wife flowers every Friday on his way home from work.  EVERY.FRIDAY.
Yes.
Every Friday.

That's a bit excessive to me, but it's cute.

Pinterest has been loaded with Valentines day crafts, recipes and printables- and yes, I admit to pinning my share.  You can see my Valentines Day board here .

February is also the month for the mid season return of The Walking Dead. Um, I was so stoked for it to finally come back!

I wish I had kids, because what better way to send out Valentines?? Encorporate the love of Zombies of course.

Lolly Jane did just that.

I am so in love with this printable.
Go visit Lolly Jane and eat it up. ;)

Happy Valentine's Day! ♥

Jersey Strong

What a whirl wind few weeks we've had here in Jersey. 

Superstorm Sandy ripped though the area with a vengeance at the end of October.  Thankfully, I am not near the shore (I only lost power at my place) but seeing the photos of the devastation still breaks my heart.

So many people without homes.  So many lost so much.  I put together a donation drop off at our firehouse and was able to collect a lot of money and necessities for those in need.  It truly warmed my heart to be able to help so many of those that were affected.  

It isn't anywhere close to normal for a lot of people and won't be for quite some time.  I've donated money and time and will continue to do so until my help is no longer needed.

I had some downtime with my mom the other day and we decided to make some Salt Dough Ornaments.  I had ordered a NJ cookie cutter in hopes of making some cute ornaments.  I love the way they turned out and cannot decide if I should sell them or not. 

Excuse the dark photos, it was about 8pm by the time they were ready to hang, and the only available Christmas tree was the one outside on my parents porch.  (besides, I still have a crappy cell phone camera.  Santa, please bring me a nice camera for Christmas- please and Thank you.)

I love my NJ ornaments and plan on making some as gifts this year.   I love the Salt Dough in general.  It is  super easy to work with and the possibilities are endless. 

Cannot wait to get my hands into some other Christmas gift making shenanigans!

Source

Linking up to: Romance on a Dime- Take it on Tuesday 

Thanksgiving Mantel and Christmas Ornaments- Early or late?

Hey all.

I haven't been around much- sorry.  Things have been so hectic. I haven't had time to breathe.  Well, at least that is what is seems like.

When I get some more time, I will update on what I have been up to.

Fire department stuffs, Jersey Shore Restoring stuffs.  Fun Stuffs.

I finally had a day to myself this past Sunday and was able to take down my Halloween mantel.  Yes. I just took my Halloween decorations down on November 18th.

I never really decorated for Thanksgiving or Fall or Harvest-y stuff so this is what I was able to come up with.

Maybe next year it will better, and not so late being put up.


I was also excited to try my hand at some Salt Dough Ornaments. I kept the ingredients small since I just wanted to try them. The last thing I needed was some huge batch of glop I wasn't going to be able to use.

1c Flour (I used all purpose.  I can't imagine self rising would be a good choice for these)
1/2c Salt
1/2c Water

Mix together.  I used my hands- I don't have a fancy schmancy Kitchen Aid like a lot of pages said to use- my hands worked juuuust fine.

Roll it out and cut!  I used some cookie cutters I had (I can't believe I knew where they were!) and some other objects I found around the house to make imprints.  Use a straw to make the ornament hole.

Bake at 250* for 2 hours.  (I left mine in for about 2 hours and 10 minutes.)

Pre-baking!

I have not painted them yet-  Look for that new post soon. :)
I also ordered a few other cutters to make more fun ones! Cannot wait.

 It's a bit early for Christmas for me, but since I was late getting Turkey day decor up, it balances things out, right? ;)

CHARGE! DIY decorations from Charger plates

Hello October.  I'm about a week late with the Welcome.

Today may be the 10th, but I still got 21 more days to "Halloween it up"!

Remember the end of last month I posted what I felt to be a craft fail? You can see it here.

I had a handful of chargers left over.  This isn't counting the 50 my mom went back and bought that night!

THIS time I whipped out the Silhouette SD.  I also pulled out some of my vinyl.  I purchase my vinyl from Oh My Crafts.

Sorry I don't have photos of the actual process.  I was too excited to see the final outcome.

*Basically, design your image on the Silhouette program and send to the Silhouette.
*Peel away an unwanted vinyl so your actual design is left on the white "background".
*Use transfer paper (I just use clear contact paper...but make sure you stick it around other things first to get rid of the insane stickyness.  I stick it to my couch a few times or myself. What a sight!) Make sure it's clear, this way you can see the placement of your design easier.
*Peel your design up from the white backing (it should stick to the transfer paper)
*Press your transfer paper to the surface you wish your design to be. I use an old credit card to smooth out the design and make sure it really sticks.
*Peel up the transfer paper and wah-la! 

TA-DA!

Much better!

I have a few more Halloween ones to tackle before starting on Thanksgiving ones and Christmas ones.

*psst. Don't tell Halloween I cheated on it, but I made a Christmas charger last night too.*

:)

disclaimer: I am not compensated in any way shape or form from the suppliers listed in this post.

Craft semi-fail

I spent the day with my mom yesterday.  We decided to do some crafting!  Of course, we treked on over to Michaels.

I had every intention of making this DIY clay necklace from Henry Happened.

Naturally, I got sidetracked.

I came across colorful chargers on sale for $1.00.  I love things that are a dollar!  Even better? I had a 20% off coupon (including sale items!)  WOOT!

I grabbed 10 chargers. Some in brown, purple, silver and one in black (I would have bought more black but there was only 1 that wasn't broken or scuffed to shit)

I immediately knew what I wanted to do with them.  Pair them up with some words and phrases from my Silhouette and I'll have a nice mantel piece or wall decoration!

I should have known this is where the project would take a turn for the worse.

At the register, I find out my coupon isn't valid.  (Ok, not TOO bad.)

My Silhouette was at my house, not my moms.  I am impatient.  Very impatient, so of course, I had to work on one right then and there.

I break out some posterboard to use as a stencil, some white paint, 3M adhesive spray and went to town.   (I started to take pictures of this step, deleted them when I got frustrated and almost threw the project across the street.)

That is some lovely adhesive residue.

Don't ask how long it took to come off.  You like the stenciling too?  Yeah, thought so.  Thank goodness it's a halloween platter- creepy is good in this case.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Once my fingertips were raw from rubbing the adhesive from the stencils off, I cleaned up the lettering a bit and sprayed it with some polycrylic to set the letters.

Holy epic fail, batman.  The can was spitting, not spraying right and it was just a mess.

Once the mess of Polycrylic dried (yes, there were more steps...I didn't give up!) I tried to sand it off.  You may laugh.  Needless to say, it didn't work. 

I glued some googly eyes to the middle which was part of the original plan.

The sanded polycrylic finish kind of ups the creep factor.... right? RIGHT?!

 

Sigh.

Mom suggested I paint a spider web on it, so I grabbed some gold glitter paint and freehanded one.

I can't draw a straight line with a ruler, so freehanding probably wasn't my best option.

Anyway.

Here is the completed mess in my mom's kitchen.  She really liked it so I let her have it.

I have 9 other chargers.  They WILL come out better than this one. I hope.

A haunting mantel

It tires me just to write to this post, thinking of the month yet to come.

Halloween is my favorite holiday (echoooo echoooo. Pretty sure I mention that in every post)

It also means the busiest for me.  I have a full time job that I work M-F 8am-5pm.
The month of October, I work at a haunted attraction on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.

I also got hired for a chain Halloween store M-Thurs evenings and Saturday and Sunday mornings.

What?? I'm getting married....I need money. ;)

See why I'm already tired?

 I have been debating decorating my apartment for Halloween this year, and the fact that I even have to debate, makes me sad.

I have TONS of decorations in Storage.  I don't want to bring it out.  I really don't.  I won't be home at all to enjoy it.  I'd be setting up these decorations for what?  Not my Fiance either.  He has a full time job, a part time job and works the haunt with me as well.

Neither of us can enjoy it, so why put it up?  Let the saddness commence.

What I DID do however, was decorate my mantel with some things I had around the apartment..

Here's what you see!

The big candle holder on the left, a friend bought me on clearance for only $5  last year. (it's been in my closet, yes...all year. I was too lazy to bring it to storage)

I found the "cheesecloth" stuff at the Dollar Tree, along with the little skull candy dish.  Yes, the candy dish is empty and that makes me sad too.  (We don't get trick or treaters in our apartment complex.  Don't even ask how sad that makes me.)

I found the 2 brass candelabras at a yard sale.  $2 bucks! Those suckers are heavy! Fiance wants to scrap them to make some cash, but I refuse.  I'm debating on painting them.

The 4 paned mirror was a garbage find, spray painted black.  I had 2 of them.

Mr Bones, the skeleteon is a candle holder.  I ordered that in my last book party with Partylite.

Behind Mr. Bones is a dollar store plate.  Some verses from Poe's "Nevermore" are written on it in dry erase marker.  I love that little touch.  I can erase it whenever I want and change it up for the seasons!

I might move the big bulky luminary- something seems off with it.

Overall, I love my mantel considering it was mostly stuff laying around the house.

What do you think?

Happy Haunting!

Partying at :

Hookin Up with HOH #117

Someday Crafts: Whatever Goes Wednesday 

52 Mantels: Fall Mantel Link Party!

Halloween is everywhere...

I may have mentioned how much I love Halloween.  If I didn't mention it before- I'd be shocked. I love it. Adore it. Cherish it.

My favorite time of year! I love everything about it.  The crisp, cool breeze, crunchy, colorful leaves- it all screams Halloween to me.


I also may have mentioned that my Fiance works for the Department of Public Works.  In crappier terms, he works on a garbage truck.  This means he comes home dirty and stinky and and and....
He's become a great picker though! He will bring home some pretty useful things that he sees laying on the side of the road.  Somethings are brand-spankin' new!  It amazes me what people will just throw away!

The most recent find was a piece of art.  Now, I'm not a big, typical art fanatic.  I can't name artists by looking at a piece, I can't get down with the abstract stuff.  This piece.... it's hard to describe.  It's three dimensional.  It's definately eye catching... it's quite downright disturbing actually.

Yes, this was brought into our home.  He had plans to put it on our "Trash Mantel".

(He has nicknamed our fireplace, the "Trash Mantel"  Rightfully so.  The fireplace was free. You can see how I acquired it here.  Most things we use to decorate the mantel come from the trash or yard sales.  It's a fun way to decorate on a budget!)

Don't get me wrong. It would be the perfect Halloween decoration.  It just creeped me out. Gave me the heebee jeebees.

We decided to donate it to the haunt we work at for the month of October. 

We didn't even have the poor, creepy dude long enough to name him.   I'm not quite sure what I would have named him.  What would you have named him?  ;)

Here is no-name...chilling in the barn of his new home.  Maybe he can get some good scares.  Better at the barn than at my house!

What unusual things have you found for Halloween decorations?

Ouch- ouch-ouch

I'm here.

Sore.

Ouch.

I completed an 8K on Sunday in the beautiful Wildwoods of New Jersey.  Check out the beautiful, peaceful sunrise from the boardwalk.   I love sunrises.  For this moment, I was so calm.  Obviously, this was before race start. Me? calm? Haha!

 
  I'm not much of a runner, but I would love to be.  Runners always seem so carefree, so light and airy.  Not THIS runner.  If you can even call it that.  I jog a bit, walk a bit, jog a bit, walk a bit. I feel so uncoordinated compared to everyone else.

I try not to worry too much about time but I was happy with my finish time. One hour and eighteen minutes.  

and.... now I'm sore.  My thighs hate me, my calves hate me and my feet LOATHE me. 
I've been stretching, using a foam roller and Advil has become a close friend. 

My cousin did the race with me and a friend was actually crazy enough to complete the half marathon.   Well, it's not a full marathon so you know what they say.  She was only "Half Crazy".
Maybe if I can stay consistent with my training, I'll be only Half Crazy next year as well.

Despite the pains and soreness, I'm already trying to find another race to complete.  It was such a great feeling, passing the spectators- the volunteers and EVERYONE rooting you on.  It was such a great feeling to cross that finish line and hear my name announced! I breathed a sigh of relief, was handed my medal and proceeded to want to pass out, and yet I can't wait to do another one!

5 miles is pretty far when you think about it.   I completed 5 miles!

Go me!

Is anyone else out there a runner? I'd love to hear your motivational stories!

I get to be a firefighter for a day!

Well not quite.
I always have wanted to be one though. 

My grandfather, my dad, plenty of past boyfriends and now my fiance were all/are firefighters.  I've grown up around it my whole life.

I get to do the next best thing, HERO RUSH.  Hero Rush is a fire fighter themed obstacle course.

According to their website, I have 3 days- 21 hours and 6 minutes! Eeep.

I've done 5k's before but in no way can I call myself a runner.

 I'm more excited for the fun obstacles, getting wet and getting dirty!

Hopefully by the end of the day I will have completed the race and be wearing this bad boy around my neck!

Hopefully I can get some photos!

Anyone ever do a race like this before?

I will post a race report when I get back.  I'm so nervous.

You are my sunshine...

♫ ☼ ♫ ☼ ♫

Yes, I'm singing. 

Be glad you can't hear me.

 I had a friend ask me to make her a sign for her baby, to put in her room.

Said friend lives all the way across the country. 

I've never shipped a sign before. 

Let alone a large sign. 

I was nervous. 

I still have no idea how to ship it...but I finally made the sign.

I stopped putting it off. 

Now that the sign is made, I HAVE to ship it.

I HAVE to figure it out.

She loves it though- which makes me happy.

Spreading the sunshine at these parties:

Make it Yourself Monday

Pinwheels!

I work at a Halloween haunt during the month of October.  It's usually pretty scary stuff.

Halloween doesn't HAVE to be scary, I appreciate the cutsey Halloween stuff too.  I'm a non-Halloween discriminator :)  (If that made ANY sense!)

I dug around my scrapbook paper looking for any kind of paper that I could use to be "Halloweeny".  It's been a while since I actually scrapbooked, I wasn't sure what hidden treasures I may have had.

I wish I was able to find a cute Halloween movie to watch while doing these.

Hocus-Pocus....Beetlejuice....Halloween High....

Yes, I watch Halloween High- Don't judge me.

I used the tutorial by Style Me Pretty 

It really is hard to keep your folds the same size! I had some wider than others, but all in all it seemed to work out. 

My poor little fingers started to hurt after a while.  I stopped after about 5 of them.

That doesn't mean I won't make more later, but 5 was my limit last night.

Also in my scrapbook goodies, I found these little orange and black buttons and Halloween themed squares.  I have TONS of them.  What a perfect craft to use them on.

I should have taken more photos, but I was not really prepared.  I was sitting on the couch with a storage bin lid on my lap as my "table", paper all over, square tiles all over and a hot glue gun that wasn't very steady on this bin lid.

I just need to add some thin dowel sticks and plop them in a Halloween themed planter, vase, pumpkin- something.

Real sticks might even look nifty! Give it a little creepy factor.

What do you think? Have you made pinwheels before?

I can see myself making these for just about every holiday.

Partying it up here:
Redoux Interiors
Creat Craft Love- Pomp Party
Simply Designing- Simply Link Party
52 Mantels Thursdays are YOUR days
Make it yourself Monday

1-2 Freddy's comin' for you-

Not really Freddie...maybe next time.

Ok. So I decided to try my hand at a Monster Mud reaper yesterday for the Halloween haunt I work at. My fiance is the supervisor of a trail this year and I'm helping him make some props.

Monster Mud = joint compound and paint. It's yucky. haha

Needless to say, I am not very happy with this one but he likes it, so I guess that is all that matters. I think using more "practical" materials would have been better, but since we use stuff for free that is laying around the farm we have to make do.

I started out by finding what looked like a coat rack of some sort sitting next to the barn, so I used that as my base structure, attached some PVC and was feeling real good at this point. I can vision it!

The chicken wire they had laying around the barn was all tangled and I was having a heck of a time trying to unravel it. Who knew chicken wire could get knotted. (Not I. I never worked with it before!)

My fiance decided to just plop the whole thing on the top and mold it to the structure. I don't have a photo of this since I was beyond ticked. haha.

Back to using the available materials, there was tons of coffee ground burlap bags laying around so instead of nice long pieces of flowy burlap, we had to piece them together. (All you craft blog/pinterest people- I cringed too using these burlap bags. They sell for a decent amount of money to crafters to make pillows and reupholster furniture and other neat crafty things with)

 

Looks like a walking burlap blob.

Next was the monster mud itself. I swear I got more on me than I did on the reaper.
This was definitely not a one person job, thankfully my sister and fiance were there to help.

Since they were burlap "pieces" it was hard to get them to stay in position- they were SO SO SO heavy with the monster mud on it.

We just slid the fake head in there to help mold the hood- it will come out when the hood dries.

 And there "it" is.

Whatever "it" may be.

I still want to accent it in black and grays and seal it. Add a bony hand coming out of its left arm.

Anyway, I do want to attempt another one for my own use, on a smaller, less "linebackeresque" scale.

Is anyone else thinking of Halloween yet?  :)