Yule Decorations
Our holiday decorations are simple this year, reusing a few items I had collected last year and revamping our terrariums for winter. They took about 10 minutes to make with a few supplies from the craft store and some vintage deer.
No tree again this year, though we debated for days on a pink or silver or some other fantastical one. Maybe next year. I’m quite happy with our little garland in its place. Nearly all the ornaments were gifts last year. Possibly my favorite is the handmade green glass witch’s globe.
We also have some flickering candles in the window. I love seeing these on the East Coast but they don’t show up often in California. If only I could find our twinkle lights we would be set.
falling fast
Weeks ago I had grand plans for Halloween decorations. I thought it was high time we put some of our strange medical props to use and make our place into a creepy mad science lab. But of course, I got too distracted chasing Endeavour around town this weekend to really get things together. We’ll see what kind of magic I can pull of, but for now I’ve just tackled a couple little projects.
I found the pumpkin and candy corn fabric weeks ago and sewed it into a festive table cloth. It works well since we have a lot of pumpkins around. Since my zombie dishcloth has seen better days, I stitched up a brand new werewolf towel. Had I remembered my science lab theme, I would have made a heart or some organs, but in the end I like the werewolf quite a bit.
For the authentic touch, I have this little squirrel skull that we found on a trail. It’s my first time cleaning a skull and it is wonderful how much nature can do on it’s own (thank you ants and bacteria). I have a few larger bird bones but they’re still a little too fleshy and gross to bring inside and I don’t think my neighbors would appreciate me cleaning them in our common areas.
It feels like October is nearly gone already and we’ve only had a single cool day. I wish time would slow down a bit more. Everything feels like it is flying by at lightning speed and I don’t want to miss it.
Halloween Movie Party 2011
This weekend we had our 4th Annual Halloween Horror Movie Marathon. When it started out a few years ago, it was just a sleepover where we’d watch scary movies, but has since turned into something much crazier, as we watch horror movies for over 24 hours straight. Watching horror movies for so long with so little sleep definitely does some strange things to your mind and it starts to feel like you’re living in a horror movie yourself.
So here’s a glimpse into what it’s like… Get ready for a lot of photos.
To set the stage, we turn our living room into a screening room, blacking out all the windows and adding some creepy mood lighting. We even brought our spare bed out to add some comfy viewing spots.
We continued the creepy lighting throughout the apartment. Here are the beginnings of our snack table. Snacks are vital for getting though the night.
We hung a velvet curtain to keep the light from our kitchen down since there isn’t a door. Dining room chairs were moved to the living room for extra seating. We had about 15 people throughout the night, although only a handful made it till morning.
Initially Meeme was excited about the party, hanging out on our new carpet. She and Mochi got scared though and spent the rest of the evening watching movies in their own room. They particularly liked Beetlejuice.
We made our bedroom into a second screening room for our friends who don’t like scary movies as much as we do. Everyone toughed it out though and the cats had the room to themselves.
This hallway is definitely horror movie material.
So we’ve set the stage, shall we get to some of the treats?
I had to make sugar cookies as it has become a yearly tradition. This year I opted for pumpkins to go a long with my pumpkin theme.
Shawn requested that we make some healthy things instead of all sugary treats and we came up with some scary looking drinks. While kale, celery and ginger juice, might be fairly common, it still has the look of a strange brew.
Or how about some blood? I mean, carrot beet juice.
There were popcorn balls made with Dandies.
Apples with caramel sauce for dipping.
There were pita chips with black bean dip and hummus as well as crostinis with spinach dip.
I ran out of time before guests started arriving and hastily frosted the pumpkin cookies. Not too cute but still deliciously sweet.
As a later night snack, I made some quesadillas jack-o-lanterns. I found some green cactus tortillas and knew they would be perfect for a Halloween. During the night we also made tons of tofurky dogs with lots of toppings, pizzas and even coffee cake. Oh and lots of coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.
Kim stopped by and brought these amazing lady fingers. How creepy?
Like I said, we watch straight through the night and well into Sunday. This is the remaining 6 of us some time on Sunday afternoon. Jenny L., Shawn, Me, James, Jennifer Y. and Kyle. Without a doubt this has been the best year yet, so much fun! Already I can’t wait till next year.
Want to know what we watched? Here goes:
- Coven
- Phenomena
- Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
- Amityville Horror
- Martyrs
- We Are the Night
- Harpoon
- Troll II
- Sheitan
- Dead Snow
- The Burning
- Rosemary’s Baby
- The Shining
- Silence of the Lambs
- Cannibal Holocaust
- Sleepaway Camp
- The Lost Boys
- The Company of Wolves
- The Hunger
In fact, we’re still watching as I write this…
Halloween Pumpkin Mantel
Generally speaking when it comes to Halloween decorations, I lean more towards the actual scary than the cute. On the other hand, I love pumpkins and I knew for our mantel I wanted a ton of pumpkins.
I bought a handful of fake pumpkins from the craft store (they never go rotten!) and went to town. I thought I’d stick with a black and white theme and at first I was tempted to make them pretty with patterned stencils, but was inspired to paint cute faces on them when we found a light up pumpkin at a Halloween store. We turned that one into a makeshift light putting it on an antique tripod.
Of course with the black and white theme, I was able to incorporate the ghosties I made.
Look at that happy pumpkin face! They were all painted with acrylic paint we had laying around the house. Pretty simple and pretty fast.
This is the just the beginnings of our decor. We have some more creepy awesome stuff that I’ll share over the next weeks. Not to mention that next weekend is our horror movie marathon and all the treats and decorations that go along with it. Can’t wait!
moving
This weekend is the big moving weekend. Yikes! We’ve begun the process of bringing things into our new home but there are still a lot of big pieces of furniture (some of which need to be disassembled) that need to make the trek. I foresee lots of heavy lifting.
We somehow volunteered to have Easter brunch at our place, which is pretty funny because we don’t even have a dining room table yet. The search continues! On the other hand we have some spring appropriate decorations for the occasion. Shawn and I have already been brainstorming a menu, so despite the deadline pressure I’m very excited to be cooking up some quiches. Bagels maybe? How about these vegan deviled eggs? Oh and candy, definitely candy.
I feel the need to put a lot of care into the design of our new space, and not bring unwanted items into it, but I’m trying to realize it won’t all happen right away. Slowly but surely. The bookcases I bought in college will probably still be in my kitchen holding appliances. My leopard print chair will still be in our living room but perhaps with a slipcover.* There will still be big ikea presence. Oh well.
We’re also taking the time to really make everything nice, even though it’s a rented apartment. Which means restoring old door knobs and lots of little fixes. I’m happy to do it and am even enjoying the process. I’ll definitely be sharing some of our upgrades and the decorating here in the future.
I have a huge laundry list of stuff to take care of this weekend that includes really boring things like buying a paper towel holder. How come paper towel holders are so ugly? Why do all the inexpensive ones look so phallic? Why do I even need a paper towel holder? When did I become so boring?
The cats will also be making the move this weekend. They’ve been very needy all week as we’ve moved stuff out, so I’ll be glad to finally show them they’re not being left behind.
Other exciting news: We’re getting our wedding photos! Like today according to the famously reliable United States Postal Service. So get ready. I’ll be sharing them over the next few weeks. (Monday even? Maybe!)
Also, I’ve decided on a new blog feature that I’m going to start incorporating in the near future. I’m very excited to share another passion of mine that gets a little left out here on Cute & Delicious oddly enough. Plus some site design changes.
Besides moving, there are lots of exciting things to do this weekend. Can’t wait to get some fancy cupcakes and beer at the vegan drinks cupcake party. We also have tickets to a movie I’m fond of, with a director Q&A which is always a bonus. Hooray! Weekend!
* I love this leopard print chair. It’s terribly comfortable and made for me by my grandfather. I just made the unfortunate choice as a teenager to have it covered in leopard print velvet. Alas. To make things worse, it was originally covered in a modern, dusty pink fabric. Oh if I could only turn back time.
