Happy Halloween!

Halloween has been a busy time around here.  I've been baking and sewing up a storm to get ready for it.

 

 My bakery received an order for a Zombie cake.  I didn't get a photo of the fondant zombies, but here's the smores inspired cake.  It is a chocolate cake with a whipped icing and a graham cracker filling.  Oh and there's some blood on top.... don't worry, it's just raspberry jam.  Though that's homemade too!  I canned five jars of raspberry jam last week.

I had the worst luck with pumpkins this year.  A few friends came over a few weeks ago to carve their pumpkins, then left them at my place.  They became a breeding ground for flies within a day.  Ugh.  Then my original pumpkin (uncarved) molded before I could even carve it.  So here's my final pumpkin!  My inspiration was Inspector Spacetime from Community on NBC.  It's hard to see the hat and umbrella that really make it stand out in this photo though.

We threw a Halloween party and I had to do some baking for it.  It was an apple cider cake with a caramel frosting.  I also made an amazing homemade fall sangria that had apple cider, caramel, all sorts of seasoning, orange juice, brandy, and of course red wine.

Now we move onto my costume!  I forgot to get more photos of it.  I am terrible at that.  I always end up with one group photo and not enough to really show off my costume.  My inspiration was Archer and this photo shows everyone in our group who also dressed up as characters.  And my whole costume was DIY and cost $8.  The "boots" used to be yoga pants that were too small and short to wear anymore.  I cut off the top and sewed them around a pair of heels so they look like thigh high boots now.  The dress was self drafted with a jersey fabric so it was really comfortable all night.  And the accessories were made out of faux leather I had sitting around from a few purses I made last year.  I love DIY costumes!

Halloween

I am usually terrible at coming up with costume idea for Halloween.  In my family, I stopped trick or treating when I hit middle school.  A few times in high school I'd go out with friends, but I'd never go up to the doors cause I felt like I was way too old for it.  But you'd think with my theatre and sewing background I'd love to dress up!  Well... I like wearing costumes, but I hate thinking them up.  I agonize over ideas for weeks and weeks before I often times settle on one at the last minute.  I've only ever put in time/work on a costume once before since I was little (and my mom was making my costumes then, I should try to find some photos of those costumes for everyone... they were awesome and diy!). 

Here I am at my first Halloween!  The family went as a marching band and I was the dance team.  I think the sock tassles are my favorite part.  The next photo is a few years later.  I'm a mommy!  I really hope my mom didn't dress like that... And my brother's costume too!  Though that doesn't look too homemade...

           Here I am as Wendy from Peter Pan.  I am rocking that hair bow and blunt haircut!  Haha.

The next year I went as Little Red Riding Hood.  My mom made the cape for me!  And then a few years later I was a jockey.  I loved this costume!  And my horse was our dog Sheena!

In college, I was in a theatre fraternity where we had a themed dance each year that I had to think up costumes for too!  You'd think I'd be much better than I am at this with my past experience. 

 Robin Sparkles from How I Met Your Mother and Laura Petrie from The Dick Van Dyke Show.

I went as a romance novel character... can you tell I like wigs?  Ok, I really don't, but you can't do much with short hair.

This year I get to participate in a group costume, so I don't have to think too hard!  Too bad I was thinking really hard about it for like a week before this.... but back to the costume!  I am going with a group of friends this year as characters from the TV show Archer.  If you don't know this show, it is an animated show (not for kids though) on FX.  And I get to DIY pretty much every piece of the costume!  More photos of the actual costume will show up as we get closer to the holiday!

What is your plan for Halloween this year?