Sugar Skull Party

Last weekend I had a lovely afternoon decorating Mexican Sugar Skulls with some crafty ladies.

Sugar Skull are treats that are offered to the returning spirits on Dia De Los Muertos, which is November 1st.

The week leading up to The Day of The Dead is celebrated  by creating alters in the home with photos of the departed, and special food. Candy and toys are offed to the spirits of lost children and adult spirits even get mescal and cigarettes.

 We celebrated with champagne and chocolate fondue for the living.

The sugar skulls were easy to make with a mold I got as a gift from  this site. They have many more molds and I may need to add to my collection. Because easily I can see this becoming an Annual Tradition.

Blogger is breaking my heart and not letting me upload all my pictures today... So Go to my Flickr to see more!

Fashion Friday: The Well Dressed Witch

I spent a really lovely day at The Castle in The Air yesterday.

I took The Witch Box class from John McRae, with my sister Lassen, and a delightful lady named Sally.

It was a great, fast paced, fun and engaging class.

John was a great teacher. Funny, and informative and just a delight to spend the day with.

And as you can see, the results of a good teacher, with a fun project, and beautiful supplies is delightfully frightful witch with a secret hiding place inside.

I highly recommend taking a class at the Castle. I have made friends, made things I'll always treasure and picked up a crazy list of mad crafty skills. A Very Worthy Indulgence.

Tutorial Tuesday Revisited: The Lace Crowns

I got a lovely email from Jennie Alvernaz of The Rose of Athens Theater Company, who was excited to share these amazing crowns she made using my Lace Crown Tutorial from about a year ago.
She did an amazing job adding jewels and making the bases more durable with a ribbon or fabric ring adhered to the lace.

Fen is going to use the tutorial to make crowns for herself and her flowergirls for her wedding. I sure hope she send pictures too.  She had a question about whether a liquid leaf will work as well as the powered leaf I used.

I think that it will. It is basically the same thing that you make by adding the powdered leaf to the medium ( Glossy ModPodge, in my case). But my best advise is to use a scrap of lace to test it out.
All Laces are not going to react exactly the same so a short scrap of the lace you intend to use for your finished project is probably your safest bet.

Congratulation Fen!

And I really appreciate hearing from anyone who has enjoyed a tutorial or even anyone who has tips I should pass along. Thanks to all you Bloglandeers for your encouragement. I'm looking forward to hanging out here more often.

Thrift Thursday: Storybookland

Well... Here we are in October. That means the Birthday Season has officially Begun. I am going to the city Today with Julia from Mariquita Farms to deliver fresh organic veggies to hungry foodies and then out to eat. Hurray. I am very excited. I like food and people and good physical labor. A fun adventure to be sure.

I decided there will be an over arching yet lax theme for the BBI for the month of October. That is Storybookland. My little light yellow red ridinghood ceramic bell is my thrifty storybook example for day one. I love storybooks. I love all books. Right now I am reading 4.

Here is a quick craft I did a few weeks ago. I dried my late summer hydrangeas and then stuck them to a straw wreath form with T pins. The wreath and the tpins? Thrift Store. Thrifty Homegrown Fast Craft...You gotta love it. Total spent 1.50.

I also need to clean out those closets and get ready for the rain. I'm even uploading a picture of every single vintage pattern I own to flickr to make myself a reference and get ready to send some away.
But now I gotta run.. The veggies need me.

That's how we roll here at Chez Betty: We bite off more than we can chew.

Let's Hear it For October!
Betty