Dress This Mess > Save the Pumpkins!

Poor little pumpkins...They get snatched from their cozy leafy beds, thrown on a truck, and then tossed into a super sized cardboard box with hundreds of other scared little pumpkins. If that's not bad enough, they are then plucked up by seemingly cute midgets who take them home only to be (gasp!) brutally gutted and have their flesh carved with strange symbols and pictures. THEN (how can it get any worse!) they are thrown out into the cold with a candle up their butt. Oh, the horror!

Haha! I'm sure that this time of year is very stressful for the PETG. You know, the People For Ethical Treatment of Gourds.

In an effort to protected our nation's vulnerable pumpkins In an effort to help out all of those who are, too lazy, too grossed and freaked out by the slimy innards of a pumpkin, or for those of you that just cannot face YET another mess to clean up; here are 8 ways to fabulously decorate your pumpkins without ever having to pick up a knife.

Gold Thumbtack Pumpkins

The crafty gal over at Madigan Made crafty these beauties with lots and lots of gold thumbtacks and Elmer's glue. This would keep your kiddos busy for hours and they are gorgeous!

Ummm, how unbelievably cute are these?! I want to adopt a whole "Angelina & Brad" bunch of them. Two Shades of Pink blog made these cuties and she has a great tutorial. Don't they make you feel all warm and cozy?

Sexy Pumpkins

The only thing these sexy girls will do is glam up your Halloween decor, and they won't try to steal your man or embarrass your family. These are made with old nylons stretched over pumpkins. How clever is that?! What a great way to recycle and reuse.

Candy Corn Pumpkins

These tie-dyed looking goodies were painted with quick and easy spray paint

Mummy Pumpkin

Hand the kids some googly eyes, gauze, and glue; and let them go to town!

Silhouette Pumpkins

These pumpkins use templates and paint to spook up your haunt. You can download the templates over at Women's Day. Wouldn't some silhouettes of your kids or family, or even the dog, be cute all lined up on your porch or mantel?

Ribbon Pumpkins

Got tons of leftover ribbon? Grab your glue gun and some pumpkins and go to town!

Chalkboard Pumpkins

Crafty Lindsey over at LRstitched made this fun pumpkin with black chalkboard spray paint from Lowe's. Think of all the possibilities!

Other people around here, not as lazy or squeamish as me, made some fantastic carved pumpkins this week. They even brought out the power tools:

Me? I'm all cruelty free with my Halloween pumpkins.

~Angela

Frock Me Friday - Halloween Costumes from Your Closet

I was in the store and I saw a person wearing what I thought was a costume.  Hmmmm - a little early for wearing that Halloween costume out.  It was like a train wreck where you're trying not to look but end up following the person around just to look at what they're wearing - stalking would be accurate.  If that person isn't you then you may need this post for some easy costume ideas using items from your closet with one or two items added to make a costume.

First up is Luigi:  

green shirt, overalls, white gloves - you might have to buy the gloves unless you're one of those housekeepers who does the white glove test (please don't come to my house.)  Green baseball cap with circle of white fabric. Use some fabric paint to put the "L" for Luigi on it. Oh and don't forget the moustache!  Not pictured is her friend who came as Mario using the same ideas.

The Circus Ringmaster:

From the closet:  Jacket, boots, black pants.  The jacket was modified a little but nothing permanent.  Took some black felt and cut tuxedo "tails" out and pinned to back of jacket.  Cut cardboard out to make epaulets on shoulders.  Glued felt and fringe on to cardboard and pinned to jacket.  Note:  Glued two felt tabs on bottom of cardboard epaulet to have something to pin to.  Additional items:  Top hat and a whip that was from her closet in our costume trunk from an Indiana Jones costume.

Abraham Lincoln:  

Looks easy and uncomplicated.  But wait remember how tall Abe was ...

You need a couple of skills to pull this one off.  You must be able to grow some facial hair or buy some and you have to be able to walk on stilts.

From the closet: black jacket, white shirt, black slacks, bow tie - okay you might not have that.

How to make:

Black fabric was cut and sewn to look like a pant leg and then pinned to the bottom of black slacks to cover the stilts.

Stove top hat from costume store.  

Easy Peasy! - if you can walk on stilts.

More costume ideas:

Jason from Halloween Movies:  Mechanics overalls, kitchen knife and the Jason mask from Halloween Costume store.

Go as a graduate:  old cap and gown is all you need.

Last costume is not from the closet (not from any of our closets but different strokes for different folks) but fairly easy and inexpensive.  No pattern needed, basic sewing or gluing skills is all.

Materials:

Faux Fur

Moleskin fabric or other fabric that kind of looks like leather and will not fray when it is cut into strips.

Belt from Goodwill - Is Goodwill like the belt graveyard?

Sword and necklace from Halloween Costume store.

How to make:  

Everything but the shorts - (we like to call it a diaper) was just strips of fur and moleskin wrapped and tied around arms and feet.  The Conan Diaper (still makes me smile to say it) was cut kind of like a diaper pattern and then the sides sewn up.  You could also glue it. The waist was big to get on and off but the belt kept it up and added to the Conan look.

I am officially out of costume ideas for the day.  Look in your own closet and see what you can come up with!

- Laurie

Dress This Mess > Spooktacular Halloween Decor

If my kids had their way, our house would be "Halloweened" all year round. The chorus of "Can we decorate?" usually starts somewhere towards the end of August. In an effort to NOT give the neighbors the impression that we worship anybody other than the big G, I try to hold them off until the last weekend in September. After that, It's game on, or should I say, ghoul on. Oh, come on. That was funny! Here's some ideas to steal for your own Halloween haunt:

A flock of bats:

Use a bat template (download here) and trace onto a folded piece of black cardstock. Then find yourself some bored minions to do all your bidding bat cutting for you. I find that you get great results from them when bribed with dessert...

Add some fun spooky accessories and you have yourself a cool, bat flocked mirror. Feels very Edgar Allen Poe, doesn't it?

Or how about a little scare for your guests as a creepy skeleton peers out from what looks like an ordinary mirror?

You too can do this by taking a cheap mirror and removing the paper backing. First print out your image and decide where you want to place it on the mirror. Next, turn the mirror over and use a razor blade to gently and slowly scrape off the finish from the back of the mirror. Keep checking the position and how the picture looks from the front as you do this. You don't want to completely remove all of the finish from one spot, just remove enough that you can just barely make out an image, as you are peering at the mirror from the front. Once you have the desired effect, tape the image to the back and hang for a great Halloween effect.

Another great and easy way to spookify your home, is to take simple tablecloths and sheets and drape them over your furniture to give it that "abandoned" look.

You can even use it as a fun, Halloween party photo op!

Another great Halloween decorating tip to get the most bang for your holiday decorating buck is by checking out the dollar stores. All the big stores carry fun and pricey decor this time of year, but the dollar store has all the same stuff for, well, only a dollar!

Check out what you can do:

Lots more to come, keep checking back. Happy decorating!

~Angela

Frock Me Friday > Dress Like a Lady For Halloween

It's all about Halloween this month, at Chaos & Gloss, and today it's all about how to dress up for Halloween and not look like a "girls gone wild" reject.

All of us gals have seen those costumes; naughty nurse, sexy cop, saucy pirate. Even clowns now run around in skin tight, low cut, jumpsuits. Yea, didn't you know? Clowns are sexy now. What's a normal gal to do, when she wants to dress up for Halloween but she doesn't want to spend her hard earned fashion budget on something that was designed by a playboy bunny & you want to keep your dignity, preferably covered up with some clothes?!


Never fear, today we are going to show you some fabulous ideas, that you won't have to hide from your grandma or pastor, AND you can rock them in your everyday looks. 

Rosie The Riveter

Who is more awesome than Rosie the Riveter? No one, that's who. All you need is a cheap mechanic's jumpsuit or paper coveralls (auto supply stores), and a fabulous scarf. You can finish it off with some great ankle boots which are big right now.

Rosie the Riveter by glossyflossy featuring high heel boots

Or how about a stylish, smart school girl. One that doesn't look like she's on her way to a strip club:

Smart School Girl by glossyflossy featuring block heels

Or a snappy sailor woman, sans creepy ruffled underwear:

Snappy Sailor Woman by glossyflossy featuring dark wash jeans

Or how about Cat Woman? No tail required:

Cat woman by glossyflossy featuring a v neck cardigan

Or last, but not least: Rocker Chick. Not the kind that gets a backstage pass because she wore a bra as a top to the concert.

Rocker Chic by glossyflossy featuring wrap jewelry

Remember, just say "NO!" to costumes that make you look like you don't ever say "NO". Happy Halloween shopping!
~Angela

Celebrate Celebrate Celebrate > Halloween "ACT"ivities

Have you ever been to a party and everyone is standing around talking quietly in little groups and you're secretly thinking, "We're staying 15 minutes and then we're "outtahere."  Disclaimer: If you like those boring, talking quiet parties - STOP READING NOW.  You will find this disturbing.

If you prefer to go to parties where you might see something like this, we have some tips for you (it's not "Open Bar".) 


We like to avoid those kind of parties by starting our parties with an ice breaker game, and here at the Glossy Flossy's we like nothing better than to be a little melodramatic, a little ridiculous, and Halloween is the perfect time to be all those things (and not become a "hot topic" the next morning, unless you want to be...)!

"Wink" is the perfect Halloween party game for fun, drama and a great ice breaker.  As your guests arrive, you pass out instruction cards with a description of their "cause of death." Alternate wording for this card might be "hilarious" death instead of "horrible" death. 

On the back:

You then pick someone to be the killer and when "the killer" winks at someone they have to act out their "death" in the way their card described.

Some causes of death:  Disco Dancing, Howling at the moon, River Dancing, Hugged to death, Shark Attack, Dying like a crazed ape, Doing the YMCA, Swooning like a diva - saying "I've Expired" or laughing to death.  Have fun with this and make up your own.  Make one for that sister-in-law of yours who is always pouting when she doesn't get her way with a "pouting to death" card.  Believe me you will enjoy it immensely!!

Other guests who have not been winked to death by the killer can try to guess the identity of the killer, but a wrong guess and you too are DOA!  


Happy Halloween "Act"ivities!!!  
-Laurie

Frock Me Friday > "Boo"tiful Costumes

Okay not all of them are "boo"tiful but I just wanted to use that word.  Today's Frock Me Friday is brought to you by the letter "C" and the number "5".  Yep, that's right 5 costume ideas that won't break the bank or the clock.  Warning:  You might find some of these images disturbing!

Easy to make with a few supplies:
Sweatshirt & sweat pants
Cheesecloth torn in strips
Make up

We glued the cheesecloth to the sweats since they were an old pair but you could just wrap and pin.





















Luckily our Edward Scissorhands wears a lot of black - so the clothes are her own.


Supplies:
Belts from Goodwill
Pair of gloves from Goodwill
Paint stir sticks
Make-up

The stir sticks were cut down and painted to look like scissor blades and then stitched to black gloves.

Supplies:

Workout Videos

Old bikini

Speedo or briefs

Vines from Walmart

Cut leaves off of vines and stitch to bikini or briefs.  I bar tacked them with the sewing machine but you could probably use fabric glue.  I started with the bottom layer and bar tacked the leaf where I knew it would be hidden by another leaf.
Photo Disclaimer:  This is a horrible cut and paste job of Brad & Angelina but some people don't want to live on the internet.

Easy costume if you are all tatted up and have long hair - just kidding.  I think most of the clothes were his own except for the pants.  Now where would a guy get skinny, shiny, skin tight pants without breaking the bank? Oh yeah, from his girlfriend.  This is a Chaos and Gloss Tip:  Don't be too proud to use all your resources.  You can buy all sorts of Rockstar jewelry, wigs and paraphernalia at the costume stores for a reasonable price.  

Need a realistic looking tattoo:  You can draw one on with a black permanent marker - and yes it will wash off.

Another easy idea - just wear your own clothes.  If you're already a witch just pull it out of your closet and put it on - Just kidding.  But seriously, wear your black clothes and add a  witch hat, tights and a little frill underneath. Oh, and don't forget the makeup.

There you have 5 cheap and easy costumes! 

-Laurie

Celebrate Celebrate Celebrate > Halloween

There's nothing I like better than a good Halloween Party.  I like to dress up and be someone who I'm not.  I've been a flapper, a sumo wrestler, and a geek (well maybe one time, I did dress as the real me...)  It's not too late to send out those Halloween Invites - I hope that's true because I haven't sent mine out yet!! 

I've used the poem on this Halloween Invite for three years.  Feel free to use this invite as your very own or as inspiration for your own.  A little tip for rhyming words:  Did you know that there are "rhyming dictionaries?"  I bet you thought I came up with all these rhyming words on my own.  I'm flattered, but nope, I use all tools available to me!

Check it out:

This is our little gift to all you wonderful Chaos & Gloss readers!You can download it HERE.

-Laurie

Celebrate Celebrate Celebrate > Halloween

 Halloween, Halloween just makes me want to SCREAM! In a good way that is.  Halloween is just right around the corner and everyone is making plans and here at the Glossy Flossy's we're making plans, too.  As a little gift from us to you we are giving you a Halloween Party Planner to make your very own.  
 A page for the Theme, Menu and Decorations.    

Page 2 for Games & Activities, Favors, and notes (paper or plastic, bring your own "boos"?) 




















Another page for your Guest List.
























And the final page is your Shopping List. 
























It is 4 pages of planning extraordinaire!! 

Print all or some of the pages HERE.  Have more friends than I do? Print multiples of the Guest List!

All this month we are featuring all things Halloween! Make sure to check back for more Halloween fun to come including: an invitation to make your very own, screaming fun decorations, and some costumes that won't break the bank!   
 - Laurie
Ps - When printing, in the page scaling box be sure it says "None".