Halloween Weekend

If you follow me on Instagram (thriftland) then I'm sure you saw all of my Halloween festivities this past weekend. Friday night I had a fun party at my house.  I've already shared some of the decorations I did with you but I thought I would also share some photos too!

  

My neighbor, a peacock, Flying princess kitty, Care Bear, Jem, Honey Boo boo, Greta Garbo (I think)
Aceasaurus, football player, fashion blogger

My cousin Sarah was a fashion blogger and her husband was Perez Hilton

Indiana Jones trying to swap out the golden idol

Saturday night I went out with Megan and Nora to their favorite bar for karaoke and a costume contest. You can check out more about their costume here but they won first! They were the many faces of Johnny Depp. Super clever!

Sunday was all about Ace. My friends own a dog daycare and they had a huge Halloween party to raise money for a couple of dog rescue organizations. There was a costume contest, bobbing for bones, games, a food truck and tons of cute dogs in costumes. I wish I would have taken more pictures of all the dogs! Since Ace was a dinosaur and I didn't feel like dressing up again, I used items from my closet and went as a paleontologist. I should have worn a name tag or something because no one really got it. That's OK though!

I hope you had a good Halloween weekend and that you are also celebrating today! I'm going to carve my pumpkins and watch a movie or two. Have a great holiday!!

Halloween DIY - Zombie Punch

Happy Halloween!! You can call this punch whatever you want but I went the zombie route :)

This punch was totally made up by yours truly and it tasted delicious. I'm sure there are a lot of substitutions you could make but I went with lime flavor because I had a whole bottle of vodka from my birthday party and I thought the vodka would go well with a citrus flavor.

What you'll need:
Vodka (clear rum could work too)
Limeaid
Ginger ale (sprite/club soda)
Sherbet
Plastic eyes
Punch bowl or other large container
Food coloring (optional)


This is so easy. I had a bottle of Simply Limeaid and I used the whole bottle. I added about 1/2 the bottle of vodka (I know, right?) and about 2/3 of the ginger ale.  Experiment with the proportions based on how sweet or sour you want it.  Then, take a couple scoops of sherbet and plop on top.  When it melts, it will take on the murky/swirly quality you see in the pictures.  I added the plastic eyes and green food coloring for fun. I think it makes it more spooky. Let me know if you try this!

Be careful of this! It is MUCH stronger than you would expect :)  You could also take out the alcohol and use this recipe for a kids party.

Halloween DIY - Paranormal Portraits

I wasn't going to post about this because I thought, "This is too easy to do a DIY for."  However, I got compliments at my party about them so I thought I would show you all!

It's pretty simple but here's what you need:
A couple of frames
Black spray paint (optional)
Red Christmas lights
Printer paper
Scissors or exacto knife
Tape
Electricity

I just thrifted a couple of frames and spray painted them black. If you already have black frames or want them to stay the original color then you can skip this step.

Next, I went online to find cool vintage photographs. I found it was MUCH easier to use photos where the subject is larger or the image has only 1 or 2 people. Shit was getting crazy when I tried to do a group photo. Also, use heavier weight paper when you print them so they can hold the weight of the lights.

Take the glass out and the backs off of the frames. Take the photo and poke a hole in the eyes of the person with your scissors. Arrange the photo how you want it and then place the lights. I suggest using older lights that are already stretched if possible. I had a brand new box and I had to use ever other light for my photos. It worked out though.

Tape the lights to the back of the photo.  Put the backing back on the frame and tape it down if necessary (it will be).  Try not to curse when the lights fall out of the eyes or the picture pops out of the front of the frame. It will happen but be patient!  Place the frames near an outlet either on your counter or a table. Plug in and voila!

Radio Silence

Sorry for the lack of posts this week! I've been a ball of stress about my upcoming Halloween party. I don't consider myself a perfectionist by any means but I really want this party to be great. I've taken on too much and now it's crunch time and I'm behind.

My lovely mom came over for 3 hours on Monday night and 2 hours last night to help me make my costume.  I'm so glad she helped me because otherwise I would have been wearing a piece of fabric tomorrow night.

I'm really happy with how it turned out! Seeing as how this is how it was on Monday.

And this was how it was on Tuesday.

I even finished Ace's costume last night! He's going to be a dinosaur. Can't wait to see him in it!

Now, I just need to buy the snacks, make the food, finish getting stuff for my costume and finish decorating. All by tomorrow at 7:30. Easy right? 

Zombie Pub Crawl

Oh you know, just me and a bunch of my zombie friends, hanging out. Typical weekend.

Halloween DIY

Anyone else SUPER excited for Halloween? I am! Here is a pretty simple DIY for you to try for your own decorations.  I got the idea from some decorations I saw at Target.  They were the store decorations and not for sale so I thought I could make something similar at home.

Supplies needed:
Cardboard or some other strong material
Exacto knife
Cutting mat
Black paint and brush
Lights

Take a pen or pencil and trace a spooky scene.  I picked scraggly trees, grave stones and a house on a hill.  You can draw whatever you like! Then, cut your design with an exacto knife.  Mine got pretty dull by the end of the cutting process so you might need a refill. I took black paint and painted the scene so it looked more like silhouette. I put it up above my cupboards and lit it from the back. I love how it turned out!







If you attempt this, be sure to send me a link to the photos!

Apple Orchard Outfit

Like I said yesterday, we got a bad frost the night before so it wasn't quite toasty out that day. I was actually quite cold in this coat with no gloves.Such is fall in MN though. :)  I also braved a couple of pictures sans coat just for you.  Thanks to my friend Amanda for taking my pictures and braving the cold!









Outfit Details:
Coat - Old Navy
Hat, jeans, boots - Target
Shirt, sweater - thrifted
Scarf - Handmade by me

Apple Orchard Day

Oh man I love the orchard. We had a bad frost the night before so we couldn't pick our own apples but we got plenty of delicious stuff.  Apple butter, apple cider, apple cider doughnuts, gourds and of course apples. 

Halloween Prep

Sorry for the lack of posts last week. I do 5 posts in a row and then I get lazy :)  I'm making 3 costumes this year so I've got to get my shiz together.

My niece is going to be the Stay Puft marshmallow baby.  I'm making the collar and the hat (hopefully) and sending it off to my sister.

Ace is going to be a dinosaur :)  I'm going to thrift a green t-shirt and attach some felt spikes to the back. He's going to look so cute!

This is going to be the hardest. I'm going as Jem! Can't wait. I'm kind of bummed because I bought all of the fabric and decided all of the costume a couple of week ago.  I went to the Halloween store to look for a wig and found a whole Jem section :( I hope there aren't going to be a million Jems this year.  I decided not to buy the (super) shiny costume from the store and make my own from a pattern. I'm nervous to make it but at least I will be more original!

Ace the Model

In case you didn't know, Ace is kind of a big deal. My friend works for a magazine and asked me to test out this dog coat and let me know what Ace thought of it. Other than it's quite feminine color, he really liked it! He has very thin fur and gets very chilly as soon as there is a nip in the air.  These pictures might even end up in her magazine! :)





He wants you all to know that he is quite comfortable in his manhood and doesn't shy away from pink/raspberry colors.

Aren't You Plaid This is an Outfit Post?

Ha! After a week of lifestyle posts, I'm sure you're ready for a change of pace.  I have another post from my Colorado trip coming up but here is an outfit I wore a week or so ago. I got the jumper from the lovely Mandi of Making Nice in the Midwest who was having a closet sale. She just had a beautiful baby girl so go congratulate her!

PS. It was super windy this day so ignore my bangs that are all over the place.











Outfit Details:
Dress/jumper - Closet Sale via Making Nice in the Midwest
Shirt - Thrifted
Boots, socks - Target
Necklace - made by me (charm via Etsy)