Día de los Muertos

Probably the coolest holiday around is Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. At least it is for someone like me. I know a few people who would think the whole thing is weird and maybe evil. In reality it is a time where family and friends come together to pray for and remember family members who have passed on. In Mexico it is a national holiday and if you were born there it would be part of your culture and you wouldn't think it was weird at all. While I could make a lengthy post about the holiday and traditions I just want to get to one part in particular. The Sugar Skull.

I've always liked these skulls. I mean, come on, it's a skull, it's already awesome. We all have one and carry it around with us everywhere we go. We already decorate it with all types of colors, jewels and hair. The Sugar Skull is one of the main symbols seen during the Day of the Dead festivities. The reason they are called sugar skulls is they were originally made from clay molded sugar. The name of a departed soul would be placed on the forehead of the skull. It would then be placed on the grave of that person with hopes the soul would return on the Day of the Dead. These skulls are often decorated with flowers, sequins and other symbols.

Which brings me to this guy. 

Michaels Craft store was selling this lovely fella. All I knew was I had to have him. He is made out of plaster or pottery clay, I'm really not  exactly sure what it is. If you have ever painted ceramics it's just like what ceramics are like before being fired for the first time in a kiln. He is rather soft, chips easily and leaves white powder all over everything. Still, I had to have him. 

My first thought was SUGAR SKULL, but I also like the tattoo style painting I've seen done on similar skulls. I think what I did was a combination of the two. He isn't really in the traditional shape of a sugar sull, but I figured that would be o.k. 

I started out first drawing my designs on with pencil. While it erased very easily if I pressed too hard I actually ended up carving the lines into him with the pencil. 

After I was satisfied with my sketching I went ahead and traced all my lines with a black sharpie. This worked alright, but the dust from the plaster kept building up on my marker and I had to wipe it off several times. 

Next I simply painted what I drew. I used acrylic paint, repainted my black lines so they were crisp and then covered the entire thing in several coats of Mod Podge. The Mod Podge helped to not only make him nice and shiny but sealed the plaster so it's not dusting all over. I also painted the inside black and podge it. He has a place cut out on the bottom where you can add a cord with a light. While he looks kinda cool lit up I think I will display him as is. A colored bulb or color changing light would probably look cool in him.

The finished product. All colorful and flowery.  

POST UPDATE:

I ended up painting the teeth and it looks even cooler now! I thought about re-doing my above collage picture, but instead I will just post a picture with the painted teeth. I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep him on display always, not just for Halloween. 

Do I have something in my teeth?

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Bat globe!

I'd like to collect snow globes. There is just something magical in little scenes trapped beneath water with swirling "snow" that I love. The only reason I don't have some massive collection is because 1. I hate clutter, and 2. I hate dusting.  There is a 3rd. reason, but I don't want to offend anyone by mentioning being an old lady with an insane number of snow globes and a story to go with each one. Since I can only think of one other globe I have I figured it was safe to make one and bring my collection number up to two. My other store bought globe is also a Halloween themed globe, so I only have to dust it a few times while it sits out for the season.

This time of year the craft stores are filled with Halloween and Christmas items. It becomes Hallomas in these stores. This is a good thing in this case because one of the items I made this project with is a Christmas craft item. The globe itself.

I bought this at Michaels. It's pretty basic and made of plastic. There are places online you can find empty globes that come in different sizes and are made of glass. One day I plan on making a bigger, better globe and may buy one of those, but for now this is fine. You can also use clean baby food jars, canning jars, ect. These come with instructions inside on how to make your own globe, but I didn't really follow them. I probably should have, but I just tossed the instructions to the side and read them after I finished. Yeah, smart. 

Since a globe with just swirling "snow" would not be that interesting to look at you need to buy something that is interesting to look at. The Halloween village items are perfect for this. Keep in mind you don't have a ton of room, so make sure what you pick is going to fit inside. I chose this gravestone with ghost. 

Ahhh... tomb sweet tomb. 

You will also need the following.

• Waterproof glue (I used LIQUID FUSION!, say it in your head with a booming voice. Sounds cool, right?)
• Glitter for the "snow" or confetti
• Glycerine

I decided I wanted a spooky tree behind my ghosty but all the trees in the village items were too large, so I had to improvise. I bought this out of the floral section and just cut some of the top pieces off to a good length. 

I took these pieces and using my waterproof glue glued my ghost and tree pieces to the base of the globe. I used quite a bit of glue on the tree pieces to make sure they stayed where they should. 

If you are impatient like me, you should at least let this dry over night. 24 hours would be best though. This is how it will look in the globe. 

Make sure that it will fit into your globe before doing anything else. I did have to trim my tree tops a bit more. 

For the "snow" I decided to use black glitter and some bat confetti. I found this multi colored bat confetti in Hobby Lobby for .99 cents. Silver, black and purple bats. 

Pour a little bit of glitter and confetti or whatever you want to float around in your globe. If you are using glitter make sure it's a bit larger pieces and not the ultra fine stuff or it's just going to float on top of your water. 

Now fill with distilled water and 1/2 tsp. of glycerin. I really don't know what the glycerin is for but I've read a few places that say you need it. I've also read some people use baby oil, but I'm not sure about that. Glycerin can be found in craft stores in the soap making supplies. Do not over fill your globe with water. Remember when you put the bottom on it's going to raise the water level. Make sure you are over the sink when putting it together or at least have a towel handy. ( Go ahead, ask me how I know.. wait, don't ask.) You can add or subtract water while putting the base on. 

Lastly I took some Halloween themed ribbon and glued it around the base to hide the plastic screw on bottom. If you wanted a more substantial base or something fancier you could put this on top of a pillar candle holder. 

Pirates too! 

It's really impossible to take a picture of the glitter and bats swirling around in my underwater grave. At least, it is with the camera I was using. I wasn't going to get all technical and drag out the Nikon and try to snap the fastest possible pic. Mainly because I still haven't learned how to set the Nikon to do fancy things like that. So I used my little point and "hopetoGodyougotadecentpic" camera. I still probably took about 50 pictures and never did get the bats floating around, although I assure you they do. 

You can barely see one stupid bat on the bottom... *sigh*

Anyway, that's my Halloween bat globe, or lack of bats globe. (I swear, every time I typed GLOBE in this post I accidentally typed GLOVE. So if you see the word GLOVE, it's suppose to be GLOBE! It's not a snow glove or bat glove.. )

Here comes Spiderkin!

Ahhh, fall is coming. Really, it's on it's way. It's just trying to claw it's way through the heat and humidity of the summer. Stores are starting to stock their Halloween goodies and in many cases, Christmas. But we are here for the Halloween! I have a few crafty idea's in mind for the spooky season, this is my first. I wont do a step by step picture tutorial because it's pretty straight forward.

I picked up a foam craft pumpkin from Michaels craft stores. You can find these in just about every craft store but they are usually different brands. I like the Michaels ones. I chose to do this on a white pumpkin but it would look great on any of the offered colors. Places like Hobby Lobby offer colors like neon green and purple, however I've also seen a paint peel issue on their 'kins. The one I chose is a medium sized 'kin. They have both larger and smaller.

I started by lightly drawing a spiderweb on the pumpkin with a pencil. I did not measure the lines or spaces between them, I just eyeballed it. I drew the vertical  lines in the natural lines of the pumpkin and brought them about half way down. Then I simply connected them with 3 arches.

I used 6mm flat silver backed rhinestones and glued them on the lines I drew. Really nothing special in doing this. I did use around 430 of the little stones though so make sure you have plenty! Also using curved tweezers to pick up the stones and place them on the lines was much easier than picking them up with my fingers and getting glue all over myself. Just don't overload with the glue because you don't want your rhinestones sliding down the pumpkin. After that I glued a glittery spider in the web. I bought him at Michaels also. He actually had a clip on him but I took that off.  I did have to glue down each one of his feet. You could also spray paint a your spider with silver paint which would look great with the silver of the webbing.

It also works without a spider and looks just as good.

You can't win friends with salad!

If salad became the only food there was to eat, I would be content. I love salads, minus potato salad. I'm an Idaho girl who hates potato salad. O.K. maybe I don't hate it, but I don't really care for it much. Most other salads rule. Here is my favorite.

This is my easy Oriental Chicken Salad. The original recipe I had for this has been lost through the years. I am sitting on my laptop typing this, yet I am still too lazy to use Google to see if I can find something similar. Besides, that would cancel out the point of this blog. I'm showing you how I make it, not how it's suppose to be made. I have no idea on the calories involved or nutritional information. Just remember, even though it's a salad doesn't mean it's going to be super healthy. :)

You will need:

• 2 lbs. of cole slaw or chopped cabbage
• 3-4 small to medium sized chicken breasts or breaded chicken pieces
• 4 packages of chicken flavored Ramen Noodle Soup
• 1 c. vegtable oil
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 c. roasted sesame seeds
• 1/4 c. sliced almonds 

I actually left out the sesame seeds this time because I didn't have any, and I left out the almonds because I don't like them in salad, but for those that like almonds in stuff they would probably be good. 

I probably don't have to say this but... cook your chicken as directed on the package. Bake it, fry it, deep fry it,  pan fry it, just don't use it raw. I used some breaded chicken fingers because they are good. While they are baking or whatever you are going to crush up the Ramen noodles in a large bowl. 

All crushed up.  

Save the little flavor packets that come in the noodle packages, you will use them later. Add your crushed up mix to your cole slaw or chopped cabbage. I prefer the bags of cole slaw because it is so much easier to just cut them open and dump them in a bowl. Remember, I'm too lazy to Google something, chopping cabbage is even harder. 

When your chicken is done cooking cut it up into little bite sized pieces and add to the mix. I used 3 medium size breaded chicken fingers but you can use more or less depending on what you like.

Mix everything together well. If you have the sesame seeds and almonds throw them in the mix or sprinkle them on top of each serving if others don't like nuts and seeds. The seeds are good on it, I just didn't have any and I didn't want to wait to make the salad. Again,  I can't Google, I'm certainly not going to the grocery store. 

Now we are going to make the dressing. 

Heat 1/2 c. rice vinegar in a small sauce pan, I let mine come to a boil. Add 1/2 c. sugar and stir till sugar is dissolved. Once sugar is dissolved remove from heat and add 1 c. vegetable oil and your flavor packets from the Ramen noodles. Still everything together and pour over the salad. Stir the whole sha-bang till everything is nicely coated with the dressing mixture and enjoy!! It's really good if you eat it right away, the noodles are very crisp and it's not bad at all with warm dressing. Try a bowl right away then let the rest sit in the fridge. It's really good when everything absorbs the dressing and is my favorite that way. 

Bon Appétit!

(whispers) Obsession...

Remember that perfume, Obsession? I used to think it was the best smelling stuff out there. I think I actually owned a bottle, but I can't remember. I would have got it for Christmas or a birthday because back then I was broke. O.K. I'm still broke, but back then it was a different kind of broke. Now I can't stand the smell of the perfume. I'm not really sure why and I apologize to everyone wearing it right now. It's just an old smell.

Obsession perfume is so not the point of this post. I wanted to post about my silly obsessions with things. It's all I can think to call it. Many years ago I thought tongue piercings were the dumbest thing ever. Why the hell would anyone pierce their tongue of all things? How STUPID! (Hang on, this relates). All of a sudden, and I mean all of a sudden, I decided I wanted my tongue pierced. I literally woke up one day and wanted it done. It wouldn't leave my head. I obsessed about the idea till I got it pierced. Hopefully I will never want my nipples pierced, I still think that is stupid. The beginning of this year I all of a sudden wanted my ears pierced, again. I went crazy over earrings before I even had them pierced. Every where I went I had to check out the earrings. While I still wear them I've lost interest for the most part.  At one point scrapbooking became an obsession. It was long after it was all the rage. I just decided I wanted to do it and I bought a ton of supplies and made a whole album. Now I have a ton of supplies and pictures, but no real desire to do it anymore. Then I moved to makeup. I wanted to create tons of looks and have every color eyeshadow possible. I have a ton of makeup now, but the obsession with it is fading. Currently it's nail polish and nail art. I've always tried to have nice nails, but all of a sudden I am painting them twice a week, sometimes several times at once. Like everything else I have a ton of nail polish. I feel like there's not enough time to use it all and do everything I want with my nails. Crazy right?

I have had other smaller type obsessions. Certain things that I have wanted to do and wont leave my thoughts until I've done it. Like buying certain frames and designing a picture wall in the hallway. Things like that are usually short lived, obsession ending once I've done it. Before it ends though it's the only thing I have on my mind, all day, every day.

I wish I could become obsessed with house cleaning. I love a clean house, I just hate making it that way. It's hard when there is so much makeup and fingernail polish laying around. I currently try to do the "clean one room a day" trick. This worked for awhile but now it usually ends up being Friday and I think 'Crap, I haven't cleaned a room at all this week' and end up cleaning the whole house in one day.  My husband wishes I would become obsessed with sex. I didn't ask him, but I'm sure that's what he would say. I wonder what my next obsession will be. Hopefully it will be something cheap, easy and doesn't add anything more to the clutter in my house. Oh, and there was a small perfume obsession where I bought a number of expensive perfumes, none of which was Obsession.

These are a few of my favorite...movies!

It's been awhile again since I have posted. I think I ignore my blog because most things I do go on Facebook right away and I feel like I'm not posting anything new on here, so I skip it. I've been rather obsessed with nail polish lately, and I've just ordered a ton of nail stamping image plates. Soon I will have plenty of nail art pictures to blog about. I better go buy more polish remover now..

There was a tag going around on Facebook asking for your favorite movies. I never copy and repost those things, so I thought I would blog about it. Most people who know me know that I love the horror genre from books to movies to everything else. You might expect my favorite movies to be all blood and gore, I might surprise you. So here are my top favorite movies, in no particular order.

The Goonies. 


I remember walking dangerously down a very busy road with a friend to see this movie in the theater. I know I liked it at the time, but I think as years went by I liked it even more. One thing that always confused me was a memory of a scene in the movie involving a giant octopus. I swear I could remember there being one in the cave at the end of the movie, but in all the times I watched it on cable I never saw that octopus again. Finally I got smart and used Google and found out the octopus scene was deleted shortly after it's release. I knew I wasn't imagining octopuses.. octopi.. whatever. I will never get tired of this movie. Goonies never say die!!

See, it's the octoeye! 

A Christmas Carol.


I don't think I even have a favorite version of this, although I really loved the newest one with Jim Carrey. I thought it did an excellent job following the book. I even like the Flintstones version where they are putting on the play, but Fred ends up learning the lesson for real, and Scrooged.. "Will you PLEASE hold the GODDAMN hammering, NOW!" This movie in whatever version is just so Christmas too me. I swear when I watch it I can even smell Christmas. I wonder if this novel inspired the line in the song "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" when they sing "There will be scary ghost stories..." After all, I can't think of any other Christmas ghost stories.

The Princess Bride.


It's INCONCEIVABLE that someone would not like this movie. It has everything, romance, mystery, action, sword fighting, pirates, chases, torture, giants, and love... twoo wuv. Not to mention Cary Elwes is kinda hot in this movie. I've seen it so many times I could watch it with my eyes closed. I even fell for the secret twist of the book, even though I wont tell because maybe someone out there doesn't know. I did figure it out before I was done reading it, but it was fun not knowing and discovering it.

Time is such a bummer! 

The Wizard of Oz.


We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz! I remember watching this all the time as a kid. Every time they would play it on t.v. it would seem like it was some holiday. Did you know that the movie was always in color? The Kansas scenes have always been in a sepia tone while Oz has always appeared in color, it was never colorized at a later date. Now lets talk about the Ruby Slippers. Oh, those shoes, those beautiful shoes! They are the most perfect pair of shoes ever. I even have a cheap Halloween knock off pair.

The Phantom of the Opera. 


While I have never seen it on the stage, but I have seen other movie adaptions, my favorite is the 2004 version with Gerard Butler. So lets talk about him. Gerry is simply HOT in this movie. He makes me want to slap Christine around for not choosing him in the end. I know he isn't meant to be hot and sexy, he is suppose to be disfigured and hideous. But, with him being hot and sexy it is easier to feel something for this poor man who just wants someone to love him while he kills people. Is that so much to ask for? I even love the music in this movie. I've been asking for the soundtrack for Christmas for years now, but I have yet to get it. I have the feeling Jonathan is afraid I will force him to listen to it in my car or something.

He murders people? Meh, I can over look it. 

The Lost Boys.

I almost put Interview with the Vampire here instead, but I had to go with The Lost Boys. This was the first vampire movie that made me want to be a vampire. Never grow old, never die. Live with a bunch of super hot dudes that ride motorcycles. O.K. so I would rather live with the Interview vampires in their fine southern mansions, and really Brad Pitt as a vampire was to die for sexy (teehee, die for, vampire.. nevermind), but the Lost Boys vamps weren't too bad either. I have no idea why everyone else in the movie resisted becoming one of the undead so much. Did you know in the end the reason David never disintegrated when he was killed like the other vamps did was because he didn't actually die? The plan was to make a sequel with David called The Lost Girls. Too bad it was never made and instead we had to suffer with Lost Boys: The Tribe. There is also a novel version of the movie, good luck getting  a copy though. 

Because he is fun to look at... 

Of course there are a lot of other movies I like, but I'm not bored enough to keep this list going. And I do have some horror faves like, The Shining, The Exorcist, The Ring. Then there is Mary Poppins which I love, and one of my top favorites, The Sound of Music. Comedies like Super Troopers, Old School and Euro Trip, tear jerkers like The Notebook, Marley and Me and Titanic. I have a wide range of movie tastes which is good, it keeps me entertained. 

What are some of your favorites, dear reader? 

Patriotic nails how to

For years now I have been doing something special to my nails for Independence Day. I started doing this before nail art was cool and people were blogging about it. I started it before the internet. I WIN! I'm not sure what it is about this holiday, but no matter what my nails are red, white and blue. I can't remember all the different looks and it is too bad I don't have pictures of each and every one. Now however I can blog all my experiments and someday fondly look back on my pictures, happily sighing and thinking, 'What the heck was I thinking!'.

As always dear reader, I share my disasters with you.

After applying base coat I painted my nails red. I have a TON of red nail polish. I have always loved classic red nails. It looks even better on toes. Yet I hardly use it. Most of what I have is a deeper, darker red, so I took a trip to Sally Beauty Supply in search of a more... American Flag red. If you have ever gone shopping for just a red nail polish you know there is like at least 50 shades of red. (HA! Get it, instead of gray, I used red..*snicker*) O.K. so that wasn't that clever. Lets just say there is a whole lot of red shades out there. I settled on "Expressionist Red" from Finger Paints. It was a little sheer, but wow, it dried super shiny and just felt like patent leather shoes. Make sure the red is completely dry before moving to the next step.

Just look at that SHINE! 

Next you are going to add a white stripe down your nail. IF you are able to just paint a nice straight strip down your nail, DO IT! Me, well I can on one hand, not the other. To make it easy I used some sticky strips that come in the Sally Hansen French Manicure kit. I don't know if you can buy the strips separately or not. Don't worry if you don't have them, you can use tape, preferably masking tape or maybe painters tape. Old self stick address labels work, too. The strips are great because while they are sticky, they peel off easily if you need to preposition one or two (all) and don't take your polish with them when you peel them off. Position these on your nails so you leave a center strip down each nail. Re-adjust if your strip is crooked. 

Now use an opaque white polish to paint the center area. I used Sally Hansen French White Tip. I painted one thick line down the middle and that seemed to do it. Try not to get it too thick as it may bleed through your tape and make a mess. You just need enough to cover the red. A little hint here. If you paint a top coat over the red it makes it easier to take a bit of polish remover to clean up any white polish that may bleed through the tape or any mistakes that you make. It removed the white without taking the red with it. Ask me how I know... :) 

So my lines aren't perfectly centered. I was watching True Blood while doing this. I can't be expected to keep an eye on the hot vampires on screen and on my fingernails. I just can't.. I do have my priorities. Again, wait for the stripes to dry before moving on to the next step. Let me just stop and say right now, this look takes awhile. If you are able to do it without the tape it goes a little faster. Otherwise it's a waiting game. I suggest holding off on any drinks while you are doing this or you will need to pee while something is drying.

Once dry take your tape again and this time go horizontally across your nail tips. This is where you will be painting your blue so make that area thick enough to add some stars. 

It's like the flag of Switzerland. 

Paint your tip blue. I used "Midnight Blue" from Sinful Colors. 

Now comes the fun part! If you have a nail stamper with some stars I would suggest using that with some white polish on the blue tips. Although I am thinking of buying a stamping kit, I don't yet have one. So I used some nail art stars that I already had laying around. Funny thing about them laying around is that they are now laying around all over my carpet because I accidentally knocked them off the table. There is easily over a thousand tiny stars all over the floor. I still haven't decided if I want to try picking most of them up or just cut my losses and get out the vacuum. 

I stuck these on my nails just before the blue was completely dry. FINALLY no waiting for something to dry! They are slightly holographic so it kinda reminds me of fireworks. I stuck them on and painted over them with my top coat and finally  called it good. 

They're not perfect, but I like 'em. 

Have a safe and fun holiday everyone! 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, AMERICA!