The Masquerade

I'm no original thinker on this, (okay, okay, I confess, I'm a shameless copycat!) but after seeing Carlene's old photographs wearing masks at Organized Clutter, I knew I had to give it a try in my simple attempt to play along at Halloween.

Batman and Cat Woman?

Let me just admit that I'm usually a Halloween stick in the mud. I have been for years now. Fall just whisks by with me rarely succumbing to the slightest bit of decorating or celebration of the changing season, and I especially ignore Halloween. Somewhere along the line, I guess when my kids grew up, I gave up Halloween with all the pressure of costume deadlines and having to open the door to large man-sized guys wearing black capes with their heads and faces and covered with hoods just because it was Halloween. I sure did love going trick or treating as a kid, but that love didn't follow me into adulthood.

This year, however, with the pressure off from costumes, and ever since the Great Pickle came to grace the wall of my dining room, and pumpkins came home with us from the pumpkin patch, my attitude shifted a bit and I decided to get in on the fun and do a little something.

Everyone is headed to the masquerade!

Since this was a free project and one I figured wouldn't require that much of me, I gave it a whirl, choosing a time when Casey was at work to make the masks and get them onto our living room pictures so she would discover them when she came home.

The Incredibles?

Turns out it was a bit more time consuming than I expected. The big masks were much easier to make than the tiny ones, but cutting out the eye holes was a bear on the little ones! I had no exacto knife within easy reach or it might have been much simpler. And I was making up some of my own patterns to get the correct sizes and working at lightning speed to get done before Casey walked through the door.

 Unamused by the eye dressings I gave her?

Rr-reaarhh!

I downloaded some masks I found online and tried copying Carlene's masks as well because I wanted a variety. I managed to copy a Batman mask for my son and my nephew and made a couple of different ones for everyone else. Some worked in the sizes I originally made them, but others had to be reworked to fit the faces. One of the masks has a kind of Cat Woman vibe to it. I guess that fits since we have Batman in the mix.

After I got these underway, I also saw THIS by Tracy at Crows Feet Chic. These hats would be another fun addition to framed pictures. "The Oak Gulch Ladies' Aid Society;" they look positively witchy! Tracy's going to be decorating for a Halloween party, so check back with her to see what she comes up with! I'm betting it'll be spooky good fun!

Well, I'm pretty excited; today the washer arrives. (We didn't get a dryer yet after all. Too expensive. I didn't want to wipe out every penny I had, so we are going to wait on that.) I spent my evening last night after work clearing a path to where the washer goes from the storage area that once was a garage before we added a room in most of it. This involved lots of shuffling of stuff and piling things up precariously, both in the storage space and in the craft room and the adjacent bathroom. It was quite a feat, but since I wouldn't buy washer hoses (since I already had them), I was told the delivery guy will not bring the washer in and install it. He will only drop it at the door. So I figured I'd better have the simplest way to get it into place without having to go up and down the two steps into the house and then back down a step into the laundry area. That means it will have to go through the usually filled garage storage area, through the usually crammed craft room and through the usually somewhat blocked hall...the stuff has to go somewhere!

Bu-bye!

Casey and I got this up the one step into the house and then down two steps to the yard. After it sat here a week waiting for trash day, I managed to get it to the road; it was on wheels but they dug into the dirt and grass and it did not want to budge. It took a whole lot of effort. Within ten minutes of getting it to the road, my next door neighbors came and wrangled it up their side yard to their back yard in an amazing feat of strength, and left it right across from where I had it. We could have just pushed it through the bushes! Ah well, we all got a workout.

So in preparation for the delivery of the new washer, I did some unbelievable arranging of junk last night, and then afterwards, I got ambitious, made a decision (Woo!). I pulled out all 16 of the wood pieces (large cabinet doors) I got for free from a pile on the side of the road a while back and took off as much of the hardware as I could get off and threw the wood away. I know we'll be needing that immediately now that it's in the trash, but it was hogging about 4 feet of space and my plans for it were iffy. Gotta do what you gotta do.

I'm getting there!

Wildly Original Link Party @ I Gotta Create!
Home Sweet Home @ The Charm of Home
Cowgirl Up @ Cedar Hill Ranch
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm

Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Mop it Up Monday @ I Should Be Mopping The Floor
Inspiration Friday @ At the Picket Fence
Friday's Unfolded @ Stuff & Nonsense
Vintage Inspiration @ Common Ground
Share Your Cup @ Have A Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson
Treasure Hunt Thursday @ FMFPTY
Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style
Tips and Tricks @ Stringtown Home
Be Inspired at Elizabeth & Co.