Rocky Mountain Haunters Shirt

I'm a member of the Rocky Mountain Haunters group. A few hundred of us who love everything Halloween and haunt related. We build props to scare and decorate our yards and can't get enough. I had the opportunity to design the shirts this year and I love how it turned out. I hope to run into others wearing their shirts too and introduce myself.

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum Costumes

Every year for Halloween, my brothers company go all out and create a themed walk thru for family and friends. This year their theme was Alice in Wonderland. He and his boss were to dress up as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. So its been tradition to make the costume and not just go and buy it. At first we thought it wouldn't bee too hard. Just a couple paper maché heads. Well, we ran into a bunch of problems and even started over on one. But we tried to take pictures along the way in case any of you would like to try your hand at making them.

We began with a big balloon. Then we added the mouth shape with craft foam. Then we added the eyes and nose from styrofoam balls shaped how we liked. Then we found plastic bowls that made the perfect hats. We added a brim to the hats and rounded them off with tin foil. We didn't want perfectly round shaped heads so we gave it some shape by using plastic bags. Then we paper machéd both heads and a few layers of it. We wanted them to be strong and last so we applied a curing plastic coating to them but you could skip that step. We added hair by carving shapes out of white packing foam. Then we primed them both for paint and painted them.  We quickly made "this way" and "that way" signs for the characters to hold.

I'm happy with how they turned out but learned a lot along the way. I would first begin by paper maché the balloon before adding the mouth and shape to it. Let it dry completely. The problems we had were that the balloon would expand and contract. One balloon even had a hole so we had to start over after we had gone so far.  We initially thought a plaster would give us the strength we wanted but it just chipped and flaked off.

But they look great together in full costume. If you want to rent them for halloween or birthdays or tea parties then message me. I live in Midvale, UT.

Halloween Face Makeup

Its been a fun Halloween season to work on crafts and props and especially makeup. My relatives all wanted their faces done so I took a saturday and did four in a row! I thought they all turned out really well. Gina was some sort of cracked face infected something. Jay was Frankensteins monster. Shea was the Cheshire cat and Amanda was Day of the Dead.

Check out the how to video for the Franky Monster here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPLYLH6Mv-g

Zombie Pumpkin Makeup - How To

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG04aoQ9b3Y

Ok, so I saw this makeup online somewhere and I wanted to try my own version of it. I loved how it turned out! This was my first time videoing a How To video as well. Ran into a few technical difficulties. Ran out of memory a few times so the video is missing some details but should give you the idea.

Day of the Dead Makeup and Costume

So every year a little boutique (Secret Haven) puts out all their Halloween and Fall decor and holds a sort of Grand Opening. They employees all dress up and encourage customers to do the same. There is a grand prize and also 10 best costume winners. Last year I won the grand prize when I went dressed up as Mr. Fredricksen from the movie UP. See post: http://amasonsayswhat.blogspot.com/2014/01/carl-fredricksen-from-up-movie.html

This year my sister wanted in on the costume fun. So we both went as Day of the Dead characters. We both were picked as two of the ten best costumes. We are waiting to see if we win grand prize! I had made my costume for a party last year. But my sister needed to jazz up the makeup I did on her. So we ran to Dollar Tree and bought a bunch of flowers and made her a head band and veil. It all came together quite nicely I think.

Make It With Mason - Spell Books

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When the leaves begin to change color and there is a crisp in the air, I can't help but get excited for Halloween. Lets be honest though. I'm thinking about Halloween all year long. Every once in a while I like to find a project that me and my friends can all do together. To kick off this season, I chose to to make Spell Books. They really are quite easy and took everyone about 3 hours to make their books from start to finish. There are many How To's on pinterest and the internet so I won't post a How To here.

Basically you get an old book, glue on objects or cut out shapes from cardboard or foam sheets to design the look. Then take a paper towel or napkin and using only a single ply portion of it, you glue it on over the cover, spine and back and on top of all your objects. Then spray paint it all black. Then using a dry brush technique, lightly brush on copper, gold or silver to get the raised areas to really pop! I love how different everyones turned out but how cool they all look together!

Nibbler Plant How To

Here is a jpg of the instruction sheet should you choose to make your own. Watch your fingers!

Ok so here is my latest creation! A few years ago I made an eyeball plant that was huge and I love it. (I'll post it soon). Then I made small little eyeball plants. I called the big plant "Eyegor". Ever since, i've wanted to make a plant with teeth. Well, i recently watched a youtube from Stiltbeast Studios on how to make teeth using Hot Glue! Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtpoCzC5qRY

After watching that, I knew I had to begin my creation! Here is how my teeth turned out. I wanted to make sure I had a recognizable teeth pattern so I made two big front teeth, small bottom teeth and some incisors.

Next, I began with a tennis ball size styrofoam ball. I cut a wedge out of it with a hot wire but you could use a knife i'm sure. Then I cut a groove where I was going to insert the roots of my teeth. I ran some glue in there and placed the teeth.

Then, using an elmers glue and water mixture, I took paper towel pieces and dipped them in the mixture and covered the entire ball. Using a wire I made a stem and wrapped that as well. I would roll the wet paper towel like a worm and create lips and veins. I would also leave pieces hanging away from the ball to act as leaves. 

Next came painting. I began with a dark green color and painted everything. Then I did a dark brown and black inside the mouth. 

Then came a few rounds of dry brushing lighter shades until i got the look i wanted. I would then go back and highlight the veins and pop the lips to stand out more. 

Then I added some moss to the pot and distressed it some. I love how it turned out!