Is it almost here??

Ok, as much as I love all things Halloween, I getting a teensy-tiny tired of looking at skulls and tarantulas...BUT only two weeks till the HAUNTED HOUSE PARTY...and this weekend I made a big push because I have to go out of town next weekend.  Here are just a few new additions, (some I actually made last year) but if you aren't already sick of Halloween, this should pretty much put you over the top...because I know that is where I am!! : )

Ok, this sign...I have to admit--I am pretty proud of....I will take/post better photo this week.  Even though I think I am certifiably INSANE that I even tried it--I saw something similar online--but way smaller.  And of course, the minute I saw it, I thought--I have a MILLION things to do, but I have to try and make this sign...how hard could it be??

  I was going to do a how to tutorial to show you how to make your own...

but honestly, I had no idea if what I was thinking was going to work 

(plus I was making it late at night; way AFTER all the natural sunlight was long gone) 

So I bailed on the step by step... Suffice it to say:

a) I employed the expertise of a dear friend/colleague/graphic designer and font expert extrodinaire!

b) I took the designed/justified/stylized pdf done by above mentioned expert 

to kinko's and had it printed out on a 20x30 sheet of paper..

c) I THEN PROCEEDED TO CUT OUT EVERY LETTER  (I have to say this is where the certifiably insane part comes in) with an extremely sharp exacto knife and several glasses of wine--so that I had, in effect, a giant stencil--that I then cut the whole poster into 8 strips (one strip for each line of text).

d)THEN, I lightly sprayed adhesive onto the backs of the strips, one by one (and one at a time) to a piece of plywood (20 inches by 30 inches) that I had painted several layers of paint on starting with first coat of MATTE black spray paint and finished with several layers of bright orange mixed with white and black poster paint--mixed and blended to achieve desired effect = primitive and folk arty.

e) I dabbed the black paint carefully onto to each letter--wiping some away some to create a worn out look; and then carefully pulled back the strip of stencil...

and you know what?? It worked!!  Now I just need to seal it...I have it hanging above our coat rack...

and it does look really good, I think...

These are from last year...thank goodness; something that was already DONE!

Some examples of art work that will hang in the spooky art gallery...

Bear with me, since I am making haunted house for 4-8 year olds...

I can't be too scary...so this what I am doing.  Thanks to AWESOME neighbor for frames!!

Some old apothecary jars I found on ebay-- to make things a little more interesting!

All candy must be a) BRIGHT ORANGE b) NEON GREEN or c) BLACK..

I have a theme going on...

ok, so I don't know about you, but I/my family needed a break from all this crafting/planning/making spooky stuff--we needed to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE for crying out loud!!

So, last weekend...we did the unspeakable!! 

We took the kids to a fancy restaurant in DC!!  It was fun!! 

We got out of the house...into the light--AND someone else did the cooking...

and we just SAT there and ate it...it was delicious and the kids were really good.  

well, pretty good...

We went to Zaytinya (which means olive oil in Turkish)  It's a Jose Andres restaurant and its Middle Eastern/Meditarrean -- it was delicious and we loved every bite!

and they have fun sculptural art outside the restaurant...which was fun to look at

and walk in and around...

 Then, Greg took Luca to the Building Museum for a birthday party and I took Magda to the

National Portrait Gallery...Magda has been working on a series of faces lately.  She is finding noses to be particularly challenging, so we went to look at how other artists over the years have drawn/painted/created noses that they were working on....I think she got some very good ideas/inspiration that she'll try out next time she draws a face....