two straight lines

:A New School: 

:A Zoo Boo:

:A Debut Performance:

:A Rock Concert:

:A New Friend:

:A Tag-A-Long:

Happy Halloween, Friends.

Gratuitous shot of Elliot (four years ago).

In our neighborhood there is a tradition of being "ghosted," which as many of you know, is receiving a little care package on your doorstep (complete with a ding-dong-ditch) on one of the nights leading up to Halloween.  Well, last night was our night, twice.  We didn't get the sign up before the second ghoul stopped by.  So, now it is our turn to return the favor.  Within the next two nights we must deliver tricks and treats to two homes. 

In an effort to distribute less dollar store stuff, I was wondering if we could do a Halloween round-up of free things available on the web (or even just original ideas) that could go in such a package.  We will of course supplement with store bought stuff, but I thought it would be fun to give some more clever items this year as well.  Ideas?  Please leave below.  These items could also be used as Halloween party favors, or even as a substitute for the traditional candy give-away on the big night.

One thing I can suggest already is including a bottle of cider, mulling spices and a treat like seasonal cookies in a gift bag.

If you have little ones and you get a chance, click through to the Wondertime website and check out the projects I did for them this month.  They are on the "front page" right now.  One is called Whack-O-Lantern and it is the most fun project for the preschool aged.  I  borrowed the idea from my son's Waldorf teacher from last year, turning it from just a motor skills activity to actually making a lantern out of it.  Elliot loved it, hardhat and all.  We all had to be fully protected each time we did it;)  It also cute to see him teaching his older friends.

The other project I did was the Smarty-Pants piece about making costumes from overalls.  I really believe in this idea of using things you already have on hand for costumes.  I did another piece for them that used Zutano (I love Zutano!) clothing as a base for easy little kids costumes, but it was edited beyond recognition (hey, it happens), so I can't take credit for that.

I hope it isn't too annoying that I mention my Wondertime pieces here.  It is about all of the creative time I have these days, so I like to show it all to you.  I also like to put it here so my family can see which pieces are mine since they often don't put our names on them anymore.  I don't get paid to tell you to go to their website, I promise!

Speaking of creative time, I just got my Sugar Loom project from Sugar City yesterday and I can't wait to get started on it!  Now I have the perfect use for some of my great-grandmother Lucie's dresses that my dear Aunt Collie gifted me last year at our family reunion, and one dress of my Mom's too.  Yay!

We are dividing time now between our home and our temporary apartment in Kalamazoo (we have an alarm creepy robber man), and I look forward to stitching slowly on these fall nights.