Disneyland Halloween costumes 2012

We had two Halloweens this year. For someone whose favorite holiday is Halloween, that was a dream come true!

The first Halloween was at Disneyland, when we attended Mickey's Halloween Party. As usual, I started planning months ago for our costumes. I wanted us to have a group theme, something possibly Disney-related. In the last year the kids and I have listened to a series of books called Peter and the Starcatchers that we've really loved. They tell the origin stories of Peter Pan and Neverland and I highly recommend reading (or listening to the audio read by Jim Dale) the books on your own or with your family! I knew Peter Pan would be a perfect theme for us.

I asked Maren several times if she wanted to be Tinker Bell and she held firm that she wanted to be Wendy. What kind of strange 7-year-old girl gives up the chance to wear a sparkly fairy costume for wearing a nightgown? She didn't even want a blue nightgown like Wendy in the Disney movie--she insisted on wearing her own pink stripey nightgown. We put a pink bow in her ponytail and she was happy. Easy for me!

I knew finding an adult-sized Tinker Bell costume that wasn't ~ahem~ inappropriate would be a challenge, so I started looking early. I thought about making my own but ended up ordering one from eBay, though it was still far too skimpy to wear in public. I needed pants and a shirt to go underneath and found a crazy pair of bronze metallic Spandex leggings at Forever 21 that I cut off at the knee. Those and a matching shirt I already owned provided some coverage but let the green sparkly dress be the focus of the look.

For shoes, I found a pair of green ballet flats at the thrift store and hot-glued on a pair of pom-poms I made from sparkly white yarn.

We knew that The Mister had to be Captain Hook but I also knew that his costume was far too complicated for me to DIY so we ordered it from Amazon. He already had the long, black curly wig from a previous costume--it was perfect! We had planned to resell his costume next year but I think now that we might have to keep it for our costume stash because The Mister looked really fantastic!

Porter did not want to be Peter Pan. He wanted to be a FIREMAN. I worked on him from the time I got the costume idea because I knew he would be a tough sell. About a week before Halloween, he informed me that he wanted to be Captain America and because I was willing to bribe him, I told him I'd buy a superhero costume if he would just be Peter Pan for me at Disneyland. I still expected a big fight when we actually got to California but was shocked when he was excited and happy to wear his Peter Pan costume!

Porter's costume was an easy DIY. I bought an oversize bright green t-shirt at JoAnn's and simply cut off the sleeves and bottom hem to look raggedy. I initially cut the neck into a V but the first version was cut too wide to stay on his shoulders--whoops! Luckily the shirts are so inexpensive it wasn't a big deal to run and get a new one. The pants are actually toddler girls' size 3T brown leggings. I bought a brown leather belt at the thrift store and cut it off and made new holes with my Cropadile. Using felt that I already had in my stash (thank you Gram!) and this tutorial, I MacGyver'd up a hat and a dagger, all with my hot glue gun. He was adorable!

At Disneyland, I made sure that we had a group photo in front of the Peter Pan's Flight ride!

And then we got really lucky and Peter and Wendy themselves were out signing autographs!

I know the days of my beloved group costumes are coming to an end (Maren is willing to go along with it still, Porter--not so much) so I'm happy we got at least one more good one in. Mickey's Halloween Party was really fun and I know our costumes contributed to the whole experience for me!

Weekend Thrift Finds: the short-lived thrifting break ends

 Sooo....remember back here on the 15th when I said I was taking a thrifting break for a while? That lasted about a week before I caved. I was in the thrift store to get stuff for Halloween costumes and couldn't resist a look around...

Vintage Hull white pottery urn. I've said it before, and it holds true: I cannot resist urn-shaped vintage pottery! I sold a similar one at my second market. I try to be really selective about the vintage planters I buy but this one had pretty gold glaze detailing over the pale green that reminded me of the scales on a pinecone. It's filled with vintage Shiny Brites.

A new-but-vintage-style Fiesta sugar and creamer set. I don't even collect Fiestaware but the color is so gorgeous I had to grab it! This will head to my Etsy shop.

 

Again with the vintage planter buying. This one is marked Wm. Frazier Briar Calif and I love the bright green color. It matches the green McCoy log planter I bought a few weeks ago. (Note to self: QUIT BUYING PLANTERS!)

Repro brass letter stencil wall hangings from Urban Outfitters. The M is hanging in Maren's room and the b and A are waiting in the wings for some clever use.

Vintage sparklies and a sweet Eiffel Tower pin marked 'Paris'. Need I say more?

Up tomorrow: Halloween pictures (finally!)

Fall for Free

Happy November! I'm not quite ready to post my Halloween photos or my Disneyland photos just yet, but I wanted to share with you a pair of fun Fall free treats that I'm going to take advantage of this weekend.

My friend Jennifer created this beautiful FREE printable:

Source: http://jengallacher.blogspot.com/2012/09/fall-festival-day-12-fall-printable.html

I LOVE the combination of the warm oranges and browns with the bright splash of turquoise! I don't usually decorate for Autumn until after I put away my Halloween things and this fun sign will go perfect with my other Fall/Thanksgiving decorations.

This weekend, Walgreen's is offering a FREE 8" x 10" photo collage when you use the code COLLAGEFREE at checkout. You can pick it up in-store so there will be no shipping cost either. Because it's a collage, I don't think you can use the cute fall printable above but you could certainly make a cute collage of your kids in their Halloween costumes! **UPDATE: Shara (Monkeybox) says you can use a single photo on a collage--you just have to make the border white or pick a border that matches your color scheme** This promo code is only valid through November 3.

Jack o' Lanterns

Theme in Yellow
By Carl Sandburg

I spot the hills
With yellow balls in autumn.
I light the prairie cornfields
Orange and tawny gold clusters
And I am called pumpkins.
On the last of October
When dusk is fallen
Children join hands
And circle round me
Singing ghost songs
And love to the harvest moon;
I am a jack-o’-lantern
With terrible teeth
And the children know
I am fooling.

Grim Grinning Ghosts

I'm off to Disneyland to escape the Colorado snow. I'll be sure to keep a lookout for hitchhiking ghosts!

What I've been...

What I've been reading:

Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple. Loved it! I couldn't put it down. It's fiction, kind of a mystery but funny--hard to describe. Check it out.

What I've been eating:

Apple Cider Cream Pie from Lottie + Doof. I needed a pie for our church pie contest last weekend and this was going to be my entry. Unfortunately, I didn't read the recipe through before I got started and  there was no way I could get it made and chilled in time for the party. (Instead, I made this Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Streusel Topping) I still wanted to try the apple cider pie so I made it up on Sunday and it was really very good. I had a slice today as my lunch with my lunch and I think it actually improved with time. I don't care for cooked apples so this was a nice way to get the autumnal apple-ish flavor without the chunks of squishy warm apple that you get in a traditional apple pie.

What I've been watching:

I finally had a chance to watch the last three episodes of Season 10. I don't want to give too much away in case there's anyone else who still has episodes languishing on their DVR, but I was so nervous for all of the final designers! I guessed three of the four who were in the finale but I admit to being surprised about who was chosen as the winner--not because that designer didn't deserve it, but because the judges seemed to be leaning towards somebody else. Maybe that was just a trick of the editing?

What I've been looking forward to:

The Mister finally comes home today! He's been away at training since early in the morning on October 6. He was scheduled to come home tomorrow, but got done early so he will fly in tonight. It's been a long couple of weeks for the kids and me without him and we're all SO ready to be reunited. He'll have just enough time to do laundry and repack his suitcase because on Friday we're headed to the Happiest Place on Earth for a long weekend of vacation with my parents and siblings. I've always wanted to visit a Disney park at Halloween and to get to do with with my whole family is the icing on the cake!

Return of The Bat Wreath

Did you know that if you are a Pinterest user and a blog owner, there is a way to find out what photos from your blog have been Pinned? You simply type in http://pinterest.com/source/themerrymagpievintage.com/  but replace the last part between slashes with your blog address. Now, this method is not totally perfect. For example, this photo is from my blog from years ago, but it doesn't link back to me because it wasn't Pinned from my blog directly.

Even if it's not a completely accurate picture of what's being Pinned from my blog, I can see that easily the most rePinned image from my blog is this paper bag Bat Wreath that I made back in 2010.

Kelli from K Customables shared my Bat Wreath today on her blog. Kelli and her friend Kara create darling party printables and party supplies that you can find here in their Etsy shop. Pop over to their blog and check it out! 

Weekend Junk Finds

Friends, thank you all for commiserating with me last week on my weather disaster. I was still feeling pretty blue when I wrote that post, I'll admit it. Tuesday night I held a 'Trunk Show' at my home with the remainder of my unsold handmade Halloween items. I was really worried that I was making a huge mistake and setting myself up for failure. However, I had many sweet friends come over to visit and shop, and by the end of the night I felt so much better! Just seeing my friends lifted my spirits immensely. Thank goodness for my wonderful friends! By the end of Wednesday I'd pulled myself together and out of my funk completely. I listed quite a few things in my Etsy shop and am trying to get a few more things up there in the next day or two.

I was sorely tempted to hit the estate sales last weekend, now that I'm not on such a strict crafting schedule--but the reality is that I'm buried under inventory that needs to be listed on Etsy, and have ZERO business adding to that mess! As much as I'm tempted by my new free-er schedule, I'm putting myself on a junking freeze for a while until I get some more items listed and hopefully sold. Hence, this may be the last Weekend Junk Finds post for a little while because I need to focus on getting things out the door!

Some vintage fabric scraps from an estate sale. Now, let's just remember for a moment that I DON'T SEW and therefore I have no business buying fabrics. But they're so pretty! And I think I got charged maybe $1 for all of these, plus a large piece of pretty red vintage velvet.

Have I ever mentioned that I collect these metal state ashtrays? I might have once before, but I think perhaps I need to do post with all of them together. I'm always on the lookout for cool vintage Colorado travel souvenirs anyway, so this was perfect! Underneath the ashtray is a pretty yellow and white chenille crib blanket.

This sweet tiny apron is made of fabric with an Alice in Wonderland print. There was a note pinned to the back from the owner saying she thought it was from1936 or 37. I found it at my local consignment store, and I'm kind of shocked that it ended up there! I collect Alice things so I had to have this one, but since I don't have a good way to display this wee apron, it may eventually end up on Etsy. The short strand of mercury glass beads was from the same estate sale as the fabric,

as was the large circus-themed glass in the center of the photo. I know circus-themed parties are very popular right now and I think this glass, filled with aqua Jelly Bellies with some cute pennant flags stuck in the top would be THE CUTEST centerpiece for a circus party! I know I should not bring home orphaned vintage glasses but darned if I don't keep doing it.

The two glasses on the left were in a bag together at the thrift. I'm pretty sure the black star glass is a Swanky Swig--I happen to have two of the red version. This one will be perfect for Halloween! The glass with the gray and black leaves is Libby. The two glasses on the right were also found together at a different thrift store. One has little animals and the other has pink roosters--I can't tell if they were originally red but faded over time? I don't know enough to know if they are true Swanky Swigs, but they're darn cute either way. Really not particularly useful, but too cute to just leave there on the thrift store shelf!

I'm linking up with Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday!

My second vintage market: The Bad & Ugly

After my positive experience at the Sweet William Market, I was really excited for the Horseshoe Market the following weekend on October 6. I felt like I knew what I was doing, had a week to make any necessary adjustments and even to restock some of my best-selling items. I had sold plenty, but still had more than enough to have a full booth (something that I'd been really worried about all along since I couldn't predict it). And then it all fell apart when I started to watch the weather forecast.

As the week went by, the weather forecast got progressively worse. From 55 and sunny, to 47 and morning rain, to 39 and snow. As if that wasn't bad enough, Porter was sick and vomiting on three separate days, making me worry if he'd be well enough to leave all day long on Saturday. And to make things really fantastic, The Mister found out on Wednesday that he would have to go out of town at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning so he wouldn't be able to help at all.

My mom flew in Thursday night and we spent all of Friday doing last-minute crafting, pricing, and packing. We woke up to snow on Friday morning and I really hoped that meant that maybe the storm system was ahead of schedule and would be on its way out (and the temperatures on their way up) by Saturday morning. When we left the house before dawn at 6:00 a.m. it was cold and foggy. Once we got to the market site and started to set up, the fog lifted and it actually didn't seem to be as cold as I had expected. In Colorado, it's not uncommon for the weather to be iffy when you wake up, but then the sun comes out and the skies clear and I truly thought that's what would happen.

I was wrong. Oh, so very wrong. Instead of the weather improving, it actually got much worse as the day went on. The temperature dropped and it started to mist, causing us to have to pull in anything made of paper. Then, the misting intensified to a light rain.

And then the rain turned to snow. Not even nice, fluffy snowflakes--these were like pellets. Sometimes it was rain, sometimes sleet, sometimes snow. Always COLD. And damp. And generally miserable.

As you can imagine, the 5000-strong shopping crowd that was predicted failed to materialize. If we had 20% of that figure, I'd be shocked. I was surprised at the number of shoppers that did show up, considering the rotten conditions.

I think every single vendor was honestly thrilled when it was finally time to pack up and get the heck out of there. But then we had another lovely surprise: when it came time for my mom to leave to pick up my kids from my friend's house where they had been for the previous 9 hours, the car wouldn't start. We attempted to jump start it with two separate vehicles and even to push start, all with no luck. I had to leave it in a parking lot 30 miles away from home, and somehow figure out how to get it returned to me.

We got home, I unloaded just enough junk from the back of the car so that I could fit in the carseats, and picked up my poor children from my poor friend's house. Had a wonderful dinner at a freezing cold McDonald's, took the kids toy shopping as a reward for their long day, went home and fell into bed with microwaved rice heat bags to thaw our still-frozen feet and hands. The high temperature on Saturday was 36 degrees and I was out in it for nearly 12 hours. Average temp for that day is 69.

If I could sum up the whole day in one word, it would be Disappointing. It was really kind of devastating to have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours and dollars preparing for this day, pouring my heart and soul and creativity into it, dreaming of doing it for 18 months--all to have it completely obliterated by something I couldn't control.

I do take some comfort in the fact that I did everything I possibly could to make the day a success. I'm proud of the things I made. I'm happy with my displays and the overall look of my booth. I'm pretty hard on myself so I don't often say that there was nothing more that I could have done--but in this case, I really feel like I did my very best. I worked hard and put it all out there. It sucks that my hard work and sacrifice didn't translate into success.

Now I get to figure out what to do with all of my stuff that didn't sell. I know that I could just pack it away for next year, but I really was hoping to decrease the number of plastic tubs in my storage room, not the other way around. I'm behind the power curve on Etsy because most Halloween stuff has been listed for a month now and time is ticking. I decided to have a little 'trunk show' at my home tonight and invited all of my local friends, neighbors and church congregation. I was hesitant to do it because I don't know if anyone will show up and frankly, I'm just not sure how much more failure I can take at the moment. But my desire to get rid of things won out and I'm doing it anyway. I made a big pile to take to the consignment shop, some went back into my basement, and some will get hurriedly-listed on Etsy later this week. The giant plaid chair will find its way to Craigslist sometime soon.

I'm sorry that this post is such a downer, but the day was depressing and I'm still completely bummed about it. I'm normally a very positive, optimistic person but I'm struggling with this one.

My first vintage market: The Good

My very first experience as a vendor at a craft/vintage market was at the Sweet William Market on Saturday, September 29. I'd only visited this market as a shopper once before so I wasn't totally sure what to expect and I was more than a bit nervous. I crafted, thrifted, and generally worked like a crazy person up until Friday night in order to have everything ready to go. My biggest fear all along was that I wouldn't have enough items to fill two booths, but as I started to pack everything up in box after box, some of those fears were allayed.

My dear friend is a funeral director and was able to borrow one of the minivans that her work uses to transport caskets, so it has no back seats and rollers installed in the floor. The rollers made it so easy to load up my heavy wooden door screen and there was plenty of room for all of my other boxes of inventory on top. I drove our Pathfinder, which also had the seats laid down and was completely full of tables and other display pieces. The Mister drove our little car with the two kiddos in back and we headed out.

Even though it was 7:15 a.m. there was terrible traffic on the Interstate and we were delayed a bit. I lucked out and got a great location on a wide sidewalk, so my booth was nice and flat and we could park our cars close by to unload. I underestimated the amount of time it would take me to get the booth structure set up and then all the inventory displayed, so I was still scrambling around when the 9:00 a.m. opening time arrived.

I had intended to get a helper for the day so I wouldn't have to run the booth alone (and could sneak out to go shop!) but I waited too long to ask for help, so it was just me the whole time. I worried that I would be overwhelmed but it turned out just fine. Actually, the time really flew! I had a fairly steady stream of customers and when there was nobody in my booth, I kept busy rearranging displays and bringing out additional inventory.

I'm always curious to know what items sell best when I read blogs about markets. The banners pictured above were very popular sellers, which made me happy because I had such a fun time making them! I sold a few of the party crow boxes and several of the tiny bottlebrush trees on spools.

The paper lollies at the far left of this photo were something I made last year but never got around to listing on Etsy. They were very good sellers, as were the pennant flags that are displayed in the vintage Coke bottles on the right side of the photo.

I sold more handmade items than vintage items, which was interesting. I really didn't know what to expect from the customers at this market because I just haven't been to it before.

The closing time of 2:00 p.m. seemed to come very quickly, and then it was a mad scramble to stuff everything back in the boxes, load up, and go home. I kept thinking that it didn't look to me like my booth was any emptier at 2:00 p.m. than it was a 9:00 a.m., yet I knew I had sold plenty of items! I think it was because I had enough inventory to keep filling the empty spots so the booth always looked full.

In all, I'm very happy with how it all turned out. The weather could not have been more lovely, my booth was in a great spot, I got so many lovely compliments on my handmade items and some of them even found new homes! I felt confident in how my booth looked and how my items were priced, I was at ease with using my Square, I met some really great fellow vendors, and the customers were very friendly. I really don't think I could have asked for a better first-time vending experience, and I'd love to be a vendor at Sweet William Market again next year!