Sunday, October 31, 2021

Bigass Hallowe'en Wrap-Up: Brunch Zombie, Seasonal Décor and Gold Wing Dress Pt III

Happy Hallowe'en, ghouls and fiends! I hope you've had a fun weekend, regardless of whether or not Hallowe'en is a thing in your country. I've enjoyed it my whole life and always get a kick out of dressing up in a ghastly outfit to celebrate. 
"I want no part of this. Down, Woman!"


L and I dressed up for brunch with Nick. "Did you warn him?" I asked. "Nah, he knows us," said L. 

L is wearing his classic Vampire On the Town look - he got loads of compliments from people as we wandered through town. Everything is assembled from his closet, including that vintage Christian Dior tux jacket (which I thrifted!). 

I'm a scary zombie! 
I have done zombie make-up as a quick go-to off an on for decades, going back to when I was a teen. 

Don't be scared, it's just me. See? Rock on! 
I have my contacts in - glasses are a pain with spooky make-up. My favourite part of this was the smeared-up lipstick, since I could retouch it without looking. The rest is just a bit of white make-up on the base, with grey contours smudged in black eyeliner, and some grey eyeshadow. 

But let's get to the clothes, shall we? 
I stayed in character - BRAAAIIIINS!!

  • Dress - vintage, handmade, thrifted; last worn here last Hallowe'en, in October 2020
  • Shoes - Half Truth Veda, Fluevog; last seen here in August with a stellar vintage skirt
  • Leather coat (below) - Baez Leather, consignment; last worn here a couple of weeks ago

I amused myself by groaning, "Braiiiins" at people and then backing away - you have no brains, get it? 
Rar! 

I wear this dress once a year, around Hallowe'en. Enjoy a Flashback of all my Hallowe'en costumes and outfits here
I bought it decades ago, in the late 90s at Value Village, probably for under $20.00. It's all very vague - that was so long ago. 

It was cold and crisp, so I wore a vintage slip underneath.
I also wore a floofy black underskirt for extra ruffles and volume. 

The dress zips up the side with a metal zipper. 
"I don't like all this nonsense."


It's so pretty. All this copper lame (lah-MAY, darlings!) lace! 
It has a few small tears in the lace, but otherwise it's still in really good condition - it's likely from the late 50s to early 60s. 

It was sunny out, so I wore sunglasses. 
Brains?

How about badass rock & roll zombie? 
I love this coat - it worked so well over the dress. 
Masked up - I got a few looks in the grocery store in this, as we ran errands after brunch. 
Keep in mind that L was also dressed up.

We were even more distinct than usual.
I do enjoy pushing the envelope. 

Accoutrements: 
Now that October is over, my mode will switch away from the spooky - I plan to bring out lots of autumn colourful outfits to lift my (and your!) spirits as the days get ever shorter. 

  • Mask - Lazy Susan's
  • Scarf - MetroWear, San Francisco, 2006
  • Gloves - Danier 
  • Sunglasses - The Patch

The stuff: 
These poor shoes are thrashed - they've been worn close to 70 times! 

Spooky bling: 
My leather obi was a great thrift find over a decade ago for under $10.00. 

  • Obi - thrifted
  • Snake brooch - c. 1986, gift from Mom & Dad
  • Spider ring - c. 1986, gift from Mom & Dad
  • Snake ring - c. 1986, BC Museum Gift Shop
  • Spider earrings - don't remember

L headed back to town to meet up with a friend in from Vancouver in the afternoon, and I decided to decorate for Scary Movie Night that evening. Like my Christmas decorations, I haven't actually put my Hallowe'en stuff up for well over a decade. 
I usually pack it up and take it to work where I can look at it and enjoy it. But I haven't decorated at work for a couple of years either, and on impulse, I decided to quickly put it up. I'll take it down again in a day or two.

You'll forgive my indulgence as I show it off. Someone else was quite interested in all of this...see him?
"Is this a kitty skull?"


He sniffed at everything - I'm very careful not to react too much, as then he'll know it's fair game to get my attention. Cats! 

I still have a ton of crepe paper left over from a party c. 1996 (some very old pics here, scroll down), so I twisted some black along the valance and lightly secured it with tape.
The black roses are from my Beetlejuice costume (post here), but were originally bought for a pre-blog Vampire Bride costume. The vase was a wedding gift (1997) from apartment neighbours Dave and Jess, hand-painted by Jess. 

I can't remember where the glitter skull came from, but it's more recent, as is the black cat bag. 
The enameled white metal skeleton (~$5.95) is from my old job at Christmas House, which did a big business in Hallowe'en decorations during the season. It fell off when we turned the CD carousel player on so I had to tape it to the side of the cabinet.

I love that green glitter. 
The cat has a nice mischievous look. 

The two ceramic ghosts on the PS player are from Christmas House too - I think they were around $2.95 each. 
I added a strip of orange crepe paper across the front of the TV stand/fireplace. The gravestones are styrofoam, bought at the Dollar Store about 7 years ago. 

The spider and web are bendy metal covered with black glitter. 
It's very light, so I just hung it off the hand of one of the LOTR bookends. It's Shelob! 

I have two of the small ceramic skull candleholders like the one on the left. The bigger candleholder with the red glass eyes came with L - he had it when I met him. 
The little rubber lizards are mine - I used to have a collection of them (it was a thing I was into in the 90s). 

The bat candleholder is from Midwest Importers of Canon Falls, and I bought it wholesale while on a buying trip with my old Christmas House bosses, Jo and Ev. They were so sweet to let me order one-offs for myself - this was around $50 (a lot in the late 90s!) - it's wrought iron, very heavy. 
The black skull is handmade pottery from Mexico - Mom and Dad brought this back for me in the late 90s, but it broke in transit. 

I glued it back together with some Zap-a-Gap glue. You can see the repair lines - fortunately, it broke into large pieces, and I am good at repairing things. 
You can also see the nice metal web detail on the candelabra and the cute little spider hanging down.  

This little 12"  tree is made of the same stuff as the big web: sparkly black bendy metal. We sold tons of these in our store - I believe they were around $11.95.
It has one 24" strand of pumpkin garland (~8.95) wound around its branches. 

There is a set of ghosts and a set of purple cloaked witches. I think I picked those up at a drug store a few years back. 
The other mini decorations were a set that I bought at the store for around $6.95. 

This massive cemetery gate candleholder is the same make as the wrought iron candelabra, and it's even heavier - it's between 10-15 lbs. It was $75.00 wholesale (would have retailed for $150). The gate doors do not open, they just sit ajar. 
The little skeleton in the top hat was a separately sold ornament ($5.95). Lock, Shock and Barrel in the tub are a movie tie-in decoration purchased for me as a gift from a Disney shop (this in the pre-Internet days) by my bosses, as I love "The Nightmare Before Christmas" movie. The bugs (there are more under the TV) are from L's Beetlejuice costume. 

I put one black rose with our permanent vampire display. I lit all the mini flicker tea lights in the evening, and we made it spooky for Nick.
We watched three scary movies: "His House" (Nick's pick - a superbly tense and scary movie), "Night Teeth" (L's pick - we described it as "a scary movie for 8-year-olds"), and my pick, classic 80s vampire movie with the late great Bill Paxton, "Near Dark." I also served homemade chili for dinner and Nick brought over some candy - it was a delightful evening. 

But before all that, I sat out on the deck in the afternoon while the chili burbled away on the stove, enjoying the sunny day and working on my Gold Wing Dress. 


Art Project: Gold Wing Dress, Part III

This project doesn't have the excitement and drama of the evolution of my Tattoo Jacket. Look, more feathers! 
I have learned to work from left to right - this is the secret to not smudging. I did a row, and started to evolve the look of the feather from more abstract to more detailed. 

Someone was trying to get my attention. 
"Woman! It's time for food!"


Time does fly when I'm working on these projects. This second row of feathers had to be my last, as I'd been working for close to three hours, and my hands were cramping. 
It's starting to look so cool! I have maybe two more sessions on this before it's done, I think. The rows of feathers are getting smaller. 

Vizzini kept pestering me - he really wanted to sit on me, but the dress can't be bunched around like the leather jacket could, as the liquid ink can stick to itself if it's not fully dry. 
"Feed me, or this wall gets it!"


He hid from the scary movies all night! What a little chicken-cat! 
Wishing you all a Happy Hallowe'en! 

29 comments:

  1. Your Halloween costume is cool and the zombie makeup is perfect! Love the décor!
    xoxo
    Lovely
    www.mynameislovely.com

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  2. Happy Halloween to you too, Sheila! Needless to say I think you look absolutely SPOOKTACULAR! I love that jacket you're wearing, and your makeup is very scary lol. Your husband looks like he belongs at Whitby Festival! LOVE IT!!
    Hugs
    Suzy xx

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    1. Thanks so much, Suzy! We love getting dressed up and this is a quick and easy make-up look to do in a pinch. Isn't L's style fantastic?

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  3. Wow, zombie Sheila is really scary! If I saw her coming out of a secret room, I'd run!

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  4. Halloween isn't really a thing here in Belgium, although things like trick or treating and spooky decoration have made their way across the pond over the years. Dressing up is primarily a kid thing here. Personally, it isn't my thing either, but I do love seeing everybody's costumes on social media. I love the lengths you go to, both in dressing up and decorating! Your make-up is just brilliant and your outfits are amazing and amazingly detailed. That dress is such a stunner!
    Your deck looks so cozy and - naughty cats aside - seems like the perfect place to work on your project! xxx

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    1. Yeah, I know it's mostly a North America thing, but I enjoy it, and I love seeing how creative people get with their costumes. Thanks so much - we had fun, although all of it was a last-minute decision. Not bad for a quick look! Thanks so much!

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  5. Fan_tas_tic!! I wished I was your neighbour and could celebrate Halloween with you!! Btw, candy and horror movies.... those 2 belong to eachother! I watched Halloween, the original movie. Loved it!

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    1. Thank you, Nancy! We had a great time! Halloween is a classic movie - I love it too.

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  6. Gosh Sheila you have gone the whole hog into Halloween! I'm rather bemused by it all as I didn't celebrate it growing up; nor when my children were small but the grandchildren - yes!

    Your outfit and L's are spectacular! The jacket goes perfectly as does obi - what a great find. The dress itself is very pretty; I bet there's not much copper lame around these days!

    I loved that you decorated your apartment it looked fabulous and I forgot to say you looked frankly terrifying (with your halloween make up)!!

    Hope you have a great week
    xxx

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    1. It's as big as Christmas here for some people - it's a Big Deal, even for adults. Thanks so much - we really love getting dressed up. I adore this pretty dress - you don't see this fabric much - and I was so happy at how well the jacket worked with it.

      Thank you - ha ha, hope I didn't scare you too much. ;-P

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  7. My goodness Shiela, you truly embraced Halloween.
    Love the outfits, the make up and the effort you made to decorate your home too. Looks pretty scary!
    Fantastic pic of you and L …you both look amazing. x

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    1. I always do, Phyl - I encourage you to go back through the link I put in and enjoy my outfits over the years. :)

      Thanks so much - we really enjoyed having the house decorated.

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  8. Your otufit looks great - that is such a stunning dress and you and L both look wonderful! It's nice you had a good time celebrating and you got to decorate as well! We don't really do Halloween here so no decorations or dress ups or trick or treaters - one of the little carnivals near us had a bit of a Halloween theme but that was really from one "spooky" photobooth and some fake spiderwebs and skeleton/bat bunting on a couple market stalls so nothing like I imagine the US is, haha!

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    1. Thanks, Mica! We had a blast getting dressed up and walking around town, and it was so nice to have the decorations up again after all this time.

      I know Americans really get into Hallowe'en, but I've never been to the States at that time of year. Us Canadians are probably second in celebrating it, though.

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  9. you both look amazing in your Halloween outfits.

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  10. Happy Halloween! You guys are the best - I love your Halloween outfits and the spooky decor!

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  11. I love how you two like drama, performance, theater. It is like playing when you were a kid. So good you never lost that.
    I am with Vizzini, the scary movies would have been too scary for me too.
    Greetje

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    1. Yes, very much so, Greetje. We have always loved getting dressed up and being out in public, and I'm glad we still do it. Ha ha, only one was actually scary!

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  12. You two look fantastic together - I bet you cheered up an awful lot of people.

    It makes sense for Vizzini to be interested in Halloween decorations. Being a mostly-black cat, the day is clearly mostly about him.

    Near Dark! What a GREAT film. I haven't seen it in years, but it really sticks in the mind.

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  13. Even as a zombie, you are stunning! Love that jacket, too! What a fun time you must have had out and about! Our Halloween was very low key...king size candy bars for the grands and little neighbor girls!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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  14. This enchantingly awesome post is pure heaven for my Halloween adoring heart and soul. Thank you immensely for the tour and details of your marvelous All Hallows' Eve decor. Every last bit made me swoon, but none more so than the two (amazing!!!) candleholders. Those are really something else and I can completely see why you could not pass them up (there's no way I could either).

    This was so much festive fun. Thank you (and L) again. You both looked sensational!!!

    Autumn Zenith 🧡 Witchcrafted Life

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  15. So fabulous post!, love to see you dressed up in some spooky finery, You Totally Rock Halloween!, so deligthful outfits!. Your lamé dress is stunning and love your jacket, wow, so terrifying gorgeous!
    besos

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  16. Your Halloween decor is monsterously marvelous, as are your costumes. I stayed home to hand out candy to trick or treaters, as usual, but unfortunately there were very few this year. I dressed up though, which is fun for the kids and for me.

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