Halloween pre-weekend

In the true spirit of the sassy crafter, I cooked up this costume in nothin' flat. I stopped by Loop de Loop at around 6pm and visited with my friends Cat and Perry. Cat insisted that I try on this little green dress, saying that it looked perfect for me. Aside from being a little big, it was indeed perfect. I took it home thinking that one day I'd transform it into the perfect cigarette girl costume.

So I get home, eat some chow, and commence watching Game 3 of the World Series. Sometime after 9pm I get inspired to start transforming the dress into the envisioned cigarette girl costume. Around 10pm I get a call from Cat saying that she's on her way to a Halloween party and that I should join her and her friends. Sewing complete, I move on to the other critical details of the costume -- the pillbox hat and the tray featuring cigarettes and candy. I frantically empty the change from the little basket that I keep on my dresser, and then go digging in my utility shed for black spray paint. Bingo.

As the paint is drying I rush inside to put on a smattering of make-up. After all, a cigarette girl's look isn't complete without deep lipstick and false eyelashes. Then I remove the dust cover from my turntable so that I have a tray, and raid the nicotine I keep stashed in my freezer. One final stop at Walgreen's for some candy and I'm ready to roll.

Needless to say, the costume was well receieved. Of course, why wouldn't it be if I'm offering people free drugs and candy?

Tiered tray

Here's a preview of my November column for The Satellite I figured that with the holidays coming up, it would be nice to do a project that related to entertaining.

I created three tiered stands from an assortment of glassware purchased at a thrift store. I think I paid less than ten bucks for all of the pieces you see here, plus a few I didn't use. The contact adhesive cost maybe four bucks.

1. Start with a glass pie dish and glue on a champagne glass (the short and wide kind, not a flute) using a strong contact adhesive. I used one called "Welder." Remember that contact adhesives need to be applied to both surfaces and allowed to dry briefly before the two parts are joined.
2. Keep attaching plates and champage glasses until the tray is the height you want. That's all there is to it!

I actually don't plan to use these tiered stands for entertaining. Instead, I plan to use them as unique jewelry organizers in my bathroom.

Broken tile, fancy planter

I just got back from Oklahoma City where I was attending a Garden Writers Association conference. We got to see a number of fantastic gardens, including the McMayhill & Baker garden that I totally fell in love with, including this mosaic container garden.

The planter was particularly clever to me, because it showed how you could take a boring concrete or terra cotta pot and sass it up with some broken tile or other mosaic materials. An easy way to add pizazz to your garden!

The house is owned by a gay couple who have an incredible sense of style. One is a hairdresser and the other is an interior designer. I wish I had pictures of the interior of their house--the art work and tablescapes they had created were just amazing. (They're lucky I didn't hide in one of their closets and emerge later announcing that I was moving in!) I did, however, walk away with a number of photos of their fabulous garden that I shot for work.

I shot beaucoup images at their house, but my absolute favorite scene was a large glass carboy placed on a rustic wood table. The early morning sunlight was streaming through the moisture-coated glass in a magical way. Seeing little vignettes like that really makes me appreciate the subtle beauty of life.