A couple of Alices...

One thing I did accomplish this weekend was watching a couple Alice in Wonderland DVDs. I haven't rented movies in FOREVER but I wandered the aisles and found a couple I hoped would be inspiring. First was the 1985 Alice in Wonderland live-action star-studded event:

I know some people hold this version near and dear to their hearts, but I found it kind of annoying. The sound was fuzzy in my copy (probably just a defect in the DVD, I can't imagine they're all like that) and it looked very dated and un-magical. The musical numbers seemed forced and awkward, and the slapped on ending with the looking glass/Jabberwocky was just strange and disconnected. It was worth seeing, however - their bird costumes were GORGEOUS, and the pig-baby scene is fun, I like the frog messenger.


The other Wonderland-themed movie I picked up I actually purchased - they didn't seem to have it to rent, and since it's so expensive to rent movies now it wasn't much of a leap to just buy a pre-viewed copy - was Phoebe in Wonderland. It stars Elle Fanning (Dakota's little sister) as a normally functional child of two artsy writer parents who slowly falls deeper and deeper into OCD and Tourrets Syndrome. Phoebe is obsessed with Wonderland and finds some relief in the school production, but Wonderland is just the background and a mirror for her madness. Her parents struggle with not wanting to label or medicate her for "normal childhood things" but slowly come to realize Phoebe's obsessions and behavior is far from normal. It's kind of a sad movie, one of the most heartbreaking scenes I've ever seen takes place when Phoebe's mother discovers her daughter has washed her hands until they bleed and scraped all the skin off her knees jumping on only every 3rd stair...she asks her daughter why she did those things and poor Phoebe just cries "I don't know why, I want YOU to know why." It was well made, maybe a bit slow, and not extremely uplifting, but worth watching. Phoebe sees Wonderland characters in her dillusions, and the school play shows some interesting takes on Wonderland costumes.

Sneezing & such...

Well, I'm not quite sick but definitely fighting something; yesterday I never got out of bed so that explains the lack of crafting & posting. I'm hoping that my 36 hours of sleep + this huge carton of OJ I'm drinking will magically ward off all of the "crud" all my nearest and dearest have been passing around. This is exactly why I start decorating & crafting early - something always comes in and steals a few days you thought would be productive...

Anyways, since I accomplished nothing yesterday I have little to write about today, so I've decided to do some research instead. I've been struggling for an appetizer that involves peppered bacon - evoking the pig baby the Duchess keeps peppering. Here are a few I'm considering (typos and "creative grammar" are to be attributed to the original sites please), any feedback?


Peppered Bacon Twists
Ingredients
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 can refrigerated 11 ounces pillsbury cornbread twists (bought next to biscuits in store)
8 slices of any ready to serve bacon heated as directed on pkg

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees f.
mix brown sugar ,pepper in shallow pan dish, set aside
unroll corn twists dough, separate into 8 long strips; press perforations together in each strip to seal, top each dough strip with bacon slice. and to sugar and pepper mixture turning and coating it all over, then twist topped dough strips slightly, then place on greased baking sheet
bake 11 to 13 min or until lightly brown , don't over cook them lightly brown.

Sounds easy enough, I don't love corn bread but I bet it would be fine with regular bread stick dough.

No photo for this one, but I like the idea of being able to make it ahead and freeze - and that I don't have to be baking it during the party:

Mini Bacon Pinwheel Appetizers
Take some time to make a batch of these little savory appetizers and freeze them for holiday entertaining.
Prep Time: :25
Cook Time: :13
Ingredients:
1 lb. loaf firm white sandwich bread
2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. dried parsley flakes
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1 lb. smoked bacon
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookie sheet and set aside.
Cut the crusts off bread slices, then cut each piece into three equal rectangles.

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, garlic powder, parsley, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Spread an even, thin layer of the cream cheese mixture on each bread rectangle, and roll it up, starting with the short side.

Cut each slice of bacon in half crosswise, and wrap a half slice of bacon around each of the bread rolls. Secure the rolls with toothpicks and arrange on prepared baking sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees until the bacon is crisp, 8-11 minutes. Makes 25 appetizers.

To freeze ahead, prepare rolls, then freeze in single layer on cookie sheet without baking them. Store in freezer for up to 3 months. Store in single layer in freezer containers, separating layers with waxed paper. Bake at 375 degrees for 11-16 minutes until hot and browned.


If I had a lot of money I'd buy these Pepper Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon from costco:



These also sound savory and simple:

Bacon and Tomato Cups
INGREDIENTS
8 slices bacon
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
3 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 (16 ounce) can refrigerated buttermilk biscuit dough

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a mini muffin pan.
In a skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until evenly brown. Drain on paper towels. Crumble bacon into a medium mixing bowl, and mix with tomato, onion, Swiss cheese, mayonnaise and basil.
Separate biscuits into halves horizontally. Place each half into cups of the prepared mini muffin pan. Fill each biscuit half with the bacon mixture.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven , or until golden brown.

Any reviews or requests?

Sneak Peek: Sinister Singing Flowers

How funny are my slightly evil flowers? Hilarious! I hot glued a little foam eyeball (pkg of 4 were $1 at Michael's) in the center, and I love them. A few of them got a full set of peepers too:



Also interspersed in the "garden scene" are some of the snarky quotes from the Disney version:



I've been doing some major hanging of decor today and yesterday, but I don't have a lot to show for it - gravity & I are in a death battle and things keep falling, so I'm not in the best mood. Sounds like a perfect time to take an Oktoberfest break :)

Be gone before someone drops a house on you, too...

I went out to lunch with a friend the other day and when I hiked up my jeans to show off my new boots (purchased on a whim at Target), we both laughed...



Apparently I was wearing 1/2 of a witch costume already :) The socks are also from Target, I wear knee highs almost exclusively now and in all sorts of bright colors and patterns. They rarely match my outfit, but hey, they rarely show either. And they are SO MUCH EASIER to match up in the laundry than boring old plain socks!

Forget the BEEF, where's the BLING?

I got my order from "BuyCostumes" yesterday, and I'm actually a little annoyed. It came quickly, but they crammed stuff in the box willy-nilly and without great padding - look at my poor crown with all the missing jewels! One was floating around the box loose, but another one was nowhere to be found - so clearly they sent me a defective product then continued to damage it with poor packaging.

Luckily that doesn't matter for my circumstances, since I was planning to lob off all the jewels anyways and replace them with heart shaped ones, but I'd imagine if you had to deal with complaints and returns it could be a real hassle. And now that I know these crowns are available at Party City for even better prices, I'd just go there and save the shipping cost + risk.

But as far as costumes & wigs & props, it seems as good of place as any - as I mentioned, they shipped quickly and their prices are competitive. Right now they have a shipping special for just $0.99 if you spend a certain amount, and they have a million costumes to choose from.

Gettin' down to business...

I've made some major steps towards my holiday craft fairs, and now all my VistaPrint items have arrived! I've talked about them before, VistaPrint is a good source for cheap custom business cards, post cards, and now even banners!

I wait until I get the "free" coupon, and then I only pay for shipping - so each of these banners (ordered separately) were like $6! It was $6 more for two sets of heavy duty hanging tabs, and I'm glad I got those also. The lighting is bad in my photo, but I like how they turned out!



I think I'm going to hang these on the front of my table side by side, and if I ever do a bigger outdoor show I'll hang them from my tent frame.

Then in another separate order, I got matching business cards/price tags!



I plan to put one of these on each mosaic, then I've somewhat covered my liability with the warning (even with careful grouting, there's always a sharp edge somewhere) and put my contact info on, and I plan to write prices in the blank center space. So far I'm pretty happy with all of it! It's bright, cheery, and clean. I can use any color table cloth and shelves - right now I think I'm going with white & silver tablecloth (because I have it lying around) and silver shelves (to add more layers so I can display more work). Now all I've got to do is crank out more inventory!

Wonderland Costume Round Up: Alice!

Okay, we've reached that time again, here's my ideas and inspiration found across the web to help you build your Halloween look. This week someone asked me for help with an Alice costume, so here you are - little miss thing herself, the star of the show, can be interpreted in SO many different ways:

Party City has 2 "Alices" for sale, first this is "Magic Mushroom Alice"
She's 49.99, but I'm just not feeling it. Sort of a mash up of dorothy/goldilocks/the Swiss Miss and every other character in a blue dress you can make slutty. If you've got great legs and want to explain what you are all night, go for it.


Their other offering makes a little more sense to me:

This is "Miss Wonderland", and yeah, its another corset & short skirt, but at least it's more easily identifiable. In my literal mind it doesn't make sense that Alice is wearing card suits, but whatever - it's an interpretation of the theme. $49.99, doesn't include the stocking. Also available in plus.


I've ordered online from BuyCostumes.com before and it seems to have worked out - nothing is really returnable, so its a bit of a gamble, but that's how it goes with Halloween. They have the two costumes above, and also about a million others - again, most of these don't include the stockings, crinoline, or shoes, so read carefully:


This is the "Alice Peasant Dress" for $39.99. It's still a short/tight version of Alice, but seems more "true" to her style.

This one looks like it offers slightly more coverage

The "Wonderland Cutie" $56.99 but doesn't include the knee hi stockings OR the petticoat.

Another option - this one is un-cleverly named "Alice in Wonderland Alice Adult Costume":

Looks like a shiny material, and some butchered version of a quote on the apron. $44.99

If you really want to look like a porn star, you need this VINYL version:
Yup, I really did say vinyl. And boobilicious. And spendy - you'll have to shell out $96.99 to look this cheap - buy hey, it's nice to have options.


This one is called "fantasy Alice" and is 2 pieces, so you can show off your stomach too. Is it bad that I always picture outfits like this on a hairy beer bellied man? But if you have the body, this one has a nice price tag - just $36.99 (no hat)


Here's another one they call "Miss Wonderland," but I think it looks like a confused french maid. $34.99

Remember, I also gave a few non-slutty Alice options in my previous post here.

If you'd like a compromise between buying a complete costume and making one, how about buying (or digging out of your closet) a blue dress, and topping with a simple white apron? Aprons are EASY to make, with a pattern or not, and even a basic sewer could accomplish it. Here's someone who went that route:


Here's a tutorial including pattern #'s on how to make your own Alice with several possibilities.


Look, it's an Alice with a Corset, but she's not at all skanky! Amazing what class a few more inches of skirt can bring :) Isn't this lovely?


Hope that gives you some more ideas :)