Ahhh... a Moment to Reflect :)

It has been a very very long time since I have had a moment to sit and catch up with everyone here.  What a busy summer and fall!  First, getting ready for my  festivals--making my costumes, and all the goodies to fill my booths with.

  I did two festivals this summer--The Sherwood Fantasy Faire in Sherwood, Oregon, and the Faerieworlds Festival in Eugene, Oregon.  Both were amazing in their own way  (and I will be posting more about them in future blogs and sharing all the wonderful pictures.)

On the heels of that was my oldest boy's birthday, and mine (we love birthdays around here! :)

After that, I attended (and was a vendor) at  a Dark Alice in Wonderland Ball at the Mt. Tabor Theater in Portland, OR.  It was a lot of fun...

THEN, Halloween! (my very favorite--and very busiest-- time of year.) This year I had to finish over 70 costume orders in a month and a half (!!!!)--no mean feat and very hard work.  Among my favorite projects this year:

Two pairs of 5 ft. tall angel wings.  This was the first time I had tried making wings this large, and they were so much fun to do (the feathers are hand-applied one at a time, so they were also very time-intensive)--but the results were more than worth it....

  my version of the  Lydia Deetz Red Wedding Dress from the classic 80's film 'Beetlejuice" was also quite a popular costume this season:

Then of course, there were the Halloween festivities (and costumes!) to create for my own family :)  I decided this year that I wanted to be Queen Ravenna from the 'Snow White and the Huntsman' film (which I love love loved and highly recommend if you have not seen it yet.)  My youngest boy wanted to be The Joker (Heath Ledger version from "Batman: The Dark Knight")  My oldest boy actually made his own costume, and I think he did a pretty amazing job if I do say so myself...

And, (since Halloween is always over too soon for my taste :)  my sister-in-law and I (and my two little guys) jumped at the chance to be part of a wonderful Dia De Los Muertos celebration on November 2nd:

Now I am finally relaxing, taking a deep breath and really looking forward to snuggling in for a cozy winter.  I plan to get this blog going again-- at least posting every week or so--I'll be elaborating on the above events and sharing some new costumes, dolls and other projects--as well as random thoughts and musings.  So glad to be back :)