New Vintage Dining Room and Hungry Caterpillar Halloween Costume!

So crowded!

With nothing on the calendar this weekend, I made the most of every minute!


Friday night, watched Mad Men and ate sushi on the couch.


Saturday, went to Springfield to do some vintage shopping...had lunch with some great friends....

Best of all, found a great new dining table...completely made-over my dining room with the new find.


The old dining table was nice, but I hated sitting in there because it was just too crowded. I wanted something vintage.

Old Table

 

New Table Detail

 I really wanted something that was more chrome, and more floral...but I realized a couple of things after shopping all day.

Finding a chrome dining set, with 6 chairs, and two leaves under $500 in good condition that didn't clash with my orange paint and stripes would be next to impossible.

New Table Chair Detail

So I felt really lucky to find this set with the dark green chairs.


When I found the floral table cloth, I was in love with the whole arrangement!

 This is now my favorite room in the house! A great place to eat, pin ideas to my pin boards on pintrest, or type up new blog posts.

Sunday morning, in my newly revamped space, I spent a few {hours} on pintrest, brainstorming ideas for my Halloween costume this year. I have to dress as a story book character for my school carnival, so I always scramble around at the last minute trying to figure out what to be...I usually throw something together...this year, I wanted to make something really cool...but I wasn't sure what.....

Then I saw the cutest picture of a baby in a Very Hungry Caterpillar costume...and I realized that it would be easy and super cute to make for myself. The baby version was crochet, so I googled for more ideas.

I was delighted to find all kinds of things for inspiration.

When I went hunting in my stash for green fabric...I had very little...hmmmm. I wanted to start on it right away, and I did not want to have to run around town finding green fabric so I had to improvise. When I spotted a white pillow case in my stash....I thought it might work to paint the fabric?

Um, yes. Painting the fabric...that would definitely work. So I painted one side of the pillowcase with 'Eric Carle' colors and textures. After it dried, I peeled it apart and cut out arm holes and  a neck hole....it was a little too tight to wear as a dress and be comfortable...so I decided to turn it into an apron.

I cut the bottom to be sort of rounded and started sewing lines across the front to make the segments of the caterpillar's body.

Then I stuffed those segments with batting, added some ribbon around the top for the neck, and added one of the few green strips of fabric that I had for the waistband.

The hat was tough. I have only ever made a few hats. I made a 'trial' hat.....but it was too small...so I thought I could just make the red one little bit bigger....that didn't really work, so I started sewing together little panels, sort of like a beach ball...the result is a little bit wonky, but I stuffed some purple felt antenas and added some felt shapes for the eyes and nose and it looks pretty cute.

The last thing I made was the feet. I just cut out a foot pattern, traced it on brown fabric....sewed two pieces of brown fabric together to make little 'pillows'. I attached those to the body, and viola! A caterpillar costume. I plan to wear it over a long-sleeved green shirt, and a pair of pants. It should be easy to take on and off, and it won't be too hot.

I have a little 'Hungry Caterpillar' bag, I am thinking about putting some food in there from the book: Lolly pop, apple, orange, etc.

For the school carnival, I was sort of thinking about taking my brown sleeping bag to school so that I could curl up in my 'chrysalis' in the corner...wonder if I could get away with that?

 

The Monster Ball

Last night I went to Lady Gaga's Monster Ball in Kansas City. I don't get to go to a lot of concerts because I usually have to work, (aka, I don't get out much) but I was really excited about the show last night. It was an artistic spectacle. It was a 'pop-electric opera'.

The enormous video screen behind the stage displayed images of Gaga doing crazy things (vomiting, eating a bloody organ?, moving in slow motion), something I would expect to see in a modern art gallery. It was fantastic. Some of the show was a bit political, but I was just there to dance and take it all in.

The set list was superb. I woke up with 'Dance in the Dark' stuck in my head this morning. The crowd went crazy for songs like Pokerface, Telephone, and Paparazzi.

The Monster Ball fans were wild and crazy. It was amazing to see the thoughtful costumes and absurdly creative hairstyles. Hair hairbows, telephones in hair,  police line tape worn as an entire ensemble. There were lots of boys dressed as girls. ;-)

 Our little gaggle of gals made sure that we had nearly five hours in the hotel before the concert to get ready. My stylist Christina did everyone's makeup and special effects. I took pictures of the process in case you are looking for ideas....I was stumped about what to wear to Gaga...but luckily, anything goes. We all decided that Halloween is only once a year...but Gaga deserves the same costume treatment and we had a blast getting GLAM!

Here is Paula, pre-gemstones. Beautiful silver eyes and LONG lashes.

We were all in love with these amazing feathers.

They are basically craft feathers glued on. She also had a gemstone in the corner of her eye. Here earrings are glittery guitar picks.

Christina, hard at work with those feathers! These two are a little out of focus....oops....

Applying gemstones.

I went for the wonder woman look. Blue hair, black feather earrings, crazy eyes and some glitter. (You can't do Gaga without a bit of glitter!)

Getting ready.

Applying craft gemstones to Meagan.

Christina's was one of my favorites! She applied broken shards of craft mirrors under one eye. It looked awesome. Way easier than a mask!

To read more about the concept for the monster ball, click here.


Here's a few iphone photos from the evening with the hipstamatic!

And since I can never seem to go anywhere without using at least 3 cameras...here's a few instax pics as well!!

And finally, here's the whole group!!

I think we kind of look like superheros. Or super villains. I bought this blue wig because I am in love with Katy Perry in the Summer Girls video....and it was perfect for Gaga.

I'm sad because summer is almost over. ;( But it has been a very fun and memorable one!!