This Year's Token Halloween Post

OK, here it is- this year's Halloween post. While I've been doing some fun cute things at work with my patients for Halloween, those activities don't really fit in here for a variety of reasons, and there just hasn't been much in the way of spare time for me to work on anything for The Jungle. Except for this funky candle holder.

This was supposed to be a tutorial today but when I went to click on "Move" to get the photos from the camera to the computer, crazy Halloween gremlins must have gone nuts and by their evil forces forced my pinky finger to hit "Delete". Or something.

I do have photos from a different candle that I worked on, however, so I'll just go over that with you. Both are made basically the same way.

Start with a clear glass candle holder, vase, or drinking glass. Spray that with adhesive spray and let it dry. Best to turn the candle holder upside down before you spray to keep the inside clean.

Starting at the top, wrap a length of ribbon around the holder. Leave about a quarter inch of overlap.

Start your next row of ribbon by using the first strip, which theoretically is straight, as a guide. Proceed all the way down the holder to the base.

This holder had a rounded lip at the bottom so I cut a tissue paper circle just larger than the base (I guessed at the size, to be honest) and smoothed it up over the bottom. Seemed easier that trying to tape off the base, which I've done and it does leave a nice clear bubble at the bottom. But this works also.

So when I got to the bottom, I just covered the tissue paper mess with a row of ribbon. Enough of the adhesive was still exposed that I didn't even need to add any more adhesive.

Then go back and tack down the ribbon ends with a bit of adhesive. I used a little dab of Yes! Paste in this case. Eat some candy corn, add your candle, and ...

... instant easy candle holder.

I knew the second I saw this great bead fringe that it was going on this vase that I picked up last year at the Dollar Tree. It has a great outward curving lip so the beads can hang freely. I taped off the top so I didn't have to deal with trying the get the ribbon to lay flat on the curved lip and taped off a couple other strips on the body of the vase to leave open strips just for fun.

The patterned ribbon casts a lovely shadow on the wall and it would be fun to do the entire vase in a pattern sometime.

I struggle a bit with Halloween and wish that I didn't like it as much as I do. It's just an excuse for candy, costumes, and goofiness, as far as I'm concerned and we pretty much stick with fall-ish and benign activities, if we do anything. No inflatable monsters decorating our yard. If you make the argument that Halloween based in pagan tradition, then what do you say about the pagans who celebrate Christmas? Halloween is actually kind of a mish-mash of several traditions both cultural and religious. Some will tell you that Christmas is based in pagan tradition. Everyone wants a piece of the action, I guess. We have an understanding at our house that we simply don't do ghosts, vampires (oh I'm so sick of vampires), bloody body parts, etc. We've had a good bit of fun with costumes over the years but this year, seeing as my Zippy is solidly into the double digit age, I offered to just buy her a sack of candy if she ditched the trick-or-treating. She's thinking about it but she did have her heart set on being either the winged chick from the Maximum Ride series or someone from The Hunger Games.

Anyway, Halloween the past few years has gotten to be incredibly gross and graphic with much more emphasis on outright horror than I remember as a kid. Is it a reflection of our fears as a society that things are slowly slipping from our control, that the world is increasingly dangerous, or that maybe there really is true evil in the world? I have my opinions beliefs, I'm curious as to yours.


On the other hand, Halloween is also just getting stupid. Karey Hoke from Boise State wrote this article for the ArbiterOnline last year about women in trampy costumes. Still applies. Joy the Baker's post, Don't Be A Sexy Panda... is great. I love the point she makes: not only is slutty a huge disrespect to women, seriously- been there done that already. I don't by any means consider myself a prude and I made some outrageous costume choices back in the day, but let's move on now to something creative. I mean, once we believed that Angie Dickinson, Policewoman, could really chase bad guys in those heels, Halloween costumes for women were on their way to the gutter.

Image via TV Rage

One of these years I'll get it together and sew an Elizabethan gown for Halloween and there won't even be a push up bra involved. Oh my goodness, all that scrumptious fabric to role around in ....  sigh. I'm a sewer at heart.



Image via Cincinnati Weddings

Guess I've digressed pretty far from whatever topic we were on and there's probably no point in trying to get back to where we started. Go make a cute little candle holder that doesn't have eyeballs, brains, or breasts popping out of it and I'll see you next time.


Thanks for visiting today.