scary stuff: impressions of fright

This kit contains some frightening stuff, but this is one sweet deal! (click image to see bigger previews in the shop).

 

I used this freaky, fun kit to create this layout...

Everything used is from Impressions of Fright, except for the vortex, which I created (download at the end of post).

Journaling
Halloween 2008: This was the last year that Jace and Joey dressed up as something “safe”. Both were too freaked  out by the idea of being some kind of scary character so after a lot of brainstorming, Jace decided that he wanted to be a boxer and Joey was Alvin the Chipmunk. So, I lovingly created both costumes for them, and they were just as cute as could be! Unfortunately, we couldn’t keep the goblins from coming to our door, so by the time we left for a Halloween bon-fire they were both frightened and on edge, but at the same time a little excited about what kind of monsters they’d see next! 

I have always loved making the kids costumes, even if I am not technically making them, but pulling random things together to create some kind of character. I have always felt like we were cheating when we used a store bought costume. They always seem so expensive for what you get. Plus, who wants to be one of one thousand Spongebob's roaming the streets on Halloween night? 

Last year, Halloween of 2009... we didn't have any room in our budget to spend on Halloween costumes. Fortunately, with only two that really wanted to dress up, it wasn't quite as stressful as having to outfit all four boys. The morning of Halloween we started weighing our options, which were very few because everything the boys thought up... would have required a trip to the store. Ahhhhh! Eventually I raided the bathroom closet and found an unused package of Halloween make-up and one white sheet. I came out and said "OK, you two are going to have to decide who wants to be a ghost and who wants to be a zombie-slash-ghoul-slash-something that has a painted face." They both sort of whined and moaned and acted like the very idea of dressing up as a ghost or zombie was actually going to turn them into a monster. I gave them some time to think about it, and eventually they gave in to the idea. After all, they weren't going to go trick-or-treating without being dressed up as something. So I cut up my favorite white sheet and made a ghost costume for Joey. And then we found some old clothes for Jace to wear and ripped them up to shreds, dripped fake blood all over his clothes, and applied the make-up to make him look like "the walking dead". They were a pretty hilarious sight by the time we were done, but I was a proud Mama for having dressed them up without spending a dime. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them in their costumes last year. I can't remember why. I assume either my camera battery was dead or it was one of those times that I decided to stay completely in the moment. Nevertheless, it was a fun Halloween for them and one I will always remember.

It's October 5th as I am writing this, and still no word of what anyone wants to be for Halloween this year. Bless their hearts, I think maybe they're afraid to bring the topic up!

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In my last post, I said that my next post would be something besides layouts. Because I try to be a woman of my word,  I want to give you the vortex that I used in the layout above.  Play with blending modes to get different effects.  I know.... I know. It's pretty simple, but I'm working my way up (maybe) to sharing more freebies from my blog. But anyway, I think this would look neat with some words or rambling thoughts being sucked into the center of the vortex... if you do something like that with this or a vortex of your own creation, I'd love to see how you worked it into a layout!
FYI: created @ 300dpi & overall size is under 2000px X 2000px
Download HERE (link updated Nov. 10, 2010)