DAY OF THE DEAD OR DIA de MUERTOS PHOTO SHOOT

I love Day of the Dead.  Or Dia de Muertos in Spanish.  The little figures in the above photo are a gift from my sister that she purchased in New Mexico for me.

I think it's a pretty and thoughtful way for us to remember our beloved friends and family that have died. 

I had posted on Facebook about how much I love it and was thrilled when professional photographer, Gayle Dawn Exton in Huntington Beach, asked if my girl scout troop would be willing to be her models for a Day of the Dead photo shoot.

I quickly answered yes.  My girls were thrilled to get to have make up and photographs done for them too.

The girls each got to pick which look they wanted and what colors they wanted to be in.  Then they received the outline of the mask.

At first they don't look nearly as pretty as the final product.

But, they still were having fun and loved seeing themselves with drawings on their face and wondering how it would turn out.

Then it was time to get the white part of the mask painted on.

It was funny to look over at them as lined up after having their mask painted white.  It was coming together.

Once the color got painted on they looked great!

Each girl looked so pretty and different.

I loved looking over at them as waited for the last girl to be painted. 

Once they were all finished being painted, they let their hair down and I got a chance to snap a few photos with my camera phone.

 They loved being models for the night.  The photographer was wonderful with them. 

Her work came out beautiful.  Look at this photo.  Isn't it lovely!

Well, now look at it flipped upside down!  A totally different look. 

I loved being able to introduce the girls to what the Day of the Dead/Dia de Muertos is all about.

If you are in or near Huntington Beach I would highly recommend going to Gayle Dawn Exton for your photographs.  You can find her on Facebook or by clicking here.  She does great work.

A BOOO-TIFUL HALLOWEEN PARTY

 

 

 





Martha wants to invite you to her 2013 Halloween party.  It is going to be a Boo~tiful time. 

 

 

The bats are flying overhead to show you the way. 

 

She has a few of her silver pet spiders.  They won't bother you though...as long as you don't bother them.

The table is set with midnight black table cloth.  On top of that is a silver/glittered spider place mat.  A jet black plate is next and one of Martha's dear friends lent a hand and is holding the place cards so everyone knows where to sit.

Martha made little candy boxes to sit at each place sitting.  These were made with boxes purchased at The Dollar Tree.  A post about how they were made will be coming up in the next day or two.

These boxes were filled with Hershey Kisses.  The silver wrapped chocolate went perfectly with her theme colors.

As another little treat to take home, each guest gets a black/glitter bag filled with homemade Candy Corn/White Chocolate bark. 

 

In person you can't really see through the bags as much as the photograph make it seem. 

Martha is forever looking for a great deal.  While she was Michael's Craft store, months ago, she came across these bags in the clearance bin.  She got them for only 50 cents!  Not bad. 

The cute silver spider not only makes the bags look cute, but they can also be turned into a necklace by putting a chain or ribbon though it.  They were purchased on line from eBay. 

The candy corn bark was super easy to make.  Just get white chocolate, melt it and stir in candy corn.  Poor onto a parchment line cookie sheet and spread it thin.  Then sprinkle more candy can and let set. 

Once it is hardened just break up into smaller pieces, put in a bag and you are done.

Did you notice the sweet little coffins at each place setting?  These got blinged up a bit by putting some rhinestones on them and then filling them up with the best tasting bones.

Yes, you heard that right.  These bones taste great.  They are super easy to make, taste great and are perfect to go inside a coffin.

I'll do a post on how to make them shortly.

If you don't have little coffins to fill, they still look cute piled up in a dish. 

White Martha really didn't start out with the theme of spiders in mind, it seems like her little pets crawled in her ear and kept whispering "silver spiders, silver spiders" because they kept showing up everywhere. 

Even the glasses had a lovely silver spider web with a sparkly spider made out of rhinestones.  They were found at TJ Maxx. 

This photograph does not do these glasses justice.  They are very pretty in person and only cost $3.99 each.  What a bargain!

The last little item to point out is the silver skeletons.  They sat on top of the napkins.  These were from the Dollar Tree.  They were actually tied together as a garland.  But, when you cut them apart, spray paint them silver, they look so much prettier. 

Oh I almost forgot, a few little tomb stones that were also found at the Dollar Tree finished out the final touches.

I hope you enjoyed this years Halloween party.  It's time to get started on planning next years now.