Spectacular SOCKS! - Spreading The News About Socktober

Welcome to a very overdue segment of Spectacular SOCKS!   I have gone a long time without posting another segment, and I really wish I could have posted this one sooner as October is almost over.  Nevertheless, I thought it was still worth including this information about Socktober. Socktober is a sock-drive for the homeless.  According to the website,

 

"Socktober was launched by Kid President creator Brad Montague four years ago. It’s a movement to get kids and grown-ups to help the homeless in an easy, fun way."

 

I've posted some videos below, and for more detailed information on the sock-drive and how you can get involved visit their website:

http://soulpancake.com/socktober/

I think this is a great idea. I would like to point out that this is an American charity, and as far as I know there is not a Canadian branch. I would love for us to start a sock-drive of our own, and though I am quite late posting this, it's not too late to contribute to charities and homeless shelters for the winter.

 

Halloween Party 2014 - Crafts, Jack O' Lanterns, and a few thoughts ...

When it comes to Halloween there's so much I could write about.  I'd love to talk about the origins of Halloween and how hypocritical it is that so many condemn it as something evil due to its pagan origins.  I remember one girl at my high school telling me that if I really knew how Halloween began I wouldn't celebrate it.  Well, as far as I know, Halloween was thought to be the easiest day for fairies and the souls of the dead to cross over into the mortal world.  And while it may seem a bit scary to think that trick-or-treating came from the practice of bribing the otherworldly beings with food so they would not harm the living, I think it's worth noting that departed loved ones were thought to revisit their homes.  A quick Wikipedia search reveals that people would set a place at their dinner tables to welcome family members who had died.  Keeping in mind that these are the customs of a people from a very different time, place, culture, and lifestyle, I would think October 31st was a day that reminded people to show their ancestors the respect they deserve, but also a day that comforted the grieving, making them feel as if their loved ones were not far away, and ultimately reminding them to appreciate their loved ones who were still living.

I could go on and dissect individual statements people have made denouncing Halloween, or examine the very false claim made by my cabdriver just yesterday that Halloween is only celebrated in North America.  I could launch into a critique of Halloween-related movies, or comment on why my city's newspaper always runs an article around this time of year about the Halloween "slut rule" discussed in the 2004 film Mean Girls - but I won't.  As I've said previously, Halloween for me is about creativity, so this very late post will be about my projects from last Halloween:

The following are some Halloween Rose Magnets I made using 2-sided scrapbooking paper, orange and black ribbon, refrigerator magnets, and hot glue. 

 
To make the roses I followed instructions found on Pinterest.  I hot glued them in place, glued 2 strips of ribbon onto each magnet, and then hot-glued each rose onto a magnet.  I only managed to make 6 roses, and some of them I gave out with candy to trick-or-treaters.  

I also made an assortment of Halloween Bookmarks to give out with candy to trick-or-treaters.
 

 

Again, I used Halloween scrapbooking paper as well as some patterned orange scrapbooking paper and black cardstock.  I used assorted ribbon, craft border scissors, a glue stick, and a pumpkin stamp.

 

 



The last of my projects for the year was my Harvest Witch Jack O' Lantern, whose witch hat I constructed out of potpourri and hot glue. 

 







I also used some potpourri pieces for the eyes and tongue.  The following are some pictures of the pumpkin in various stages.

 

As you can probably see, I hammered tiny nails into the pumpkin and then glued some potpourri pieces onto the nails.

It wasn't the safest or most secure method of attaching parts to the pumpkin, but I've discovered in the past that hot-gluing directly onto the pumpkin does not work well.

   



 

When undertaking any project it always helps to have moral support and mine came from my constant helper - although I suspect this photo captures her attempt to take credit for my work.

 

It's kind of hard to stay made at her though ...

Happy Halloween!

 

Halloween Party October 25, 2014 - Hosted By A Fanciful Twist

Hi everyone ... it's certainly been a while!  Now that I finally have a new and functioning computer of my own I am hoping to blog more often.  In fact it's a goal of mine - I find it so disappointing when I come across what looks like an interesting blog only to discover its most recent addition was more than a year ago.  I still have projects to show, experiences to tell, movies and TV shows to analyze, thoughts and opinions to discuss, political and world-views to push on people (just kidding) and socks to enjoy so I would to keep my blog from looking abandoned to potential readers.

Having said that, I am hoping to join in the upcoming Halloween Blog Party on Saturday, October 25, 2014 hosted by A Fanciful Twist as I love Halloween!  As far as I'm concerned Halloween is the most creative holiday that I know of.  Not only can you bake festive desserts and decorate your home inside and out as you would for Christmas, but you can carve Jack O' Lanterns, make masks, sew costumes, experiment with strange hairstyles, and try new makeup and cosmetics like false eye-lashes and fake tattoos.

While I'm rather late joining in, I really hope I can be a part of it, and I can't wait to see what other participants will post.  See you then!

Doctor Who Valentine

I've been meaning to do some fan art for a long time now, particularly Doctor Who fan art.  The other night I finally had an idea for a Doctor Who Valentine that only a Whovian will understand:



 

The front of this card, I based on an image from the Season 7 episode "The Power of Three."  Whovians should remember that Kate Stewart held a scanning device in front of the Doctor which showed that he did indeed have two hearts.  What better to use as the cover of a Valentine, than a scanning device showing the Doctor's two hearts?  They may be anatomically correct hearts inside a human body, but they're still hearts!

I found the image the hard way:  I put the DVD in the computer, clicked on the episode, and went directly to the scene in question and paused it at just the right moment.  I then took a picture of the heart scanner on my phone.  The picture I will include here, however, was taken from Tardis Data Core:

Image of Kate Stewart's Scan from "The Power of Three" taken from Tardis Data Core
http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Binary_vascular_system

On the back of the card I wrote "Happy Valentine's Day" and based the letters on the Doctor Who font.  In addition, I decorated the back of this card, with letters from the Gallifreyan alphabet.  As a guide, I used this image of the Gallifreyan alphabet from Science Fiction and Fantasy Stack Exchange, a "a question and answer site for science fiction and fantasy enthusiasts."


Image of Gallifreyan Alphabet Copied from Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange
http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/4034/how-many-written-forms-does-the-gallifreyan-language-have

Well, I hope fans will get a kick out of it, and I'm hoping to do some more Doctor Who fan art in the future.  I'd love to read any comments, criticisms, or suggestions for future projects.  And of course, I'd love to see anything you've made as well.

Sylvester The Cat Gives The Finger ... Merry Christmas Children!

 

This is just a quick post to share some pictures that I thought were funny.

Recently I spent an evening officially putting away all things Christmas - late I know, but when you have Fibromyalgia you take longer to do things than you normally would.  The artificial tree was already disassembled and put away thanks to my brother, but the tree ornaments remained loosely in a single cardboard box.  You see, the day my mom took down the ornaments I wasn't feeling up to going to the basement and bringing up the proper containers for the ornaments, so my mom stored them in the box temporarily and set them aside for me to sort and return to the basement when I felt ready to handle the job.

When I finally did feel up to putting everything away the task took a lot longer than I intended thanks to the vile bitch that is Fibromyalgia, but through all the drudgery I discovered something new about a very old ornament.  While handling a very old, very beat-up-looking ornament of Sylvester The Cat I noticed he appears to be giving the finger to someone behind him!  Observe:

 

Now, I know you could argue that the picture of Sylvester's front below clearly shows that he only has 4 fingers (or digits, given that he's a cat) and therefore can't technically put up his middle finger, but I would argue that that doesn't mean he would never want to.  After all, if a character with 4 fingers has reason to give the finger, he or she would certainly do so in their own way.

And let's face it: what else could he possibly be doing?  Just randomly pointing upwards?  What makes more sense to you?

 

A) a cartoon character well-loved by children, now in the form of a Christmas ornament is pointing upwards for no apparent reason

 

B) a cartoon character who constantly gets his ass kicked by a bird for the amusement of children, now in the form of a Christmas ornament, is turning his back on the cruel, sadistic children and is flipping them the bird (get it?).

Study the photos, and his facial expression, and you tell me ...