Crazy Crafty: You Don't Know JACK-O-Lantern!

As I age, I fear that I am regressing emotionally.  Holidays about food and family and wholesome activities become of less consequence to me as I yearn for the zany indulgence of Autumn's favorite gimme-gimme holiday.  In stark contrast to the traditional holidays, Halloween requires no heavy meals, no gift exchanges, and no forced marches to awkward family gatherings.  It is one night to live with abandon - dressing up, misbehaving, and bingeing on loads of candy without the typical, withering, do-you-really-think-you-need-that glances from those holier-than-thou grocery store cashiers.

As I consider the importance of Halloween in my life, I am forced to truly ponder what Halloween means to me.  As a Halloween romantic, I discovered that all of my love for the day stems more from my belief of what Halloween ought to be rather than what Halloween actually is.  Captured so beautifully by the images in the Dennison's Bogie Books, Halloween should be one big, spooky, Cole Porter musical with Jack-O-Lantern footlights and costumes reminiscent of Erté!

Scepter, wand, cane, crook, staff - a recurring element in many Deco-era
Halloween costumes was one kind or another of stick.  Impressed by the
pumpkin scepter of Little Bo Creep (center), I decided to see if I could
DIM, do it myself.

I started with a seven-foot-long bamboo pole and a twelve-inch, orange paper
lantern, both found at my favorite craft supply emporium - the dollar store!
With a budget totaling two dollars plus tax, this was a provident beginning!

I had the materials, now I just needed a face.  I took to the internet and reference books but was having difficulty deciding on a pumpkin face that I loved well enough to commit to dollar-store lantern.  This was to be a huge decision; once the paint was on, there would be no turning back!  I had considered adapting one of those leering faces found on vintage, German, papier-maché candy containers, but after flipping through one of my favorite Halloween resources, Halloween in America, I knew I had found my face!

I couldn't get beyond the lovable Jack-O-Lantern face of
this Dennison's crepe-paper Halloween apron, dated 1918.
(Source)

I embraced ( and thanks to my unsteady hands, perhaps even magnified)
the loose quality of the inspiration art.  It would be pretentious of this
seriously-untrained "artist" to label my work as "mixed media" when all
I did was sketch on the face with a #2 pencil and fill it in with whatever
I could find around the house, including paint (undiluted yellow
watercolor from a tube of unknown origin and nearly-expired, crusty,
black acrylic from high school art class) and a black sharpie.

With better light and less chance of overspray, I do all of my spray painting in the front yard; given the kind of wacky tacky crafting I am wont to do (see: Pickles the Pink Piggy Purse), I spend quite a bit of time painting in the front yard.  If my neighbors had a questionable opinion of me before, they must have serious concerns over my mental capacity after watching me play a one-man game of ring-around-the-rosie, applying several coats of glossy, black spray paint to a seven-foot pole stuck in the ground.

 

Even I had to question my sanity when I went into the wacky tacky
costume archives and couldn't find the cape I wanted...because there
were too many homemade capes in the way!!!

I tried riding a broom but it wouldn't hold me...

I may perform a few minor tweaks/additions before All Hallow's Eve but for a two-dollar investment, I think I did pretty well!

Lit from within by battery-operated lights that I had on-hand, it has sort
of an eerie, reverse Jack-O-Lantern effect...but I still like it.

Of course, after my craft was completed, my next trip to the dollar store
was met with row after row of battery-operated, jack-o-lantern style,
paper lanterns.  Nevertheless, I am happy with the chance to get into
the Halloween spirit with some custom Crazy Crafty!!!  

Yes, Mr. Tiny's Halloween threads will be built in stylistic conjunction with his Jack-O-Lantern walking stick, but you'll just have to wait until the day draws nearer before the entire costume is revealed.  How about you?  Are you gearing up for the Halloween season?  Are you feeling crafty?  Do you have a great idea for your costume?  Whatever you decide to be this October 31, remember that it's Halloween...

LET'S MISBEHAVE!!!

"Let's Misbehave" as performed by Irving Aaronson

Written by Cole Porter

Cheers!

Mr. Tiny

A Winner Is You!

To my dying day, I will stand resolute in the knowledge that the best and most scientific way to choose a random winner is the old, drawing a name out of a hat method.  Some people rely on computer generated software to handle the task, but how do I know that the writer of that program doesn't play favorites.  Therefore, after a week's worth of your entries, bated breath, and symptoms of IBS born of anxious anticipation, we are proud to announce, without further ado, or the kind of overproduced suspense that is seen all too frequently on modern reality/competition shows, that the grand prize winner of our "100 Follower Giveaway," crushing the hopes and dreams of all the other contestants, is the one and only (insert drum roll sound effects and undue, dramatic lighting changes).......Jennifer!!!!

"A Winner is YOU!!!"
(Source)

Congratulations Jennifer; as Cole Porter wrote, "You're the top!"

"You're the Top"
words and music by Cole Porter

Please email your info to wackytackytiny@gmail.com and we will happily send you your prizes!!!

If I was a less than honest individual, I would have chosen Jennifer solely based on her flattering tribute to wacky tacky:

 "I've been reading your blog for a while and love it! It's hard to narrow down what posts I like the best, but I have to say it's your mini-road trips. It reminds me of the trips I took as a kid. I have to say I find you completely adorable as well! Is it wrong that while I think the purse is amazing, I want to win because I really want the 'Mr Tiny Loves Me' button?!?"

Adorable (a-dor-a-ble) - 1. Delightful, lovable, and charming
2. Worthy of adoration *see Mr. Tiny

However, I am unwavering in my honesty, and therefore I couldn't take into account the fact of how "completely adorable" I am.  I'm sorry, I wanted to, but I just couldn't do it.  An objective hand drew her name from the hat and that my friends, is that.

Thank you to everyone who entered our very first wacky tacky giveaway.  Your patronage and comments are VERY much appreciated.  Here's to a fun summer and many more giveaways to come!


Cheers!

Mr. Tiny

wacky tacky Tunes: Getting Sentimental

My friend Beth over at V is for Vintage (who, with her husband, makes one of the best dancing teams this side of creation) posted a clip of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with Frank Sinatra playing "Blue Skies."  This great song got me to thinking about Tommy Dorsey.  My grandma always had a radio in the kitchen and when it wasn't blasting talk radio it was humming with the mellifluous melodies of music makers from the swing/big band era.  From my earliest days I was hooked!  As a kid, one of my very first tapes was a compilation of Tommy Dorsey tunes.  I wore the cassette out by rewinding and playing "Snootie Little Cutie" over and over and over again.

There is something magical and transporting about the combination of The Pied Pipers' harmonies, the vocals of Frank (who has never really been one of my favorites), the charm of Connie Haines, the horn section and the silly slang lyrics.  I wish I still had that tape!  Known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing," Tommy Dorsey had a reputation as anything but sweet and sentimental.  Even playing a whitewashed version of himself in The Fabulous Dorsey Brothers you could see that he had a red-hot temper.  There are legendary stories of him being a stern task-master with his band members, even charging fines for misbehavior.  Despite - or maybe because of - his reputation, he had a great sound and made his trombone sing and swing!  Hearing that beautiful noise, I couldn't help but think of another magical Dorsey moment - this one from the 1943 film DuBarry was a Lady. 

DuBarry was a Lady (1943)

I have made mention of this film before in a previous blog post, but only in reference to the amazing high-Hollywood style.  The film stars Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly and Red Skelton.  The first time I saw this movie I was blown away at just how beautiful Lucy was.  I think the iconic, zany "Lucy" character made me forget that she was actually a stunning woman.  

Yowza!

Overall, the film is pretty lame.  In its adaptation from stage to screen, much of the Cole Porter music was cut and the the plot serves mostly as a vehicle for the slapstick antics of Skelton.  Again, it is worth watching for the fashion and for the amazing musical sequence toward the beginning of the film that begins with The Oxford Boys (performing a mostly a cappella impersonation of several famous bandleaders/bands) and culminates in The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra performing a medley of "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" and "Well, Git It!"

This footage is wacky tacky excellence!  Any time you can  make a realistic trumpet noise using just what God gave you (from the waist up), you are alright by me!  The impersonations are spot-on and the ability of the performers is incredible.  "Well, Git it?"

Cheers!

Mr. Tiny