The Witching Hour is Near...

sketchbook scan by marisol diaz

Lil' Red Is the Theme...

My Most Fave Time of YEAR - ALL HALLOWS EVE Approaches...hint hint

not my picture!! REBLOGGED from ANIMALSTALKINGINALLCAPS

Halloween Decor

Check out just a little bit of my crazy Halloween decor and stay tuned for more...I'm currently working on a wild Marie Antoinette Costume with a skirt so big it won't fit in the car to get to my job where I need to wear it for a Halloween parade! Yikes...

The hair/head piece I'm making is pretty big too out of quite a few plastic bags and plastic wrap, inspired by the audacious, fantastic and super-inspiring wearable art sculptural work of designer Kate Cusack but ala amarettogirl...so be sure to return this week to check it out!

There's a Murder Mystery Afoot...

As the founder and president of The Black Hat Society I organize and host an annual murder mystery dinner party - this year is the 7th annual dinner.

I often purchase the game from a site called Host Party.com which is pretty neat with an interactive online game page for participants, but this year I went for something slightly different. I went with a London-based company called Ace Murder Mysteries and got a box set. I purchased a Marie Antoinette Inspired French Revolution mystery entitled Le Mystere des Masques...and drumroll please...today it arrived!! Perfect timing - just in time to give out everyone's secret motive!

Since I didn't have the online page I simply used Pingg to send online invites and even make a webpage for the game- you can see it HERE!!I'm so excited!

This Years Murder Mystery By Ace Murder Mysteries

Stay Tuned this Week for Halloween Costume Fun, Halloween Decor and More Murder Mystery Mayhem!!

-Ciao Amarettogirl

Some New Halloween Cards by me Available through Pingg!

my new card available through Pingg Check out My Gallery for Pingg Halloween Cards NOW and Email someone a Halloween Invite to SMILE!

October Winds

There are some new brightly colored leaves blowing on the horizon for this site during this awesome month of OCTOBER, my 'favoristist' month ever!

So let me start laying it out for you...WAIT FOR IT...

• HALLOWEEN DELIGHTS...I am the founder of the Black Hat Society and every year for the past 7 years my hub and I host a costume required annual Murder Mystery Dinner for All Hallows Eve...check out my hand-sculpted marzipan candied witch fingers! So get ready to see a NEW HALLOWEEN card and a line up of past favorites getting reprinted. Yikes!

• Author Interview and Podcasts!!! This month marks the release of Author, Rosie Molinary's new book Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self- Acceptance and I have received a review copy (without payment) and been fortunate enough to land a phone interview! So as part of her blog tour I will featuring a review, the audio podcast interview, Q&A post and most likely an AWESOME giveaway all on OCTOBER 12th so be HERE!

• NEW ART! I've become a bit obsessed with working with inks lately and playing with computer manipulation so stay tuned for some of those!

• New BLOG face! I'm designing a new banner and refreshing the look of this site....woo hoo

• Introducing a new feature on BODY LOVE and being a BODY CHAMPION inspired by two my favorite blogging Latinas, Elsita from the Hidden Seed and Rosie as in the author of Hijas Americanas & Beautiful You! In fact, You can scroll down to the next post to check it out NOW.

• New sister links to this site!

I'm super excited to start posting the new entries routinely! Its going to be a busy month so check back often - and remember it might look different!

- Ciao

Halloween Dessert Idea- Pot 'O Dirt!

One of my all time favorite desserts. I learned about Pot'O Dirt during our very first murder mystery dinner party by a guest. That was 6 years ago and we have thrown a murder mystery party every year since. Every once in a while we revisit this dessert.

Our second time making pot o dirt desserts - minus the gummy worms and spiders :(

So if you've never come across this great idea before, let me break it down for you.

You will need the following:

• as many small terra-cotta plant pots as you have guests (you can buy these at many craft stores, home supply, garden or even convenient stores (do those still exist?)

• small paper dessert cups to place inside the terra-cotta pots (since most have nice big holes on the bottom, you don't want your ice cream to come pouring out!)

• Your favorite flavor icecream

• Clean fake flowers (if you really want to be fancy consider edible flowers with long stems)

• Oreos that are separated and ground up to be dirt!

• Candy - Gummy worms and spiders - then VOILA! You're done(YAY!)

Imagine adding some little tombstones...(hmm thats an idea).

The mummy eating some dirtDr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde eating some dirt

Adventures in making Martha Stewart's Haunted Halloween Cake

Warning some halloween adventures are harder than others!!

Martha Stewart's Inspiring Haunted House Cake Last year one of the stellar ideas I got from Martha Stewart Living for my murder mystery party was this 8 layer haunted house cake. Grant it I'm not a professional baker, and in the past I had some not-so-great experiences trying some other MS halloween cake ideas (which aren't always the simplest for civilians like me to produce). Yet, I attempted this gem of an idea anyway.

So here's a warning for all those 'creatives' out there thinking they can do these recipes...an 8" round baking pan is not the same as a 9" and the stacking of a cake is seriously affected by the thickness of the cake. If you've never made a tiered cake perhaps there should be a difficulty level symbol starring this particular recipe to let you know you may be getting way over your head the day before 12 people are coming over for a murder mystery!

Lastly, you can be sure there were many a professional involved in the making and photographing of this marvelous Martha cake.

My version of Martha Stewart's Haunted House Cake My haunted house cake lit up from behind! The whole NIGHTMARE of cake before it was dismantled to be eaten! The cake WITHOUT the Haunted house and our little mysterious man revealed!

Halloween Dreams Begin

So its that wonderfully glorious time of year again when us creatives who are wild about Halloween start to emerge out of our underground stupor. Halloween is coming and this year it falls on a Saturday!!! Hooray!! For the last six years my husband and I have thrown a murder mystery dinner party that we go all out for - though I haven't thought (silly me) to share any of that here on my blog - but now I will - so get ready for some Halloween Inspired posts!!

Some old murder mystery dinner invites - a la Martha Stewart Style Martha Stewart Living Halloween Issue Out Now!!

Even though I wasn't too big a fan of Martha Stewart and her aesthetic in the past, I have been wholeheartedly won over for the last six years by her annual Halloween issue (of the magazine), which is outstanding, classy and vital if you're a Halloween freak like me! Martha Stewart's team is the first and really only group I have seen treat halloween with a high concept driven and sophisticated quality.

Another great Halloween reference tool (specifically for DIY costumes) is Threadbanger.

Personally I love to make large sculptural wearable costumes and I often find that Threadbanger has wonderful DIY tips on how to make countless halloween appendages like wings, steampunk and various other goulish treats.

This year I'm particularly interested (as I'm sure many others now are) in Martha Stewart's white out contact lenses (the ones featured on the cover of her MSL halloween issue.

So stay posted for LOTS of great ideas for your 2009 halloween, great halloween costume, decorating and murder mystery tips!