Ghosts of Halloween Past

Happy Halloween!

After the success of the poop factory costume, I thought I would do a little recap of Halloween(s) past and show off my girls and their costumes. In going through the pictures I realized that we dress our dogs up a lot. A lot. For just about any occasion too, even the made up ones. I think we might be having too much fun.


This is our old dog Bailey, a dog who was up for anything. That skirt is four cheerleader pompoms looped together. There was even a coconut bra. I'm sure Bailey was glad that didn't make the shot.

She was also in our wedding. She wanted to be the bride but I said no dice.

This was supposed to be a zebra, but it looked a little too "Hannibal Lecter" for me so that idea was scrapped.

Everyone wants to be the bunny.

This was after a family party at the cottage. I think Chloe got into the liquor cabinet when no one was looking.

Mad cow. 

More like slightly disgruntled cow. Maybe because she's wearing a ladybug costume. 

Good thing she brought her sidekick along for moral support.

The year Chloe grew her hair out.

Even dog siblings have to wear hand-me-down costumes.

Sometimes you feel like plundering...

And sometimes you just want to kick back in your island jammies.

Dressing up as a Christmas tree never gets old.

Am I the horse or the cowboy?

And of course, the pièce de résistance, the poop factory, in case you've forgotten what it looks like after this seemingly endless stream of photos.

Do we have some easy-going dogs or what? I'd submit these to dog-shaming, but honestly, they don't look very ashamed, do they?

Do you dress up your pets for Halloween? I'd love to see the pictures - link up in the comments if you want to.

Please don't leave me feeling like I'm the only crazy one.

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Another reminder that the Ramsign house number sign giveaway is still going on. This is for a personalized house number sign worth up to $99! The deadline for entry is Friday, November 2nd and there are multiple ways to earn an entry ballot. If I didn't mention this before, the giveaway is open to anyone as they ship worldwide! Hurry up before you miss out!

Poop Factory (That's Right, I Said It)

How far are you willing to go to embarrass your dog? 

I'm willing to go pretty far as it turns out. 

This is Miss Chloe showing off her primary function in life.

We've been dressing our dogs up for Halloween for years. I'm pretty sure they enjoy it as much as we do. They would say something, wouldn't they? Of course they would.

This particular costume idea has been floating around the internet for a couple of months and I kept it in the back of my mind (and pinned on Pinterest) for when I finally got my butt in gear to make something.

Thank goodness the fall edition of the Pinterest Challenge showed up to force me into action. (Not like October 31st was a deadline or anything.) 

The Pinterest Challenge is a fun project thought up by Sherry from Young House Love and Katie from Bower Power (with co-hosting assistance from Carmel from Our Fifth House and Sarah from Ugly Duckling House). So often we just pin and pin and pin - this challenge makes us stop pinning and start doing.

I love Pinterest, and I love showing what I've made after being inspired, so you know that if someone flat-out ASKS if I want to show off I'm not going to say no. For past challenges I've made yarn-covered easter eggs, vacation photo bottles, a fold-up patio bar, and the ever-popular pinecone map ornament.

Now to be completely honest, I missed the deadline for the map ornament, and it was really inspired by something Sherry was inspired by on Pinterest. But I think that counts, doesn't it?

This time, my inspiration comes from this picture I pinned from an internet photo site. I've looked around and found other versions - here and here - but none of them link to an original source. If you own one of the adorable dogs in the pictures - thank you.

The poop factory costume itself is pretty straightforward - a cut up cardboard box decorated to look like a building. I decided on red brick (red construction paper) to provide a contrast to Chloe's colouring. This turned out to be Chloe's costume because Sasha ran away every time the box came near her. So much for being our brave little toaster.

I used 3 sides of a squarish box, with the sides that hang down shortened to a length that didn't bump the dog's legs when she walked. The perpendicular flap edges were taped to each other with packing tape, and then I covered the sides in red and the top in black paper using craft glue.

While I made windows and doors out of more construction paper, Tom drew in the bricks for me. I added a bit of scalloping along the roof edge with black poster paint, to blend the seam between the top and the side.

Each of those twelve window frames is made from one piece of black paper - I cut out each of the window panes using an x-acto knife and then put white paper behind them. By the third one I was so over it. Until I realized I could cut multiple windows at the same time just by stacking them. Duh.

The font I used for the factory name is called Quentin Caps - found on PicMonkey. It's fun - sort of carnival-like - even though the outlined letters tend to look out of focus from far away. That's what I'm blaming it on anyway.

The smoke stacks are toilet paper tubes covered in more black paper. I fanned out the bottom of each tube and glued it to the roof, and then cut a ring out of black paper and slid it down over the tube to cover the fanned out part. The "smoke" is some polyester stuffing I usually use for pillows.

I was going to use some stuffing from one of the dog toys, but I looked around the house and all I could find were toy carcasses - no innards anywhere. It all kind of circles back you know, because Sasha likes to eat the stuffing and then it gets pooped out. And the factory is a poop factory with stuffing coming out of the smoke stacks. Get it? Get it? Ahaaaaaa-haaaaaa!

I used black grosgrain ribbon for straps. There is one strap that loops across Chloe's chest to keep the box from sliding backwards and then two straps that tie underneath her stomach in a bow to keep the box upright. I used hot glue to attach them to the box (not to the dog) as I didn't think craft glue would hold for long and I didn't want staples to show through.

She looks pretty awesome, right?

And it's a fully functioning factory. 

Unfortunately you never know when they're going to make a delivery.

(She didn't really poop, she was just sitting down.)

And sometimes your employees go on strike and refuse to work any longer.

So you convince replacement workers to step in.

But not for long (one picture only) because they run all over the building and tear their safety harnesses right off the factory wall. Yes, thanks to our moose-ance the straps have to be glued back on.

(She looks like a stubby little corgi from this angle. Please don't think I overfeed ma dawg. She's a skinny little butterpants under there.)

Do you dress up your dog for Halloween? Or for any other occasions? We also have headbands for Easter, Canada Day, and Christmas. 

This is one happy dog. 

I've come to the conclusion that she can't read.

Come back Wednesday for a round up of all our dog costumes over the years.

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Thanks to Sherry, Katie, Carmel, and Sarah for hosting this edition of the Pinterest Challenge. Head on over to each of their sites (links are up above) to see what everyone else has been up to and post your own Pin-spiration.

And don't forget that my Ramsign House Number Sign Giveaway is still going on. You have until Friday at 8pm to enter. But don't wait until the last minute! I really want you to win!

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I'm linking up here this week!

Do You Like Free Stuff? (Ramsign Giveaway)

****This giveaway is now over****

How about a little pick-me-up as we head into the dark days of fall and (shhhhhh) winter?

Ramsign Classic Enamel Signs has generously offered one lucky Turtles and Tails reader a house number sign (1-5 digits) absolutely free! That's worth up to $99! And they ship anywhere in the world! Those are a lot of exclamation points!

Have you seen their signs before? 

Ramsign is a small Danish company that revived the long European tradition of enameled signs. These signs are made of porcelain enamel and are so elegant. Each one is produced by hand, so no two signs are the same.

You could do this:

Or this:

Or even this:

Imagine how beautiful your house will look. 

Imagine how jealous your neighbours will be. 

You could even give it as a gift to someone you REALLY like. 

So what do you have to do? Well, I want to give you as many opportunities to win as possible, so I'm going to offer multiple ways to qualify:


1. Head over to the Ramsign website, visit their gallery, then come back here and let me know in the comments what sign you would choose if you could.

2. "Like" Ramsign on Facebook. 

3. Follow Ramsign on Twitter.

4. Become a follower of Turtles and Tails via Google Friend Connect (up there on the right). If you already are a follower then that counts too!

5. "Like" Turtles and Tails on Facebook.

6. Follow me on Pinterest.

Just leave a comment below for each entry. 


The giveaway is now open and runs until next Friday (Nov 2nd) at 8pm EST. I'll determine a winner using random.org and announce the name the following Monday.

Good Luck!

Catching Up with the Interwebs

I've been extremely lax in keeping up with the many, many blogs I follow. Between working on one big and one medium project (while planning another one that Tom won't let me start until the first ones are done),  and working at my real job an hour away, there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day. Plus I find it hard to find the ambition when it's dark outside so early, how about you?

But I wanted to share with you some projects I have come across in the few minutes each day I get to take a peek around (usually during my lunch break).

I'm obsessed with pumpkins this year. Last year I made dryer vent pumpkins, but this year I've made spray painted pumpkins, tiny fabric pumpkins, burlap pumpkins - and I still have ideas for more. Unfortunately I never get around to taking pictures of any of them so you'll just have to trust me - they're really cute.

Someone who has had the time to make a pumpkin AND take a picture of it is Shannon at Sewing Barefoot. These sweater pumpkins are absolutely adorable. I love the twine curlicues and twig stem that give it that organic, could-easily-have-grown-there look.

Sweater Pumpkins (from Sewing Barefoot)

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I've been thinking about Christmas decorating as well. I love making ornaments. Especially pinecone ornaments. This awesome little pinecone is from Melanie at Bliss Bloom Blog. No one would ever accuse me of being girly, but I can definitely imagine several of these sweet lace ornaments on a Victorian Christmas tree strung with cranberries and tiny lights. I am definitely stealing this idea, Melanie!

Scalloped Lace Pinecone (from Bliss Bloom Blog)

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Check out this dresser makeover from Tami at Curb Alert. It looks just like the Pottery Barn dresser she used for inspiration - maybe even better. I love the distressing - just around the edges. And the wicker baskets contrast so well with the black. And I love the unpainted top. I guess you could say I love the whole thing!

Distressed Dresser (from Curb Alert)

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This just makes me laugh so much. Bethany at The Sepia Puppy and her husband do fun little experiments in their backyard with jell-o, guns, and a camera. Sounds scary, right? They call it High Speed Ballistic Art. You'll have to go to her site to get the details, but the images she's captured so far are amazing. When I told Tom about it he wanted to jump in the car, drive south, and help them out (with shooting the gun of course). If we still lived in the country I know he'd spend every weekend trying to do this.

High Speed Ballistic Art (from The Sepia Puppy)

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How about we switch to food? I'm always up for a cookie break. These Reese's peanut butter chocolate chip cookies with pudding are from Kara at Creations by Kara. (Whew! That was a mouthful! Ha! Punny!) I've never heard of pudding cookies before, but I'm willing to give them a try if it makes them soft and chewy. And I love peanut butter cookies. Love.

Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pudding (from Creations by Kara)

Do you find there is never enough time to visit all the blogs you want to? There are so many fantastic ideas floating around out there - imagine if you could try them all?

Surf's Up!

We have the beginnings of a gallery wall in the living room. But it's probably the saddest gallery wall in existence because half of the frames are empty. And it's been like that for over a year. Maybe two. Minus 50 points for my decorating skills.

The biggest problem is that we can never decide what we want in the frames because let's face it, every photo I take is a winner. And especially pictures of the dogs. There's nothing weird about a gallery wall devoted to your dogs, is there? Is there? Hello? Did the two people who read this blog leave?

The wall still has a long way to go. Besides filling the frames I mean. I want to paint them all white I think, to give it a cohesiveness. However, this weekend I took a huge step forward in filling up those empty spaces. And if you can't tell that most of the time I write with sarcasm, then you haven't been paying attention.

The last time we vacationed in Hawaii we rented a 2 bedroom cottage on the North Shore, right on the beach. Hanging in the living room of the cottage was a satellite photo of the North Shore showing every surf spot between Turtle Bay and Waialua. Believe it or not, there are 69 different spots.

And what made it even cooler was that the owner had added a "you are here" sticker to the picture. We were staying between Paty's Shorebreak and Kamisugis if you were wondering. Also, if you're interested in renting a place that is literally no more than 10 steps from a deserted beach and doesn't cost an arm and a leg to rent, let me know. We're thinking of renting it again next year, we loved it so much.

Anyway, I took several photos of the picture because I never thought I'd see it again. (It turns out it's a poster that you can buy and they'll even ship it for free.) One of the frames on our sad gallery wall is 9.5 x 16.5. Kind of crazy dimensions, but perfect for this picture. I had to print it out in two parts as the largest photo paper I had is 8.5 x 11, but I don't think the seam detracts from it that much. And I can't for the life of me figure out why the blue tones changed right in the middle.

The deep blues are just gorgeous though and add some much needed colour to the mostly neutral room. And it's so much fun to walk into the room and be reminded of our favourite place on Earth. It just makes me smile every time I see it.