Some Halloween Fun

This is just a little bonus post because Halloween is almost upon us. I didn't make new costumes for the dogs this year as the time just got away from me completely. So instead, I want to share my favourite costume ever, the one I made for Chloe last year.

This post first appeared on the blog in October 2012.

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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.