Whiskey and WIPs Wednesday: Halloween DIY and Booooozey Bourbon Cocktail
Ghostly Greetings Amigos,
For this week's edition of Whiskey and WIPs Wednesday, we'll be celebrating it All Hallows Eve style. Read along for this week's cocktail recipe and my current WIPs.
It's almost Halloween!!!!! Are you a celebrator of this most spooktacular holiday? I absolutely LOVE Halloween. Dressing up, watching scary films, going to haunted houses, drinking allllllllll the boooooooze, well, it's definitely my jam.
And speaking of booze, this week's cocktail is bourbon based and called the HAUNTED GRAVEYARD. What really drew me to this drink was the smoking rosemary added as a garnish to give it a spooky and ghostly vibe. It was concocted by Claire of Sprinkles and Sprouts. I really enjoyed Claire's style of recipe. She gives the ingredients and lets you kind of decide for yourself how much of each to add to your beverage. Unsurprisingly, mine is a mite strong, but delicious. Here's what you'll need to make your own:
All you need to make your Haunted Graveyard…. well, also a torch.
HAUNTED GRAVEYARD BOURBON BEVERAGE
1-2 jiggers full of bourbon (I used 2), 1/2-1 jigger of maple syrup, some rosemary (save one sprig to garnish), the juice of half of an orange, a few dashes of bitters (I went with orange bitters), and ice.
Combine all the ingredients in your cocktail shaker and shake, shake, shake. Pour over ice. Grab a lighter or blow torch (SO much more fun with a blow torch) and light that rosemary afire!!! Let 'er smoke and garnish your glass. That's IT!!!!
I love me a quick and easy cocktail and the smoke and lovely aromatics from the torched rosemary really take this one up a notch. Let me know if you try it and how it turns out for ya! Feel free to message me with other spooky whiskey concoctions if you know of any :) :) :)
Now, moving on to this week's WIPS. I spent most of my weekend drinking and crafting Halloween costumes. Every year, the husband and I go to at least one Halloween party and then I always dress up for my students so I need a minimum of 2 costumes. This year, we have 2 parties and instead of spending more money on costumes, I figured I'd try my hand at creating simple and fun ensembles with items I already had at home.
My first costume has no name and no real inspiration other than the fact I really, really wanted to make a pom pom crown, but I was going out of town and only had about 24 hours before the party. So, I grabbed 3 different sized pom makers by Clover (bought at my local JoAnns), grabbed a bunch of odds and ends of yarn balls in autumnal colors, and ran out the door. I was able to make this crown while on a sail boat AND slightly inebriated so you know it's an easy make.
Creepy, bloody, autumnal, fairy fiber goddess? Sure.
Ashley from a Crafty Concept has a great tutorial for this on her blog, but I just kind of went for it. I made about 9 balls (3 in each size) and then made a crochet chain long enough to go around my head and tie in the back. I used a darning needle and threaded the crochet chain through it and then pushed straight through the "center" of each pom ball. I kept squishing and stringing until I had enough to go temple to temple and voila. My pom pom crown was finished. I think the big balls are kind of fun (aren't they always) but for my next one I might use all medium sized poms to keep it level and symmetric. But if you like the helter skelter look like I do, go for all the sizes! I wore an orangey dress I've had no excuse to wear yet and my bestie added some fall fairy eye makeup and blood....because why not? It ended up looking pretty cool and while I had no answer to the "What are you supposed to be?" questions at the party and bars, everyone agreed it was pretty cool.
Witch, please
My second costume is for the munchkins. I teach online with VIPKID and wanted a cute, fun, not too scary prop for my early morning classes. I remembered that I've had the We Are Knitters Blair's Hat queued in my projects for quite some time and that I've got a ridiculous amount of black yarn at the moment. This hat is really very cute and incredibly simple. It stands up nicely on its own and holds shape surprisingly well. I added a fingering weight sparkly yarn to give it a little glam and I was able to whip this baby up in about 3-4 hours. Seriously, if you're reading this on October 30th with no idea what to make, go grab this pattern. Easy peasy witchy woman, done. And for those of you wondering, I will not be wearing this ta-ta dress for the munchkins tomorrow, just a black t-shirt. That's a Mary Kay LetourNO.
My final costume hasn't happened yet, but I'm pretty psyched about it. I acquired a pair of novelty beer sunglasses from a girls' trip a few weeks ago and gave them to my husband for a chuckle. He loved them and decided to go as Billy from the country song "Billy's got his beer goggles on". We love couples costumes and decided that I, too, should represent a country song. And if you know me, it only makes sense that I go as "Tequila makes her clothes fall off". I'll be sporting a tablecloth with various garments pinned to it, whilst wearing one sock, one earring, and carrying around my own bottle of tequila. Fun, simple, and I can pour shots all night.
Other than that, I'm still currently plugging away at my Ripple Crop Top by Jessie Mae. I thought I'd make more progress on it this past weekend, but instead I drank all the booze in Florida and rocked out on a sail boat with my besties. I'm GOING to have it finished by November 9th for my next market at Thrive Local in Melbourne so if you're in Central Florida, make sure to stop by and see me! I'll have more info on my market selection and WIPs next week, so be sure to check back!
Witching all of you ghouls and gals a fang-tastic Halloween!!!!!
Chelsea