Flower Power . . .

I know there are a few of you out there who weren’t able to attend the Preview Party at Stampaway XIX in Cincinnati and have just been sitting on the edge of your computer chairs waiting to see our costumes.  Wait no longer . . .

The theme this year was Flower Power – we didn’t know that until a customer told us the Sunday before at the show in Novi, Michigan.  And of course that led to two possibilities – hippies or flower pots.  So we decided to do both.  Karen and I discussed costume ideas on the way back from Novi, and that was all I knew until we got to Cincinnati for setup on Friday.  Since the “stem” needed to be green, my contribution to the cause was the shirt and pants.  Longtime followers of our costume capers might recognize them . . .

. . . from five years ago when they were part of my Klinger getup for the M*A*S*H theme.  But when we got there, I found that the “flower pot” Karen had picked up fit me like a red micro-miniskirt, so I had to run out to Lowe’s and find something a little broader.  This was the shot I texted back to the convention center so they could choose their favorite – then I had to borrow a hacksaw to cut out the base!

Karen tie-dyed her own shirt – and I loved the John Lennon glasses.  But my outfit was truly painful – I had to hike it up to climb stairs, couldn’t bend over to pick anything up off the floor, had to stand so far away from the cash register that it made my back hurt, and anytime the cash drawer came out, the flowers coming out of the flower pot got in the way of making change.  And because I know what the reaction would be, I didn’t even mention that I couldn’t keep my straps up . . .

The vendor winners this year were Ted and Michelle Cutts from Art Gone Wild, Inky Antics, Stampers Anonymous, etc. – and I completely agree.  Ted’s costume was amazing, and the customers kept pulling on his chest hair, thinking it was fake (it wasn’t).  By contrast, the year I was Magnum mine was fake and no one ever touched it!

Ted truly made a sacrifice to get his costume together – he shaved off his moustache and goatee for the first time in ten years or so. I told him that with every costume I had ever done, I could look at the mirror the next morning and see no difference between the previous morning – but he will see a difference for several weeks!  I think Margaret from Stampers Anonymous should also get an assist for the victory – she looked so much like Goldie Hawn from the Laugh-In days that it was scary.

The customer winners were the Dauber Sisters from Christy’s Main Street Memories.  We really don’t call each other up with costume ideas, but this is the second year we’ve been on the same wavelength!  The military shot at right was from the “My Superhero” theme last year.  Their costumes were great this year – and so much more comfortable than mine!