Cotton Shoppers

Fun, easy Halloween costumes you can make at home

Skip the jumbled mess of costumes at the store this year. With a few supplies and a little creativity, you (yes, YOU) can make a costume that your trick-or-treater will be eager to show off. Plain Dealer staff members Emily Hamlin Smith and Sue Walton, and former Plain Dealer reporter John Campanelli -- real parents, not professional crafters -- created these costumes in less than a day.

Spider

I truly am not a crafty person by nature (I don't even like to scrapbook), but when it comes to Halloween, I want my daughter's imagination to have no boundaries. The last thing I want to do is march her into a store, point to a display of costumes and say, "Pick one." If she can dream it up, then I will figure out a way to make it happen. So when she said she wanted to be a spider, we got to work. We had fun traipsing through the craft store and brainstorming how to make her vision a reality (the googly eyes, perhaps not very spiderlike, were a very specific element she loved). Yes, I culled some ideas from the Internet, but when she donned her spider legs, she had exactly the costume she wanted, and I was thrilled I was able to create what she had envisioned. I can't wait to figure out how to make what she dreams up next.

Source: Plain Dealer (blog)

The latest fashion at affordable prices from H&M in Centrale ...

by Centrale

Getting colder; the last few weeks  have been bitterly cold compared to the Indian summer we had in September. We’ve put our thinking caps on (in part to keep warm!) and come up with a selection of affordable winter warmers: clothes to keep you wrapped up and toasty as the cold weather drops across the UK.

Fashion doesn’t have to cost the earth and it’s even more important to snag a bargain this close to Christmas. We all have to watch our budgets with the big day on its way (at the time we’re writing this, it’s only 53 days to go), so you can rest assured that you’re not spending over the odds when you shop for a winter wardrobe at H&M in Centrale shopping centre . Read our top picks for keeping warm this winter and then come on down to choose your favourites.

Pilot Jacket – £29.99

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Kromer Blizzard Cap: No Longer Just For Real Men : TreeHugger

Winter hat: made of natural materials - principally wool and cotton - and thoughtfully designed. My Kromer never itched my ears or made my head feel crawly (like some wool hats do), because of the full soft cotton lining. The wool is pre-shrunken, so the fit lasts. Another Kromer design hallmark is the convertible wrap-around ear flap, which slides up and down without removing the cap .

Brand & Design Recycled By Stormy Kromer Merchantile
Years after the original Milwaukee-based Kromer went out of business Stormy Kromer Mercantile recycled the brand, remaining faithful to the original (perfect in my opinion) men's hat design. They've also expanded the market appeal, offering more colors and materials: clearly leveraging the hat's macho outdoorsy reputation in the banner ad (excerpt) pictured.

Which was...