#originally I was going to give him a puffer fish that hung out by his side or on his belt but then I was like he already has Candy Diver’s

[bluebutlikenotalways]

Laddies we got an Au

Long post below the cut and some disturbing imagery, so be advised.

So it takes place after Pearl sunk Abalone and his fleeting. This time however her sisters actually stuck around to check on her after everything and actually managed to help her open up…some how.

Though her heart wasn’t stained black she will never be the same.

However she was able to build up the strength to talk to Lord Oyster again. She never fully forgave him for giving away her pearl, but he was there after the attacks to take care of the pirates who had somehow managed to avoid dying to take them to justice. This showed the mermaids that some cookies could be trusted. Because of this Pearl became a guardian for The House of Oyster and oh boy did that do wonders for their reputation!

With her making peace with all her pain she didn’t fully become Black Pearl and is kinda grey(-ish purple) I need to work on her design a bit more obviously, but she followed a lot closer to Crimson and takes her job as a protector seriously enough. Some may wonder if she enjoys a good fight more than defending her friends.

Also her sister and Frilled Jellyfish have her tokens to try and brighten her up some.

Through all this Lord Oyster swore he would redeem himself to his moon (she asked him not to call her that anymore lol) So he dedicated a good chunk of resources to trying to locate her pearl! This mission was passed down through the generations until finally…

Oyster Cookie had finally gotten a big lead and was able to send one of the best captains and his crew out to try and recover it.

Unfortunately they ran into a slight problem.

The sea the pearl was said to be found in was rough and could capsize a ship twice their size. Caviar wanted to go alone, but with a crew as stubborn as he they braved it together as one! (Candy Diver died in a different accident and Caviar still managed to find them and bring them aboard because he’s just that good at sniffing out crew mates.)

Alas it wasn’t just a storm.

It was a trap.

A band of pirates forged a letter hoping Oyster herself would show up so they could get a nice tidy ransom, but when a harder than nails crew showed up in their place they were far from pleased.

The Salty Shark crew hold their ground well, but being outnumbered four to one never seems to end in your favour.

Caviar was the last to go down and was thrown overboard to his watery grave like the rest of his crew. After The Silent’s crew was demolished completely the pirates set out to “commandeer” her, but immediately things started to go wrong for them. Things went so wrong that at least two were killed on their scramble to get off the boat while many more met their soggy fates as they threw themselves overboard in preference to whatever was on their with them.

Guess what movie franchise this is based on :D

As the legend says the captain pulled himself up out of the deep that night and sails his waters of the Duskgloom searching for his crew to bring them safely aboard and finally leave that damned place. However the captain’s kindness runs short with strangers who cross his path, especially those who fly the skull and crossbones.

The Silent is still under his full command and all orders are carried out will full efficiency.

Now Oyster wanted the return of her pearl to be a surprise with a big celebration after, but when the captain never returned and those she sent to look for him disappeared she had few other choices than to send her most capable guard.

[southernchicstyle]

The Big ONE

                                                                                           Photos by Daniel Ortiz

I always think my party ideas for the kids are so original until I start looking for items for them and find a million parties done in the same theme. Our son’s first birthday was no exception, but I like to think we put it all together in a creative way you haven’t seen yet... Reeling in the Big ONE! 

Our little guy turned the big ONE and we had the best time celebrating with a fishing themed party. Keep reading and scrolling for ALL of the details with photos by Daniel Ortiz . 

Fishing bobbers, nets, lures (keep out of reach of little hands because the hooks are sharp!), lanterns, and cattails all came to mind immediately as I gathered decorations for the party. “We’re reeling in the big ONE” read the invite. A comprehensive list of the items will be at the bottom of this post, but I also linked the ones I refer to in the body of the post like the fish food tents above.

PHOTO OPP

A photo spot with bobbers and nets formed in my brain as I pinned ideas, and the variations of those came together to create this one I’m so proud of below! My husband assembled scrap 2x4s we had that were painted grey into the photo frame.

The bobbers on the photo spot (pictured below) are paper lanterns we spray painted red on the bottom half (painters tape used to make the line) and the top (linking the paper lanterns). There’s pretend fish hanging below the bobbers on the left strung with fishing line. 

And, the directional arrows pointing toward “fishing hole”, “weighing station”, “bait and tackle”, and “catch of the day” were cut by our friend and I drew the words and art on with paint markers. (pictured below)

ONE

My mom and her crafty skills is always a part of making these parties a reality and she helped put the finishing touches on the “ONE” for the picture table. I love how it turned out! We used styrofoam letters (”O”, “N”, “E” each linked), cut out one for the boats from the invitation for the “N”, and glued cardstock paper in red, white, blue and green to the letters. The blue waves we cut out in different colors and there is twine wrapped around the “E” and the cattails.

We also had to secure the letters to the backdrop (tape was sufficient) since they are styrofoam and could easily fall over.

MONTHS

Each of the months (on paper bobbers from newborn to one) just HAD to be displayed on a net, so figuring out how to secure them was a challenge we solved by hot glueing small clothespins to the back of the flat paper bobbers and taping pennies to the back of the pictures to attempt to keep them all from blowing up when the wind blew. 

The wind had other ideas, but it looked good throughout the party.

The red lanterns, net, fishing lures, small fishing bobbers, and cups are all linked. Click on the words to shop them. And, the tackle box on the table was a Houston Nutcracker Market find. 

TIME CAPSULE

We also decided to do a time capsule (directions in the frame on the left in the photo above) at our guy’s 1st birthday. I regretted not doing one for our daughter’s first birthday after my mother-in-law passed shortly after the party. Each person in attendance can write a message to the birthday kiddo and answer some fun questions about what they think the child will be and like, etc. Your child can read all of the messages when they turn 18!

What I’d give for a message from my mother-in-law for our daughter to read when she’s older.

FISHING SHIRT

For our big guy’s outfit, I found an adorable baby fishing shirt onesie for our birthday boy to wear for his party. Even if you’re not doing a fishing themed party, this shirt was so cute on him! 

Our nanny made the balloon 1 with fishing line and balloons pictured above. Linked the balloons we purchased here. We went for a slight ombre effect with more light blue on the top and dark blue on the bottom. (Would recommend buying a couple of packs to ensure you have enough of each color)

FISHING THEMED FOOD

Galvanized buckets were the perfect serving piece for the food along with fishing related food items, like gummy worms labeled as “worms”, Twizzlers as “fishing line”, Swedish Fish, Goldfish, peach rings as “Life Preservers” and pretzel sticks as “fishing rods”. The pretend fish decorating the tables are foam (squishy is the best way I can describe them) but really good looking and linked here. 

I also saw the puffer fish idea online and thought it would be fun for the kids to have the punch balloons to play with. And, I was a bit nostalgic thinking back to playing with punch balloons as a kid. Obviously, one year olds weren’t doing much balloon punching, but they were fun for older kids. 

The wooden boat and boxes on the food table were borrowed from a friend, but the white 1 was purchased online.  Also borrowed fishing poles that were used throughout the party. 

ACTIVITIES

Along with puffer fish punch balloons, we had a “Catch and Release” activity where we put water in a kiddie pool with fish in it and fishing poles (magnets on the poles and fish connect the two) where kids could attempt to catch fish. And, our “Feed the Fish” station was a bean bag toss which has now been repainted for a third time to have fish swimming. 

The printables I used for the activity signs & favors are here:

Bait Bar

Thank You for Making my Birthday Reel Fun

Catch and Release (couldn’t find this one so I used my own skills to make one)

Feed the Fish (couldn’t find this one so I used my own skills to make one)

CUPCAKES

When it comes to kids and cake, I’ve become a big believer in cupcakes being the easiest all around. They don’t have to be cut, don’t require a fork or spoon, and are cost effective. So, this time I did store cupcakes from our Kroger with blue icing and bobbers on top (linking the bobbers here).

If my son ever decides to be a fisherman, we now have bobbers and lures for days!

CENTERPIECES

Cattails for centerpieces made for a simple table decoration. I used the galvanized buckets with paper in the bottom (had a bunch from all of my Amazon orders) then river rocks on top to fill the bucket with the cattails secured in between. Around the buckets we draped some fishing net with some smaller rocks, lures (be careful of the sharp hooks), and bobbers. 

The cocktail tables I use are linked here along with the table covers. For the bigger tables, I used a fun blue with the raised circles adding texture to the table.

DIAPER COVER

My goal with the “Ofishally ONE” diaper cover was to get a picture of him in just that, but this was the best I got. Fishing shirt and diaper cover. It’s still adorable, though! And, you get a close up look at the baby fishing shirt. 

I’ve learned to let some things go at the parties and enjoy it. Hard for a type A personality like me, for sure!

EDIBLE CATTAILS

These cattails are Swiss Rolls on on bamboo skewers (which we cut to eliminate the point on the end) held in place by styrofoam under the moss in an oval galvanized tub. And, bobbers made everything more festive!

Now, I have to share our learning. The Swiss Rolls will slide down the skewers since they are standing upright, so we cut slivers of wine cork and slid them under the rolls to hold them up. Completely a game time call as they were sliding right before guests arrived. You can see the cork if you look closely.

COOKIES

The cutest cookies were done by a local baker, Sweets by Shey: bobbers, fish, “Gone Fishing” sign, and one that looked like an oval piece of wood with “The Big ONE” on it. 

The other two items, scalloped napkins and fish coasters, pictured below were perfect additions to the party. The scalloped napkins with a  gold trim were a fun nod to the scales on a fish while still keeping an elegance to them. I found the coasters at HomeGoods randomly and snagged the “Drink Up” coasters for the event. 

TABLES, CHAIRS, TABLECLOTHS

Here’s a closeup of the texture of the blue/turquoise raised petal tablecloths. I used cream colored ones for my daughter’s 2nd birthday Bubble Bash so when I saw this color I knew it was perfect for the party. 

Also linking the tables and chairs that at this point have been used for 4 birthday parties and a couple of other events. For us, since we have room to store it all, buying was ideal. 

BANNERS

The banners I found online were perfect for the background of the cake smashing. “The Big One” banner is customizable and comes with the fish and bobbers also (or without if you choose). The cute “ONE” for the highchair was an easy order and great quality!

I hung the big banners behind the high chair on bamboo poles and put the bamboo poles through actual fishing poles so the fishing poles flank the banners. They somewhat blend in with the busy vine background, but the small detail made me happy.

SMASH CAKE

For a smash cake, there’s a baker in my area that makes a blueberry cake (it was INCREDIBLE) and could create this “wave” look - Kingwood Bakery. I found the fish and “The Big One” sign cake topper online and added them myself along with the 1 candle. I used a log cake stand that has come in handy more often than I anticipated.

Below you can see the layout of the time capsule pages I printed (they were an easy printable I found online) that went with the theme. It includes sections like “When you grow up I think you will be...” and “How do I know you?” to name a couple. 

FAVORS

Fishing pole favors were a must! I found little water squirting fish, handheld fish water games, fish stickers, and Swedish Fish and cinched them in clear favor bags with twine tied to sticks we collected around the house. Gathering sticks was a fun activity for my daughter to feel like she was a part of the planning.

The printable tags were easy to print, but I had Katie & Co print and cut them to make sure the bobbers were cut correctly. And, I printed a sign that was framed near the favors that said “Thank You for Making My Birthday Reel Fun!”

My apologies to my friends/the parents who had sticks in their cars on the way home, but it was really cute! 

Unlike his sister, our little guy dug right in to the cake and enjoyed eating it! I love this picture that Daniel Ortiz captured of him once we took the cake away. O-fish-ally ONE!

We love that so many friends celebrate with us. And, below is a close up of the photo spot (you can see the paper lantern bobbers) with two of my friends that are so good about coming!

POOL BOBBERS

Having our pool completed literally the week of the party was chaotic, but I was able to create my big bobbers for the pool. This was not a perfectly executed project, but overall I was happy with them and they looked great. The top is a to-go container spray painted red and the bottom is a red plastic tablecloth taped to the floating orbs I purchased with red Duck Tape.

The taping of the tablecloth to the orb was a feat in itself. With help from my family, we did it once and then redid it. Ultimately, the tablecloth was taped at the base of the orb. It will take in water, so I attempted to tape the seam as well as we could.

I wish I could give a step but step tutorial, but the pool bobber was truly a “try and see what works” experience. Biggest tip: have patience and don’t be afraid to redo them if they don’t look right.

**A big thank you to all of my family who helps me execute all of my ideas and to Daniel Ortiz for the great photos!

__________________________________________________________________

Reeling in the Big One Party Supplies

- Bait Bar Sign (printable) $2.50

- Balloons (light blue, white, and true blue, 100 pack) $10.99

- Banner: The Big One (personalized banner linked w bobbers & fish) $44

- Banner: Burlap One for Highchair $10.99

- Bobbers (small for cupcakes and tables) $6.49

- Cattails (set of 4 sprays) $24.99

- Cake Stand (Rustic Log) $48.86

- Cake Topper: “The Big One” starts at $14.99 (linked similar as exact one no longer available)

- Chairs (individual and 4 pack) $44.72 and $142.41

- Cups (gold rimmed, 50 count) $14.99

- Diaper Cover: “Ofishally One” $20

- Duck Tape (red) $7.08

- Favor Tags: Bobbers $3 (in favors: Fish water game, Swedish Fish, Stickers)

- Favor Bags (100 clear bags) $3.98

- Favor Tags (bobber printable) $3

- Fish (foam, decorative on tables and photo spot, set of 3) $15.91

- Fish & Poles for Catch and Release $13.86

- Fish Coasters (unavailable online, cork ones here $12.24)

- Fish Food Tents Printable $3.50

- Fishing Game (fish and 2 poles) $28

- Fishing Lures $18.99 (found a similar set for $15.99)

- Fishing Net (natural color 2 pack) $9.50

- Fishing Net (blue) $5.52

- Fishing Shirt (for baby) $37.99

- Fish Squirts (for Favors) $7.49

- Fish Stickers for Favors (3D puffy, 20 sheets) $7.97

- Fish Water Games for Favors (assorted with others) $38.99

- Galvanized Buckets (small, set of 12) $18.87

- Galvanized Buckets (large, 2 gallon) $28.98

- Galvanized Tub (for edible cattails) $31.99

- Highchair Banner - ONE $10.99

- Invitiations: “Reeling in the Big One” file $11.99

- Kiddie Pool (45 x 10″) $10.39

- Lanterns (red) $9.97

- Months Paper Bobbers $9.50

- Moss (SuperMoss Spanish Moss) $9.52

- ONE letters (12 inch styrofoam “O”, “N”, and “E”) $9.98 each

- Paper Lanterns (made into bobbers, set of three 8 in white) $10.99

- Plastic Red Tablecloth $14.99

- Pool Orbs (made into bobbers) $89.99

- Puffer Fish (Punch Balloons, 30 count) $10.99

- Scalloped Napkins with gold trim $9.99

- Skewers (bamboo, 100 pieces) $6.95

- Swedish Fish (0.5 oz packages, 64 count) $14.99

- Swiss Rolls (for edible cattails, 6 boxes, 36 count) $11.94

- Tables: cocktail ($107.88) and large 60″ round ($118.99)

- Tablecovers (cocktail) $16.99

- Tablecloths (blue with raised round petals) $39.99

- “Thank You for Making My Party REEL Fun” signage - $2.50

- Time Capsule Printables $8

- Twine (2 roles x 656 feet) $9.89

- Wooden 1 (8 cm tall) $7.89

***Photos by Daniel Ortiz

[tamarinfrog]

Heya! just wanted to give you an update on the story!

thesinfulsquidchild submitted:

((I realize that the grammar was…not as good. so, with proof reading, I’ll show you what I got so far. let me know what you think!))

In the year that my father died, the inkopolis extension came. the new shopping centers came with odd fashions to pick. the city took the glory, but gave us The Wolf-fish. My dad left me an apple crate of classic books. he loved horror stories and quoted them in the hospital bed. “they came looking for the Zapfish, and died in tragic places”. on his last day, he sat up suddenly and stared bug-eyed to the train station. with the rusted tracks and abandoned ticket booth. he turned to my mom. “this house is haunted…” he said, and passed from the complications due to his injuries.

This is what my mother told me, and why I never met him. She also told me I was hatched in the morning of this day, and father was off to work at the time. I am probably more tragic than a Shakespeare story, if you ask me. I mean…gotta be real with you. I have some weird secret that I want no one to know of. if they did, God knows what will come of it. Keep in mind, my father was of the Octarian race. Meaning, well…I think you might have a clue on what went on. That is another reason why mother is more sour than a lemon-flavored sour patch squid towards other inklings.  But anyway, lets focus on where I am. At the bus stop that leads to Puffer Springs. all the lights where on, but no one else was here. except for a janitor. “well this is great.” I thought to myself. “I mean, I didn’t expect a party or anything. But, I figured someone would be here.” I stood there quiet for a bit, looking around. I sighed. “Welcome home, Angelo”. I murmured to myself. I grew a small smile as I imagined the shock and joy my mother and step-father would get once they saw me at the doorstep. I looked around the station, and gazed at a mural for the city on the wall.  “wow. when did they put this up?” I commented. “Puffer Springs has never looked so…falsely advertised”. the more I looked around, the more I saw some…questionable things. like this payphone-stand-thing on the wall. Geez, must be such a relief to payphone companies that Puffer Springs barely if ever gets any cell reception. It’d be cool to call my parents from here, but some jackass took the time to rip it out from the wall. who the hell steals a phone anyway? nonetheless, I paced around a bit. behind the reception desk was a T.V up on the wall. on it was playing Guppy and Marco. A show full of dad jokes and very bland humor for my standards. they talked about the economy and other political stuff I have no interest in. then, I looked at the janitor working on the door. I approached him. “Excuse me, but where is Everybody?” I asked. “it’s 10:45. it’s closed.” the Urchin plainly replied. “not a lot of squids get off the last bus to Puffer Springs these days. just you.”. huh. to the point. I decided to egg this on. “so…are you the janitor or something?” I asked again. “looks that way.” he replied again in the same tone. “Well, what do you do exactly?” “I fix this door.” “is that it?” “nope.” he finished as he kept drilling. I was already sick of this small talk. ‘least it was not as bland as Guppy and Marco. “c-can I squeeze past you?” I requested. “nope. Just broke the damn thing.” the janitor replied. “when do you think it might be done?”. “right after you bring me a Fiascola from the machine.” I was little appalled on this proposed deal. “Am I paying for this?” I questioned. “I always rig it when I’m on my night-shift” the urchin stated. I was now in on this. “nice. free as in…free” “free as in no one else is here to say otherwise” the urchin mused. I walked over to the soda machine, looking at the flavors. I assumed he wanted the original, so I pressed the red button. as I heard the jingle from the machine and the clunk of the can, I noticed they had lime fiasco option on it. Jesus, what a waste. back on track, I grabbed the can and went back to the janitor. “here you go, one free-ass-cola” I offered as the janitor took it fro my hand. he cracked the top, took a swig from it and plainly stated “Yummers”. the Janitor was now the one asking the Questions. “so, what’s a fella like you doing here?” took me a moment, but I answered “I live here. well, lived here.” “huh. that’s strange.” the Urchin replied. “when do you think the door is done?” I asked once more. “now.” he said. “goodbye.”. the janitor left the station with the fixed door closing behind him. the lights turned off, and I stood in awkward silence from that whole situation. “uh, bye.” I said sheepishly. this has been the most anticlimactic situation I’ve ever been in. I took a deep breath to calm myself, then walked out of the bus stop.  When I stepped into the navy blue night, I saw no one else. not even the janitor. “well, I’m outside of town” I thought. “mom and dad are nowhere to be found…so dark and cold out here. Guess I’m walking, Alone.” my mind was racing with thoughts. y'know, the bus station might be the newest thing in Puffer Springs. I guess the got state funding or something like that. I suppose it makes a decent first or last impression if it was not the abandoned gear factory in the distance. good gravy, think they’ll get rid of it when hell freezes over. As I start to make my way to my house, I hear the horn of the train go off in the distance. now that I think of it, I missed that sound quite a bit. I remember hearing it in bed, at my old house back in OctoVally. especially in the winter time, when all the leaves are down. I soon got to the entrance to the woods. guess I’m going to hike through them. afterall, through the woods is home, my bed, and my…negligent parents. so, off the woods I go. there is some dank nature here, and garbage. and up front, was a few logs. I do recall this place being called “Saw-Mill park.” I climb up the pile of logs, and balance my way to the edge of one of them. being the playful Inkling I am, I jumped on it like a diving board only for the log to break from it’s point, causing me to fall and hit the ground on the other side of the river. the logs avalanched a bit before returning to stillness. “Oh my god.” I thought. “that was dangerous. man…I could’ve died. that was amazing!”. I chuckled as I sat up. “not gonna die in a place like this.” I said to myself as I dusted off my hoodie. I hiked up the pile of logs, this time reaching another part of the woods. I climbed up and walked again. Soon I reached to the abandoned playground surrounded by a chain-link fence. everything looked grim and rusty. there was a ship-like structure with a tower on it, and a few logs. I haven’t been here in like, 9 or 10 years. I could tell that no one else has, either. now it’s just a place weird animals eat and have babies in. I climb up to the ship, and played with the steering wheel. “Ahoy!” I giggled to myself. I think at the time they we’re going for some weird boat-castle. I donno, something like that. there was no ladder,  no way to get to the other side of the fence. and I can’t just jump over it. Then, I had an idea. it was bad, but it was the best I got. a Good Bad idea, if you will. I hopped on the logs, onto a tree branch, sort of climbing my way to the top. man, it’s been almost two years seance I’ve been to Puffer Springs. things were getting jumbled, so I made a little doodle in my journal. getting back to my “plan”, I saw a powerline, so I jumped and balanced on the cable, making my way above the fence. I tried to land on my feet when I lept off the wire, instead I landed on my chest with a tump and a loud “oof!” escaping my mouth.. hey, coulda been worse.  that’s when I saw a cinnamon red Octoling in a police outfit. rather chubby, and clearly a woman. “Hello, Angelo. it’s been a while.” that’s when I know it was my father’s sister. as I call her, Aunt Mall Cop. we never really hung out much, but it was enough that I could recognize her. “H-hey! what are you doing out here? nothing better to do?” I stuttered. “well, I was just making my rounds until I saw you in the very off limits playground.” she stated, looking unimpressed. “so?” I said back, glaring at her. Auntie sighed. “Get in the car Angelo.” she grunted in annoyance.  “no.” I snapped. “you wanna spend your first night in jail?” she remarked. “…no.” was my response. so, I got in the car, and she drove me to the neighborhood. a litte insight on me and my Aunt, she and I have it…not-so-good. I’ve had a good history of being quite the delinquent back in the day, and she was the one to catch me most of the time. but hey, at least she didn’t make me spend any time in the slammer. or worse. Auntie dropped me off at the house. yup, this is the right address. this is the house that mother moved in when she got with my step-dad. I twisted the knob, surprisingly it was unlocked. I stepped inside to the familiar living room with the sent of pine wood. of course, there was my dad, Ryan. he short marigold tentahair, was very pale, and had a lot of freckles on his face. I walked closer to him, as he was ominous to my persistence. “Hey, remember me?” I quickly announced, breaking the silence with an axe. in response my dad jumped in shock with an “AAAAGHHH! Angelo! ya gave me a heart attack!” in his New-Jersey accent. “good!” I chuckled. “what are you doin-” he cut himself off, thinking to himself.  “ooooooohhh…” he said as it came together. “Angelo, buddy. I though you was commin’ home next day.” he remarked. “well, you thought wrong!” I replied. we stared at each other for a bit. “s-so uh…” he started off awkwardly, “how did yis end up here, ey?” I answered with “I hiked through the woods untill I got caught by…ugh, Aunt Mall Cop. she drove me here…” I crossed my arms. “oh, so Molly drove you here, ey? did you say hi to her?” I just shook my head in response. “I’ll be heading to bed.” I stated. “a'right kiddo. good to hear that voice a'yis.” Ryan chuckled.

((I hope you like it!))

Tammy’s comments: Sorry for late reply. It’s always hard to find time for long fan fics. *cough* Anyway! This seems like an interesting story so far.