One More Skylander

The night before the Halloween Carnival/Fall Festival my husband says as we are falling asleep, I wonder what I should dress up as?

The next day it came to me. Since this was my daughter's first year of not wearing a girly costume, she was a little worried that girls wouldn't like her. (If I haven't ever mentioned I mostly hate girls.) So I thought her daddy matching with her would be a great confidence boost.

So I made him a Double Trouble Skylander Costume. Its a paper bag tiki mask.

I also made a scepter for him. I think this might have been his favorite part, but I can't tell you for sure, because we never discussed it.

I'm pretty sure he wore it for a grand total of 20 minutes. But I had fun putting it together for him and my daughter because it came together in less than an hour. 

 I got the idea from this blog.

P.S. My costume is BEYOND unflattering! :)

Homemade Ninja Stealth Elf Halloween Costume

This past summer when my children got screen time everyday instead of once a week during the school year, my 6 year old daughter decided she wanted to be Ninja Stealth Elf from Skylanders for Halloween.
Her costume was pretty easy to put together.

 I sewed some yarn on a black beanie for hair, and then made some green elf ears out of felt. She wasn't interested in any other accessories. In fact I made her round sword things, and she lost them at a Fall Festival, before I had a chance to take her picture.

Sure her face isn't painted green, and she doesn't have belts on her wrists and legs, but she didn't want that. I think she looks pretty good. A few people recognized her, but you have to be a big Skylander fan for that. 

She turns 7 in 6 weeks and with three brothers around she might be done with Princess Halloween Costumes, and since I had 5 brothers I really ok with that.

St. Patrick's Day Foam Wreath

I didn't like my March wreath last year. So I started from scratch this year. After a couple of attempts I ended up with this.

After looking at my pinterest board for inspiration, I realized I really like striped, black white and green accent. 

1. I tried to pick up some black and white ribbon but all Walmart had was one spool of black and white chevron. Turns out, 9 yards of ribbon only covers a third of foam wreath.
2. I was born at the perfect time to be obsessed with beanie babies, and as an adult I've seen gotten rid of them all, except for my Irish Bear from McDonalds, its named Erin and so I have an affinity for it since that's my middle name. (And my Canadian on from McDonalds.) So I know having a teddy bear in a wreath is only fit for crazy cat ladies, but I still went for it. I have only two other St. Patrick's Day decorations ups and one says LUCKY in three inch letters so I decided I didn't need every room to say Lucky, and what else is Pinterest good for other than mincing others ideas.

New Thanksgiving Wreath

Remember, I wanted a new wreath, so I went down to Michael's used a 40% coupon and bought myself a new grapevine wreath for $3.
Overall I was quite disappointed in the trip, because of veterans day I had ALL my children with me. I also had a 25% of my entire purchase, so I bought a few things I didn't need today, but I would in the future. The cashier rang it up wrong. It seemed wrong when I paid for it but I was trying to make sure I didn't lose any children especially my two year old. I looked at it in the car. She rang it up wrong, she took 25% off one item. Since I was in the back of the parking lot and nap time was looming, it didn't seem worth it to go get my $2.50. You hear that @Michael's your cashiers struggle with the 25% off the entire purchase, this is not the first time it has happened to me.
Anyway, back to my wreath.

 The white paint on the wreath will look a lot better in a month when its been weathered outside.
The felt leaves have stitching on them, but you can't really see.

Since I used left over felt and ribbon, the total cost was $3. Wahoo.
I'm going to take off the leaves in a few weeks and Christmasized it. Its time for a new christmas wreath, my other one is four years old, which is eternity in craft years. Actually I'm not sure, I'm considering changing my old one. Only time will tell.

Thanksgiving Heart

I needed a different thanksgiving wreath for my wine rack this year. I had no interest in recreating last year's. 

I decided to use my heart shape foam wreath. I covered it in burlap and tulle like last year. I made my sign from copying an old pin on pinterest. I'm so unoriginal, I'm pretty sure that is what pinterest is all about copying other people's crafts.
I took some leaves off this wreath. Three years ago when I made that wreath I was so obsessed, but now its on my front door and I'm so done with it. I'm considering making a new wreath and throwing away that one. There is only 16 days until thanksgiving I'm not sure its worth it to make a new one.

Wait there is More

I think my daughter had buyer's remorse with Izzy.  When she picked Izzy she told me she picked her because next year she would be too old for the show Jake and the Neverland pirates. She wanted to be Izzy last year then switched to the wedding dress. She dressed up as Izzy for trunk or treat at our local YMCA. Four days later when we went to the trunk or treat at our church she wanted to be something else. Her daddy was being silly in the costume box and it thrilled and inspired her. I'm sure the massive amounts of Elsas at the trunk or treat at the Y didn't help. So she went hunting in her princess dresses. At first she settled on Rapunzel, but then she didn't like that her hair wasn't long enough, so she picked out one of her favorite and most rattiest dresses. Barbie dreamland or something. I said, really, what about a different dress, she said well I wanted to be sleeping beauty because we have the same color hair. I said you have a pink princess dress she said oh yeah, and went put it on. I think she had fun being yet another costume. But once again since its PINK its pretty wore down, not as bad as barbie. With her school Halloween party coming up, I wanted her to have a nice dress to wear. So I conned her into going back to Rapunzel. I told her Rapunzel's hair is short in the end, and I offered to make her a new crown. I wanted her to be happy with her costume against the ten or so other Elsas that will be in kindergarten.
This picture channel's the Rapunzel punk rocker fan art.

 Even though we have already have a Rapunzel Crown, I channeled the flowers in her braid for this crown.

(Who knew Flynn had such meaty hands? kind of gross.)

 I kind of hate the whole thing, especially the big bow, she loves the big bow. I made it kind of too small, I'm really quite mad at myself. It took me practically all day (the day before Halloween) to make, minus when I was mopping up after my leaky dishwasher. (bleh) I hate last minute.

Cost: $2 for baby's breath silk flowers
I could have made flower that small, but I needed plastic stems. After I finished, I totally could have skipped the baby's breath.
ARG! I'm so mad its almost too small.
P.S. I don't push my daughter into princess costumes. Overall I'm not a princess dress up girl, but she LOVES them.

The Last Halloween Costume

My baby boys were so adorable in their coordinating costumes, I decided I want to match with them for our church's Trunk or Treat.
I was Katerina Kitty Cat (that's Henrietta Pussycat's daughter).
Those ears were very difficult. I used felt, glue and my daughter's headband.
I went through all the effort of matching with my babies then took a low quality photo. :(

I originally had a bow on my ears but I felt silly. I also wore  jeans instead of a dress because I'm not a prissy as Katerina. I even had a tail which you can't see. I wanted to be as awesome as Turbo with my tail..

Cost: Free

In case you haven't made a running total of the price this year it was a good year.
$0 - J
$1 - N
$0 - A
$3 - I
$0 - me

$4 is a very good year

O the Owl

If my two year old was Daniel Tiger I wanted my baby to have a coordinating costume, so I picked O the Owl. For all you old school Mister Roger's Neighborhood fans, O is X the Owl's nephew. Daniel Tiger is the son of Daniel Stripe Tiger.

The Inspiration:

 Words can describe how much I love this O costume on my 8 month old! And to think I wasn't going to make him a costume! It was very hard to find a turquoise shirt for him, but I eventually found a short sleeve one at walmart with a large graphic on the front. So I sewed feathers all over the graphic. Still it was a short sleeve, I had some left over legs from my daughter's green turquoise leggings that I had made into cut off Bermuda shorts. I made the legs skinnier then sewed them on the arms.  Then lastly I added wings on top.

Cost: $4 for the onesies. The fleece was all leftover from who knows what.

Daniel Tiger Halloween Costume

This costume was very easy since we already had tiger pants. My 2 year old LOVES dressing in these pants. I added ears to his red sweater. I used felt and sharpie. I drew those tiger stripes myself! 

The inspiration:

I just want to remember him like this forever! He always checks to make sure his tail is still behind him. "Mom!"...."Oh, there it is"

Cost: Free

O the Owl Costume

 With scraps I had laying around the house over the weekend I decided to make my baby an O the Owl hat for a Halloween costume.

Here is what O looks like on TV.

I thought it would be cute for Ikey because A loves to dress up as Daniel Tiger.

Why would I buy my two year old/third child a Halloween costume when he loves to play dress up with what we have? For all you lacking in PBS children's programming, here is Daniel Tiger. He is the son of Daniel Stripe Tiger from Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.

Seriously my boy wears tiger pants half the week. Every so often he will stop playing look around then grab his tail and say, "There it is" The pants were handme downs and since he wears them so much I'm worried they will wear out before Halloween.

I meant to make the owl hat big enough to fit the two year old, but once I added the lining it didn't work. A was not so pleased his baby brother was the model and since it didn't fit him very well he decided Cheese the bear should wear the hat. My two year old named his teddy bear Cheese. I guess we know his favorite food.

Maybe after Halloween I'll take out the lining, or after it doesn't fit the baby anymore.

My Birthday

September doesn't really have a holiday to decorate for, so I always decorate for my birthday. I decided I wanted a different birthday wreath this year, the last one's kitschy vibe was rubbing me the wrong way after all the birthday's we've celebrated. (Part of me loves the old one, but I just wanted a modern one this year.) I printed the bunting from this site. Ignore the fact that I connected the R incorrectly. I guess I could fix it...

 Ok, I love the candle! I used a coffee stirrer, and covered it with baker's twine. Plus the flame, it makes me smile. Happy Birthday me.

Pink Princess Tea Party

My daughter turned 5 which I just can't believe.  She is my baby! My oldest should be five not her.  This year we did a friend party, for the party we had a pink princess tea party.  With mini tea cups.

The day before I realized other than the table setting for the tea party we really didn't have any decorations so I made a bunting at the last minute.  To wish the princess Happy birthday.

 We also played pin the crown on the royalty. Turns out fan art is the best play to find free printables.

 The bunting with the table set.

 We had mini cupcakes so they fit on the mini plates.

 I made mini felt crowns for the girls.

 And we invited two boys, so we dressed them up as knights/kings.  I made these covers for them.  I didn't sew, I just cut the apron to the right size, and then cut out a fleur de lis out of felt and glue gunned it on.  It was quite easy, and my favorite craft of the party.  The boys love them.  I also made a foam duct tape sword for each boy.  (My son the model didn't come to the party.)

I will also add the boys LOVED the tea party as much as the girls, what is not to love about mini cups of water and mini cupcakes? We also played Don't Eat Pete Princess style.

Another burlap wreath

The morning after Halloween I was ready to purge/ clean. I wanted all the costumes packed, all the leaves tracked in from trick or treating gone. Apparently I got a little ambitious. By lunch all the Halloween specific decorations were gone and leaving only fall decor in which the pilgrims and Indians were added to. Turns out I was down a wreath. I hung my fall wreath from last year outside and made a new one for my wine rack.

I used burlap ribbon with ivory tulle ribbon to soften the burlap a tad. Then  I wanted it easy so I used my old school sizzix to cut out mini felt leaves. I wish I had dies with larger leaves but I do like the mini aspect. I also decides I wanted a mum garden on my wreath since in effort to save money this year I didn't buy fall flowers for my planter pots outside. 

Of course I found thanksgiving subway art to match. 

Lastly I made mini felt leave garland for my back door valance. 

I was finished with my new decorations by Friday evening it was great.  

Halloween Costume #4

My family gets a kick out of me dressing up.  So this year, I decided to be an owl.  Hedwig to be exact. Thanks to pinterest it was real easy costume, and took about $1 worth of felt.  I basted (large sewing stitch) the feathers onto the collar and the sleeves of a white shirt.  I used this template.

My daughter really did not like the costume, but tried to be a good sport.  My husband thought it was hysterical and my son/Harry Potter told me it was fine.

Princess Rapunzel's Wedding Dress Halloween Costume

This costume was sort of the death of me.  It was a little ambition on my part, it felt a little bit like when Rapunzel first escapes from the tower.  Some moments it went well and I was sure my daughter would love the dress forever, other moments I thought she would run in terror from it screaming I hate it.  (Its not uncommon for her to tell me "I hate it, I will never wear it." When I buy her clothes.)

 

She wanted a LONG veil.

Close-up of the tiara and veil.  I used this pattern.

It seems like it was worth the time.

This reminds me of the movie Tangled.