Halloween Costumes - a week later!

I finally got the pics off my mom's camera of the kids' Halloween costumes. They're not as good of pics as I remember them being a week ago, which is kinda sad since I cant get Maddy to even wear her tutu anymore, let alone the whole costume!!!

Here's my hubby Kyle with John:

(Kyle was a Lumberjack - he put suspenders on later - because his hair was too short to be Wolverine like I wanted him to be. He wanted to be Sabertooth but I told him no that's too creepy.)
Maddy, without the gold sash. Apparently there are no pictures of her with the sash, because it really just completes the outfit. It was just a strip of gold tulle but it made the green tunic sit nicely overtop the tutu. Oh well, I'll keep the outfit and make my next girl wear it sometime.

The back. I HAD planned to use velcro to fasten the back, but I cut the tunic too narrow apparently (she wouldn't hold still very well for me to check the sizing.) So I used some gold ribbon I had saved from my wedding (I have SO MUCH ribbon from our wedding; everyone and their dog wrapped the presents with ribbon it seems) and cut little holes and laced up the back. The tunic is made of felt, which was MARVELOUS because I didn't have to worry about making a hem or anything like that! While I created the tunic completely from scratch, I did get some help with the tutu. There are lots of tutorials online about making tutus but I followed this tutorial from Make It and Love It. (Ironically, Ashley from Make It and Love It had her daughter be Tinkerbelle and her son be Peter Pan for Halloween!)

I can't even remember what upset her this time. I just think its funny how many pictures I have of her throwing a fit. Sad, but funny.

Peter Pan!

I had plans to make a full costume for this little man, but I didn't. And I don't actually feel all that bad about it, because the hat totally makes up for it! (Plus he slobbers like crazy, as you can see on his green shirt. I might have been upset to see so much slobber ruin a costume I'd spent hours making.)

I can totally see why lots of people thought he was Robin Hood. The hats would be similar. Again, if I'd done the whole she-bang it would have been more obviously Peter Pan, but oh well.

I followed the tutorial again from Make It and Love It. I LOVE that blog! She has the best directions, and most of her clothing projects she has you use clothes you already own as a pattern. That way you know its gonna fit, as long as you don't mess up the sewing part!

I didn't dress up for Halloween this year, which is kinda unlike me. Last year I spent quite a bit of time covering and decorating a box to be and Oven (I was like 3 1/2 months pregnant with John so I had a Bun in the Oven...haha, I thought it was clever. Especially because my husband put on an apron and slapped a little flour on his face to be a Baker. My mother-in-law didnt pick up on the significance of that until about a month ago.)

We're already discussing what we'll dress up as next year. I'm thinking Family Themes, like Star Trek (John would be Spock), or Star Wars (John could be Yoda, Maddy could be an Ewok, I could be Leia and Kyle could be Darth Vader), or Goldilocks and the Three Bears, or...yeah, there's a lot to choose from. We'll just have to see I guess.

Before & After

Last week was a busy week. Lots of attempts at a clean house (it always seemed to fall apart right away), lots of cooking/baking, and of course lots of crafting. I dont have many pics of the crafting attempts because I misplaced my camera and just found it this morning.

I do have these pics to show my attempts at decorating our living room. I know I was not an interior decorator in a past (or present!) life, because doing just this little amount was ridiculously hard for me! Making such finite decisions such as where to hang the picture or how far apart to hang the shelves or whatever was borderline overwhelming. Sad, I know. But I got some basics done. I decided that the reason everyone kept giving me decorative stuff for Christmas/Birthday/Any occasion is because I never decorated anything at our apartment. I had plenty of stuff to choose from, I just didn't feel like putting out the effort to put it up.)Hopefully now I won't keep getting only decorative stuff...unless its more Willow Tree figures. I could never have too many of those!

Okay, this is the wall that you see as you walk in our front door.

Before

After
Not the best pics, because we dont have very good lighting in there and our camera stinks in bad lighting. I wish I could say I put the shelves up myself, but the instructions were so confusing I called my dad to ask what they meant and he said, "I'll just come over and do it." And he did, with his awesome stud-finder-and-laser-level. It looks a little odd, like there should be something lower against the wall (a piano maybe? Oh I wish! Someday...) but Maddy's quite the climber so I put them higher so that even with a chair she can't reach most of them.

And this is the right adjoining wall to the one you just saw.
Before...

...and After!

Again, sorry about the lighting, but it gives you a general idea of what it looks like. I was quite proud of my mantelpiece deocrations. I had all that stuff stashed away from previous clearance sales and stuff. Maddy loved playing with the fake leaves and of course the pumpkin.

As I was decorating, I realized that we can hang our stockings by the fireplace this Christmas! I am ridiculously excited about that, as stupid as that may be. I guess I'm mostly just excited to really start making our own little family's traditions. Last year Maddy was too young to care, but I think this year will be much better. Most of my hubby's family is coming into town for Christmas, so we'll be spending a lot of the time at his parents with everyone and hopefully a little bit of time with my parents and siblings, but I'm also hoping to be able to do a few little things with just us four.

Learning the hard way!

Craft lessons learned today:

1. DO NOT choose a fabric just because its a "good deal". If its a pain in the bum to sew, it could have been free and it still wouldn't be worth it!

2. DO NOT force anything, especially a half-finished Halloween costume, on a stubborn 19-month old who needs a nap.

3. When convential crafts fail you, digital crafts won't. On the computer, there's always the "undo" button.

I wish I had some photos to post with this, because looking back it was stinkin' HILARIOUS, but at the time I was extremely distraught.

I spent well over an hour sewing a Tinkerbell costume for my daughter. Which is where I learned todays lesson #1...I found the fabric in the clearance section, plus it was marked down another 50%. It's a shimmery metallic green, I have no idea what TYPE of fabric it actually is, other than a real pain to sew. Its the kind that just seems to shred when you bring it within 2 feet of a needle. Grrr, but I already bought it, and I was determined to make it work. I wasn't using a pattern, but it was going okay I guess.

And then I tried to get it on Madeline. Looking back, perhaps it was a bit too narrow since there wasn't much give in the fabric. And then I learned lesson #2...I swear, it was just like the Hulk. She literally RIPPED the tunic off herself. (Keep in mind the fabric's tendency to shred, just so you know my kid's not completely out of control!)

Ah well, I'm still learning!

But I was kinda bummed that all that time went to waste, and I wasn't ready to tackle another attempt at Tink or start my son's Peter Pan costume (although maybe I can use the remains from the Tink tunic for his Peter Pan...hmm, there could be a silver lining here). So I decided to try some of the digital "crafts" I've been wanting to attempt.

And I think I'm in love!

Look at the header for the blog now. That was my first digi-project today, and I think it turned out okay.

Seriously, it takes forever on my computer (so slow!) but I think its so much fun! I'm not very good at cutting paper and all those fine-motor-skills required to do real life scrapbooking, but I think I'm gonna be good at digital scrapbooking. I tend to like a more simplified look, not so many trinkets and stuff on there. Plus the more image I import, the slower the program works so there ya go.

I'm working on making my own blog background, but that takes a little more techie know-how, so it may be awhile before I figure that out!

Anyways, there's my crafting for the day. I can hear one, maybe both kids waking up from their naps.

Mod Podged Scale

First post of my new blog, and its a doozy!

I did this craft sometime last week, when I was stuck at home with two whiny kids and buckets of rain coming down.

In scouring the craft blogs, I've discovered everyone seems to have a mutual love for the oddity that is Mod Podge. Never having used to stuff myself, nor having seen my mother ever use it, I figured I needed to jump on the bandwagon and give it a try. Then I could say I was a Real Crafter.

After scouring Michaels for longer than deserved, I found the elusive little bottle, on prominent display some 3 aisles from where it normally would have been. It took me a good 3 days of pondering and debating before I actually opened the bottle and used it. My first attempt was for this notebook. It was okay, but I put contact paper over it as an added protection, seeing as my 18 month old terror - I mean daughter - was the owner.

Which brings us to that frustrating, rainy afternoon.
Naptime.
So many projects I could do, but no attention span to complete them.
And so I started browsing the Blog world. And I found Mod Podge Rocks which led me to this idea for my afternoon craft.

I, like any NORMAL person out there, hate stepping on my scale. I figured it couldn't hurt to make it a bit more cheerful.

My scale is the cheapest one from Walmart. I used some pretty wrapping paper I bought ages ago for another project that has yet to happen, and some thin hot pink ribbon. And of course I used the worshipped Mod Podge.

Apparently I could use a little more practice. Mod Podging is not as easy as all the craft blogs make it look.

There are wrinkles and bumps all over, but then again I was stuck using one of those cheap kid's paintbrushes. But it does brighten my day when I walk past it (as long as I don't actually use it!)