Halloween Costumes 2010

This years costumes are finally finished!  I’m so excited to show them off!  I know they’re not as amazing as the costumes that some people make but I think they’re pretty cool.

The first costume I decided to make was armor.  It actually took some convincing because my boy wanted to be a prince.  But since I pretty much made a prince costume last year (in a way) I really didn’t want to have to do the same thing again.  So I put on my best sales-woman approach and pulled out our “Narnia” collection book and sited all of the pictures that “The high King Peter” or “Prince Caspian” wear armor.  It worked!  He wanted armor after that.  The funniest thing about the whole scenario is that he still wants to be called “A prince, in armor”.

 

Here he is, looking fierce!

I love his stance!  So tough!

And because I never know when to quit….I also made some other accessories to make his costume more versatile.

Gritting his teeth with determination.

Now for the part that I’ve been waiting for my whole career as a mother!  My little girl’s outfit!  I have been wanting soooo badly to embellish clothing with glitter for years so I went all out and went crazy!  (Some of the material actually came glittered already, which was helpful ;) ).

And here she is, my little Fall Fairy:

I’m so happy she kept the headband I made on.  The trick was to tell her how pretty she looked the second I put it on and push her hands away from trying to take it off.  I’ve had to do that every time I’ve put it on her, but it seems to work. 

Back wing view!

 

Side view of her dress.  I loved the little petals on this pattern…thus why I had to make it when I saw it (besides that it came in 1/2 size….not many patterns this cute do!)  

   This one is just adorable to me!  I love her sweet little face and her pretty blue eyes!

So yes, I went a little crazy, and a little over-board.  But the point is, I’ve also had a LOT of fun. :)

Pleated Pillow Plus…

About 6 weeks ago, my husband came home from work asking me if I was willing to do a little sewing for someone that he worked with who wanted some pillows made.  I thought “pillows?” “they’re a snap!”.  Ha.  Little did I know that the day I started them my machine would decide to break and become totally unusable.  We ended up at the shop twice and then gave up and bought a totally new machine. 

We went with a simple Bernette 66 for Bernina that hopefully will last for years to come.  I really loved the service at the store those ladies were all so nice to me, besides the other perks (such as warranty and free maintenance/cleaning for a year…etc). My machine also came with three classes which I learned some amazing tips from such as: Make sure you thread your machine’s upper thread with the foot down because this sets the tension properly….this is one trick I still need to master.  Also, only turn the side needle-positioner wheel (whatever it’s really called) towards you and  never away as this messes up tension too.  I never knew!  I am sewing better than ever! I’m also thrilled with the foot power that I know have from the courses I took.  I was so excited to start on the pillows that I was supposed to make in this material that I LOVE!  I took the courses before starting and I’m so glad I did.  This was a pretty fun project though a little nerve racking trying to make them perfect for the girl I was making them for :).

Here’s a photo of what they look like in her cute newly-decorated apartment that she sent me.  I also designed the middle pillow myself because she wanted a more embellished pillow but not too crazy.  I love how they turned out!

When we were picking out supplies she also asked my advice on what to do for a flower arrangement.  I was so flattered that anyone would ask my advice on anything…it was a nice feeling.  This was my suggestion for the flowers…she thought of filling the jar with beans which I love and suggested she paint them.  It looks awesome!

First Fondant Cake

I finished my fondant and gum paste class at Michael’s last night.  I’m pretty pleased how my cake turned out.  It is white with yellow black-eyed Susan’s on it.  I’m really glad I decided to add the leaves because I think they give it a lot of movement plus a more whimsical feel.  I really like the “eyelet” ruffle I did on it to.  It makes seem kind of vintage or something.  My teacher seemed pretty pleased with it and took tons of photos…maybe to do something similar?  Anyway,  I’ve always been so terrified of fondant before taking this class. I’m glad that I no longer am nervous of it.  In fact I just wish I had more time to do cakes!  It’s not perfect, but I’m pretty pleased!

My Susan Cake

 

Side view.  Those eyelets can use a little more work but they are slightly tedious…especially trying to do them before the fondant dries out.

Felt Choosing Cubes

(This past 3 months!) I’ve been subbing for the Primary Chorister.  I made these little cubes to try to motivate the children in Primary to #1 be quite so I would pick them #2 have reasons/variations to repeat a song and #3 because felt does not get destroyed as fast as paper does  and #4 it’s a sneaky way to teach musical terms. 

You could use these cubes for other motivation, such as which chore to pick for the day or what kind of activity to do when your children are arguing…there are so many possibilities!

The kids LOVE it when I pull these out!  So glad I came up with them!

Here are some of the different things I put on them:

Red:

Leave out a word

crescendo (grow louder)

decrescendo (grow softer)

fermata (hold a note)

rall.  (slow down)

accelerando (speed up)

Yellow:

Staccato (short and bouncy)

Largo (smooth)

Legato (slow)

Forte (loud)

piano (soft)

allegro (fast)

Blue:

Boys only

Girls only

Right side (of room)

Left side (of room)

No teachers

Hum

Cheap Baby-Doll Bed

If you ask my son what he wants to be when he grows up, he will tell you quite frankly “I want to be a daddy!”  He loves babies and kids and he’s always asking if we can have 20 kids in our family…of course my response is always “Nope!”  He has a baby doll that he got when he was almost two and in that stage where all that little toddlers love babies. 

When his baby sister was born last December, my mom came to visit laden with matching items such as blankets and pajamas for his baby sister and his baby doll.  It was very thoughtful of her.

There have been many times when my laundry baskets have been confiscated by Christian to use as his baby’s bed.  Until one day after a visit to Sam’s Club when I realized that one of those dumb half/cardboard box things they give you to load your giant items into was about the perfect size and shape for a baby bed.

So, Christian picked some paper that he liked and I mod-podged  the thing and made a cushion.  Now it’s a very cheap baby bed that I won’t feel guilty about discarding when his love of his baby doll has bid its last farewell and I can use the cushion as a toddler pillow for one of his sibling(s)…