Easy Halloween Costume Idea and Caffeinated Mommy Rambling…

Well our room and dining room table might look like a bachlorette party gone wild, but Lily’s Halloween costume is finished and it’s not even October yet! Okay, okay it’s October tomorrow and I still don’t have the costume in it’s entirety but 90% of it is done 31 days before it has to be. If you know me, this is a huge deal. What’s next, start my Christmas shopping before December 20?! HA!

Last year since Lily was only 3 months old and could not score us loot trick or treat on her own, we opted for a cute family costume. We went as the Flintstones and I made our costumes out of t-shirts from A.C. Moore. I cut a dress out of a hot green shirt for Lily, sewed some black triangles on her dress and Jordan’s orange shirt, and merged two shirts together to make Wilma’s dress for me. Pretty easy and pretty cheap.

This year we decided Lily would make an adorable lady bug! I wanted to keep it simple (and slightly cheaper then buying one) so during nap time I sketched out what I needed to buy and make to put this all together. My nap time idea sketchbook is the next best thing to going out and shopping for all my supplies! It's where my ideas start flowing, and my shopping list starts. As soon as Tristan was picked up, we took a family trip to JoAnn's to gather materials!

Side note: Honestly the hardest part of this project is finding a black long sleeve onsie! I know I’d die if I was a toddler because most of my wardrobe is black and you cannot find plain black kids clothes any where! But I digress..

Lily’s just starting to get into playing dress up so I’m hoping that by Halloween she will want to wear her wings and antenna. I also know that I have a bit of karma coming back to me in that department so this could be a hilarious disaster. You see, when I was a kid, my mom made my brother and I costumes every year until middle school. Each year we would go to the party store, talk with our friends, peruse catalogs until we found what we wanted to be. And every year, my poor mother would sew and glue and cut and size our costumes until they were just right. They were always very creative and adorable. And I would be so excited to wear them until the moment came when I actually had to put them on. I would cry and cry because I did not look like myself. Of course I still wore the costumes and got many compliments and tons of candy. But those epic battles are going to come back to haunt me, I know. 

For the skirt, I decided on a huge tutu. While picking out fabric at Joann’s I saw the type of skirt I wanted to create. It’s pretty easy to make and it’s no sew! I took pictures along the way and I’ll try my best to explain my steps! 

First, cut your selected tulle fabric into strips. I did not take any precise measurements of Lily because every time I got near her with the tulle or elastic, she wanted to run away with it. I snuck in real fast and wrapped some elastic around her waist, then gave myself another inch for error. I also guesstimated how long the skirt should be and doubled that. The easiest way to cut your fabric is to use the fold that’s already there. My fabric was almost folded exactly in half to the length I wanted to I just cut (unmeasured and slightly uneven) strips right from there. I had to cut a little off of the bottom, but I used the leftovers to add more volume to the skirt. 

To attach the strips to the elastic, you just use the good old loop, swoop and pull method. Place one strip of tulle under your elastic band. Hold the folded end open and with the two open ends, go over the elastic into the ‘loop’ you have made with the folded end. Carefully pull the tulle tight to make a knot. After each piece is knotted securely on the elastic, push it as close as you can get it to the other knots. Continue to loop, swoop and pull until you are satisfied with the volume of your tutu. I used the entire 3 yards of tulle I purchased and got a super fluffy tutu. 

I chose to knot my tulle onto the elastic while it was laying flat on my table then I sewed the ends together when I ran out of fabric. After the ends were sewn, I rearranged the tulle to cover the seam. But you could also sew the ends together first and rig up an elastic holder (your leg)? Whatever makes your life easier!

The wings were fairly easy to make too. I found fabric that was red with black spots already in the leftover fabric bin at Joann’s. I decided to buy wings at the dollar store and cover them with this fabric. I made sort of a slip cover for each wing by tracing and cutting two pieces of fabric for each wing. I sewed them together and left some room to slip the wire wing into and hand sewed them closed. I also bought two boas for a little extra oomph. I know, I know. Ladybugs don’t have feathers. But diva ladybugs do. I used red thread to sew the boa to the edges of the wings and voila! The boa covered my uneven hand sewn section and completed the look. I originally wanted a black boa but my pickings were slim at the Dollar Tree. 

All I need now are some antenna which I plan to make out of pipe cleaners and pom poms, a black long sleeve onsie, and some fun red shoes. I’ll post the final look when I have got all of the parts!!

Puff Ball Lanterns

My original plan for these tissue paper puff ball lanterns were decorations at Lily’s birthday party. In my mind full of ideas, her party was going to have all the frou and frou one little girl’s first birthday party could have. I was pinning decorations, cake ideas, even fun games for the kids to play. Flash forward to realizing summer birthdays are hard with friends and family on vacations and a mix up with the baptism date and so we settled on a simple at home cake and presents kind of thing. There’s always her second birthday. J I decided to use this puff ball lanterns as decorations in her room instead since I was proud of how they turned out!

I first saw a tutorial on Pinterest on how to make gorgeous fabric lanterns for a nursery. I figured I’d try to make some on a dollar store budget first for her party and if they came out cute enough I‘d consider tackling the fabric ones. I found paper lanterns and tissue paper in the colors I wanted at the dollar store and cracked open a new bottle of Modge Podge. Total cost so far--$12. I still have tissue paper out the wazoo. 

 First I experimented with the size of the circles. The lanterns were not that large so I didn’t want to overwhelm them with huge tissue paper flowers. These next steps where the most tedious. While the babies napped, I cut circles out of pink, red, blue, and green tissue paper and then made each circle into a little flower. To do so, I folded each circle in half, then in half again to make a pie slice. I twisted the pointed end a few times, then opened up the “flower” part.The twisted end served as an anchor to glue onto the lantern. Once the flowers were twisted and ready to go, gluing did not take that long. I painted glue around the top of the lantern and stuck as many flowers as I could. 

I looped ribbon through the handle of the lantern and with some help from Jordan hung cup hooks on Lily’s ceiling. I like the way they turned out. It kept my hands busy during nap time and downtime at night while we watched TV. And it didn’t break the bank at all! I probably spent under $20 and have some supplies left over for future projects and wrapping presents!

This would also be a good project for an older child to help out with. If you wanted the final project to be a bit more precise, they could at least help with the tedious task of folded the tissue paper. 

Pinned It, Did It...

Hello and welcome to my blog! I’ll admit I was a little hesitant to start one of these things bad boys. Another stay at home mom telling her tales of laundry, diapers, and naptimes, all while sewing curtains and making her own organic baby food? Phhht. Not so much me. Then I realized I could use this as another creative outlet and a place to share my fun projects (like Photo Shoot Fridays), upcycle ideas, and crafty craftness with my family and friends near and far.

I am very lucky to be able to stay at home with my beautiful, very mobile and extra curious thirteen month old baby girl, Lily. I also watch my eight month old cute as can be crawling all around nephew Tristan during the week. Needless to say, I don’t get much “me” time during the day and when I do, I’m usually trying to grab a shower, do a load of laundry, prep food for the babies, or straighten up, very quietly. But on those rare days when both children decide to not only nap at the same time, but take a nice long one, I usually find myself itching to work on a project. I do my best thinking in the morning and often jot down a list of projects I either dreamed up myself or I saw on Pinterest that I want to do during the week.

In my opinion, Pinterest is the best invention since sliced bread. Or the wheel. I’ll admit, my ratio of ‘Pinned It’ to ‘Did It’ DIY projects is a little out of proportion. And let’s not even mention the ’Pinned Fails’. But I can usually find some creative inspiration from the DIY/Craft or Kids section and go from there. Sometimes I follow the instructions and other times I wing it and add my own interpretations of the project. Either way it’s a nice creative outlet during nap times.

This blog will document my attempts, successes and failures in the crafty crafting world. Enjoy!