A Halloween Teaser

Last year I made this treat bag for my little boy.  Well, now that my daughter is toddling around I couldn't leave her out of the treat bag fun.  However, with how busy my crafting life is right now, I didn't want to over complicate things.  So, I felt a simple ghost was in order.  However, Gabriel's Frankenstein bag was a little more detailed.  I didn't want her to feel like her mommy didn't have time to snazz (?) it up a little, so I made it a girly ghost...with sweet cursive embroidery and a little spider dotting the "i."

The bag outer pieces are made with felt.  I used embroidery floss for the name and spider.  The bow and matching handles are from some random ribbon I had around, and I got the lining fabric (orange with black spiders on sale at Hancock Fabrics a while back.

Can't wait to show you the kids in all of their costume glory.  Even if my daughter will have to wear a turtle neck and tights under her dress to stay warm enough.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

One down, one to go.  I finally completed the Dorothy costume.  It fits!  :)  It's a little roomy, but that is good since our temps are beginning to drop.  I'm worried my little "Dorothy" will have to wear some extra clothes under her costume while she trick-or-treats.  I hope to get pictures of her in it this weekend after I get to press it again.

On to the Scarecrow.  :)

What do you do with a giant wall???

In Texas my kids had decent sized rooms.  Not too big.  Not too small.  Then we moved.  And now their rooms are H-U-G-E!  It's great, but a little hard to decorate with what we had already from the previous house.  

This leaves for a lot of blank wall space.  And while I do not feel every inch of a wall needs to be covered, I also don't like for things to look bare.  Then my son started Children's Day Out.  And they do art every...single...day.  It's great, and he's so proud of his work, but I do not have enough space to put that stuff up on our fridge.  So I decided to make my own wall art hanger.  There are many ways of attempting this.  If you are a Pinterest user you have probably seen a version or two (or 50) of this.

I needed to fill a loooooong and tall wall.  Mostly with a lot of little art pieces.  But, the wall already had the lower space occupied.  And I don't want little sister to be able to reach any of the precious items and begin to eat them.  Well, she's only 13 months old!  ;)

So...here is what I did:

 I used a single loooong piece of white trim and spray painted it red (or Berry according to Valspar).  Then I took a bunch of mini clothespins and painted them with acrylic paint in yellow, green, and blue (it goes well with the rest of his bedroom decor).  Before gluing them on I marked out 8 inches between each one.  I did this because a normal piece of paper is 8.5" wide on the narrow side so that would be enough space to be able to hang a paper by two clips if I needed to.

It was also a happy accident because we decided to nail this to the wall into the studs...which are also 8 inches apart.  Woo!  So, my wonderful hubby nailed it up for me.  Then I used wood glue to glue the clips on OVER the nails.  So it looks like it's just magically hanging up on the wall.  But, it's much more secure than it would have been with say double stick tape or velcro or something of that nature.  I still have one more nailhead to cover.  I was one clothespin short.  But, I think it looks GREAT.  And my son LOVES seeing his work up in his room.

Crochet Swatch Complete

Well, I finally finished my swatch for the tutorial going on over at Craftyminx.  I've actually started making another one with a different type of yarn just to see how it effects the end result and my ability to crochet.  I'm glad I did another swatch too.  I learned that this "Spa" yarn was VERY stretchy and made the Treble Crochet (in silver) and the Double Treble (in blue) a lot harder to accomplish with a nice even stitch.  The second swatch I made (not pictured...yet) was made with a bamboo wool blend and was much nicer to work with.

I still need to attempt my slip stitch and measure my stitches, but right now I'm mostly in Halloween costume mode.  Lorelai almost has a completed Dorothy ensemble.  :)

But, I wanted to catch you up with my crochet progress.  And this Saturday is my first knitting class.  We shall see how that goes.

Happy crafting!

Crochet Update!

Well, I dove into crochet first.  The tutorial over at Craftyminx is GREAT!!!!  If you're at all interested in learning to crochet she does a fabulous job of teaching/explaining.  Here is what I have done of my swatch...

In pink we have the starting chain at the bottom and my single crochets (sc).  In the purpley color we have my half-double crochets (hdc).  And, in green, we have my double crochets (dc).  I'm prett psyched about it.  I need to work on my tension, but otherwise I'm getting it pretty well I think!  :)

Happy crafting!!!

To Knit or Crochet

I've been wanting to learn a new skill.  Something that I can do while I watch TV with the hubby or something that can travel with me on road trips.  I was thinking knitting.  Then I was thinking crochet.  I went to our local yarn shop to ask for advice, opinions, examples...ummm they weren't insanely helpful.  I left with knitting stuff and signed up for a class, but still felt like trying crochet so I hit up Hobby Lobby as well.  lol

I'll take the beginner classes for knitting at the shop (class one a small scarf with a wide thread so it goes quickly, and class two a dish cloth but it will teach me to purl).  And then I'm going to "attend" this online "course" done by Crafty Minx on crocheting.  I just hope I don't confuse myself.

With that said...it will be a while until I can really get going on this.  I still have mucho projects looming before me in sewing world!  ;)

I'll give you 3 guesses...

as to what this year's Halloween theme is for my kids.  And the first 2 don't count.

Now if that isn't obvious then I don't know what is.  My darling little brunette will be skipping toddling down the Yellow Brick Road sidewalk as Dorothy arm-in-arm with her big brother dressed as the Scarecrow.  He was going to be the Tin Man, until he decided that scarecrows were better because they're...wait for it..."dary."  (That's 2 1/2 year old speak for scary.)  I love toddler logic.  :)

I cut all of the pattern pieces today.  WHA?  Pattern???  Yep.  Hobby Lobby had their Simplicity Patterns on sale for a $1.  I had intended to design these two costumes myself, but then figured there's no reason to reinvent the wheel when I can buy the wheel for a measly $1.

What are your little darlings going to be for Halloween?  Have you decided?  Last year we had Peter Pan and Tinkerbell:

I can't wait for more Halloween cuteness!!!  Happy crafting!

The Office Drapes

I finally got around to making drapes for the office window.  I've had this fabric sitting by my sewing table since April.  (Sadly I still have the fabric for the drapes for the main part of the house sitting there.)  But, I just did some simple panels.  It's so nice to see some personality as you walk past the doors to the room.  This is more modern than my little traditional, French-y, Pottery Barn self, but I'm liking it.  And they go well with that crazy fabulous chair you see on the right with the lime green parrots on it.

A few smaller projects to come (soon I hope) in this room.  And I am hoping to be able to get some nice organizational baskets or bins for the desk shelves because they are an eyesore.