Thursday, September 23, 2010

Messenger Bag version 2.0

The week before school started, I made Paige this cute messenger bag (and matching pencil case) from a pair of Goodwill cargo pants and cute, cute owl fabric. Post with more pictures here and here.
It was cute - it was perfect for her first day of school. She was ready! See?

BUT (isn't there always a but?) when I made the bag I based my measurements on a small stack of folders, notebooks, and a small binder. Well.... after that first day of school she comes home with a HUGE zippered Trapper-Keeper type binder that's about 4 inches thick and way bigger than that stack I measured by. The binder fit in her messenger bag, but barely... there was NO room for a water bottle, pencil bag, or much of anything.

So... take 2. Back to Goodwill and I found a dark chocolate brown pair of cargo capris with cute cinch embellishment at the bottoms of the legs and grommets on the pockets. I was hesitant using capris (less fabric) but really liked it so went with it. Paige went with me to the fabric store to pick out the accent fabric. She chose a green frog and lizard print (no idea why!) - not what I would have picked, but it's HER bag so we went with it.

I also decided to orient the bag the other way... portrait instead of landscape. It's a lot roomer and I was able to add a few extras - like a water bottle holder on the outside (so condenstation from her cold bottle doesn't get any of her papers or stuff damp. The button pocket on the front flap was one from the outer side of the leg of the capris. Pic from the front:



Here's another view of the front showing the water bottle holder better. The legs of the capris could be cinched with an elastic cord. I was running out of fabric so had to piece the water bottle holder, but it's a really nice addition. It's roomy to hold either disposable water bottles or any of her reusable ones.


The other cinch cord went along the upper front of the inside. I don't think she ever really uses this one, but it's cute and can help hold in everything. The front flap pocket are the two angle pockets from the upper front of the pants - the zipper was cut out and those two sides sewn together. I used the accent fabric behind that flap pocket.


Here's her big binder inside the bag. There's still lots of room left for a lunch bag, pencil case, etc. What I forgot to get a picture of is the inside of the bag - along the front (under the cinch cord) are the pockets from the rear of the pants. The inside of the bag is lined with the accent fabric except for that front panel. It was the accent fabric on the ouside (behind the flap pocket) and cargo material on the inside with additional inside pockets.



Here's the front cinched up a little:


And one more view of the front showing the flap pocket - you can see stray papers down in there...


And finally, here's the back. This is the other outer leg pocket. I did end up running out of fabric from the cargo capris and did not have enough to do one side of the strap with it. I had to use the froggy fabric for both sides of the strap. Not ideal, but still cute.


However, NOW we're all aware that the pencil case no longer matches... so guess what the next project is?
I'm really happy with how this one turned out. It's a little bigger for her frame, but it was too big of a hassle for her to have to carry her lunch bag or anything else she needed separate as the binder literally filled the other messenger bag very snugly with room for nothing else.
So, now... what do I do with the owl one???
I've posted at the following linky parties! Go visit to see lots of bloggy craftiness :-)
THURSDAY
FRIDAY

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

What do these three characters have in common?

This is Ezio Auditore Di Firenze from the video game Assassin's Creed 2:

This is Yukari Takeba from the video game Persona 3:


And THIS is Luna (the cat) in human form from the Sailor Moon book series:



Any guesses? Any idea what these three characters might possibly have in common? Two are from video games and one from a book/TV series (although I'll state my Sailor Moon ignorance here that I don't know if this character was in both the books and the TV show... I know she is in the books.)

Wanna know? Really? You're gonna laugh... hysterically.
I've been asked to make and/or assist in making them as Halloween costumes! For this year!

Oh, I guess that hysterical laughing was coming from me.
Stay tuned!
Ezio is for Blake. Pretty cool costume, really, and something I'm hoping I can make with fabric from around the house and maybe some craft foam made to look like faux leather.
Yukari and Luna are for Erika and a good friend of hers. They're going to be attending an Anime convention (Oni-Con) that's coming to Houston on Halloween weekend. Erika wants to learn how to sew, so is thinking with some basic lessons from me she'll be able to make these two costumes... so we shall see.
Wish me luck... I think.
This isn't even counting any costumes needed for Paige and Dean... not sure if we'll make them though. I might already have enough on my plate.

Friday, September 10, 2010

The Story of a Boy and a Cookie

The story of a cookie and a boy
With chocolate and sprinkles - oh joy!
He licked with all his might
But would not take a single bite!
(maybe the bottoms got a little dark)
"Mmmmm.... that's pretty good. Lemme lick some more!"


"Hey, Cookie! What'you talkin' 'bout Willis?"


Maximizing tongue surface area...




Rockin' the Chocolate Goatee



Sugar High... or Sugar Delirium?



"Here Momma - wipe my hands"



The End

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Paige's Party Update

I'm way late posting this, but since I posted about it weeks ago I figured I'd better follow up.

Paige's 10th Birthday party went really well. We started out at the pool - we had drinks, sandwiches, fruit kabobs, chips & salsa, and cupcakes. All 'decorations' were in lime green and turquoise. The baskets for sandwiches and pails for chips and fruit were from the dollar store, and the drink tub was from Party City.


Here are the yummy cupcakes... chocolate rasberry, chocolate chip cookie dough, and apple cinnamon with honey buttercream. Paige requested the apple cinnamon as I'd made them before but the others were new. I think everyone loved the chocolate chip cookie dough - they were delish!

I don't know why... but this picture just cracks me up. I think it's because A) Blake's mouth is full and B) Erika is eyeing him awfully suspiciously...


The kids all had a lot of fun. While we couldn't reserve the pool for exclusive use, there were only about 6 other people when we arrive and 4 left shortly after. It was a lot of fun!


Paige's highlight of the night.... a Jacob Black T-shirt. We won't tell her I'm just a little bit jealous. Yes... I know he's 16 years younger than me, but he sure is nice to look at....
For the decorations back at the house, I did end up making several of the large tissue pom poms... but not as many as I'd planned. I also had streamers around the den where all the girls were sleeping.


They were up WAY too late, but it was a really nice reconnection for them right before school started. Not sure if you can see them, but as a party favor for the girls who came to the sleepover, I made sleep masks from two layers of soft fleece and leftover blackout fabric in the center (as the fleece was still allowing light through). There are a few of them to the left of this picture, right behind Paige.


And just so you know... this is how you can tell who the first one to fall asleep at a sleeover was...


Thanks for checking out Paige's Party! She really had a lot of fun and it was relatively stress free for me! Love it!