Handmade Birthday Gift - Bella hat from Eclipse

One of Paige's friends has a late December birthday.  They're always hard, especially because money is usually tight right around that time.  She was having an "Eclipse" themed party (Team Jacob, of course) and I proposed that we make her a hat like one Bella wore in the movie.  It's this one, from the camping scene:

I found a crochet pattern online here and whipped it up in under 2 hours.  It came out pretty good, I think.  Here is Paige modeling it:

The ribbed brim should have been a little longer, but I was adjusting the size as I went for a child's head, so couldn't go as far down.  Paige said the BDay girl liked it, wore it while they all watched the movie, and then even did a "Hat Dance" during that scene.  When we wrapped it up, we included a print from the movie so she understood what she was getting.

Score for handmade gifts!  Enjoy!

Ridiculously Absent...

I haven't posted in over a month.  That's just plain pitiful, I know.  No excuse other than the typical ones... busy with family, with work, with the holidays, etc.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving even though we ALL passed around a yucky stomach bug the weekend before.  The week before Christmas we went to visit Mark's grandmother Lora in Snyder, TX.  It was a very nice visit and eased some of my roadtrip-with-kiddos-anxiety.  They did very well and really had a good time.

Christmas was just excellent.  I think everyone was really happy with everything.  I had a LONG list of handmade projects I was going to gift this year, but my sewing maching really started acting wonky the last few months so I started and failed many times.  I abandoned some, but still plan to complete others, but my handmade gift giving was a little limited this year.  I'll post what I did get done separately.

However, after hearing me lament about my crappy second-hand machine, Mark and the kids all decided to get me a new Janome sewing machine for Christmas.  I'm still in the 'playing with all the cool features' stage with it, but expect to be doing a lot more sewing soon.

All in all, all is well and I hope to have much more to post for this year.  My wonderful sister-in-law Kim went out with us one weekend to do some family pics for our Christmas cards.  We got some good ones.

I do hope everyone had a wonderful end to 2010 and is looking forward to great things to come in 2011.

Last of the Halloween costumes

I kept hoping I would get some better pictures of Blake's and Dean's costumes.  Once we finally got everyone all dressed and ready to walk out the door for Trick or Treating I couldn't find my camera anywhere.  We ended up just getting a few bad pictures on Mark's cell phone.  Really bad quality, but all I've got.

Here we go... Erika and her friend were going to an Anime Convention on Halloween weekend - Oni-Con.  Erika changed her mind.  She had initially planned to be someone else, but then changed to Sailor V from the Sailor Moon series.  Here's the inspiration:

Her friend wanted to dress as Luna from the same series.  Here she is:

So we based Erika's costume on a cheerleader pattern.  The skirt is not quite right, but I definitely didn't want to go without a pattern for this one.  She ended up painting the glasses and the shoes to get the right colors.  Brittney's was just based on an a-line dress pattern.  I would have preferred something with a fuller skirt, but the girls picked out the pattern so I went with it.  It looks a little "Wilma Flinstone" to me, but they were happy and actually got stopped by several people at the convention - people asked to take their pictures.

Blake wanted to be Ezio from the Assassin's Creed 2 video game.  This was probably the most ambitious costume but actually came together fairly quickly.  The white tunic is a boy's dress shirt - I sewed the red fabric underneath and then cut through the shirt to make the stripes.  The gray is a small man's dress shirt.  The cape is made from some faux-suede and then red satin on the inside.  The shoulder piece is just craft foam (as is the belt medallion) and then the wrist and boot pieces are made some from faux-leather.  I was able to get a few closer pics of the pieces after the fact.

 And here's Blake:

I ended up running out of time (ugh!) so poor Dean got the "Sweats, Felt and Glue Gun Special".  I actually did scour the Halloween aisle at WalMart on the morning of and could not find a single boy toddler costume in his size.  Good thing, though, as he turned out to be an adorable puppy.

Everyone had a great time and all was a success!  I plan to start much earlier next year - maybe like in January!!  Happy Belated Halloween!

Lady Gaga is IN THE HOUSE!

Unfortunately, lots of sewing = very little blogging.  Lots to come in this next week as I finish up Halloween and a few other projects.

Other costumes are still in the works, but Paige needed hers before the Girl Scout Halloween party - it was early because we had it during our last regular troop meeting of the month.  Here she is in all her Gaga-glory:

Once she decided she wanted to be Lady Gaga for Halloween, we perused pictures of Lady Gaga fashion through the years.  Not wanting to deal with raw meat, go sans pants, or be overwhelmed by Kermit, Paige picked the 'Triangle Dress', but not strapless and a little more coverage down the legs...

I was working without a pattern, but it turned out pretty good.  I bought 2 yards of costume satin for $1.98/yard (50% off) and less than 1/2 yard of the sequin fabric.  Everything else I had on hand.  I made a quick tulle underskirt but it still didn't make it stand up enough, so there is flexible tubing along the side hems (to round the sides) and then angled coat hanger wires that run down the sides of the bodice in a casing and then angle out under the sides of the skirt.  Still not perfect, but good enough.  I reworked the skirt several times trying to get that nice flare without gathers, but it just didn't work out, so I ended up just gathering the circle skirt.  The back of the bodice has grommets down either side that we just laced up with ribbon.

 
She will actually get the most use out of her costume since she wore it at this party, will wear it at another event Saturday night, and then for Trick-or-Treating.

I can't figure out why this picture won't rotate, but here's the food I made for the party.  Deviled Eyeballs and Used Q-Tips (lollipop stick with mini marshmallows on the end, dipped in melted butterscotch chips). 

 

 I'm not quite ready to share the full picture of my costume, but it required just a little bit of sewing and some creative makeup.  Here's my feet at the end of the night: 

The girls all had a great time.  Here's a group shot... we had Athena, a cop, Old Grannies, Pirate, Punk Zombie, Annabeth Chase from Percy Jackson, Evil Queen, Graveyard Bride, and a Hot Dog!  Quite the motley crew.

In other craftiness, I made Paige a pencil case to match her new messenger bag.  I didn't have any more of the fabric from the cargo pants I used for her bag, so I just 'recycled' a pair of Blake's outgrown cargo shorts and accented it with the froggie fabric.  It zips at the top and has buttonholes to fit into her binder at the bottom. 

Blake joined choir this year and had his first performance last week.  We may still need to work on this rythm a little bit (chronically off-beat during clapping sequences) but he did great.  Center, bottom row... blond hair...

And lastly, I have some sad, sad news to report.  It is still unconfirmed, but Lady Gaga herself is believed to be dead after taking a bite from the poisoned apple of Evil Queen Grimhelda.  The apple was meant for Snow White, of course, but in a rare moment of opportunity, the Evil Queen realized Gaga herself would make a much more profoud victim (and Snow White wasn't at this party anyway).  The following picture could be disturbing to some... please use caution. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween Fun!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

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

Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple, Tranformation Thursday at Shabby Chic Cottage, Show Off Your Stuff at Fireflies and Jellybeans, Get Your Craft On at Life as Lori, Party Time at PonyTails and FishScales, Fabric Fun at Cheap Chic Home, Strut Your Stuff with Somewhat Simple, Weekly Roundup at Seven Thirty Three, Make It Wear It at Train to Crazy, Cheap Thrills at Black Kat's Design

FRIDAY

Frugal Friday at the Shabby Nest, Feature Yourself at Fingerprints on the Fridge, Flaunt It Friday at Chic on a Shoestring, Look at Me at Fun to Craft, Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulous, Hodgepodge Friday at Hodgepodge Life, Friday Fun Finds at Kojo Designs, Simply Designing Link Party, Favorite Things Friday, Punkin See Productions Party, Fab Friday at Frugal & Fab Design, Finished for Friday at Lit and Laundry, I'm Lovin' It at TidyMom

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.