A Halloween Costume

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

If your house includes little ones, I'm sure they are just about over the moon for the fun that will happen later tonight.  The little prince can barely contain himself.  It is all I've heard about the entire week and this mornings conversation was in overdrive!

Today's post is all about the fun I helped to create for my favorite customer.  Once again, she has challenged my skills in order to make her daughter's dream a reality.  This project involved sewing -- by hand nonetheless.  Now I'm sure I've said this before but it bears saying it again -- I don't sew!  Nope, sewing and I have what I consider a love/hate relationship.  In fact, for those who know me well know that sewing makes me sad.  Don't laugh...I really mean that!  So you can imagine all the things that ran through my head when my customer called me to say that she wanted me to make a costume for her little girl {say what??}.

The costume is based on this one from PBK.  They loved everything about it, except the price.

Source: Pottery Barn Kids - Super Hero Amazing Girl Costume

Cute, right?  That's what I thought too.  My second thought was how in the world was I going to recreate this.  She told me that I would only need to make the skirt, cuffs and mask because they owned a cape and crown.  Only those three, huh?  Well, I decided to jump in with both feet and I'm glad that I did.  I was extremely happy with the end product.  Was it the exact replica of this?  Hahaha, of course not!  We ARE talking about a non-sewer creating this, but it turned out magically and best of all I had a little girl who couldn't stop smiling.  That to me is always success!

I began with the skirt.  A trip to Hobby Lobby and I purchased the tulle, elastic, ribbon and this great gold shiny material that was a perfect match for the shoes she would wear.

I attached the tulle to the elastic in a pleated fashion.  I then began adding the shiny hearts {her cape has a large heart with a "C" in the middle for her name}.

A close-up of the heart

I placed each heart randomly around the tulle so they could be seen front and back then sewed them on.

Sewn onto the tulle

I included two layers of tulle for this with each layer folded in half so essentially there was four layers of tulle.  I included a layer of a satin material to create an 'underskirt' as well.

Underskirt

It was time to begin working on the ribbon band.

Now I have a finished skirt!

Unfortunately, in the end we decided to remove the underskirt...it just didn't work.

Next in line were the cuffs and mask.  For these I drew out the design and used coordinating felt to create them.

Okay, no comments about the eye holes...lol.  We realized after putting everything on that the eye holes needed to be made larger so I had to do some additional cutting.  Not the best work but her sight won't be impeded when she's out trick-or-treating.

Here is a look at Superhero Corrine in her entire outfit:

Could she get any cuter!?!  She was in love...and I do mean in love.  Can't you tell by this pose?  Thanks so much to her mom for sewing the heart/"C" onto the leotard to put the finishing touches on the top.

Now she's all ready to be Superhero Corrine and I'm so glad I was able to be a part of making that happen!

Hoping that you and your little one(s) have a safe and fun Halloween.

TRICK OR TREAT!!!

Where we like to party!

You've Been Boo-ed!

My neighborhood has a Halloween tradition of "Boo-ing" it's neighbors.  What, you never heard of being boo-ed?  Well don't worry, neither had I until I moved here.  Let me give you a little background.  Someone in the neighborhood leaves you a little Halloween bucket of goodies on your front porch and you are to pay it forward to someone else.  Cool, right?

We've been living here almost five years and this is the first time our house has been 'boo-ed'.  My son was overjoyed to see a bucket full of goodies -- a coloring book, pencils, a cup, glow stick, mini M&M's, Halloween mini bobble head toys, hand soap and Duncan Hines Simply Morning muffin mix.  We got a great bucket!

When I told my son what it was for and how we needed to do the same and leave it for someone else, he was all for it.  A trip to the dollar store and we were in business.  Check out our 'Boo Bucket'!

We decided on the kitty bucket because it was different than the normal plastic bucket and well....it's really cute!

We included a pack of glow sticks, a flashlight with interchangeable projector tops, a flashing ghost necklace, mini M&M's {because my son said we should}, a kitty drinking cup, a pumpkin plate, pumpkin mini baking cups and Pillsbury funfetti cake mix.

A view from the other side

Each bucket contains the goodies and also a little note.

Once you've received your bucket, you need to cut off the other side of the note and place your ghost on your door.  This way your neighbors know you've been boo-ed and will move on to another house.  I of course didn't do this part quick enough because we were boo-ed twice.  I was sure to share that bucket with another neighbor.

I hope the family that receives our bucket loves and enjoys it as much as we loved and enjoyed ours.  Happy Halloween neighbor!

Halloween Sweet Treat

Are you scrambling around trying to come up with a fun treat to send with your little one to school for their Halloween/Fall party? My best customer found herself in such a bind and contacted me for some help. Thanks to Pinterest and its 'Pin-spiration', I was able to find several ideas to show her and she chose this cute little treat.

Pumpkin Treat from Parenting.com

To create these all you need is orange tulle, orange candy {we chose candy pumpkins due to the cost of orange jelly beans....very expensive, who knew!?!}, and green pipe cleaners. After cutting the tulle to size, each one was filled with ten pumpkins apiece {yes, I counted them out...giggle}, tied closed with string and wrapped with a pipe cleaner. I decided to add the little "leaf" effect as well. Using my computer, I created a tag to attach to each one -- easy peasy!

Cute, simple and fun! If you need a quick solution be sure to try this one.

Little Blue's Room is having fun at these linky parties:

Before Meets After ~ Picture Frame

A trip to The Goodwill landed me with my next 'Before Meets After' piece - a 5x7 solid oak wood frame. Since Halloween is only a couple weeks away and I have so many crafts that I would love to do (but unfortunately won't get to before the holiday) I thought this would be the perfect piece for a simple transformation.

Switchy-Witchy.....

The frame

Look at the price tag - gotta love $.49!

Spray painted it black

Cut a piece of white textured scrapbook paper to size

Using my Silhouette and the free shape of the week, I cut out the witches hat in both black and orange

I created a witches hat using pieces from both cutouts and used some great rub-ons that I found in Target's dollar bin last year and you have.......


A great Halloween sign

Simple and easy! I can't think of a better way to add festive holiday decor to your home without breaking the bank.

Blingy B-O-O!

Have I mentioned lately how much I am loving Mod Podge??? Well if I haven't I'm making it official now - I think I'm in love. Of course our relationship is still new and there is still so much for me to learn, but for now I am as giddy as a child on Christmas morning and as starry-eyed as a fan meeting their favorite superstar.

Since Halloween is right around the corner, I am trying to get some Halloween/Fall deocrations completed. Two weeks ago I posted the couple Halloween things I made. I then posted the 'Trick or Treat' sign on my facebook page and people fell in love - I ended up with three orders (YAY me)!

Since I had another small plaque on hand, I thought I would use my new love to create my next Halloween sign. A blinged out BOO plaque - check it out!

My little "BOO"

A close up of the little ghosts

With some spider ribbon to tie it all together

No good ghosts is complete without a bit of "bling"

I really wish I had more time in a day (or several days) to put all of these wonderful ideas in my head together, but for now I must be happy with what I can get finished. Now off I go...I have a few more 'Fall' plaques to finish, and hopefully some other decorations for the house.

Halloween Craftiness!

Well, I've been so busy over the last two weeks. School is back in session and that not only means getting the little prince together each day but it also means the same for me since I teach where he goes to school. I am certainly going to miss our 'lazy days' of summer and the time I had each morning to craft.

Getting a handle on our new schedule may take some time but I think I've now figured out a way to carve out at least two mornings a week to get some work done (let's see how this pans out) and it starts with some Halloween crafts.

No tutorials today, just some pics of a couple things I was able to get finished. There are a few more in the works but for now, check these out.

My little pumpkin hair clip. I was so happy with how well this turned out. Now to figure out how to make a Christmas tree one...hmmmm.

Cute clip with a bell on it using the same pumpkin ribbon

A Trick or Treat sign made with a small wood plaque, some curvy wooden letters and grosgrain ribbon

A close up view - love the way it turned out

I've been thinking about putting together a little Halloween party for the little prince and his friends so stay tuned for more Halloween craftiness.