29 October 2010

Halloween Costumes Part 4- Robin

This costume ended up being my favorite of the bunch. Maybe it is just because it looks so cute on my almost 2 year old. Just about any costume looks adorable on little kids, I think. They are so much fun to dress up! :)

So here is my little robin.


He was very good at flapping his wings and "caw"-ing like a bird.


We had people ask us if he was an owl or a Hokie (even more than 3 hours away, we are still in VA Tech country!). I think he is the cutest little robin ever, not that I am biased or anything. :)


The base of his costume is a brown hooded jacket. I just basted the face on the hood, which will be easy to take off, since I kind of like the jacket and will probably use it on its own. I cut out the wings, tail, and tummy out of some brown knit fabric (actually from a shirt I got at the goodwill outlet for less than a dollar) and some dark red fleece. Both fabrics don't fray, so I didn't have to worry about edges. Inspired by this cape on Etsy, I made the wings hook onto the tummy part. One of the shoulder straps velcros on, and it ties in the back at the waste. I put loops of the brown knit on the ends of the wings to hook onto his wrists. The wings are pinned to the top of the jacket so they wouldn't fall down, and the tail is just pinned on, too.


 
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28 October 2010

Halloween Costumes Part 3- Penguin

Here is my husband's penguin costume:


I found him a black coat at the Goodwill outlet (I only paid a little over a dollar for it). I was inspired by this costume on sale on Etsy for the hat. I found a black hat at the dollar store and sewed on scraps of fabric and ribbon that I had on hand. Pretty easy, and cheap!

Here's a better shot of the hat:







In case you missed them, you can see my son's bat costume here, my cat costume here, and come back tomorrow for my baby's robin costume.

PS Kathryn guessed our theme, batman, but with out the 'man' (or woman). :)




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26 October 2010

Halloween Costumes Part 2- Cat

My costume was the easiest to put together.


I had a black shirt and pants as the base, then I made a headband out of some of the knit from the bat costume, sewed on some ears made out of scraps, and made a tail out of some black fleece I had on hand. I sewed a mitten clip onto the top of the tail to clip onto my pants.

Here's a better view of the tail by itself:



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25 October 2010

Halloween Costumes Part 1- Bat

My husband's work had a Halloween party on Friday, so it forced me to get all our costumes done early!

My 4 year old wanted to be a bat, so we came up with kind of a theme to go with it. My 21 month old dressed up as a robin (bird), I was a cat, and my husband was a penguin. Fifty brownie points if you can figure out the theme! :)

For today, the bat costume:




Not the best picture of the wings, it was windy, but you can get the idea.

For the hooded cape, I had a piece of knit fabric remnant and used the tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew here. I cut it out more like this, though:


Hopefully that makes sense if you look at the other tutorial, too. I also sewed the tip of the hat on the inside so it wasn't pointed, and of course added some ears. I sewed a band of the knit fabric on the ends of the cape so he could hook them on his hands. The nice thing about the knit fabric is not having to worry about hemming the edges!

Paired with a black shirt and pants, and a bit of face paint, and we're ready to fly!



Come back the next couple days to see the rest of our costumes.




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19 October 2010

Easy, Fun Halloween Decorations with Kids

A super easy Halloween decoration we made last week. I got a bunch of foam stickers on discount after Halloween the last couple years, so I just let my kids have at it with the stickers.

My 21 month old made a haphazard picture:


My four year old's is a bit more straight, and he even wanted to spell some real words.


I made this one :)


I got the idea to make these pumpkins here. My four year old painted some paper plates orange and he drew on the faces. Once they were dry, I glued on a stem and cut out the faces.


For preschool last week, my son's class went on a nature walk and collected leaves and pine needles. I guess they used some for a project there, which he hasn't brought home yet, but the extras he brought home in a bag. Instead of just leaving them in the bag (or throwing them out) I thought we could enjoy them during this fall season. I just taped them up under the top of our entertainment center, so they hang in a row above our TV:



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12 October 2010

Candy Corn Banner


I finally got my Halloween garland done. I had the idea of making a candy corn banner, and then saw this banner on Funky Polkadot Giraffe, and knew that would be super cute. I followed the basic idea that she posted on her tutorial, only I drew my own pattern.


We got the rest of our Halloween decorations out last night, so it finally feels like fall is coming (although it is 86 degrees outside right now. We had a week of colder weather and even turned the heater on. I'm about to turn the AC back on today!)





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06 October 2010

Halloween Fun

A fun project I made with my 4 year old this week, Pumpkin Faces.


I've seen various blogs that had ideas like this, either made of felt or magnets, and I knew it would be something my son would enjoy. I cut out a simple felt pumpkin shape, then a bunch of eyes, noses, and mouths.


My son kept wanting more scary faces, so he didn't appreciate my smiley face. I think it is kind of cute!


Tons of possibilities, lots of fun!


You can even make scary cyclops alien faces!





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05 October 2010

Pirate Hat

This little project I did a couple weeks ago, but wanted to document it here. My parents went to Disneyland this summer and bought my boys some pirate swords. They came with eye patches, but we needed a pirate hat.



I got the general shape and traced the scull from the pattern here.

I made it out of felt, and just drew the inside of the face with a fabric marker. Instead of doing Velcro closures, I put elastic in the back. That way it can stretch to fit either of my boys' heads.


If you are looking for a Halloween costume, these was a really easy, quick hat to make!

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04 October 2010

Happy Birthday!

I didn't mean to take such a long break from blogging. I took a 2 week vacation and it has taken me a bit to get back in the swing of things. Hopefully I will be around here a little more. I have some projects done to post, and a few more planned, so come back!

Today is my husband's birthday (Happy Birthday!!!). Before I make a fall banner, I wanted to make a birthday banner. I made it so that we can use it for all of our birthdays.




All the triangles are made out of flannel that I had in my stash. I love all the bright colors! After sewing the edges, I used my pinking shears to finish them. I used freezer paper stencils to paint on the letters.



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