Friday, November 19, 2010

Happy Halloween 2010




The theme this year? Wizard of Oz!

It all started when Suzanne found a lion costume for Zoa. Well, I remembered that I had a Dorothy costume given to me, that I loaned to Lilah. Emelia, all of a week old, was Toto. This left my boys to be Scarecrow (Max) and Tin Man (Jake).
The scarecrow costume is what I started first. I had this great idea to make the shirt from scratch. Yeah. That didn't go well. I was a little upset. I sewed a collar in, elastic, a zipper into not one but TWO shirts. I gave up and bought a used green sweatshirt at a consignment sale. Sizing is not my strong point. The hat went similarly. The one in the picture (a little too big still) is my third attempt. I'm really proud of the headpiece. Not only did it fit well, but it kept is fat little cheeks nice and warm!

Jake's outfit is the second attempt. (I'm not Jenny Two Tries for nothing) I found some metallic fabric and thick interfacing to make body piece. The pants were simple and quick (thankfully). I had a grey sweatshirt for underneath already and I spray painted a funnel for his head. Mom supplied the hatchet which we trimmed down and spray painted as well.
The "coat" stayed together with hot glue and velcro. I had these grand intentions of sewing every piece together, but I'm glad I decided not to. I would have been very very frustrated. I'm happy with how he looked, but at times he was so uncomfortable. The thing didn't really bend well and certain embellishments started to fall off. Next time I design a costume, I'll have to take his activity level into consideration.

They were so dang cute! Max only made it to a house or two before he needed another meal, but Jake went up and down the whole block! I think he had a great time. His favorite part was ringing everyone's doorbell!

All Time Favorite Project

We have a very cheap table. There is no sugar coating it- it was a Rod Kush Special. It took several hours to assemble from about the size of a shoe box. BUT, it is an awesome sized table and it works for what we need it to. Besides, we knew we would have kids and they would destroy all of our belongings.

Well, the cushions are cream colored and Jake is now a toddler. A bad combination. I did plastic covers, I did towels, I tried lots of stain removers, but these cushions are showing their wear. Not to mention, we have lots of friends with children and it doesn't seem like that trend will slow down anytime soon. Stains are bound to happen.

My solution? Recover the chairs with cream colored vinyl. Heck yeah. I know that your legs might stick to it in the summer, but man oh man- it is so easy to clean!!
Can you tell the difference? Neither can the people who visit. Until they go to clean it of course...


Every day that my son spills something on those chairs I exclaim, "Best project ever!"

Gone So Long


I know- I have not posted in quite some time. What bothers me the most about this is that there are two people I know that regularly check back to see if I have posted- I'm so so sorry!!!

In my defense I had a baby, finished another semester of school, and went back to work. Adjusting to life with two kids is much more of a challenge than I anticipated. I'm lucky they happen to be such great kids. Life has again found some sort of routine and Mike and I are settling into life as a family of four.

I didn't stop all of my projects- so there are some that I will share with you hopefully over the next week. Enjoy!