Monday Moments: Scrapbook Edition & a freebie!

This layout is the result of last week's Speed Scrap on the My Memories Facebook page. I thought the colors in the All the Pretty Ponies kit I bought to scrap her first birthday worked really well with the cupcake costume we bought her. I added the little cupcake in the corner from another kit, but everything else was all from the pony kit, and I love it! 

If you liked that page, then you might be interested in the free kit currently available to fans of Megan Turnidge on Facebook! How adorable is this? You can't beat the price, either! Just hurry, because I think the links expire tomorrow! 

Did you know it's Digital Scrapbooking Day?

Or maybe it isn't today, but there are all sorts of challenges on the My Memories Facebook page and a huge blog train on their blog! A Blog Train, if you aren't familiar, is links to a ton of different blogs and, of course, a freebie at every single stop! I snagged a few goodies this weekend like this adorable, whimsical kit and this one with 109 elements! 

I need to get back to scrapping, but I wanted to show off one of the pages I entered into the Altered Speed Scrap Challenge on the My Memories Facebook page. It's a great way to not only tell you about all of the deals and freebies going on, but also to show you my completed Halloween costume! 

I finished my sweater just in the nick of time on Halloween day. Actually, I finished it twice! The first time I accidentally mistook one of those big bulky sleeves for the body. I should have taken a picture for the sewing fails group on Flikr. It would have given everyone a good laugh to see that! Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking that far ahead, just wanting to get it all together before it was time to Trick or Treat! 

Care Bears Pumpkin

Aww yeah! My Care Bears fascination has been well documented on this blog. Paintings, quilts, crib bumpers.. Tenderheart was my favorite as a kid, and as an added bonus for carving, he has quite possibly the simplest belly badge. 

A lot of work for one night, but I have always loved carving pumpkins. I remember doing Betty Boop and the cover of my favorite horror novel in my early teens. I tend to just use the patterns these days, because as Mom, I get to carve everyone else's pumpkins along with my own. I had a vision this year, though! This is all for me, and maybe a little for Caroline. 

Hunger Games Clove DIY Costume Vest

Earlier in the week I posted that Victoria had decided to be Clove from the Hunger Games for Halloween. She looks like this:

Source: google.com via Melinda on Pinterest

We were able to find clothes to approximate a lot of this look, but the knife vest was a little trickier. I briefly considered sewing a vest from scratch, but, for less than the cost of a zipper at the fabric store I was able to get an old winter coat to turn into a vest. The coat part was important, because I was able to use perfectly matching fabric from the sleeves and hood I cut off to make knife pockets. 

The knife handles could be a little shorter, but these were available at the dollar store and stood out way better against the black vest than the $2 black handled knives at the party store, even if they were a better length. 

We tried hard to find a hunting type knife to put on her hip, but that's just not popular for Halloween costumes, so we ended up with an old looking dagger with a skull on the handle. I made a sheath for it from some embossed felt I found at the Hobby Lobby that looks just like tooled leather. 

It should be interesting to see how it all comes together on Halloween...and if anyone has any idea who she is! 

Hunger Games Clove Halloween Costume for Girls

Source: google.com via Melinda on Pinterest

Has Hunger Games fever hit your house? It actually seems to be dying down here a little bit, but it was still first choice for Victoria's Halloween costume this year. Initially, she wanted to be Katniss, and I'm not sure what changed her mind, but by the time we went shopping she was all about Clove. I've spent a lot of time and dedicated a few Pinterest boards to this idea, so I thought I'd share what I've come up with and a couple ideas that may come in handy at your house, too! 

The basis of Clove's arena outfit are some basics that you may already have on hand, or that may not be unreasonable to buy if your daughter is the type who will wear these clothes regularly. 

Source: oldnavy.gap.com via Melinda on Pinterest

Some cargo pants in any shade of brown or olive. Victoria is strictly a leggings and jeggings girl, so ours were purchased for $1.49 at the thrift store, but these are way cute and totally reasonable! 

A maroon, deep red, or burgundy tee. Victoria says this has to be a v neck, but I am finding that pretty darn impossible. They don't make many plain tees for girls, let alone plain tees in red. Purple, pink, neon green? Sure. Red, maroon or burgundy, not so much. The best thing I have found so far are the unisex tees on Hanes.com. They come in both maroon and deep red and short and long sleeved. 

A matching windbreaker. Yeah, this one is hard too, again, not something they really make for girls and the reason I listed so many colors for the tee. I really think maroon is the best match to the movie look, but I dare you to try to find a maroon windbreaker! The best I have found is this deep red at LL Bean. 

Source: llbean.com via Melinda on Pinterest

That jacket is $35, though, and like the cute little cargo pants, probably totally worth it if your child would get a lot of wear out of it, but mine is picky about her clothes. I personally think the jacket is optional, especially for Clove who has the awesome vest of knives! 

Last, but not least we have the boots! I pinned quite a few under $30 that I thought walked a nice line between Hunger Games movie feel and everyday wear-ability. My number one pic is this $19.99 pair from e-Bay.

Source: ebay.com via Melinda on Pinterest

But, when I showed the board to Victoria she picked a similar pair in a faux suede as the ones she would actually wear to school after Halloween. So, as cute as I think they are, I'll be leaving these ones on e-Bay for your kids! 

This pretty much covers the stuff you can buy, now, what to do about that wicked knife vest? Stay tuned to see our solution! 

A First

I tried my hand at dyeing fabric for the first time ever last night. That is, unless you count tie dyeing, which I think is a whole different experience than dyeing one thing all the same color. So these socks are now Rit Sunshine Orange. Kind of loving them and wondering why I didn't throw more items into the dye bath, this color makes me really happy! 

The box says that items that aren't 100% cotton won't reach full color, but I concentrated it a little bit by removing one gallon of water and these turned out awesome! Very Velma, I think! 

Source: groups.yahoo.com via Melinda on Pinterest

Happy birthday

Yesterday was my birthday, and my celebration involved lots and lots of pumpkin guts. My son is too little to carve his own, so I had to hollow out and carve both the design he picked out of the book, and the design I wanted to do. About 1/3 of the way into mine I got that, "Why in the heck did I pick this one?" feeling and left out some of the details. Then, when I ran inside to grab the tripod and camera, my son grabbed the little drill tool that came in the carving kit and added an extra hole. Thanks, kid!

I usually do something more creative, and had planned on something else this year, but when it came down to it, the pregnant lady was tired and lazy. Next year it'll be awesome...maybe. I make no promises.

Thank you very much

Finally finished with my nephew's costume on Sunday! One day before the One Thing, One Week Challenge deadline at Amy's Creative Side.

I altered this Simplicity pattern to a size 12 months and changed up the way it was done in a few spots to make it easier, and more wearable for a one year old. And I know they are choking hazards, but it just isn't an Elvis costume without all of the little iron on jewels and studs. He will be watched very carefully, I promise!

Challenging

It's that time again. Amy's Creative Side is hosting another One Thing, One Week challenge. This week I aim to finish the extremely challenging, so, so good at trying my patience, Halloween costume for my nephew.

Along with carving pumpkins, making a case for the shiny new red camera I got for my birthday, and deciding what my son is going to be. It is such a busy time of year and so exciting!

I'm no Bakerella

My sister and I briefly considered a woodland theme to her baby shower before we settled on the puppy idea. In the few days we were thinking about it I plotted out making some Bakerella style cake pops as shower favors. I was going to combine the directions she gave for Hello Kitty cake pops with the all body Easter chicks and make cutesy little owls.



I thought I had this in the bag. I've covered a million things in chocolate, I've baked many cakes in my time and I love to decorate. It was much, much harder than I thought. I am ashamed to say how many times I ruined a cake pop, and had to get a whole new thing of chocolate because I got crumbs in it. But I did get a few that looked at least somewhat like I was imagining.



I decided since I finally ended up following through with my idea a week before Halloween that I'd make some more sinister looking owls. I used some red confetti sprinkles for the eyes and switched up the color of the beaks and feet. Then added a little V of chocolate over their eyes.



I actually like my afterthought owls way better than the cute ones, but I still think they need some work. I think I'm going to e-mail Bakerella and see if she'll tackle my idea sometime in the future.

The worst part of this whole experience...after all of my hard work they taste terrible! It has nothing to do with the cake pops recipe and everything to do with the cake and frosting I used (peanut butter and peanut butter). Good in theory, awful in practice.

Sneak preview

I picked up a novelty bundle of Halloween fabrics and was totally inspired to do a Halloween doll. Here she is as far as I've worked on her. The fabric paint and glitter around her eyes is drying and once it's done she's going into the embroidery hoop to get the rest of her facial features.

I am thinking that I'll make her a little hooded cape out of the fabric behind her so that the green monster eyes rest right above her head.



Here are her legs so far. Another little bit of inspiration provided by a costume lace. I layered it over top of the muslin before I sewed her legs together. I am having a lot of fun working on her and already have plans for a second Halloween doll.