Homemade Halloween Costumes

  Halloween is long past, Thanksgiving is only 2 days away and we are expecting our first big snowfall of the season tomorrow, but I've been busy being a mom. Nolan had his first birthday on Halloween. We went tick or treating as usual with my sister in law's family. The kids had a great time, Nolan did so well.

I finished Savannah's costume before the end of September, I was so proud I actually finished something more that 2 hours before it was due. She was Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street. I started with a shiny blue poly/acetate fabric then added ruffles to the waist and neckline. I gathered strips of tulle and sewed that along with the skirt. The inside is lined and hand sewn over the seam so there is no itchy/irritating seam at the waist. She wore a pink shirt and leggings as pink fur body. I am very happy with the results.
For the hair I used a dollar store headband and folded strings of yarn in half then took one long string of yarn and wrapped it around the base of the gathered hair and the headband. The headband wouldn't stay so I used curler clips that I had from cosmetology school and they fit perfectly over the band to hold it in place.
She also got to wear glittery blue eye shadow, and my sister bought the awesome wand at the Sesame Street live show we went to in Baltimore. The wings were from the dollar store!

Nolan's costume is not nearly as complicated and I was finishing it the night before Halloween as usual. He was Curious George as per Savannah's request. He wore dark brown corduroy pants, tan shoes, a hooded sweatshirt that was grey and dyed it brown, and a white shirt that I dyed red. 

The ears I sewed from muslin and then added onto the sweatshirt. The tail was a long tube made from brown fabric that I put a hanger inside of and connected to his pants. He was comfortable and this was a very inexpensive costume.

I realized just last week that Curious George doesn't even have a tail but it was cuter with it.

 I found this awesome salad on Pinterest. It is a Kale salad with curry roasted butternut squash and white beans, candied pecans and Sesame Tahini dressing. Recipe here. I had never had Tahini before, it is so good.

Little Retro Aprons for kids and dolls.

4 posts in 1 night. I really have to get on here more often.

My mom got me this really cute pattern and fabric for aprons for children with matching doll apron.

They are adorable aprons with ric-rac detail and pleats. the fabric is perfect for aprons. 

The pattern is Little retro aprons for kids by Cindy Taylor Oates

and the fabric is a collection called Handmaids by j. wecker frisch and quilting treasures. 

Organization tips, fall decor and crochet headband

Fall has arrived, the weather here in Jersey has been pretty cool and weather changes bring crochet desires.  

I made Savannah this double strand crochet headband. for the bow, For the headband

Remember that last tutorial? I decided to use the polyshades on this picture frame also. It was brown before.

My fall decor needed a little updating and Michael's was having a great sale so I made this outdoor planter for my front porch. I got the flower pot free, put in a green floral foam block and bought a whole bunch of artificial fall bouquet's and a bag of decorative pumpkins and gourds. The pumpkins and gourds are attached with a thin piece of copper wire. It cost less than $20 to make.

My husband and I have always been big on finding great clearance deals. He got this plant stand on clearance at Lowe's. It always drove me nuts because it was ugly and took up space. I has a glass top with suction cups that hold on the legs, it also had a tall plant light with a pot that fit on top. I gave away the plant light, covered up the table with a piece I made a long time ago and decided to use it to display some pictures in my living room that have never really had a home. This adds a great look to the living room.

If you can't tell I've been going crazy tying to get my house organized and looking a little more updated.

We have 3 closets in our house and this one shown is the biggest of the 3. They are not big enough for a decent shoe rack and don't hold more than 3 winter coats. Old house problems!

Jake found these awesome and strong little shelves at Target for around $17, they were meant for the basement but it fits perfectly in the nook of this closet and It holds the 3 diaper bags I have to have, my shopping totes, the boxes of crafts for the kids, and all my mailing stuff for eBay.

 This is another great organization tip. I keep gift bags that are given to us for birthdays etc... only the ones in great condition (those bags are expensive) and store them in this inexpensive rubbermaid tote. It also holds tissue paper and gift tags.

 Then I hung a large gift bag from a hanger for all the large gift bags and overflow.

I'm in the process of painting my outdated metal front and back doors. It's coming out great, will post again soon, Lord willing.

Electric fireplace makeover

 Jake got this electric fireplace on the side of the road about 2 years ago. What a great find! it was in perfect condition and even works. I'm not too great at the before and after stuff since I spontaneously re-do things. The center part was brass, it was an eye sore and just recently I have been getting better at decorating and figuring out what my style is.

 After:

 I wanted the wood to be dark and a friend told me to use gel stain. Just an FYI it is impossible to find gel stain. I stripped and sanded the wood and after all that work, Jake told me it was a wood veneer and it became so thin after all the work I put into it that the wood probably won't take the stain. I tried an espresso colored oil based stain, and that was just a waste of time.

 Then after going all over town looking for gel stain I found this amazing stuff called PolyShades at Home Depot. It is oil based polyurethane and stain all in one but works like the gel stain in that it covers more than penetrates the wood, but without the mess of having to wipe off excess. I only used 2 coats and it comes in many traditional stain colors and satin or glossy.
 I would say this is the best stuff to use on a wood veneer. You do not have to sand first.
 I used the classic black in Satin and I still got a lot of wood grain showing through.

Princess photo props, Abby Cadabby Costume.

It's been so long since I've posted so I'm going to try and do a couple in 1 night.

Jake and I (mostly Jake) have been working on the addition on our house just about every single night. It is a lot of work for 2 people especially with the kids. My dad has been an awesome help also.

Since last time, Savannah had her 3rd birthday and Nolan has started taking steps.

I created these photo props for Savannah's party. They are made out of thin craft foam. I hand drew the templates then cut them out, glued together and added a stick. I have the templates for Cinderella, Ariel, and Snow White so hopefully I will have time to get some made for selling.

This is where I got the idea from, it was a pin from an Etsy site.

 Savannah is going to be Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street for Halloween. Of course I had to make the costume myself. I used a somewhat simple dress pattern and added the ruffles to the bodice. I hand gathered strips of tulle and connected it with the skirt. There is a zipper up the back and I plan on having her wear a pink shirt and pink leggings under since it is always cold here for Halloween, and I made yarn hair that I will connect to a headband.
Nolan is going to be Curious George. His costume is much less complicated. He is wearing a brown hooded sweatshirt with brown corduroy's  I'm going to make a tail and ears.

Feliz party dress

Savannah finally has her cast off. It was on 7 1/2 weeks and I felt every minute of it. I definitely wanted it off more than she did. She is back to normal activities, potty training is slightly better now that she can hold herself up and pull up her own pants again. The arm is still slightly bent but she will straighten it out eventually. Doctor said that children don't need physical therapy and the arm will straighten out as she grows.

We celebrated by going to Sesame Place which she absolutely loved. It was just me and her, so did so many rides and mama was dizzy! she was even brave enough to do a water slide (she hates slides). As we were walking around we saw a bunch of the characters going into a show, so we snuck in late and she had a BLAST! My normally shy child was running up and down the bleachers, screeching, singing along and waving to her favorites (Elmo, Abby, and Cookie)

We also went to the beach with some friends this week and both kids had a great time. Nolan ate enough sand to make up for several meals and both of them loved going in the water. My Jeep got stuck in the sand when we were leaving and I was scared to death I wasn't going to get out but God sent along this wonderful couple to help me push it.

(Below is Savannah freezing her little butt off leaving Sesame) and yes she has ridden the coaster in the background 2 times and loved it.

My sister in law handed down a dress I made for my niece a few years ago. I couldn't get over how cute it looked on Savannah and how well it fit. The pattern was the Feliz Party Dress from the book Sewing Clothes Kids Love. This book has lots of different styles and different options you can make with the same pattern. It's a little more advanced and you have to add on your own seem allowances to the pattern.

 The dress is double layer with the top layer open in the back. There is a casing for the tie so it is very lenient with sizing and there is also elastic sewn between the lining and bottom layer of dress. You can add ruffles to the back and make it into a skirt as the child grows.

 We have finally started construction on our house. Jake, my dad and several friends helped cut off the back half of the roof and frame out the new addition. We are creating a shed dormer on the back half of the house to create a 3rd bedroom and 2nd bath. Our house is a 2 BR 1 BA right now and the rooms are very small. So Nolan is sleeping in our room in a pack n play still.

Savannah is going to be a flower girl in my brothers wedding next month and she is so excited. We found a great dress on eBay and I tried out some hairstyles for her.

 I like the ponytail look but it doesn't stay very well.
 She really has amazing full, wavy hair, I put a few curls in it and had no trouble coming up with a couple cute styles.

 Obviously she was thrilled about this.

dresses and shorts

I have finally gotten back into sewing lately (the bug hit). My kids are the only recipients for now. Mom bought me some really cute dress patterns a while ago. Here is one of them completed, it's called the Urban Princess by Olive Ann designs. It comes with the pattern to make a matching 18" doll dress. I found Savannah a lightly used 18" doll at a consignment sale for $5 and it even looks like her, she isn't that interested in it yet though so I haven't gotten around to making the dress for it yet.

 The pattern was really easy to follow, just remember to add a zig-zag or serger to all raw edges which is not described in pattern, and I added top-stitching around the top of the dress since it has a small lining (I didn't want it to roll after washing)

 It has adorable gathered sleeves and ruffles all down the back. The button if functional only for getting their head through. It does not open the whole back section.

Here's another pattern my mom got me. She picked out the fabric too, It has heffalumps on grey background paired with orange laid and turquoise green with birds. The pattern is the Peggy Sue dress by Kati Cupcake pattern co. This one was also easy, just more time consuming. Again use a serger or zig-zag on raw edges (not described in pattern. I made it into a halter dress instead of crossing the straps and buttoning in the back.

 The back is smocked which I've never done before. After about 50 attempts I decided to try it on my spare machine and it finally worked. So if anyone has and idea how to do smocking on the Baby Lock Grace I would love the advice.

I have been wanting to make an anchor shirt for Nolan since he was born. It wasn't like it was difficult so I don't know why I put it off so long. I found a picture online, printed it to the size I wanted, then traced onto wonder under and Ironed on to a onesie. I ended up using a blanket stitch to secure it better to the onesie. I am not too good at going around the curves yet.

I also made him a new pair of shorts. These we amazingly simple. I finished it in one nap time (that's how I time things now). The pattern was Gone Fishin' in the book Making Baby's clothes by Rob Merrett. All the patterns in that book are simple. I decided to leave off the bias binding and the false drawstring that was supposed to go on the side of the legs.

Little man is 8 months old now. Crawling on his knees sometimes, still pulling up and climbing on top of everything, and very steady on his feet. He doesn't seem to enjoy walking when we practice which is fine with me for now. He loves tormenting his sister and trying to eat all of her snacks. He eats solids about 2 times a day when I am able to get to it, mostly veggies mixed with meats. He was just diagnosed with hereditary spherocytosis just like his sister and is still slightly jaundiced.

I cannot give a tutorial for how to re-size patterns because I'm not that good at it but my next project is going to be Ruffle shorts for Savannah. The pattern only comes in size 0-6 months but I measured a pair of her shorts against the patterns and drew my own. I'm probably going to change a few things in this pattern also.

As some of you know Savannah (my 2 1/2 year old) broke her arm on memorial day. She has had a cast on now for almost 8 weeks and it is driving me crazy. It was supposed to be 6 weeks but it got wet the day before it was due to come off and when the doctor did an x-ray he decided to put another one on for 2 weeks. Honestly, I feel he was just being a jerk and because of his upcoming vacation and lack of reading the chart made this decision. The nurses and PA were even surprised that we had to have the full cast for 2 more weeks. She gets it off this Friday and I hope I never have to go through this again, or if it does happen again, when she's older and can do more things for herself.

A great study Jake and I are doing right now is called Behold your God by John Snyder. It's a great devotional with a great video and we have learned so much as Christians that we never knew.

Washington D.C and a vest for the little man

Happy 5 Months to my not so little guy. He is about 15 lbs and 26 inches. Growing like a weed. Still a very sweet boy, has quiet little laughs and wants to grow up way too fast.

He is trying to crawl, holding himself up and chewing everything within reach (including tables and chairs)

I made him a vest sewn onto a onesie, accidentally used too big of a size onesie but he will probably fit in it by Easter. Got the idea here

We took a short vacation to Washington D.C. Went to Air and Space, and National history museums. Savannah Loved Air and Space museum.

We had to stop in the National Art Gallery for a diaper change emergency. It turned out to be another favorite. What kid wouldn't love a sparkling hallway.

 This is the Play Work Build exhibit at the National Building museum. Jake and Savannah had so much fun showing their creativity with building.

There were so many beautiful buildings in D.C

Savannah showed us how well she could sleep in a big bed for the first time since we forgot her pack n play. We got home and converted her crib, She is doing so well. She comes into our room super early sometimes but it's so nice to let her have this freedom when i'm so busy with Nolan. 

We are in the process of potty training Savannah because her super sensitive skin couldn't take the soiled diapers anymore. She has been getting non stop diaper rashes that get to the point of broken skin. And no we do not let her sit in her mess, it's instant. It's going well but she doesn't seem to understand why she can't go in her pants or wear diapers. Any ideas?

Curtain dress; Frittata recipe

I'm back! I'll start with the little guy because that's all you care about anyway. He is almost 4 months, smiling, rolling over both ways, putting everything in his mouth, and in love with his momma.

I turned around to fix my lunch last week and look who rolled himself across the floor.

Snuck in to get a sleeping pic, such a sweetie. We had to take the pacifier away recently because he was waking up 10 + times at night just for me to put it back in. He sleeps on average 5 hours straight, but since I don't go to bed the same time he does, that doesn't give me much sleep still.

(awesome blanket made by my aunt Roxanne, she is amazing)

Now to get to the boring stuff. Due to this crazy weather, Jake has been extremely busy at work. He is in the Heating and Air field and goes on call once a month. He has been working so many nights and weekends I've barely seen him, and when he is home he is passed out on the couch before I even get to sit down for the night. Not to mention he does side work on weekends and has another job as a cook Friday and Saturday night. 

Which brings me to this picture

Jake decided to re-upholster the bar stools at his Aunt's bar (where he cooks at night)

He has completely taken over my sewing room. And if you notice, the Christmas decorations from outside are slowly making their way in.

I have still managed to get a few projects done on the other side amidst his mess.

This one is the curtain dress I saw on Pinterest a while ago here is the link: Curtain dress with tutorial

My mom got me this fabric about 6 months ago and I needed to find the perfect project for it. Since it was directional fabric I wasn't able to give it the fullness it called for, but still really cute. I had to re-set the straps because it's pretty hard to measure them on a wiggly 2 year old.

 I also made Savannah a valentines day skirt but she just wore it and I couldn't get a picture.

                                                 Here is a sneak peek of what I started today.

And since I know I won't be back for a while. I wanted to share a recipe that Jake and I really enjoyed.

This is Shiitake and butternut squash Frittata. Recipe is from Weight Watchers but it is really good (I don't really like mushrooms either)

FYI- I used plain white mushrooms and Italian blend cheese. I also don't have a working broiler so I turned to oven as hot as it went.

1 1/4 c. Chopped peeled butternut squash, cut into 1/2" pieces

2 c. sliced shiitake mushrooms

4 lg egg whites

4 lg eggs

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. black pepper

1/2 c shredded Gruyere cheese

1. Place squash in a medium saucepan, cover with hot water. Bring to a boil; cover and cook 4 mins or until tender. Drain well and set aside.

2. While squash cooks, heat a medium oven-proof skillet (i used regular skillet then transferred to pie pan) over med-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray (I used EVOO) Add mushrooms; sautee 4 mins or until lightly browned.

3. Preheat broiler. Combine egg whites and next 3 ingredients; stir with a whisk.Stir in cheese.

4. Add egg mixture and squash to mushrooms in skillet. Cover and cook 5 mins or until almost set. Broil frittata 5 mins or until set and browned. Cut into wedges.

3 servings.

Took me about 30 mins to make, and I didn't feel as guilty after eating this.