Halloween Bags

You may have noticed that the blog has been kind of  quiet as of late; that would be because I was super busy trying to get last minute costume orders done and in the mail; not to mention getting my own children's costumes ready in time for a big party this weekend.  Throw in there an unexpected sick day (or two), and there goes any and all time for blogging.  But.  I'm back.  And today?  I'm sharing the Trick or Treat bags I made with my kids.

Let me first say how excited I was when my son came to me and asked me if we could please make bags this year.  Yes!  Of course!!  And I immediately started making mental checklists and plans for these adorable Halloween bags for them.  That was my first mistake.

My son already knew exactly what he wanted.  (Which, I might add, was nothing I had even thought of).

He wanted to draw his own pictures on his bag.  AND he wanted to pick out his own fabric for this bag.

So, that's what we did.

 We went to Joanns and bought a few plain canvas bags, a set of fabric markers and the boys each picked out a Halloween fabric that they really wanted.  When we got home, I set everything out for them and let them have at it.  It kept them busy for quite a long time!

The spent so much time figuring out what they wanted to draw, what colors to use and how to make their bags just perfect.

 In the end, I ended up with 3, hand designed Trick or Treat bags for less than $15.00.  They're not the prettiest bags, but I love them because they are my children's very own bags.  So cute.  And something that we will hang onto forever.

OH!!  Our winners of The Great Paci Clip Giveaway!!

Congrats to:

Holly Mitowski

Laura Bustillo

Vicki Lesage

Ghost Costume

So, Halloween is right around the corner.  How did that happen?  Needless to say, I've been pretty busy with Halloween costumes; both for my own littles as well as a few others.  This year, I wanted to share some of our special costumes and show you how I put them together!


This week, I'm starting off with this cutey.  I love it.  The sparkly tutu, the mischievous little ghost face; everything!

The tutu is from our shop.  You can find that HERE.  The onesie I did with a freezer paper stencil. If, by some small miracle, you have never tried freezer paper stenciling before; here's a quick run down (it's super easy, by the way!).  Want to buy the entire outfit?  You can do that HERE.

What I did first was find a template on-line for the face.  The one I used is actually a jack-o-lantern template, but I think she makes a pretty cute ghost, too.  Once you have your template, use an Exact-O Knife (or other blade of some sort) to cut out all the negative space (ie all the black parts).

Then, take your freezer paper and put it waxy side down.  Tape your cut out temple on the non-waxy side of your paper and cut it out.  It will look something like this:

Once your freezer paper is all cut out, you will place it (again, waxy side down!) where you want it on your fabric (or in my case, my onesie).  Gently iron it down, NO STEAM, and it will stick nicely to your fabric.

 When you are done ironing, it will look something like this:

Then, grab a foam sponge brush, a bit of craft paint and a light piece of cardboard to place under your fabric (so the paint doesn't bleed through).  You are going to lightly paint over your stencil.  Be sure you get all the edges really well, and be careful to paint evenly.  You don't want globs of paint anywhere; especially along the edges of the stencil! 

Once you're happy with your paint job, walk away.  Do not immediately pull up your stencil; let it set for a few minutes.  Some people like to wait until the paint is 100% dry.  I prefer to let it be mostly dry.  I feel like the stencil pulls up better (and easier) if the paint isn't completely set.

Once your stencil is off, let it finish drying completely and then you're done!  Super quick and super easy!  This little ghost took me less than an hour; with interruptions of 3 children.  And then you have a cute t-shirt or onesie or whatever else you want to make.

Happy Hauntings!!

Felt Garland: A New Obsession

I've seen a few different felt garlands around Pinterest and Etsy, and decided that I wanted to make one for my daughter's upcoming 1st birthday.  I debated whether or not to cut the felt shapes out myself, but when I found an adorable little Etsy shop that had a ton of different shapes in an amazing variety of colors for super, duper cheap; I decided that route would be much easier.  And then, I decided that I needed not one but three different types of garland.  And to be perfectly honest, I will probably decide I need even more.

(Btw, the Etsy shop?  {Paper4u}. I got 3 different themed packages of felt shapes for less than $20.  Yes, they are in Latvia, but I still got my order in less than 3 weeks.  I highly recommend them should you want to make felt garland the super easy way!)

The first garland I put together was in brightly colored, whimsical hearts.

This one I plan on using for my daughter's birthday.  I also plan on using it for Valentine's Day decor.

  All you do is decide which order you want your shapes in and then sew them together!  I just sewed super slow and fed each individual shape as my machine was still running, which gave me the spacing I wanted between each heart.

This was super fun for my kids to help with as well; they enjoyed picking out which color to put on next (great practice for learning patterns!).

And fyi?  The foam boards I used to to store fabric (you can read about that here) are also perfect for storing garland.

 A total of $5.00 and 10 minutes later, I have a garland of hearts that I love.  Not too shabby!

After the hearts came plain circles for Halloween.

And as soon as I get caught up with my other projects, I'll also have a garland using these cute leaves for autumn/Thanksgiving.

So.   What occasion are you going to use as an excuse to make some super cute garland?

Valentine's Day Banner

Word to the wise:

Don't ever think out loud in front of your 4 year old.

Especially if it's about something that sounds kinda fun and exciting; 

let's say maybe something about a possible party?

I made the mistake the other day of saying,

"Wouldn't it be fun if we had a little Valentine's Day Party?"

And now my son is obsessed.

So now, I guess we are definitely having a Valentine's Day party.

Which means I need to get crackin' on the decorations now, otherwise they'll never get done!

 So today, I made a Valentine's Day Banner for our mantel.

(I'll be adding to the mantel a little bit at a time over the next month, and will share as I go)

 Everything I needed, I already had at home.  Sheet music, cardstock, paint and twine or hemp.

Luckily, my sheet music was already yellowed and aged, seeing as it is probably 30+ years old.

 I cut 7 pieces that were approximately 5" wide and 4" long.

I simply made a heart template out of paper, and centered it on top of my sheet music.

And then carefully painted it in 

(very carefully; you don't want to bleed out the sides of your template)

So then, I had all these cute little squares.

I then quickly glued them on cardstock and distressed the edges with black ink.

And, voila!  A quick, simple addition for my mantel.

And a closer look:

(I know the hearts don't show up very well in the photos, 

but I promise that they do look better in person!)

There you go!  

Super fast (less than an hour), super easy (basic cut & paste) and super cheap (free!!).  

Can't beat that!

Refashioned Onesie: Red Felt Flowers

In my garage, I have probably a zillion baby onesies in all sizes, thanks to my two boys. In an effort to save at least a little bit of money in preparing for a girl to join our family, I've been searching for ideas and inspiration on how to up-cycle some of these onesies into something a little more girly and fun.

This is what I came up with this week:

After digging a onesie out of storage, I bleached it and washed it well. While it was being laundered, I made several flowers from felt using {this} hair clip tutorial from Creations by Kara. I altered it just a bit for my liking; I only made my flowers with 3 layers, and I added buttons to the center instead.

The flowers were quick to cut out and make. My apologies for not taking photos along the way, but they're super easy. After I cut them out, I stacked them (again, with 3 different sizes) and quickly tacked them together in the center. I then added the button to the center. I really put those buttons on tight...I don't want Little Miss pulling them off and swallowing them.

Once I figured out the placement I liked for the flowers, I hand sewed them onto the onesie. Again, I sewed them on using the button holes as my guide; it made sense and it ensures that those suckers are on there tight!

I'm thinking I'll probably get some fabric glue to help hold the flowers on all the way around their edges. Right now, they tend to pull up or over or apart from each other. I must admit I'm a little concerned about laundering; felt doesn't always hold up the best. I guess we'll just see how it goes. But I am pretty excited to see Little Miss sporting this onesie with some cute jeans, a black cardigan and some cute, black, Mary Janes next fall. Not bad for an adorable onesie that cost me absolutely nothing (thanks to my {Felt Playhouse} project, I have TONS of leftover felt)!!

If you have any other fantastic ideas for up-cycling onesies, please let me know! I'd love to see your ideas!!

Linked up to: Uncommon, Delightful Order, Simple Home Life

Artwork/Photo Gallery

My friend Rachel over at {Family Ever After} is co-hosting a monthly "Pinspired Rewired" competition.

This month, the theme is Washi Tape.  Have you seen washi tape yet?  SO much fun!  Basically it's masking tape, only with fun, colorful designs on it.  Lots of fun.  Anyway.  I have this project that (embarrassingly enough) I have been "working" on since January.  Originally, I wanted it to be a photo gallery in my boy's room with large photos of them hanging from it with cute clothes pins that I was decorating with paper and Mod Podge.  Okay.  Well those clothes pins were taking way too long for me.

And then I found this on Pinterest:

Super cute clothes pins covered in washi tape, originally from {The Little Pink Studio}.  SO much easier than scrapbook paper and mod podge!!

So, I ordered some super cute washi tape from {Pretty Tape} on Etsy, and pulled out some of my super cheap clothes pins purchased at Wal-Mart.

All it took was one strip of tape over the top of the clothes pin.  Took me 30 seconds to do all 4.

And now, we have a fantastic art display in my children's room.  Remember how I said I wanted it to showcase photos of my boys?  Well, Brychan has too many "treasured" pieces of art from preschool that he can't bear to part with yet.  So, until school is over, we are using it for art.  Once summer hits, photos of different sizes will be hung up there instead.

And the wire everything is hanging from?  It's a flexible shower rod from IKEA, which cost $14.99, and took my husband all of 5 minutes to hang.  It's perfect, and I love it!

Be sure to check out the Pinspired and Rewired contest!  I'm sure you'll get lots of fun ideas or decide to jump in and participate yourself!  It was the perfect motivation for me to finish this project that was taking ridiculously too long! :)

Valentine's Day Crayon Art

I've been itching to get a little project on here lately, so after I came up with this idea earlier in the week, I had to hurry and get it on here!

This is a combination of a couple of different craft projects I've seen floating around on Pinterest.  I had seen somebody do this project using thumbprints (SO cute!), but I have also really been wanting to give crayon art a try.  So, this is what I came up with!

A crayon dripped heart on canvas.  It was super easy, super cheap and super quick.  Perfect!!

I started with:

• a 5x5 canvas (which was on sale for $2.49)
• a few old crayons (I used exactly 4. Purple, pink and 2 shades of red) 
• a bit of masking tape
• a lighter 
• my template (just google "heart template" you'll find something you love...)

Simply center your template to your canvas and then tape it down (I just used one tiny piece at the top of the heart). Then just start melting your crayons to drip on the canvas.

FYI? The cheap crayons drip the best!!  When you're done filling in your template (it took me maybe 20 minutes with plenty of interruptions from my 2 year old) simply peel it off. If you have any drips that fell inside the paper and outside of your heart, they easily peel off once they're dry.

There you have it!  I now want to get 2 more canvases to add an "I" and "U" to either side of the heart.

Homemade Snow Globes

This year, I want to be sure to make homemade snow globes with my boys. This is another one of my all time favorite preschool activities, and they are both old enough this year to really enjoy it. Here's the step by step process in case you want to make one (or two) too! I will be using this project as one of our Christmas advent activities next month.

Homemade Snow Globes

You will need:

Baby food jar

Glitter

Super glue (hot glue works too!)

Mini Christmas tree ornament or other trinket

(be sure it will fit inside the mouth of your jar!)

Water

After washing and drying your jar, glue the ornaments to the inside of the lid.

And let them dry.

While the glue is drying, fill the jar about 3/4 of the way full of water.

Add as much glitter as you want, in any color(s) that you want.

Once everything is dry and secure, place a layer of super glue around the edge of the jar

and the inside lip of the lid. Carefully screw the lid onto the jar.

(Side note: I totally could have used a small baby food jar, but this is what I had. Also, don't ever throw away baby food jars!! They are good for a zillion different things. As soon as you throw them out, you will definitely find a need for one. I have learned that lesson the hard way many times.)

Voila! You have your very own little snow globe!

You can accessorize however you wish; ribbon detailing, painting the lid, it's really up to you.

Letter Art

I saw a version of this on My Name Is Snickerdoodle just a couple of days ago and had to try it! It was a quick, cheap activity to do with my 3 year old. We had fun putting it together, it was an excellent letter review for him and we think it's pretty cute!

It's simple. All we did was paint the first letter of each of our names to match the mat and background paper. The "S" (for our last name, Stander) has scrapbooking paper glued to the top of it to make it pop out. I think I still want to paint a little heart to stick in there too. The letters aren't tacked down at all, so they randomly fall wherever they want, every time I move the thing (it's a bit difficult for the OCD part of me to just be okay with that).
So. A $5 frame from Walmart, a $1 bottle of paint and $4 for wooden letters. $10 for art? Awesome!

Refurbished Vase

Many, many moons ago, this (ahem) lovely decorative vase was given to my husband while serving his mission in the San Francisco area. He tried giving it to his mother, saying the gift giver meant for her to have it, but a couple of years ago, she gave it back to him. It is his after all.

So, it's been sitting in my garage ever since.

It's a little too ornate, pink and detailed for my taste. BUT. I thought it would make an awesome decorative piece for Halloween!! Nice and gothic looking...perfect for my holiday decor.

So, with a little help from this guy...

I now have this!

And to be perfectly honest,
I'm really starting to love it as a staple piece somewhere in my home!

I love how it now looks almost like cast iron,
and much of my decor is black...

What do you think?
Until I decide, it will sit happily on my dining room table as an autumn piece. When Halloween gets closer, I'll add a few spider webs to it and surround it with some apothecary jars and other fun tidbits.

Unhealthy Obsession?

I love drawstring bags.
Especially with children.
They are *excellent* for holding toys.
They're easy to open and shut,
easy to clean
and super easy to make.

I had some cute leftover fabric from another project, so I decided to whip it into another drawstring bag.
Isn't she cute?!? Come on. Who doesn't love owls?

And I love the orange striped ribbon.

But now I don't know what to do with her! Keep her? Put her in my shop? Give her away?

What do you think?

*In case you were curious, she is 17" wide and 14" tall. Not too big, but roomy enough to hold 2 pairs of women's running pants, a pair of capris and the shirt I stuffed in there to take the photos.