Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair!

 So you may have already seen my daughter's Rapunzel Halloween costume in this picture over at this post.

Or in this picture from this post.

 

But I hadn't said much about it. Yes, I made it. And it took much more time, money, and effort than I thought it was going to take. But she loved it, so I guess that's all that counts in the end.

 

I used the Simplicity 2065 pattern to make both the gown and the hair piece. This project came with many "firsts" for me:  my first time sewing with satin, my first time sewing with shears, my first experience with eyelets, and my first ever zipper installation. For so many firsts, it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. :o)

There's a nice view of my first ever zipper. Not bad, eh?

Here are the super cool and ginormous flowers I made to dress up her hair piece. To make the satin and organza layered flowers I used fabric left over from the gown and Sew4Home's tutorial.

 

Please disregard the black burn mark on the pink flower. I said to ignore it. Ah, common. Okay, okay...DON'T put your fabric too close to the candle flame for too long. Lesson learned.

She looked cute and she loved her costume. At the end of the day, toddler and momma are happy.

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Our Halloween...Better Late Than Never, Right?

I'm finally getting to posting the family's Halloween festivities, but it's better late than never, right? Right?!

Anyway, onto the fun filled day. Kaeleigh was all excited to wear her Halloween outfit which included her jack-o-lantern pillowcase dress...

...her orange and black korker ribbon barrette...

...and black and orange striped tights.

 

I bought those tights on clearance after Halloween last year and she found them in her drawer in April. She has been dying to wear them since and they were the main reason she was up at 6:00 am that morning.

Ayden also wore his freezer paper stenciled jack-o-lantern t-shirt as seen here, but I wasn't able to get a picture of him in it before rushing out the door for the day. But here's one from this summer's Halloween themed pig pull for you to admire my handsome cutie.

This was the first year in as long as I can remember that we didn't actually carve a pumpkin. Kaeleigh loves Hello Kitty (and I love that she loves Hello Kitty because I can live vicariously through her and pretend like all of the Hello Kitty theming is solely for her) so when I found this on Pinterest I knew we had to recreate it. And here was the result...

 

What do you think? The only down side was that the pumpkin I chose had a rough texture on the side that had the best shape for Hello Kitty's head. I was pretty happy with her otherwise.

We set Hello Kitty next to Kaeleigh and Ayden's mini-pumpkins.

 

I let them paint their little pumpkins using acrylic paints. This was no big deal for Kaeleigh, who painted her pumpkin blue and black. Ayden got off to a good start slopping the paints onto his pumpkin and giggling like a giddy school girl. And then he decided to eat the paints.

Good thing he had a pretty good portion of his painting done, cause that ended it.

Then came the costumes. You may have seen the kids' costumes already in this post, but here are my Rapunzel (which I will be posting more about in a later post) and little monster again.

And here's a cute family picture (minus the hubby who was working his second job at a local restaurant...love you!) showing all of us in our festive attire.

 

 I was able to whip up that awesome pumpkin "hat-ette" I'm wearing in less than thirty minutes using Delia's super easy tutorial. And a close up...

Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!

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Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween! My cuties, Rapunzel and the Three-Eyed-Monster, will certainly be indulging in the traditional festivities tomorrow night!

Happy Halloween! :o)

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Momma's Chore List

After graduating with my Master's degree in May, I was left with the entire summer off for the first time in years. When the school year started in September, I had to go back to work as a substitute teacher for our local school district. Going from having every day to tend to the craziness of every day life to having just a few hours each day during the week on top of having my head in a hundred places at once really threw my cleaning routine off.

I work much better when I see things in writing. Lists give me a visual reminder and I guess I just get a natural high from checking things off a list. So I thought I would make a cute little chore list that helped me to spread out the weekly housework so that I wouldn't spend my entire weekend cleaning.

It was pretty quick and easy too. I created a simple chore list using Microsoft Word and then put it in my frame which I spray painted to match my kitchen, where the list would be displayed.

It was looking rather plain though, so I thought I'd add a few embellishments. I made a simple black fabric rosette and paired it with a couple of buttons...

And hot glued them to the frame.

I added some Velcro to the dry erase marker to keep it attached to the frame and it was good to go!

So far, it's certainly been a big help in reminding me of what needs to be done and when in order to keep my family's busy days free from worries of housework and the weekends *almost* free of housework.

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Peacock Feathers

There are so many super cool accessories and decor out there right now using peacock feathers. Everyone seems to be enjoying the bright, beautiful colors of them. Just look at all of the peacock feathers I found on Pinterest.

Babies...

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Grownups...

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On wreaths...

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Even the gentlemen are wearing them...

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So when my sister, Erica (who loves peacock feathers so much she has a tattoo of one), got her hands on some of these babies for FREE through her dentist (don't ask) she was all about having me make her a headband with them. I'd never used peacock feathers for anything before, so I was a little nervous about ruining them in the process, but...

I was pretty happy with the outcome!

And I think she was too. :o)

She left me with the rest of the feathers, so now I think I might have to make another for myself.

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