valentines 2011

We are ready for Valentines Day!

A lot of the same decorations from last year.

I made the "LOVE" banner February '09 but I still really... wait for it... love it!

Same with the puffy heart garland (which I just realized is totally crooked. Ez keeps pulling on it. I'm lucky he hasn't broken it!) The wreath is new this year. As are the apothecary jars holding m&m's (don't expect those to hang around long!) and decorative red balls.

Also new are these cute hearts. Idea from Martha. I thought they would be a fun project with the kids... not so much. There are lots of steps, many of which they can't help with. They got bored quickly and disappeared upstairs to play.

But the kids are quite taken with the finished product.

Honestly, so am I! They look so pretty in the sunshine.

Happy {early} VALENTINES DAY to you!

upcycled hats

We are in a bit of a cold spell here... well cold for North Carolina in early November- mid 50's. Sutton asked me to buy her a hat. Of course there is no way am I going to buy a hat when I can make one for free!

I remembered a tutorial that my friend Jennifer did last winter. I dug through the 'clothing to be recycled' pile and pulled out two sweaters. The hats were very simple to make.

I grabbed some felt and made some flowers. For the white flower I used this tutorial. I made up the purple and pink one myself. I much prefer the white flower (I love it's texture and volume) but Sutton insisted on having at least one hat with a pink and purple flower so of course she prefers that one!

Happy Halloween!

I love Halloween! I don't like the creepy, scary horror movie type Halloween and I don't particularly love trick or treating but I do love dressing up and having fun! I love that I don't have to worry about the over commercialization of Halloween or if my kids understand the "true meaning" of Halloween because there isn't one! Halloween is just for fun. I love letting my kids decide what they want to be and then creating it for them.

This year we dressed up as: A sumo wrestler, a mime, a lion, Strawberry Shortcake, and Nacho Libre.

Michael's Nacho Libre costume was made from ladies pants and jacket from Goodwill, a flesh colored t-shirt from Walmart, an old (but never even worn) swimsuit, a wig and a moustache. The knee pads and the boots were made from parts of the jacket.

Liam chose to be a mime and he took it seriously. He watched 'how to mime' instructional videos on youtube so he could play the part right. The hat, gloves and t-shirt were purchased at wal-mart, pants at Goodwill. I made the suspenders and the scarf.

Sutton loves Strawberry Shortcake and decided weeks ago to be her for Halloween. I was glad because I knew it would be a really easy costume to make. I bought the tights and made the skirt and hat. I appliqued the strawberry and diamonds onto a white-shirt she already had. Sutton's costume was the most expensive because of the tights and the fabric. I justified it though because it looked perfect and now that Halloween is over the skirt can be part of her regular wardrobe.

Ezra was a little lion. Liam and Sutton both wore this costume when they were little. I love it!

I decided to take advantage of my rotund figure and be a sumo wrestler. The shirt and the old lady stretchy pants came from walmart ($3/each on clearance!). I made the mawashi (diaper-y thing) from felt.

And because I have no pride... here is a shot of the back view:

To help you get that image our of your head here is another cute one of the kids:

I hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween!!

the cat in the hat

Last week at school all the first graders took part in a "Book Parade" where they made a poster and got to dress as favorite book character. Liam chose the cat from The Cat in the Hat. He had never mentioned that the Cat was his favorite character but I was on board because I figured that it was an easy costume to make.

It was Liam's idea (and he did it all himself) to add the curly-cue's to the letters.

The hat and bow-tie were made with felt. I copied Dana and added a pipe cleaner frame inside the hat. Although I should have added more pipe cleaners as the hat was still a little floppy.

Do you like the blue sharpie? It was near dinner time and in my rush I lost all attention to detail. Oh well.

The whiskers are my favorite part of the costume. I think it really makes the costume. Made with pipe cleaners sandwiched between two felt circles with elastic cord.

He loved his costume. Can you tell? And how cute is Thing One next to him?