Juicy Bits

46: under the sea and out of a cave

Is that where monsters live?  In caves?

Anyhoo...I'm here to share "Happy Halloween!" wishes and pictures of the kids all dressed up.

 

 

I'll have you all know that I finished Aurora's Ariel costume a full 24 hours before halloween.  You might not know it, but that's pretty miraculous for me.  Typically if I manage to get something like that done ahead of time I just keep adding to it.  I was very tempted this time, but I resisted...

  

I do love costumes and I'm so pleased with how this came out.  But I may have to rethink my approach next year.  Instead of being happy to make something myself that is recognizable and well made, I sort of got caught up in creating more like a "couture" costume.  A bit much for a 4-year-old.

 

And, is it wrong that I'm jealous of her? 

 I want to dress up.  But I really need another reason other than trick-or-treating... Maybe next year is time for another party.  Then I can save the "couture" for myself.  

 

I know you've seen the monster costume already, but I had to share Theo wearing it...

Have a great day!

JT

45: mermaid accessories

As I may have mentioned, I’m working on a mermaid costume for Aurora for Halloween.  Ariel to be specific.  Not that I want to be specific…but you know she does.  I’m not getting too much leeway on this one.  I didn’t make the seashells facing the right direction and I’m still not sure she’s willing to wear it this way.  J

But I’m trying to add a little creativity in here and there.  And these are a few of the little details to it.

First there are the slippers.  I have been informed that “mermaids don’t have feet” but she has to wear something on hers, right?

So her feet and legs are turquoise to look like water.  And, I wanted to make them a little sparkly and sweet so I used the Ballet Slippers pattern from Favorite Things.  Other than the material I choose not being ideal, they came out great.

(You’ll have to pardon my pictures, but it *gasp* snowed here today.  I mean really, it’s not like I live in Northern Vermont…anyway I didn’t feel like bustin' out the tripod, so flash it is.)

Next up is a starfish hair accessory.  This took some convincing.  Luckily I was able to show her pictures of Ariel at Disney World where she had one in her hair.

 

And finally, a sea turtle necklace.   She still says she’s not wearing this.  We’ll see who wins that one…

The costume is almost complete, except for a little cape I needed to make in an attempt to keep her warm in her school parade.  Really?  Snow in October?  Come on…

JT

44: finally fallin'

Fall has been here for a bit now, and everybody's been posting beautiful autumn colored posts....

Well, last weekend we finally got around to doing the whole pumpkin patch thing with the kids.  Actually it's not too bad for us because there is another weekend before halloween.  Picking your own pumpkins only days before halloween can be a sad experience.  Believe me, we've done it.

Anyway, we took the kids out to a farm for the whole shebang: hayride, pumpkin picking, hay bale maze, apple cider doughnuts, etc.  

It turned out to be a glorious sunny day and much fun was had by all.

This was Theo's first time and I must say, he tripped over the vines much less than his sister did when she was one.  And he really enjoyed talking to the ladybugs!

I do enjoy this time of year.  I must remember to go out and jump (or nap) in some leaf piles...

JT

43: collections

I've decided to collect vintage juice glasses like these I recently bought.

I have mixed feelings about collecting stuff. Really I love collections, especially of cool, vintage, or funky stuff. Like a restaurant with a ton of eclectic salt and pepper shakers- that makes me smile. And finding that one perfect thing that fits into your collection is such a coup.

But generally I think the idea of collecting is a bad one. You just wind up with a bunch of STUFF. And I think we all have too much stuff, don't we? Who has the space to properly display or use a good collection? I guess I just have to be very choosey about what to collect...so it's given it's proper love and attention and not relegated to a box in the basement.

Over the years I've collected various things:
Matchboxes (no, I never smoked...)
Broadway musical posters
concert t-shirts
that I've since given up on. They're just not as important to me anymore.

Two things I have collected and still do are FABRIC (never would have guessed, would you?) and fairies.

Fairies truly delight me, but I have so many now that I'm VERY picky about which ones I get. Some day I'll go around and photograph all the little wee people that inhabit my house. I've gotten so many as gifts that I've put a ban on them. Occasionally they would be perfect and I was happy to have them, but more often than not, they just weren't my taste. I only want pretty fairies, with pretty faces, that are not overly gaudy or girly. You'd be surprised how hard that is to come by.

So, I'm thinking the glasses are a good thing to collect since I'll actually use them. I generally like things to match and be more modern and simple looking than vintage mis-matched stuff, but I figure juice glasses used in the kitchen are casual enough. And I smile when I take them out. So now I have something specific to look for when going to a thrift store. :)

Another thing I like to collect is holiday decorations. I try to buy xmas tree ornaments as souveniers when we go on vacation. And there's something about halloween that makes me like folk art style decorations. I want to collect some of these adorable little statues by Lori Mitchell. They put out different ones each year. They kill me with their cuteness...

What do you collect?

JT

42: more halloween goodness

Since I started the whole costume showcase, I thought I'd share the other two I've made for Aurora. 

Age 2: Pumpkin Fairy

The wings are store bought from Pottery Barn kids, but the rest is homemade.  

When I look at these pictures I think how insane I went on the little details.  I always do that.  I mean it's not like anyone else would notice the veins on the leaves or the shape of the hat (I was going for a pixie, flower fairy type thing).

Age 3: Bat

This was her choice.  Of course I wanted to cute it up a bit and not just do a basic one.  Hence the dress and socks...

And the ears are much like my favorite bat...Bartok the Magnificent!

JT

41: best costume ever

So, I'm sure it will come as no shock to you all that I LOVE Halloween.  It might be my favorite holiday.  It's a close call with Christmas.  But as far as crafting/sewing goes...it's definitely tops.

I actually got really into sewing by doing costumes.  I was big in the drama club (*cough* drama geek...) in high school and I was in charge of costumes for our cast of 200 people.  That's how I learned to sew anything, even if I didn't have a pattern.

Plus, I love to dress up.  And, of course, to look good while doing it.  ;)

Well, now that I have kids, I put a lot of pressure on myself to sew fantastic costumes.  When they were each only a couple of months old, I allowed myself to rest and didn't make anything.  But I doubt I'll do store-bought again until they beg me for it...

Anyway, when Aurora was just over a year I made her this amazing monster costume.

Yes, she's actually saying "Roar!" in that picture.

Although you might not believe me, I swear I'm not obsessed with monsters.  Really.  Truly.

I wanted to make her some kind of fuzzy animal, but not the same old thing straight from a pattern.  Then I found the fur and fell in love.  I took panda and dinosaur patterns and combined them with my own touches and presto!

It looks a lot like Sully from Monsters, Inc. which wasn't totally my plan, but I'm OK with.

And I'm sorry, but I can't top this.  Ever.  I won't even try.

Of course my dilemma this year is if I re-use it for Theo or make him his own.  I don't want him not to have his own stuff, but I would love to see it used again...

What do you think?  I do currently have a plan for him, but I haven't actually started sewing yet.

JT

40: classroom quilt

I don't go looking for extra projects.  Honest I don't.

But they find me anyway.

This year my daughter is in the Bluebird Class in preschool.  When her first calendar came home, it said her book of the month was The Quilt Story.  And they were going to make a class quilt!

I HAD to offer help.  How could I not?  So I mentioned that I sew and I would be happy to help out.  Well, turns out they were just going to make a paper quilt.  Gasp!  Say what?!?

So I said I could whip up a "real" quilt and that idea was met with much enthusiasm...

I brought in the white square and fabric markers for each of the 17 kids to color.  I believe the teachers asked them to draw a picture of themselves.

I used some of the scraps from Aurora's party to make the sashing.  It was down and dirty and super fast.  I didn't even quilt it.  I used a little diamond stitch on my machine to "tie" it in a few places.  I figured it doesn't exactly need to last forever.

I think they're going to use it for show and tell each week...each kid puts his/her iten on their own square.  Cute!

JT

39: home sweet tree

I feel like by the time I get around to showing you the whole playroom, you'll already have seen just about everything in it.  Hopefully this won't diminish the impact too much...

This is the tree mural I painted at the bottom of the stairs.  (Sorry for the picture quality...as you can imagine the lighting isn't ideal, so this space is going to be a challenge to photograph...I might have to actually bust out my tripod.)

As you can see, it's tucked into a little corner with the usual basement distractions, but I think it's a nice welcome into the space...

I also painted a couple of chairs.  Well, I personally didn't paint the actual chairs, but I picked the colors and then did the decorating part.

They're thrift store finds, and while there are actually 3 of them, I didn't decorate the spare one.

They've finally made their way to their new home and hopefully the girls are enjoying them at their awesome new art desk!

Of course my little imp had to get in on the action.  She was there when I bought them and insisted on helping with the painting, which she did a fine job of...

JT

38: extreme makeover: the toy castle edition

Well, it's not quite "extreme" but it is a toy makeover...

(side note:  I wonder how many of my posts I start with "well" or "so"?  I bet a lot.  I feel like I need to write as if we're already in the middle of a conversation.  Not sure if that's weird or not, but it feels natural so I'l go with it.)

I bought this admittedly cheesy toy castle for a whopping $1.41 at thrift shop.  I saw much potential.

 

Really I know how short lived the love of certain toys can be and Aurora has been wanting some of the little My Little Ponies, so I figured this would make a cute home.  I could revamp it a bit and since I didn't add another big heap of plastic to the world, not feel bad when she's over it in 6 months.

I used ribbon, scrapbook paper, mod podge, and some fancy felt stickers.  I wasn't going for longevity and it's already lost a few sparkles, but I don't mind at all...

JT

37: fairy wings and marshmallow wands

I brought these sweet treats to an enchanted fairy birthday party last weekend.  

Marshmallow fairy wands!  They come from the Fairies Cookbook.

I love marshmallows so I thought they were delicious... and so did many of the little pixies...

Who would have thought to freeze marshmallows?

The party was for Aurora's best friend and we had a lovely time.  

So much so that I didn't really take many pictures.

But I did make her one of my felt crowns.

Perhaps she'll be the Fairy Queen now.

JT