Getting back into the sewing groove

Well, hello blogging world! It has been a looooooong time since I have written anything on this blog!! I blame the move to Arkansas but that's displacing the blame where it truly belongs and that is with me and my laziness. But I did actually finish a project and had some thoughts about and I was really grateful that I could come to our sewing blog and write about it. Because no one on Facebook wants to hear about it and poor Ty does a great job humoring me and being understanding but he doesn't need to hear all this. Its been hard to get into sewing since we moved here because the closest fabric store is Joanns and that is 30 minutes away. Whatever budget I have set aside for sewing was used just for the gas to get to the store and it just wasn't convenient. Oh how I miss the days of driving 3 minutes to get to Joanns. But last month the sewing gods smiled upon our little corner of Northwest Arkansas and opened a Hancock Fabric 10 minutes from our house! Oh glorious day!!! When I walked in, I felt rejuvenated. I felt inspired. I felt like I was being reunited with an old friend that I didn't really realize I had missed that badly. So I bought a pattern and some fabric and couldn't wait to dig in and get sewing again. A little fact about me, I hate patterns like McCalls, Butterwick, etc. They NEVER turn out like the picture and I never had one actually fit the way it is supposed to. I made a little night gown for Elsie, a basic peasant top pattern, and you could have stuck two of her through the neck hole and the sleeves or longer than the dress and the dress was supposed to go to her ankles and it barely made it to her knees. I'm not exaggerating. It was a mess. I made a dress for myself one time and I ended up ditching it after I realized I made a mumu. The picture on the pattern was not a mumu. But the funny thing is that I have soooooo many of them! I love to flip through the pattern books and just dream of the possibilities and when they are go on sale it is really hard to resist the urge. The pictures are so deceiving that way. I get fooled every time! But this time I decided I would try Burda and see if maybe they had a clue about making patterns and writing instructions. So I used Burda 9503 I kind of mixed the two together to get the final project. I wanted to do the top but Elsie wanted a dress so I used the length of the dress but the ruffle and sleeves of the top. The mixing was the easy part. The ruffle was doable. The sleeves were murder! This pattern is not for beginners. They say its easy but I was able to fluff my way through because I know some basics of sewing. I would read the directions and after trying to decipher the wording and the pics I realized they were telling to me to finish an edge with bias tape but they did it in the most difficult way. That is just one example. But overall, I'm please with how it turned out. It is a little on the big side but Elsie is such a string bean that I wasn't expecting it to fit perfectly. At least the sleeves are proportioned to the rest of the dress. I let her pick out the buttons for the sleeves and she really had fun with that and I was relieved when she choose two little purple flower buttons. She loved the dress and told everyone at preschool that her mommy made it for her. That made my day!!! I'm not sure I will make it again, just because the sleeves made me want to give up sewing all together (I really messed them up but I'm hoping no one will notice that one is actually on backwards...oops) but it was a nice challenge and I'm glad that I can turn to Burda for patterns for the girls.

Car Mat

I meant to post this so long ago...but such is life.  For Christmas we trade names and that is who we get gifts for.  I got my sister who has kids my kids' ages.  I've always wanted to learn to make one and figured this was a good time to learn and experiment so I can make myself one.  It turned out to be a little more work during my CrAzY Christmas season, but it got done (I think Christmas Eve I finally finished).

Top:  Target, Harkins and Home Depot; a car wash (that you drive the car through),QT with a shoelace gas pump, In-N-Out (with a drive through), Frys and a Jiffy Lube
Bottom:  Fire station, two houses (one has a "garage" aka pocket you can pull a car into); airport

Top:  Police station; house and school
Bottom:  Church, Temple and park; three houses (with again one with a garage pocket)

Myla's Easter Dress

Wow, to say we've been in a blogging slump is an understatement! :) Well, here we go again. This is Myla's Easter dress I made this year. It felt so good to get my sewing machine out. It was like seeing a long lost friend. I love, love, love this fabric. I've been holding onto it for a while. It's Joel Dewberry Heirloom. I just love the orange and minty-aqua colors. The pattern is from Violette Field Threads, the Emmaline. It was a really good pattern, easy to follow. Happy Easter!!

'tis the season

Here's hoping you've started on your Christmas sewing projects! The count down starts tomorrow right - and it flies by. I can't wait to share the projects we've been busy with. Sew much fun this time of year!

Halloween Greetings!

I'm a little obsessed with picmonkey.com right now. This is just cool stuff. The more you play with it the cooler it gets. I think it's like having photoshop with out the cost of the program and using up all the memory of your computer. Either way it's pretty cool. I made all these today...

Day of the Dead - um. cute!

There's an Urban Legend surrounding a weeping widow headstone in Spanish Fork, UT cemetery - that inspired my vision for Abbey's pic

look at my little demon... sad but true 

Even Jason said it was cool. That's huge - he usually considers me pretty dorky (it doesn't bother me - if the shoe fits...)

cupcake anyone?

I morphed my nose & enlarged my mouth - aaarrggg!!! 

watch out she is looking a little thirsty

Aren't these fun? Makes me wish Halloween came more then once a year.

Halloween Decor

Ohhhh.... How I love this cursed holiday! I don't know if it's the macabre-ness of it or that inner goth? Or maybe I just love that I can dress up and people don't have to worry about me. Some kids just never grow up.

Two costumes I've worn this year. The bride ghoul was a last minute getup. I don't know if my original intention (the Queen of Hearts) will happen this year or not)

Every year I love to do more DIY Halloween projects. It's just so much fun for me to use my macabre mind and come up with additions to my Halloween decor collection. This year I added pictures. Lots and lots of pictures

Normally on this entry way shelf are my kids school pictures - this year I replaced them all with ghoul & spirits. All pics were found by searching Google images and typing things like  "ghoulish portraits" "ghost" "spirits" "vintage Haunted Mansion" etc. 

I'm not interested in gore - just ghostly things. Plus it has to be kid friendly - I have way too many kids coming & going and love every hour I get to sleep at night uninterrupted to worry about inducing nightmares. 

I found these Halloween printables on pinterest. It's just a treasure trove of ideas (some good & bad)

 

The frames were old and in boxes and a few from the thrift store. I painted most white and a few black and left 1 gold (I can easily slip in new pictures for Christmas). I think the "wolf boy" is my favorite this year. He's actually a changing portrait you can buy here, put I printed him in b/w on vintage looking paper.

This used to be a canvas that said "simplify", I don't know what that word means and the picture was discolored so It became the home for my t-shirt art.

I bought this t-shirt from Wally last year on clearance. I only wore it a couple times and my husband said it made me look goth - so I cut it up and with some plastic netting that some marbles come in - made this fun project.

What's more beautiful then dead lovers? 

This is a shot of my kitchen knick knack corner. There are a few printables here too. 

I have empty clear apothecary & mason jars on these shelves year round. This year I went to the dollar store and bought spiders, scorpions, rats, eyeballs to fill the jars with.

more spiders - yummy!

This bookshelf is new this year. Last year it was in a bedroom, we pulled it out, it got a makeover and dolled it up for the season.

I love this man with a skeletal aura - you can print him here.

Next to him sits a glitter skull (you can't see very well) but adds to his charm.

This is his sweetheart, the Masked Lady - nobody knows her story. She is just so mysterious! You can print her here.

What's a little Halloween without an owl (Bunko win from Marshalls), and witch doll (kind of cut her out of it)

I love the innuendoe to my true nature, you can print here.

I posted on this earlier this month, but I love my kiddos pics going down the hall. 

Lastly I let the kids pick out signs to hang on their bedroom doors. We got them either from the dollar store or Target $1 spot. That;s it until next year - Happy Haunting!

DIY Harry Potter & Hermione Granger costumes

 Happy Halloween! Can I tell you how much it warms this HP nerds heart that my daughter is obsessed with HP and wanted to dress like Hermione for Halloween. The words barely left her mouth and I was all over this costume like I have never been before. 1st stop was Savers (thrift store). I got a white shirt, maroon tie, and a navy blue vest (her choice), although you could make a gray vest super easy.

(pic & idea from Lemon Squeezy home)

This is a sweatshirt cut up  & bias tape. I considered a gray t-shirt (since we live in AZ) and finding red/yellow grosgrain ribbon to trim it up with, but Paige is a lot like Hermione and used a stunning spell on me - she wanted the navy blue vest (I think it was the lure of all the little pockets)

This is the basic idea for the vest if you decide to include it. We bought argyle knee socks at Wal-mart for 2$ but they also have plain gray ones and she has Mary Janes she can wear for her foot attire. Also the tie - all I did was buy a maroon tie, some yellow grosgrain ribbon, clear thread, and went to work creating a cool tie for like $5

But if you have your heart set on making a tie - lemonsqueezyhome has great instructions.

(pic & idea from Lemon Squeezy home)

Moving on. Paige doesn't wear skirts, but I was excited at the prospect of making her one - (finally... I will get my way at last!)  I found this skirt tutorial on pinterest and bought a gray single flat sheet from Walmart. My daughter is 10 years old and around 5 feet tall so I knew I'd need a lot of fabric and a sheet at $4.57 just couldn't be passed up. This is the idea for the skirt, but I didn't use the huge elastic (no need to scare her off)

(pic & idea from Danamadeit.com)

Click here for circle skirt tutorial

I let Paige make her own wand and they made about 10 of them. My mom had a package of 12 inch long dowels they found in a drawer. With some hot glue, paper, paint, modge podge, and a little sand paper - they whipped out wands like Mr. Olivanders house elves. I found a few tutorials for them to watch on Youtube. This one is my favorite by SteveWanson. Really easy for kids to follow and surprisingly no burns... really? (I'm not sure she is my daughter at this point, there is an ironical reason my maiden name is Byrnes).

pic & idea for felt scarf by jessyratfink - click here

Both my sisters started crocheting me scarves for Paige. We were only visiting them for a week and they only had a couple days to work on them so hopefully we will get one in the mail before Halloween, but if not - this is my backup plan. Isn't it awesome. I LOVE creative people who come come up with simple yet, awesome ideas. 

pic & idea for non crochet yarn scarf by keggo24 - click here

Here is another one made out of yarn. This is a great tutorial and no crocheting is involved. This boy looks he belongs at Hogwarts (he's so cute).

If your looking for fun accessories (my Paige is holding a photo album), but there are tons online and here is a site I found with a so much good info, I can barely contain myself.

but I'm dying to make a couple of these books from the Crafty Cupboard with free download

or maybe these ones

DIY textbooks and links from Geek Mom

idea & pic from lemonsqueezyhome

or maybe cut to the chase and just make this one - 13 pages of free spells (Paige would really love this)

and these potions - there is a whole sheet of free printable labels 

all you need is the funky cool bottles, but then again you could always use old glass bottles and dump some acrylic paint in them to give them a solid color and find an obliging cork.

pic & idea from Lisa at overthebigmoon

These are dollar store reading glasses with the lenses popped out - wrong shape but useful. You can always find printable ones online if needed.

Well, I saved the BEST for last. There is no costume without the cloak.

This is the basic pattern I used at About.com - It has the instructions on how to create your own pattern and sew it. They are fairly easy to follow. The main change I made is that I folded the sheet in half and used masking tape to trace her shape on only 1 side. I figured it would turn out more symmetrical that way. Also I used the outer pattern to cut out the lining with instead of doing the whole process again.

I also followed a tutorial on YouTube by AMGandaGirl who includes brief instructions on how to make a hood.

really can you call it a cloak without the hood?

This is something I intend to add, who doesn't need a wand pocket unless you've already blown off your buttocks - good idea from lemonsqueezyhome

and last of all - the Gryffindor badge this one was made by d2cool. It is made completely from felt. I'm such a sucker for homemade stuff - if I can do it myself, then watch out because I will try (plus I'm a cheap skate - I hate shelling out $ to ebay or internet junkies who take you to the cleaners over shipping) - this is the last thing I will try and create for my darling Hermione... oh the joys of a proud Hogwarts momma.

HAPPY HARRY POTTER... I meant Halloween.