A Very Happy Handmade Halloween: Sleeping Beauty, Wolverine, & A Baby Bear

Ah! I've been gone for so long, I wasn't sure I'd be able to jump back into blogging again! I've certainly missed sharing my handmade items with you guys, but I'll admit that the stress of photographing and writing posts wasn't. I also began selling my clothing and the constant promotion of my brand has dominated much of my "free time." 

BUT, here I am. Back and ready to share my 2015 Halloween handmade costumes. 

KCW Day 1 - Firestar

Day 1 of KCW 

Thank goodness that this round is right before Halloween. I need one more reason to get in my sewing room and get these costumes done or I'll be up the night before beggars night cursing. 

Project Run & Play: Wk.2 "Let's Go To The Movies" Entry

Boy I'm sliding in by the skin of my teeth on this entry (honestly, what's new though?).

In my house, there's a lot of love for all things Studio Ghibli ... and right now the kids are especially stuck on My Neighbor Totoro. Past favorites have been Howells Moving Castle and Ponyo, but really they are all pretty fun. And let's face it, I spend a lot more time watching kids movies than anything with adult content. So, for this challenge I chose to make my daughter Lily an outfit like the big sister "Satsuki."

KCW Day 3: Big Bad Wolf Felt Mask + Tail

Whew. 

This was by far my least productive day of KCW thus far. 

Kids didn't nap at the same time and we caught up on our sit down lesson during the only real free time I could have had. 

KCW Day 2: Big Bad Wolf Sweatshirt& Pants

Day 2 has wrapped up and I got much more done than I had expected. 

As usual there were many interruptions but my children napped together (WHAA? yes we are all shocked) for a good 2 hours. 

It was bliss. 

KCW Day 1 : Wolf Pants

Booyah. 

Between homeschool, visiting Great Grandma Levina, a meeting with our supervising teacher and many other obstacles... I managed to cut and begin sewing Lily's pants to her Big Bad Wolf costume. 

The french terry knit cotton I'm using is a bit stretchier than expected so I'll need to take them in a little more, but I'm successfully not buying fabric for this costume and that makes me happy. Plus, it's thick & that is key when Trick-Or-Treating in the bitter cold of Iowa fall/winter weather. We always hope that there won't be snow. 

Costumes of Halloween Past

OH HEY! 

Can you guys believe that Halloween is almost here? 

It really creeped up on me this year (no pun intended haha). 

So, until I'm able to share this year's costume with you, I'll take a moment to look back at past Halloween DIY's. 

Best Batman Mask With Tutorial

If you can't tell, I'm really excited about this last project. I dont have a little boy (yet, due in March <3) so its great to get started on some boy projects. 

I was out searching for a good Batman mask for a little boy in Lily's class who's having his birthday party this weekend. I could not, for the life of me, find a realistic mask. So, after making some winter hats, I opted to use that tutorial with modifications to make it. 

Got the basic pattern (below) from a lovely blog I found. She did a great job with this tutorial and it was easy to follow using the diagram she made. 

Halloween Costumes For the WHOLE Family (& even a friend)

 

Memories/Costumes/Crafts of Halloween Past

Since I sadly had to turn my camera back over to Nikon for repairs, its gone for a stint of time. Hubby and I went shopping for a cheaper one to use as a backup- plus when I'm going to a concert I risk hiding it and losing it to security. Who knows if it would come back in one piece. So, we've got our eye on one that is suppose to go on sale, and then my blog can be back in action. Till then: RECAP on past Halloweens

Halloween Cont. & More

As promised I have returned with updates on Lily's Little Mermaid costume. Again, I am so glad I started this project early. I've had so much  fun finding cheap and interesting ways to make this a one of a kind instead of another patterned blah piece. I wasn't too fond of using a pattern in the first place, but I couldn't see myself successfully creating my own without it turning into an extremely expensive ordeal. Someday my financial supplies will allow for more creativity/trial and error/etc. Anyways.... off of that tangent. So at my visit to the Goodwill I discovered a 5 cent bag of seashells, what luck! I used these to glue to her dress and the crown I picked up on clearance at Target.

Happy Halloween in September

Ahhhhh fall is definitely setting in. Now that I'm home (not working) for the most part I'm able to plan ahead instead of procrastinating. Its amazing what you can get done only working 2 days a week!! Yesterday I finished Lily's halloween costume. Although I was keen on her being either an owl or bird (only because I found the cutest costume tutorials online and I'm a bit selfish lol), she had other ideas and said she would like to be the little mermaid. I sucked up my mom authority and let her choose her own costume, though I do miss the days when I had full discretion over these decisions. Another benefit of finishing her costume more than a month before halloween is that I am able to foresee any issues that might come up: after trying it on she slipped onto her bottom... apparently the measurements for the fins/skirt are a bit big .... I spent a while brainstorming the ways to fix this without tearing apart my work and I think I will have success with some sort of metal wire at the bottom to help keep the fin from her feet. That has yet to go in but I'll add another photo once its done. It should also help with the complete look! Also chose to take in the sides of the bottom a bit, as you can see in the photo its a little big... she's just a skinny little lady!