halloweened out

We may have outdid it on the Halloween front.  After 3 days straight of Halloween festivities, I am totally pooped. 

 Oscar and his BFF, Audrey, were big fans of the trick or treating.  The hand-holding kills me.

Remember those other costumes I made?  Take a look at them in action:

   Toddlers are so dang cute.

I'm ready to move on to Thanksgiving and Christmas!  I have a Thanksgiving Dinner event coming up quickly for the ladies at my church, and I'm starting my first Christmas craft this week.  Prepare yourself for some hand-stitched felt goodness.

In the meantime, make sure you head over to Crafting with the Stars to vote on Round 2!  This time you can vote for your 3 favorite projects.  Melanie is rocking this competition - I love what she made.  Can you guess her project?

Ruby's Halloween costume: baby aerobics instructor

Ruby's current wardrobe basically consists of onesies, leg warmers and headbands, so her Halloween costume was an easy choice - baby aerobics instructor it is!

All she required was a major accessory:

 Check out these legs.  She definitely has the physique to pull this look off.  Watch out, Jane Fonda!

 Comfy costumes make for happy babies.

 I have to admit ... I love my felt boombox!  It's almost as cute as Ruby.

halloween bones

I thought I'd have a few more years of picking Oscar's Halloween costume (last year he was a blue bird), but it is hard to resist his heart's true desire.  This kid LOVES bones.  He is going nuts for all of the skeleton decorations around town.  Except they are not skeletons ... they are "Halloween Bones."

When I showed him the completed costume yesterday, he said, "Cute!  Wear it!" and has wanted to wear it every minute since.

It makes him jump for joy.

The costume is a cross between this toddler skeleton costume from Craft Passion and my friend Chelsea's Pottery Barn knock-off skeleton costume.  I loved bits of both.  I used white fleece for my bones.  I thought it would hold up to repeated washing better than felt.

I also made him a little skull-cap hat using this pattern from Leila and Ben.

 

We had a little playgroup Halloween party this morning, and Oscar looked really cute in his costume.

Speaking of cute:

Ruby is a doll-face.  I mean, I know I'm her mom, and that means I think she's gorgeous by default ... but am I wrong?  So cute.  She was a chubby teddy bear today since I haven't finished her real costume.

Hooray for Halloween!  I inherited my love for Halloween from my mom - her dad's birthday was October 31 (and he had a major sweet tooth), so naturally it was a big holiday for her family.  She always made it a special day for us growing up with playfully spooky decorations, yummy treats, and fantastic homemade costumes.  I'm so glad I now get to pass on the Halloween love to my kids.

because it's halloween. la, la, la, la, la!

Oscar is getting really into Halloween, and I love it.  He wants to watch this little song on youtube about 20 times a day.

Oscar and Ruby's costumes are still in the works, but I've been helping out with a few extra Halloween costumes:

Nacho Libre for my cute little nephew:

I used the Perfect Diaper Cover pattern from MADE (with a few extra inches added to the top to make them appropriately high-waisted), the Little Leggings pattern from Lil' Blue Boo, and a cape of my own creation.

To make the easiest cape ever, just take a t-shirt, and leaving the collar intact, cut off the front and sleeves.  I also trimmed the back so it would taper up to the top.  If the collar fits well, you can leave it as is to slip over the head.  I trimmed this one down to fit a toddler, so cut the collar and added a velcro closure.  I also zig-zag stitched around the cut part of the collar to finish it off.  You don't need to hem the sides or bottom of the cape because jersey fabric doesn't fray!


Next up, the Man in the Yellow hat for a playgroup friend:

The hat is made with stiff felt and the tie is made with a double layer of soft felt backed with fusible fleece.   The hat was tricky, especially with the stiff felt.  It took a lot of fidgeting and adjustments, so I'm not going to try to tell you how I made it.  I also made him some pants, but I don't have them for pictures.

Hopefully I can update this later with pictures of the kids in costume!  Now I need to get to work on costumes for my own little ones.  :)

UPDATE:  See the kiddos in costume HERE.

Also ... the first round for projects for Crafting with the Stars is up HERE and voting is open until tonight - 10 p.m. MST.

I can't tell you which project my partner made, but it is gorgeous and I love it.  I really didn't do anything but cheer her on.  Great job, Melanie!  All of the projects are really well done - I think you'll be impressed.  So go VOTE!

Oscar's car party

Top:  1.  race car coloring track  2. decorated styrofoam cooler  3. paper pennant bunting

Middle:  4.  watch-me-grow birthday banner  5. 90-minute birthday shirt  6.  party favor bags

Bottom:  7.  race car water bottle labels  8.  race car crayons  9. cupcake toppers

Oscar's birthday party was supposed to be at the park, but the weather was uncooperative.  :(  We moved the party inside to our apartment to avoid the rain, and although it was close quarters, we all had a great time.

 

I used Pingg.com to send out invitations.  Normally I am not a e-vite sort of girl, but it really kept things simple and it was nice to have the rsvp's tracked automatically.   Did you know you can use your own image to create your invitations?  I designed the little red race car using a combo of MS Paint and Picnik.com and then used it in the invitations and party decor.

All of the little guests were 2 years old, so we avoided organized games and activities.  Instead, we set out a large piece of craft paper with a painted road to color with race car crayons and Oscar's new car playmat with a big bucket of matchbox cars to zoom around.

My Silhouette craft cutter saved a lot of time with the party decorations.  I used it to cut the pennants for the bunting, the backing for the watch-me-grow birthday banner, and the little cars that decorated the styrofoam ice cream cooler.

I ordered a giant red balloon in hopes of extra cute birthday photos.  In my mind I pictured a bright sunny day at the park, little boy, big balloon.  Instead, it has rained for the last 4 days straight and I don't have a good photo of Oscar with his balloon, which is now sagging.  :(  Oh well, you can't win them all.  You can find big round balloons HERE at Darlybird.

Oscar's birthday shirt was a 90-minute shirt with a big number 2 appliqued on the front.  It matched his car playmat because yes, I am that crazy.

Here are some images I created for Oscar's car party, which you are welcome to save for personal use.  Upload them to a photo editor (I use Picnik) and they are easily customizable to any age party.

  

my partner in crime for Crafting with the Stars

Hurray! My Crafting with the Stars partner is Melanie from The Crafty Cupboard!  I'm very excited to work with Melanie.  I've been a long time reader of her blog and she makes lovely projects.  You can see all of the other partner match-ups HERE.

Check in on Sunday to vote for Round One projects from the theme, Brand Inspired/Knock Offs.

Oscar's car playmat

My piece de resistance, Oscar's car playmat:

This project was truly a labor of love.  It took over 50 hours to complete, and at least 10 years off my life.  But ... the final product was worth it.  Hopefully Oscar and siblings will play with this for years to come, and someday he will appreciate the effort that went into it.

The playmat measures about 3x4 feet, and is almost entirely appliqued.  The road is painted with black acrylic paint, and then sewn around the edges to give it a crisp look and to make it more cohesive with the rest of the playmat.

I designed all of the buildings myself, except of course for the gas station and car wash, which I copied from the Fiskar's Car Activity Mat (they were too cute to resist).  For the gas pump hose, I substituted the shoelace with a elastic hairband.  The car wash strips are leather trim.

The playmat includes all of our favorite places around town, like Grandma and Grandpa's house, complete with their fruit trees:

Chicken Little, our local toy store:

The courthouse, which also double's as daddy's work:

Crushcakes Cupcakery and Trader Joe's:

In-N-Out burger:

and a school with the ever-important playground:

Other buildings include the train station, fire department, additional houses, our church, and of course we couldn't leave off the beach. We also have traffic signs, cross walks, parking spaces and a post box. 

Some of the buildings, like the courthouse and In-N-Out, look true to life.  I took liberties with others, like Crushcakes and all of the houses, to make them more festive.  If I made this mat look just like Santa Barbara, almost every building would be stucco with a red tile roof.

The playmat is backed with Riley Blake White Map from the Wheels collection.

All in all, a very satisfying project and a very happy birthday boy!

little alouette winners

 Congratulations to Jessica and DallasJenn!  I hope you love your handle rattle teethers.

Thanks, Little Alouette, for the great giveaway!

a few things

• If you haven't entered the Little Alouette Giveaway, today is your last chance!  Go HERE to enter.

• Today is also the last day to submit your audition project to Crafting with the Stars.  Want to craft with me?  Go HERE.

• My dear, sweet boy turns two years old tomorrow.  Can you believe it?  I feel like he was just born yesterday.  

I can't wait to show you Oscar's birthday present - it might be my favorite kid project yet.  It has taken me over 50 hours to draft, cut, and sew, and I'm about to drop dead of sleeplessness.  I was going to post about it today, but figured I should let the boy see it first.  So come back Monday!  (How's that for a tease?)
In the meantime ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OSCAR!

 

car party favor bags

The Riley Blake Wheels fabric collection is probably one of my all time favorite lines of fabric.  It is getting harder to find yardage these days, but I have a big stash of fat quarters on hand ... and it just happens to be the world's perfect fabric for Oscar's car party.

We are keeping this party very small, so with only a handful of kids coming, I had time to sew cute favor bags.  They are the world's easiest drawstring bag filled with a few little goodies (car crayons, a matchbox car, some stickers and a thank you note - inspired by this favor box at Blonde Designs Blog).

Dana has a fab tutorial for a drawstring bag, the Hobo Sack, on her blog, MADE.  I do mine differently, but the end result is essentially the same.  Maybe I'll show you how I make mine someday, but not today.  Today you can learn from Dana.  :) I have more party planning to do!

p.s.  if you are looking for yards of Wheels fabric, check etsy.  I found some at Fernandina Fibers.

DIY molded crayons

Sorry about last week.  I realized Oscar's birthday was quickly approaching (this Saturday - can you believe he is already two?!!) and switched gears to birthday party/gift crafting.  The blessing dress pattern is on the temporary back burner, but is back on the schedule for next week.

In the meantime, I have all kinds of party stuff going on.  What started out as a small and simple party is becoming a small party that I am making a million things for.  I can't help myself.  :) 

First up, race car crayons!

 The theme for Oscar's party is cars, so last night I made race car shaped crayons to include in the kids' favor bags.

You won't believe how easy this is.  (Sorry about the icky, dark action shots.  This is not a project you want to do with your kids around, so I took these in my dark kitchen at night).
 
First, break up your crayons and put them in a double boiler (I used a tin can in a pot of water).

 Melt them down over boiling water.  I used a wooden dowel to stir.

Pour the melted wax into a plastic chocolate mold (I ordered mine HERE).  DO NOT touch the tin can with your bare hand.  It gets crazy hot.
 

Let cool in the refrigerator or freezer.  When they are fully set, they'll slide right out of the mold!

 

So easy.  So inexpensive.  I used a Michael's coupon to get a big 120-count box of Crayola crayons on the cheap and was able to make 46 race cars.

With so many great chocolate molds available, you could customize this project to just about any theme.  I'd love to make a train crayon set or a zoo animal set.  How fun!