Character Inspired Letters

I have this aspiration that my house will eventually look like a crafter's paradise.  Unfortunately, it looks like Chuck E. Cheese right before closing with toys and crumbs everywhere.  One of the things I've been planning to do is to decorate the doors of the kids' bedrooms and actually had time this week to make character inspired letters for all the kids.

Emmeline was the hardest since she had the most letters.  I was running out of characters.

Ninjago for Logan and Disney Princesses (of course..) for Simone.

They look really cute on the bedroom doors, but I'm a bit embarrassed to show off all the fingerprints on our doors.

Upcycled Sound of Music Drapes Dress

It's after Thanksgiving and that means Christmas is coming!  I love the holidays and all the special activities that go on during this season.  I've always wanted to take the kids to the Sound of Music Sing Along and this is the first year both kids can actually sit through an entire movie.  We went on Sunday and had a blast!  To get into the Sound of Music spirit, I made play clothes for Simone.  I wanted to make some for Logan, but he vetoed lederhosen.  I think it was the floral-ish print...

The best part was this dress cost me $0 since I already had all the thread and notions.  I got the fabric from FabMo, which is a great organization that takes leftover, unused, or sample materials and allows others to use.  Since these were sample sizes, I used two different upholstery fabrics that were in the same color scheme.  One of them actually looked like the drapes in the movie.  I made that fabric the center and made side panels from the secondary fabric.  I didn't have enough material to make pleats so I used some leftover elastic to cinch the waist.  Since this was basically a costume piece, I just used the serger on the hems and put in snaps on the straps.

I made the dress a bit big and am hoping Simone can wear it again next year.  To complete the look, I made headwrap out of the leftover fabric.  Luckily, Simone liked it and wore it throughout the movie!

Lego Star Wars Shirts

I can't believe my first baby turned 5 last month.  Logan wanted a Lego Star Wars birthday party, so I make some shirts for the family to wear.  It was my first time using freezer paper stencils and they are so easy!

I searched for Lego images for various characters.  Logan chose his favorites - R2D2 and C3P0.  Simone's shirt has Princess Leia and an Ewok, Fred's has Chewbacca and Han Solo in Carbonite and my shirt has Yoda.

I just traced around the images and cut out the stencils.

Ironed them on to the shirt.

Painted

Waited....

Done!

 

For Han Solo in Carbonite, I used 2 layers of gray paint.  I think it turned out pretty nicely.  Next time, I need to make sure the freezer paper is sticking properly.  The paint ended up bleeding through the Ewok hood.  And, from the excess splatters, I was a bit paint happy.

Template - Sanrio Party Favors!

The kids and adults loved the party favors at Simone's birthday party!  There were easy to make and can be easily customized.

Here is the template and instructions for both the Hello Kitty headband and My Melody flower clips.  I bought the headbands and hair clips on Amazon, but I think they can be found at local craft or beauty supply stores.

For the Badtz Maru shades, I just cut spikes out of cardstock and glued it on shutter shades.

Sanrio Birthday Party!!!

We had Simone's birthday part over the weekend at a local park this weekend and I can't believe my baby is 1!  I love making things for the kids' birthday parties, mainly because I know that sooner rather than later, my kids will get older and want something cooler than their Mom's ideas.  So, the theme for Simone's party was Sanrio characters.  Hello Kitty usually gets all the attention, but I think there are so many cute characters.

Since we were at the park, the decorations were minimal, but I focused on party favors, labels and dessert.  For the party favors, I made Hello Kitty headbands and My Melody flower hair clips for the girls and Badtz Maru shades for the boys.

The bows were made out of felt and sewed down the middle and glued it on the headband.

The hair clips were also made out of felt and it actually also looks like a fried egg.

For the Badtz Maru shades, I cut out little spikes on cardstock and glued it on shutter shades.

After much cajoling, here Logan's best Badtz Maru face.

I also made marshmallow pops for the kids which were decorated with some of my favorite Sanrio characters

Last but not least was her rice krispies birthday cake.  I can't really bake, so rice krispies is my medium of choice.  I made fondant Pochacco, Keroppi, My Melody, Hello Kitty, and Little Twin Stars.   It's hard to tell, but they're supposed to spell "Simone."

Easy PJ Pant - No Pattern Needed!

Most of the stuff I've been making have been for Simone and Logan is beginning to feel a bit left out.  I decided to make pj pants out of Chuggington flannel fabric I got at Joann's.  Apparently, Chuggington is now his favorite, not Thomas.  These are really easy and I have been making similar pants for his Halloween costumes.  The pictures are actually quite terrible.  I definitely need to work on that!

• 1/2 yard of fabric (this was enough for 4T size pants)
• matching thread
• elastic (measure length based on an existing pair of pants)

Fold fabric in half based on where you want the outside pant leg to be

Place an existing folded pair of pants on the fabric and trace.  Leave 1/2 - 1 inch seam allowance all around except the top, where the elastic will be.  For the top leave 1 inch seam allowance + width of elastic

Repeat above steps for second pant leg

On the wrong side of the fabric, pin where the front and bum are supposed to be and sew (straight stitch) according to the seam allowance

Pin pant legs together and sew (straight stitch) according to the seam allowance

Fold 1/2 inch hem on the bottom of the pant legs and iron.  Fold 1/2 inch and iron again.

Sew hem using straight stitch

For the top, fold 1/2 inch and iron.  Fold the width of elastic + 1/2 inch and iron

Pin one end of elastic in place and sew, using straight stitch, as close to the fold as possible until there is only a 2-3 inch hole

Pull elastic until you get the desired stretchiness and sew elastic together using

Sew 2-3inch hole close, be sure to pull the elastic so the fabric will not be puckered.

Turn pants inside out and you're done!

Logan was super excited when he saw them and then proceeded to ask for a shirt that matched!

Time To Do Hair

Simone was born with a full head of hair and now it has gotten pretty long for a baby.  I love being able to play with her hair and using clips and bows.  I made a few rose hair clips and they were super easy!  Less than 5 minutes with felt, hair clip, and a hot glue gun!

I found a tutorial for felt roses here, but instead of scalloping the edges, I just cut it straight.  It was much easier and faster.  I just added a leaf, glued everything together and then I was done!