Tree Costume Tutorial

You can download the one page tutorial here, which is almost unnecessary. I probably should have just typed it into the blog post, but I think I'm addicted to Adobe Illustrator now.  This tree body was super easy.  I sat down and sewed both in about thirty minutes.  The leaves were a bit more time consuming.  I cut them out and sewed them on the hat by hand (the sleeves by machine) while watching a movie after the girls went to bed.  It took awhile, but it wasn't hard.  You could probably do it all on machine much faster if you were motivated. 

I made both costumes from a fleece throw blanket and a pair of green sweatpants from Goodwill, under $5, you can't be that.  These fabrics are great since they don't unravel, so I didn't finish any edges.  Which I think is the way it should be for a Halloween costume.

Oh yes, I also used some scrap green knit for L's hat and a head band for J.  I couldn't keep the head band on her, so maybe a hat that I can tie on is still in the works.  We'll see.  At the last minute I decided to add a little pocket to each tree trunk so we could put little woodland creatures in the trees.  L is sporting a squirrel. 

L is a very happy tree, J is running off to join her fellow saplings in the woods.

Firewood Tote Tutorial on Whip Up

I'm guest blogging on Whip Up today - well, okay, that was yesterday actually. Go check out my little manly tutorial and read about why John and I are building a cordwood home.  And while you're there, see all the other neat guest posts going on while Kathreen is on vacation.

Update: Whip Up is going to be so so missed, as Kathreen is. My firewood tote is now available here. 

Succulents

I love my plants. I really do. I've been playing with succulents lately. I love propagating and repotting my plants - it gives me a bunch of warm motherly feelings. So, like any mother, I'm sharing some pictures with you.

First, my little collection outside my window. We just bought the Aloe plant, and this time I will remember to bring it in before the frost. You can see a couple of my little antique watering spikes. Have I mentioned these before? John bought me the bluebird first, and we've been hooked on them ever since. The purple vine is a Wandering Jew that my sister gave me maybe eight years ago. I've almost killed it a dozen times, but it always comes back.

I planted these spiky Hens and Chicks in my hedgehog planter, and feel pretty clever and satisfied for it. Don't touch, J!

By my other window is my large Jade plant. It was my grandmother's so I'm trying really hard to take care of it. In fact, it was the reason I started learning about succulents. The poor little Fitonia next to it used to be one of my favorites, but I just about killed it from over propagating it. Oops. I'm hoping to bring it back.

These are some new cuttings I just purchased from The Succulent Garden on Etsy. They feel like tiny little babies that I get to raise. Which is what they are, but, you know, I mean it anthropomorphically. Don't you just love that vase? He looks very regal. We got it at an antique place, but we don't really know what it is. Do you?

And here are some little cuttings I'm propagating into some old tea cups to sell at a craft fair later this fall.  I hope to sell them all because I definitely don't have enough window space for all of these plants this winter!

Dressing Up

We're all costumes around here.  Last time I rearranged the living room (it's a small house, so I'm always rearranging to meet our changing needs), I put a basket of dress up things in the kids corner.  There are tutus, aprons, bandannas, hats, cat ears, and crocheted pinafores.  Having them accessible has made us dig in and put them on almost daily.  Today, I'm adding a few new things.

First, Spoonflower is having another themed fabric contest for Halloween masks (go vote for me!).  I couldn't resist, so I joined the fun.  My fat quarter has four masks: bunny, cat, dog and owl.  L has been begging me to make the cat and dog, so I finally did today.  They were pretty easy to whip together.  I put an elastic around the head, but the girls felt a little trapped like that - so I think for the next two, I'm going to leave out the elastic and just sew on some strings so it can be tied on or just held in place.

And Second, I had a good idea for a Halloween costume, and L is pretty excited about it, so we made a trip to Goodwill and got started.  Yes, my little girls are going to be trees.  It's taking everything I have to wait until I finish the costume to tell you all about it, but there will be a full tutorial when I'm done.  Which is good, because I need a good excuse for making their costumes a month early.  This is L holding her branches up sans leaves.

L may be a little confused by all the costumes.  She told me she's going to be a tree for Halloween and she's going to wear cat ears and say meow.

comments

I'm getting a crazy lot of spam in the comments right now.  Stupid, I know.  So I'm turning comment moderation on, which is lame - but there it is. 

Tip for spammers:  people look for enhancement drugs go to the store, not the comments on my blog.  I think. 

Cat Ears Tutorial

 I'm planning a mother daughter night soon.  L and I will be going to see the middle school play The Aristocats.  I'm too excited.  I want it to be an over the top girls night, three year old style.  I made these cat ears for L and I to wear to the play, and perhaps to the gelato place afterwards.  J isn't quite ready to sit through a play, but she'll get to wear the ears, too.  Any recommendations for making the night more fun?

I sort of figured out the ears as I went, and it turned out pretty easy.  I think the trick is that the ear fabric needs to be thick so that it will stand up.  I bought our headbands at the dollar store, and they have a fabric cover over them, which also might help hold the ears in place.  I meant to get some that were hair colored, but L liked these bright colored ones and they did seem comfier.  I think they turned out well.  I didn't sketch out a pattern, so you'll have to draw your own ear shape, which I'm sure you can handle.  I think bunny ears would be great, too.

Materials:

thick fabric, lightweight fabric

head band, matching embroidery floss

1.  Cut 4 ears from a thick fabric like fleece, flannel, or - like mine - an old baby sleeper.  

2.  cut 2 smaller ears for the inner ear.  Fold the raw edges toward the back and iron flat.  Top stitch or hand sew to on of the fleece ears. 

3.  With RSF, sew front and back fleece ears together.  Turn RSO and tuck bottom edges in.  

4.  Place one ear over headband where you'd like it.  Starting on one side from the back, stitch through the bottom edge of the ear, around the headband, and back in the bottom edge. Repeat along the entire bottom edge.  Repeat with second ear.

Hope that's clear enough!  Let me know if you need better pictures.

Mr. Fox

The dapper and cuddly Mr. Fox is now drafted into a pattern and available below. The pattern has a bunch of pieces, but is still fairly simple. It includes instructions for making your own little tie, too. I'm packing mine up in a box to send off to a sweet little boy and his new little sister tomorrow. Why is Christmas so far away anyway?

Download the pattern here until Friday at noon (I decided to extend it a bit).   Updated:  The giveaway is over, you can find it in the shop.  Enjoy! And please share your foxes in the wewilsons flickr pool!

Sidetracked

My sister asked if I would make a fox for my nephew for Christmas.  He's been watching a fox in their backyard and calling him Mr. Fox.  Even though Christmas is over 4 months away, I decided to start on the fox right away - I get excited about new projects.  


Anyway, I love how he turned out.  I usually make my little animals small and compact, but I wanted this guy to be really huggable.  So he's long and floppy, and made of oh-so soft linen, stuffed with wool.  I made him a simple little tie to make him more of a Mister.

I decided he'd make a great pattern, so I made a second one just to get all the details right.  Consider this your pattern-giveaway head's up.  I'm hoping to have it finished in the next few days.

Little Coloring Book Lessons

I made this little coloring book for L to help her learn the Lord's Prayer as part of our home/pre-school.  I saw the idea somewhere else, but thought the graphics were little cheesy, so I just made my own.  I also used all capital letters, because she doesn't recognize lower case letters yet.  She loved it, and is really proud of her little book.  I may have to do this with all of our bible lessons!  I'm getting excited imagining a whole library of tiny little coloring books made by L. 

It's a single page that you color, then fold and cut into a little book.   Download the page here.  You can find directions for folding this kind of zine on ehow.

The Santa Project

I know it seems counter-intuitive, but I believe that limitations can produce an extremely creative environment.  This is why I love rule based projects.  You may remember my Orange Curtain Project from a couple of years ago.  I've been wanting to do another, but I didn't have any really great ideas. Until, now.

Without further ado, may I introduce The Santa Project. 

I've never really been into pre-made doll heads, I'd rather just make my own.  But, I recently came across a bunch of Santa doll heads.  My first thought was, who wants a Santa doll?  My second thought was, who else could you make with those heads?  So that's the challenge.  I have 6 little Santa heads, and a brain full of ideas.

This project is a just-for-fun, stress-free zone.  So, no time limit.  Just a bunch of old, mustached, white man dolls.  I have a ton of other things I should be doing, so I'm not sure when I'll get the first one done.

In the meantime, does anyone have any tips for working with these things?  How to attach them to the body?  How you might attach a beard?  What kind of paint you could use on the face?  I clearly have no idea what I'm doing.