Happy Halloween!

     I really hope everyone had a great Halloween. We had several trick or treaters before it started to sprinkle. It was pretty chilly and wet but we were able to get rid of most of our candy. By the end of the night, I was giving everyone big hand fulls. The neighborhood was swamped last year so I went a tad overboard this year.

     Ella had so much fun passing out candy and seeing all of the costumes. She would wave bye-bye when they walked away. It was too cute for words. We will be taking her door to door next year. I bet she would have been up for it this year but with the weather, I figured it would be better to wait. Everyone had a great time and we now have a pretty good candy stash too.

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Boo at the Zoo

                Every year for Halloween our local Zoo puts on a little carnival with rides and trick or treating. I remember going when we were kiddos now we take our little ones every year. They always have a great time and it seems to just keep getting bigger and better.

                Last night was great and fall weather is finally here so it actually feels like October. Ella really enjoys playing with her cousins and had a blast running around in her costume. One good thing about using the plush fleece is that it kept her nice and warm. I used plush fleece and it was pretty terrible. No fabric has made me say the things that this fleece has. It was frustrating but really worth it. She loves playing in the little costume and it should last her a while.

                Ella’s favorite parts of the night were the were the haunted train ride and the carousel. She is a tiny thrill seeker. It is so funny because she thinks monsters are hilarious. Obviously, we have not shown her anything super scary. She is a fan of “kid scary.”  The Over the Jumps Carousel was a huge hit as always. It is an amazing historic ride from 1924. We usually have to ride it at least a few times. Ella just cackled as the horses went up and down the hills.

                We ended the night at the little dance party. Ella kept up with the bigger kids really well. She didn’t even have any candy. She slept so well last night and even slept in a bit this morning. That is not something that happens often. 

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Spooky Halloween Bow

                I figured that I would share with you how to make a cute little bow for Halloween. Since the 31^st is Tuesday, I wanted to make today’s project as simple as possible. All you need to make it is a solid black bow, googly eyes, and hot glue. If you can find a premade bow, that is ideal but you can always make your own. I used a loose bow that I found at Walmart a few weeks ago and attached a clip to the back. You can make your own using 2-inch grosgrain ribbon.

                I had a little bat ring floating around the craft room so I cut the ring part off and attached it to the middle of the bow. I then started placing eyes around the bow to see where I like them. The eyes are on the bigger side so I kept it to 4 sets. If they were a little smaller I would have added a few more.

                Once I was happy with the placement, I attached them. Going set by set, I glued them all down. If you like you can add or remove sets based on your preference and type of bow. Once the glue is cool, you are all set. I hope you liked this quick project and have fun making spooky little bows. 

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Our Crafty Weekend

                Our War Eagle Weekend was amazing and Ella handled the trip really well. It was her first time sleeping away from home and I was a bit worried but she is a little champ. She had a great time wandering all over the camper. She also enjoyed walking her grandparents and Maddy the wiener dog all over the campground. Exercise is very important and I’m sure she was just worried about everyone’s health.

                Friday, we stayed at War Eagle Mill on Friday. We started off with breakfast at the mill which is always good. Ella was not a huge fan of the gravy but loved the eggs and sausage. The mill is functional and Ella had so much fun watching them grind corn. War Eagle and Sharp’s Show were great. There were so many talented exhibitors and we came back with some neat finds. 

                On Saturday, we stopped at a farmer’s market, checked out the regional craft fairs. We were not disappointed. There were a few things that we had seen at War Eagle that we wanted to go back for so we ended the day there. Next time we go, I would really like to check out the little shops in town. They looked interesting but we didn’t have time and didn’t want to overdo it with La-la.

                Once we got home, I was so excited to get back in my craft room. Seeing all the adorable sewn items was extremely motivating. My goal for this week is getting the unicorn outfits done before this weekend. After all of my Halloween projects are done, I have a challenge for myself. I want to see how many different projects I can make out of my fabric and yarn stash/hoard without wasting anything. It is going to be fun and I will be doing a few posts about my progress. There are so many old projects that are going to be at the top of my list.

               I hope everyone had a great weekend. Happy crafting. 

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Spooky Toddler Games

              There are tons of great things you can do to help develop your little one’s skills. Playtime is the best for learning new things especially when they are small. While we were in Joann’s a while back, I found these little Halloween themed buttons and puffballs. We have played several little games with these. 

                Ella had a blast with the buttons. The buttons are in the shape of little spiders, witches on brooms, shoes, cauldrons, and hats. They are in different sizes but we only used the larger ones since La-la still likes to eat things sometimes. Older kiddos can use the sizes to make patterns or match the ones that are the same size. We had little containers that I had saved from her little green beans. Those containers were perfect for her to put the little buttons into and sort them based on shape or color. She really enjoyed matching the colorful spiders and the purple one was, by far, her favorite.

                For the spider game, I set 4 containers out with a different color spider in each. I then gave Ella a spider to match with the correct container. For the witch game, I set out the 4 containers without anything inside. I gave Ella a pile of the witch, shoe, hat, and cauldron buttons. We separated the pile into the containers. She thought the containers made great button catapults as well.

                With the puffballs, again only using the larger ones, we tried to introduce patterns but she isn’t quite there yet. She liked matching up the colors but her favorite thing with the puffs was to fling them around the living room. She was so happy dragging the bag around and kicking at the puffs on the floor. It was a great opportunity to work on another skill, picking up our messes. She really likes helping her mommy.

                This weekend we are heading up to War Eagle. Ella has been helping pack for the trip. She is apparently worried that I will forget her sippy cup and books. It honestly feels a bit like moving with all the things this little girl needs. I’ve been known to over pack but I think I’m being really good this time.

                Anyway, I really hope everyone has a great week and have fun playing with those kiddos.

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Making Legwarmers for Little Legs

                I am a big fan of fun socks. This time of year is the perfect time to find cute designs for the holidays and things but I have had a hard time finding as many for Ella. Legwarmers are adorable on little ones and super easy to make. I found some adorable socks and made a couple pairs for Ella. Here is how to make some for your little pumpkin using knee-high, or taller, socks and 1/2-inch elastic.

                You will need to measure the length of your baby’s leg and around their ankle. For Ella that was about a foot. Lay the socks down flat and mark your measurement on the sock plus an inch and a half. I left the top of the sock as it was since Ella is older and has some chunky little legs. If the top is a bit loose on your baby, add another inch and a half to the total length and measure around your baby’s thigh.

                Cut the socks where you marked your total length, For Ella, this was 14 3/4 inches. Flip them inside out and fold the raw end of the sock up 3/4 of an inch to make a casing for your elastic. Using a zig zag stitch, stitch most of the way around the folded edge leaving an inch gap. Cut your elastic to the ankle measurement plus 1/2 an inch to allow the ends to overlap. Insert the elastic into the casing through the gap in the stitching. To do this, you can attach a safety pin, bodkin, or elastic tool, to the end of the elastic and push it around the casing. Overlap the ends of the elastic and stitch it closed. Settle the elastic into the casing and close it up using the zig zag stitch.

                If you need to make the top smaller just repeat the steps for the ankle on the top of the sock and use the measurement for your baby’s thigh plus 1/2 an inch for your elastic. For Ella, I left the top of the sock as is. So, once the ankle elastic was in, I was able to flip them right side out and they are good to go.

                I made the pair with the kitty cats for Halloween and a pink and white striped pair for Ella to wear for Race for the Cure. This will be her first time doing the race so I made her a cute little outfit. It is always a lot of fun. I hope you have fun making these for your little one. Ella has really enjoyed hers so far. 

Pictures are done. Now it's story time.

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Make a Magical Cat for Your Door

I have been looking for some new Halloween decorations for the house. We had a few little things from the old apartment last year and with La-la being so small, I didn’t think much about it. This year I wanted some things for the front door and in the garden. We found large cat eyes at Joann's and my first thought was to make a wreath. Here is how I did it.

                We found a great tinsel wreath at Michael’s. They are available in all kinds of colors and shapes to fit your décor. Hot glue is my best friend and worked really well to hold the eyes in place. For more stability, I attached pipe cleaners to the back of each eye and wired them to the frame inside the wreath.

Just twist the legs around the inner frame.

                For the nose and whiskers, I used a scrap of the glitter foam from last week’s bat and silver pipe cleaners. I cut the nose shape and glued the whiskers to either side. Once the glue was cool and set, I laid the whiskers across the bottom half of the wreath so that the nose would be in the right spot. A spot of hot glue on each whisker was enough to hold the nose in place.

If your ears don't stand up, you can add wire to the back as support.

                The ears are made from sequin banner pieces. Joann’s has them in packs of 2. They have a felt back and are a bit more rigid so they stand up well. You can also use thick felt or craft foam. I put a line of glue across the bottom of the triangle to hold it on the back of the wreath frame. I took the little hat off a little Halloween headband. It was a bit squished but I was able to straighten it out and attach it between the two ears.

                To finish it off, I attached a little bell on the bottom with a pink ribbon to match the hat. I used a cute little star bell that was left over from a previous project. It has been several years now so I do not remember exactly where I got it. The wreath hanger hooks onto the frame perfectly behind the hat so there was no need to add anything else.

                I am so happy with how it turned out and it was so much fun to make. I hope you have a blast decorating too!

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Bat Headband!

                I have had so much fun making these headbands. Anything that I put on La-la’s head is both adorable and hilarious. In the store the other day, I put a tiny top hat on her and could not stop laughing. It was ridiculous and a few strangers gave me some pretty crazy looks. There are a few headbands that I have been working on. Here is how I made this adorable bat.

                For this one, I wanted something a little stiffer but not too heavy. The wings are larger and I was afraid felt would sag. Craft foam was a perfect choice and is extremely simple to work with. You can find the foam at your local craft store or online in individual sheets or larger packs. I wanted the wings to sparkle on both the front and back. Laying two sheets of black foam with the glitter sides together, I freehanded a batwing shape and cut it out of both sheets. Using the first wing as a pattern, I cut out the second set of wings ending up with 4 separate wing pieces. With the glitter sides out, I laid the left and right wing pieces together. I wanted to have the wings attach to the band and match the curve so I traced the band and trimmed off the extra. The ears were made using the same process.

                To add extra glam, I added the silver inside of the wings and ears. After coming up with the shape, I cut one to mirror for the other wing. The shapes were made by taking a wing cut out of the silver and dividing it into parts for size.  Starting on the outer most silver shape, I worked my way inward fitting them together and trimming as I went.

                I first glued the wing and ear halves together and then added the silver. To assemble them I used craft glue and let it set while I worked on other projects. Once the glue was set, I hot glued the wings to the sides of the band and the ears on top. This one is meant to fit La-la’s little noggin so the headband is tiny. This same process would work perfectly for an adult size as well. I do recommend trying on the headband if you can, so you know it will be comfy. I hope you enjoy making your own little bats! 

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