Kids Costumes

This year Landon wanted to be a tiger for Halloween. So I decided to make us all big cats. Thayne was a lion, Lena was a black panther, Landon was a tiger, I was a leopard and Aaron was a cougar. I made everyone's costumes, except for Lena I only made a tail and ears. Thayne's was by far the most difficult and time consuming. But I think it turned out super cute. The thing I loved about them is they are all basically jammies with ears and tails, so super comfy!

Thayne's mane took forever, but I think it is cute.

Adorable little lion

One of the times he wore it we even painted him a little black nose.

Lena was the cutest black panther ever, so of course she looked like a kitty cat. Her costume varied day to day, sometimes she wore a tutu, sometimes not, sometimes she wore a leotard, sometimes a shirt. But she always had the ears and tail.

They wanted to wear the face paint, but they always ended up smearing it. But who cares, right?

And this guy was so excited to be a tiger. It was the first time he has wanted to be something, which was really fun for me too.

Aaron and I's costumes were a lot like Landon's but I didn't have a hood with ears, I had a headband with ears.

Yay! for fun Halloween costumes.

Fun house/ spook alley

My husband and I got to help put together a funhouse/spook alley for our church Halloween party this year. It was for little kids (2-12), so nothing scary. We did so many things for it; we figure I spent 30+ hours working on things for it this week. Plus there's all the time my husband and the other people that helped put in. I drew all the pictures that we put up on the walls. I drew 53 panels that were each about 3' x6'. I made 10 hanging bats, 8 hanging ghosts, 20 glowing jars, and put together various other Halloween decorations. We had black lights, Halloween music, huge boxes to crawl through, etc. The pictures really don't do it justice. It looked so much better in person. My camera had a hard time with the dark rooms, but the pictures with the flash lose the effect. Anyway, it was SO MUCH FUN!


Room 1: Haunted wood

Room 2: Mad scientist lair

Room 3: Graveyard

Trick or Treat bag

I've made simple trick-or-treat bags for my two oldest children. I made Landon's two years ago and then another one for Lena this year. I wanted something that would store easily (those big store-bought pumpkin pails are cute, but take up a lot of space) and would stay open so that my little kids wouldn't have to worry about trying to get the candy in the bag. I made a simple fabric bag with a handle. At the top I made a casing and slid a bent wire (from a hanger) through it, duct taped the ends of the hanger and sewed it shut. They have worked perfectly and were very easy to make.

knit dress

I got to test another pattern for Amy at http://naptimecrafters.blogspot.com/ for her shop http://peekaboopatternshop.bigcartel.com/. I had been given this fabric and since I was testing the pattern was free. So it is a cute, new, free play dress for Lena. The knit is nice and comfy for her and I got some more practice working with knits.

Inexpensive Halloween Decorations

These ghosts are made from white tea towels that I cut and frayed the edges. I used a sharpie to draw the faces. Then I spread mod podge on the middle of it and placed it over an upside down cup and let it dry so it would hold it's shape, but the edges would still be flowy. Then I threaded some string through the top and hung it.

I saw this idea on a blog last year, http://www.dana-made-it.com/2010/10/bats.html, but I didn't get around to it until this year. It is just black bats cut out of construction paper and taped to the wall. The template for it is at Country Living, http://www.countryliving.com/cm/countryliving/data/bat.pdf. I really like the look and it is so easy.

Halloween dress

I love making dresses for Lena! This dress was so much fun to design and make. I love Halloween (not the scary part, but the fun stuff). So when I saw all the cute Halloween fabrics I really wanted to get some and this was my excuse!

It looks better when the ribbon is pulled a little tighter, but Lena likes to mess with it and try to pull it out. I think I will have to double knot it next time she wears it.

She loves putting it on and usually wears at some point throughout the day (she changes clothes a lot).

Sorry the pictures aren't that great. She is so busy and my camera isn't very good.

The skirt is a circle skirt with tulle gathered and added at the hem. In these pictures she is wearing a black tutu under it, which I think looks fine, but I like it better without.

The back is pretty much the same as the front with the ribbon criss-crossing.

Now to make our Halloween costumes...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Circle

I'm not exactly sure what to call these. They are a cross between a pillow and a bean bag chair. We just call them circles. We use them for circle time. The blue one is Landon's and the pink one is Lena's and the goal is to get them to sit on them during circle time and pay attention (both of them struggle with that, but they are learning). They are fun for playing on too.