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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween and a DIY Baby Roo Costume.

Happy Halloween! Today is my baby's first holiday, and what a fun one Halloween is! As far back as I can remember I have enjoyed making costumes- for play, for renaissance fairs and for the church harvest festival. I mean, combining crafting and make believe play? It doesnt get better than that!

This year I wanted to make the baby a costume. I wanted to dress her up as Roo from Winnie the Pooh but I knew I wouldnt have time to sew an outfit from scratch. So I went to the children's consignment show looking for a brown sleeper suit and found one that looked like a monkey. I knew it would do perfectly. Heres the baby modeling the before shot of the costume, unaltered.




And another shot of the monkey sleeper jammies. The Jammies are a size 6 months and my little miss is just barely out of the newborn size clothes. So this is pretty big on her but since she cant walk and trip in it i figured it was fine. ;) These jammies cost $4.99.




Next, I had to find a blue shirt since Roo wears a blue, long sleeved turtle neck. I was lucky to find EXACTLY that although I would have been content with a plain blue t-shirt. The shirt was $.99 at the thrift store.Surprisingly finding a blain blue shirt of any kinda was tricky. I looked for a few weeks before I found this one. Its a size 24 months.



Finally, I needed some felt to make the ears ,tail and to make letters to put Roo's name on the shirt. I used 4 sheets and each one cost just .33 cents. I got two browns, a pink and a white.

So first I put the t-shirt over the jammies. I considered cutting the shirt down the middle from bottom to top adn stitching it to the jammies to make it easier to put on and take off, but since Im a tight-wad, I didn't want to ruin the shirt. Also because the shirt and jammies were so large, I felt confident I could get the baby in and out easily enough.



I folded the bottom of the shirt up and basted the hem in place. Again, I didnt want to cut it or put real hems in it that would ruin the shirt. I also rolled up the sleeves.

Next, I drew the letters on to the back of the felt material. You have to make the R backwards if you want to be sure not to have pen marks on the front of the letters that would show up on the shirt. I just free-handed these letters but you could use a stencil too. I cut those out and basted them in place.



For the ears I made a stencil out of an old cereal box and traced it on the pink. Then I cut them out and used them as a guide to make the same shape on the brown. I wanted the brown just a little larger than the pink so it would show in the front. At first, I tried to glue the front and back together. That didnt work so I ended up sewing it really quickly on my sewing machine. I only went around the edge ot the side of the eats, leaving the bottom open. I then was able to stuff the monkey ears into these Roo ears and safety pin them in place. Sewing them in place would have been a nicer option but I was doing "quick crafting" as my baby doesnt like to let me do much besides nurse her.



Finally, I free-handed a tail to cover the monkey tail on the costume. I made it out of the brown felt and then sewed around the edge except for the base which I left open in order to stuff the monkey tail inside. I safety pinned it in place. Then I gathered a couple inches of fabric on the monkey PJs and safety pinned them. This gathered bit makes the jammies fit my baby better and also gives the illusion of a Roo's legs which are shorter in the back than in the front.

And Tada! We are done!



Tuesday, October 22, 2013

I don't get the chalkboard-paint-on-everything fad.

I mean, i just don't. Why does everything need to be written/drawn on? Okay, nice chalkboard signs and placards, tags, ONE wall in a room, table tops and even cups, I get it. But why does it have to be on all.the.things??? 

I've seen chalk board paint:
  • covering whole rooms
  • on earrings---so you can draw on your earring to match your outfit?
  • on baby bibs
  • on Christmas tree ornaments
  • covering whole refrigerators
  • covering a chest of drawers/dresser
  • on Easter eggs in lieu of dye
  • As fancy wall art
  • On pumpkins

Now, I love to doodle as much as the next gal. But this really doesnt make sense to me. I mean, chalkboard paint is usually black (but of course we have all seen the pinterest pin about how to make any paint into chalkboard paint) so its dark and not suited to cover walls in huge rooms and its very unforgiving of that nasty chalk dust that always covers the surface. 

Also, if its regularly written/drawn on then it will usually feature sloppy handwriting and scribbles and half-erased messages and CHALK DUST! At this point it ceases to be an art piece and just becomes and eyesore. And if its NOT drawn on but is meant to feature a permanent word, design or image, why do it in chalk which wipes away so easily?? 

I just think this trend is bizarre and outta control. Chalkboard paint, like all things is much better enjoyed in moderation.

No offense to people who have chalkboard paint covered houses. :)

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Baby Is Here

My baby was born a little over seven weeks ago- on August 22nd. A beautiful little girl. Still trying to decide what to call her here in the blog world. I'll have to write about her birth some time. Ive been putting it off but it needs to be done.

She weighed a little over 7lbs and was 19 inches long.
We are settling in nicely. Shes a pretty mellow baby. Only cries when shes hungry. She nurses great, sometimes all day and all night long. Hehe. And she is growing so fast! She was up to 9lbs 2 3 ounces last Thursday.

Im really, really in love.