Semi-homemade Halloween 2015

Each year I do the semi-homemade Halloween look.  It suits me quite well.  I do it mostly, because I enjoy it.  I really do want to sew things, but I have no problem, buying things to speed up the process. 

It really wasn't until this year that I realized how much $$ I was saving.  I decided to take my kids into a Halloween store just to look around and it was there that I discovered that typically each costume costs about $30 each.  Really?  That's crazy.  I can't believe people spend that much each year.

I actually had a goal, and stuck to it, thank you very much, of spending $30 total for all four children.  It was perfect.  Here's a breakdown of what I made and what I bought.

My youngest wanted to be Princess Elsa.  Her Nana has just bought her a play Elsa dress, so that made this costume very simple.  I sewed her some long sleeves.  

Then, following my own cape pattern, made her this very simple cape.  The bottom piece of the cape is sparkly Elsa-ish fabric I got from JoAnns, I just serged around all the edges with a rolled hem.  After it's purchase, I immediately regretted it, when it started shedding sparkles everywhere!  And I decided to make it nice and long so it would flow and look regal.  That turned out to be a big pain, too.  Dragging on the ground, it gets quite dirty and can easily be stepped on by the older siblings. So I ended up needing to pin it up. 

Live and learn, but it did look cute!

This girl wanted to be a Spooky Skeleton!

She had a couple requests, a red beating heart, and bone weapons, so she could fight.  She also did not want to look too spooky, so no fake bone/teeth on her mouth.  She was quite opinionated.

I bought her black shirt and black pants, then added the bones with fabric paint and freezer paper.

Check out the full tutorial HERE!

I insisted on the bone on her head, to make her a little cute bone head.

She's fierce.

This boy has been promising me for years that he would be Batman, but ultimately always changes his mind. This year, he finally committed. I made his cape when he was three, and by age seven, it was started to get a little snug on his neck. 

I started with purchased black sweats and a black shirt.  Added a real simple bat logo with Heat 'n Bond.  It was a little hard to see on black, so I added a little bit of white fabric paint in the back, before sealing it so the bat would Pop.

 

I made his gauntlet gloves and made him a simple utility belt to hold everything together.

This boy wanted to be Harry Potter...again.  After having read all the boys through, twice, it was an easy choice for him.  We could even reuse his glasses, from when he was one.

His outfit was pretty easy to put together.  Church shirt, Dad's tie, church pants and shoes.  We made a wand together, out of a stick from out backyard.  All that was left was the cloak and scarf.

About two weeks before Halloween, I told him, "You don't really want a scarf, right?  It's going to be a Ton of work."  Ultimately, he decided, yes, he really did want a scarf.  So I went to my stash and started working at nights on his crocheted scarf.  The color is a little more purple than I would have chosen, but, hey, it's what I had on hand.  It worked out pretty well.  We won't even talk about the 7+ hours it took me to complete it...

For the Cloak I followed Delia's tutorial found here. I switched it up a bit, since I wanted to have the inside red, but other than that, I stayed pretty true to it.  Also I added my own Gryffindor Patch.

 

And that was it!  Happy Halloween, everyone! 

How to Make a No-Sew Gryffindor Patch

 

My oldest son is going to be Harry Potter this year. 

 For those with a keen memory, you might remember that he was Harry Potter when he was one and a half years old. 

 Ahh, he was so cute!

The first robe and patch I made him was cute, though I knew I could do a little better this time around.

For a more authentic look, I checked Google for a great looking Gryffindor Crest and found this one.

Upon looking at it, it got the wheels spinning and I knew I could make this out of felt and have it look really good.

Here's how to make your own!

Materials Needed

1. Red, Yellow, Black, and Gray thick felt pieces, off the bolt works best

2. Heat'n Bond Ultra Hold Iron on

3. Printed off Gryffindor paper

4. Sharpie

5. Hot glue gun (optional)

STEP ONE: Print off your Gryffindor crest patch.

I did mine in black and white and referred to the actual picture on my I-pad for the color references.

STEP TWO: Gather felt materials and apply Heat'n Bond, as directions indicate.

STEP THREE: Cut crest out and trace outline onto heat'n bond paper.

STEP FOUR: Cut out each piece, turn them backwards and trace them onto the heat'n bond paper. 

Make sure it's backwards, so you have the pieces going in the right direction when you cut them out later.

 Make sure you label each piece so you remember where it goes.

For example, "RM = Right Middle" "LT= Left Top"

STEP FIVE: Cut out each piece, one at a time. 

Peal off Heat'n Bond paper.  Apply felt, bond side down, in place.  Iron down for 20 seconds.

STEP SIX:  Continue repeating step five, building from bottom to top.  

Do not iron, until everything is in place, exactly where you want it.

STEP SEVEN: Looking at the real image, add in all the details with a Sharpie

Your Gryffindor Patch is All done!

Once completed, add it to your robe, iron in place.  Because my patch had been ironed so many times, it didn't quite seem as strong, so I added a little hot glue, to keep everything in place.

For the full Harry Potter look, check this out!

DIY Easy Batman Gloves/Gauntlets

 

This year for Halloween my kids all went with something different for their costumes.  As much as I love family themed costumes, for example here, here and here, it is fun to just let them do their own thing, too.

I started with my son who wanted to be The Dark Knight-- Batman.  It was simple to gather up the materials, add the cape, and make a simple shirt, belt and pants.  But one thing he Really wanted was "Cool Batman Gloves".  After a quick internet search I found there wasn't a pattern for such a thing, so I made one. 

Here's how to make your own:

MATERIALS NEEDED

1. Print off the Batman Glove Pattern HERE

2. Black Shiny Fabric 

3. Thick cardboard or plastic for gauntlet spikes

4. Elastic

5. Serger

6. Hot glue gun

7. Other sewing notions

STEP ONE: Gather up materials and print off the pattern.  

Trace and cut out six spikes the size of the spikes on the pattern.  You can cut them out of thick cardboard or plastic.

I had this graded plastic on hand, so it worked great. 

STEP TWO: Cut out two gloves on folded fabric, right sides together (so you'll have four total).

STEP THREE:  Serge the edges as shown below, using a rolled edge for each of the four gloves, one at a time.

Because I was using cheap Halloween fabric, this turned out to be a rather tricky venture.  But eventually I got it to work.

  If you don't have a serger, using a teeny seam, tuck fabric in twice towards the wrong side of the fabric and use a zigzag stitch.

STEP FOUR: Place two gloves together, right sides facing, pin around the edges and sew using a 1/2" seam in places shown below.

STEP FIVE: Turn right side out, poke spikes out and press everything together.

STEP SIX: Try the glove on and mark with chalk where the glove fits snug on your child's arm.

STEP SEVEN: Line the inside of the chalk mark with velcro and sew in place.

STEP EIGHT:  Make sure the spikes are the right size to fit inside.  

If needed cut so they fit.  Place spikes in their spot and hot glue in place, closing the gap.

STEP NINE: Repeat everything for the other glove and All DONE!

Pretty cool, Mr. Dark Knight!

Check out the full costume here!

Young Women Activity- Box of Lies

As I've mentioned before I work with young women in my church, ages 12-18.  Each Wednesday we meet together and typically we're trying to do a lot of good for ourselves, others, and our God.   Each month we're specially preforming a service to others.  Often times we're learning a new skill (I've taught them lots of sewing- ha), or we're learning about safety or, generally, trying the better the world or ourselves.

That's literally a lot of growth and good we're putting out there.  And I love it -- however, I felt like we just needed to spend one night where we're having a lot of fun, getting to know each other-- and well, learning to lie a little...

If you're a big fan, like me, of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, then you may have seen his game they made up, Box of Lies.  Literally, the first time I saw it, I thought, "We should totally do this as an activity.  It would be So fun!"  Last week we finally did it!

Here's how we played the game.

FIRST, I made the board.

I was seriously struggling with how to make the board.  Mostly, because my go-to for all things is sewing.  And I was envisioning this fabric draped over PVC pipes, with a hole cut out.  It wasn't going well in my mind.  When I talked it over with some friends, my friend immediately said, "How about a science tri-fold board?"  I was like, Ah-HAH ingenious!  

So, I headed over to WAl-mart, picked up a black board.  I sat down at the table to try to determine how high the hole should be, then traced a big rectangle on the board.  Then, I cut that out with an exact-o knife.

Next I markered in each side with a silver or gold sharpie.  This made the holes really pop out and made my team names easy -- Gold team and Silver team.

For about three months I've been collecting boxes.  A lot of these came from the ReStore.  Plus a few from friends.

For what was inside I tried to get as creative as possible!  Mostly, I just went to the toy room and went for the most random collections I could think of.  Below are a few examples: A centipede, wearing Belle's princess dress, sitting inside Cinderella's glass slipper.  A rubbery Brontosaurus, wearing a jockey hat.  Olaf and R2D2 talking inside a pink baby crib.  A stem engine with a conductor and a brush.

 Before we started I read to the girls, the Official Rules:

Up front are a bunch of boxes containing objects no one has seen before.  

Taking turns each side will select a box, open it on your side of the table, out of view of the other person.

Once the object is out of the box, you look at your opponent and tell them what's in the box. 

You might be lying, you might be telling the truth.

Your opponent has to guess if it's a lie or a truth.

If you guess correctly you get a point.

Guess wrong, your opponent gets a point. 

Whichever team has the most points at the end of the the time, gets a Million Sugary Snacks!!!

The Looser gets nothing!

Let us begin!

I divided the girls up into groups, Silver and Gold.  Once each girl selected her box and sat down, I had them answer a simple math question.  Whoever answered it correctly First, got to go first.

This game was so fun and so random. 

 Just like I hoped it brought lots of laughing and we all had fun.