a shirt for a buck

holy cow what a busy, busy holiday season it's been. lots of overdue posts but thought i'd start with an easy/fast one.

rarely do i find anything cute and adorable for the boy. i saw this and knew he had to have it. right when i was about to click on the "buy me" button it dawned on me that i could possibly make something similar at a fraction of the price.

i found and modified a deer silhouette. used this technique from a few years ago. made a quick bowtie and done.


and here it is on the boy. spiffy huh?

steampunk duo

the first suggestion husband had for our costumes this year: dolly parton & kenny rogers. me as kenny and him as dolly. as much as i know he wanted to dress as dolly, i had absolutely no desire to dress as kenny. i love making an effort with my costume and kenny seemed didn't seem like it be much of a stretch. suit, wig and beard...boring. maybe we'll save this one for another halloween. anyways.

husbands next suggestion: steampunk. (steampunk: works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc.) yes, we would be explaining this to pretty much everyone who asked what our costumes were. our best explanation, "have you seen wild, wild west or the league of extraordinary gentleman? we're sorta like that."

so once we knew what we were gonna be, we scoured the internet for ideas and photos. here's my main inspirational photo.


we hit up the local thrift stores and even went to mountain city, tn to hit up an army surplus store. luckily we found bits and pieces at each place and our costumes started to come together.

breakdown of my costume. jacket: $8 off ebay, hat: borrowed from a friend, goggles: $7 off ebay, white shirt: mine, corset: borrowed from a friend's wench costume, green skirt: mine, white petticoat: $4 at goodwill, belts: $2 at goodwill, utility belt: $5 at army store, canteen: $3 at goodwill, skirt hikes: homemade, spats: homemade, shoes: mine, hair: $9 extensions, gun: $1 at goodwill.

i would breakdown the husband's outfit but i don't know what he paid for everything. most of his costume is also from his own wardrobe. i know i paid $3 for his nerf gun at goodwill and he paid $2.50 for his goggles at the army surplus store.

i think we both were really happy with the end result. the husband went so far as creating alter egos for each of us and coming up with a history for his own character. i know - NERD!

as you can see from a previous post, the aviator costume the boy wore sorta tied in with ours. this was the main reason i decided to make his costume this year.

next up: pumpkin carving party.

transformation

luckily we figured out what we were gonna be for halloween early on and i was able to search high and low for costume parts. 75% of my costume i already owned or made but there were a few things i had to purchase. this post will be about the transformations i performed on two pieces of my costume. this is my $8 ebay find. super bright but perfect in every other way.




a quick dye job and the color issue was resolved. unfortunately since the thread was coated it did not pick up the dye. i ended up taking a sharpie marker and just coloring the thread. i'm sure there's another method to fix this issue but i knew it would be dark at the party and i didn't want to spend too much time worrying/fixing it. although coloring thread took a lot longer than i initially thought.

the second transformation was my weapon for the evening. a $1 goodwill find.



i'm really happy with how this turned out. a total transformation. it's amazing what a little paint will do. i added some nuts, bolts and gears and about a million layers of paint. tomorrow will be the costume reveal.

the aviator

this will be the first of many posts about our halloween holiday. i thought i'd start with the little man's costume. or i should say one of his three costumes. yes, my parents and aaron's dad both sent costumes for him. and since he had two to choose from i decided there really was no reason for me to worry about making him a costume. both were adorable and warm. (see above photos) but while out searching for bits and pieces for our costumes, i found a little bomber jacket for $2. and *ding, ding* i knew i'd be making him a costume now. especially since it would sorta tie into our costumes.


i was able to find a generic pattern to make an aviator cap. i lined the ear flaps and headband with fleece to make it a little more comfortable for him to wear. i also knew he probably would not wear goggles, so i made a pair using black felt, gold paint and clear plastic all of which i happened to have lying around. i attached them to his hat and used a piece of crepe paper to to make the strap. (i would probably modify this part since it was pretty much shredded after the second wear. but it served its purpose for the most part.) his scarf is actually part of the slip from my costume. the slip was too long for what i wanted to use it for so i cut it down and used the excess to make his scarf. his pants are his normal pants. and the last thing i made were his spats. i found a pattern on the internet to give me a general idea of what i needed to do. of course i had to modify them to fit a much smaller person. i also made these using the fast a furious method meaning i used velcro for the closure and instead of real buttons i used paint. i didn't finish the edges either, i decided painting those would seal them and save me a lot of time.


finally the last thing i made was his candy bag. i knew he'd be using this more than once so i didn't want it to be costume specific. right now i'm all about monsters, the cute and adorable kind, so i just went with it.

ave did great wearing his costume. i was a bit worried he'd refuse to wear the hat since we're just now transitioning from the summer to the winter hat but it wasn't an issue at all. his costume was a big hit and i'm glad i did decide to make it in the end. i'm already thinking about next year...well that is if he lets me pick his costume again. fingers crossed.

halloween illustrated

with halloween around the corner, it's been a crazy madhouse around here. which is both good news and bad news. the crafting/designing bug is back after a super long hiatus. nothing like my love of the holiday to do that to a girl. but it does look like a crafting bomb exploded all over the house. creating costumes, planning and decorating for a party, and keeping after an active toddler has got me burning the candle at both ends.

once again we're doing our annual pumpkin carving party. this year the party is a little bigger and a whole lot better. at least i'm planning more than i did last year. tonight i spent some time working in illustrator, probably more time than i should have, making labels. i'm pretty happy with the way they turned out but it took me a whole lot longer than i expected. i'm so out of practice it's pathetic. hopefully i'm back in the game cause even though it took me long, i actually enjoyed it. yay graphic design!

i'll post pics after the party so you can see them in action as well as all my other creepy food and costume creations. happy halloween everyone!

quick and easy pillow

well not so quick but pretty easy to make. i've been wanting to recycle a sweater into a pillow for some time now. with my $3 recent thrift store find and scissors in hand i went to work. the reason i thought it would be quick, i believed all i had to do was cut it to the shape i wanted then sew it together. but when i went to sew it together there was no way the thick sweater was fitting under the foot of my machine. this meant i'd have to hand sew it. i decided it was best to use the yarn from the sweater so i unraveled one of the sleeves. (contrary to what weezer says, it's not so easy to unravel a sweater at least not with this one.) then with a simple whip stitch i was able to make this new/old pillow for our couch. a very easy way to update your throw pillows and only cost $3.

this is just one of the pillows i made, i'll be sharing some more in the upcoming days.

owl stop

so much for blogging more. after a serious flux in crafting the last month preparing for the boone handmade market things are finally starting to settle down. i was pretty much burning the candle at two ends. chasing a one year old around all day then trying to craft after he went to bed. i have tried crafting during daylight hours but the wee one has made it virtually impossible. with a minor freak out at the sound of the sewing machine and getting his hands on all my non-kid friendly craft supplies i have decided it best not to craft while he is conscious. burning the midnight oil has become a norm around here. (not really anything new if you know me)

so in my attempt to keep the blog and craft thing going, i'll post the new things being created by a rude girl and start updating the shop as well. i'll also go into a little more detail about craft shows and all the new things people noticed in my booth pic in another post. for now i'll let my little owl stop tide you over.

we've been using a bottle of laundry detergent to hold open the baby gate at the top of the stairs. on sunday i decided to make something a little less of an eyesore and voilà a hootie was born. i used fabric i got from my grandmother a few years ago, some felt and a few buttons from my stash. i left the opening at the top, filled a 1/4 of it with rice and the rest with reclaimed pillow stuffing. i was able to put a flat bottom on him but i'm still learning how to construct a pattern so it's not exactly as nice as i'd like it to be. it probably took me a little more than an hour to make and i didn't do all that i would have liked to have done. if i do another, i'll probably add some wings and a few more decorative accents. but for a quick and easy project, i'm quite happy with it. and little man noticed it right away, brought it to me while i was brushing my teeth the next morning.

website wednesday

as if i didn't have enough going on, here's my latest love. if you love anything and i mean anything crafty this is a fantastic site to check out. fair warning, it can be an inspirational overload, at least it has been in my case. so enjoy my friends.

ginger kids

if you couldn't tell, one of my resolutions is to keep up with the blog. to at least post a few times a week, if not every day. one of the main things i want to post about is crafting. what's on the agenda, what's in progress, what's completed. i'm hoping it'll motivate me to keep things in motion.

this year my family came to visit for christmas and it's always nice to have activities for everyone to do. and if it's crafty in nature, it's even better. one thing we did was decorate gingerbread houses and cookies. while out shopping before christmas, i found a gingerbread house kit that contained 5 houses. i thought this would be perfect - everyone would get their own house to decorate. little did i know the houses were pretty much the same size as the images on the box. they were TINY. the roofs were the biggest surface to decorate and they were about the size of a credit card. i'm a stickler for detail and it was a challenge to do anything on these houses. i think we're done with kits, next christmas we'll do everything from scratch. that is if i can get my act together in time.

we had better success with decorating the cookies. i found a cookie cutter that's shaped like a house so that made up for the tiny house fiasco. here are a few of my creations. as you can see, my cookies tend to be somewhat non-traditional in nature.

edible decor

last year our good friends got us a whirley pop for christmas. it only took us a year to open and use it. and of course, the first thing i decide to do with the popcorn is a christmas craft project. our rotating tree was looking a little sparse when the lights weren't on so i decided to string a popcorn garland to jazz it up. it was pure torture for the dogs, they love popcorn. bosco literally sat underfoot the whole two hours it took me to string it. occasionally scoring a kernel or two.

behold. the finished product.

so far the tree is still standing. i was worried i'd come down to an annihilated tree this morning. we'll see if it makes it the rest of the holiday season. i'm not sure if the dogs realize what and where it is. let's hope they don't figure it out.

felt fetish

i don't know why but i have a love affair with felt. lately my craft projects have revolved around the medium. right now i'm attempting to make 3 dimensional felt flowers. it's basically trial and error, trying to use paper techniques and applying it to felt. once i master them i'll have to figure out how i'll use them. i will be posting the new felt hair clips i made for the craft show i did few weeks ago. i've got a few new designs i came up with that i'm pretty happy with.

i finally finished the stocking i started last year for the little man. my brother and aaron both have/had stockings made by our mom's so i thought i'd do the same for avery. it's made from a kit just so i can get the hang of layering and what not. if i do another larger felt project i think i'm gonna attempt making avery a halloween bag. although this one is reasonably priced.

shop update is coming really soon. i promise.

halloween 2010 in a nutshell

halloweens of yesteryear. yeah, we love the holiday!

everything is coming up poppy

one of my first crafting projects in a long time: baby bedding for my friend, greyson. she's expecting her first, a little girl, in a few weeks and i volunteered to make the bedding for her as a shower gift.

she picked the fabrics and i did the rest. this was the first time i've made either a baby bumper or a crib skirt. i crossed my fingers and prayed the end result would be somewhat recognizable. i ended up using the directions from amy butler's little stitches for little ones book. the directions were fairly simple. but i'm not sure if i'm out-of-practice because i did find myself reading and re-reading each step. what am i saying? i've always had a hard time reading patterns. it's like it's written in some kinda sewing code or for the dyslexic.

in the end, i was happy with the outcome as was greyson. the nursery is absolutely adorable. almost makes me want to have a girl for our next. almost.

another crafty project i did for her shower: poppy cupcakes. brett and grey are 90% sure they are gonna name her "poppy" so as one of her gifts i got her this. which inspired me to to makes these for the shower.

they are homemade peach cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. i used prepackaged fondant to make the flowers, didn't trust myself to make my own. unfortunately i could not find black edible candy balls in boone, so i used yellow instead. they still turned out great and actually matched the cake at the shower, at least the coloring (ha, ha. if you saw the cake you would understand why this is funny). nothing like a baby to inspire some craftiness. tomorrow i'll post my ghetto-rigged teeth guard i put on little mans crib yesterday.

red all over

Red Rum - letterpress greeting

Red Love Grows with Dove

Hand Screenprinted Birch Forest in Red fabric

VIVID RED POPPIES Shoe clips

purple people eaters

PASSIONATE PURPLE Recycled Magnetic LOCKET SET

Violet Hydrangea Ring Box

Handmade Purple Tiny Tile Bobby Pin Set

Penelope Necklace No. 2

perfectly pretty in pink

this is actually proving to be more time-consuming than i thought. looking for the perfect item then trying to find the perfect corresponding pic, yeah it's taking me a lot longer than i expected. hence the lack of commentary.

one reason i'm doing this is to spark some inspiration. i've started crafting again. little things here and there. i was just asked if i'd like to consign some of my stuff at a local bookstore. i hardly have enough to keep my etsy store up and running let alone consign or have a booth at a craft fair. since the weather is starting to grow colder and our lives a little less hectic, i'm shooting to get back in gear. i need to set mini goals and a little sweat shop in my craft room. maybe then i'll get some stuff done.

Polaroid Coaster - Pink Fairies

Savoy Truffle - 9-Piece Enameled Bangle Set

Pair Vintage Table Lamps with New Custom Drum Shades

Large berry bowl strainer and scallop saucer in lilac.

berry blue

Navy Blue with Honeysuckle print throw pillow

Dipping dish - beetle in ocean blue

Coco - 3 lovely blue wool felt flowers headband

Tattoo Style Anchor Love Pendant

go for green

Peacock Parade Necklace

Sweet Little Blue Bird on a Pale Green Bowl


9 Mossy Green Felted Wool Acorns


Landscape leather bracelet

color feast

this week i'm bringing back the color wheel. but this time i'm combining my love of color with my love of etsy. just in time for the holidays.

i meant to start this yesterday so i'll be a day behind. today we are yellow.

Copper and Honey Felt Flower Brooch

Sweet Sterling Silver Honeycomb Necklace by Rachel Pfeffer

Sweet Lemon Cream Soap Loaf

Gorgeous flower shaped filigree silver hairpins

AUTUMN WIND - Original Mixed Media Painting on Canvas