Jayden the Rattlesnake

Jayden jumped off the bus a couple weeks ago totally excited and shouting, "Mom!!!  YOU have homework!!"  I'm like, "What the???"  Come to find out Jayden's class is creating a class zoo and each student got to pick an animal to research and do a presentation on and then create a costume for.  The costume was MY homework.  Jayden's animal of choice : Rattlesnake.  Rattlesnake? Where in the world do I find an idea for a costume for a rattlesnake.  Pinterest had nothing!  So I was like, "Let's just grab some paper sacks, make you a hole for your head and we'll draw on snake skin."  Jayden thought that was the worst idea he'd ever heard.  Turns out, he already had an elaborate plan for his costume and it needed to go over his head and have fangs and a really long tail that rattled.  Oh, man.......

So I went to the fabric store with Jayden and we found some snake skin material - the colors weren't quite right, as the fabric was "python" and not "rattlesnake", but I told Jayden he couldn't be THAT picky, the material looked like snake.  :)   And then I found an old hooded sweatshirt in my closet, cut the arms of it off, traced a pattern for it and sewed the snake skin material right over the top of the hoodie.

And created a 3ft long tail that I then stuffed and sewed onto the bottom of the sweatshirt, but not before putting a toilet paper roll filled with Mardi Gras beads in the tip of the tail for the rattle.

Sewed on some eyes, stuffed some fangs and voila! 8-10 hours later we have a snake costume that Jayden approved of!

I think it looks a little more lizard like than snake, but I'm not telling him that!

The class zoo was super cute and everybody had memorized a script about their animal, so you walked from animal to animal and they told you all about what they were dressed up as.

New Super Heros

Jayden has been begging for a new super hero cape for while now, but kind of off and on, and since he already has a dino cape that I made him, and the children have a history of not really loving things that I make - not sure why, they're AWESOME! - I was kind of hesitant to go out and get him material for a new cape.  However, while grandma was here, she was in dire need of a nap, so I drug Jayden with me to Hobby Lobby and told him we could search for new cape material.  He was a little grumpy about the whole thing, said there was no material there that would make a good cape, until he spotted the super shiny metallic material in the way back corner.  Perfect for super hero capes.  He picked out gold and silver for his own, and silver and pink for Willows.  And then I spent a few hours trying to bend the extremely slippery material to my will and came out with these!

Willow a.k.a Sparkle Girl   She named herself after her favorite sparkle shoes she had on today.  (I apologize again about the hair, but I believe I've pleaded my case before)

And Jayden a.k.a ????  When I asked him what his super hero name was he said, "I can't tell you, it's a secret"  Oooooookay!

And I believe we've heard before that "you don't need pants to save people!" Obviously these two come from the same stock!

A Cute Apron

I made this apron for a friend's daughter who was getting an art center for her birthday.  Sadly, we didn't get to go to her birthday party because we all came down with a bad cold. 

I'm really glad I have enough material left over to make one for Willow because I really like it!

Valentine Presents

As part of the kid's valentines presents, I sewed them some last minute gifts...like yesterday.  :)

For Jayden, he got what he asked me for, a dinosaur blanket.  And then I made him a matching headwarmer thingy.   This time though I got smart and instead of it being a pull onto your head kinda thing, I made it adjustable with velcro!  I know, I'm a genius!

And the velcro comes in real handy when you are putting it on a head that has pigtails.  Like Willow, who got a matching skirt to go with hers!

 

And I'm not sure, but these 2 might be related....

Christmas Crowns

I am almost done making our family Christmas pj's for the year.  I actually had all of them done, but when I made Royal try his on, something was really funky with the crotch area - so funky it made me uncomfortable and scrunch up my nose at him like, 'what is wrong with those????'.  I don't know what happened, I used the same pattern that I created his pajama pants out of last year, but when I was cutting them out this year, I thought then that the whole crotch area just didn't look right.  I'm not sure, but it seems someone might have messed with my pattern because last years pants turned out just fine!  So, I'm just going to have to create a new pattern for Royal and then make him another pair for this year.

I just couldn't stand to sit down and rip out all of the seams - Royal's pants are just so big!  So I just cut around them and then created these crowns for the kids.  I actually got the idea from my friend Megan who has a hat like this for her son, Wyatt, that I was examining last night.  It looked super easy to make, and turns out it was!

Patriotic Dinos

Where have I been??? I know you have all been wondering and are also probably sick of looking at that crazy picture of Jayden, that I think is absolutely hilarious. Well, let me tell you. But first, I just want to show you what is lined up around our house all. the. time.

Dinos…..


…and more dinos…


…the meat eaters all grouped together, the leaf eaters all grouped together, who are always grouped around a plant, alive or fake, it doesn’t matter. The leaf eaters are always hungry. And for that matter so are the meat eaters. The meat eaters are always hunting the leaf eaters and they say to each other, “The leaf eaters are always eating, we will find them by the plants”


Anyway, the obsession with dinosaurs is still crazy around here. Even Willow runs around the house roaring. Willow often gets to be Jayden’s baby T-rex and he goes and hunts meat for them to eat. It’s pretty fun to see them actually playing together, even if most of the time Jayden is bossing her around, telling his baby T-rex to sit in one spot while he hunts and the baby T-rex never listens and follows him running around the house roaring and attacking things.

Well as for why there have been no new posts lately….Jayden found this pattern for dinosaurs that his Grandma had sent in one of her packages and he asked if I could make them for him. I said sure, I mean how hard could they be right? I can follow directions, cut things out, sew them together. They are just little dinos, it shouldn’t be so hard. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not a good sewer, seamstress, whatever you want to call it. I’m just not very good. I’ve only had my sewing machine for about a year now and I have to keep reminding myself about the drawers full of knitted stuff that just wasn’t that good when I was first starting to knit. It takes practice to get better and I don’t have a ton of time to practice, but really, practicing on things for a 4-year old is perfect, he doesn’t care what the details look like. :) I had no idea these darn dinos were going to take me like a week to finish. All my spare time was spent at the sewing machine, not on the computer coming up with anything to entertain my 5 blog followers with. So, as for the dinos, Jayden decided he wanted them four colors - red, blue, yellow, and green. We went to the fabric store last Saturday and Jayden picked out material for each color. I tried to influence him, but no, anything I suggested he said absolutely not too, so I just went with what he wanted, I figured he’d like ‘em better this way.

So, here are Jayden’s finished products. They totally turned out patriotic looking with the red stripes and blue with stars material. Perfect for this time of year! And he even picked out the googly eye colors. Blue for the flyer - “so he can see in the dark like me” - Jayden has this strange idea that only people with blue eyes can see in the dark, I’ve tried explaining otherwise, but he’s set in his ways and it’s just not a battle I’m willing to argue over. The T-Rex has one red and one green. And the stegosaurus has one blue and one green.


I had no idea they were going to be so big. I thought they’d be like a normal sized stuff animal. Oh no, they are practically life-sized. I didn’t even look at the pattern before we went and got material and I’m such a novice when it comes to sewing that I didn’t even figure it out when I added up the yards of material we were going to need. Oh well, at least Jayden likes them. :)

Happy Valentines Day!

or, as Willie and I always called it, Happy Singles Awareness Day!

For part of the kid’s presents this year, I decided to make them something. For Jayden I made him a flannel dinosaur pillow case, which sadly has already gotten a lot of use since it was opened this morning.



Jayden has been real sick for the past few days. He had the flu on Thursday and then Friday the flu seemed to turn into a cold, and now he’s all laid up on the couch. Poor kid.





For Willow, I made a little valentine dress. And for the 5 minutes she had it on today so I could try and take some pictures, she managed to get food on it! How the heck did she find food???? I figure she’s got a secret stash around somewhere…







For lunch, I made the kids and Royal some heart shaped sandwiches.



And then I finished up my heart sugar cookies by frosting them with some chocolate royal icing, Royal’s favorite.

Weekend News

The weather here has been so great lately! 75 degrees and sunny! And while I think this weather is a little freakish and I kinda wish it was colder, it has been nice to play outside without worrying about hats and coats and stuff!
On Saturday, the kids were starting to come down with a cold and I just couldn’t handle an entire day of cranky, whining kids at home, so Royal and I got them dressed, loaded them up, and headed to the zoo. Well, we forgot the zoo is now on winter hours, so we got there a good hour before it opened. Bummer. There was no way I was going to drive all the way home, so we went to a park and played there for an hour and then went back to the zoo when the gates were open. Wouldn’t you know it, but I forgot my camera, and Jayden got to feed the giraffes! I can’t believe I didn’t have my camera! It was sweet! He got giraffe slobber all over his hand and arm. Willow kept acting like she wanted to feed them too, so we gave her a leaf to give to the giraffe, but when his long, black tongue licked her arm while reaching for the leaf, she kinda freaked out..sad… Oh well, I have one more free coupon for giraffe feeding, so maybe we’ll try to hit it up again next time I’m at the zoo with my camera!

I managed to get a lot done this weekend as far as projects were concerned, because pretty much once we got home from the zoo, we stayed here because the kids and their colds went downhill in a hurry. :)

I finished Willow birthday cake hat! Here’s a little preview. It’s not her birthday yet!



I also made a happy birthday banner. The pattern is here!



And since I was on such a roll on completing things, why stop there?
I made Jayden a new apron because we are going to be taking a cooking class together and making gingerbread houses! I love this apron because it doesn’t have ties, so he can put it on himself. The neck strap has elastic in it so it stretches over his head and the waist strap velcros around his back and to one side. Genius! You can find the pattern here





And last, but not least, I made a giraffe rattle because there are a ton of people I know who are pregnant and I’m going to be sending them presents and why not include a little cloth giraffe that even has a bell on the inside so it jingles when it shakes around! So, prego friends, don’t be surprised to be getting one of these in the mail!

Fall Crafties

I’ve been whipping out pumpkin hats like there’s no tomorrow. No one was real interested when it was like July when I made my kids’. But now that Halloween and Fall are right around the corner, everybody wants one! And I’ve got to finish them up so I can get Willow’s Christmas stocking (that I’m having to redo from last year….boo) done before I put up Christmas decorations! But other than pumpkin hats, I’ve sewn up a couple things too!

I made the kids some trick or treat bags.



And then I also made them some matching pj/lounge pants!

Early Presents

There is always such a let down after visitor’s leave. You have to get back into your “normal” routine, which seams so boring after you’ve had people here visiting, keeping you entertained for awhile. So, my blogging has been suffering because, well, life seems boring and like there isn’t really anything too exciting to post about. Don’t worry all 2 of you avid readers who are checking my blog everyday hoping for a new post, I’ll get it turned around again!

While Royal’s family was here though, they decided to do Jayden’s, Royal’s, and my birthday all at the same time. So even though my birthday was 2 months away I got presents! (see why life seemed so much more exciting???) I got these 5 great hanging baskets to make my backyard more colorful.




And Royal’s mom bought me a sewing machine! I’m super excited and wish I had a pocket full of money to buy material and at least 10 more free hours in the day so I can figure out how to use the darn thing! It took me a good 30 minutes to figure out how to wind a bobbin and then how to thread the needle. :) Royal’s mom did bring me some material from her stash and a pattern for something to make, so that’s the first thing I did. She swore it was something for a beginner, but I was so confused half the time I must be like a beginner-beginner or something. In the end though, I got it figured out (hopefully) and this is what I ended up with, who knows if it will actually hold something, it might be for display only. And not even that nice of a display, don’t look too closely, none of the seams on the blocks really match up. :)



And then last night, I got a crazy idea and was just itching to sew something, so after doing a bunch of research on the internet, I made Willow a skirt! I don’t think it turned out half bad and it only took me like an hour. ha ha ha :)