Fall, Halloween, Costume...

Well, it's been forever again... work has me so busy that at the end of the day I really don't want to even get online. But I've been meaning to post this stuff. Here are the fall/Halloween decorations around our house. The dining room table:
Above the TV armoire:

These are the ghosts my son and I made last year with tomato cages, sheets, felt and lights:

Our unlit ghosts:

I made these pumpkins last year too. They are glass/mason jars with tissue paper modpodged on them. I found them at the first blog I ever followed, Not So Idle Hands.

Then most of my time has been devoted to my son's Halloween costume. I think it turned out pretty cute! He won a contest we went to Tuesday.

Side view:

And it's even cuter with his adorable little face showing! But I just don't trust some internet crazies! :)

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"BOO!" Your Neighbors!

My friend Kim in Virginia got the cutest little gift from one of her neighbors! It was a "boo"basket complete with a sign for her door letting everyone know she and her husband had been boo'ed and a little poem explaining the game (you have 2 days to make 2 baskets and print outs and leave them for your neighbors). It's too cute, so my son and I started it in our little town! :) Here are our 2 baskets we made: They have little Halloween signs and candy.

Here are the signs we printed out to send with our baskets:

You can get them (and different ones) at http://organizedchristmas.com Hope you enjoy starting one in your town!!

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PB Growth Chart Instructions

A couple people expressed interest in a tutorial on how I made my growth chart. It's super easy, and I can't actually do a tutorial since I already finished mine, but here are some instructions.

You'll need a 6 ft piece of 1x10. You can get a precut piece at Lowes. Mine was 9.00. You'll also need a black paint pen. I imagine that a sharpie would probably work, too, but I used a paint pen to be sure.

I found a board that was straight and even, and looked good (actually my parents did, to be honest, cause they picked it up for me). Try to find one that doesn't have a stamp on the side you want to use. It was a pain to get that stamp off. I had to sand it down till it was gone. That took awhile.

Then I just laid it out and took a tape measure and made small marks every inch. After that I used a ruler to make the marks long lines- I put a 4 in line at every 12 inches (a foot) and then at the 1/2 foot marks I used a 3 in line and at the 1/4 foot marks a 2 in line and every other mark (an inch) I used a one inch line. That is confusing but if you look at the picture it will make more sense.

I printed out the numbers 1-6 on the computer using a font that I thought looked most like a ruler (I used a ruler for comparison) then I transferred the numbers with carbon paper. I just used the black paint pen to trace the lines and to color in the numbers and I was done. I plan on covering it with a clear varnish, but that is for another day! :)

Also, just an FYI, start at what you want to be the bottom of your board/ruler when you mark off your inch marks, since most of the 6 ft boards will be a little longer and you want the additional space at the top, so that your measurements are correct (I learned that the hard way...) In other words, I should have been working from left to right as opposed to the other way.

Good luck! I'd love to see anything anyone makes!

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PB Growth Chart Knockoff

100 years ago (which was also the last time I blogged) I saw this PB Kids growth chart and loved it. Of course, it was 100.00. Seriously. I was not about to pay that because I could clearly *easily* make it. So I added it to my mental list and never got around to it.... Till tonight!
Here, my friends (if there are any of you left out there), is my version:

And in its home in the basement play room... I can't wait to measure my son and add a cute picture! All in all it cost me a whopping 10.00. I think that's a far cry better than the PB price, no?

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Hooray for Pencil Pouches

I saw these adorable little pouches on someone's page and I can't for the life of me find the bookmark. I know I saved it- I even commented on the post. So if this is your idea I stole, please tell me so I can give you credit. There is a similar one on Skip to My Lou, also. Anyway, I really REALLY wanted a reason to make them because they are so cute(!) so I was excited when I saw that my son needed one for preschool! Then I needed to make one for a little girl who's pants I was hemming (always try to do a little extra something...) and for a friend of mine who is having a tough time right now. Anyway, here they are:
Complete with new little side CNYI tags I made today :)

My son's dinosaur pouch:

I asked him which dinosaur he liked best from the fabric (secretly hoping he wouldn't pick green, since it was the same color as the lining, and of course he chose green.)
My friend's:
With a bible verse I found on Skip to My Lou when I was looking for the pouch tutorial I lost.
And the one for the little girl: Okay, so this is before I had to redo the entire thing because there is an "h" in her name. I'm not completely dumb- I figured an "h" was normal, but they usually call her "Vanna" without an h so I figured it was H-less. I figured wrong. But it's fixed now.
Till next time...

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Lounge chair covers

My mom had some old lounge chairs that were in good condition but looking a little rough, so she wanted to make some covers for them.
They are comfy but not looking so great, since they've spent much of their lives in the cellar...
So she bought 4 of these 3.00 towels from Walmart
I turned the top down about 14 inches because she wanted to be able to add a pillow, and this made a little pocket for the pillow.
Then I measured the chair and decided how far the sides needed to come over, so in this case the chair was 20 in across and the towel was 30 in, so I divided the 10 remaining inches by 2 and the sides needed to fold in 5 inches each side. This allowed the cover to slip overtop the chair.
I unfolded the top part to fold the sides in, and marked a sewing line 14 inches down (where the pocket would fold. This is sort of hard to explain...
Fold along the line and flip inside out (very hard to explain...)
It will look like this... a finished pocket that will slip over the chair.
Then I sewed along the bottom of the part that will hold the pillow, leaving an opening in the middle to stuff a little travel pillow in.
The opening:
Then I calculated how much of the towel I would need to cut off in order to attach the other towel. I didn't want stripes in the middle of the chair. This will depend on the length of your chair, but in this case was one inch above the stripes on the top towel and even with the stripe on the bottom half towel.
Cut

This is the bottom half of the cover (am I the only one who has a really hard time taking photos of myself doing something? Since I'm right handed and the camera button is on the right side it's really tough...)

Then pin right sides together (so the seam is in the back of the cover) and sew

Then drape over your lounge chair and you're ready to relax!

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A coat of paint...

I have had blankets shoved under my end table to the point that the poor thing was literally popping open. I knew I needed an alternative (since I HAVE to have the blankets- I'm cold blooded!) and my mom had this great basket:
It was chippy but I figured that'd be fine for my purposes and maybe even give it some more character. So I did nothing to prep the surface (as is normal!) :)

Then I coated it with Krylon Leather Brown Gloss. (One coat looks a little stripey)

It still has the chippy character. I am not sure I actually like it, but don't people work really hard for that finish?

After 2 coats it looked pretty good. I think it looks fine next to my couch, but I hope we won't be needing the blankets anytime soon. I don't look forward to winter...

I'm always pretty excited about what some Krylon can do! :)

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