Haunted house

On Sunday night we realized that our house is haunted!! ;) We even have photographic proof take a look.

 I was trying to snap photos of the kids with their jack-o-lanterns and the settings on the camera were wrong (the exposure was super long). The first photo I took looked was blurry and when Everett walked into the shot he looked like a white ghostly blur. I shot more and realized I could make the kids look more like ghosts if I got out the tripod. I had the kids walk around slowly and then stay in one spot at the end of a long exposure. We were having so much fun that even Trent joined in with the candelabra to see what that did. The bottom photo with light shooting out of Lizzy's chest is the result. Spooky and awesome right? Hope you all have a slightly spooky but super safe Halloween tonight! :) Happy haunting!

knight costume

I finished the knight costume and I have to say it turned out awesome!! Alex loves it! I cut the tunic out of fleece and did a freezer paper stencil of a similar dragon to the one they have in the Narnia movies. I used masking tape as a stencil for the gold border. As you already know I crocheted the "chain-mail" hood & you can find the pattern I made right here. Later I crocheted tubes so he could have chain-mail on his arms also. After seeing this tutorial, I made craft foam armor for his arms, legs, and shoulders. I used silver spray paint but probably would use regular craft paint next time because the spray paint rubs off easily. He absolutely loves it, can you tell? :)

fairy costume

Here is the finished fairy costume I made for Lizzy. I am so happy with how it came together and so is she!! Her request was that it was a "wow" costume. Last year she said everyone said wow to her brothers fully lit robot costume and never noticed the owl standing next to him, and I am sad to say she was right. Even a hand made adorable owl doesn't get the "wow" when there's an awesome robot with blinking lights.  So, as you can see, I went all out for her costume trying to make sure it was a "wow" costume.  I think the entire outfit as a whole comes together and creates the wow but if I had to choose the piece that adds the finishing touch it has to be the felt flower crown / head piece.  It has glitter all over each flower and adds a goddess feel to the entire costume. the dresses is just a simple chiffon rectangle with a hole in the top and sides for her head and arms. The head hole was cut extra big and has elastic in it to gather is together and give it a Grecian feel. It would still look like a bag if it weren't for the long ribbons that tie on the wings, they criss cross over her chest gathering the dress in and making it look more finished and pretty. She wears a leotard and tights under the dress for modestly since chiffon is sheer, but the costume is made to be able to wear a long sleeve top and leggings underneath to keep her warm. I made gloves so that on Halloween night she wouldn't freeze her little fairy fingers off. They're just dollar bin gloves from Joe-Annes. I cut out leaf shapes from felt and glittered them, then simply hot glued them onto the wrist to make a bracelet effect. the wings I made after seeing this how to video on you tube. I loved the idea of burning holes into the nylons to make the wings seem more fragile and petite. After I shaped the wigs and put on the base coat of pink and green paint, I had my Trent help me with the hole burning and painting the brown vein accents. Thanks honey! :) I then finished the look by glittering and gluing jewels all over the place.

When it was done she wore it to a fall festival trick or treat at the gardeners market and got tons of audible "wows", I think my job here is done!

announcment

We went to the doctor this Tuesday and found out that we're having a girl!! We are all so excited, even the boys wanted a girl! Immediately after leaving the doctors we all went to the thrift store to celebrate! I had given almost all my girl clothes away during my last pregnancy when I found out I was having another boy. I am not regretting giving them away because most of them were not that awesome any way. I kept all the best ones, but that wasn't very much. I have to say the pink dress is my most fave! I bought it a month ago hoping I was having a girl. I figured if I had a boy I would turn it into doll clothes or give it as a gift. All the other outfits I bought at the thrift store Tuesday. The pink bonnet is something I crocheted for Lizzy when she was a baby and I am still in love with the colors and design. I'll have to throw a pattern together sometime. It is super easy to make. I found all the quilt fabrics at thrift stores throughout the past year. I went through all the fabrics and put together a girly collection.  The color pallet kind of evolved and I really like how it turned out. :) I am so excited to be having a girl! I have so many ideas for sewing and crocheting her clothes! I'll be sure and share them as they come to be. Take care!

Free pattern: Crochet knight hood

As promised I am giving the instructions on how to crochet the knight hood / hat I posted about last week. (he was so proud of his dog picture and having him hold it was the only way he would pose for a photo :) he said "it looks just like a  real dog!") 

Check out his full finished knight ccostume here

Yarn: Red heart worsted 4

Hook: USK 10.5 / 6.5mm

Here is a key for all the abbreviations I use.

dc = double crochet

ch = chain

sl st = slip stitch

rep = repeat

sk = skip

beg = beginning

rnd = round

Ch 4, join with a sl st to form a ring.

Rnd 1: ch 2 for first dc, 12 dc in ring, sl st to top of beg ch. 

(13 stitches counting the ch 2.)

Rnd 2: ch 2 for first dc, 2 dc into every dc, sl st to top of beg ch. 

Rnd 3: ch 2 for first dc, 3 dc into every other dc, sl st to top of beg ch.

Rnd 4: ch 2 for first dc, dc in 1 dc, *2 dc in 1 dc, dc in next 2 dc, rep from *, sl st to top of beg ch. 

Rnd 5: ch 2 for first dc, dc in each dc, sl st to top of beg ch. 

Repeat rnd 5 nine more times (or till edge of hat reaches eyebrows)

(Now you are going to make the face opening by only stitching the back and sides.)

Row A: ch 2 for first dc, dc in each dc for 35 stitches, (flip work around to start next row on top of the stitches you just finished).

Repeat row A five more times back and forth with 36 stitches each row counting the ch2.

At the end of the 5th row don't ch2 and flip work around. Ch 18 & sl st to top of beg ch to begin stitching in rounds again and create the collar.

Collar rnd 1: ch 2 for first dc, dc in each dc and all 18 ch st, sl st to top of beg ch.

Collar rnd 3: repeat collar rnd 1

Collar rnd 4: repeat collar rnd 1

Collar rnd 5: repeat collar rnd 1

Collar rnd 6: ch 2 for first dc, dc in 1 dc, *2 dc in 1 dc, dc in next 2 dc, rep from *, sl st to top of beg ch. 

Repeat rnd 6 three more times, fasten off and thread extra yarn into the hat. 

You're done!

Let me know if you have any questions. :) I'll be posting the full finished costumes soon!

halloween decorations

This year it was really hard to get our decorations to look like a pretty display instead of an ugly junk collection. I re-arranged all our figurines and things a million times and couldn't figure it out. Finally I remembered how one of my favorite local boutiques arranged their Halloween displays. By color! When I tried it on our stuff our home transformed! It no-longer looked like a junk shop, It looked cute and intentional. I have to say that the black paper spikes I added to the mantle added that final touch. I got that idea from All Sorts. I remembered seeing and loving her Halloween mantle years ago. My Halloween letters were inspired by her as well I think.

making costumes

 I have been having more fun making costumes this year than any other year for sure! My oldest son is being a knight and my daughter is being a flower fairy.  When my son said he wanted to be a knight I knew right a way that I wanted crochet some chain-mail armor. The pattern I made is simple and if I don't procrastinate I'll post the pattern here on my blog before Halloween. When my daughter said she wanted to be a fairy I was super excited! I LOVE fairies! She showed me this fairy from our fairy book illustrated by Cicely Mary Barker and I was smitten! I changed the leaf hat to a flower wreath / crown because I knew it would be fun to make it out of glittered felt flowers. I used my flower tutorial as well as some other tutorials like this one, and this one, and i made up some new little ones for more variety.
There is so much more to the two costumes than the head pieces but I'll share it all after I'm finished with everything.

Last years costumes

I just realized that I never posted pictures of the costumes I made for the kids last year. It was probably because I finally finished them on Halloween day. There was a robot with real lights, a pretty little owl and baby robin hood. I cant wait to get working on this years costumes. If only they would make up their minds. :)

What costumes are you making this year?