Last Year

I made these cute gnome costumes:








This year, I may very well order a pink Samurai costume from Amazon.

Do I feel guilty that I know how to sew and am likely not making their costumes?

Not even a little bit.

Halloween Gnomes

My brother Ryan had this idea that Avery should be a gnome for Halloween when she was a baby. Something about her round little rosy cheeks made her a perfect candidate. I meant to do it that year, and then the next year, but didn't get around to it.

But now that I have two round rosy cheeked children (and probably the last year that Avery won't care what she is, and I can force them to dress up like I want them to)....this was the year.

For inspiration we looked to our favorite gnome book, that teaches us all about the secret lives of gnomes.

Gnome children use winged seeds of the maple to play at being Dragonflies

For Avery's costume I used a pattern from Carefree Clothes for Girls to make her purple dress (I dyed white linen with purple, red, and black dye to get the right dusty lilac...I am hoping it will fade a little more with washing). Her petticoat is from April Cornell and is one of those things I just always wanted to get if I ever had a little girl, so I used this as an excuse. It will be a sweet nightgown from now on. I made her apron using embroidered cotton ribbon I found surprisingly at JoAnne's, and chain stitched some gold roving for the ties. He leggings are just some we had already from the Gap.

The fact is, I am way too lazy to put as much work as sewing a costume takes if its not something they will wear again, so I put this together with that in mind. I have to make a few additions to the dress now that she is done wearing it as a costume, but I love this dress. If you look closely you can see that the bodice is quilted. So fun. Perfect for a gnome. And there is a good chance it will also be her Easter dress.

One of their favorite pastimes is cuddling and bottle feeding the neighborhood baby rabbits.

For the hats I just used cheap red felt and kind of measured their heads and made up a pattern.
I was happy they came out how I imagined and looking very gnome-like.

I started making a blue felt costume for this little man but he has ear infections and just didn't seem up for it so I abandoned his outfit. Also, it turns out he HATES wearing a hat and will pull it off the minute it touched his head (what am I going to do this winter?!). Getting a picture was almost impossible.

Gnome babies are always born as twins: two girls, two boys, or a boy and a girl.

chocolate bribes were used with small success.

We also ended up carving a few of the pumpkins we grew. Really I did all the hard parts while Trav worked and Avery listened to Monster Mash over and over again on Youtube and I yelled at everyone to come have a fun-time-together-darn-it (forced family fun). After I got them all nicely cleaned out Avery drew a face on hers and Trav carved it and Ollie sat next to me putting pumpkin pieces in his mouth while I carved his (the one with the two little top teeth like him).

With her cute friend Charlie checking out their haul

We topped off the fun with an evening of trick or treating with our friends the Butlers. Their neighborhood is awesome for little kids running door to door. And the weather was fabulous!
All in all a successful Halloween!

Necessity...

Dear Husband:

You know how you hate all that clutter that currently takes up an entire spare room in the basement? The clutter that you have moved over and over and fills way too many (in your opinion) boxes marked CRAFT STUFF? And you wonder why on earth we need all that stuff? And why can't we get rid of some of it?

It's so when I am in the middle of sewing Halloween costumes-- and I come to a point where I decide that the ties for the apron need to be just the right shade of yellow, and I really don't want to pack everyone up and drive all the way to the craft store,

I will happen to have, buried in a corner, some yarn in that perfect shade, and (inexplicably because I don't crochet...but I guess I tried to learn once) a crochet hook, which then enable me to make just the right thing for the costume at the exact moment I need it, and thereby my creative flow is not interrupted, gas is saved, and children can continue watching, "It's the great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" rather than being dragged to the "favric store".

Doesn't that make sense?

Now do you get it?



I know you guys get it.

What are they going to be? Here's a hint.

Pumpkins!

We planted pumpkins in our garden, and they grew.

It was our first year having a real garden (which I meant to write more about but with all those tomatoes...who has time?) so quite naturally we were thrilled with the abundance.

We love them, even if they are too small (mostly) to carve. Next year we are planting these.

Also, thanks for all for your excitement and well wishing for my little doll and my eye. You guys are nice. Thanks for being so nice. And for reading my blog.

My little Matryoshka arrived home safe and sound. I laughed when I opened the giant FedEx box she came in and undid the layers of bubble wrap. All that for a little stuffed doll. Those sweet folks at BHG sure treated her well. Ollie promptly put her in his mouth and then face down into the dirt.

Also...are you watching Oprah's life class? I am, and its kind of rocking my world.

Dad...no sarcastic remarks about Oprah.

Spooky Silhouette

While beginning to clean my craftroom/office, which is in serious need of cleaning, I came across the supplies I bought last year to make a Halloween decoration I never got around to doing. Since Avery was fast asleep, and since its almost October, I ditched cleaning and made this instead.

It was super easy to make, but I can't take credit for the idea. I saw something similar last year at a craft fair. At $35 though, I figured I could just make it myself. I found this raven image on the internet, printed (I printed it at %150), cut, and traced it, onto a 10"x 10" paint canvas, and then painted the bird using black acrylic paint. It takes a few coats, but its simple. Once it dried I sprayed a clear coat over to seal it. Then I glued black feathers around the edge, and attached a black ribbon to hang, and viola...done before Avery woke up, and for under $10 in supplies.

The only downside is that the craftroom is still a big mess. Oh well...

It's spookier that way.

Halloween

Our little Cherub as Cupid

Can you tell? I'm in love

We had a visit from a spooky Charlie bat

They weren't quite sure what to do with the candy...but liked the crinkly noise it made

She was made for this costume...thanks for the good idea dad!

Also, by way of complete and total bragging, I have to show you this costume that I made for my sister Vanessa:


She stayed with me for a few days while Trav was out of town and we whipped this Princess Leia number right up. And I am pretty proud because we didn't even have a pattern--just five yards of polyester and a winning attitude.
See more here