Costumes - A Queen Bee!

Happy Halloween!!!  :)  Ok, so I'm barely making it in the same month as my last post, but oh well!!  ;)  Wanted to post some costume ideas, even if it's too late for this year!!  :/  The skirt ideas could be used all year long!!  This year, the costumes I made were: a Queen Bee, an Alien, a Safari Guide, and Minnie Mouse!!  :)  They were all relatively easy, but the skirts took a while!
**** NOTICE: I do am not, nor do I claim to be an expert seamstress!!  I can sew ok, but not perfectly!!  Being that these are only "costumes", which will be worn at night. . . in the dark - - I wasn't going for perfection!!  ;)  With that said. . .

This is the Queen Bee costume I came up with:

* 1 yd. striped fabric
* 1 yd. black tulle (had extra)
* 1 yd. yellow tulle (had extra)





** Yes - her shirt is crooked!!  It's not sewn crooked, just didn't straighten it for the picture!!  :(

I started with a black skirt we already had.  This skirt was knit & kinda hard to work with! :(  (Could have been from the shape of the skirt!!)

 I trimmed a little off the bottom, to remove the "angled" shape.

 I took my (pre-washed) striped fabric, and cut 6 strips.  (Sorry, don't know the exact length - can't think of the length of the fabric off hand!!  :(  The width will depend on the size of skirt you will be making.  I believe mine were around 6".

I hemmed the tops & bottoms of each layer & sewed 2 pieces together, giving me enough to make 3 layers. 

Then, I gathered the tops of each layer.  I repeated this process for both tulle layers.  The black tulle went on top of the stripes & the yellow went on the bottom. 

 I sewed the striped & the yellow layers together, then pinned them onto the skirt, attaching the black tulle at the same time.  I repeated this process until all three layers were on the skirt.

The finished product!!  :)  For the shirt - we went to Goodwill & found 2 cute shirts (on dollar day, I might add!! ;) & we were set!  I cut the straps off the black shirt, only because they were "itchy", so I just stitched the shirts together in 2 spots!  (This way, I can remove the black shirt & the yellow shirt can be worn again!!)



Accessories:
Since she was a "Queen Bee", she had to have a crown & a staff!!  ;)  (I found the wings at the 99 cent store!!! :)

For the staff:
I started with a paper mache ornament & a dowel - found both at Hobby Lobby.

 

 I took the ornament, and cut off the "hanger" part!  (Technical name, huh?? ;)  Then, I poked a hole in the bottom & made it large enough for the dowel to just fit.






 Next, I painted the dowel black, and the top gold.  After the pieces dried, I put the dowel into the top & hot-glued along the base.  I added some misc. gold ribbons & stuff that I had left over from my wedding (forever ago!!)!!  :)




 For the crown:

I drew a crown shape, free-hand (don't laugh!!), onto a thin piece of card stock (it was packaging from a scrapbook kit, so it was larger than 12x12").  It was folded in 1/2, so it cut 2, but I didn't cut on the fold!  (Wanted it to be thicker!!)  Then I cut 2 straps - again, wanting one thick strap!




I spray painted the pieces gold & hot glued them together!!  I added some more of the gold accessories & viola!!  A crown!!  ;)

Army Party

My son just turned 6 & wanted an "Army" themed party!  I've had camouflage on my brain for about a month!!! :)  I was so excited when I found a super simple, super cheap camouflage party section at Wal-Mart!!  Each item was only $0.97!!  I grabbed some plates, napkins and table cloths!!  Over in the regular paper products section, I found some normal-sized camo Hefty cups!!  (And even had a coupon!! ;)

For the goody bags, I used regular brown lunch sacks, scrapbook paper, glue & die-cuts made with my Cricut machine!  This is what I came up with:

I printed the "6" & tore the edges - attached to a square of camo paper, then glued (with Elmer's glue - my scrapbook adhesive wouldn't stick that well to the bag!) onto the bag!  I made the "dog tags" with a military Cricut cartridge, then attached to the bag with some green jute!  (I found it in the hardware section - it's garden twine & was under $2!)  I found mini grenade squirt guns, camo airplanes & camo bracelets all at the Dollar Store!!  I also got some plastic dog tags & treats at Wal-Mart!

 I found these cool cupcake liners at Hobby Lobby!  You can use them without a cupcake pan, but I wouldn't suggest it - mine spread out & were kind of "fat"!  :(  (Kids didn't mind, of course, but not as "neat" as the others I made!)

 Simple cupcakes, topped with a soldier!!

My son's tank cake!!  Super easy!!  For this cake, I used:
* 6 York Peppermint Patties (or chocolate cookies)
* Chocolate licorice (or mini Twix)
* frosting
* 1 sucker stick
* toothpicks



Here's how to assemble the tank:

 1.  First, I used a small, oven-proof glass bowl, and filled about 1/3 full with cake batter.  (I added green coloring, as you can tell! ;) I baked according to directions, but watched carefully, as it was such a thin cake!

 2. Once it cooled completely, I (tried to evenly) cut off the 2 side pieces.

 3.  Next, I placed the 2 pieces on top of the middle piece.

 4.  Then, I trimmed of the ends of the top pieces.  I put toothpicks through the tops of the two pieces, and a few through the sides, just to make sure they'd stay!

 5.  I "dirty iced" (to quote the Cake Boss ;) the cake, so all the crumbs would stay put!  I let it chill in the fridge for about 10 min.

6. Once chilled, I frosted the entire cake!  I let that layer chill, then added the finishing touches!!  Measure your licorice pieces to fit along the far right & left edges of the bottom layer, and cut enough to fill both sides.  Place as many Peppermint Patties that fit, along each side of the the bottom layer to represent "wheels" - since my cake was small, I only fit 3 on each side!  Use toothpicks to secure.  Lastly, measure a piece of licorice to fit about 1/2 of a sucker stick, and insert the stick inside the licorice.  Using the exposed end of the stick, poke into center of bottom layer, just under the top layer.


Our party was quite simple - just had it at the party with family, but we had a great time!!!  :)

Calendar Puzzles

At the end of the year, (or just after the beginning of the next year), you can find calendars very cheap!  (And usually anytime at the Dollar Store!!)  With 2 calendars, you can make 11-12 puzzles!!  (Depending on how the first month is printed!)  Cut up one calendar for puzzle pieces & use the other to show what the finished puzzle will look like!  The calendar I used fit inside a letter-sized envelope.  I laminated the pieces & labeled each puzzle!  Easy peasy!!  ;)

 I number my puzzles & then number each piece - in fractions - this helps so much when ALL 12 puzzles get dumped at the same time!!!  ;)

Mirror Re-do

I found this mirror at Goodwill (or "Goodjohn's" as my son calls it ;) - for only $2.99!!  It wasn't horrible "before", but I like the "after" better!!  :)  I used Apple Barrel Gloss paint - in black, of course, and after a few coats, it was done!!  (Could totally use spray paint, but I didn't have any on hand!!)  Now I just have to find the perfect spot for it!!  ;)

 Before

After

Teacher Treats

A few weeks ago, we wanted to give the primary teachers a little something just to thank them for all they do!  (This could totally work for school teachers too!!)  So, I baked some cookies & came up with a little poem to go along!  I gave each teacher 3 cookies - an M&M cookie, a chocolate chip cookie, and a chocolate-white chocolate chip cookie - put them in a bag & tied on the poem!! 

Super simple!  (However, baking 90 cookies & assembling 30 poems & bags took some time!!)  ;)  This was my poem:

Here are some cookies, that were baked especially for you.

This is a simple "thank you" for everything that you do!

You'll notice one is different and more colorful than the rest - 

that cookie's just like you, 'cause our teachers are
THE BEST!!!

Besides the M&M cookies, the others were made using cake mixes!!  SO EASY!!  Check out my recipe blog for the recipes!!  If you didn't want to use M&M's, you could use a Funfetti cake mix & it would still work with the poem!! ;)

   
 

Skirt to Shirt

I guess cleaning out everyone's closets lately has inspired all the "clothing" projects!! ;)  This one, however, was super simple (just my style), so I had to do it!!  ;)

I had an old skirt (it was actually my sister's & I rescued it from a garage sale, noticing its potential! ;) It's not a typical elastic waist skirt, but rather a gathered waist.










Simple steps:
I had my daughter try the skirt on (as a shirt), then I marked where to cut in the back.  After marking, I turned the skirt inside out.  Next, I basically did a good 2" seam. (If you look super close, you can see it - about 2" from the right edge.)

Next, I trimmed close to seam, top to bottom.

I took that extra piece I cut off, cut off the gathered top & lining, and cut the piece in two.  With each piece, (right sides together), I sewed along the open edge, making 2 "tubes".  I turned them right sides out, and pressed them flat with the seams in the center.

Finally, I had my daughter try the top on & pinned the straps on to fit!  I pinned the straps on, cut off the extra & folded the edge under to hem.  I did a simple seam across the edge & I was done!! :)

Turned out pretty cute, if you ask me!!  :)  I figured that since it was my sister's, I should give it to my niece - - needless to say, my daughter was a little bummed!!  ;)  (Guess that's a good thing??) ;)

T-shirt "Jewels"

This shirt was a little time consuming, but FUN!!!  It was so easy & cheap - - which helped me be patient!! ;)

Materials:
* t-shirt (or onsie - super cute idea!!)
* metallic craft paint (I used Anita's Metallic in White)
* newspapers, etc. to put between layers of shirt
* pencils with erasers, glue stick, or any other "round" items in different sizes
* 1 bunch of celery (yes, celery!! ;)

There's really no right or wrong way to make this shirt!!  Just choose how many necklace "strands" you want & start! ;)  I started with the top row first, making the large dots in the center.  For these I used a glue stick lid.  Simply dip the lid in the paint, wiping off excess & stamp on your design!  For the smaller "beads" in that row, I used the end of a wooden paintbrush.  Now, as you can see, my necklaces aren't exactly straight - but if you ask me, I think they look good that way! ;) I added the rest of the rows kind of randomly.  It is kind of hard to make the necklace match up perfectly from one corner to the other, but just do your best!  The necklace that has the larger beads that are spread out - used to be a strand of all small beads, but I went back & added the large beads to cover up a few "mistakes"!  ;)

The most fun part of the shirt was the "flower"!!  Take your bunch of celery & cut off the end, leaving a few inches of course, and it makes a flower!!  Just dip the flower in the paint & stamp!!  Cool, huh??!!  After the shirt was dry, I went back over the flower & a few beads that didn't turn out very dark.

Over-all, it was a super easy project!!  :)