Saturday, October 29, 2011

Halloween 2011

As promised, here are pictures of the Halloween costumes I made for the kids this year. The base did a fun night that included a hayride, finding pumpkins, trick or treating, pizza and juice, and games. The kids had a blast! And since I was so pleased with how their costumes came out, I thought I'd break it down just because I want to.

Jedi Mind Trick

Getting a good picture of Cameron's costume proved to be really difficult. That kid would not stand still for anything once he had his super awesome Luke Skywalker costume on.
You better watch out!
1. So, starting with the jedi robe. I had an old brown curtain that I had actually previously cut up and make my cushion cover templates out of when we were reupholstering our couch. I didn't have enough left over to make his robe, so I just took the cushion covers apart since I wasn't using them anymore, and was able to get enough fabric out of it. In fact, I was able to make his boot covers out of it too. My inspiration for the boot covers came from Cheri of I am Momma Hear Me Roar.
She didn't really have a full tutorial for them but I just played around with it, and figured it out. They turned out looking really good. They completely covered his shoes, but didn't look too big, like a lot of the store bought covers do. And they stayed in place with some elastic wrapped around the bottom of his shoes.
2. The pants. I had previously picked up a somewhat stretchy khaki colored skirt at our Airmen's Attic when we were still in MT. I was planning on eventually making it a little smaller to fit me, but it turned out perfect for his costume.
3. The belt I made from some tan fabric and some ultra firm fusible interfacing. It closed with a strip of velcro. Then I embellished it with some other fabric colors. He was able to hang his light saber right on his belt.
4. And last was the tunic. Two long rectangles of fabric cut and hemmed. It's hard to see in the pictures, but hemmed it so it looked tunic-like. If that makes much sense. They just wrapped around him like an X, and stayed in place under the belt. We seriously had to fix them like 20 times though. Next time, I'll either stitch them together so we can just slip it over his head, or pin it in place. That drove me crazy!
And that's Cameron's costume. He loves it!
Hello little Ewok!




If I had one good picture of Ethan's costume AND him smiling, I would have used that one. Oh well. So, since being in Belgium, I've had a heck of a time finding fabric. So I went to the Pxtra on the Army base we usually go to (about 35 minutes away), and I bought a brown plush blanket for the body suit. I actually used the wrong side of it because it looked a little more shaggy. Then using another idea from Cheri, but in a different way, I took one of the shaggy toilet seat covers and used it for the belly. The ears were out of the blanket, and the hood was out of the same tan fabric as Cameron's belt. Then I embellished the hood with some embroidery floss. The hardest part of Ethan's costume was getting the hood to lay right. I actually had to make it twice, because the first one didn't fit over his head...oops! Oh, and the body suit came from a baby/toddler Halloween pattern a got from Joann's when Cameron was a baby. I didn't follow it exactly because I didn't need a mouse or panda. But just used the general directions for the suit.
Okay, if you've gotten this far...just some fun pictures.




Cameron's friend Seth from school, one of the other American kids.












There were quite a few Star Wars costumes there, so we got them all together for a picture. Laya was one of the people helping out that night. She's stationed here.

P.S. My skeleton shirt idea came from Ashley of Make It and Love It. I googled templates, but couldn't find anything I liked, so I decided take her pictures and trace it right from my computer screen to my freezer paper and then used the freezer paper technique and some acrylic paint and textile medium to paint it onto my shirt. The shirt I got from the thrift store at the Army base. It was the only maternity shirt I could find in black and long sleeved, so even though it was kinda funky shaped at the top, it turned out well!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Oh baby!



More Halloween pictures to come of the kids. I made all of our costumes, including my skeleton shirt.

So, baby #3 is on the way! Due March 13th. Today I had my twenty week ultrasound (20 weeks and 2 days). And the verdict is...BOY #3. After having a miscarriage in January, I now understand the heartache it brings. And maybe you understand why I don't announce earlier like most people. But, baby is healthy, and we are excited and happy!