Happy Halloween!

Halloween is one of my husband's favorite holidays.  He loves dressing up and going to parties and walking around with the kiddos.  I have never been a huge fan myself.  But this year I have been looking forward to Halloween since ... well actually I have been looking forward to this Halloween since last Halloween.  I decided on costumes for the girls right after Halloween last year and I have been super pumped because I was going to make them.  Up until this year I never had the time or the energy to devote to handmade costumes.

Maia wanted to be a witch and I wanted Ella to be an Ellagator (cue "awww" response).  I have had several Halloween costumes picked for my tiny Ella since she was in the womb:  Ellagator, Ellaphant, CinderElla, Ella M N O P, etc (hopefully she will allow Mommy to continue her obsession).

Maia's costume has been done for almost a month.  I bought a long, black wig at Joann's last year during the big sale after Halloween; we found black and purple striped tights and a purple and black witch's hat at Goodwill in September; I bought her a long-sleeved, black leotard from www.discountdance.com and I made her a black and purple tutu.  This was the first time I made a tutu - nothing to it!

She looks awesome!

Now, my Ella's costume was a different story.  I started the Ellagator head last month.  I used a small, shoe-sized box and cut a section out for the mouth.  I painted it green on the outside and red on the inside.  I glued triangle shaped pieces of white felt into the mouth opening for teeth.  Then I put it aside and didn't do anything more with it until today.  Um, procrastinate much?

I had crafter's block on making the body for the costume, so I kept putting it off and putting it off until I absolutely could not put it off any longer.  Today Ella and I went to Fred Meyer and bought a toddler dragon costume.  When I put her down for a nap this morning I made an itty bitty tutu out of scraps of purple fabric (don't want anyone mistaking her for an Alangator or something).  I hand-sewed an Ellagator tail using some green scrap fabric; I stuffed it with paper towels and sewed it to the back of the tutu.

To finish the Ellagator head I made nostrils with a piece of green pipe cleaner and two small, black pom-poms.  Then I made a pair of eyes using cotton balls, yellow felt, black pom-poms, green pipe cleaner and extra pieces of the scrap fabric I used to make the tail.  To keep the head on I made a few slits on the underside of the Ellagator head and ran some strips of scrap fabric through them to tie under her cute little chin.

Look at my little doll!

Success!

Next year Maia wants to be Princess Leia, so I'm thinking little Ella would make a perfect Yoda.  I get excited just thinking about it!

Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!

to inspire and to be inspired

I am a wife, architect of small human lives and creative superstar.  I live in the beautiful Northwest with my fabulous husband and two absolutely adorable daughters.  When we had little angel number two, I made a big life change - family law paralegal to stay-at-home mom.  My handsome husband works extra hard outside the home so that I can work extra hard in it.  Being here with our little people has given me the freedom and the motivation to create. 

I find myself inspired every day by my girls’ tiny voices, cute faces, their snuggles and the way they light up at the wonder of the world on just a short walk through the neighborhood.  They inspire me.

I find myself inspired every day by my husband’s support.  When I tell him about something I want to do, his response is always the same, “do it.”  He loves to tell people about the things I create and believes that I can be great.  He inspires me.

Now that I am not devoting every free moment to planning our wedding (our beautiful wedding I might add), my brain has a void to fill.  A brilliant mind which finds itself with an open space feels threatened and immediately goes into emergency hyperdrive.  I have found myself with an endless stream of project ideas and my nights are filled with DIY dreams.  When I should be sleeping I am visiting DIY blogs, crochet blogs, sewing blogs, cooking blogs and mom blogs and becoming engrossed in their clever ideas and projects.  I find myself searching my home for things that I can fix, remodeling that can be done, walls that should be painted and empty spaces that need to be filled.  I see things online or in stores that I like and instead of buying them I find myself saying, "I can make that!"  

So the natural thing for someone like me to do, the brilliant crafty type, is to create and to share.  There are countless craft blogs out there, yet every one I visit is different from the one before.  I find amazing ideas on each site and there are even more ideas which remain to be shared.  I want to inspire others as others have inspired me.  

A brilliantly crafty mind is a terrible thing to waste.  So here we go ...