DIY Halloween Costumes

If you know my Mom, you know that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. If there is a project, she's pretty much always figuring out how to make it happen. I remember her throwing me extremely creative birthday parties as a child, and always making my Halloween costumes. I'm sure my memory may be wrong, but I do put a certain amount of pressure that I should make costumes. (PS, this year I'm probably going to buy them...)

But when my son Cole started saying he wanted to be an "Excavator" for Halloween, I knew I was pretty much going to have to make it. So, in 2013, that's what I did...to my surprise, once his brother saw the costume, HE wanted to be a crane. So I made TWO costumes. 

The following year, they both insisted on wearing the same costumes, so 37 weeks pregnant, I decided to "hit the easy button" and pulled the Crane and Scooper out of the attic. I did do some minor glue updates, but for the most part they were in great shape. 

In the spirit of sharing, I feel bad having posted about both 2013 and 2015, so here's the second go of the Crane and Scooper: 

Not bad, right?!

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When Life Happens {Halloween}

Life has been insane. Not just crazy. INSANE. And I could probably go on and on and list a million things to complain about, I'll spare you. We've all got plenty of stuff...it's just meant that keeping up with getting things done AND writing about it on a blog has been a very low priority. But I'm really hoping to share more--there have been a bunch of things that have happened that I want to share...so I do hope I'll be better (but won't hold my breath, because I've been wanting to share more for easily two years!)

Anyway, I was recently contacted by the creator of Make-Do because apparently Pinterest is linking to my blog, and my blog post from Halloween of 2013 links back to Make Do...so I started thinking about my construction Halloween costumes and realized I never shared my costumes from LAST year. In 2014, I was 9 months pregnant and my boys decided to wear their crane + excavator costumes a SECOND time. I wasn't going to fight them...

So last year, I had an almost one year old on the verge of walking...the perfect time for some projects...

When I started looking back at my pictures, I came across these pictures from last year and realized I had never shared them here.

My crew:

Here is a Halloween outfit (skirt and appliquéd shirt + hair bow) that I made, it's the cutest, now I have to look and see if that skirt might still fit! (fingers crossed!)

A year later, holy moly--the sass of this child. It's so much worse now that she can climb, and knows what she wants. She is INTENSE. I think this is the hardest season of my life...and she's not even a teenager yet!

Onto the Halloween costumes: 

My boys have been OBSESSED with farming--it's a little ironic because we live in Oklahoma, but we live in the suburbs...we end up going to NY to get to the country!  So because of the farming obsession, we decided to go with it--the boys were farmers, my husband even agreed to put on a plaid shirt and work boots...I made all of the boys matching "Bartran Family Farm" hats. I was a cow. After breastfeeding three children, I certainly feel like it! And Delaney was a baby chick, we used some flannel to make her stroller into a barn.

The kicker, I spent so much time on all of these projects--my children did ONE street, and barely trick or treated for an hour!

Cow:
-headband with with white flannel ears, pink inners, with little beige horns
-white shirt, black fleece pieces cut irregularly glued onto the shirt, pink belly with ACTUAL bottle nipples--I used hot glue but it was REALLY hard to get them to stay on, so I'd do a little more research and try stronger glue!

Chick: 

-used white felt, cut into feather shapes 3-4" long, hot glue in rows from the belly up, and on the arms

-cut an old-t-shirt into 3" strip, used red felt to create headpiece, I sewed the seam together. 

-hot glue orange construction paper onto pacifier. Surprisingly she did not mind--but the hot glue NEVER came off the pacifier!

Stroller cover Barn:
I used pieces of felt, I cut a lower section that I tied onto the stroller with 1" wide pieces of felt that I cut--adding ties with hot glue. Then I cut a middle section, again tied that onto the front piece of the stroller, THEN I added a larger back piece--I put the baby in the stroller with the red barn behind her.

The white felt was glued on with hot glue, square first, then added the X; the same behind the baby on the back piece. I used iron on vinyl to add a sign "the Bartran Family Farm" and glued that onto the middle section. And I added a "roof" upside down V along the top part of the stroller. 

Farmer:
-Used jeans, plaid shirt, vest we already had
-Cut cardboard box into rectangle, added a shorter piece for the top, added cardboard cut into circles; hot glue, I think the exhaust pipe was a toilet paper roll. I used twine, knotted onto grommets (not necessary but I had the grommets) to from the two front corners into one grommet in the back like a v. I glued push to turn on closet lights--the kids LOVED this feature! We added a golf ball covered in tin foil as the tow hitch.

Please feel free to email me if you have questions about how to make these costumes. They are pretty simple, cardboard, paint and TONS of hot glue!

I'm generally pretty busy and do not plan on making these for sale (but hey if you are interested shoot me an email, I'll answer honestly if I don't think I'll have time!)

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Sewing Table {DIY}

On a whim, a few weeks ago, I decided I needed to build a new sewing table.

I think I've lived in my house long enough to live in it as it was unpacked, but now I'm seeing where I'd like the changes to happen. This was one of those areas...

I had three sewing machines, all on different surfaces. It was was NOT working. {First world problems!?} It was challenging to find a place to quilt, especially because my dining room table was taken by the moving company to repair damage from our last move and they had it for two months. 

My husband had to go out of town for work and we had some unseasonably warm weather...perfect for building a new table! 

After doing some research, I ended up deciding to construct the Narrow Farmhouse Table by Ana White. It only took a few hours to build...I used my kreg jig + some hidden screws, but it definitely could be constructed other ways. I made my table 1' shorter and my 1x8 boards on the top only measured 7.25" wide, so the table was 29" wide, the height of the table was not changed.

It was unbelievable how quickly this table came together. I dropped by son off at Pre-School at 1pm, headed directly to Lowes, picked up the materials + had some of the wood cut to size (so it would fit inside my Prius!) and was on my way home by 1:40pm. By the time I had to pick up my son at 3:45pm, I had the entire lower portion of the table cut, sanded, and constructed. I put my tools away and worked for maybe an hour assembling the table top supports. I called it a night and the following 

day I constructed the table top, and joined it to the base.

Did I mention it only cost $90, including stain + screws, which I have a TON leftover!

Here is my assistant showing our handy work of just two days!!!

And after some staining on the 3rd day, I was seriously in shock how quickly this table came together. {I can't imagine buying a table ever again knowing how cheap and easy it was to build this!}

Here is the table immediately after my husband and I brought it into the house:

**I should warn you, be certain to wipe the excess stain off the bottom of the table legs {womp-wah!} AND GooGone takes off wet stain from hardwood floors! 

Now, all three sewing machines can fit on one table. While quilting, I can easily store the other machines underneath the table. I would still like to do something with these wires, possibly mount the power strip under the table...

And here is a terrible iPhone picture, but you can at least see the entire table. 

Hard to believe this only took three afternoons to make and for only $90!

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Pantry Paint Stencil {DIY}

As I mentioned in the pantry reveal, I have to admit this painted stencil wall was a labor of love. While it was not difficult, it was also not the easiest of DIY projects...when my husband goes away I have a tendency to take on new projects {like last week when I built a sewing table, or like the time I painted stripes in my bathroom} but this project has potential to get started and never finished {consider yourself warned!}

Isn't it lovely hidden back there?! 

I started on a center shelf and worked my way from left to right. Once I got started I wanted to be done because I loved how it looked! 

{Yes, I love googone!}

But if you look closely, this is NOT wallpaper, it is not perfectly uniform. It is not even really stenciled like a traditional stencil. It is mainly free handed, or by tracing a pencil line. 

And the pencil lines aren't always covered. I realized that some of my trace marks were very visible. I ended up having to buy a real eraser because we had none in the house! 

After a quick once over with my Dyson handheld vacuum, {it's the best btw!} all of the eraser funk was off the wall and my pantry was ready to be reassembled.

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Wood Crates {DIY}

As I showed yesterday, my pantry is newly reorganized and a bit updated. 

One of my favorite details in the new pantry is these wooden crates: 

{yes, that is my dog making a little cameo as I tried to take a picture!}

These guys started plain jane, but with a quick sanding and a coat of paint they look so different!

These crates were purchased at Home Depot, they might be seasonal (found in the entry of the store) I paid under $6 for each!! 

By staining the wood with rustoleum {american walnut} they look so different! 

I added stencils {cut with my Silhouette} and black acrylic paint.

In a nod to our time in the Army, we made a "B" rations container. Right now the ice shaver is being stored in this bin, but I think in time I expect food will be stored here.

And in a nod to my time working for the American Red Cross, our emergency bin {just some towels, a blanket, change of clothes, flash lights, emergency radio, and a place to store the extra crap I decide we urgently need if a tornado destroys our house...}

A nice touch, right?

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How to Create a Facebook Cover Photo with Pages {DIY}

I probably can be described as a Facebook addict, but that's a story for another day...something I like about Facebook is being able to easily share pictures with friends and family that are all over the globe.

One way I like to tweak + personalize my Facebook page is to create photo collages for the cover photo.

I had this one up around Christmas. It matches our Christmas Postcard.

From last year:

Fun, right?

Here is how I do it with my iMac:

*This is how I convert these files using an iMac, my guess is this will not work with a PC. Instead of having Microsoft Office, I have the Apple version: Pages. I know there has to be other ways, using file converters, etc. but this is the way I feel the most comfortable making documents into pictures...even though I do have Photoshop and need to learn HOW it works!

Click on this image to open be able to download the file template for you to download and instructions.

Once the file is downloaded, personalize the template by deleting the text in the top page. Go ahead and personalize using your photos and backgrounds. I have locked the gray box where your existing profile picture will appear. If you want, you can leave that blank, but whatever on the cover photo is behind that box will be covered when your profile is viewed.

And here are a few additional images if you are unsure how to save and convert the file to a JPEG.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

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Wood Butter {DIY + Tutorial}

Wood Butter? What am I talking about?

This is what I made and gave as Christmas gifts this year:

Not too long ago, I came across an idea that I thought was pure genius. Of course, it was a pin on Pinterest sharing a recipe for something called Wood Butter...it's a mixture of mineral oil and beeswax that conditions any wood utensils or cutting boards you have.

After mixing up a  batch, I was excited to try it out. I applied a layer using a napkin and couldn't believe how terrible my cutting boards looked before.

To make the wood butter, I ordered beeswax pellets from Amazon. Initially, I purchased beeswax from Hobby Lobby, but called the company and determined that it was not safe to be ingested, so I had to return it and found cosmetic grade beeswax on Amazon.

I found Mineral Oil both in Target + Walmart for about $1.50 per bottle, in the pharmacy area. I didn't know that it's a laxative....but it is significantly less expensive than the Mineral Oil made for wood that you buy at home stores, but is the same...

For one pound of beeswax I needed {I think} 4 bottles of Mineral Oil.

I made four batches, each made 24 ounces of wood butter. {In the end, I made 12 4 ounce jars, and 6  8 ounce jars.}

To make the wood butter, boil water in a large pan. Carefully place a glass measuring cup into the water. Add 4 ounces of beeswax pellets into a measuring cup + patiently wait until it melts. Stir occasionally. Once the beeswax pellets are all melted, add 16 ounces of warmed mineral oil into the melted beeswax. The mineral oil gets globby as it's added to the beeswax, in my experience, the warmer the mineral oil the easier it was to stir into the beeswax. Once the mineral oil is well combined into the beeswax, carefully {with a potholder} remove the liquid wood butter from the boiling water. Carefully pour into glass canning jars. Allow to cool before covering with the lid.


Here is the melted beeswax after about 10-15 minutes in the boiling water:

Here is the beeswax with the mineral oil added. It's sort of lumpy and looks like sweet + sour soup?!

Here it he mixture removed from the heat, it looks like honey:

 And once it cools it has a deep golden color, and is sort of the consistency of actual butter.

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DIY Infinity Scarf {DIY + Sewing}

Although Christmas seems like an eternity ago, here is a really quick project that I made for my son's teacher for Christmas: an infinity scarf.

I did not have enough of the bird fabric, so I had to line the interior with a white/grey fabric. 

To make this, I pieced together two strips of both (lining + exterior) fabrics (you can see the seam in the lower picture) to make 58" long strips, I cut both 10" wide. Sew with right sides together, then sew the the ends together carefully leaving an opening to flip the scarf through and hand sew the seam shut. 

This was an extremely easy project and it took almost NO time! I really want to make one for myself!  I used this tutorial from Shrimp Salad Circus for how to construct an infinity scarf. 

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Additional Entry Storage {Easy Update!}

In preparation for Christmas...and probably more accurately WINTER...I decided to update our hallway storage situation.

We were definitely having a situation, and it wasn't in a good way!

I found two rustic off-white shelves at Gordman's for under $20 each. I'm sure I would have spent more trying to create something similar once I purchased hardware!

Now the kid's are able to hang their own coats.

I stamped card stock to properly label each hook: everything needs a place!

This is what we were dealing with before: three hooks completely overflowing with coats (all mine...oops!)

This was a really easy update + has worked out perfectly to make the entryway less cluttered and messy looking. I would still like to pick up some hang-able baskets...but Rome wasn't built in day...maybe next month!

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