Star Wars Heels

The day before we left for Vegas I was searching cute things on Pinterest and found these FAB-U-LOUS Star Wars Heels. I knew I just had to have them, but they were $50 and there wasn't enough time to ship them. I knew I had the fabric downstairs and I figured I could rock these out for less than $50 so I started researching how to cover heels with fabric. Turns out it is SUPER simple but there is a learning curve. I went to Savers and gt some heels, found out I was 1/2" short on fabric so I zipped out to get some more and I went to town. In total they cost $12. The shoes were half price and I got the fabric and Mod Podge with a coupon. Winning!!!

 I freaking well LOVE THEM!!!! Oh my inner nerd was just giddy the whole time! I was insanely easy but I learned a few things. 1. Outdoor Mod Podge (while recommended) turns out shiny which wasn't the look I was going for. So I used it as a base to get the fabric on and then I topped it with a matte Podge. 

 2. Use a VERY sharp xacto knife. Mine was dull and just didn't cut as cleanly as I wanted. 

 3. Take your time. I made mine at 1:30 am. I was rushing and so they aren't as neat as I would have liked (as you can tell in the back in the next picture.)

 But when all was said and done I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them!!! They aren't perfect but they are on my feet so people don't look to closely and I have gotten a TON of compliments on them! 

I am feeling some super hero ones next? Who's with me?!

Make Under Doll

One afternoon I got a call from Janet and she was super excited about these Tree Change Dolls she saw online. I had seen them as well and we decided to make some. SO exciting! I LOVE projects! I was put in charge of making some clothes. Perfect.... easy peasy I thought... WRONG! Doll clothes are a bear. Tiny clothes with tiny seams and having to make SEVERAL drafts to make things fit. Fun... yes, a challenge... yes, but like I said... A BEAR! 

We wanted to dolls to look like the girls which was simple in theory, but in actuality it was a lot of pressure, trying to figure out an outfit that was like the girls but still easy enough to make super tiny. Lucia, for the most part was pretty simple. I made a jacket out of felt... I love working with felt! It came together really quickly (only about a hour and a half!).

And then we gave her a white T-shirt and a blue metallic skirt. We were going for a rocker feel. 

Violet was harder... she is very girly, but no longer into princesses. I had thought of making her a princess dress but since she too old for that I decided to go with just a pink dress with hearts on the skirt. I was totally flying by the seat of my pants and in the end it came out alright, thank heavens Janet had other doll clothes as well. 

Then I crocheted her a little shawl which was fun and dressed it up a bit. Much better! (E's dress will be pictured later.)

While in Houston Janet and I worked on our dolls... till 2 in the morning for a few nights. It was so much fun! First step... remove the faces!

Violet, Lucia and Ethnie's dolls all fresh and clean!

Then we started to paint. Talk about intimidating! We looked at pictures of the girls and painted away. It was really difficult to figure out the balance between doll, eye and lip shapes, natural and still wanting them to be animated.

Ready to put in the pupils. At this point you just don't want to mess things up because you'd have to start ALL over. Making things the same shape was tricky, but so much fun! I love a challenge!

And then I messed mine up. Maybe you can't tell but it was a bit sad. I fixed her pretty well and I'm sure E won't even notice. 

Face complete! Hair braided like E has hers all the time, all ready for clothes... and shoes.

 And she's done! I found the feet on another doll as a thrift store and got them until I make up some pink rubber boots out of oogoo. I am totally in love with her!

I made the little dress to match E's "park" dress that she wears all the time!
 

 Before and after and such a difference! This was SUCH a fun project! Thanks so much for including me Janet! I can't wait to give it to E!

Bow Dress

Since we are going to Houston for Thanksgiving I decided that I wanted the kiddos to have matching outfits. While I was in the store I stumbled upon this bow fabric and knew that I just had to make a dress for E. Does she need a dress? No. Do I need another project? No. but it was calling to me so I had satisfy my urge. 

 This is the first time that I have EVER followed a pattern. Usually Mom Tobler and i are designing our dresses and projects using several patterns as we go and really just winging it. Let me tell you... Creatively it wasn't as fun, but time wise it just went right together. The whole thing took me around 3 1/2 hours to do. Piece of cake. 

This neckline was a bear. Curves, corners, slits... It's still not perfect and after stitching it and taking it apart 6 or so times I decided just to leave it. I had planned to put the trim on anyways and it hides the flaws just perfectly! 

I just love the buttons on the back. So pleased with this dress. So quick, so simple, so fun! Now.... onto my next project!

Monkey Bash

We had 5 days between coming home from the family reunion and Duke's Big Bash. It was a busy 5 days but I tried to keep things pretty simple. Duke's birthday outfit was super simple and I just {loved} the final outcome!! Wonder-under and some fusible interfacing are key players when doing an applique. Best part was I only had to get a new onesie, Mom had everything else on hand!

The sign outside. Just painted cardboard attached to E's Ewok stick from Halloween two years ago. 

I loved the vines and things in the dining room but I went a little over the top. Less is more when it comes to streamer vines. I used 4 rolls, next time I would stick with just 2. 

Our pineapple palm tree! I think this was almost my favorite decoration. So easy and SO cute!

The finished dining room minus the cake. 

I twisted some monkey balloons and hung them up. They were just darling.

Because of time limits I just bought the pinata off of Amazon. I would totally make my own next time, but this Dude sure was cute!

 Because I went so over the tp with the streamers you couldn't really see the palm trees that were hanging in the entry way. 

A few pictures of Duke's year. 

I had a few games for the kids set up. This one was for the older few that came. I hid these bananas pretty well and they were tricky to find! Such a simple activity and it was perfect!

The vine obstacle course which lasted a whole 30 minutes before the kids decided that it was funner just to run through it! Super simple but they had fin with it!

We had each of the kids make a little monkey. Davis's little had was the cutest (Davis is almost one.)

I love hand print crafts!

The monkey bean bag toss. 

I painted the money out of cardboard. So quick and simple!

Our little banana bean bags. Love them!

The food table. We went with gourmet hot dogs. Kids Love them, the are easy and it was great for a tight budget!

Duke was so excited to hit the pinata!

Cake time!

 

 

For the party favors we had bought a variety of little monkey's and had each child adopt one. Of course when you are hunting for monkey's you can never find any. Luckily we had enough for everyone! 

All of the Monkey hand crafts.

It was a fun party that was quick to throw together. I would change a few things but for a party done in 5 days from start to finish I'd say it was pretty good!