DIY Christmas Stocking

 I have been wanting to make new stockings for awhile now. The ones we have are from when I was growing up. They are denim and flannel and are HUGE! I am trying to convert over to a timeless Christmas theme in our home consisting of silver, whites and gold. I saw this picture on Pinterest and that is exactly what I wanted for stockings. Simple, clean, and fun texture.

So one morning Mom and I hit up Savers and I got a few sweaters. 

I made up a pattern.

Turned the sweater wrong side out and positioned it as desired. I wanted them to be different lengths, adding a touch of variation so I positioned the pattern down a bit on a few socks. 

Cut around the sock.

The first sock we tried to just surge around the edge without pinning and it turned out horribly. It was all stretched out and a total flop. So we switched the surger so that it gathered slightly, keeping things nice and tight, pinned like crazy and added some thin strips of cotton cut along the grain line to help keep it from stretching.

We then surged around the edges. 

 So Beautiful!!! Then we turned them right side out and added loops to hang them up on. (Which I should have taken a picture of because Mom made some beautiful loops.)

Repeat for additional socks.

Hang them up and admire!

I am so in love with this room! So festive, so cozy! The stocking really pull it all together!! 

Okay Santa, we are almost ready for you!

Moana Halloween Costumes

For some reason I decided that it would be cheaper for me to make Jakob's Maui shirt than for me to buy it. I suppose in the end it was cheaper, but oh my lanta, it was SO time consuming. SUPER fun though!!!

So I start drawing and I have Jakob try it on to make sure that his boobs and abs are lining up and then I realize I drew everything on the back of the shirt!!!!! I was so beyond disappointed! I mean, seriously... how dumb of me. the shirt was looking awesome though! 

My templates.

Cutting out Maui's hook. 

Parts and pieces for Tomatoa. 

Back in the tatoo parlor. At this point we are looking at about 8 hours of work. This thing was a beast. 

That's one happy crab!

And finishing the Shiny shell! 

Halloween Night! This was the only time that we got all dressed up as a family. I was pretty excited about these costumes.

E was a super cute Moana. 

 Moana and Maui.

 Duke was just darling at Tomatoa. He was super into those crab claws! 

 This year I went for close enough, but not exact and I really enjoyed it. The shell was a pillow covered in shiny fabric and then I spray painted some shells, beads and coins in gold. I was pretty happy with it. 

 Love him!!

 Daddy's shirt was a lot of work but the end product was awesome!! His hook was cardboard, wrapped in tape and spray painted. His skirt was felt leaves and then I stitched on some leaves.  Here's a few too many photos.

 I ended up having a few extra spaces so I made up a tattoo of my own. I thought it turned out pretty cute. 

My dress was purchased a green dress at savers and stitched some leaves on it. Super easy.

I sprayed my hair green, and used a garland for my crown.

 

 

Happy Halloween!!

Bath Towel

The day before Leif was born I realized that he didn't have a towel yet. For some reason this truly bothered me. So off to Wal-Mart I went to pick out supplies for a towel. I had determined that I was going to make him a fox towel, I was pretty excited about it but when we arrived there were NO orange towels. SO back to the drawing board.

 At this point I decided to start looking for towels on clearance. Then I came across these brown ones. Perfect for a bear! I was totally in love with the texture. I came home and in 15 minutes, we had a towel! I love quick projects like that. 

I used one bath towel, one hand towel, and one off white face cloth. For the eyes I used felt and for the nose I used a piece of leather. I {love} the little nose. 

 At this point I was so in love! I asked Duke if he wanted me to make him one too since we call him Bear but he is pretty attached to his Dinosaur one. 

It's obviously too big for Leif right now, but he'll grow into it. 

What a cute little man!!!!