Halloween 2013

This Halloween involved MUCH less work for me than last year (TARDIS and Weeping Angel from scratch, anyone?).  

Don't let that scowl fool you.
She was thrilled with how it turned out.

This year, my oldest made her own Padame costume. She found a graduation robe at a thrift store, used a red felt Xmas tree skirt, black duct tape, cereal boxes, wrapping paper, and a witches hat (for the head piece). 

She did it all herself and I think she looked great.

My son raided the costume box and opted to be Darth Vader. My youngest then decided to be Princess Leia. Problem is, we tossed the Leia costume last year after it got stained and she hates the wig. 

So we busted out socks and made sock buns with her own hair. She wore her white turtleneck under her sister's long white shirt. Plus leggings and boots. Voila: Princess Leia. 

 Middle daughter initially wanted to be Elizabeth Bennet, but later opted for Supergirl. She wore red leggings, boots, her superman shirt, another red Xmas skirt for a cape, and the yellow belt from a Superman costume we got on clearance a few years back.

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Weeping Angel Wings

In a bit of a panic last month, I told my kids that they needed to come up with their own costumes because I didn't think I'd have the time or energy to make something for them.

So of course I've spent the past 2 days creating these Weeping Angel wings:

My oldest daughter wanted to be a Weeping Angel.  She found the perfect grey fabric at the thrift store and agreed to do much of the work on the costume herself.  So I agreed.  

In fairness, she has done a lot of the work.  She sewed the seam in the dress herself (by hand).  She helped paint the shadows and highlights on the dress and she helped me out a little bit with the wings (I had to do most of the wings myself just because I'm like that). 

She actually helped a lot with the wing prep, but I had to scrap our original plan at the last minute.  She helped me cut out and paint foam "feathers" to look like stone, but when applied, they made the wings too heavy.  So I had to do much of this at the last minute.  

I'm going to do her makeup.  She can't wait for Halloween.  Honestly, I can't either.  

The kids have the costume box.

Nothing says, "Happy Halloween" like a chihuahua in a yellow submarine costume. 

Halloween is creeping up on us.  It's a favorite holiday here.  I told my kids I just wasn't feeling up to making costumes.  So, of course, now I'm making 2 different costumes which include the most intricate work I've ever done (I can hand stitch [poorly], but I can't use a sewing machine and I've never actually made clothing from scratch).

This ought to be fun where "Fun" means horrifying, anxious, frustrating, and awesome in the end.

Unfortunately, the whole goat rodeo won't coordinate this year (it's so much fun when they do).  My oldest and youngest will, though.  But shhhhhh, no one can know what they're going to be just yet.  Whenever I finally win this battle with mount fabric (aka finally finish these blasted costumes), I'll post pictures.

Conversations at Chez Goat Rodeo

These conversations both happened yesterday.

6-year-old son playing Mad Libs: It asks for a thing.  Everything in the world is a thing.  Even the world is a thing.

Me: The world is a vampire. 


Later in the day, my son was playing a game with my youngest daughter (age 3).  She won a surprising number of games in a row.  He made a comment in an astonished tone.

Son: You won AGAIN.

Daughter: Sorry. I just can't stop myself. 

If you give a Whovian some sneakers...

For a long time, it seemed as though this blog would become a Harry Potter-themed craft blog.  It did not.

Now, I'm going to risk it becoming a Doctor Who themed craft blog.  Woo hoo!  Come along for the ride.

 I made TARDIS sneakers/trainers for my kids.  I pinned these a few months back.  I loved them and thought I could use them as inspiration.

A few months ago, I found 3 or 4 pairs of Converse sneakers at a children's consignment store for a quarter each.  They included these perfect blue ones.  There was a spot of purple paint in the upper left corner, but I just painted over it with blue paint.


 Using those pinned sneakers as inspiration, I did all the painting freehand (which I think it pretty obvious).  I'm just not much of a planner.  I'd rather get straight to work.  So the outsides of the sneakers have the TARDIS doors painted. I printed the telephone signs on fabric and sewed them on by hand (I used iron-on fabric, but it's too old and doesn't stay put on its own).  I thought the strips on the back worked perfectly for the "Police Pubic Call Box" sign, so I mimicked that.  I'm horrible at copying fonts, but I did my best.  I asked the kids what they wanted written on the white toe portion and they all agreed on "Bad Wolf."







I'd like to replace the white laces with blue ones, but the ones we had on hand were too short.  So I'll need to find longer ones.  Still, I'm very happy with how these turned out.  My kids love 'em.  They fit my oldest, so they can be handed down to all the others (assuming they can keep them in one piece).

These will go nicely with the whole collection of Doctor Who-themed t-shirts I've made them, but that's another post for another day.