Problem SOLVED!!!

 
Soooo, when last we spoke I HAD no problem….that I knew of.  I had a cute bunny, cute Minnie ears, and a big smile.  THEN my little Minnie Mouse found her headband and tried it on.  FAILURE!!!!  The bow was too heavy in front and the ears were too big for her.  It just flopped right off.  GRRRR!!!!  BUT THEN I (brilliant gal that I am) FIXED IT!!!!!!  Here is what I did: 
Sorry for the ghetto pictures---it was raining at our house and DARK.  Who knew Winter was coming this morning?? 
ANYWAY…You will need craft foam, black felt, glue gun, velcro, 3 hair clips, and enough fabric or ribbon to make a bow.
HERE is the tutorial that I used to make my first headband (good tutorial, bad result for my kid). 
I used the same ideas, but changed the finished project. 
FIRST… I cut 2 foam circles (not doubled like the first time).  I used a small glass to trace the circle shape. THEN I cut a dumb-bell shape out of felt---the circle needs to be slightly larger than the foam circle. 

Use your handy dandy glue gun to hook the foam to the felt on one end.  THEN fold it over and hook it to the other side of the foam circle.  

Kinda looks like a Halloween Oreo huh.  I WISH!!!  Next, use the glue gun again and put glue along the edge of the orange foam. 

Then, squish the two edges together to cover the orange foam. Glue will squish out and you will probably burn the snot out of your fingers a few times, but it works.  You will also have some glue showing on the outside.  When mine dried I just cut around the edge with scissors to get rid of the leftover glue.

Where you had the rectangle between the circles you should have a small loop.  Fill it with glue from both ends (use plenty of glue).

Then, stick your clip through the loop.  You will need to squish the glue from all angles so that your ears stand up straight. 

Next, time for the bow.  I used THIS tutorial for the smaller bow.  First I made the bow the same size as the bow time instructions.  THEN I made it bigger (I could not help myself).  For the bigger bow I cut my fabric 4’X15’.  I glued the clip to the bottom of the bow---NOT THE BACK. 

I put Emersyn’s hair into pigtails and then clipped the ears right in front of the ponies and clipped the bow in front.  These pictures were of the small bow---I wanted more bow:)  Notice all of the toys all over my floor????  THIS TOOK ME A LONG TIME TO FIGURE OUT---Emersyn was on her own for WAY too long:)

NEXT PROBLEM….my kid doesn’t have too much hair.  The ears worked GREAT, but the bow was flopping forward.  GRRRR!!!!  Not cool after my bow making marathon!!  SOOO I came up with ONE more solution.
   
VELCRO!!!  What cannot be fixed with Velcro??? Marriage problems, and diaper rash….THAT IS IT!!!  Everything else is helped with the magical stuff.  Anywhooo….I put Velcro on the front of the ears and on the back of the bow (this is the cooler bigger bow).

NOW….I can clip on the ears, clip on the bow, AND THEN….Velcro the bow to the ears for stability.  WHEWWW!!  Who knew the ears would be the trickiest part of this darn costume…I should have bought the ugly slutty pirate costume that she found instead!! ;)
BUT…she is just such a darn cute little Minnie!!!!


***check out previous posts for the Minnie Top and Minnie Skirt.

Operation Mouse Ears

PHEWWW….Halloween costume making is OVER!!!  Except I need to try everything on my girl.  As cute as Bunny looks as a Minnie, she isn’t quite the same size---although she was the ONLY one I could get to sit still long enough for pictures:) 

Here is what I did for my ears…

I used THIS tutorial from The Suburban Mom to help make the headband.  The only change----my bow is about 100 times bigger!!!  I always think bigger is better---lets hope I am right!!

For the bow I used THIS tutorial from A Lemon Squeezy Home.  It was for a bow tie, but I just needed some bow help.  I made mine TWICE as big as the dimensions for the bow tie, so my pieces were 6’X20’ and I did not line it with fleece.  I also used my glue gun instead of hand sewing because I am lazy like that. 

  Emersyn did the Hot Dog dance when she saw it---I think that means she approves.   If not I guess I will take Bunny trick or treating:)

Phase 2 COMPLETE!!!

Operation Minnie Mouse is FINALLY back on track.  After a few more days of procrastination....I finally decided to jump into the top.  With a LOT of help from my football watching family (and kid watchers), I got a little alone time with my sewing machine this afternoon.  Just what I needed to pump out this top. 

Here is what I did...

I used the Dear My Kids vest pattern for the top.  Clearly I decided to add sleeves (bad and good idea).

I used THIS tutorial for puffed sleeves from MADE and THIS tutorial on sewing sleeves and lining from FROM AN IGLOO to help add the sleeves (plus a little help from my seam ripper and a few bad words).

Voila....it is starting to look a little more MINNIE:)  Tomorrow Operation Mouse Ears begins!!!

A Start!!!

Sometimes I wonder what goes through my mind when I decide to make something, but this time I GET IT!!!  I wanted my kiddo to have a cute Halloween costume and SHE couldn’t decide what she wanted to be.  One day it was a happy ghost, the next it was a mermaid, poop was one suggestion she gave, and the next day she wanted to be a booger.  Needless to say I did NOT want to make her something and have her refuse to wear it. 

I finally (with a small amount of convincing), got her to agree to be Minnie Mouse.  Cute. Fun. Girlie. PERFECT!!!  Of course after we picked out the fabric yesterday she told me she wanted to be a witch----WHICH made me want to be a WITCH too!!!!  Anyway….today with the hubs home from work I ACTUALLY got a little bit of a start.  

Here is her Minnie skirt.  I used THIS tutorial from MADE and it worked perfect.  It was quick, easy and kinda looks like Minnie---right????  PLUS the added bonus….it spins!!!  And the sugar on top….Emersyn likes it:)  Now I just need a top, some ears, and a big bow.  BACK TO WORK!!!!

Office - Windows Live

A little break...

I have found myself taking a LITTLE break from A LOT of things.  Between keeping the house clean for the realtors and filling the ETSY shop....I am about pooped.  I have done very little crafting....besides this weekends crafting marathon....too bad I didn't ACTUALLY complete anything.  ANYWAY....I finally decided I NEEDED to take some ME time and read a bit.  It keeps me sane and slows me down...just what I needed.  The only problem I have now is staying up till after midnight every night reading and waking up a zombie....I guess everyone has problems....
Book 1 that I finished I started ages ago and NEEDED to just finish it up. 

Somewhere a Song by Judith Pella.  It is the 2nd book in the Daughters of Fortune series that I started a while back.  In this book, the 3 sisters go through the bombing of Pearl Harbor and all of the aftermath.  One sister is a reporter in Russia, experiencing the whole other side of the war.   One sister is in the Phillipines going through bombings, Japanese takeovers, running and escaping in the jungles, tropical diseases....you name it.  The third sister is married to a Japanese American and experiencing poor treatment by other Americans and possibly being sent to an internment camp.  Scary Stuff----I cannot believe America went through a war like that.  I loved this book and will for sure go out and find the 3rd one.

The 2nd book...

Simply Sara by Hillary Manton Lodge.  This is another number 2 book in a series.  The first book Plain Jayne I loved---remember it was about Amish country????  Well this one was about an Amish girl, Sara, who has chosen to leave the Amish lifestyle and learn about the rest of the world.  She struggles with finding a job, getting an education, getting into design school, understanding slang and pop culture...you name it, it is new to her.  She has to then figure out whether it was worth it to leave her family or if she should go back to her simple Amish life.  

TWO good ones...lucky me.  Sorry about all of the ..... (s).  I guess I am too tired for real punctuation....I guess the English Teacher side of me is still in bed sleeping.  I wish the rest of me was too!!!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, TEN!!!!

 
SOOOO I started something new last month and have not shared it on here yet (mostly in case it went bad:>) Actually I started it at the beginning of July, got pregnant, puked my guts out for a few months, stopped living through the summer, changed my whole mind set, found some vintage stuff packed away in my craft room, and THEN I finally got the whole thing started.  What did I get started????  An ETSY shop.  At first I had visions of selling stuff I had made....but once I got started I realized that vintage stuff was the way to go for me right now. 
WELL now it has been about 2 and a half weeks and I have had TEN sales.  Time to celebrate:)  I know it is not big business, but it is fun---I enjoy it---and I get to make a little money of my own.  I actually went to the spa this weekend and it was COMPLETELY paid for with my own Etsy money.  FUN!!!! 
Here is the link to the shop....
AND...what can you find there????
It all started with these.....

A bunch of vintage hankies.  I threw them up on my Etsy site because I had them and saw others who were selling them.  WHY the heck not???
Now I have a lot of these….

Vintage sheets.  Franny found this one is Spokane.  She thinks she deserves a cut:) I love the orange and yellow---how cute would that be as a quilt back????? YUM!!!!  And my all time favorite…….

I loved this red one----doesn’t it look Japanese or something????  I had two of these and they sold in less than 24 hours…..I guess someone else liked them too!!
Now I have started cutting….and I have cute fat quarters like this…..


Since my original intentions were to throw my handmade goods out there….I also included a few things like this….
Go check me out in Etsy-Land!!!!  You may find something you MUST have:) 
ALSO….while you are checking me out….head on over to CRAFT GOSSIP and check out yesterday.  I got a comment from a reader who mentioned that I had been featured over there.  How cool is that…somebody likes me????? :)