Jake & Izzy Neverland Pirates Costumes {DIY No Sew Scalloped Tee Tutorial}

Remember back in the day when Halloween consisted of just one night when you went around your neighborhood and trick or treated your heart out?  Now, Halloween has turned into a month long extravaganza with parties, carnivals, parades, dances, events and a whole lot of candy.  I'm not really complaining since Halloween is one of my favorite holiday's but it does mean that I have to get an early start on the costumes.  Luckily the kids decided on what they wanted to be all the way back in May - Jake and Izzy from the Neverland Pirates.

And today I'm going to show you how I made the Izzy scalloped tee.  I know it seems weird for me to be on top of things and actually put out a holiday tutorial in an appropriate time frame in relation to the holiday but this year I shocked even myself and got 'er done!  Don't be fooled into thinking I have my act completely together though.  Just yesterday I found an uncashed check for my 25th birthday {I'm *ahem* 31.}  Also I went an entire day this summer running errands with my yoga pants on inside out.  There was even a little crotch panel and a tag on the back.  I died.  But I digress...  Let's get back to the costumes-

 

And just in case you don't know who Jake and Izzy are, it's these guys -

 

 

 

I'm sure you can guess by my lack of crafty posts lately that I have been not quite feelin' it in the creative department so I wanted to keep things as simple as possible and wanted to make these NO SEW!  Each costume consists of clothes they already have and a custom made-by-mom t-shirt. 

 

Each tee cost me $3.  The bandana was $1.99 and a $1 tube of puffy paint was all I needed.  The rest of the supplies (felt, fabric, buttons & ribbon) were from my stash. 

 

For Jackson's I mean Jake's tee I just hot glued pieces of felt onto the front.  I then glued on ribbon trim and buttons.  I chopped up the sleeves to give it that authentic tattered pirate look.  Or as Jackson would say, "Mom, I look like a pie-rick!"  If you're wondering about the face this is his "yargh!" face.

Maggie oops, Izzy, got the coveted pixie dust necklace.  I used hot glue to make a little pouch, filled it with a little fluff and tied it off with some ribbon.

But the great little scallops are what this tutorial is all about.

This scallop technique is a great no sew way to add a great detail to any costume.  I can see this working for a knight, or a fairy, a flower, you name it.

 

Are you ready for the world's easiest tutorial?

 

Step 1:  Cut off hem of shirt and turn it inside out.

 

Step 2:  Iron a strip of light weight iron on interfacing to the bottom of the shirt.  This will make sure the scallops on the cut t-shirt don't roll and keep their shape.

Step 3:  Draw scallops onto interfacing.  Tip - Start with a half scallop on the sides and work your way into the middle of the shirt so you have nice even scallops all the way around.

Step 4:  Cut.  I cut both layers at once so that the scallops were even on both sides.

Step 5:  Flip shirt right side out and add details with glitter puffy paint.  The glitter is important because for reasons unknown to man it makes girls feel pretty and fancy and it's just plain cute.

At this point I added my paint scallops to the arms, and neck as well.  After the 4 hours the bottle told me to let it all dry, I flipped it over and added the paint details to the backside of the shirt.

As far as tips for the bandana I would recommend putting it on your child and marking where the ear ends.  Do this for each side. 

Place your paint detail between those spots so that when you tie on the head band you don't get snagged up on paint and so none of the pattern gets lost in the tie.  It just makes for a cleaner look in my opinion.  Plus I didn't want to hear the freak out if the paint started to peel off from the friction of the tie because you know those kinds of things are the end of the world to a 5 year old.

 

 

And Booyah!  It was THAT easy! 

 

Costumes that require little time, little money and little skill and effort always get a big thumbs up from me!  Not to mention the joy they bring your kids.  Mine were so happy and grateful that not only did they hug me but they hugged each other.  It was a Halloween miracle.

 

So do tell, what are your munchkins going to be this year?? 

 

Feel free to link up any pics or posts you may have so we can all visit and give a great big collective "awe". 

 

Did I mention I just love Halloween? 

 

I love Halloween.

Graduation Crafts! Diploma Cover Scrapbook

Hey, hey, hey! It's graduation time!  There's nothing like the feeling of letting all those school burdens go and feeling that sense of accomplishment.  Plus, it makes me want to sing School's Out by Alice Cooper and who doesn't love that song?  Nobody, that's who, because that song is awesome.

Johnny Boy and I got married our Junior year of college so we spent our Senior year and our first year of marriage enjoying date nights at the library.  Oh yeah, keepin' the romance alive.  Nothing says love like a 1,000 page science textbook.  We graduated Spring of 2006 from BYU-Idaho, John with a bachelor degree in Chemistry and me with a bachelor degree in Geology and Earth Science.  Nerds.  You can say it.  We know. 

John's parents were generous and bought us nice frames for our diplomas which left us with these empty diploma covers.  You know I wasn't going to let that go to waste.

The cover is a nice pleather and satin bound cover with our university stamped in silver on the front.  This isn't a piece of junk {I mean I paid thousands of dollars and years of my life to get it} and it had a greater purpose than just tossing it.

So I added a few scrapbook stickers and pictures from our big day and The Diploma Cover Scrapbook was born.

This scrapbook is John's.  Mine is basically the same.  Just with a few more pictures of my parents.

I also had these cute little diplomas that I stuck in there.  You can buy a similar one HERE.  If you don't frame your original diploma you could still keep it in the cover and just scrapbook the left cover.  Lot's of options here.

 

The scrapbook is nice and compact and fits on my bookshelf but I can also take it out every spring to remember the accomplishments that we achieved and look at how cute we look in black robes and cardboard hats pre-children.

 

 

Happy Graduation to All You Grads! 

 

 

 

Feel free to turn this post into a little graduation brag board - Did your baby graduate Kindergarden, High School, College?  Give a shout out to your High School {Reed High class of 2000!} or did you finally pass all your classes and get that higher degree?  Whatever it is, y'all have worked hard so be sure to brag about it below in the comments!  

 

 

Beach Fun and a WINNER!

Hope y'all had a lovely Mother's Day, celebrating moms or even yourself. I've told you how much I love my momma so you know I was sad to not be with her in Nevada this year but the kids and John made up for it and took me to the beach for the weekend!!

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express on the beach in Orange Beach, Alabama. The gulf is perfect and I highly recommend this hotel. It was wonderful.

We saw wild dolphins, built sand castles, swam, relaxed, collected shells (project coming soon!) and had a great time. The kids even got to touch a dead fish. Exciting!

At the end of the first day Maggie said, "I love me!" I loved hearing that and by the end of the trip I declared that I loved me too. I hope y'all take the chance to love yourselves as well.

P.S. Today, we wrap up the doTerra giveaway from Lemon Living! Thanks so much to them for proving such a great giveaway. The winner was #10 Mary. Thanks to everyone who entered!

I need to share their story

This is something that has been hard for me to write about but I need to tell you because not only do I think you will be strengthened by their story but I'm also in need of your help.

On Thanksgiving day I was at the dinner table talking and relaxing with my family.  We chatted about this and that and were having a great time.  I glanced down at my iPod and then heard the news, a friend of ours who we met here in Birmingham had just passed away in her husbands arms.  She was 28.

 

Let me back up a bit - toward the end of 2011 Janette started to feel tired.  Don't we all?  But she also noticed other things that seemed off too.  In November she was diagnosed with leukemia.  We were all scared.  How could this be?  She was a mom.  I am a mom.  This sort of thing is impossible right?  Right?!  It didn't feel real.  We were all so devastated but we knew that Janette was strong, positive and determined and that if anyone could fight this it would be her.  And fight hard she did.

Her journey to fight leukemia began here in Birmingham.  Her husband, Marc was just weeks away from graduation and their life was turned upside down.  She began her treatment here and Marc became her permanent caretaker but soon it was too much and they moved to Utah to be close to family that could help take care of her little boys, Connor (6) and Brayden (4).  So we followed her journey from afar through her blog, Janette's Journey. 

She would tell us about the 3 bone marrow transplants, about the troubles her organs would face, she talked about the hallucinations, the isolation, the pain, the fatigue, the nightmares, the time she went blind, the fevers, the endless waiting for results.  But there were good days too.  The days she got to hold her boys, the days she got to go home, the days she felt like she could take on the world, the closeness she got to feel with her husband and the days that made her see the world and life in a whole new way.  She was strong.  She was inspiring.

She fought hard and did things that seemed impossible.  In her final post before she passed she wrote, "I hope I am home for Thanksgiving!"  My heart broke at those words but I also felt comforted because she was home.  It wasn't the home she was hoping for with her little boys but it was her heavenly home where she can watch over her family and wait for their reunion, free from the pains of this world.

In the weeks since her passing I have been strengthened by her husband and boys.  Although Marc is devastated he has strength and grace.  You can read his thoughts after her passing here.  And just the other day his little boy said to him, "We miss mom now, but we don't have to miss her forever, we will be with her in heaven someday!  We will always love her!"  Oh the faith of a child!

I mentioned at the beginning of this post that you could help.  Popular San Francisco wedding photographer, Marielle Hayes, has generously selected this family for her annual fundraiser.  For any donation amount given she will give you a digital file of this beautiful print of hers.  It is a mother with her child and to me it signifies the strength and power that mothers have. 

So please take a moment to check out Marielle's post about this great family and the needs they now face and consider a donation (in any amount) to bless a family that has fought so much and still has a long journey ahead as they try to heal.  100% of the donations will go to Marc and his boys.

This holiday season I hope we can all be a little more grateful for the things we have in our lives.  May we hug our kids a little tighter and speak kinder to our spouses.  May we call our parents and tell them we love them and may we all draw closer to God and be inspired to do great things.

Vintage Revivals Room Makeover Submission

Okay, before we get started with this post I need to clarify one thing -

 

SOURCE

 

It's true, I promise.  I SWEAR! 

 

See my For the Home Pinterest board?  Awesome right?

 

Before I cause you to doubt it let me explain a few things.  John and I got married our senior year of college and we just needed to live on love so we didn't have much more furniture than a few dumpster dive finds and hand me down junk.  We graduated and moved across the country to Alabama where John went to graduate school and we bought our first house and had two great kids.  But it turns out that houses and kids are expensive and we never got around to buying real furniture.  My decorating budget is $0 annually and my house reflects it.

 

Mandi from Vintage Revivals is doing the most incredible giveaway in the history of blog world and I am here to beg for her to come to my place and wave her Mandilicious wand, and magically transform my living room.  So today I show you my shame in the hopes of a grand reward.  Don't judge me when you see it.  Okay, you can totally judge.

 

So let's rip off the band aid and get on with the embarrassment, shall we?

 

When you get to my front door you see my herringbone door mat and think, "Oh, that's a bright fun little mat.  The inside must be cute and crafty too."

 

 

And then you step in and see this...

 

 

And think this...

 

I know!  It's terrible!

 

But imagine how I feel!!

 

This is probably the saddest first world problem there is...

 

{yeah.  i totally made my own meme's.  i want this that bad}

 

 

 

"Wait... was that a BED in your living room?"

 

 

 

Uh.... yeah... let me explain...

 

When Jackson was born {2 years ago} we brought the mattress up from the basement for Grandma Cutts to sleep on.  We realized how nice it was to have an extra "couch" to sit on and it stayed.  For two years!  It's so hard to let go of extra seating even if it looks like an eternal slumber party and since I have no $$ I haven't even been able to try and disguise it as a day bed.  So instead everyone who visits says with squinty suspicious eyes, "A bed... who sleeps there?"  And then I have to explain the whole second "couch" thing so they don't think that we aren't in love or something because we totally are, we just love our couch/bed.  So embarrassing.

 

 

This is our kid corner.  The kids have completely taken this space over and while it's nice to have toys downstairs for when friends play I would love to have adult space that doesn't include a million Polly Pocket parts and dinosaur figurines.  Of at least not have it all on display.

Here's the view looking back at the front door.  The skinny door is a small coat closet that is jam packed with games and puzzles.  And there is Maggie deciding whether she wants to scatter Littlest Pet Shops or dominoes all over the floor.

There is this random part of the ceiling that I think holds an air duct.  It's covered in popcorn texture and for the life of me I cannot figure out what to do with it so I leave it alone in the hopes that it will blend in.

Here is our glorious entertainment area.  The Huggies box is acting as a secondary toy box. 

Take a good look at this vintage coffee table.  And by vintage I mean, fake wood laminate, smokey glass topped, gold trimmed giant piece of crap from 1985.

And check out this classy leaning tower of DVD's.  It's the 8th wonder of the world.

Now, let's get onto the decor...

 

Here is my little shrine to Maggie for her birthday.  Pictures are stacked on top of each other because she likes to take them down and look at herself.  You may think this is sweet that I decorated a little shrine for her but not when you realize that her birthday is Leap Day.  In February.  Over 6 months ago.  I just had nothing better to put there so it stayed.

Get your "pin it" buttons ready because you've never seen a gallery wall like this before!  It's basically the saddest gallery wall in the world.  Four pictures?  Wah wah...

Oh and look at my amazing ability to put appropriately sized pictures on the wall.  Those proportions are spot on right?   Gah!  And if you're wondering, yes, the heart garland IS from Valentines Day.  It was Maggie's first sewing project and again I haven't taken it down because I needed something to distract from the world's smallest picture frame.

 

To illustrate the proportion of the wall better here's a view from the kitchen.  And trust me when I tell you that I am sparing you're innocent eyes by not showing a better picture of our hideous green couch.  And I won't force you to look at my disgusting carpet either.  Is it sad that I've always dreamed of someday owning a rug?  The thought of it makes me feel super fancy.

So there you have it.  My shame out for the whole world to see.  On the bright side, at least I make cute kids even if I can't make a cute house.

 

So here is the part where I beg -

 

Dear Mandi and Hailee,

 

You've seen the sadness which is my living room.  This is only the tip of the iceburg in this house.  {My clothes are kept in plastic storage bins, but that's another makeover for another room.}  Clearly you can see that I am in desperate need of your genius.  Someday soon my husband will be graduating and getting a job and my budget will go from $0 to more than $0 and I need not only your makeover but your knowledge for when the day comes that I am left to my own decorating devices. 

 

Please come fix my house and show me the light that only you can.

 

You won't just be giving a girl a fish, you'll be teaching her how to fish and she'll be able to decorate for a lifetime.  {Okay that sounded weird but you get the point.}

 

Just think of how satisfying it will be to usher us into this new adult phase in our lives by teaching us how to use grown up furniture.

So please, please, PLEASE come to Alabama and fix this disaster so I no longer have to hang my head in shame.  Oh yeah, and if you come I have at least 5 thrift stores by my house and I'll totally take you to get real Southern BBQ, fried green tomatoes, fried pickles, banana pudding, the whole works.  No one can resist southern food!  I'm not bribing or anything I'm just sayin'.  Okay, yeah, I'm bribing.  Can you blame me?  I'm desperate!  And the beach is pretty close by too.  Okay!  Sorry!  I had to sweeten the deal a little.  I'm done now.  I promise.

Thanks Vintage Revivals and their sponsors for such a great opportunity!

Next week the general voting starts.  I hope you, my readers, will feel moved to pick me as saddest room so I can win.  I have a bed in my living room afterall! 

Wish me luck!!!  I need it!

 

The Eternal Family Fight

I've been wanting to share more about me and my family and thought I'd share an oldie but a goodie from my personal family blog.  Hopefully you can relate to our little mini me's and it will give you a smile.  Enjoy this exclusive look into the crazy which is us.  :)

________________________________

John and I get along pretty well most of the time.  We're best friends forever afterall.  But there is one thing that will always cause an argument.  Driving somewhere new.

I would like to think that getting a GPS would save us from arguments but it doesn't.  We used the GPS on my ipod to go to a wedding.  We ended up lost for 2 hours in the ghetto,  and by ghetto I mean we are lucky to not have been murdered because I'm sure no police would even set foot in these neighborhoods.

John has no pet names for me except for Chewbaca.  (I know, so romantic)  He says I'm his navigator.  Which I guess would be cute except I hate being the navigator.  For one, I suck at it and for two, he never listens to his Chewy.  We are both terrible at directions and that spells out disaster every time.

Once we get to our destination we're usually BFF's again but let me tell you, there is no joy in the journey.

I snapped these pictures of Jack and Mags at the grocery store.  Though they were being really good to each other I had to laugh and the resulting pictures.  I showed these to John and said, "Look it's us!"

So here are some captions of us.

"Where are we going again?  Are you reading the directions?"
"Yes!  I'm reading the directions.  I have them right here."

"I don't see this turn we're supposed to take.  I thought you said you knew where we were going?"
"No, I said 'I don't know where we are going.' "

"Ugh.  Chewbaca!"

"Look again.  What does it say?  Do you see road 41?"
"No there is no road 41 on here it just is a blank road.  I have no idea what this means.  I don't want to be Chewbaca anymore!"

"Unbelievable.  How can I trust you to be Chewbaca?"
"I told you a million times.  I'm not Chewbaca.  Here.  Look for yourself - blank road."

Uggghhh..... I'm never driving with this woman again.

And there it is.  An exclusive look at our life {lost} in the fast lane.