Halloween 2013: How to Train your Dragon

*this "bunker" is in our town and there are one on each side of the road.*

Emily & Ava as Hiccup and Astrid of How to Train your Dragon.

These were so much fun to make and then photograph! Jon is my right hand man when I do these Halloween shoots with the girls. He helps me keep them in line other wise it's like herding cats.

I have made a separate page of what I used to make the costumes and some pictures of how, here. 

Bunny Baseball Shirt

ring ring, pretzel phone!

Not this bunny tee but the one below! This shirt is H&M.

Fabric is from Girl Charlie (both stripe and bunny) and shirt pattern is the Tee for Two from Figgy's.

I have since used my serger for knits and can't believe I hadn't been using it this whole time! See the hem? See the pucker in the back by the shoulders? blech. I think the puckers and mangled hem are a combination of my sewing machine and that the sleeves and body of the shirt are two different knits. Not one of my best creations but she loves it:) 

Paper Monster Window Silhouettes

Zombie hands and fun monsters. The inspiration for the monsters is from here. The Zombie hands are from the Silhouette Store and cut out using the Silhouette. The monsters are all cut by looking at the inspiration picture and hoping for the best (Yesenia helped me with 2 of them since I'm such a crap draw-er). I used big pieces of black construction paper and colored tissue paper.

Below is the back windows.

And what it looks like from inside when we actually get sunshine! Put together with tape:)

This is what it looks like below during the day.

Wood Halloween Silhouetes

*directions and template from Marthastewart.com*

My two friends and I borrowed a jigsaw from self-help and made some Halloween decorations! I have had this project saved for a couple of years now with the files already downloaded on my computer, just waiting for me to do it. The problem was...I had never used a jigsaw and didn't own one. My neighbor Yesenia suggested we borrow one from self-help (I love the military) uh, genius! We bought wood and paint at the local hardware store and got to it! It was really really easy. What I mean is, I watched Yesenia do half the witch and then I took over. It was much easier than I thought it would be. The hardest part is the tight curves and as you can see from the close up of the witch, it's a bit jaggedy. 

This project cost me: 

21 euro for wood

11.99 euro for paint.

So about 45 USD. 

(it will be more if you add supports or other stuff on the back. I didn't because this is our last Halloween in this house and I didn't want to commit the witch to only being able to pose her one way) 

The directions call for an 8x4 feet piece of wood for the witch and 4x4 feet for 3 cats. Do not buy two pieces! The 8x4 piece is big enough to do the witch and the three cats if you cut just right.

Cat #1 (he is slightly different than the one below)

Cat #2

And cat #3

Close up of the witch. I'm not sure what the wood is that we bought. It was perfect for this though. It was not solid wood and sort of frayed like torn cardboard on some of the edges. The directions call for 3/4" wood but this is about 1/4" thick. We used outdoor deck paint.

She is supposed to have hooks on the back of her hands to hold the broom and lantern but again I didn't want to commit her to only been one way. I might need to turn her the other way at the next house!

And here is Yesenia! She's posing for me. Yesenia is one of the coolest people I know. She is from New York and just moved here about 4 months ago. 

I only took these two pictures while they were being built. 

Next post will be the paper monsters and zombie hands silhouettes we made!!

Large Stripey Bins

Meet my two new stripey bin/buckets.

Above is my version and below is the inspiration. It's from here and I tried to buy it but the store doesn't take visa/mastercard (only European bank transfer) so I had to make it myself. Right? Right! I still like the inspiration one better because of the way the stripes are but these will do:)

So the smaller one in the picture above will stay right there. I made it for the sole purpose of dirty clothes. The girls change every morning into school clothes right there at the foot of the stairs so the pj's go right in the bin now when they used to go in the corner awaiting a trip downstairs to laundry or upstairs to laundry basket, See why I needed it? Also, the girls take their socks off after school and I find them all over the house. Now they and other dirty items can go in the bin!

It's lined in the same fabric as the outside and interlined in PelTex to make it stand up.

The much larger version is in the playroom for stuffed animals. Below you can see how big it is next to Ava.

In case you want to make one too, I have listed the measurements below. I do not have much of a tutorial but if you find a tutorial online for a smaller bucket then use that but with these measurements! I had searched and searched to see if someone else already had a pattern or listed measurements for a large bin but couldn't find any so I had to do it myself. Darn it!

*

Stripe fabric is a medium weight cotton duck from fabric.com. 

I bought 5 yards and am able to get 1 large and 2 medium bins from it. 

**hopefully I documented my measurements correctly! Don't get mad at me if I didn't....

Medium bin:

finished measurements:14"x17.5" tall (1pc)

bottom: 15" across

sides of bin: 18.5 tall x 47" wide

handle: 7" tall x 12.5" wide

cut peltex 17.5" x 46" 

cut peltex for handle: 1.75" x 12.5"

Large Bin:

Finished measurements: 16"x 22.25"tall

bottom: 17" across

sides of bin: 23.25" tall x 51.5" wide (1pc.)

handle: 7" tall x 12.5" wide

cut peltex: 50.5" x 22.25"

cut peltex for handle: 1.75" x 12.5"

*

Rough instructions:

1/2" seams through out 

handle is folded in half long ways then opened and each long side folded in to meet middle then folded again (I then inserted a piece of peltex 1.75"x12.5"). Top stitch.

I used peltex on the bottom lining. I sewed it on the wrong side of the bottom lining with 1/2" seam then cutoff the 1/2 seam allowance of the peltex only so the seams won't be bulky when you attach the bottom to the sides. 

I inserted the peltex for the sides after lining and outside fabric were assembled separately. With the outside piece right side out, insert the lining piece wrong side out (so wrong sides are now touching) then insert peltex piece in between outside and lining pushing it down so it is 1/2" from top. You can tack it in place if needed. Pin handles in place on the right side of outside fabric. Fold over top piece of both lining and outside fabric 1/2" towards the wrong side. make sure handles are out so you can see them but catch the ends in between the lining and outside fabric. The bin should look like it's finished except now you top stitch all the way around close the edge.

Again, it would be best to find a bucket/bin tutorial online and then use these measurements. My instructions above aren't very good, and I apologize. Contact me if you have any questions!