DIY Kitty Cat Costume & Makeup {Halloween}

Happy almost Halloween, y'all!  Okay so I told you all a few weeks that I was just learning how to sew and after those lunch hour lessons I decided to tackle my daughter’s Halloween costume.  She told me that she wanted to be a kitty and soon after I started looking for costumes on the web.  After some searching and not really finding what appealed to either of us I told myself: “Self, you just learned how to sew now show the world what you can do!”  Well I can’t do much but I was confident I could accomplish this mission so off to the store I went and in the end this was Kitty Cat costume I “created” for my baby girl. 

bad quality pic, sorry!

Fast and Simple Halloween Decor

Hey friends!  Guess what?  I'm just getting around to decorate for Halloween.  Finally!  I'm a little disappointed in myself because normally by October 1st I have the house decorated and in full Halloween spirit.  But for the second year in a row I'm off to a very late start, ugh!  The ONLY Halloween item I have in my house right now is the vase I put together a couple of weeks ago.  Now I have my second Halloween decor out and I put it together this past weekend in less than 10 minutes.  My girl helped me and she had lots of fun doing it.  It was easy & fun for her and there was no mess.  Yay for the both of us!

I wanted to "make" something that was quick and affordable.  So I got lucky when I walked into Hobby Lobby and found all the supplies for this little project on sale 40%-50% off (the mason jars I already owned).

Ready for the directions?

• clean mason jars
• open & pour Halloween popcorn into jars
• decorate jars with stickers
• insert battery in candle, turn on and place inside jar
• Voila!

The supplies I used were two jars, a bag of Halloween popcorn (Styrofoam balls), scrapbook stickers and orange candle lights:

I placed them on my bookshelf with a pumpkin and a skull.  My girl loves coming home everyday to turn on the pretend candles.  And both my kids like they way it looks when the house is dim.  It gives it the "safe" eerie feeling.

Now I need to get going on the rest of the house even if the Halloween decor will only be up for a week.  Better late than never! :)

P.S. - Sorry if these pictures seem to small.  I'm trying to fix it! 

Lunch Hour Sewing 101

Hi. My name is Debbie, I am 39 years young and this is me learning how to sew by hand.  Yes, I am learning how to sew by hand.  Finally.

And here's me proudly displaying my practice work and a few stitches.  Like five or six stitches.  Really.  And yes I did practice sewing a skull and bones patch on a napkin.  But hey at least it was a great hair day.  :)

Okay so here’s the thing.  My kids think I’m the bomb diggity.  I’m all that and a bag of chips (Doritos nacho cheese flavor); and according to them I know it all and can do it all.  My daughter says I’m the best cooker and baker.  My son thinks I know everything.  Oh what sweet creatures they are to me.  If they only knew I was just faking it to make it. For reals.

What they don’t know is that Mama doesn’t know how to sew.  I’m not talking about machine sewing which is true (more on that later).  I’m talking about grabbing a needle and thread and replacing a button on a shirt or sewing a patch on um, let’s say a Cub Scout shirt or vest?  My boy has been a Cub Scout  since he was in the 1^st grade.  I have yet to sew on a patch for him.  Embarrassing I tell ya.  We had my son’s patches on his first Cub Scout shirt (navy blue) sewn on by the ladies at the Scout center store here in Austin and my co-workers mom. 

Last year he became a Webelo which meant he now had to wear the khaki  colored shirt.  Once again we went to the Scout center and had the necessary patches sewn on but there were a couple of more to come.  Most of the badges my son has earned belong on the patch or brag vest.  That vest has been in it's original package ever since we bought it way back when my boy was a first grader.  He is now a fifth grader and all of the patches he has earned have been collecting in one of his dresser drawers.  Oh how pathetic.  

I could not take the guilt or embarrasment anymore so I bit the bullet and asked my co-worker to teach me.  I did the pretty please thing too.  Like in I'm-a-desperate-mom kind of way.  Lucky for me we are buds and she loves to sew so it was a win-win.

So here I am at my second lunch hour sewing class.  The face was serious and the hair was not having it.  My hair appointment can not get here fast enough.  

I mean how obvious is it that I am such a beginner? Look at the major concentration just trying to tie a knot and then thread the needle. I'm hard core determined like that. 

Just like my first lesson, I was only able to do a few stitches.  Probably because there was a lot of laughing and joking around and maybe a little office gossip. heehee.  But as you can see this was the real deal.  No practice patch on a napkin. 

Right here you can see my progress so far.  It took me 40 minutes just to get to the halfway mark.  And of course there are obvious signs of a beginner.  One that you can't see is that the thread kept escaping from the needle. 

So I have half of one patch down and many more to go.  Look at all of these symbols of achievement waiting to get their spot on that red vest.  Actually these are just some of them.  There are lots more.  Oh boy.  

Lesson learned and lesson learning all in one. Note to self: don't ever procrastinate again and don't be so afraid to learn something so basic and useful.  Now I'm off to buy some band-aids because that needle poking is no joke.  Hey give me a break, I'm just a beginner.  :)