Friday, October 21, 2011

What I do when I'm not Blogging - Day Five

Ok, this has to be quick because it's date night, and I have some things I still need to check off the ole' to-do list before we feed the little guy, tuck him in, and sneak out for the evening. 

I am sure, in some capacity, eveyone can relate to me on this one: holidays are a lot of fun...but they can also require a lot of preparation and work, too.  The big ones--Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter--are self-explanatory.  There are gifts to be bought, stockings to stuff, baskets to fill, meals to be prepared, etc. 

But in my particular situation, the holidays I am worst at {and create the most anxiety for me} are birthdays.  Birthdays are meant to be special days to honor dear people in our lives, but I am always behind on birthday gifts, cards, phone calls, and text messages {if you're super lucky you get a gift, if I am somewhat productive you get a card a week late, if I remember between the hours of 6 and 8 pm in your time zone you get a phone call, and if all else fails you get a text}. 

With my four siblings,
who have four spouses
and eleven children {four of whom are Godchildren and deserve extra special attention},
my Dad,
my mother-in-law,
my father-in-law,
and TEN siblings-in-law {can you imagine when they start getting married and having kids?!},
I have a really hard time keeping up. 

It makes me feel badly when I miss a birthday, but sometimes I think I should just send everyone their birthday cards at the beginning of the year and be done with it.  Not because I don't care, but because I am really that bad about remembering and getting a card in the mail on time. 

Anyway, there is another holiday coming up that I have been investing some time into...Halloween.  Halloween has always been a commercial holiday to me--I dressed up as a kid, got a bunch of candy, and never worried about any of the dark side that is emphasized by a handful of teenagers each year. 

I plan to always keep Augustine's costumes on the light side--no devils, witches, or super scary monsters--but I don't think it's bad for him to dress up in a cute costume and walk around our block on Halloween.  And, of course, we will also celebrate All Saint's day November 1st and All Soul's day November 2nd {it's crazy how pretty much all of our cultural holidays are derived from the Catholic faith, no?  St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, Halloween}. 

Luke and I are dressing up as Fred and Wilma for Halloween, and Augustine will be Bam-Bam.  Luke and I wore these costumes three years ago, as well, after I couldn't resist buying him the Fred costume going for $3 at our church yard sale.  I easily made a Wilma comtume out of a white sheet, and we were good to go. 

Bam-Bam's costume took a little more work...

Materials + elastic = just under $10!
 
First I covered the visor with orange felt and black triangles
--gotta love the glue gun.
Then I cut the fabric for the skirt
and made A try it on for a visual.

I wanted to make the skirt with an elastic waist,
so I folded over about 3/4" and made a hem.

Next I wrestled the elastic through the hem
--there is definitely a trick out there to making this easy,
but I opted for wrestling with it.

After folding the faux fur in half, I sewed a seam so it would be soft all the way around {no pic}. 
Then I cut a bone out of off-white felt and cut slits in the the fur for it. 

I left the bat making to my hubby. 
He cut it out of cardboard, and then we covered it in felt.

Back to the glue gun to decorate the skirt.

I measured my little Bam Bam to decide how tight to pull the elastic
and then sewed it into place.
 
I finished the skirt by turning it inside out and sewing the seam.

The last step is to attach the sash.  I used a button in front and a safey pin in back - I will sewn it on permanently when I have a minute!
 
Voila!




          

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