I'm still here, Merry Christmas!

Even though it's been awhile since anyone has heard from me electronically, I am still here. I broke our computer. Long story, short--I was working on the laptop one day, jumped up to get Bean off the school bus, and my foot caught on the power cord. The laptop went flying, hit the fireplace, and the screen shattered. So....we have been without a computer or internet for awhile. I'll tell the whole story once our computer is restored. Right now, we are borrowing computer time at the library and family's house. Just wanted to quickly let everyone know and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Halloween

So a week before Halloween, we carved the pumpkins. ( I should say, the hubs and I carved the pumpkins.)

 

Isn’t that face just too cute!!!

The boys cleaned out their pumpkins and then drew what they wanted me to carve. Then,  I carved their pumpkins while hubbie worked on his.

Monkey’s pumpkin with “angry eyes.”

Bean’s pumpkin. At the pumpkin patch, he told me he wanted an “ugly pumpkin” because they make good jack-o-lanterns. So, yes, he meant for all those brown spots to be on the face. That’s his creative mind for ya…

Lit with battery-0perated tea lights…

And in the dark. Sadly, these guys didn’t make it to the big night. They were moldy and toothless by Halloween. However, we kept them out because they were still a little creepy. Next year, we’ll carve only a day or two in advance. Oh, and of course, I can’t forget the hubbie’s creation (with my help of course)…

The famous hamburger and fries! He cut a wedge out of the side of the pumpkin, used the pumpkin seeds for sesame seeds, painted Styrofoam for the hamburger and fries, and colored foam sheets for the toppings. He took this one to show off at work (they had a carving contest) and entered it in the contest at the Trunk-or Treat. And now….

Presenting the Palmer family costumes of 2010…

Nintendo!

Monkey was Mario. He loved the costume but hated the mustache. I think I.. possibly… might have…had to threaten to take his candy if he didn’t wear the mustache at least for pictures.  I mean what’s Mario without his mustache?

Bean was Luigi. If I remember right, the whole idea of dressing as the Mario brothers was his idea. He really wanted to be Mario, but was sweet enough to volunteer to be Luigi. The boys had white gloves as part of their costumes but we forgot to put them on.

Bee was Princess Peach. I LOVED how her costume turned out. She was so stinking cute, even if most of the time she wouldn’t leave her crown in her hair.

The hubs was Bowser. We didn’t really get a good picture of his costume. He had a dinosaur hat that I decked out to look like Bowser, complete with spiked dog collar and wristbands, and a turtle shell. That night, I realized that he needed a tail and something better to wear under his costume to get the full effect (yeah, jeans aren’t working here). Oh well…C’est la vie!

I was a Nintendo NES controller. If you haven’t seen or heard about it, this is what we are rocking at our house. We have the same Nintendo system my husband got when he was a kid. I mean THE same set.  It was really funny how many kids came up to me and were clueless as to what kind of controller I was.  I’d get comments like, “Um, what are you?” or “You’re missing some buttons.” The parents got it and would make funny comments like, “Mom is the controller. Isn’t that the truth?” to which hubbie would reply, “Yeah, but we like to push her buttons!”

So I made all of our costumes which is one of my favorite parts of Halloween, but the thought of making overalls for the boys seemed kind of daunting. One day, I was talking to my good friend about Halloween costumes and she was saying how much she was NOT looking forward to painting on the details of her son’s Buzz Lightyear costume.  Half-jokingly and half-serious, I offered to paint her costume if she would make my two pairs of overalls. She agreed!

We both agreed that it would be easier for me to paint the Buzz Lightyear costume and  her to sew the overalls, than the other way around. So we did just that. (So, technically I guess I didn’t entirely make our costumes.)

Pretty good, right?! She just made a white jumper/coverall and then I painted it with acrylic paints and fabric paint markers. It took a few hours to do but was so much fun. If you ever try to do this yourself, only use the markers for details. It took nearly an entire marker (and a lot of time)  just to fill in green on the chest area.

I love making fun treats for the kids on holidays, so I continued that over to our Halloween meals.

For breakfast, we had troll boogers and mummy dogs (green scrambled eggs and mini sausages wrapped in crescent rolls with mustard eyes).  For dinner, we had spider nachos, slime, and bloody applesauce. (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture.) The nachos had a spider web drawn on them with sour cream and then topped with a plastic spider. The slime was lemonade mixed with green food coloring and the bloody applesauce was just strawberry applesauce cups.

 

Then for dessert, we had Ghosts in the Graveyard. This was a cup of chocolate pudding topped with Oreo crumbs. Then, I made an oval shaped sugar cookie and frosted the “RIP” for the tombstone. The ghost is a blob of Cool Whip with chocolate chip eyes. Everyone loved it all. It was fun and yummy! (On a side note: the mummy dogs, spider nachos, and ghosts in the graveyard were ideas found online.)

Halloween is always lots of fun. Now, hopefully, I can get my Thanksgiving decorations up before it’s actually Thanksgiving…

Wardrobe Refashion

Have you heard of the blog Wardrobe Refashion? 

"Wardrobe Refashion is a community which has had an online presence since early 2006. Based in Melbourne, Australia, owner Nichola Prested started up the site after deciding to quit buying new manufactured clothing in a bid to do her part for the planet, save money and improve her sewing skills.


Participants of the blog pledge to abstain from the purchase of new manufactured clothing for the period of 2, 4, 6 months or LIFE. They pledge to refashion, renovate, and recycle preloved items with their own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium or make their own from scratch." (Quoted from Wardrobe Refashion website)



So I'm signing up and giving it a try...
The Rules
1. No buying new! (handmade is excepted; So this allows for Etsy purchases etc!!) All clothing must be Recycled, Renovated, Preloved or Thrifted, or Handmade only for the term. Employment related and special needs clothing (ie sports, school), shoes and undies are excepted from the rules, although you are encouraged to have a go at making these.

2. In extreme circumstances, maybe a special event, or the worlds greatest and most amazing never to be repeated sale that you simply can not pass up, you may use the Get out of Refashionista Jail Free card. You are able to use this card once during the 2 month part of your contract; ie 1 for 2 months, 2 for 4 months etc. Of course you need to fess up on the blog and display the button!

3. You must post on the blog at least once a week to let the community know what you've been up to. This will not only give you brag points, but inspire and encourage others! Of course you need to display the button on your blog and have copied the pledge in at least one post, and provide a link to your pledge under the button.

4. You need to be honest and admit when you've fallen off the Refashionista Wagon! Go directly to Refashionista Jail, do not pass GO and do not collect $200! Apply for parole once there.


My pledge
I, Marissa, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that my thriftiness brings!
Signed Marissa :)

You can see my introduction on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, here.

Googly eye Halloween wreath from Chica and Jo

(picture credits)

I know it’s a little late know (even though I’m still working on my Halloween decorations) but I wanted to share this. It’s fun but a little bit creepy, love it!  I will definitely make one next year. Check it out here!

Little Black Dress

So a couple of week’s ago my friend Elizabeth and I had a girl’s night out. She had season tickets to the Houston Ballet and invited me to join her. Not even thinking about what I should wear, I asked her the morning of, what the dress standard was for the ballet. (I’ve only ever been to college performances, nothing official.) She described what she was going to wear and I responded “so Sunday dress,” to which she replied, “at least.” She then described how she had even seen people wearing ball gowns and tuxedos, and continued to explain how this is one of the few times she gets to really dress up, so she likes to go all out. I mulled the thought over in my head all day as I tried on a number of my Sunday outfits and nothing felt dressy enough. I quickly remembered a beautiful red  formal dress, I had seen at Goodwill the week before. For $10 it would be worth the trip, so 2 hours before I needed to pick up the babysitter, I loaded up the kids and we went to Goodwill. Sadly, it was gone. Instead, I found this beautiful but sad black floor length formal. (Sorry for the bad picture. I was in a hurry and the mirror was dirty.)
It fit pretty well and I loved the sweetheart neckline, but it was WAY too long. I felt like I should be playing a piano concert or something. I think I even played out the motions in the mirror. (No offense to you lovely pianists.) I had to carry it just to walk and that was with heels on! So, inspired by New Dress A Day, I chopped off the bottom and hemmed it.  If you look closely my hem is not entirely straight but the fullness of the skirt hides it.
I love the 50’s feeling of the shorter dress. It looks much happier now. For a little something extra, I added the turquoise sash from this outfit. I felt much better about this outfit than anything I had on hand, and while it was not entirely necessary (not everyone at the ballet was dressy), it was fun to feel fancy and pretty on a fun Girl’s Night Out!

(Sorry, for the bad lighting picture. It was late and everyone was asleep when I thought to take a picture of the final outfit.)
Linked to:

Old Halloween Costumes

The Dating Divas are having a Halloween costume contest (here). Unfortunately, our costumes for this year are still being made and the contest closes today. So, I dug through some computer files and found these beauties, the year we were the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Yes, I made these costumes. I always make our costumes. It's part of the fun for me. Seth's turtle shell was actually a hand-me-down from another family and I used it as a guide for the others. Don't you just love the toilet paper tube numchucks. Love these costumes. These costumes are famous in our neighborhood. "Oh yeah, you're the family that dressed up as ninja turtles." Yeah, we get that alot. Apparently our neighbors look forward to seeing our family's costumes every year. We've always dressed up as a family. It's more fun that way. Plus, sometimes it's easier for people to guess your costume in the context of the group. I'll keep digging and see if I can find old photos.

I have loved our costumes over the years. When the hubs and I were engaged, we dressed up as conjoined twins. I sewed two sweatshirts together and we were literally "joined at the hip." Then our first Halloween, the hubs had to work but at 8 months pregnant, I dressed up as a snowman. Then Bean's first Halloween,  Bean was curious George, I was another monkey, and the hubs was the man in the yellow hat. The next year, I was pregnant again. We dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Potatohead and Bean was a "Tater Tot." Then Monkey's first Halloween, we did the Wizard of Oz. I was Dorothy, the hubs was the tin man, Bean was the scarecrow, and Monkey was the lion. The next year, we were all super heroes from the book Super Hero ABC (the boys favorite at the time). Then came the Ninja Turtles. Last year was Bee's first Halloween. Aaron was a pirate captain and the rest of us were his "skeleton crew." (A play on words, yes, we were skeletons). I'm really excited about this year's costumes. Let's just say, we are going "old-school."  Stay tuned for the big reveal...

Halloween Playdough

(eighteen25: Today's Guest: Under the Sycamore)

I love this idea! (Check it out--link is above.) I would love to do this for my son's class, but since sugar is prohibited in Texas classrooms, they have also cut out all of the parties. (We get 2: "winter" and end-of-the-year.) Also, we are usually out trick-or-treating as a family, so we aren't usually home to pass out candy. However, this year we just might be home on Halloween. I've heard that we get at least 100 kids, but last year it seemed like there was only a handful of kids out in our neighborhood. So maybe (if I start now and do small portions), I just might have enough playdough for everyone. :)

Scrapbook Pages That Recycle

Scrapbook Pages That Recycle
I found this article in my email inbox and wanted to share. I'm all for recycling and some of these ideas are just pure genius!

A few of my favorites:

Using soda can pop tabs embellished with ribbon as "tabs" in a photo album. I am so going to find a way to use this. But first, to collect some tabs...

Using packaging plastic as embellishments on your page. Like the icicles and word "ice" on this page...

And the painted butterflies on this page.

Check out more great ideas here!

Zippers!

Adventures in Dressmaking has a new sponsor, Zipit, and she’s giving away free zippers. Check out the giveaway here or go to Zipit’s etsy page for great deals on zippers. I will definitely buy some when I have a need for zippers. Or maybe I’ll just buy an assorted pack and let myself be inspired. :)

Nicknames

As you may have noticed, I’ve been linking to a lot of other craft blog’s link parties.  So I’ve been thinking that I should come up with some nicknames for the family. I created this blog separate from the family blog to help protect our privacy (and identities) and using nicknames would also help that (rather than having to say my youngest son, my little girl, yada, yada, yada). A lot of bloggers do this for those reasons. One of my favorite bloggers refers to her sons as “Sawyer and Finn” (i.e. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn). I totally thought those were her sons’ real names, until she slipped with her daughter’s real name and I put two and two together. Now that’s a good cover… So here are our new nicknames for reference purposes on this blog.

This is me…

  You know me as “Crafty Kricket” or Marissa. Of course I won’t refer to myself that way. That would just  be weird. BTW, this picture was taken by my 4 yr. old, pretty good, eh? So why we’re on the topic, let me explain “Crafty Kricket.” It is kind of a homage to my good parents. My mom is a crafty person and thus taught us, at a very young age, to be crafty (as in the artsy kind) and resourceful. My dad jokingly wanted to name me “cricket” with a “K” when I was born. Of course, my mom wouldn’t allow it, but that’s just my dad’s humor. Which, according to my husband, I have inherited and taught my children.  :)

This guy…

will be known as “My hubbie” or “the hubs” because, well, he’s my husband. I think that one would be kind of obvious. :)

This little guy…

We will now refer to as “Monkey.” He is my crazy one. He likes to climb, make mischief, and just keep me busy in general. Yes, he even loves bananas. I mean L-O-V-E, LOVES bananas. No banana is safe in our home. And of course, he’s a goofball. This picture was totally posed, just like almost every picture I try to take.

This little girl…

 

We’ll call her “Bee.” I went back and forth on this one for a while but she seems to like “Bee” so we’ll go with that. She is a cute bubbly little girl. She is always busy doing something and doing it quickly. You have to be quick if you want to take her picture. But watch out, if you make her angry, she will attack you. Seriously…

And last but not least we have this guy…

The jury is still out on his nickname. He is the oldest and a great big brother to his siblings. He loves Legos and drawing, and he’s good at both. I’m talking REALLY good. Plus, he’s smart.  I was thinking we could call him “Art,” or maybe “Bud,” that’s his nickname at home. But neither of those really go well with “Monkey” and “Bee.” So, I think we’ll go with “Bean.” Bean? you ask…well, he’s growing like a bean pole. (Seriously, this kid never stops eating). Plus, he reminds me a little of Mr.. Bean. You know that goofy oddball kind of humor. (Plus, Bean, Monkey, and Bee sounds cool together.) I don’t know what do you think? Any ideas?

So that’s it. Our crazy, funny, crafty family. Man, I love ‘em. :)

What I Wore Wednesday #1

Have you seen these floating around blogland lately? Basically everyone documents what they wear all week and then share in a link party. As of lately, I have had a hard time motivating myself to do anything productive. It’s nice when all the moms just wear their PJ’s and work out clothes to the bus stop in the morning. :) So, I thought I’d try this and see if it motivated me to get stuff done (and actually dressed before lunchtime)! Sure enough it worked. I got twice as much done this week as I did the week before. Unfortunately, I got pink eye (or some variation of an eye infection), so I only have pictures for four days. I’ll save you the horribleness that is my eye right now.

Thursday (9/2)

Top: Cato

Tank: Old Navy

Necklace: Bought at a stand at Four Corners (Colorado side I think) 8 years ago

Earrings: Made by me

Shorts: Thrifted and hemmed into shorts by me

Shoes: Walmart (with white fabric rosette added by me)

Friday (9/3)

Shirt: Aeropostale

Tank: Target

Skirt: Old Navy (thrifted)

Earrings: Charming Charlie

Bracelet: Bought at a craft fair in Brazil (3 years ago)

Sandals: Target

Saturday (9/4) I forgot to take a picture, so this is one the hubs took of me while we were at a jazz concert in the park. (BTW, soooo much fun!)

Shirt: Old Navy

Tank: Target

Shorts: Thrifted

Earrings: Charming Charlie

Sunglasses: Wal-mart

I wore the same sandals as the outfit before.

Sunday (9/5) See my left squinty eye? Yeah, that’s me in denial that something is wrong with my eye. But when hubbie sees you in the hallway after church and blurts out, “What’s wrong with your eye?!” It’s time to face facts….

Wrap Dress: Bought in Brazil (3 years ago)

Tank: Old Navy

Cardigan: Thrifted

Earrings: Charming Charlie

Shoes: Target

So that’s it for this week. I’ve pretty much just stayed in my glasses, a T-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops the last few days. Hopefully, my eye will be better soon, so that I can try this again.

Linked to:

Bulletin Board Redo

I saw these old pictures and figured it was past time to post about this….So, I had this ugly bulletin board that I wanted to hang (for function purposes) in our main living area. I wanted to use it to post notes and the kids’ artwork. Unfortunately, it was very plain and uninspiring. 

{Before}

So when our Wal-mart was clearing out their fabric section (still sad about that), I grabbed some cute home decor fabric at 1/2 off. 

1) I painted the frame with some brown latex paint that I had for another project.

2) I’ve seen many of these redo's using some kind of picture frame and then you add the cork. If I had done it that way I would have wrapped the fabric around the back of the cork before putting it in the frame, BUT my cork was already eternally bonded to the frame. So…I cut my fabric to fit the size of the corkboard. Then I sprayed the cork with spray adhesive (side note: make sure you tape off the frame and cover ALL of your surrounding area or it will be messy). Then I laid the fabric on the cork, smoothing it out as I went.

3)My edges were pretty rough looking, so I hot glued ribbon along the inside edge of the frame to cover the edge of the fabric. It also helped give it some contrast since my frame and my fabric were both brown.

4) I let it sit overnight to  make sure the spray adhesive was set. Then, I hung it on my wall. It sits right below my “family” wall hanging (which you can kind of see in the picture).

{After}

It was so cute, I almost couldn’t bring my self to start tacking stuff up on it. But alas, it’s function was needed. Now it holds drawings and reminders, lunch calendars and appointment cards, and you can barely see how beautiful it is (I’ll save you from the pity of that picture). Every now and then I clear away some of the clutter on it to see the cuteness again. I made this almost a year ago and it’s still in great shape so I think it’s safe to say that the redo worked. :)

Linked to:

Cute dresser redo from "Das Sushi"

This cute little armoire was a redo of a falling apart dresser. So cute it makes me wish that Aubrey were a little older so I could make one with our crummy dresser. Check it out here--> das Sushi: Cheeseball's New Armoire

Yet another Silhouette giveway…

 

Okay, so this is probably like the 5th Silhouette giveaway I’ve entered.  5th time is a charm? Right? Anyhoo…go to Somewhat Simple’s website anytime in September to enter yourself in the giveaway. Here’s keeping my fingers crossed that I FINALLY win a Silhouette.

I Want to Win a Serger Entry

Sew Mama Sew is hosting a contest to win a Husqvarna Viking s21 serger. All you have to do is answer the question, “How would your life be better with a serger?”
Oh, how I would love to win the Husqvarna serger. How would my life be better with the Husqvarna serger? Well, to answer that, let us join the debate already in progress between two machines, Husqvarna and Sam*, my old machine….(*name changed for privacy)
Husqvarna Viking s21 Serger    vs..   Sam the incumbent
Q: What are some of the features that you can provide?

Husqvarna: I have 4, 3, 2 thread sewing         

Sam: Only 1 thread--well, unless you include the bobbin, does that make 2?                   

Husqvarna: I have 21 stitches, with pre-programmed stitch settings            
 Sam: What? You mean you can have more than one kind of stitch?
Husqvarna: There is a large sewing space, with an extension table      
Sam: My owner is lucky if she can fit her hand in here without sewing her fingers together…enough said

Husqvarna: I come with easy threading instructions, including a step-by-step interactive DVD 
Sam: Easy? Um, no. …Manual? Forget about it.
Husqvarna:I provide lay-in tension and color coded thread paths.  

 Sam:I’m a complex man. It took three women, over 30 minutes just to figure out how to thread me for the first time.

Husqvarna: I have differential feed.      
Sam: Umm…..I have a needle.
Husqvarna: Adjustable stitch length, cutting width and presser foot pressure       

Sam: I have a dial that changes something but heaven forbid you touch it, I just might die.

Husqvarna: I come with a Universal Standard presser foot & Snap-on presser feet with additional, optional feet     
Sam: Feet? No….can you say “foot?” As in only one, baby.

Husqvarna: I have extra presser foot height. 
Sam: Well, isn’t that nice.

Husqvarna: I can sew 1100 stitches per minute, with two sewing speeds.                
Sam: Um, what was the question again?
Husqvarna: I have a movable upper cutter…       
Sam: Um, no comment

Husqvarna: a built in two thread converter… 
Sam: Uh…. No comment

Husqvarna: And much more!  
Sam: …. (Sam has left the building)

As you can see, I am sorely in need of a new machine.  I love to repurpose old clothing (usually knits) and make new clothes for myself and my family but my current machine does a very sorry job. If given the chance, I would gladly replace my current machine with a Husqvarna serger. To be able to serge…ah, the dreams of beautiful seams and lovely (not ugly) knits! So to recap, right now with my old tattered falling apart machine, I feel like this…

Sad (see, even my daughter thinks it’s sad that I don’t have a serger)…

and tired (even my son, is tired of crappy seams and frayed appliqués)…
 
and afraid to take on some of the great creations floating around in my head and too timid to share them with others.
But! If I were to win this contest and be the proud owner of a new Husqvarna serger, I would be…

Happy (see, now she’s happy her skirt and appliquéd onesie won’t fall apart)…
 
Confident and ready to attack those intimidating projects and fabrics…

and ready to set those great ideas free on the world (okay, okay, I know the 1st day of school picture is a stretch).
So one more time-- me with “Sam” …
vs.. me with Husqvarna…
So-- Sew, Mama, Sew, please vote for me! Together we can boot “Sam” out of office, make a happy beautifully clothed family, and create world peace!
(No sewing machines or children were hurt in the making of this plea.)