Spooky Stuff

I love decorating the house for Halloween and thankfully my kids would much rather stay in the house and give out sweets than go and get some themselves.  I think this may be to do with doing it one year in the cold and rain.

I thought a few little posts on some easy Halloween decorations might be nice, especially seen as I recently found a whole load of Halloween decoration photos I've taken over the last few years.

This first one is so easy, and yet a lot of fun. It is simply a phrase typed up and printed onto paper, I've then laminated it so I can use it over and over again.  I don't remember where I first saw the phrase (anyone know it?), but it made me chuckle the first time I saw it and I thought I'd copy.

One of my favourite things is being able to hear the reaction from the other side of the door (before you open it).  I love it when people see this sign and get a little spooked.

I love it even more when someone in their group makes them jump by grabbing them on the shoulder, boo-ing them, or just generally scaring them.

Flowers for a Wedding

Not real flower arranging mind, I always seem to struggle with that effortless look some people can achieve.  No, I was asked to make some crochet flowers as napkin holders for my youngest brother's wedding.  I did know they were having a few guests, but it certainly felt like a lot when I had finished this little bundle:

I had fun playing around with which colours to put where, which ones went well together.

On the day each table different colour flower (and herb).  It was a lovely day, I'm sure my brother would say that it was totally down to the crochet flowers!!!

On the day I totally forgot to take any pictures of them in situ.  Duh.  Luckily my son obviously thought they looked nice and took a couple of photos of them for me. Excuse the lack of focus.

I created the flower pattern a while ago, it was based on a couple of others, and different things I liked about them.  My pattern uses different stitches which I think makes it look quite interesting, it also has quite wide petals because I like that too!  Flowers and hearts were some of the first patterns I learned when I started to crochet, because I wanted to put them on cards. I also wanted something quick to see if I could do it.  So I hope that this isn't too tricky for beginners out there and that you enjoy making some quick  flowers. 

Easy Flower Pattern - UK terms

R1:    Magic Circle (or Chain 4 and slip stitch into a circle)

R2:    Chain 2, 9 treble crochet into the centre, slip stitch to join (you should have 10 stitches)

R3:    Chain 1, 2 double crochet into each treble crochet from the row before slip stitch to join (there                 should be 20 stitiches now)

R4:    Chain 2, 3 treble crochet into the 1st stitch, slip stitch into the next 2 stitches, then *4 treble                     crochet into next stitch anfd slip stitch into the next 2 stitches to the end

You should end up with 7 petals and everything working fine, but if you weren't concentrating on your counting and either have too many or too few stitches don't worry these will work with 6 petals or 8 petals too!  If you look carefully you can definitely see a 6 petal flower in this bunch!

Beatles Costume

My kids both do gymnastics and each year they perform in a show to demonstrate what they have been learning.  Each year has a theme, each theme needs translating into an outfit that will also work when doing gymnastics.  It is harder than you would think!

So this year we managed to work out early on that the theme would be Beatles related.  Immediately all I could think of was Sergeant Pepper outfits.  I found a couple of tight tops in bright colours (I made one pink and one blue) and popped to the craft shop for supplies.  I knew I need some trim for the front and different trim for the shoulders.  In my head it was going to be easy.  I already had some beads and buttons at home to complete the look.  Needless to say it wasn't quite as easy as I had imagined!  Nor was it as quick, even when I admitted defeat and used craft glue instead of sewing the second top!

I think they turned out well.  Here is a picture of one of them, not because it was completed first and the second one was only completed the morning of the show, nope, nothing to do with that at all...

Look What I Made - Pyjama Trousers

So, watching my daughter sewing all sorts, including some skirts, but also bags, trousers, and some appliqué, I figured it couldn't be that hard and certainly I didn't have to fear the sewing machine any more.

So I waited until the house was quiet, and I could bin the creation if necessary, and I had a go.  I found a simple pattern for drawstring trousers in a charity shop, and an old sheet - also from the charity shop and just went for it.   

Actually when I opened the pattern I bought, it seemed to be missing the "back" section for the trousers,so I just turned over the "front" section and kept my fingers crossed. I basically cut out four leg sections and then sewed down the seams.  Then the pattern said to turn one leg the right way round and slot it into the other leg and then sew the legs together.

I finished that and I was so pleased, and then realised I managed to sew the legs totally together so there was a seam running up the middle of the trousers.  Doh!  I unpicked and did it again and finally I had something that looked like a pair of trousers.  I had cheated earlier on and cut the bottom of the legs along the already completed hem of the sheet, so that was already done, all I needed to do was the waist.  I cheated with that too.  I ignored the pattern with its waistband ideas and simply folded over the existing material, twice to make a casing for the elastic I already had to hand.  And then, I had completed my first pair of trousers:

They are not perfect, and things that are wrong with these pj bottoms, include:

- the legs are actually different widths  (I'm still learning to be accurate with the sewing machine!)

- the hems at the bottom of the legs and different heights (something I didn't spot when I was cutting out the material)

- the seams inside are not nice and flat as directed by the pattern and as my daughter had only demonstrated to me the day before (still actually no idea how she managed that)

- the "casing" for the elastic is very wibbly wobbly, I can't take out pins and carry on sewing at the same time apparently

However, they do fit my little girl and they do actually look like a pair of trousers!  I think I'm going to have a go making some for me next.  I'll see if I can show the progress with pictures - to keep you guys amused with my lack of skill!  

More Monsters

As well as the crocheted monsters we made photo props of monster mouths.  We saw the idea here, but decided to make our own.  It was surprisingly easy.  We just drew out our shapes and coloured them in bright felt tips, cut them out, laminated them and stuck them to straws.  We all made some, but I think the kids ones were my favourites as they were more "out there".  Each guest had their photo taken with a monster mouth and then we used those pictures on their thank you notes.

I loved the idea of the playdough monster pots, but budget didn't really allow us to provide that at their parties, so we made a playdough pack for each guest as part of their party bag.  We made home made playdough and used a variety of colours for each batch we made.

We split the home made playdough into a small pot that we had bough in packs of eight from Poundland, and added a few bits and bobs to design their monster - cut up pipe cleaners, googly eyes, pom poms, foam hands and feet, feathers etc.  

We then packaged all that up in a clear card bag like these with a little note suggesting that their new owner created them and then stored them under their bed/in their wardrobe, 'cos obviously that is where all monster live. 

I'm sure the parents appreciated soggy playdough being put under their children's beds!!

The playdough recipe I used is one my Mum always used when I was little.  The only change I made was to use food colouring pastes to make the colours brighter.  I've also added various essences (vanilla/strawberry flavouring/peppermint etc) to make the playdough smell.  I did try adding glitter to the mixture once.  It looked pretty, but it went everywhere.... you've been warned!  This recipe makes a slightly squishier playdough than the bought stuff, the longer you cook it the less squishy it gets, but cook it too long and you get dry flaky bits.  It lasts a while in an airtight container, but not forever, you'll be able to tell as it goes sort of slimy.  urrggh.

Playdough Recipe:

2 cups (you can use a mug instead of a cooking "cup") of plain(all purpose) flour

2 cups of water

1 cup of salt

2 tablespoons for oil

2 teaspoons of cream of tartar

Few drops of food colouring

Cook the mixture in a pan over a medium heat

Stirring all the time to prevent sticking

Remove from thee heat when the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan

Knead well and store in an airtight container

Mini Monsters

A while ago my children feel in love with Moshi Monsters.  I was quite happy for them to play on it as they seemed to be learning a lot while they were doing so (I think they can recognise more flags than I can).  When it came to their birthdays Moshi Monster parties were in order.

I'll admit some of the links to Moshi Monster were a little loose, but they seemed to enjoy it.  Phew. One of the activities we did with for my daughter's party was to design their own moshlings.  I crocheted some little monsters, the pattern I used can be found here. We didn't sew on the details, I just bought some fabric glue and lots of little crafty bits - eyes, foam hands and feet, felt, mini pom poms etc and we stuck on the details.

We had some awesome little guys from this project.

For my son's party, as they were younger, we pre-made the moshlings and they "adopted" them as their prize for the treasure hunt they completed.

I love that they are all so very, very different.

Some Easy Birthday Cards

I mentioned here that I have a supply of patterned paper that could do with trimming down a little so I knew from the moment that I saw these on Sum Of Their Stories that I would have to try them soon.

It took me a little longer, because I don't use Windows, so I needed the technical expertise of the Husband to show me where to find some speech bubbles I could use on my computer.  He made it look embarrassingly easy, we used the LibreOffice presentation software and it had the speech bubbles as part of one its menus. I used various fonts, some standard ones, some I'd (ok - the Husband) had downloaded for me over time, and just kept the message to "Happy Birthday".  I do love the idea of personalising them though, and may do that in the future.

Then they wouldn't print for me, the Husband once again saved the day.  I asked what he had done, apparently the same as me (selected a printer and pressed print).  Honestly it is like the technology knows it is me and hides.

At least my laminator loves me, although it can be temperamental with other people!  So the laminating process went smoothly.

After that it was just a matter of sticking and cutting the patterned paper onto the card blanks I had to hand.  I was a little worried they would be too small, but I'm pleased with how they look.  We had to use one immediately because my son was about to attend a party and he hadn't made a card, and didn't want to once he'd seen that there were a few going spare!  So there was another one that isn't photographed.

Such an easy and effective card to make and I really like them.  We'll be using this method a lot in the future I think.