woodland creature costumes

when i saw the idea for this costume on pinterest,

i knew my oldest daughter would love it.

her beloved 1st grade teacher was partial to owls,

so they have become a close 2nd to elephants here.

unlike my sister who makes half of her kids' clothing herself,

i do not get a long with my sewing machine.

we have a fight and almost breakup every time i use it.

my glue gun on the other hand is the love of my life!

i made this costume entirely with hot glue!

here's how i did it...

i bought a few yards of felt for 50 % off so it was super cheap

{like maybe $6 total}

i chose 3 coordinating colors.

next, i cut a feather out of card stock

and then traced it over and over on the felt.

cut out all the feathers and warm up the glue gun.

 i used a hand-me-down dress that was the shape i wanted

i forgot to take a picture after the first row, but basically just

glue down the top half of each feather, doing one row

{all the way around - front and back} at a time.

i didn't stick to a set pattern with the colors, just

tried to keep a color from bunching together too much.

once the dress was finished, i was so excited to show her.

i made her try it on the second she got off the bus.

first words out of her mouth: "where's the wings?"

my inspiration picture didn't have wings....

but i came up with the shape above,

cut it out and glued it inside the shoulder strap of the dress.

if you look closely, you can see a black jelly bracelet

{pinned for now..will stitch in place soon}

this keeps the wings attached to her arms,

but if they are annoying her she can take off the bracelet

and let them flap behind her!

{the hat}

i saw this hat on pinterest and pretty much copied it.

we bought a woman's hat

(i recommend this because you lose a lot of the

hat height when creating the owl head shape)

okay, for this "i" did sew.  when i say "i", i mean

my mother-in-law sewed the hat.

we traced a half circle onto the inside of the hat,

cut and sewed it back together.

check out the link for much better instructions!

button + circle + circle with slits + hot glue = owl eye

ta da!

fly away owl!

my other daughter loves bunnies, i honestly

don't know how we haven't had a bunny costume before.

the costume all started with this

ADORABLE hat

i purchased it from babamoon on etsy

it is so cute and very soft.  she was so fast too!

we bought a tutu skirt from target and then my mother-in-law

sewed the fur boa to the edge.

i took a pink shirt and added a couple layers

of white fur with the glue gun.

instead of adding fur to the sleeves,

i wrapped more of the fur around jelly bracelets.

this way, if she has to wear a sweatshirt for trick or treating

the fur will not be covered.

bunny tail!

more classroom party ideas {halloween}

so here is what i'm planning for

classroom parties this year.

no food pictures yet, but there's some

fun ideas that were inspired by pinterest.

you can see all my pins here.

{spooky water}

make water bottles a little more fun by wrapping them with scrapbook paper.

 1) take one wrapper off and make your strips the same size.

2) i took off all the wrappers because the new labels stick to the old

glue, but you do not have to do this.

3) wrap and secure with a piece of clear tape.

{mummy juice boxes}

 the full tutorial on how to make these is here.

 as i wrapped these, i used less tape and they still looked great.

in the tutorial, it shows the top being taped,

i did this until the end when i started to run low on tape.

for the last few i didn't and i think they looked fine without it, 

so next time i would skip that step.

it took me 2 rolls of white electrical tape to do 23 boxes.

{games}

i made this monster bingo game using

the create your own monster clipart

from cloudstreet.

(contact me if you are interested in purchasing

the printable version of this game-

8 unique boards and calling cards for $5)

we are also playing pumpkin bowling

(picture from pinterest)

go here for the original directions

i purchased a "funkin" to use since the party is indoors.

{favor bags}

 honesty, i can't stand favor bags.

but i know the kids like them so i got just a few items.

i added a little fun by making the toppers and also stuffing

the bags with that cheap spider web.

making the topper is so easy.

i bought favor bags that were 4 inches wide,

so i cut my scrapbook paper to be 4 inch x 4 inch and

folded them in half.

i folded the bag down to fit close to the prizes

then stapled the topper over the fold.

 i loved how this one said

"trick or treat...smell my feet..."

and i'm sure the kids will get a kick out of it!

- - - - - - - - - -

oh and check out the invites we made for

our annual trick or treat party!

 i saw the cute witch broom treat bags martha stewart made

and i decided i could use them as invites instead!

i followed her directions (i just stuffed with tissue not candy)

and slipped the invitation strip through the slits.

i think they are so cute!

school party ideas - - halloween

i get so many great ideas for holiday decorating

from blogs and pinterest,

but wish i could find more

unique ideas for classroom parties.

i hope to find some more good ones to use in a few weeks, 

but i thought i'd share what i did last year.

for my daughter's class party we decided one of

the activities would be a craft/snack.

 the kids made these cute spiders.

i had seen the idea on a blog but for the original,

a lot of melted chocolate was used.

that wouldn't work for a classroom project,

so here is how i tweaked it.

 

you need:

brownie bites

pretzel sticks

mini marshmallows

nerds

 you use the marshmallows as "joints" to join

2 pretzels together making a leg

 repeat for the rest of the legs.
{we only had 4 legs}

 tear a marshmallow in half.

{the sticky part attaches to the brownie}

and

 stick 2 nerds into the marshmallows.

 fun right?

fun snacks

i wanted to use cupcake toppers that

i had made, but didn't want to bring cupcakes.

so i stuck them into cubes of cheese.

all the kids wanted the toppers so they picked the cheese

even though there were tons of other sweats!

{they still ate the other sweats...but they ate cheese too!}

 aren't these witch hats cute??

just take a hershey kiss

dip in melted chocolate {or melt the bottom of the kiss}

stick to the flip side of a chocolate striped cookie.

the example i saw had a piped bow, but i don't pipe...

so i used 2 pumpkin sprinkles & 2 orange jimmies!

{healthy candy corn}

white ~ bananas

yellow ~ yellow peppers

orange ~ carrots

now lets hope that this guy has a better halloween this year!

subway art

subway art is everywhere these days,

and i love it!

anytime i can use multiple fun fonts, i am happy.

today i'm sharing a few ways i've used

the concept lately.

 

 - toy story pdf -

i offer this pdf in my etsy shop.

it coordinates with all my other toy story party goods.

{you can see those here} 

it is the perfect addition to any party display

as well as a great keepsake!

i can customize this for any party theme!

   

- baby subway art -

i made these for our family friends

who just had twins.

the gift included the custom art using all the

important baby info and coordinating

{new and improved-water/drool proof}

monthly onesie stickers.

both are available as custom orders in my etsy shop

check out other waterproof onesie sticker designs here!

-wedding card-

we typically give money as a wedding present,

so i am happy to have a way to also include

something unique and personal.

i waited until after the wedding and 

used the ceremony program to create this

customized card.

i printed the details onto 5 x 7 shimmer card stock

and attached to the card with tape so that

the newlyweds could put the

artwork into a frame if they want.

-thank you card-

a friend of mine has been going through

every mom's worst nightmare.

a couple months ago, she found out that

her son had a brain tumor.

he has been going through chemo and radiation.

she has had many people come forward

with donations and help.

i designed this postcard for her

to send out as a thank you.

{the thank you message is on the back}

she sent me this adorable picture of her son

and a bunch of words that describe him.

i think that people will love getting this as a thank you!

see anything you like?

contact me here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bethkruse23