Halloween- Part 2 & the Sushi costume

cute costumes everywhere!

A whole family of buzzy little bees... who were a bit busy to stay still for these photos. :) Today consisted of neighbors coming and going from the house, and preparations for tomorrows big night. fun. fun.

and I'm so totally in love with having a little dog to dress up, and she really likes her costume too. more fun.

The long awaited photos of the Sushi Costume!!! A California roll in the front & a Spicy Tuna roll in the back. Poor little Shavonne today, she wasn't feeling terribly well, so we took some quick photos and I sent her home to rest. Hopefully she'll be ready for tomorrow, Alaina has their whole trick-or-treating route already mapped out!!

I made the costume with 2 pieces of poster board, and 2 circles cut from thicker cardboard. I glued the 2 poster boards together, and sewed the circles just inside of the poster boards. The crab piece is a white towel with red felt sewn along the edge. Actually, all of the pieces are made from felt. (Love felt- easy to work with & inexpensive!!) The rice is packing peanuts, and the little sesame seeds are felt stuffed with batting.

The headband is probably my favorite part of the costume!! I decided to use 2 colors of pink tulle for the ginger. For the wasabi, I sewed a small circle of raw lime-green silk and filled it with batting. By leaving the edges out, it made this cute little puff of wasabi. I suppose I could have used the sushi grass from a tray of sushi.... but I just cut and sewed the grass from felt instead. I emptied a packet of soy sauce, and then everything got sewn onto fabric, and later glued to a head band. It sounds complex, but I think I only spend an hour or two making it. :)

and to think.. this is how her costume started!!

a couple more photos from around the home. I'm still rearranging things and finding new stuff!

I have a super-duper big day tomorrow, off to bed for some beauty rest and then up early to carve pumpkins!! good-night!

Halloween- Part 1

We're almost ready!! I have most of the house decorated as well as the outside. There are only a few things left... like a final costume fitting, Alaina & Chase and the little dog are going to be honey bees this year. I also have to take photos of our neighbor's costume tomorrow. Her sushi costume could not be any cuter!! There are still ghosts to hang from the trees and pumpkins to carve... almost finished!!

Here's a few photos from around the house... I'll be back tomorrow with those sushi photos every one's been waiting for. :) Happy almost Halloween!

Hopefully you're not like me and waited until the last possible second to finish preparing for Halloween! I'm going to be a very busy bee this weekend! :)

a perfect match

I have something exciting to share today! I'm teaming up with Jessica from Scrumdillydilly!!



Together we'll be having a little blog-hop party for an entire week. Come join us for a week of Autumn inspired posts and projects!

the first project

of October... actually it's from last month, but I just photographed it today! A very cute friend of mine sent me a large package of vintage handkerchief's this summer. (I'm not sure why I love something so much, that has most likely been used to wipe someone's nose.... but I do! I've been collecting them for years!!) Unfortunately, they have sat in the same place for the past few months, while I tried to think of some way to use them.



After my surgery, I really wanted to make something, but didn't have alot of energy. So, I thought maybe using one the handkerchiefs to create a messy-journal with a layered sewn cover would be something simple and yet still creative enough for me.
- and that's exactly how I made this journal!!

I started by layering different fabrics together and sewing them along the front cover. The actual cover for this book is a handkerchief folded in half. I gathered a bunch of papers, ledger, graph, atlas pages, music sheets, comic book pages, and score sheets and sewed them into place.





This whole book took me about 30 min. to put together. (and that's only because I wasn't walking around the house very fast to find all of the paper that I wanted to use.) The next time you're at a thrift or antique store, look for a pretty handkerchief to create a messy little art-journal!!

I'm ready,

to come back. I think I'm ready to be inspired again, ready to create and ready to dream.

*Thank you all so much for the well wishes!*

My surgery went well and the recovery is going well. My margins were clear, which is exactly what we wanted! I do need to go in for follow up treatments starting this month, but like I told Peter, it doesn't matter. I'm perfectly ready to do whatever I need to, in order to be healthy again. I'm just ready to be a normal healthy mommy again!

It's been 4 weeks today. I've had alot of breakdowns, which as I've been told, is most likely due to my 'sleeping ovaries'. The overall fatigue and hormonal fluxes kind of wear me out, but again it's normal given how big of a surgery this was. I've tried so many things to lift my spirits! I've listened to the Hawaiian music I loved so much while I lived over there. I had Peter rearrange some of the furniture for me. I tried making a few things...... and... nothing.

So last Saturday afternoon, while I sat on the couch resting, for the second or third time that day, the phone rang. I picked it up and I heard a familiar little voice on the other end.
"Hi Tara." our little next door neighbor
"Hi sweetie, what are you doing?"
"You know when you said I should be sushi for Halloween? Well, I'm wondering if you can help me make my costume?"
"Sure, give me an hour and come on over."

I got up, grabbed a piece of paper, and just like that, the ideas started flowing and I was excited to be making something again! I think that's one of the great things about kids. Nap times and hormone issues don't matter to them. Who knew that a sushi costume would be my saving grace!!



I can't wait to show everyone the finished costumed!! I've made all of the sesame seeds, the front part of the costume (imitation crab meat, cucumbers, avocado and rice) the seaweed is all glued and sewn into place, and I made a little headband with sushi grass, ginger and wasabi. I want to do one more 'fitting' before I finish the costume and then I'll be taking lots of photos!