DIY Alligator and Butterfly Costumes

My grandkids went on a shopping trip to Target to get their Halloween costumes for this year. Instead of purchasing complete costumes, my grandson left with an alligator head, and my granddaughter with butterfly wings and antennas. Meemaw was tasked with making the rest of the costume.

For the butterfly costume, the task was easy. I bought a pair of black leggings, a black long sleeved   t-shirt and a black cloth hat. Target had the leggings and t-shirt, and Hobby Lobby had the hat. Unfortunately the hat only came in baby sizes, so I had to improvise. I bought wide black elastic and a bottle of white puffy fabric paint.

I laid the leggings and shirt out on my kitchen island, and with the fabric paint I put white dots of various sizes all over the items. Then after letting them dry for 5 or so hours, I flipped them and did the dotting on the opposite sides. That was all that I needed to do for the clothing.

The hat needed to be expanded, so I cut the stitching of the seam on one side of the hat, the outer layer and the lining layer. Then I cut strips of the wide elastic, tucked them in between the layers and sewed them into place. I could have made a hat with black fabric, or found a hat in the right size, but I was in a time crunch and this was the easiest solution for me.

The alligator costume was much more difficult. The first thing I attempted to purchase for the alligator costume was a pair of sweat pants, and a sweat shirt in the same olive green color found in the alligator head. After 5 or 6 stores and online shopping I could not find them anywhere. My last stop was Walmart. I found an olive green pair of pants in the Toddler Department, but no shirt. I went to the Boys Department and found an olive green t-shirt, but they were all short sleeves. I bought one small shirt, and two extra large shirts to use for the fabric.

 With one of the extra large shirts I made long sleeves for the small shirt and attached them under the short sleeves. Next, I cut the second extra large shirt along one side and around the sleeves to make a long piece of fabric. I folded it up from the bottom hem, inside out, about 7 inches. With a Sharpie I drew spikes for the tail. I sewed along the marks, cut off the excess fabric, turned the spikes right side out, stuffed the spikes and sewed them shut. Then I split the seam on the butt of the pants, inserted the end of the tail and sewed the tail in place.

Now for the hard part. I had to paint the green costume to look like the head mask. I took a paper plate and filled one spot with brown paint and added black paint to make it a very dark brown. Then I filled a spot on the plate with an olive yellow paint, and lastly a spot on the plate with black paint. Then using a very small pored sponge I first dabbed the yellow paint in spots all over the front of the pants and shirt. Next, I added the brown paint, going over some of the yellow spots, and out side of the yellow. Lastly, I added the black to parts of the yellow and brown spots and beyond. I also rubbed the black sponge all over the non-painted green sections to darken them up. Once the fronts of the shirt and pants were dry, I painted the backs and the tail.

Last step was a special delivery and fashion show with the grandkids!

My sweet butterfly!

My sweet, I mean scary alligator. 

Did you miss me?

Sorry for the absence. Can you believe it has been over a month, almost two, since my last post. What have I been up to? Hmm, let me think. LIFE!!!

You know how that happens, right? I went from empty nester living in a state where no relatives lived within a 900 mile radius, to moving to the same state/city as my Daughter, Son in-law and Grandson. Then came a new Granddaughter, then my Mother and Father In-law moved here from Ohio, and now my Son and his Girlfriend moved here from Indiana. We are rocking the family get-togethers! It has been so awesome having two of my three kids in the same city as us that now we have to start working on getting our older son to move here. A girl can dream!

Adding into my distraction was family illnesses, surgeries, weddings, new schools, and crazy weather (including hurricanes) to name of few, and it has been a pretty busy couple of months. I now have to make a conscious effort of make time to blog. If not to share and enlighten, than to relieve stress. Blogging is truly a great stress relief for me, and boy am I glad to be back at the computer. I feel calmer already.

I may not have been blogging lately, but it is not because I don't have many stories to share. There is never a shortage of crazy stories, or fun adventures happening in my life. So, stay tuned for some travel blogs, recipes, crafts, a new series on work quotes, and some of my crazy life events.

Who needs therapy when you can blog?







 

Funny Sign, 5th edition!

This is the 5th edition of the "Funny Signs"! These are signs from places I have visited, social media, friends, and family. Thanks again to my Brother Dale for his contributions.

For all you coffee drinkers!

I cannot even imagine what this ride is. I sure hope it isn't what my first thought was.

I would bet that there is snow on the road when it snows too.

I was searching on Amazon for games to play in the car for my grandkids. The second and fifth down had me a bit concerned about Amazons search parameters. 

This sign is a visual of the slope.

Really? Try Me on a potty?

King of the Road!

Hope you enjoyed this edition of Funny Signs. 

Fairy Garden Repairs

On May 9th I wrote a post on the hail storm that hit not only our home, but also my Grandkid's Fairy Garden. We just finished all the repairs to our home, and are ready to repair the fairy homes.

The homes are made out of resin and I used Model Magic clay to repair the holes in the Fairy's Homes. Model Magic may not have been the best choice, but it was what I had in my craft supplies. The first house had a very small hole in it right where the flowers and plants were placed on the front of the house. I just rolled up a few pieces of clay and placed them on the house to cover the hole.  When the clay had dried for a few days I painted the plants with green acrylic craft paint, let it dry and then sprayed it with a clear coat.

The second Tudor stone cottage was a bit trickier. I placed a larger piece of flattened Model Magic and placed it over the hole so that it was on the cottage about a half to an inch beyond the edge of the hole. I then smoothed it out thinner and thinner away from the edge of the hole to help it blend into the solid part of the house.

Then using the handle of a skinny paintbrush I replicated the pattern of the stone and thatch of the cottage into the clay. When it was just the way I wanted it I let the clay dry for several days.

Painting this cottage was a little harder because I had to try to match the unique colors. For the stone I used a creamy white and let it dry. I used a green color that matched the under color of the thatch and the color in the cracks. Next, I rubbed the green on the white to dirty it up a bit. For the bottom thatch on the house I painted it green and then I mixed several shades of brown until I found the right shade. I then painted  over the green with the brown, let it dry and then sprayed it with a clear coat.

The last house was damaged the most and had the biggest hole. I took a thin piece of wood that was shaped like a heart that has from past projects. I glued the heart inside behind the hole with hot glue. This was to keep the clay from falling inside the hole.

 I used a thick piece of Model Magic and placed in over the hole. I molded the clay into a leaf and a half of another leaf. Then I used the end of the brush again to form the veins and spine of the leaf. Once the hole was covered and the leaves and vines were formed I let the clay dry for a few days.

I mixed several brown shades of paint for the house, and a few shades of green for the leaves and vines shading the dark green with some lighter shades of green. After the house was painted and dried I sprayed it with a clear coat.

All the houses were finished and ready to go back into the Fairy Garden. We moved the FEMA (Fairy Emergency Management Agency) tents to a special spot that will now be the Fairy's camping vacation spot.

 Next time we have a predicted hail storm the Fairy Garden will be evacuated to the patio.

Funny Signs, 4th edition

It is time for the 4th edition of Funny signs  These are signs from places I have visited, social media, friends, and family. My brother Dale has joined into the fun. Thanks Bro!

Welcome to Texas!

Yep, Still in Texas!

First, It is impossible to breathe under water since breathing requires the intake and excelling of air.  Second, if you don't know in advance that you can't breath under water you should just stay on land.

Do we really need a sign to tell us that it is the same road both ways?

This is my favorite sign hanging in a restaurant. They have a great sense of humor in Somerset, Ohio.

Thank you Captain Obvious! 

Are the elderly now considered free gifts? At least she doesn't ever need to have her batteries charged.

Chipotle really takes parking seriously. 

Ok, this one really puzzles me. Were the Advertisers sitting around the table sharing ideas and someone says, "Let's offer free food for dogs while people get their oil changed."  Has this been an issue? Are people getting their oil changed and bringing their hungry dogs with them?  Do they look for a place to change their oil that will also feed their dog? Am I the only person that thinks this is a strange hook to get customers? 

Good to kknow!

Hope you enjoyed my fourth edition of Funny Signs and keep your eyes out for those signs that make you scratch your head and put a smile on face.

A shoe rant!

Ok, I am a shoe girl. Your clothes size may change, but you could always count on wearing the same size shoes. Shoes can make or break an outfit in my eyes. So, with this in mind I was excited to go shoe shopping to buy shoes for two dresses I am wearing to a wedding and rehearsal dinner.

Imagine my disappointment when looking at shoes in two different states and online that I could only fine one pair. Why do shoe designers think that every fashionable woman can, or wants, to wear 4 inch heels. Every patterned, or colored shoe other than nude, black or blue are 4 inch heels or higher. I am a middle aged woman that gave up high heels years ago. I prefer a kitten heel of about 1 to 2 inches.  They just do not exist in a cool looking shoe. Why can't I find these shoes in a lower heel?

So, the moral of this rant is that I not only have to contend with trying to find clothes to fit a body with curves from stores that are full of clothes that are made for women that are straight up and down like a 14 year old boy. But, I now have to wear boring shoes because the same women that are shaped like 14 year old boys like to wear beautiful shoes with 4 or 5 inch heels.  

It seems to me that there are far more women like me that have money to spend on fashionable shoes and cannot do so, because all the designers are making shoes for 14 year old boy bodied woman in stilettos. #SoSad

Hood Ornaments

Last year I did a post on the Concours D'Elegance of Texas. My husband and I went to the show again this year and though there were some cars that returned, there were many new cars in the show too. As I was looking at all the cars on display I was drawn to the cars that had cool hood ornaments.

Few cars have hood ornaments any more! Some have medallions and they can be colorful and very decorative, but they just don't have the same impact as an ornament. Many years ago we bought a used 1995 Jaguar Vander Plas and it had a great hood ornament. With that car we figured out why car companies stopped putting hood ornaments on cars, because creepy people loved to steel them.

A Jaguar hood ornament and plaque like the one that was on our old Jag.

One of the first Rolls Royce Hood ornaments.

The new hood ornament on the Rolls Royce is retractable. Very smart!

The early Corvettes did not have hood ornaments, but they had a very cool medallion. This was my favorite year of the Corvette. I am not a fan of any corvettes after the 60s. To me they ruined the style and the back end of the new cars are hideous.

The older sports cars at the Concours all had medallions, Porsche, Ferrari, Alpha Romoe, and Lotus. I guess if you have one of these cars you are more interested in what is under the hood than what is on on the hood.

The older cars and at the Concours like, Rolls Royce, Buick, Nash, Franklin and even the Good Humor Ice Cream truck all had great hood ornaments.

 For most of these cars it was all about the way they looked on the outside. These cars were like pieces of art and they most definitely were head turners!