Halloween with a Toddler

So I started this entry almost ONE YEAR AGO! That tells you what my life with a toddler has been like.
Now, as I was saying:

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I had visions of grandeur when it came to Halloween with my newly-turned-1-year-old. I pictured a caravan of her neighborhood buddies (also recently-turned-1-year-old's) going from house to house saying 'wick or tweet' or whatever other sounds they could come up with to get their point across. We agreed to meet at our house for pictures and decided that we'd go up the main road towards my mother-in-law's - about four blocks.

Here's what really happened.

It was chillier than we'd expected, so quick costume modifications were needed. My little giraffe donned a cape. So she ended up looking like either a race-giraffe (do they do anything competitively?) or The Giraffe who ate Little Miss Riding Hood. Either way, it was cute, and nobody cared. 

There are no perfectly posed pictures because it was much like herding cats getting them to look at any camera all at once. Baby B didn't really understand what Trick-or-Treating meant and was pretty gun shy about walking up to a stranger's door with her little hand stitched sack. So we tried over and over and over and OVER again until finally we reached Grammie's house. Instead of taking candy from people, my Giraffe tried to share or trade her candy away.  

I'd say that for a first (well technically 2nd Halloween) she did pretty well. There was no crying or melt downs and she started to understand what was happening as we walked back to our house. 

Lessons Learned

1. Go out early. Big kids are ruthless, mean even. Toddlers aren't candy-hoarding monsters yet. 
2. Take lots of pictures. You can use them as blackmail later or in a wedding montage - is there really a difference?
3. Choose a costume appropriate for the weather, your child's temperament and ease of movement. Baby B's costume was a full jumper with long sleeves and full pants which made it perfect for a Fall day in Chicago. 

So what am I going to do with her this year? I've sewn her a Princess Jasmine inspired romper to wear as her costume. I started with instructions from Make It Love It and made some modifications such as using ribbon instead of casing elastic for the sleeves and wider elastic at the cuffs along with a wider flare to make the bottoms look more like harem pants. I have some finishing to do and modifications to make since I made my own pattern and didn't really measure her waist. It's my first attempt, so we'll see how it goes. The romper was easy enough...the bias tape out of satiny costume fabric....not so much. Next up is attaching a tulle 1/2 skirt and some bedazzling to finish. Ideas welcome.

Easy Peasey DIY Guest Book

This year Husband and I have been invited to a ton of weddings. Three on the same day, in fact.  It was a little crazy and we have one more to go. The wedding we most recently attended was of Baby B's Godmother and my dear friend, Cadiz.

I had the honor of NOT being a bridesmaid. Yes, you read that correctly. I was honored to not have to be part of the formal hoopla leaving me free to do the things I find fun. Namely organizing, crafting, consulting, Bollywood-dancing (I'm talking a full out routine!) cheer leading, streamlining, guest-book-making, etc.

Kolo Albums make great guest and parent brag books.

She had a number of DIY wedding projects since she's among the craftiest people I know. She and H (and a cast of dozens) handmade all the center piece flowers out of coffee filters a la Martha Stewart in a beautiful shade of blue.

We celebrated her birthday with a few hours of handmade tissue paper flowers and turned it into a chandelier kind of like the one featured here. Only better (in my opinion).

The week before the wedding, I got a call from the bride-to-be asking about what to do about a guest book. She said I generally had practical advice to balance out her visions of grandeur. I like to think that I'm a lazy crafter. I figure there has to be an easier way to do most things. If you're doing something that takes up more time that you'd like, then it's either not worth it or you're doing something wrong.  Anyways, I digress. I offered her the idea that I've used for other friends' weddings and said I'd make her a guest book using a photo album. You could knock this out in an afternoon if you plan ahead, at the same time it is easy enough to spread out over 3-4 30-minute windows of time.

Here's what I used:

• 1 Newbury Kolo Album in Lake 
• 2 Noci Kolo Albums in Lake
• 1 package of photo corners in black
• 1 sheet of Peacock Silver on Turquoise Fine Paper
• 1 sheet of Lakota Indian Paisley on Orange Fine Paper
• 1 sheet of cover weight paper
• Wedding Invitation
• A variety of 4x6 engagement photos supplied by the bride and groom.
• Glue stick
• Rotary Tool
• Cutting Mat
• Scissors
• Printer / MS Word  

Their photos were taken by Albert Yau, Second Print Productions. He is magical. It's like he watches Bollywood movies in his spare time or something.

I waited until Baby B was soundly asleep before I began this project. Otherwise, we'd have fingerprints everywhere. I laid out all the photos and arranged, rearranged and rearranged again until I was happy with the order. Next I used the photo corners and put individual pictures on the pages. I tried to spread them out so that the first few pages had one picture and one blank page and then doubled up with facing pictures.  That way there's plenty of room for the guests to sign around them.

Then I went through and cut 1" wide strips of the patterned paper. Each set of facing pages had matching boarders. A little bit of glue held them in place nicely. I let the book dry over night.

Finally, I worked on the insert for the front covers. The couple used Arial Narrow for their invites so I matched that general style in the 2.5" insert.

The parent album cover inserts were super easy since all I had to do was reduce the size of the guest book cover insert to just over 2" squares.  I left the first slot empty so they could insert their invitations, the rest was filled with pictures and a few slots in the back empty for wedding pictures!  When they have kids, they can give them another mini brag book to match.

Fabric Key Chains

One of the girls at work was using stretchy thin elastic around her wrist as a key chain strap. It was really sad.  I offered to make her something sturdier and after doing some research ( I really love Google). I came across Hip Girl Boutique's tutorial on Fabric Key Chains that are really easy to make.

I used cotton webbing and grosgrain ribbon but fabric scraps would work just as easily.  I ordered the webbing and hardware supplies from Crafter's Vision because they were super inexpensive as well as very quick to deliver.

Materials I used:

1.25" Cotton Webbing
1" Grosgrain Ribbon
Double sided fusible interfacing
Key Fob hardware
Coordinating thread
Sewing machine
Pliers
scrap fabric (to wrap around hardware when clamping)


It took less than an hour from start to finish. I had trouble with clamping the key fob hardware, but that's mostly because I was afraid that I'd break the hardware if I clamped down to hard. I made mine to be 8 inches and it's definitely not going to make it over my knuckles to get to my wrist. I just needed the loop to hang off of my fingers as I'm walking from the car to the house. The ones I make for the girls at work will be 10 inches around since they wear them around quite frequently. Hopefully will get those done in the next day or so. Wish me luck! 

Baby on the Brain

Since I have Baby on the brain, I've been focusing my craftasticness on onesies, decorating the nursery, machine washable diaper changing pads and even "I Love Grandma Blankets" (one for each, of course). Here's a shot of the onesies. They are all store bought iron-ons since they are fairly easy to work with. I bought solid colored onesies from Target on clearance and found the newborn hats at JoAnn Fabrics where I also purchased the transfers. Most of them will fit Baby next Summer, but thought they'd last a bit longer than decorating newborn ones that she'll grow out of in two weeks! My next step is to design iron-ons using my computer for a more personalized wardrobe.

Escort Card Display

Here's the escort cards we made.  I'll post other pictures when I'm not running around like a crazy person!

Escort Cards

You know how they say "it takes a village" to raise a child? I think it takes one to prepare for a wedding.  I am very lucky to have the greatest friends and family (and future family) coming together to make this event a very personalized, memorable and creative part of our lives.  

Groom, MOG, MOH and I got together to make escort card holders for the reception.  We got the idea from a bride in California that made paper accordion holders for her guests.  We enlarged the idea and made them fit the look of our wedding and got to use the paper that's in my inspiration board.  I can't wait to do a comparison of the two to see how everything in my head actually plays out.  

We don't have too much left to do. I'm going a bit crazy this week with the goal of being done by Memorial Day weekend so we can enjoy the week leading up to the wedding.  Our last 'large' task is writing out the escort card envelopes and assigning guests to their tables. Most of that's been done, but we're in final stages of approval from MOG, my parents and one another!   

Pictures coming soon.

DIY Salt & Sugar Scrubs

DSC04653
Originally uploaded by Helene Orange

For the holidays, I made sugar and salt scrubs for my family and friends. For the ladies, I made a Maharani Sugar Scrub using the following:

Coconut Oil- 4 ounces at room temperature
Ground Almonds- 2 tablespoons
Dark Brown Sugar- 2 ounces
Light Brown Sugar- 2 ounces
Honey- 1 tablepoon
Rose Water- 1 splash
Vanilla Extract- 1-2 teaspoons

For the guys, I made "Maharaja Salt Scrub" using:
Sea Salt- 1 ounce
Table Salt- 2 ounces
Extra Virgin Olive Oil- 2 ounces
Orange Extract- 1 splash
Clove Oil- 1 -2 drops
Glycerin (a carrier oil to extend the shelf life of the scrub)- 1 once

I then created labels borrowing from Martha Stewart's idea to use bumper sticker paper. It's water proof and re positionable. I ordered jars in bulk from Specialty Bottles.com and then found some canning jars on clearance (12 for $4) so I picked those up as well. I ended up making 12 salt scrubs and 20 sugar scrubs total.

Freezer Paper Stencils Part II

Here are a few pictures from my afternoon of craftiness. I am still a beginner, so thinking in negative space is new for me. I started with something simple: a flower. Then I turned it into a "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not" design to put on a tote bag that I will use on my wedding day. Groom approves (he came home from work while I was finishing up). The canvas fabric of the tote was a little tricky with the fabric paint in that it bled a bit, but I'll either freeze or but something in the paint to make it thicker to use next time.

Here's how you can have an afternoon of craftiness yourself!

1. Draw a design (or trace something you like)

2. Cut out the parts you want to be painted using an exacto knife

3. With your iron on to the highest setting, iron the stencil to your fabric of choice

4. Paint

5. Wait for it to dry, then peel off the stencil

6. Iron to set the paint