apron wings

my lovely lady lamps

I've been doing as much estate/garage/thrift/rummage sale shopping as I can while I'm back in my hometown for the summer break. I've been trying to be as selective as possible since we have such a tiny apartment. I picked up these lamps at an estate sale the other day, I kept trying to talk myself out of them but I couldn't. I have a serious obsession with Marie Antoinette, I think it started with a set of amazing busts of her son and daughter that my mom used to have. These lamps are amazing, my dad is gonna rewire them for me and I have to recover the shades but I love them. I am also extremely tempted to paint them white the only thing stopping me is how perfect the crackling looks.

Backyard Bazaar

I was able to be part of an event called Backyard Bazaar this past weekend. I was so excited to be part of this and grateful to the ladies who put so much of their time and energy and heart into organizing it. I brought a few different things--library bags, stockings, onesies, and I spent the week before making something I call Lazy Day Loungewear. They can be for lounging around the house or to wear to bed. My son always prefers a nice, light, cotton pair of pants or shorts with a t-shirt for bed over store bought pjs.

I used vintage linens for the pants which are cropped for extra summer comfort, and simple cotton tees and tanks for the tops. I dyed the tops and then freezer paper stenciled. A big thank you to my bestie Ashley who helped me finish the freezer paper-ing--into the wee hours of the night, and she graciously took the photos for me.

And one quick pic of the cute onesies on display.

 

The Birthday Party

 
Things got a little busy around here while I planned Tony's birthday party. We had to move things around a bit because we had some rainy weather. Our outside lunch-time party had to become a inside dinner time party. The last minute changes meant that not all of our friends could make it but we still had a great time.

It was of course a Mario themed birthday party and, as with all of his birthday parties so far ,I had trouble finding much to go along with his chosen theme. I turned to the web and was able to find some resources and inspiration for games and other things.

Decorations were mostly red and white and I printed characters from the Wii Super Mario Bros. game out on card stock to hang up. For the treat bags I made my own coloring books, I found coloring pages online and then printed a cover on cardstock and sewed the "spine" together. I added crayons and candy to complete the bags. 

 
 

For our first game I filled balloon with coins and the kids could stomp, squish, and sit on the balloons to pop them and get the coins out.

Then they could put the coins into the question mark boxes I had made. I found the link here and printed them onto cardstock, cut them out and folded and glued them together. I measured the coins I had bought and cut a slit in the top for the coins to fit into.

 

For our next game we had Yoshi Egg Relay Race, this is really just the traditional egg relay race (shh don't tell the kids) I just made a quick poster for the finish line.

Next we played Pin the Mustache on Mario, I found the idea for this game online on several different party blogs. It is the same concept as Pin the Tail on the Donkey. I just used cut paper and paint to create Mario's head and 5 mustaches, I put ticky tac on the back so the kids could stick them onto Mario's face.

 
 

 

After a break for pizza we played a little memory game that I came up with. I modeled it after the memory game in the mushroom houses in the Wii game. I used ticky tac for the images under the question mark blocks so that we can move them around and play the game again and again.

 

After all the games there was of course cake! Thanks to my Mom who made the lovely cake again this year.

 

 

and now we are 6

My little boy turned 6 this week. 6 is big. You need two hands to tell people how old you are. When you are 6 you have to shop in a whole new section of the store--the big boy section. My little baby is now a tall, gangly boy, all elbows and knees. I'm a little bit sad as I see more and more of the "baby" disappear, but mostly I am excited about who this little person is becoming.

These are some pics I snapped on his actual birthday. He had to go to school so for lunch I brought pizza, cupcakes, and juice for his class. After we ate there was lots of hide-and-seek followed by tree climbing.
 

t-time

Boy clothes are kinda boring for the most part and now that Tony is in the big boy section they are even more boring. He's not interested in clothing for the most part but he likes to have fun t-shirts, the problem is finding t-shirts in his size with anything he thinks is cool on them. I've picked up a few here and there but they are few and far between. The solution--make them (hmmm....this is the solution to most of our problems)

 

My mom had picked him up some solid colored t-shirts at Target recently and I had some printable transfer sheets so I made him a couple today. I also made him his birthday shirt for this year. I wanted to start our own traditions and the birthday shirt has become one I love and look forward to. I like to design it around whatever theme he has chosen. I used the transfer paper for mario and then freezer paper stencil for the rest.

 

The thumbs up is one of my favorite things (among millions) that this little guy does. 6...already...
 

Mario AND Luigi

Tony loves dressing up in costumes, and since his current obsession is Super Mario Bros. he of course has been begging for a Mario AND Luigi costumes. He had his eye on this overpriced one, but I didn't want to pay that much and if Tony wears anything synthetic sweats like crazy.

For around $15 I was able to make both costumes. This was really easy, I only needed to make one pair of overalls and was able to purchase everything else. I know he's gonna be wearing these costumes all summer so I went with short sleeve T-shirts. I used Mccalls M5955 for the overalls and I just painted the hats with fabric paint. I tried using contact paper as a stencil but it didn't work out so great, I don't think that Tony will notice!

I can't wait to give these to him on his birthday and take some photos of the costumes in action!

 
 

it's mario time

We're gearing up for a Super Mario Bros. themed birthday party for a certain soon-to-be 6 year old. I have been picking things up here and there for the birthday boy but one thing I spotted online that I really wanted to get him was out of my price ranger. These hand painted shoes are amazing, but at $225 not ideal.

 I have a drawer full of fabric paint so I picked up a pair of shoes and decided to have a go. I'm not the best hand painter but hopefully my  little guy who will outgrow them before he can realize how shoddy my painting skills are.

A Mad World

This year I did not make Tony's costume which freed up time to make my own costume...and one for my sister. After checking out ideas online we settled on Alice in Wonderland. I was the Mad Hatter, she was Alice, and our lovely frined Amanda was the Queen of Hearts.

It was alot of fun working on both costumes, learning some new techniques, and trying new things. I chose Simplicity 4015 for Alice. My sis wanted something a little different so I altered it a bit and made it more fun. I used Kona Cotton in a royal blue. I draped the back to create the sort of bustle/exposed petticoat look with tiers of eyelet ruffles. I also greatly reduced the width of the skirt, added eyelet ruffle trim around the sleeves, neckline and hem, nixed the neckline bow and went with sweet heart shaped buttons instead.

 
 I also glued a bow onto a store bought headband along with 2 tags reading "eat me" and "drink me." She found some adorable stockings and we added 2 layers of crinoline petticoats for more fullness.

For my costume I used Simplicity 2525 to make the dress, vest, tailcoat and bowtie.

I made the dress from a fabulous feather print I found on the quilting wall at Jo-Anns, for the vest and jacket lining I used costume satin in gold. The bow tie is also costume satin in a vibrant purple. I used a teal cordorouy for the jacket and black Kona Cotton for the sleeve ruffle and collar. I added some crazy fringe to the hem and the sleeves, and the buttons on the back.
 

I tried making the tophat according to this pattern on fabric but found it to be a huge pain so I used a frozen pizza box. I hot glued it together and covered it in Martha Stewart glitter in Ebony. I added a feather and some purple ribbon.

I made a fun corsage using some glittery "foliage" from michaels. I just arranged them and added a purple ribbon.

I also made spats using the tutorial I found on The Indigo Phial. I made them a little less structured and a little more mad.

 
 
 

The costumes were a huge hit and after all that work/fun I think I might be the Mad Hatter every year.

(sorry for the bad flash photos!)
 

 

My Happy Place

I didn't mean to disappear for so long but it was a crazy busy summer. I graduated with my associates and then had to pack and prepare for the big move! We are all moved in and Tony and I have both started at our new schools. Our home really does feel like home now and we are getting used to our new town. This is huge for us and a little bit scary. It is the first time that him and I have lived alone just the two of us. We really only know each other so the living room gets a lot of use. It has seen a lot of games, play dough, movies, books, and cuddling so far. I love the living room, I challenge you to come visit and not be happy in this living room! No seriously come visit!

  

 

  

 

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