Halloween is creeping up! I'm looking forward to browsing through all the decorations popping up in stores all over town. AND throwing a Halloween party at some point. I shared this on another blog last year and figured it was time to share it again for any crafty readers out there. ;)
Do you dress up for Halloween? What will you dress up as this year?!
I'm planning on being Robin Hood. :)
Homemade Halloween costume hair clips: Pichu Ears
If you're on a budget around Halloween (whether you're saving up for Christmas time or you just flat out don't have the income to throw money at a full costume) making homemade costume pieces is a budget friendly way to celebrate without setting yourself back $50.
Want to know how to make your own Halloween accessory hair clips?
Materials Needed:
Printed image for reference (optional)
Scissors
Ultra Fine Point Sharpie
Ruler
Craft felt: 1 sheet in black and yellow is more than enough.
Needle
Yellow (or white) thread
Cotton balls
Hair clips (These no-slip grip clips are nice and sturdy.)
Start out by sketching the shape of Pichu's ears.
The black felt ears measures:
2.5" from the top point to the bottom edge
2" wide (point to point)
2" from top point to side point
1" from side point to bottom edge
The yellow felt ears measures:
1.5" from the top points to the bottom edge
1¾" wide (point to point)
1¼" from top point to side point
¾" from side point to bottom edge
Begin assembling your ears. Layer, yellow-black-yellow, and sew them together, leaving the bottom edge open for cotton stuffing. You should be able to fit 1 jumbo cotton ball in each ear. The extra piece of yellow felt will be used to close up the bottom while also providing a flat surface for the hair clip to be sewn to.
When choosing a pair of hair clips to sew your ears to, try to match your hair color as close as possible. And you're done! You can use this tutorial to make a variety of different creature ears.
Last year, I had tried my hand at making bookmarks. I had a good time laying out different patterned paper, mixing and matching colors. I ended up with a few good ones that I had intended on selling. Unfortunately, keeping up with my Etsy shop and promoting my items became a complete failure. (I will try again in the future!)
Before my shop was up, I started a craft blog (that only made it through three posts before work consumed most of my free time). Before shutting down that blog, I saved a few of my posts to see if I had shared them here, and it looks like this is one I didn't share.
Creating your own bookmark is easy. It doesn't call for too many supplies and makes a great gift for anyone who loves to read.
What you'll need:
card stock, patterned and solid colors
glue (I prefer and recommend Zig Memory System 2 way glue pen)
scissors (or paper trimmer, or rotary cutter and cutting mat)
stickers or punch-outs
As the holiday season starts to wind down, so does my busy work schedule. While that isn't exactly good news for my wallet/bank, I'll be glad to have a little more down time in between work days. Of course, I wouldn't mind keeping my ~30 hour work week as it is, but that's not likely to happen. ;]
I'm still in search of New Year's resolutions! For 2011 I gave up carbonated beverages which proved to be quite a challenge at the beginning of the year. As the year went on, it became easier with the passing months. Water, juices, teas, coffee, and beer. ;] (This lady loves her beer.) If you've been following me throughout the year across my blogs, Twitter, or Facebook, you know that I have lost 30 pounds over these last 12 months. Giving up soda definitely played a huge role in this goal I have set for myself (which is targeted for March 25, 2012).
So here I sit. In search of a New Year's resolution that will, once again, test my level of self-discipline. The question is; what resolution should I set for myself in 2012?
Some of you may remember the monogrammed mason jars I started making earlier this year. Well the time has finally come to give them to those persons they were made for. I just sent 3 off to my family in Texas, hand delivered 2 to my family in Rhode Island, and I have 5 left to hand out.
A couple weeks before Christmas, I finally stopped in AC Moore to pick up supplies for my holiday center piece. While I was in the store I came upon some wreaths. I've had this bag of yarn that I originally planned on making scarfs and pot holders with, but I have been lacking motivation. So I decided to try making my first yarn wreath. It's still a work in progress! Here's a little preview of what I have done.
Still working on the felt flowers. Somewhere over the past week, I found some time to make my gingerbread house. This was a kit that came with 1/2 a pound of a variety of Wonka candy. (Also, this is the 2nd gingerbread house I have ever made in my 25 years of life. I'm so proud!)
So I have a few crafts I need to finish before the year is up. Luckily, I have a couple days off in the coming week in which I plan on devoting to finishing this wreath.
Earlier this year, I prepared some jars for the holiday season. I took a DIY monogrammed mason jar tutorial and set aside my jars to use as gifts for this coming Christmas. Today is the 4th and Christmas is exactly 3 weeks from today. I still have no idea what to put in these jars!!!
I have considered delicious treats, Christmas confetti surrounding some sort of holiday ornament (preferably handmade), gift cards in confetti, and just handing out empty jars with letters monogrammed on the side.
Want to know how to make these cute little Pichu ears?
If you're on a budget around Halloween (whether you're saving up for Christmas time or you just flat out don't have the income to throw money at a full costume) making homemade costume pieces is a budget friendly way to celebrate without setting yourself back $50.
[2008] I came down with a nasty cold that night.
In 2008, I went to New York to see Portugal. the Man at the Bowery Ballroom on Halloween night. I had originally decided on making Pikachu ears but they turned out to be too heavy to hold themselves up. (This was before I figured out wire could be used to shape and support the weight of the ears.) As you can see, I barely dressed up. That's a yellow 3/4 sleeve shirt from Old Navy which I'm pretty sure I wore with black jeans. It was cold that night and I had to walk pretty far from my car to the venue.
Want to know how to make your own Halloween accessory hair clips?
You can find the tutorial posted on my craft blog, Sophie Mae Crafts.
How is everyone doing? I just returned from a grocery trip to my local Wal-Mart and I came home with a little more than groceries. I picked up a few crafting items for my next post on my craft blog which I will also link to in a post here on Vegging for Health. It's a Halloween themed post! I plan on working on this tonight and hopefully have it up tomorrow.
For Halloween, I'd like to dress up as Hello Kitty. Just not this kind of Hello Kitty, because this isn't an acceptable costume for work.
(This post was intended for Thursday's 8am post, but I was half asleep when I wrote it and scheduled for Friday instead.)
It's Wednesday night and I feel as if I would instantly fall asleep once I lay my head against my pillow. You're probably thinking, it's not Wednesday... it's Friday morning. Well, I really enjoy taking advantage of the "schedule" option on post settings. I thoroughly enjoy putting posts in queue days in advance so I don't feel like I'm slaving over this blog. (Even though I spend all my time tweaking the layout!)
Let me share a little bit about my labor day weekend.
Friday: Originally scheduled for only two days this entire week, I grabbed some extra hours which landed me a shift from 2:30pm to 10pm. Lately I've only been scheduled to work anywhere from 4 to 6 hour shifts while I would rather work 8 hour shifts. That's just not in the cards for me quite yet.
Saturday: Up bright and early. Worked 9am to 4:30pm. Absolutely loved working the morning shift so I could have the rest of the weekend with my boyfriend. He took Thursday and Friday off in addition to having a 3-day weekend. A well deserved 5-day vacation for him. I had originally planned to bake pumpkin cookies but ended up going shopping instead. It was late and I needed to pick up a few things at Wal-Mart so I headed out around 9pm. My feet were aching from standing all morning but I knew I needed to buy printer ink before I put it off for too long. Three hours later, I found myself feeling exhausted and waiting in line to cash out. Did you know Wal-Mart doesn't take "free" item coupons from the internet? It's a good thing I had a $3 off coupon for the same item. Also, I was that lady who preferred to pay for two specific items on a separate transaction from everything else. Well aware of the long line of people behind me, but what's waiting a couple more minutes? I would understand if I held up the line paying by check, but I told the cashier "It won't take long. I'm paying by credit." As someone who works in retail, I understand that getting the lines down and decreasing the wait time is important, but so is customer satisfaction. As a customer, I want the same satisfaction I supply to my own guests at my store. I only ask that customers practice patience when standing in line. There are far worse wait times than a few extra minutes. On the way home, I saw the aftermath of a car crash a few miles from my exit. As I approached the cash site, all I could see were many flashing lights on numerous cop cars which I couldn't even tell where one started and another ended. I can only hope the person(s) involved made it out safely.
Sunday: Shawno found $25 in Best Buy money waiting for him in his e-mail. This meant traveling to the store and picking up a new game. I took this opportunity to stop by Christmas Tree Shops to hunt for cheap owl decor and maybe something else that held a combined taste in decor for our apartment. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything that really caught my eye so we left empty handed. For lunch, I treated Shawno to Taco Bell as a "thank you for putting up with my need to walk every aisle of the store and leaving with zero purchases". After asking him to take me to AC Moore to use a "50% off" coupon, Shawno kindly agreed (even though I knew he didn't want to go). I suggested he sit in the car while we were at Christmas Tree Shops because I didn't know how long that trip was going to take, he finally took me up on that offer as we pulled into the AC Moore parking lot (which is in the same building as my store). He's learning that the men generally sleep in the car as their women shop, haha. I spent $8.50 and felt as if it was truly well spent. Scrapbook page refills, double-sided patterned paper and I can't remember if I purchased anything else. We then started on our way home.
Monday: Labor Day. A nice lazy day at home. This is also the day of my second installment of Music Monday posts. I've really enjoyed reading themed daily posts on other blogs and felt it would fit nicely into my own blog. While I'm not really into the music scene as much as I was from 2002-2007, I often times enjoy sharing the music I've had on repeat with anyone who's willing to listen. This is the day I publicly released (to my Facebook wall) the latest blog I've been creating. It's called Sophie Mae Crafts and it is a craft blog where I hope to share all of my crafts with friends, family, fellow crafters, and anyone else interested. Originally I had named the blog "Sticks and Stories" but threw that out the window once Shawno said it didn't make sense as I wasn't using sticks or writing stories. I then changed the title to "Crafts, by Jasmine and Katie" when my bff-in-law said she would be interested in getting down with a craft blog. She's a full-time Mom and wife to my bff so I know that this would be a nice little outlet for her to share her crafts when she gets some free time to herself. After sharing the blog I realized, I could definitely use MORE authors than just Katie and myself. So I've made it open to anyone who wants a place to share their crafts. All you have to do is let me know where to send the e-mail invite. It's as simple as this. Everyone has their own style when it comes to arts and crafts and I like the idea of sharing multiple styles in one place. So, if you're interested, look out for an open invitation to hold "author" rights on Sophie Mae Crafts (which will be posted both here and on SMC in the future).
Tuesday: Monday night I received a phone call from my cousin, asking if I wanted to babysit her two youngest (3 ½ year old twins, A and R). I haven't seen them since July and I didn't have anything planned for the day, so I jumped at the chance to spend some quality time with the twins. I left my apartment (in Massachusetts) around 8:30am and sat through stop-and-go traffic until I reached the Rhode Island state line. I finally pulled up to her house (in Rhode Island) around 9:50am. The cause of the congested traffic? Drivers failing to merge. No worries, because I arrived safely. :] Once my cousin left for work, the twins and I watched tv for pretty much 5 hours straight. Bubble Guppies, Team Umizoomie, Max and Ruby, Dora the Explorer, and Peppa Pig on repeat thanks to Nick Jr East and Nick Jr West. I made peanut butter sandwiches cut into little squares so they could share, each had a juice box, and eyes glued to the TV as we all screamed the answers to any questions the shows asked. Pre-school shows are so cute. The oldest, B, came home from school shortly before the two middle cousins, C and S, hopped off the bus and tackled me with hugs. I love that I have such a good relationship with my little cousins. :] Shortly after their dad came home from work, I decided it was time to head home so I could beat the congested traffic during rush hour. I came home and noticed the rain had washed up all the debris in our patio and had gathered at the drain. That meant the water had become a few inches deep in the patio and eventually drained, gathering all these leaves/grass/seeds. Before long, the rain had picked up again and I found myself standing in the patio, feet completely submerged in cold water, using a snow shovel to scoop the water out before any water could threaten our living room just on the other side of the slider. It truly is a one person job in such a small space. My efforts proved victorious as the water level dropped. Additionally, I plunged the drain to loosen any debris that might the the cause of the water to drain at such a slow pace.
Wednesday: I woke up around 9:30am to the realization that I had work at noon and I needed to shower and eat breakfast before the clock magically turned to 11:30. (It happens too often!) After posting to Tumblr, 20SB, browsing Facebook, and checking my Blogger stats, I clicked my Gmail tab to find a new e-mail sitting there with the subject line "Interview?" Someone is interested in my veg interviews! Immediately read her message and my excitement was through the roof! I love reading the short little "about me" before I personalize questions for the interview. While I haven't actually finished the interview questions, my exhaustion from yesterdays water shoveling and lack of stretching out my muscles really caught up to me. Also, my lack of motivation... I'll get on that tomorrow afternoon, for sure, and this means another interview post is coming soon!
Before writing up this post I decided to get caught up on one of my favorite YouTube collaboration channels; AGayADay. While I find it hard to actually pick a favorite, because all of their personalities are very different, I have to say I enjoy watching Simon and Darren the most. All of these guys remind me of guy friends I've had and still have to this day. :]
For as long as I can remember, I've always loved art. My Pocket Fashion Designer was my best friend! It was also a pink case with yellow tablets. I'm pretty sure I still have mine.... somewhere in storage.
I would draw on just about everything. One time, (I was about 7 or 8) I climbed on top of my dresser, took a box of a crayons and drew a picture of a little girl on my ceiling. My parents weren't too pleased with that. Sorry Mom and Dad! In school, art class was my absolute favorite. I kept everything I ever made from my junior high and high school art classes. (Until I moved all over the place and threw some of it away.)
Lately, I have been itching to paint more and more. These are the three most recent paintings I have finished and gifted to friends.
Katie (my best friends wife) and I decided to do an art-for-art trade. I made her a painting while she's painting a box for me. I came across a tea set on Etsy about four months ago. This was my inspiration behind my painting.
Acrylic and steel metallic surfacer on 12x12 canvas.
After receiving a baby shower invitation at the end of June, my brain immediately went into creativity overload. Not only do I enjoy giving baby shower gifts. I love adding in a personal touch with handmade gifts. Looking for inspiration, I searched their baby registry to find out if they had a theme. Safari is a huge hit this year and I'm glad they chose such a cute theme. Acrylic on 5x7 canvas.
My best friends sister, Regina, is pregnant with her second baby, Noelle. Her theme is sailor. So cute! My inspiration didn't come easy. I sat, staring at a blank sketch pad, as I tried to figure out what I was going to paint for her. I knew I wanted to include a ships wheel and anchors. I finally found my inspiration in room and house decor pieces! Immediately I sat down to paint. I had a very "indie" feeling as I drew the anchors and added the yellow dots. Acrylic on 5x7 canvas.
