Homemade Mummy Costume - 1st place baby!

Me and my son have been going around and around with what he is going to be for Halloween. He keeps saying he wants to be a Fireman and I keep saying no (everything in our house and in our lives is about Fireman and so we need something different this one day)! I just couldn't think of WHAT. I enlisted the help of friends on Facebook and one of them mentioned a mummy. You see, I hate spending $20 (or more) on a plastic cheap looking costume that he will wear for a few hours and out grow before next year. When the mummy costume was mentioned, I quickly YouTube (http://youtu.be/JOV64Dr1tQE) directions on how to make one. It looked very simple and easy so off to the store I went.

How to make a Mummy Costume!!!

What you will need:

1 flat white sheet ($4.47)

White face make up (already had)

Black eyeshadow (already had)

1 long sleeve white shirt or turtle neck (already had)

1 pair of white tights ($1.97)

Step 1: Cut the sheet into 2 inch strips (I think I got about 30-40 out of a twin size sheet and it wrapped my 3 year old who is as tall as most 5 year old)

Step 2: Boil a pot of water and a couple of tea bags and then soak the strips in the pot

Step 3. Rinse the strips and then dab black paint in various locations of the strips

Step 4: Place in a pillow case (tied tightly with a ribbon) in the dryer

Step 5: Take the strips from the dryer and tie about 4 to 5 together, repeat 4 times. You should have some extra strips left over which will come in handy later

Step 6: Dress the child in the tights (put the tights over his/her shoes) and the white shirt. Make sure you tuck the shirt into the tights, this will really help you when your lil mummy has to potty.

Step 7: Start wrapping the child starting at his/her legs.

*Helpful hint - I did each leg and then made kind of a diaper looking wrap so it would be easy to take him to the bathroom. I then wrapped his chest and shoulders and went down each arm. I wrapped his head last. Oh and make sure you wrap them tightly and maybe use some safety pins so when they start walking it doesn't just fall off.

Step 8: Apply the white face make up and then go around the eyes and cheek bones with some black eyeshadow.

Step 9: Stand back and enjoy your master piece!!

My son won 1st place out of over 30 children at a costume party this past weekend. I am a very proud parent!!

Oh and side note: Wednesday at school they get to dress up and since the mummy costume is to hard to go to the potty in without help from me, Caleb will be a (drum roll please) Fireman! So really at the end of the day we both got our ways...

Nautical Door Hanger

Down in the south, we have a thing we like to do where we make a cute wreath and hang it on the doors at the hospital after the baby is born. This lets other guest of the hospital know if you had a boy or a girl or heck one of each. Its a fun tradition and I love taking part in it. I have made one before (I will have to dig up the pictures) and enjoyed it so much that I decided I wanted to make another.

My boyfriends best friend/cousin (and his wife) are having a baby boy, due in December. They have decided to go with the nautical theme for the babies room (which is super adorable). So, I used their theme for the wreath... I went to Hobby Lobby (my favorite place on earth) and went to town picking out different ribbons. It was kind of hard at 1st because what I pictured in my head wasn't on the shelves! I had to really just start using my imagination... which I am glad I did because I am in love with the after product.

Oh and tip, make sure you go to Hobby Lobby when the ribbon is 50% off...

The "E" stands for their baby boys name, Easton!!

Kristy's baby shower

My sweet friend/co-worker Kristy is having a baby in just a few weeks! The exciting thing is that she is not finding out the sex until the baby is born (something which I could NEVER do because I am SUCH a planner). She did this with her 1st baby, a little boy! I am crossing my fingers its a girl but everyone else in the office is saying it is a boy.

Since she is not finding out the sex, planning a baby shower was kind of tricky. I didn't want to do any animals or just plain Jane colors. One day, I was going through Pinterest and the gender reveal parties were catching my eye. I came across an idea of where the guest pick mustaches and lips to show their guess of the baby. So, that is when I decided that the party would be a little man/little lady baby shower!!

I went to Hobby Lobby (my favorite store ever) and bought pink and blue card stock and printed out lips and mustache templates. I cut them each out and then taped them to a skinny rod (also bought at Hobby Lobby in a pack of 30). I put white tissue paper down in the bottom of a vase and then tied a pink and white bow around it (because I am guessing girl) and then stuck all the lips and mustaches inside. This will be my center piece for the table at the shower! And it will also serve for some really fun shower photos...

Go Cowboys!!!

I have wanted a game day dress since they 1st became popular but I have never wanted to pay the price of what they cost when it seemed so easy for me to make myself. I have put it off for a couple of seasons and then this year a fire was lite underneath me and I started making my own. My wonderfully sweet boyfriend bought me Cowboy pre-season tickets for my birthday and so the deadline was set.

I went to Goodwill and tried to find a Cowboys shirt, but had no luck so I ended up buying one at Wal-Mart on the clearance rack. It was a sleeveless shirt which was fine because I was going to end up cutting the sleeves off anyways. Then I went over Hobby Lobby (one of my favorite stores) and bought football material, I bought 2 yards. I also bought elastic and thread...

When I arrived back home, I went to work! I am one of those people that when I have a project, I get it done ASAP because I am so anxious to see the outcome. I found a really helpful site off Pinterest (http://littlemisssoutherncharm.blogspot.com/2011/07/game-day-t-shirt-dress-tutorial.html) and then followed each step until my dress was completed!!

Game day came and I wore my dress with Cowboy pride... Win Lose or Tie I am a Cowboys fan til I die!!!

Family Tree

One rainy day, Caleb and I were so bored and had really nothing to do. Days like that, I usually end up in my craft room searching for things to pop out at me and BEG me to use them. This particular day, I spoted a plain 8X11 white canvas that I had forgot all about (which is odd because when I buy something I usually use it that same day). I got on Pinterest and started searching for a projct we could do... We already did the crayon art and I didn't want him to just color on this canvas. I came across a wedding guest book where all the guest put a thumb print on a "family tree" that had been painted onto the canvas. So neat!

I decided to do a Family Tree for me and Caleb! I went to work drawing the tree (while Caleb took a nap of course). I drew the tree in pencil and then went back over it with a brown fine tip marker. Anywhere the pencil showed through, I erased it and smeared it around the "branches"... it gave it a really cool shadow effect. I actually messed up a branch and made a heart out of it, so I decided to incorporate that into the tree as well.

I was finished and when Caleb woke up we went to town stamping our thumbs into ink and making our family tree complete. If you look at the bottom right hand corner you will see a green looking heart. Well, Caleb decided to touch the canvas there with his thumb so I got cleaver and put mine next to his and made a heart out of it.

It was a fun craft to be able to share with Caleb and something I will cherish all of my days! Oh and it was VERY inexpensive!!!

My co-workers liked my family tree so much that they decided to do a work tree for my bosses birthday. Each one of us in our group stamped our thumb prints (on a tree I drew) and then put our initals by them! ***Key, make sure you use a good ink and a dark color. One girl used pink on my bosses tree and it has since faded.

Celebrating the big 3!

The party was a blaring good time! I couldn't have asked for better weather (cloudy and in the 80's) and the turn out was just uh-mazing. Casey and I arrived (with my oldest niece to help) at 11:45ish and started to turn the pavillion into Caleb's firestation. It was kind of hectic, even broke a piece of glass on my hand and I bled pretty bad, but it came together perfectly.

 

 

 

I picked up the cake before heading out to the park that morning. I was excited to see it, knowing that Megan Springer of The Rolling Pin (best bakery ever) would do an awesome job. Megan placed it in my car and then opened the lid... no lie, I started crying. It was the BEST cake I have ever seen before. I was crying becasue I knew how my sweet baby boy would react and the thought of the smile on his face instantly brought tears to my eyes. Well fast forward to the party... Caleb was with my sister while we sat everything up. Right at 1 pm, we finished and there comes Caleb from the parking lot. I ran to him (as much as this injuried person could run) and he ran towards me... really a scene out of a movie. I swooped him up and showed him everything. He kepts saying "Wow this is amazing!". Then the cake. I took him over to the table and he flipped out. He kept touching it making sure it wasnt a dream... He told me "Momma I love it, I want to keep it forever!"...

As the guest arrived, I let everyone just run around and play. There were kids playing with the Fire Corn-hole game, kids playing bubbles, coloring, writing with chalk, playing the fire truck, and getting tattoos. While everyone played and talked, Casey and my cousins cooked up hamburgers and hotdogs. It really was a GREAT party.

 

 

We ate, did presents, sang happy birthday and then cut the cake. Caleb couldn't wait to eat Fireman Sam... he was just so darn happy and I was too! We wrapped up with a tour of the local Fire station.

Hands down, it was the best party yet! Caleb is ready to do it again but this momma needs to rest atleast another 40 weeks before thinking about planning another party! I need a vacation, good thing our cruise is in 7 days!

Happy birthday week to my sweet baby boy! He will be 3 years old this Friday September 21st at 5:50 pm... he is my entire world, he is the reason I breathe, he is my everything! I love him to the moon and back and hope he has the best birthday ever!

Toodles!

Krafty Karen

Caleb's 3rd Birthday

Where has the time gone?! My baby boy is turning 3 years old. His birthday is 9/21 but we are having his party this weekend 9/15. For the past 2 years we have had John Deere birthdays (the 1st was a hoe down and the 2nd was a construction party). This year he has fallen in love with Fireman Sam (a british Fireman who lives in Ponty Pandy). He wanted a Fireman Sam party so that is exactly what he is going to get!!!

I decided to blog about what I have already done and next week I will reblog about how it all turned out...

1st - I had a fence panel in our backyard with no purpose. I decided to paint Fireman Sam and use it as a backdrop for a photo opp.

2nd - The invites: Fireman Sam is a DVD that Caleb found at Target one day. I decided the invites needed to be a DVD as well. I made the cover all about Caleb, the insert inside the DVD was his invite, the DVD doesnt really work but it had a link on it for guest to go watch Caleb inviting everyone to his party (http://www.youtu.be/siEHXOw-6Jc). Thanks to Ali and my wonderful boyfriend Casey for helping!

3rd - I painted a cartoon looking flame on a piece of plywood and had Ali's dad cut it out and cut holes into it. I also bought felt and a bag of beans and made my own homemade bean bags. The kids will be able to play a simple game of cornhole!

4th - I dont have a cupcake holder... (sad day)... so I made my own (happy day)! I used a sturdy wrapping paper roll, cardboard, spray paint and red duct tape. Then I topped it with a fireman hat!!

5th - Every birthday party needs a Fire Truck! So I called my local hardware store (Lowes) and they pulled me a freezer box and a dryer box. I cut out windows and a door, taped it all together with the red duct tape and painted it. Caleb LOVES it...

6th - Pinata time! Yes, I made a homemade pinata! Hahaha... It was fun and only cost $1. I cut out 2 number 3's and then taped them together (red duct tape) with a 2 inch piece of cardboard between them. I then made fringe out of tissue paper and glued it on. I am going to use it for table decor and then let the kids whack it!

                                                        

7th - Birthday present! My aunt had a little tykes table that was my cousins on his 1st birthday (he is now 19). I sprayed painted it and then covered the table and seats with fire fighter fabric and vinyl... LOVE IT.

8th - Birthday banner was easy as pie! I just cut out squares out of scrapbook paper and then stenciled on each letter. Then I taped each one to ribbon! It says "Happy Birthday Caleb"

9th - Stand up Fireman Sam... So I found these on a website a pack of 5 for $20. Heck, I just printed pictures on cardstock paper, cut them out and then made a stand. Going to be standing up on the cake table and thrown away later and I paid $0!!!

10th - Bubble refill was borrowed from a friend (Kaitlyn) and I asked all my other friends for extra bubbles around their house. Before you knew it I was turning bubbles down...

11th - Utensil holders were made from a can of corn and a can of beans (Caleb's favorites). I used the left over paper from the birthday banner and some mod podge (my best friend) and went to town!

There is more but this is all I have pictures of now! I cant wait to share pictures of the whole thing put together so check back next week...! Oh its suppose to rain, so please pray it atleast waits until AFTER the party! I did rent a pavillion so if it does rain our guest will stay dry until it is time to head over to the local Firestation and take a tour!

Y'all have a great day!

Love, Krafty Karen aka Caleb's Momma!!!!