Holy craft projects, Batman!

I haven't posted in a while because I have been really busy with a bunch of projects. It has begun to spiral out of control, actually. But it is so much FUN! I can't let myself get hooked too often, because the housework (which I don't enjoy) suffers when I get going on a fun craft (which I do enjoy). The wake up call came on that last weekend, actually. I had spent three days straight on costumes, so the dining table was covered in the projects, and the house was a mess. We went to a kid's B-day party at a park, but it was flippin' freezing outside! The fierce cold in the wind had people retreating to cars to warm up while we waited for others to arrive. So since the host lived 15 min away, and our house was less than 3 min away, we had everyone come to our place. I don't regret that, since I didn't want to be in the cold one more minute with my babe, but I also never want to have company over with 3 days of dishes on the counter again. (We managed to stash all the craft junk upstairs in the 5 min before 30-40 people migrated from the park to our house.) Lesson learned.

So here, in order, are my projects.

**I felt rather left out that I didn't get to make Tyler's costume this year, so when I saw some fairy wings cheap in Wal-mart, I decided to make myself a tutu to match the wings. How hard could that be, right? My mistake was that first I tried to make the tutu with the tied method, and then didn't like it and made another one the same way I made Kaitlyn's. If any of you need help making a tutu, I think I have this down pat, but I will spare you the details for now. Then I made the shawl thingy, because I didn't like all the black on top. But the tutu stuck to the cotton skirt I was going to wear underneath, so I had to take another silky skirt I didn't like anymore and cut it to be a short skirt and keep me modest under the tutu. Whew.

**And then there is Tyler's costume. I found that fire truck online, but decided to check local stores and see if I could save the shipping cost. That's when I found my wings. No luck on the fire truck, so I went back to get it onine. Every single store was sold out of it, and the ebay auctions jumped from $20 shipped to $40 plus shipping. ACK! So, back to square one, I decided that he will be a dump truck. I made this out of diaper boxes, black felt to line the inside, wheels taken from a crappy looking truck at the thrift store, and a fabric belt of Christopher's that he was going to throw away. Tyler adored it, and wanted to wear it every time he saw it. I thought the boxes would be awkward for him, but he doesn't care about that.

I also got him some construction shoes, a hard hat, and a flannel shirt to wear.


And then I decided that it looked too much like a yellow box with wheels, and started to make modifications. I ended up taking the entire thing apart. I was stumped on how to make it a more dump truck like shape- I wanted those indentations on the side, but clay was too heavy. And then on "My Name is Earl" they were making fun of a girl he dated who did paper mache. Jackpot! I have now put on one layer, with a couple yet to go, and then I can paint it and reattach the wheels and strap. My husband thinks I am crazy for putting in so much effort. But seriously, when was the last time you got to paper mache something? Hee! Watch for headlights and tail lights in the final pics.

**But I'm not done with this list yet! Hooo, no. Christopher works at a company called DigiCert. They have official shirts for everyone with their logo on them, and have been giving them to family and friends because they are great advertising. But hubby decided one of his had a strangly large neck opening, and he didn't want to wear it anymore, so he donated it to me to make a shirt for Tyler (since they don't have toddler shirts yet.) I used an unattractive shirt to take apart and use as a pattern, and the pieces are cut out, but I haven't gotten further than that yet. But there was a logo on the sleeve, and I thought, "it's a shame that I won't be using that!"

And then I noticed that my daughter is the same size as the sleeve.

Yes, that's right, my daughter is wearing a men's shirt sleeve as a tube top. I used ribbon for the straps and the trim at the bottom, and then buttons for decoration. I wanted them to be functional on the back, but my machine gave me hissy fits for a couple of hours trying to make button holes. (It literally ate the fabric! Chewed up little bits of it! Grrr.) Velcro time.

**Next: Tyler's DigiCert shirt will hopefully come together soon . . . assuming I ever finish his dump truck.