And the Winner is.....

Me!

Look who won this metallic thread from Keyka Lou's blog!

I am so excited to make something with this!!

Happy Halloween!!!

We had a fun Halloween fete over here and my thanks go out to the many blogs that inspired the party.  


Since I figured my friends would appreciate me not posting photos of their children on my blog, you'll just have to imagine lots of toddlers running around in all sorts of adorable outfits....princess butterflies, storm troupers, giraffes, more princesses....you get the idea.


It all started with the invitation (thanks to the Martha spider punch).





The night before, we baked spooky cookies to decorate. Mr. P. was very useful. (who doesn't love a little child labor?)

We got the house ready....

and what's a Halloween party with out the school rat, Blubber? (Mom, close your eyes)

These were the party favors.....

And from The Crafty Nest, a great tutorial for how to make these cookies in a jar!

It was overly ambitious of me to think that a four-year-old would care to follow a check list of all of the activities available. But I laminated them any way....any excuse to use my laminator. 

Can you guess how many M & M's are in the jar??

Cookie decorating station.

We didn't quite make it to the Make-A-Ghost activity...

Perhaps because of all of the Poison consumed. (Thanks again, Martha, for the labels!)

The table was set. 

Any excuse to make some cupcakes. 

Then it was time to suit up! This year's theme....Star Wars. 

Anakin

Commander Cody

A melancholy Yoda (costume lasted for about 30 seconds)

And Princess Leah. (this one lasted about 15 seconds)

Happy Halloween everyone!!!! May you pimp out your children to secure yourself your favorite candy tonight!

Pants Triumphant, Pants Disaster

In anticipation of Halloween my brood took a walk around the neighborhood last weekend, looking for houses with ghostly decorations.

Early in my sewing career (i.e. January 2010) I sewed Mr. P. a pair of yoga pants that he has always refused to wear. It's kind of become a big joke.

"Mr. P, what do you want to wear today?"

"NOT those pants you made."

In any case, perhaps it was in the spirit of dressing up, but I got them on his body, made some hot cocoa, and we were out the door!

I mean....why wouldn't he love these pants? They're comfy, cozy and have two pockets!

The neighborhood was getting in the spirit of Halloween...

This is my favorite house in the neighborhood...

This is my favorite landscaping in the neighborhood...

And these are my favorite brothers in the neighborhood....

Now back to those pants....why wouldn't Mr. P. want to wear them every day?

Hm...maybe because shortly after the walk, the elastic gave way and the pants slowly slid down his legs to his ankles and all that could be heard was a disappointed mutter of, "Never again Mom, never again."

Overcoming Ocolophobia

Doodlebop has developed a recent fear of owls (oclophobia). It all started with the purchase of three owls on Etsy similar to these:

Only it was a larger, mamma owl and her two babies.

One night, he looked at them in panic, pointing and yelling, "bye bye!!" frantically. I said, "do you want me to take them down." His response, "da." (the kid busts out the Russian sometimes...what can I say?)

So, I peeled them off the wall and threw them away after a year and a half stay.

The next night, he processed the whole experience again, pointing to the now blank wall above his crib saying "oww....bye bye." I repeated back to him, "yes, we took the owls down. They're gone."

It's been about three weeks of this story every night.

Right now, owls seem impossible ot escape! With Halloween around the corner, they are everywhere from store fronts to magazines and Doodlebop lets me know each and every time he sees one. And don't get me started on those over-sized Legends of the Guardian billboards!!

I had a thought that went something like this....

I had a friend who was deathly afraid of bats. She sought out professional help and the doctor used "exposure therapy" first by looking at photos and eventually moving to seeing live bats. I wanted to try this idea out on Doodle.

So, for an afternoon craft the other day, he and Mr. P. made paper bag owls. I explained to him what we would be doing and he seemed okay with it. My thinking was that if he had complete control over the owl, maybe he wouldn't be afraid of it. And if he ended up being spooked by it, he would have the power to throw it in the garbage.

Materials:

1 paper bag

construction paper eyes, beak, wings

scalloped scissors for wings

glue

feathers

Easy enough to assemble.

He especially loved making the feathers rain all over the glue.

Here it sits in our dining room window along with other Halloween crafts. He likes to show it to anyone who comes to the house. Maybe, just maybe, this worked??

Free Giveaway! Toiletry Bag

It's that time again!

I made the blue toiletry bag a few months ago and now I use it almost every day as my "throw in the gym bag" toiletry bag. It looks fatter than the white one only because it's stuffed to the brim with various items. The white one will puff out as soon as you put something in it.

It's the perfect size to stow your cosmetics for a weekend getaway.

The pattern comes from the blog Drago [knit] fly and the fabric I've chosen is my favorite seller on Etsy...Repeat.

Alas, when I went to Esty to get you all the link to their site...it appears as though the dynamic duo have split up their wares, opening their own, separate shops. (Was it a lover's quarrel? a family feud? I guess I'll never know.) One shop only has three items in it, so I will link to the other shop, Bespokeuprising, which has a lot more.

Power lines, laundry waving in the breeze, mason jars....their patterns are fresh and interesting!

Now back to my giveaway:

One fabulous toiletry / cosmetic tote, gender neutral. Navy zipper. I've taken a picture of it next to my grubby hairbrush so you can gage how big it is...about a foot long.

And it can be all yours!!

You can win this book three different ways:

1. Add a comment to this or any other post on my blog.

2. Become a follower of this blog.

3. Add a link from your blog to mine (i.e. you can mention the free giveaway in your own blog with a link to my blog - if you do this, please be sure and let me know you've done so in the comments box.)

Each different method counts as one entry in the giveaway raffle. Do all three and up your chances to win! I will mail this bag to the winner.

This raffle will close at the end of the day on Wednesday, November 3rd.

Good luck!!

What will you stuff in your bag???

I Love Bread Olive the Time

So punny. I know. That's what I get for being overtired.

Still working from Jim Lahey's My Bread (my bread bible), I tried the olive loaf yesterday.

It literally took less than two minutes to put together.

Then an 18 hour rise.

a little mixy mix and another 2 hour rise.

Then 30 minutes in the cast iron pot in the oven (but I forgot about it and left it in for over an hour and it STILL turned out great! You can't go wrong with this book, I'm telling you people!)

And.....a delicious loaf of olive bread.

Which goes deliciously with homemade vegan butternut squash soup made by the hubby.

Bring it on fall.....I am ready for you.