Elves

Here is the boys video.  If you know us, maybe don't mention to Marty that there is a video of him on here :)

and here is us girls.  Enjoy and 

Happy Holidays!

Where does the time go?

Today, November 5th,  my sweet baby turns 15.  I have no idea where the time has gone.  Brittanie, when you where little and we had all of you and your younger brothers and sisters running around, people would tell me how quickly you would grow-up.  I didn't listen! Now you are 15 and it all happened so quickly.  The time has literally just slipped away.  I wish I would have realized on November 5, 1995...

 That this darling little girl would turn into........

This stunning young woman over night.

 

I am so grateful to have you in our family.  You are so much fun to be around,

so smart,

 I love that you have a testimony of your Heavenly Father, and that you will share that testimony with others.

You are an excellent example to your friends and family.

 Your brothers and sisters love you so much and look up to you.  I know that being "The Oldest" can be a huge burden for you at times, but you have handled it well.  As your Mother I am thankful to you for the great example that you have set.

I want you to know how very proud I am of you.  I watch you strive to be the best you can be.  I see your struggles and your successes.  As your Mother I have cried at night for you, I have worried about you and prayed for you.  But I can sincerely say that you have become an amazing person and I am very proud to have you call me Mom.

Happy Bithday Brittanie

&

I Love You so very much!

Halloween costume

Sad Update:  I will NOT be participating in the Storybook Parade.  I guess someone's granddaughter was dressed up as The Hatter for Halloween and "she looked really cute.  So we are going to go with her instead."  Sad day :( 

Well, here it is.  I finished my costume the night before Halloween.  Well, technically 2 nights before Halloween, because Halloween fell on a Sunday, most of us in Utah celebrated the day on Saturday.  Anyway, It turned out great (if I do say so myself).  You can double click the pictures and see more detail.

     I told how I made the hat HERE.  The entire costume was handmade by me.  I have known for a while (since the movie came out in March) that this would be my costume this year.  So I started early looking for items at thrift stores so I could keep the cost of this costume down.  After finding all the items that I needed I started on the embellishments. Every piece either needed to be painted or tailored or sew from some random piece of fabric.  But when it was all said and done, I think it all worked out.  In the end I did purchase the wig.  I tried and tried to figure out a way to make it and do it as inexpensive as possible but I just never could come up with something that fit my criteria.  So the wig was my one "already made" purchase.
     I wore this to the kids school carnival and got a great response.  People of all ages commented and complimented.  Tons of people stopped me to take pictures.  Kids would stop and talk to me like I really was from Wonderland.  One little girl, about 4, would not leave my side.  She was so cute.  Her Mom would take her away to play games but when her Mom would turn away she would run off and come back to sit by me.  Lol, She was so cute.
      Later that night I was invited to participate in a local costume contest for which I took 1st Place.  Woo Hoo!!  It was really fun.  A little outside by box, but I had a blast.  The winner was chosen by audience applause,  I was pretty nervous because I was at the end of the line and all the other costumes were really getting the crowd to clap and yell quite a bit.  When they finally got to me, I figured it was any bodies game, but when the announcer said "The Mad Hatter!"  and the audience went CRAZY!  What a great feeling.
    Tonight for trick-or-treating we went to a Ladies house that is in charge of a large parade that is done here in town every year and she asked me to participate in the parade.  Yipee! (I love parades too.  I know, I know.  I am a freak, what can I say :)  So it looks like they will be working out some kind of float/car something especially for me in the parade.
      Several people have taken my picture over the last 2-3 days, so if any of you come across any of them online I would love to see them.  Please let me know where you find them at.  Lots of people asked me if they could post them on Facebook.  So many of them will end up there.
     Well, sorry for all the rambling.  Halloween was a blast.  I have to get all the pics of the kids off another camera, so when I do I will post them cuz the kids looked great too.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all had a safe and FUN Halloween!

Halloween

I am still putting the final touches on the Halloween costumes. They have kept me pretty busy this year.  I thought I better post my Halloween decor before I have to take it all down in a couple of days.  Enjoy!

 I LOVE this little sign.  I found it at a local thrift store and I laughed out loud when I saw it. I immediately knew I had to have it.

Happy Halloween!!

Be safe everyone :)

The making of THE HAT

Wow! It has really been a while since I have been on here.  I started a part time job that ended up taking way more time then I thought a "part-time" job would take.  But anyway, I have been able to do a little bit of decorating, thrift store shopping and painting.  So hopefully over the next couple of days I can show you what I have been doing.  But first I want to show you a hat.

Not just any hat.  

A hat inspired by this guy.

I saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D when it first came out and thought it was 

AMAZING!!!!

I know there are many, MANY people who didn't enjoy this show.  However I am NOT one of them.

I LOVED IT!!!

The other thing I LOVE???

Dressing up for HALLOWEEN  

I know, I am probably a freak, but seriously, I have so much fun doing it.

So when I saw this movie I knew exactly who I would be dressing up for this year. 

The Hatter, of course.

So the search was on.  My budget is ALWAYS very small.  So of course I knew this would involve several trips to thrift stores to make it possible to pull off this costume.

Also I am VERY ANAL   a little picky about what my costume is going to look like.  I say if you are going to do it, DO IT RIGHT.

know what I'm sayin??

I almost have the entire costume finished but this post is all about 

The Hat!!!

I debated on how, exactly, I  was going to make the form for this hat.  It has such a unique shape and with this costume the hat is everything.  
It had to be  

JUST RIGHT!

I told you, anal, right?

One night my mom and her husband came over and I started explaining this costume I wanted to make, but was unsure how to get the hat just right.  To which my mom's husband started measuring my head and doing a bunch of math problems.  

Then says "I can figure this out for you.  I will make the hat." 

Me: "Um, you really don't have to. It's not that big of deal. It's just a costume." 
(What am I saying, "Just a costume"  HHuuu whatever.)

Him: "No really I will do it for you."

Me: "Sweet, Thanks!"

A couple of weeks later I get 'THE CALL'.  

"Hey Jo, We've got your hat ready.  Come pick it up."

  

Me: "Woo Hoo!!!"

When I got the hat, this is what I had to work with.

 I was so excited.  It fit perfect and the shape was almost dead on.

So the search for fabric to cover the hat began.

Remember it had to be perfect :)

The closest matching fabric was found in Las Vegas, NV.

Thanks again to my Mom's husband and his family.    

Mom's husband not only made me the hat, he also gave me extra pieces for "pattern pieces".  So the fabric would fit perfectly.

FANTASTIC!!

So I cut out the fabric...

 Then I just started hot gluing it all on to the hat form.

I also decided, to get the shape just right, I wanted to add a slightly larger circle to the top of the hat.  That way I was able to form the top and make it look right.

 I don't have a picture of it but to finish the edge around the top of the hat and the brim, I made piping out of the same fabric and some small cording and attached it between the two layers of fabric. (you can kind of see it in the pic below)

I think it just gave it a finished look.

After a little embellishing, here is where I am at with THE HAT.

I am still looking for my other two hat pins.  I bought two packages of two, but have misplaced one set so I am going to have to find another package somewhere.

Well, what do you think?

I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  Thank you to everyone who has helped me with this costume this year.  I REALLY appreciate it.  This is the most help I think I have EVER had with a costume.

Thank you!

I plan on posting about the entire costume as soon as I:

1) Have if completely finished

&

2) Get someone to take a good picture of it.

Thank you all for looking.  I would love to know what you think about my hat.  It has been really fun putting this costume together.  I hope it ends up being an excellent tribute of...

      

The Mad Hatter  

The amazing costume design in this movie was done by Colleen Atwood.

"Costumes are the first impression that you have of the character before they open their mouth-it really does establish who they are."  Colleen Atwood  

  

Bathroom reveal I-SPY style

I am done with the bathroom (just in time too, the hubs come home tomorrow...I think). This room re-decor (is that a word?) was on a budget.  The total for everything (including the new towels which were my splurg) was less then $30.

Yep, 30 Bucks!

 

Let me warn you.  First this room has no natural light AT. ALL.  So the pics are terrible.  Second, this room is TI. NY.  Soooo small.  You can not shut the door unless you are ALL THE WAY in the room.  Don't even think about opening the door if you are standing at the sink.  It's terrible.  But I am glad I don't have to share MY bathroom with the kids :)  So on with the make over.

This is the bathroom Before pics..... (remember I warned you)

 For these last 2 pics, I had to stand as far back in the shower as I could to get them.  TI. NY!

So, I told you I was a little low on funds completely broke for this project, right?  So I had to do some serious thrifting to not spend everything I had in the bank stay on budget.

Here is where the I-SPY comes in...
These are the awesome finds that I found over the last several weeks.  (sometimes the thifting Gods smile down on us... I love those days).  See if you can see where I incorporated them into my new bathroom decor.




Before pics of the thrifting finds...

P.S.  The star fish was a dirty rose pink color.  I forgot the before pic of that.  My bad :) 



Plus, remember this item. 

I LOOOOOOVE how it turned out.

Now for the reveal.  Drum roll please........... 

 There are still a few more things I would do if money permitted (either replace or at least paint the ugly peachy/pink counter tops  blah!)  

Plus I still plan on adding a frame around the mirror out of old barn wood (the same kind I made the towel holder thingy out of).  I just haven't had a chance to go pick it up yet.

But all in all I am very happy with how it turned out.

Heck I may even let visitors use the bathroom now hee hee 

 Please, Please, Please let me know what you think.  My one debate is the canvases over the toilet....are they to much???? Let me know.

Thanks for stopping by :) 

Linking to:

Get Your Craft on Tuesday
All Things Related  
Twice Owned Tuesday 
Blue Cricket Design 
Me and My Bucket 
Someday Crafts 
House of Hepworth 
Tatertots and Jello 
Madigan Made: Weekend Word Search 
C.R.A.F.T. 
I made it without my Hubby