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 

 

Project fail (maybe?)

I have wanted to redo the kids bathroom for a while but funds have been low  non-existent.  I am tired of waiting to be able to do it.  So this is my attempt to redecorate their bathroom as inexpensively as possible.

It has not started off well...

I am changing the decor from Mickey Mouse to a beachy theme.  

Color scheme desired...

Turquois

Black

Grey/Silver 

First pieces of junk I found  project on the list

 

A board left over from this project (free) and a little wood bowl ( .75c)

First thing I did attempted was to cut the bowl in half.

after realizing the scroll saw wouldn't cut that deep, out came the hand saw.

I know, my tools are pathetic.  I keep asking for better ones, but it is always that same funding problem as before :(

T

This is where the almost fail began.  As soon as the saw cut all the way through the dumb bowl fell off the tail gate of my truck (which pretends to be my saw horse sometimes)

Out came the glue and tape...  UGH!

Once that was fixed I nailed it (it won't hold much weight so nails should work OK.  Right???) to the front of the board about in the middle... sort of.  

I mean really.  Let's not make things to difficult.  Look at the damage I have already managed to do with out all the technical measuring stuff. 

After this point I slapped on some stinkin  paint  carefully painted the whole thing white and then distressed it.

 

This post is call project fail.  I am not sure I am loving how this turned out.  But I have decided to wait until the whole room is done to see if it works the way I am picturing it in my head.



That is all I am going to show you for know.  I am working on the bathroom so when I get that done I will show you all the little projects in the room reveal.

Thanks for stoppin by!!!!

P.S. Here is a sneak peek of the next project on my bathroom list.

 



  

I Won... part 2

So yesterday I told you that I had won a prize out there in blogland.  I wanted to show you what I won and introduce you to the awesome blog that I won it from (if you haven't already discovered it).

 Controlling My Chaos was having a giveaway where we had to tell about a much neglected room in our house.

So I left a comment and mine was picked.  Woo Hoo!

 My much neglected room is definetly my craft room.  Bummer huh?

So first I want to introduce you to Jill at Controlling My Chaos.  I stumbled on to this blog by accident one day and I have never laughed so hard in all my life.  She is the most entertaining writer ever.

This is my favorite post.  Hilarious!!!

Read about her challenges with her dog also.  So sad yet so funny.  We can all relate.

So back to my prize.  She sent me this cute frame which I am in love with.

 The thing I love about this frame is that nothing has to be permanent.  It is a magnet board and then the ribbon has tiny clothes pins.

SOOOOO Cute!!!

 I will definitely be changing the contents of this frame A LOT.  I just threw this pic of Miss K on there so it had something on it to show you (looking a little boring, I know) but I have big plans.  But you all need to go check out this blog.  It will definitely make you smile.

   

And if you see a giveaway...give it a shot.  You never know what you will win.

Thanks Jill!  :)  

I won a prize

It is late here but I was pretty excited.  I won a prize from blogland a while back and it came in the mail today. 

 Woo Hoo!

I will post more details tomorrow.  Check back cuz the blog I won the prize from you have got to see.

 Good Night   z z z z z z z z z z

7

Today the baby of the family is turning 7.  Not really a baby anymore.  Spud is such an amazing kid.  He is the life of our family.  We are so grateful to have him in our home.  He is so loving and kind.  He is hillariously funny, he always keeps us laughing. 

He's not ever the one in trouble, he is so good to just do what he needs to do.  Spud, we love you very much and hope you have a wonderful day.  Your Mom and Dad and brothers and sisters love you very much.