Easy-Peasy Last-Minute Angel Wings (No Sewing Needed!)

I came up with the idea for these wings last year when my son was in kindergarten. He's in a dual language Spanish program and they were doing a traditional Mexican posada before Christmas break. I found out the week before that I needed to come up with an angel costume, and with no extra money in our budget I was forced to get creative! I wracked my brain for anything white in the house that I could use and came up with paper plates. So this year guess what I'm dressing up as for Halloween? And even better, I've made my first tutorial so you can make your own (easy-peasy last-minute) angel wings:


Materials:

• 11 plain white paper plates (3 for the center and 8 for the feathers)
• 2 strips of ribbon--I used gold ribbon measuring about 23 inches, you can make yours longer or shorter as needed.
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors
• Pencil or marker for drawing cut lines
  

Step 1: Draw out your cut lines. Each feather will end up being a slim crescent, leaving an eye shape in the middle of the paper plate. You can draw the lines on each of the 8 feather plates before you start cutting, draw as you go, or eyeball the whole thing--it's no big deal if they're not all exactly the same size.




Step 2: Cut out all of your feathers. I cut out 16 total, and again, make more or less as you see fit for your wings.




Step 3: Plan out where you want your feathers to go--but don't glue yet! You just want to get an idea for how you want to space the feathers so you won't have to rip it apart for a redo later.




Here are my feathers all mapped out. They don't look very even here, but I straightened them out more as I began gluing.




Step 4: Mark where you want your feathers to start and end. If you're a perfectionist, count the ridges between each set of marks to ensure that they're even.




Step 5: Start gluing!




Put a dime-sized amount of glue on the tip of each feather and press it down onto the center plate between your marks on either side. Don't worry about making a mess, because you'll be covering it all up with another plate.




Here's one side completed.




And both sides.




Step 6: Now glue around the center of the plate and press your second plate with the back against the glue.




Step 7: Flip the wings over and get your ribbon ready for the arm straps. You can either mark out where you want the straps so that they're or even or eyeball it like I did.




Use the start and finish of your feathers as a guideline. This time, put the glue on the plate and gently press the ribbon into it. You may want to use the end of a pen or something so you don't burn your fingers.




Glue the second strap on the opposite side and your almost done!




Step 8: To finish add some more glue for the final plate, this will help hold the ribbon in and make the whole thing more stable.




Step 9: Press down the third whole plate and voila! you've got wings!




I made my wings during the kids' naps and finished it all (including picture taking) under thirty minutes. Now pair it with a white robe or all-white clothes and you've got your angel costume. Save the wings 'til December and your kids are ready for the Christmas play! I hope you all enjoy this--let me know if you end up making a pair!

Gnome Costume Coming Along

(please forgive me for the picture quality, it was taken from my phone)

I found this easy-peasy costume tutorial for a gnome on the Family Fun website and am pretty much done. The original tutorial actually requires no sewing, but I took my sewing machine to the edges of the fake-fur beard to keep it from shedding. I also sewed the hat instead of hot-gluing it--hopefully it will hold up in the dress up box after Halloween. I'm not adventuresome enough to make a shirt or pants to go with it, so we'll just be picking from the clothes we have on hand. I actually think this shirt might do, and we have some rain boots to pair it all with.

One other adjustment that's been recommended (a little naggingly to me) by my husband is to make fake fur eyebrows at the edge of the hat. Looking at it now, I think it would make it even cuter, but it's not always fun to do something someone keeps saying you should do, especially with so much on my plate already...I just might have to acquiesce, though :) . What do you guys think?

Halloween in the Making

I made cookies with the kids last week using the goodies Judy gave us. Needless to say, this occurred over the span of three days--we didn't get to make them all in one day as I'd hoped, so into the fridge with the dough!




We did finally finish them with glaze and sprinkles, and they were delicious; refrigerating the dough actually made it easier to work with. I don't remember how many the recipe ended up making, but they're gone already! (We did have some friends over on Friday to help finish the last few.)




I'm making all three of the kids' costumes this year, so I'll finish with a sneak peek of my six-year-old son Skyler's King Peter costume (think Narnia). Yeah, I have my work cut out for me with this one!

Miss B's Birthday Gifts Revealed

I made another sock kitty for my niece's 3rd birthday earlier this week. I'm excited to finally be able to share the photos! Also check out the crochet crown I sent her (pictures below).

Ballet Kitty

No-sew tutu velcroed in the back.

And my crochet crown! I got the idea from the tutorial over at the blog Happy Together.

Eleanor modeling the crown for me.

And Liam, too--I'm sure he'll kill me for this photo later on!

Kids Consigment Sale

I'm gearing up for the JBF (Just Between Friends) sale tomorrow at Crossroads mall. With three kiddos this is a great place to find used clothes, toys, and more, all in excellent condition. Not only am I shopping tomorrow, but I also dropped off some no-longer needed items of our own to sell. I consigned at the spring sale in Boerne and made about $300! The sale opens to the public at 9am tomorrow morning and concludes with a 1/2 of sale on Saturday! So if you're looking for kid's stuff this is the place to get it! You can also check out the San Antonio JBF website here. Hope to see some of y'all there!

Oh, and I couldn't share this with all of you without giving credit to my wonderful sister-in-law, Katy, who was the first to introduce me to JBF--thanks Katy, I am forever grateful!

Saturday in S.A.

Today was the annual King William neighborhood garage sale. We piled the kids up in the van and headed out in the chilly morning air. The kids did surprisingly well and we survived the morning and managed to grab a few deals.



Here's a photo of my favorites--a woven bag, $2, an old wooden potty chair, $5, and a three-tiered metal stand, $2. Now to just figure out how I'm going to use each of them. (I also snagged a pair of $4 stride rite shoes for Liam.)


After lunch and naps I took Skyler out to Artpace's Chalk It Up downtown on Houston street. I've known about it for a few years, but this was the first time I've been able to make it out and we had such a blast! There were freestyle spaces to create your own sidewalk art, artists creating their own masterpieces, music, food, and more--all for free! Check out some our pics:

A view from the top (or the parking garage).

Street art.

Skyler at work.

Masterpiece in the making.

I love this picture of crows.

Local artist Justin Parr had free stickers lining the curb near his chalk drawing of the same image--I remember first encountering these stickers on campus during undergrad at UTSA--it's cool to know who created them.



And last, but not least, we made one last stop by the Smart Fair filled with family activities all about art. We didn't get to stay for long, but we did make it for the pinata-making workshop!

We love our city!

Cookie Surprise

My lovely friend Judy surprised me earlier this week with a box full of cookie-making goodies. She bid on the gift to help get things move along during a silent auction at our church last weekend and ended up winning it. She already had most of the items in the set and thought we could have fun baking cookies with the kids--I was pleasantly surprised and very thankful!



The box came with tons of cookie cutters, sprinkles, a kitchen timer, measuring cups, and even a cookie book!


For all of you cookie-nerds out there, here's a little tidbit (from the book) about the history of cookies:

The humble cookie has a long and glorious history and has undergone quite an evolution during its existence. The first recorded mention of cookies is in the Roman cookbook Apicius, which features a recipe for a thick paste of fine wheat flour, boiled and spread out on a plate. After drying and hardening, it was cut up and fried until crisp, then served with honey and pepper. It is from this ancient method of cooking twice that we have received the word 'cookie', which derives from the Latin panis biscotus, meaning twice-cooked bread (this is also the origin of the Italian word biscotti).

Stay tuned for homemade cookie pictures!

Library Bag: Printing by Hand

I'm in love with this book on found on the shelves of Central Library last week. I almost passed it up, thinking printing was too complicated for me right now. Lena Corwin's Printing by Hand not only details stamping, stenciling, and screen printing, but also includes 18 projects that use the techniques in the book.



One of my favorites is the tablecloth pictured above.



Here's a photo of the process--I've done some block printing before and it's not as difficult as it may seem. The hardest part is thinking of your design--once you've transfered and carved the image, printing on your material is pretty simple, with amazing results! More print making is definitely in my future!