Happy Halloween!

Maggie has a cold, hence the rash under her nose.

Petting her friend Aspen at the ward Trunk-or-Treat.


Exploring confidential shreds at Daddy's work.

Decorating her pumpkin.

Trick or Treat!

Before and After

Yuck, right? We're guessing the previous owners just tossed bags of trash into the garage, because this was right by the door into the kitchen. Over the last several weeks, we painted the garage. I just finished putting primer on the ceiling during Maggie's nap today, so that isn't painted yet, but it may need to wait until Spring now. Everything else is done though, and we love it! A small thing to make a big difference in the appearance of our home.

After pics. John also did some organizing, and I cut up empty boxes and got rid of them in the recycling over the past several weeks.

Figuring it Out

Yes, for the past 8 or so months, one of Maggie's favorite toys has been a box of markers. She had no idea that markers... marked. Today one of them "broke" - the lid came off while she was playing with it. No more playing with markers for Maggie.

Party Dress

Beautiful, huh? Ok, now stop looking at Rachel and look at the dress. I made that! Like from a pattern (Butterick Pattern B4195 Maggy London) and fabric (blue crepe). Go me. I've developed a sewing theory similar to my one about cooking: if you can read [and aren't afraid to ask dumb questions of the ladies at JoAnn] you can sew.

back

side zipper (supposed to be invisible)

I used this Invisible Zipper Tutorial.

Rachel's Visit

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Rachel's visit.

Playing with cousin Sarah and the dogs.

Watching the elephants eat breakfast.

They almost look real...

Favorite Auntie Rachel.

Ssssss.

A picture of me! on the carousel!

At Grandma June's.

Provo Cemetery.

Eating BYU Creamery ice cream. Earnestly Chocolate. Yum.

Lesson Learned?

This is Maggie cleaning crayon off the wall.

A Thousand Words

Pretty Pantry

We finally got a shelf for our laundry room so I can pick my food storage up off the floor. I cleaned some extras out of the pantry too. I am so happy with how it looks and how tidy and organized and stocked up I am. Just wanted to share.

First Pony Ride

I didn't get a good picture because they started it while I was taking this one. But Maggie loved it.

Bubble Skirt Tutu Tutorial

If you have a sewing machine, making a bubble skirt tutu is faster and cheaper than making a no-sew tutu where you tie strips of tulle around the waistband. I haven’t made one, but I saw online it takes 6 yards of tulle!?! I wasn’t about to pay $12 for a dress-up tutu so I made this one up instead.

Your daughter can be a ballerina, butterfly, fairy, or princess with a tutu. Maggie is going to be a “candy corn princess” for Halloween this year so her tutu is orange and yellow. These instructions make a preschooler/toddler sized tutu. For a 4+ year old you’ll need more tulle to make it longer.

Cost: <$3.50
Time: 30 minutes
Resources: sewing machine
1 yard of tulle – ½ yard each of two different colors if desired ($1-2/yard).
1 inch wide ribbon – long enough to go around child’s waist, plus ¾-1 yard to tie. Grosgrain ribbon is easier to sew on, but is harder to tie around the child’s waist than satin ribbon. My toddler’s waist is about 18 inches. Ribbon is about 50 cents/yard at Wal-mart.
Thread to match ribbon.

1. Lay the tulle out so the 1 yard length is facing you. Cut the tulle into two pieces, one 16 wide and one 20 inches wide (16 + 20 = 1 yard). *note, if you’re using two different colors you may need a little more than ½ yard of one color for a 20 inch width. The different widths are so the tutu can have two layers.

2. Fold each piece of tulle in half lengthwise. Layer pieces of tulle on each other. Pin the open sides together, through all four layers. The two folds of the tulle will be the “bubbles”.

3. Run a gathering stitch along the top of the tulle where you’ve pinned, through all four layers. Just use the longest stitch setting and leave long thread tails.

Length of tulle folded in half with gathering stitches sewn.

4. Pin the tulle to the ribbon. Make sure the shorter piece (the 16” piece, now 8” folded in half) of tulle will be closest to the ribbon so it will be the top and outermost layer. Pin the ends of the tulle to where the ribbon meets around your child’s waist and pin the middle of the tulle to the middle of the ribbon.

Tulle pinned to ribbon.

5. Pull up the gathering stitches until the tulle is the same length as the section of ribbon to go around your child’s waist. The tulle gathers as you pull the bobbin thread of your gathering stitches.

6. Pin the gathered tulle to the ribbon with additional pins every inch or so.

Tulle gathered and pinned to ribbon.

7. Stitch the gathered tulle to the bottom edge of the ribbon.

Gathered tulle stitched to the ribbon. You can also see the gathering stitches.

Finished tutu.

October Garden

I staked my tomato plant today.

Not this one.

This one.

We think maybe the sun has moved south enough for the winter that now my plant is getting the sun it needs. Hopefully I will get more than one yummy tomato before frost comes!

Halloween House

I promised to share our Halloween decorations ages ago, so here they finally are. Remember, John does all the lovely decorating at our house.

The pumpkins I won at the Enrichment Talent Auction.

Pumpkins hiding everywhere in my kitchen.

Putting my trifle bowl to good use.

Mom's painted ceramics and candy corn bribes for my piano students.

More pumpkins hiding downstairs.

Candy Corn Wand

I haven't posted many crafty things lately, not because I haven't been crafty but because I have been making Secret Christmas Presents. Mostly for Rachel who is lucky enough to get Christmas in October this year. What, it's already October? I'd better get back to my sewing machine.


Here is the candy corn wand I made for Maggie's Halloween costume. This was my third attempt, the first ones were too tall and skinny. I used felt I bought to make fake food and stuffed it with scraps of felt, so it cost about 5 cents to make. The wand is a toy magic wand she got at a neighborhood block party. I just left a bit at the bottom open for turning, stuffed it and put the wand inside. Now I just have to keep her from pulling it off.