Bee-noculars

I'm not sure where he picked it up, but Rowan has been running around making "bee-noculars" (binoculars to those who don't speak toddler) with his hands.  Remember the other day I said that I found a cool link with how to make pretend binoculars?




In less then five minutes, I had these:

Can we say, "In Love"?  I recently bought a pack of coordinating washi tape from Wal-Mart so this was a great opportunity to play with it.  

I wrapped the tape around each empty toilet paper roll then hot glued the two rolls together.  At one end, I punched a hole on either side and tied a piece of string through to make a neck strap.  Rowan's not real crazy about wearing them, but they are certainly fun to play with!  

Fluffy Purple Monster and the Tree of Seasons

I've been busy putting up my Halloween decorations around the house lately.  Nothing too over the top.  I'm much more of a Christmas nut.

However, I did take on two crafty projects this season.  One was a wreath for the front door.  Last year I received a purple and black tulle wreath as a gift and it had the letters KSU on the bottom.  A couple months ago, I found this link on Pinterest:

How stinkin' cute is that?!  & I already have the wreath!

So here's what I did:
Flipped it around.  Yep.  I left the letters on, just flipped it over.
Cut some scary teeth out of white felt.  And I even already had the felt!
Bought a pack of ping pong balls for $1.26 and colored eyes on with a Sharpy.
For the teeth, I busted out the trusty hot glue gun and glued them on to the back of the wreath.
For the eyes, I stuck tooth picks into the ping pong balls and the stuck the other end in to the wreath (which had a styrofoam base).

And Ta-da!

Rowan refers to it as the "Fluffy Purple Monster".  In hind sight, I wish I would have used a different color for the teeth.  However, next spring I'd like to pain the front door a peacock blue, so by next Halloween it won't make any difference!

There's something very Muppet-esque about this guy.  I love it!

The other project I whipped up quick was a revamp of my Tree of Seasons.  I've done a few posts in the past on it, but here's what it looked like last year for Halloween:

For Christmas last year I received the Create a Critter 2 cartridge for my Cricut machine and have been putting it to good use for this tree.  For this year, I made two new critters in much better costumes and added a much better looking jack-o-latern.

I'm so much more in love with it this year!  And look at the cute little trick-or-treat bags!  Maybe next year I'll add a spider hanging from the tree.  

Since we're leaving this weekend to visit my parents for two weeks, I think this is all the craftiness that I'll be doing for Halloween this year.  

Next up, Thanksgiving!

Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

Halloween will be upon us soon! I decided I better get started on Rowan's costume, especially since we'll be in Kansas for two weeks in the middle of the month.

 I really had to rack my brain for a Halloween costume for my little guy this year. He's not quite old enough to really have an idea of what he wants to be, but he's definitely old enough to know what he will (or won't!) wear. Hats are usually a no go, so I'm assuming anything else on face won't fly either. 

He's recently gotten in to the show Dinosaur Train on PBS lately, so I thought perhaps some type of simple dino costume might be fun. Then I ran across this awesome tutorial via Pinterest: http://www.running-w-scissors.com/2011/03/dinosaur-tails.html

 I followed the directions to a 'T' (for once!) and it turned out super cute!

In true toddler form, Rowan was all excited about it for 2 minutes.  He ran around like crazy in the tail, then suddenly it absolutely had to come off.  It hasn't been touched since.  Every time I suggest it, he gets all grumpy.  Now if I wear the tail, it's hilarious!  

Perhaps if I get the rest of the costume done he'll be more excited about it.  I bought a blue hoody and am going to add spikes to it in the same way I added spikes to Rowan's dino towel.  I'd also like to make some dino feet, but I haven't quite figured out how yet.  

I'll give updates as the costume comes along!