blog #351 >> Become a Nurse...

...your country needs you... and it will be a swell Halloween costume.



I only wish I got a better photo of the hat! I'm so proud of that hat. I sewed it up myself. I got the uniform from good old Martha Witzel, a long time ago.
Happy Halloween!
T

blog #350 >> Happy Halloween!

Now I've got to get my costume on, gather up my caramel apples and pumpkin tarts and get out the door!
T

blog #349 >> The best costume I've seen this year.

I don't know how I would actually turn this into a costume for myself. But it's absolutely amazing!
T

blog #348 >> Stuff I found online while not cleaning my kitchen...

Without further ado...

Build Your Own Big Ben: (I've got one on my desk.)



Remarkable Tree House:



Meatloaf Hand:




Hey Mr. Spaceman:





Re-useable Swiffer Thing:




My Parents were Awesome Blog:





Firescreens based on Famous Fires:





It wouldn't be so eerie if the principal didn't have a skeleton head. And I love his intercom speech.



Taxidermy Cereal:




Amazing Bookshelves: See Here...

Build Robots Today T-Shirt:



Scary Apples:


Alright, I suppose I've wasted entirely too much time online tonight. And my kitchen still looks like they filmed "Hell's Kitchen" in there. *sigh* There's more caramel on the floors and counter tops than on the apples. Not to forget, the white chocolate malfunction... Well, it will just have to wait until tomorrow now. I've closed the kitchen door and I'm going to ignore it the rest of the night.
Good night!
T

blog #347 >> Caramel Apples

Well, my kitchen is a mess, and my fingers are burnt, but at least I have these delicious caramel apples to show for it.
T

blog #346 >> Pumpkin Headed Halloween Man

Here he is! This year's latest pumpkin project, The Pumpkin Headed Halloween Man! Actually, he's suppose to be a gnome on a mushroom, but he's a bit abstract.
T

blog #345 >> Samurai Zack!

With cardboard, paint, glue and a lot of imagination, you can make nearly anything...

I'm afraid this will be a very long post. There's just so much to say and so many good pictures to post. Well, here it goes.

This is the samurai costume my sister Carrie and I made for my nephew Zack, for an upcoming costume ball. It's the result of over 24 hours of sewing, cutting, painting, and gluing. I went up to her house Friday night and we turned her basement and garage into the samurai armor making zone. We had three computers researching authentic armor, swords, patterns and more. We had the sewing machine going and the glue gun ready. I came, we worked, and around midnight, we weren't even close to being finished. Well, I wasn't too keen about driving the hour long drive home at 1am, just to come back in the morning. So I spent the night. It was kinda fun. It was like staying in a bed and breakfast with themed rooms. There's the camping room, the oriental room, the bathroom, the Lego room and many more. I got to sleep in the "Lord of the Rings" room. We started back to work first thing the next morning and we finally completed it around dinner time.

The final product. Samurai Zack.


Costume without the armor. Thanks Kate for finding us the awesome jacket! It was perfect!





Our first step was finding the supplies. We used: poster board for the armor plates and scabbard, foam core board for the hat and sword, brads for the rivets, grommets for tying the armor on, black cotton cording for the ties, a dollar tree helmet for the hat, rust-oleum hammered metal paint to the give the armor an aged look, spray glue, hot glue, gold paint, an assortment of fabrics, paints, tapes and more.... oh, and a whole LOT of duct tape.



Gluing brads for rivets on the helmet before painting.

Zack and my sister Carrie punching holes for the grommets.

Painting the shadows into the armor.

Wrapping the sword hilt.

The painted armor panels. I had brought an old bag of clothes for my sister that I had packed weeks ago, and in it was this old straw beach mat which worked perfectly for the armor. Such a happy accident!


Sewing the edging on.

The finished sword hilt and scabard.


The finished armor.

• • • • • • • •

And below was our inspiration for this fantastic costume.

This guy made his samurai costume entirely out of rubber maid garbage cans and rubber stoppers.


This guy has a really great samurai armor pattern here.


T

blog #344 >> Fall Wrist Warmers

I finally finished them!
I'm very proud of this pair, I'm getting better with each one. I used the double moss stitch and the classic garter. The pattern if you want it is:
Cast on 31 stitches. (Cast on more if you have larger wrists, but always use an odd number.)
6 rows garter (knit every row)
28 rows double moss stitch
(1st row — k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1... to end.)
(2nd row - p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1,... to end.)
(3rd row - p1, k1, p1, k1, p1, k1,... to end.)
(4th row - k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1... to end.)
(repeat these 4 rows.)
26 rows garter (knit every row)
cast off.
Sew together top four rows, and sew together from double moss stitch down, leaving the thumb hole in between. (Oh, right! Gauging... I used #5 knitting needles and sport weight yarn.)
And there you have it!
T


(easy, arm warmers, knitting, pattern)

blog #343 >> More Cork!

Happily I was able to get some more cork boards painted this weekend, and I'm so pleased with how they turned out! See them on Etsy here.
T

blog #342 >> Paper Chandler

I finally finished this paper chandler that I made from left over paper scraps from work. Only now I don't know where to put it.
T