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

blog #341 >> Jedi Force Trainer

I found this advertised in one of the catalogs laying around at my parent's house this evening, and the entire concept just blew me away. It seems hard to believe that they've really invented a way to move objects with your brain. It's suppose to be the most fantastic toy of the year. And I believe they'll be selling a great many of these this Christmas. The Force Trainer comes with a headset that uses brain waves (not Midi-chlorians) to manipulate a ball within a clear tube. It has 15 levels in which Yoda will guide you from Padawan to Jedi Master.

The USA Today states: In the Force Trainer, a wireless headset reads your brain activity, in a simplified version of EEG medical tests, and the circuitry translates it to physical action. If you focus well enough, the training sphere, which looks like a ping-pong ball, will rise in the tower. A state of deep concentration is needed to achieve a Force-full effect. "When you concentrate, it activates the training remote," says Frank Adler of toymaker Uncle Milton Industries, which is creating the Trainer. "There is a flow of air that will move the (ball). You can actually feel like you are in a zone."

Teaching kids to concentrate... BRILLIANT! It's also suppose to be a wonderful stress reliever. It will be one of the first mass-marketed brain-to-computer products. Which makes me wonder what the future of this technology will be?

May the force be with you.
T

blog #340 >> Get a Handle on Chocolate Cake

Somedays all I really want for dinner is chocolate cake. And with this quick and easy 5-minute chocolate cake recipe, chocolate cake dinners are that much easier to obtain. I found this recipe a LONG time ago and finally got around to trying it. What I can't figure out is, why I didn't try it sooner? It's amazing!



5-minute CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

1 large mug (and I mean large, a sissy coffee mug will overflow) {Unfortunately for me "sissy" describes about 99.9% of the mugs and tea cups I own. So I had to choose very carefully. The batter should fill your mug about halfway.}
4 Tbsp. flour
4 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cocoa
1 large egg
3 Tbsp. milk
3 Tbsp. oil
1/4 cup chocolate chips (plus some extra for sprinkling on top when it comes out of the microwave)
a small splash of vanilla extract

1. Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well.

2. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.

3. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.


4. Add the 1/4 cup of chocolate chips and vanilla extract, and mix again. Mix the chocolate chips well, because mine tend to sink to the bottom. {Mine did.} If that happens just flip your cake over when you're ready to eat it.

5. Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high. The cake will rise over the top of the mug and overflow if your mug is too small. You've been warned. remove from microwave and sprinkle top of cake with chocolate chips.

6. Allow to cool a little, and get closer to diabetes! I just eat it blistering hot, because I have no patience for things like cooling.

{Also, I feel like cakes need frosting, so I spread some microwavable hot fudge over the top.}

I found this on Underdeveloped in the Mind and and copied it nearly verbatim. She got this from La Fuji Mama. But I think it's been around for awhile.

ENJOY!
T