Halloween Costumes...better get to cracking...

Halloween is right around the corner.  I remember watching movies as a kid, and wondering why the parents in the movies always made the costumes VS buying them.  My mom always bought my costumes, not because she couldn't make them I am pretty sure she could.  I just think she never thought about making them.  She grew up as one of seven children and I was an only spoiled child.  I like the idea of homemade costumes!  Not because I don't want to buy them (with four kiddos it can get expensive) but because I like doing special things for my children.  So some years we buy them, some years we make them, and some years it is a mixture.  It always comes down to what my kids want to be, and can I make that!  This year I have gotten the requests for Wolverine (Bubby) pretty sure I can't make that one, a Black Cat (Babydoll) I am pretty sure I can make that!  Monkey is still thinking, and every time I ask the two year old Boogie I am told no! (while she shakes her finger at me LOL)

Some past Homemade costumes:

Bubby as a Hershey Kiss!  I used a hula hoop(base), silver fabric, pipe cleaners(neckline), a upside down plastic bowl(hat), more pipe cleaners(hat) and a fruit by the foot wrapper(paper from the hat)

He wore a black turtle neck and black sweat pants under.  He loved wearing it every time he tried it on, but Halloween night it wasn't worn for long, he was in a bad mood that night and wasn't even up for too much trick or treating, oh well I was proud!

Monkey as "the Walking Dead"  We used a too short old pair of jeans, and old too small holey shirt and old shoes.  I used a mixture of red, orange, brown, and black paint to look like blood.  We ripped up everything and (while the paint was still wet) I took the clothes outside stomped them in some dirt, and dragged them through the grass.  We used Halloween face paint and a little of my own make up to do his face and arms, whole thing cost me the $2.00 for the makeup everything else was on hand!  I loved how it turned out!

Some of my Favorite Store Bought Costumes:

In the kids movie "Shrek"  The Donkey and Dragon have babies, they are called Dronkies, we like to refer to them as Dragasses :)  We found Bubby the "Dronky"  costume online for a little under $15.00.  It was too cute to pass up!  It is still one of my favorite costumes ever!

This costume of the baby Skunk was borrowed from my niece.  She wore the costume the year before, I just loved how cute baby Boogie looked as a Skunk and the tail was adorable too.  It also didn't hurt that it cost me a big fat nothing! :)

I colud have made that:

Until last year Babydoll had gone Trick or Treating with her mom ( so I don't have any Halloween pictures other than this one)  Halloween always fell on one of her three days.  Last year Halloween fell on one of our four days.  Jerm and his ex wife celebrate the holidays on "whoever has that day"  Christmas, Birthday Party, and Thanksgiving are shared.  It's really hard to explain, but his ex and I get a long fantastic she has become one of my best friends.  The Holidays are becoming more of a shared event, his ex and her boyfriend are always invited to our house to celebrate and we all get a long fine.  This is the costume Babydoll wore last year, I so should have made this I bet I could have saved Babydoll's grandma $20.00 it is just a tutu dress and some wings LOL

Ideas for this year:

Source

Idea for Babydoll!

Source

Idea for baby Boogie!

Source

Idea for Bubby, might be able to make this somehow!

I have no ideas for Monkey at the moment, and neither does he, oh well we will figure it out!

Test It Out Thursday ~Part 2~

Welcome!!

Where do you get your inspiration?  Is it from Pinterest, friends, blogs, magazines, or do you just come up with things all your own while sleeping peacefully?  Maybe something was taught to you, or passed through the generations?  Well, no matter where you get your inspiration, how many times do you have to test something out before you really get the hang of it, or before it is no longer a craft fail?  I want to see all the tested out projects, recipes, tutorials, and anything else you ave gotten your hands on.  So here it is a place to showcase those tested out items!

How it works.

Link up your posts, make sure it's not the blog they come from, but the actual post! There should be a little space at the bottom left that will allow you to do this. (If I did my part correctly) Don't forget to give credit when it is due.

Rules!

1. Friend This DIY Mom's Diary in some way, follow the blog, Facebook, or Linkys!
2. Please display the Test it Out Thursday button on your post somewhere.
3. Visit some of the other posts that have been linked, and be kind we all love to hear (read) those comments!

Here is a little test it out from yours truly!

Frankly my dear I don't give a damn..coffee table


Thank you Mealtime Adventures for being the first to attend my blog link party!  If you want to check out this blog just click away HERE

<a href="http://diymomdiaries.blogspot.com/p/link-it-up.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1270.photobucket.com/albums/jj608/admprich/linkpartybutton.jpg">

Frankly my dear I don't give a Damn...coffee table

"I don't know nothing bout birthing no babies"

A little over two years ago my Baby Shower (held in baby Boogie's honor) was held at my house.  We have a huge living room and considering a lot of the guest were stay-at-home moms we needed a place that was kid friendly.  I realized that I needed a coffee table, to hold multiple items for the party.  We didn't have one and I needed one fast and cheap....hello Wal Mart!

SOURCE

Over the past two years this table has been beaten up.  Scratched by matchbox cars and super heroes, beat upon with make shift musical instruments, and used to hold everything from wedding crafts to plates of food.  How did we ever manage without a coffee table?!?

I didn't want to get rid of it, but it was looking old and beat up, not the best conversation piece.  I stumbled upon an idea on Pinterest about covering a wall décor in family photos, and planned on doing this to the table.  In the long run I kept forgetting to print the photos. (Thank you digital world, now all my family photos sit inside my computer and external hard drive!) Then it hit me, I have a copy of Gone With the Wind (my all time favourite book/movie) that was used to make wedding flowers which means it is missing pages but still has hundreds of pages left!!!  Don't worry I have many copies of this book!

SOURCE

Supplies:

I had everything on hand due to previous crafts so oh yeah this was a free project!!!

• Book Pages
• Mod Podge 
• Foam Brush
• Lacquer
• Table                                                                                        

Instructions:

1. I cut my pages down a little (they had huge margins) then played with the placement of the pages to decide on a layout that I liked.  I decided I wanted the pages to look haphazard.

      2.  I covered small sections of the table in Mod podge, layering the pages as I went.                 

 *The lighter you apply the Mod Podge, the faster it will dry*

       3.  After I got all the pages down, I applied a thin layer of Mod Podge over the entire table.

            This acts as a sealant and prevents any edges from coming up.

       4.  I then applied 3-4 coats of the Lacquer to the table, letting each coat dry in-between. 

*This step helps protect the top, it acts as a sealant and protects from moisture*

You can see where I made sure to add the cover page of the book, every page that is on this table represents some of my favourite moments from either the book or the movie.  I also included (middle/right) the final page of the book.  It only is half a page so I really had to cut it down, but it contains my favourite quote from Scarlett! "After all tomorrow is another day"

I am really proud of how it turned out, even though there are a few bubbles.  I have never worked with thin paper and Mod Podge before for that reason alone, but oh well this house/family isn't perfect so our table fits right in!  If I do another project with Mod Podge and thin paper I will make sure to use one of those scraping tools you use for mudding walls to prevent any bubbles!

Something I pinned then actually tried (with a few little tweaks)!

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words....

 

 Source

 

  

 

Source

                                                        Source                               Source

Once Again Inspired By Mama Kat: 1.) Share a day in your life represented only in pictures and the time the pictures were taken. (inspired by Take It Like A Mommy)

September Fall Wreath

I made another wreath!  I know that in most places School starts in September, but here it starts on the first week of August.  My August wreath had to be for school starting, so I made my September wreath a fall wreath.  I love Fall, the colors, the weather, the smells, just everything about it!

Supplies:

• Plain Wreath $1.00
• Fabric of choice less than a yard scraps will work (found brown fabric in clearance bin $1.00)
• Fall Leaves (bought 3 packs) $0.97 each
• I decided not to use the scarecrow (it is now baby boogie's baby)
• I used a second fabric not pictured here (but it was free, Jerm's old ripped pajama shorts)
• Hot Glue Gun and Glue

Total Cost: $5.00

First I simply ripped the fabric into long strips, I liked the look of the fraying on the edges.  Then I wrapped the fabric around the wreath, gluing at every three or four wraps.  There are detailed pictures of me doing this on my Back to School Wreath Here

     After the wreath is wraped you can start gluing on the leaves.  I devidied the wreath into thirds,

          then layered the leaves in a specific way on each third, this way it looked like they         

          were naturally fallen, but looked cohesive at the same time.

      

        I made fabric flowers out of Jerm's old pajama pants, just because I really like the fabric,   

           and because baby boogie stole my scarecrow.  Ok I gave her the scarecrow because I   

           thought it would look to big and chunky on the wreath.

I used strips of Jerm's pants to hang the wreath on the door. It isn't the most elaborate wreath out there but I still have tons of leaves left, for another craft, and a lot of the time I think simple looks a lot better!

Cough..sneeze..sleep and puppies

I haven't posted in a week, stupid cold!  I haven't felt up to much of anything over the past couple days due to this horrible cold.  The house is a disaster and I think that I am going to work on that today.  I do have some projects that I hope to work on tomorrow, maybe even finish them!  On another note, we got puppies!  Momma dog was starting to have nothing to do with them so they are only 5 1/2 weeks old.  The vet said they look great and they are eating the puppy formula out of a bowl so the vet said they should be fine.  They go in to the vet in about another week to get all their shots.  So until I can get some projects done here is a picture of our littlest family members!

Toby is the black one, and Twinkie is the cream one.  I wanted to name them cookies and cream but I got vetoed out! They are little Miniature Pincher/Jack Russel mix mutts but oh so cute!