the costumes go trick-or-treating

and, hey! the kiddos went along happily as well.

sweet treats and an ordering deadline reminder

first, happy monday! yeah, i know that's not really a happy thing. but i'm trying, ok? 

second, today is the last day to place your custom order from the imagine gnats etsy shop. please let me know if you have any special requests, questions, etc. you can convo me on etsy or email directly at rachael {at} imaginegnats {dot} com.

third, in lieu of the traditional family pumpkin patch visit, we made (and covered in icing!) halloween sugar cookies yesterday... it was ridiculously sticky and fun. and yummy :)

happy halloween!  

prizes!

thanks again to everyone for all of your comments on my fashion advice needed! post. i made this nifty list of all the entries, since the comments got a little out of control ;) and then had a contest for what child got to pick a random number... and then we picked a second just for fun! 

Jaime (#8) is the winner of the recycled felt coffee cup sleeves - congrats! and Venus (#16) is the bonus winner of 20 illustrated holiday gift tags! yay for you both. 

again, big thanks to everyone for the awesome suggestions, advice, etc. i'm still processing all of the information and i'll be sure to let you know what i decide. for now, it's halloween cookie decorating time.

more handprinted fabric: whales!

ok, i think i am in love with these little guys :) i made a few changes this time.

different kind of blocks for carving...

...and painting onto the blocks instead of using the brayer. (thanks, Leslie, for that tip!)

without further ado (but after the jump), the results:

last minute ladybug

halloween has not defeated me! costume two is complete and i feel a huge sense of relief :)

more pics and a how-to overview after the jump.

today i'm also linking up to the october followers fest, thanks to a little reminder from Kelley of casa crafty by turtleturle. so you can go check that out if you're looking for some new fabulous sites to add to your google reader. and if you're a new visitor here, leave me a comment about your blog and i'll gladly follow you along as well!

iphone fail

no matter what your friends on pinterest say, i do not recommend taking apart your own iphone. but if you're crazy brave enough to try, remember to download all of your pictures and such first. just a thought.

iphone innards

have you ever wondered what the inside of an iphone looks like? well, here you go. i highly recommend that you don't drop your phone on your concrete front porch, because this is basically a nightmare. i will seriously be amazed if this thing actually works when we get it back together! 

in other news, see that pile of felt and other craft supplies on the table? yeah, that's supposed to be a ladybug costume for K. i'd best get working on that one.

and, yes, those are teeny tiny screws. trust me: you've never seen anything so freaking small.

happy friday night!

tinkerbell's debut

quick post this morning to share the loveliness that is B in her tinkerbell costume. i managed to finish it up last night while watching the PR finale (which is another whole subject... ugh). running to the sewing machine during commercials and trying to find a last minute way to put the skirt together made me feel a little like i was sending B down the runway this morning. but Josh would be happy that i didn't have to sew her into any of her garments ;) there are a few details i'd like to finish up pre-trick-or-treating... the sequined trim i got for the waistband of the skirt and hemming the pants at least.

one tinkerbell down, one ladybug cape to go.

in other news, keep your comments coming on the fashion advice needed! post from yesterday. i have gotten so many awesome suggestions that i'm thinking i might need to add to the prize pool. hmmm....

fashion advice needed... reward offered!

ok, i have a major wedding fashion dilemma. and i was thinking that maybe you'd all want to throw some opinions my way? pretty please?

the facts are as follows: i am getting married in a mere 64 days(!), most of the major decisions have been made, but i am in need of some type of warm(ish) garment to wear over my dress. i thought i had it all figured out, but then i started looking for the mustard cardigan i thought i wanted and it's gotten all complicated.

now for the reward: two recycled felt coffee cup sleeves will go to a random commenter on this post. when? i'll announce the winner this coming sunday, october 30. and i'll even throw in a second (bonus!) entry if you're a fan on imagine gnats on facebook. just leave a second comment telling me that you're already a fan or that you just "liked" it.

now, get ready for loads of pics after the jump. (loads!)

tinkerbell preview

yes, the rumors are true. i was unable to convince the girls that they want to put on dresses from the dress-up bin in the basement and wear them for halloween. perhaps this is what happens when you have a mom that makes things... maybe i should be really happy about this. maybe it means that my children think i have super powers, like i'm a sewing super-hero. yes, let's go with that. and with great sewing power apparently comes halloween responsibilities. ok, kinda lame, but Nick is watching Captain America at the moment so we'll just let that one go.

to be fair, B has insisted for months now that she wants to be tinkerbell. (which, btw, she also was last year. and K was when she was 2. and 3.) so maybe it's just a weird thing they have... anyway, i didn't really think i'd get "out of" making B something, but i hadn't planned on putting together an entire outfit. but then you go to the store, and you have all of these grand ideas, and here we are.

the thing that drives me a little batty about halloween costumes is what a waste they seem to be most of the time, so i wanted to make something that could get use after the candy is all eaten. and thus was born the tinkerbell pj/costume idea.  

first, my very professional sketch (colored in with doodle buddy on my iphone, that's right):

first i cut out a raglan long-sleeved t-shirt in off-white jersey (because skin-colored seemed creepy and we're not going for that kind of costume). i cut out pieces like those shown above out of green jersey and stitched them on to the t-shirt front and back with a knit satin stitch. so the shirt is all stitched together now, but i still need to finish the hem and band the arms and neck with knit ribbing.

the pants are based off of a simple leggings pattern, and then i stitched the green jersey to them to look like the leaves of tinkerbell's skirt. they still need hemming and a waistband, so there's a little work to do there as well.

my thought is that post-halloween, these will be fun tinkerbell jammies for B to wear. they're simple, comfy, and were really cheap to make (thank you, joann's halloween sale). still on the agenda is to make up a little tutu/skirt type thing out of tulle and costume satin. haven't exactly figured that all out yet, but there's plenty of time, right? in the interest of preserving my sanity, we did pick up a pair of green fairy wings at target so i don't have to make those ;)

here she is trying it on the pieces so far (which she was not all too happy about, btw):

tomorrow's mission: finish tinkerbell and make a ladybug cape for K which should be fairly simple. i'm just glad that she has finally decided on what she wants to be. tough decision, apparently.

stay tuned....

RE2: t-shirt scarves

i heard from a few peeps after the first episode that you'd like to see more RE round-ups, so we're back today with scarves! made from old t-shirts. there are seemingly tons of these floating around on pinterest and all over blogland, so i've narrowed it down to a few of my personal faves for you to peruse.

please note that you can click on the pictures below to go directly to the posts, and also click on the blog names to go to the most recent post on that site. show these folks some love... they've put together some great tutorials and inspirations! so tell them, won't you?

knits scarf

Make It and Love It

recycled tee scarf

Shwin&Shwin

t-shirt scarf

TidyMom

recycled t-shirt scarf

Ninth & Bird

braided scarf (1 of 2)

making lemonade on Live.Love.Craft.

braided scarf (2 of 2)

put up your dukes

scarves from old t-shirts

pandielleando

so get going! and let me know what else you'd like to see featured here... maybe something great you found on pinterest? a project you wrote about on your blog? whatever it is, let me know. and check out the rethink, refashion, re-wear board i started on pinterest for more inspiration :)

fab etsy finds

after a big weekend, there's not a ton of crafting going on here today. mostly because i have this silly job that keeps getting in the way ;( i do have a few halloween costumes that i'm apparently supposed to have finished by this weekend. how did that happen already, i ask you? so maybe i'll have something to share about that later this week.

in the meantime, check out a few etsy shops i've come across recently that you're sure to fall in love with instantly!

click on any of the banner images to check out these awesome shops! (and how cute are all of these banners??) 

happy crafting!

family reunion dress complete

it is done!! and i think she likes it :)



option #4 (def the fan favorite) was the button choice winner.

due to a little buttonhole issue with my machine, we went with pearl snaps for the back closure. i'm pretending that the fact that the "pearl" cracked while hammering in the snaps makes it look vintage. just go with me on this one, mmkay?



a lot of you asked what the fabric for this dress is. the floral print is Sophie by Chez Moi for moda in blue fiesta. the polka dot fabric is Patrick Lose Mixmasters Dot-to-Dot for Robert Kaufman in blossom.



ooh, and i even entered the dress in october's celebrate color: wearables.