No Sew Unicorn Costume DIY

Scarlett wanted a unicorn birthday party so I thought she needed a unicorn costume to go with it!  It was so easy and turned out really cute!

This DIY costume was so easy anyone could do it!  It didn't take long at all and I didn't even need to sew anything.

All I did was buy a white sweatshirt and leggings.  Then I glued a big pink felt oval on the chest.  The horn was the hardest part.  I stuffed a white triangle felt piece and rolled it up into the horn shape.  I then put a felt on the bottom, wrapped it with gold string and hot glued it on.  The ears are more glued on felt.  The main and tail are probably the coolest part and to make those I just wrapped the string around a very small pillow twenty times. Cut the ends, tied it together in the middle to form a clump and hot glued that on.  I repeated that about 15 times for the main.  The tail is just a larger version on the same thing but safety pinned on.  There is another tutorial online that goes into more detail, so search on pinterest for that if you need more explanation.

I gave Scarlett the costume as one of her birthday presents before her friends party.  

On the day of her birthday I told her she could wear whatever she wanted.  She chose to wear an Elsa dress.  She wore it to the library story time and all around the house.  

This next picture was really funny to me.  Right when she opened the card she was so excited there was a check in it.  She has very little understanding of money and we always just stick the money into her savings account.  But sometime she has switched from just ignoring checks and money to knowing that it is something that she really wants.

This snow globe was probably one of her favorite presents.  I got it for 25 cents at a garage sale.

I let her choose the meals all day on her birthday and we had pancakes for breakfast, macaroni and cheese for lunch, and chicken nuggets for dinner.  Scarlett thought it was great!

Class of 2028 2029 Shirt Tutorial

When Tucker started kindergarten I made him a large Class of 2025 shirt and I have him wear it every year on the first day to take pictures.  After three years I can already see a big difference in how much he has grown.  Now that Penelope's first day of kindergarten is coming up I wanted to make her a Class of 2028 shirt to wear every year and grow into.  And while I was at it I went ahead and made Scarlett a Class of 2029 shirt to wear on her first day of preschool.

First day of school pictures are a big deal.  I remember being a kid and my mom always took them in front of the same rock outside our house.  Now I love taking them of my kids.  For a different first day of school picture idea, try these first day of school shirts!

When I made Tucker's I spray painted the shirt, you can find that tutorial here.

This year I hand painted them on.  It is a cleaner look and I think I prefer it better.

Materials Needed:

Large Shirt (joanns $3)

Freezer Paper

Fabric or even Craft Paint

1) The first thing I did was open up photoshop and make the text look how I wanted.  Lucky for you if you like mine all you have to do is click on it and print it on freezer paper or and zoom in or out on your computer until it is the size you want.

2) I didn't even print it out.  You can print on the freezer paper, but I don't have a printer and the computer makes a great lightbox.  I just zoomed in until it was the size I wanted and then turned up the brightness on my computer and taped my freezer paper up to the screen.  I then traced it.  Make sure to trace on the dull side.  I went with the outside lines, but you can do either you like.

3) The next step is to use an exacto knife and cut out the letters.  This is the most time consuming step.  Make sure to save your middle pieces.  I did it on top of a cardboard box.

4) Now lay the paper shiny side down onto your shirt and iron it on.  Here is where you need the middle pieces.

5)  Now for the fun part.  Paint your letters.  I used fabric paint because I had it.  But I've used craft paint before and it works fine too.

6) Once it is dry peal off the freezer paper and you are done!

I'm going to redo these creative first day of school pictures on the actual first day of school, but I wanted to get this tutorial out for everyone who is starting now.

18 Inch Doll Clothes Tutorial

A while back we bought Penelope an 18 inch Our Generation doll from Target.  For those not familiar they are pretty much the same as the American girl dolls but cheaper.  The only problem is that they clothes are about $10-$15 for an outfit!  That is too much for me to spend on a doll so I figured out how to make my own.  This tutorial explains how to turn a baby onesie into doll clothes.

Materials Needed:

Premie Onsie

Sewing Machine and supplies

1) The first step is to get your onsie.  I found that the premie size works best and they are in new condition at thrift stores all the time.  I got this one for 50 cents.  I love the onsies because they have a wide enough neck that you can put them on the dolls (and babies) with no buttons.

You can also do this with newborn size and other types of clothes, but for the tutorial lets stick with a premie size onsie.  Look how big it is compared to the doll.  Way too long.

2)  Measure where you want to cut it.  Make sure to leave room for folding and sewing.  I've found I like them to be cut just above where the leg seams are.













3)  Fold the end over two times and Iron it down.

4)  Sew along the fold.

That's it!  Now you have a new shirt for your daughter's doll.  This doll is named Lana by the way.

  

Below is another shirt I did.  It isn't a onsie and it is size newborn so it was a little bit different but I wanted to show that you really can do it to most baby clothes.  

All I did was put the shirt on the doll inside out.  Then I pinned it down the front and sides and sewed it smaller.  I also shorted the hem like I did for the onsie.  This shirt has buttons on the back and is still a little tight to put on the doll, so make sure you have enough room in the neck to get the arms in and out.  

I also made an adorable newborn sized swimsuit and a few other things this way.  I spent one nap time on it and about $5 and got a few different outfits for my girls to play around with.  A great investment!

DIY Air Hockey Table Tutorial

I saw this DIY air hockey table in one of the kids magazines and realized that I already had everything to make it.  And it was super easy. It took me about 5 minutes if that and the kids are having a blast with it.

Materials Needed:

Pizza Box

Foil

Two Pipe cleaners

Tape

Two Straws

One Pom Pom

Marker

1) Cover your pizza box in the foil.

2) Shape the pipe cleaners into goals and tape them on.

3) Draw a line down the middle!

It is so easy!

Check out the video of Bob and Tucker Playing.

Obviously this isn't something I'm going to save forever.  But it is a great fun activity to keep the kids busy on a rainy day, they can even help make it.

How to Make your own Stump Christmas Tree Stand DIY

For our artificial tree I wanted to make a tree stand.  I've seen cute ones with buckets and baskets, but I wanted to make mine out of a stump.  It was a little bit harder then I expected but still very simple and not bad.  This tutorial explains how to make a Christmas tree stand using a stump or log.

1) Find your stump.  Look for something 12 inches tall and 14-18 inches in diameter.  Mine is 16 inches across.  This was surprisingly hard.  I'm sure for some it will be a piece of cake, but it probably just depends where you live.  I emailed a few people on craigslist selling firewood but came up with nothing.  I posted it on facebook and didn't find anything local.  Finally I found a spot where they were clearing the land for construction and found a good log.  It was too heavy for bob to lift so we got help from a friend to lift it into his truck and get it home.  This was the hardest step for me.

2) Once you have your log you need to cut it to size.  We borrowed a chain saw for this.

3.  Lastly you need to measure the width of your tree and drill a whole in the log.  Luckily I have a husband to do these sorts of things for me, so I'm not sure the details on how he did it.

Just stick your tree in and TaDa a new tree stand.

Much better then the fake plastic legs it had before!

DIY Shadowbox Nativity Tutorial

I've seen pictures of this vinyl shadowbox nativity all over pinterest and decided to make my own.  We even did it for a ward activity at church and it went really well.  We managed to do it for $12 (we did get some bulk prices) and it took less then half an hour to do.  Its just a very simple and sweet Christmas craft.

Shadowbox Nativity Tutorial

Supplies:

8 x 8 shadowbox frame (michaels)

Wood grain Scrapbook Paper

Fake Straw (I ripped apart a decorative wreath)

Ribbon (optional

Vinyl 

(You can make your own but I had a custom order done here.  She did a great job and I got it very quickly and it looked perfect)

1) Cut your paper to fit into the frame.  Pretty simple.  I added a step by using colored pencils and added more woodgrain to mine.  I like how it looked better with wood panels and nail marks, but that was not necessary (I also experimented with different papers which you can tell if you look at the pictures).

2) Open up the frame and stick the straw in.  This is sort of a guessing game.  I reopened mine up a couple times to get just the right amount.

3) Place the vinyl Jesus onto the paper.  I just eyeballed it about an inch up from the bottom.

4) Put the text on the outside of the glass and put it back together.

5)Add the optional bow on top (I haven't decided if I like it or not) and you are done!

DIY Cardboard Box Castle

For Penelope's princess party I really wanted her to have a castle.  So Bob and I made this cardboard box castle for her and it was basically free.  All we had to buy was the packing tape.  This tutorial wil explain how to build your own cardboard box castle.

Materials Needed:

3 or 4 Gigantic cardboard boxes (We used oven size, but refrigerator size is best.  I got some boxes from friends and others from stores.  We got our biggest ones from behind Lowes.  Most stores are willing to give you their used boxes for free, just make sure to turn them inside out so they look nice and uniform.)

2-4 Large boxes for the tunnels and archway

Packing Tape

Sharp knife

1) The first step is to plan your castle.  We decided to do three towers and one tunnel.  If I had more space I would do 4 tours and three tunnels connecting the towers.  In this next picture you can see the tunnel.  Don't forget to plan the door openings and windows. I used one opened up box for the front arch of the castle.

2) Next just get out your knife and start cutting.  I hate cutting cardboard this is the hardest and most time consuming step.  After the first top I used it as a pattern so they all matched.  Make sure you do the doors on the correct sides.

3) Lastly just tape it together and you are done!  You just bought yourself hours of child entertainment for practically nothing.

Tooth Monster Pillow

The tooth fairy seems to have a problem at our house with forgetting to come, waking up kids and loosing teeth.  So I decided to help her out and make this tooth fairy tooth monster pillow.  A tooth monster is much more fun for boys then the tooth fairy anyway.   Your child can hang the pillow on his door bed post or just stick it on his bed with a tooth in the monsters mouth when they go to sleep.  And magically the monster eats the tooth and turns it into money, or maybe gives it to the tooth fairy and she replaces it with money.  Either way I love it because I can get to it so much easier than feeling around under his pillow and it is way less likely to get lost.

I really wanted a pillow like this for my kids and there are tons on etsy so after looking I decided that I could make one easy enough.  It only took me about two hours and I already had everything needed.

Materials Needed:

3  8" squares of fabric (I used thin cotton but wanted it a bit thicker and doubled mine up, although it isn't necessary and for the sake of the tutorial I'm acting like they weren't doubled)

2 2" circles of contrasting fabric (I recommend felt or jersey so it doesn't fray)

1 8" strip of white felt ( I also doubled this up)

 2 15" pieces of Ribbon burned on one end

2 buttons

Stuffing

Sewing Machine and Thread

 1) After you gather your materials the first step is to sew the circles onto the front of one of your squares. I placed mine about a half inch apart just above the middle.  Use a zig zag stitch.  I liked showing the thread so I used white but you can hide it and match the color if you want.

 2) Next take your felt and cut teeth by making a zigzag.  Make sure your zig zags leaves some space under them to sew onto the mouth. Then take a different square, fold it in half leaving right sides out and along the folded part place the teeth behind it and sew them together.

A different way to do this would be to sew the teeth on the inside and flip it inside out but that isn't how I did it this time.

 3) Place your mouth piece (with teeth) on top of your eye piece then sew it right on top.  Sew around three sides leaving the teeth side alone so it can hold things.

 4) Hand sew the buttons in the center of the circles completing the eyes.

 5) Sew it all together by taking the back and front squares place them facing in so the right sides are together.  Put your ribbons in also so they are by the face (you might need to bunch them a bit)  The ends should be sticking out of the top, I angled mine a bit too.  Then pin and sew all the way around leaving a two inch gap at the bottom.

 6) Turn it right side out.  It should look almost done.

7) Stuff it with whatever you like.  I took apart an old stuffed animal and used it's insides.

8) Hand stitch the last seem and you are done!

Tucker loves this pillow I only wish I made it sooner!