Penultimate Page and Dark Faerie tales and The Dark Divine

Penultimate Page is a blog by a 16 year old girl about YA ficition and cupcakes!  Does it get better than that?  Yummy!  Currently she is holding a contest for The Dark Divine which as you know by now was written by a former roommate of mine, Bree Despain.  I would love to read this book before it comes out!  It would just be too cool!  So go become a follower of Penultimate Page and comment I referred you on the contest page.  Penultimate Page is doing the NaNoWriMo challenge.  The goal is to write a novel (approximately 50,000 words) in 30 days.   I am impressed and tempted to try it next year. 

Dark Faerie Tales has an awesome interview with Bree and also a giveaway of an ARC.   Dark Faerie Tales has great interviews with other YA authors as well and a great review of Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick.  Check it out!   

switch to cloth?

My little Asher Basher has eczema.  It seems to flare up with various foods he eats and maybe because of his diapers.  I switched him to some huggies pure and naturals for a month and his eczema started clearing up.  He went back to the normal huggies and his eczema started acting up again.  I  did my best to not change other things (I lotioned him the same, didn't change his diet).  We have switched back to the pure and naturals again to test the theory some more.   My guess it is a fragrance or something that is causing the eczema to act up.  Or maybe I did change more things than I realized... we'll see.  The Pure and Naturals cost twice as much as our other diapers so I am thinking maybe we will switch to cloth?  It sounds like a huge expensive pain but cloth diapering has come a long way in the last 30 years so it is easier than it used to be.  It will definitely be motivation to potty train! And may even help with potty training.  And it's good for the environment.  And in the long run it is cheaper so if I get the hang of it I can do it with the next baby.

So now the trick is... what system do I get/try?  I like the idea of the gdiapers or the Grobaby diaper systems that are hybrid.  They offer both flushable inserts and cloth inserts.  I've read that the gdiapers have a harder learning curve and are leakier until you get the hang of it.  The grobaby version seems newer and more popular but I think they are pricier too.  I've also read that the flushable inserts are more gross to deal with than the cloth but the cloth aren't absorbent enough for night time.  I've read where people use the gdiaper cover with bumgenius microfiber inserts and a layer of fleece over that (microfiber is too absorbent and will suck needed moisture off of the skin too but the fleece protects from that).  I'd like something not too bulky since he is a toddler and moving around a ton.  Any recommendations? So many decisions!

So the very day I thought about switching  to cloth Little Birdie Secrets offered a Cloth diaper giveaway!  A gift certificate to Great Lakes Diaper Company.  Woohoo!  This would be a great opportunity for me to get some Grobaby or Fuzzibuns to try!  Go check out the options at Great Lakes Diaper company- as I said- Cloth diapers have come a long way.

The Top Half of the Costume!

I finished it on time!  :)  It really is not a hard costume to make.  I was a little worried about Asher wearing it but he had no problems with it!  He didn't really wear the hood up but I wasn't really expecting that anyway. 

Like the sweatpants I started with a hoodie I got from a second hand store for 3 bucks:

I drew scallops on the felt using the same cup for a template.  Cut them out and glued them on.

 

 

After about this point I couldn't glue it along the whole hoodie anymore.  I did short separate pieces in just the front on either side of the zipper and on the back. Then I cut out individual colored scales like I did for the back and glued those randomly- or where I need to hid imperfections.  I also cut out eyes and eyelids and glued those on the hood.  Oh and I lined the front of the hood with white triangles for teeth. 

The finished hood... and now for the final project on the little boy who wouldn't stay still and liked to stomp in his costume.

 

 

Stomp Stomp Stomp!!!

I really think felt and hot glue guns are really cool inventions. :)  Hope you had a happy Halloween!

Dragon Costume continued

Let's start with the Wings:

I started with your basic dollar store fairy wings(You could also bend a metal hanger to the shape you want).   Definitely too girly for my boy dragon but they have a nice wire frame to work with.  I noticed that  the red fabric that was covering the wings looked a lot like nylons so I checked the Dollar store for nylons without gold glitter flowers on them.  I found these silver ones.

So I cut off all of the red and recovered my fairy wigs in Silver shimmer.

Basically I just tied them on- nice and easy.  And yet... they still look too much like fairy wings.  So I looked up some dragon wings on-line and I realized that I should get rid of the bottom wings and make the top wings more jagged.  

There's a sneak peek at the pants. :)  So you see I have bent the wire to be more angular and gotten rid of the bottom wings.  Since this is a costume for an 18 month old the size of the wings should be perfect.  Next I  used embroidery floss to accentuate the sharpness of the angles and keep the nylons from being too loosy goosy.

Hopefully if you click on the photos you can see it better...  I pinned the wings on the back of the costume.  

Dragon Costume... Pants

Begin with sweat pants.  I found these for 3.50 at Target.

I used a 16 oz red plastic cup to trace around and make the scallops for my dragon scales.  Don't worry about them being exactly the same size since you want some variety. Then I hot glue gunned the scallops on- wrapping them around the leg as I went.

After I had wrapped the scalloped felt around all of the pants I added in contrasting scales in neon green, blue, and purple.  I just cut out random scale like shapes and glued them in as randomly as possible- I put same colors next to each other on purpose so it would look more random.  Ironic isn't it?

 

fun, right?  Next for the tail!    I forgot to take pictures of this process but here's a basic description.

I cut out three triangles.  I angled it so the part of the triangle that was at the top of the pants is longer so the tail angles downward.  I machine sewed the triangles together.  I put beans in the bottom to weigh it down but I don't think it needed it.  I stuffed the rest with polyfil and handsewed it on to the pants.

The back view of the pants and here's my little guy wearing them!  I'm so excited!  Now I just need to do the top!  Stay tuned!

Two more months!

And then Bree's book comes out.  I am drooling in anticipation.  You can read the first chapter of The Dark Divine here.   And you really must check out her current contest for a name for The Dark Divine sequel.  She is giving away wonderful new signed YA books in exchange for comments, suggestions, and publicity.  She is also looking for street team members!  So read her first chapter, comment on her blog and join her street team 'cause her book is going to be AWESOME just like she is. (And yes, I know her personally so I can say that truthfully)
I should scan in some photos of us from college for you to see. LOL. :) 

Asher's Dragon costume!

I found a cool knight costume for Kaden at Costco. It was 20 bucks but it was so cool and came with so many parts I decided to get it anyway. I am hoping that it will be a dress up costume that the boys wear for play. Kaden loves the idea of it and wore it when we first brought it home... now though he refuses to wear it and I am wondering if I will be lucky enough to get him in it for Halloween. I think he will get the 20 bucks of use out of the sword and hopefully Asher will be more willing to wear the costume when he is big enough. And who knows, there is enough length in the knight costume that Kaden can have the opportunity to wear it for the next two years. :)

Isn't it awesome?!  I hope he starts to wear it... Anyway.  I decided to make a costume for Asher.  He is going to be a dragon to go with Kaden's Knight.  I am just in the beginning stages of this project so I thought I would document the journey.  This is my first time trying to make an elaborate costume.
So first here is my inspiration for the dragon.

I saw this amazing costume on Little Birdie Secrets and thought that the felt feathers would make great Dragon scales!
Etsy Owl Costume by Lollapanoplies
Isn't that and amazing costume!

 I searched Etsy for dragon tails and wings.  I found lots of tails and this dino hoodie.
 Dragon Tail and Wings by Contrive
Monster zip Hoodie by LittleAngelsJewelry

Yesterday I went in search of supplies to help me create this costume.

I found a hoodie at a second hand shop for 3 bucks.
I will use hand me down sweats we already have on hand.
I found fairy wings at the dollar store with a good metal frame that I will recover to make Dragon wings.
I found silver nylons to recover the fairy wings and the dollar store too. 
Felt (eco felt- so it's made from recycled bottles) 1 yard in green and 6 9x12 sheets in neon green, blue, and purple (for accents)
I already have fiber fill to fill the tail and I think I will fill the end of the tail with beans to weight it down (this I will have to experiment with and tweak)

So after all the time and effort and supplies I buy it will be at least 20 bucks but it is oh so fun to be crafty and try to figure all of this out.  I am hopeful that it will be a pretty cool costume too!  :)  Pictures to come as I start putting stuff together!