Little Sherlock Costume

Quick and easy and cost us about 10 bucks!  We already had some of the crafting supplies so you may have a lot of this laying around the house as well.  First thing I did was sit down and plan the absolute most easiest pattern I could think of.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the contemporary Sherlock movies/shows out there (here, here and here) but I was going for the classic Sherlock Holmes look.  I drew inspiration from these pics I found on Google:

I knew there was no way I could make a trench coat with my rudimentary sewing skills so I decided on a long "vest" and short "cape".  The effect is the same and it was easy peasy. (Please excuse these horrible drawings, but it's what I used).

vest...

capelet...

Here are the supplies you'll need:

VEST:
1. Measure your kiddo for the length you want the vest to be (top of shoulders to the knees).  Remember to allow for hems/seams.
2. Cut your material to the shape in the first pattern pic above.
3. Fold on the fold lines and then sew those tabs together at the top.  The top doesn't have to be "pretty" - it's covered by the cape.
4. Finish all the rough edges with a hem (you could use fabric glue as well).
5. I added pieces of velcro to use as closures in the front.  I then glued on 2 buttons so that it looked more finished (pic below)  FYI - I had to snip the back of the buttons off so they would be flat once I glued them on.

CAPELET:
1. Measure your kiddo to find out where you want the edges of the cape to hit on his/her arm.  I measured from Milo's elbow to the center of his neck and then to the other elbow and then added a few inches to allow for a hem.
2. My measurement was 22 inches (then I added 2) so I cut a 24" diameter circle. 2nd pattern pic above.
3. Next I cut a slit all the way to the center.
4. I finished by hemming all the rough edges (I folded the edges in about a half inch then ironed it so I would know where to sew).  Again, you could totally use fabric glue.  (see pic below).
5.  Lastly, I put the cape on him and marked where it should close.  Glue or sew a 10 inch piece of ribbon on each side where you marked it so that you can tie the cape closed at the neck.  You could also just use the velcro/button method from the vest on the cape, but I liked the look of a ribbon.

MAGNIFYING GLASS: Martha Stewart has a similar one online (you could probably google it - she uses a foam brush stick instead of a dowel).  We already had a dowel from another project and we have plenty of mason jar tops around here.  (You could purchase a cheap plastic magnifying glass if you don't want to make one.)

1. You can glue the mason jar lid to the top of your dowel, but I had hubby use a screw. Our toddler can tear stuff up so I figured it would last longer if it was secured better!
2. Give it a few coats of black spay paint and that's it!

HAT AND PIPE:  There are also a few tutorials on how to make a "detective hat" out there as well.  However, I found a Hat that came with a plastic toy pipe for less than 5 bucks on Amazon so I went with it.  Our shipping is free (hello Amazon Prime!!!) so it was worth it!  The tutorials require you to buy 2 caps then add material on the sides with ribbon at the top.  It would still be inexpensive if you decide to go that route as well.

THE FINISHED PRODUCT:

Milo wore a pair of khakis and a long sleeve white shirt underneath.  I think it's adorable!

plaid material - 50% off at Hobby Lobby 1.99 a yard. (you'll need 2 yards)
black ribbon - 50% off at Hobby Lobby .99 for 15 feet.  I used less than 2 feet so you can have this for future projects if you don't already have some at home.
Classic coat buttons - 50% off at Hobby Lobby - .99 for 3.  I used 2.
velcro - we already had some.  You only need a couple of inches.  You could also actually USE the buttons but I'm no good at sewing button holes!
needle/thread - we already had some.  Pick up fabric glue if you don't want to sew.
Magnifying glass - I had all supplies already
Hat & Pipe - 4.49 from Amazon

You can EASILY do this costume for less than $15... It would cost you more to buy one and it's more special if it's homemade, right?

Milo also wore his to a cosplay convention here in Dallas (Fan Days) and it held up perfectly!  Here's a pic of him during the costume contest on stage:

via

People were stopping us right and left to take his picture!

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy your little Sherlock if you decide to make one!

Mantel Changes & a sad story

One random afternoon I decided I was soooo tired of our dark brick (and black grout - who chooses black grout? dumb) and oak mantel that I white washed and distressed the whole thing!  I sent Matt a text and was like, "I think I'll paint the fireplace" - Half of the fireplace was already painted at that point. hee hee

Horrible pic I had to pull from my text messaging:

It was a beast...  It took SEVERAL coats, mostly because our grout was so dark and we were white washing it and not painting it.  The above pic is after one coat on those bottom bricks and as you can see the black grout looks like it hasn't even been touched.  I'd paint it, and the black would just soak up the paint.  It was frustrating!  NONE of the tutorials online had black grout - suck!  If i had to do it again, I'd probably try to use some sort of primer/sealer on the grout first... One coat of whitewash on the bricks was plenty.

Here's the sad story:

I don't have a before or "directly" after picture of this project because I lost about a decade of pictures, tons of important documents and the latest copy of my novel when my external hard drive recently crashed (which is why you got the crappy pic of the half painted fireplace that I had texted above).  So most of my DIY stuff that I've taken pics of in the last year are totes gone... forever... trust me, we've tried everything.  However, I did scroll thru facebook and my picassa stuff and found some old pics of our mantel.  So just to refresh your memory, here's what it looked like before:

I got a little teary eyed looking thru all those pictures just now...cause I used to be skinny.  Just kidding!  It's fun to think about life at the time these were taken!  That top left one was taken in like 2008!  And I love love love the one of Matt and Syd on right-side center.  You might think I'm nuts for painting the brick and I thought the same thing when the Realtor suggested it ten years ago when I was just looking at this house.  But once we bought our chocolate colored sectional (have to go dark cause of the kids and all) and then we put in the dark wood floor, it was just SOOO cavey and dim in there...  some people like dark decor, but it was starting to border on gloomy for me.  I drew inspiration from a few pics I found online:

via:  OurFifthHouse.com; CleverlyInspired.com and SouthernLiving.com

I used a white washing method I found online and took about a day and a half (allowing for dry time between coats) putting about 5 coats on all that nasty black grout.  Like I said, it just kept soaking up the paint.  The mantel was easy.  I painted it, waited for it to dry and then scraped and sanded it.  Here's where we are today.  The reason I'm even posting about this is because I'm about to do a Fall decorations post and wanted to point out why our fireplace is white now.

Once it was painted, I didn't want to hang the TV back on the fireplace.  I missed having that area to display pictures and all that jazz so we moved the piece that the TV is on back into the room and for now we are leaving it this way.  If we knew we were going to stay here for a few more years, I'd repaint the walls a grayish color and use a bright white on all the existing trim.  For now, (or until we figure out if we are moving in the next 6 months or so), I bought a new brighter bigger rug and threw in a few lighter throw pillows.

That is all... and yes, I'm still upset about my hard drive crashing... you have no idea...

A "few" Summer 2013 Pics

Here comes an instagram dump!  Our summer has been full - and we've been trying to enjoy every bit of it we can.
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Cady went to Baylor Music Camp in June so we all road-tripped it down to Waco to take her & pick her up.

She was nervous about her audition but she did great!  The best part was the final concert that we all got to attend on her last day of camp!  Those kids are talented and I was so proud!

Milo likes road trips... sorta...

He likes hotel pools...

but he's not a fan of sleeping anywhere but his real bed...  We don't get much sleep on road trips.

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We've spent lots of time this summer in the backyard/on the patio! (I spy 3 people in a baby pool)

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and we've spent some time at the park...

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We've also had our fair share of playtime/vedge time :)

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We even had a visit from the Mississippi Grandparents last weekend!

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Cheers to summer so far!  School starts in less than 3 weeks!

The 4th of July - 2013 Edition

My sweet friend Chelsea moved away last year... I was sad... real sad.  But she moved back to her hometown where her fabulous family and fiance live.  She is getting married later this year (I'm pumped about the wedding!).  So I forgive her for moving away, since those are good reasons - but they don't make me miss her any less!  Anyhoo, one of our favorite things we used to do together is hang out at her family's lakehouse.  I've got tons of awesome memories from the weekends we've spent there, so when she suggested getting together this year with her family and mine I said yes in a heartbeat!  We actually brought our camera and took pics but I have no idea where it is so iPhone pics will have to do.

We took this pic just after telling Milo we were going on a 4 hour car ride - he's thrilled. LOL!  He's got his "What you talkin' about Willis" look on his face.  Priceless!

I would say we spent 99.9% of our time that weekend swimming/floating...

Cady and Chelsea

Jumping off the rope swing...

Matt

Cady (I don't have any of the pics of Gage on the swing but he jumped about a million times!...)  :(

Hanging on the dock...

Milo and Chels

Me trying to keep the two of us cool!

Walking around the neighborhood while Milo enjoyed wagon rides...

And we also spent lots of time playing yard games... Ladder ball, corn hole, washers, frisbee.  We had so much fun with ladder ball that we bought our own set when we got home!

It was a fun, exhausting, sunny packed friend-filled weekend!  We can't wait to do it all over again!

Happy First Birthday Milo! (Ice Cream Party)

We decided on an ice cream themed party for Milo's First Birthday.  And I was determined to have this party on a bit of a budget.  It's hot here in Texas during the summer so ice cream, cold drinks and a kiddie pool were a necessity.  I ordered the invites off zazzle for super cheap.  I had spent over $50 on invites when we had our Christmas party last year so I knew I would be going the cheap route this time... i.e. I ordered 15 invites for under 10 bucks.  I don't have a cute real pic, but here is the crappy computer pic I took to send Matt for approval.  The actual ones turned out adorbs!

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Quick pic of the ice cream table (click pics to enlarge).  We've used that silver tub for just about every get-together we've had.  It's great for icing drinks, but this time I packed it with ice and loaded it up with a few types of ice cream.  I bought a few toppings like chocolate syrup, fruit and some sprinkles.  Colorful plastic bowls, plastic spoons and yummy cones were pretty much all we needed.  The table cloth is a remnant from a sewing project.  The napkins and bowls were on clearance at Target.  Cady and I made several garlands out of scrapbook paper and string we already had - so cute!

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The biggest splurge was probably the Nothing Bundt Cakes for an extra special dessert!  We love Nothing Bundt Cakes!  Everything they make is fabulous.  We bought the mini cakes for everyone and a mini bundt for Milo to eat.  We used the same scrapbook paper to cut out circles and put stickers on them with "1" and "Milo".  We then stuck them in the cupcakes with a toothpick.  A mini garland made out of the scrapbook paper topped Milo's smash cake.

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There were tons of friends that stopped by to say Happy Birthday to Milo.  We weren't sure how he'd react to everyone, but he was great!

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First Cake!  The excitement from the visitors and sugar rush from the cake caused this kiddo to crash just as the last person was leaving.  He couldn't even stay away to open presents so after a long nap, he woke up to a living room full of gifts to open!

Milo was blessed with clothes and games and toys and water toys.  What a great birthday!

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And because we weren't spending a ton on this party, we made our own Thank-You cards.  Everyone loved them and I wish we had made a bunch more just to send out in the future.  We took some pics of Milo playing in the pool, used our photo editing program to add some text and then printed them at Kinkos on a light card stock.  We had four different cards.  These are the pics we used, I had them printed and then cut them out of the paper leaving enough to fold behind creating a card (I was able to get 2 cards on each page of light cardstock).  I picked up a box of colorful envelopes for $5 (We only needed like 20 but it came with 50 so we've got left over for the future).

It was a fantastic First Birthday!  And it proves you don't need to spend a ton of money to have a cute kid party.