Napoleon Dynamite Halloween Costume

Best. Costume. Ever.

Also, I didn't sew one thing. Not a one.

In fact, all I did (besides gather and buy) was cut out and iron on the "vote for pedro" onto a ringer tee.

I found the t-shirt and the moon boot shoe covers on Amazon. I used Expressions Vinyl and my Silhouette to cut out the words.

I found the wig and the glasses at our local Zurchers party store. Aren't they pretty much perfect?!

We threw it all together with a pair of jeans and this boy's best Napoleon Dynamite face. 

Perfection, and by far the easiest costume I have put together. Woot!

Ninja Halloween Costume

Here is our family Ninja. This costume came about for one reason and one reason only. He wanted two swords. Ninja swords to be exact.

Once it was decided he could be a ninja and have two swords, he also decided that it was important that he wear all black.

I made an executive decision to put on this gold dragon. Turns out he was okay with wearing all black with just a touch of gold. Whew.

I drafted and made this costume up with no pattern. I used three different types of fabric. I used a knit, a sweatshirt jersey, and a rayon satin. I used the sweatshirt for the shirt and the pants. I used the knit for the mask. The satin was the sheath.

This ninja is pretty happy with his new threads. He was all ready for some ninjaing. That is totally a word by the way.

He has already taken his costume for a test run and it kept him fairly warm and got him lots of candy. Win. Win. The last costume of 2015 will be up tomorrow. So exciting.

Halloween Straw Banners

Halloween is in four days. Want a fun and easy Halloween project?

Slap some vinyl on a mason jar, of course in a jack-o-lantern style. Pour a little orange drink into said jar. For an extra bit of fun add a paper straw topped with this really cute and simple BOO banner.

Seriously the only work of this whole thing was cutting out the banner and gluing it onto the straw, and let's be honest that wasn't really work.

Our special orange drink was a half and half combination of mango Powerade and Fresca. I was told it was the best drink ever.

After you carve that last pumpkin and glue the last part of the last costume, you can put this little Halloween drink together. First download the Halloween Straw Banners HERE

Then add it to a straw to an orange drink and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pikachu Halloween Costume

There was a lot of debate over this Pikachu Halloween Costume. Like a lot, A LOT. When Mister Little requested this costume, I was not on board. After all, we barely watch this show and we don't own any Pokemon merchandise. 

So I was a little surprised and a lot hesitant. I mean, seriously there are a million other things that would have been cuter. I spent several weeks trying to convince him that other things would be cooler.

Alas, his mind was made up. Since I had said that they all could choose what they wanted to be, I had to surrender.

So the second installment of our no-theme Halloween is this Pikachu costume.

I used the same pattern I used for Daniel Tiger. 

I changed the pattern to make it Pikachu. I appliqued fleece onto the hood to make his face. I added fleece stripes to the back. I altered the ears and the tail. In order to make the tail more sturdy I used a heavy fabric stabilizer. I also hand stitched part of the tail to the costume so it would stay in place.

I used fleece for this whole costume. He will be so warm and cozy on Halloween night.

I don't know why I fought him on this costume. It turned out really cute and he is SO very happy.

Two more costumes and this no-theme Halloween of 2015 will be done.

Daniel Tiger Halloween Costume

Daniel Tiger in Halloween costume form. Could there be anything cuter? This boy LOVES himself some Daniel Tiger. I have known for months this would be his costume. This year we had a bit of a different situation with Halloween costumes.

Normally we have a family theme. There has been Toy Story, superheroes, Star Wars, Phineas and Ferb, and book characters. I kind of thrive on themed costumes. This year...

There.

Is.

No.

Theme.

Ack.

I figured with two older kids, asking them to somehow fit a theme that includes Daniel Tiger wasn't very practical (or nice). So no theme.

If you follow me on Instagram (@larissa_anotherday) you might already know what some of the other costumes are. None of them going with each other.

Enough about all the no themed costumes already. Let's talk about this Daniel Tiger.

I die.

I started this costume with a basic pattern. I used the Simplicity 1032 pattern. It is a basic jumpsuit with a hood animal pattern.

In order to make Daniel, I had to alter the pattern a bit.

I added strips onto the hood, ears, legs, and tail.

I used the pattern's cat instructions, but I rounded the ears.

Daniel Tiger also needs his red sweater.

I roughly used the pattern to make a sweater. I added applique pockets, a collar, and a jacket zipper.

The pattern does seem to run a little big. This was a size 3T and it is obviously HUGE on him. No worries though, it just makes him more cozy.

The fabric I used for the costume:

fur felt- fur/stripes
red fleece- red sweater
soft flannel-hood lining

He loves it, so I love it. He is so cozy and so cute! I really cannot get over it.

It will be a beautiful day in the neighborhood and a beautiful day for this Daniel Tiger neighbor. No doubt.

Come back tomorrow to see the next costume. Ooh so exciting.

Easy-to-Make Halloween Donuts

Sometimes I get an idea in my head and I just can't get it out.

I was driving on one of my many errands. I was thinking about donuts, because well I like thinking about donuts. Then I was thinking about Halloween, because I am in the middle of making a small army of costumes.

Then I thought about round donuts, which led me to think about Jack-O-Lantern donuts. Then I was all like, "I should make some of those." To which I was like, "with what time?"

Do you like how I have full on conversations with myself? Anyway...

From that conversation I was reminded how easy it can be to make donuts if you use pre-packaged biscuit dough.

Before I knew it I was dreaming up other Halloween donuts and I was stopping by the store to get the ingredients I needed.

Then this happened.

Guys! These were SO, SO easy to make. They are so stinking adorable. My boys were pretty impressed with them, I decided not to divulge how easy they were to make to them, but I will to you. I am nice like that.

Here is all you need:

refrigerator biscuits
pudding cups
vanilla frosting
black cake icing (the kind with the attachments)
food coloring
white chocolate chips
oil, for frying

Heat the oil. Fry 2-3 biscuits at a time. Fry for 1 minute on each side. If they are cooking too fast (outside done, inside gooey), lower the heat of the oil slightly. Remove from the oil and dry on a layer of paper towels. Then remove to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Once they are cooled. Remove the pudding from the cups into a plastic sandwich bag. I like to use sandwich bags as disposable piping bags. It is easy to clean up. Remove the air from the bag, seal, and position the pudding toward the bottom corner of the bag. Cut the corner of the bag to create a piping opening.

With a butter knife, make a small opening in the donut. Put the end of the bag into the whole and slowly squeeze in the pudding filling.

After that it is time to frost. The sky is the limit really.

I split up the frosting into three bowls. I kept one white, dyed one orange and one green. Then I frosted each donut.

For the Frankenstein ones I added white chocolate chips and then embellished with the black icing.

The Ghost ones I simply piped on a big scary boo mouth and some eyes with the black icing. I did the same thing with the Jack-O-Lantern ones except with squiggly mouths and triangle eyes.

Bam. They are done. Seriously SO easy. SO cute. These donuts were such a hit in our house. One of my boys thought they were better than store bought donuts. Well, I don't know about that, but I will take the compliment.

These would be perfect for a Halloween breakfast or a class party. Have fun!

Giant Halloween Poster

Halloween is just around the corner. How do you like to decorate for Halloween? I like to keep it simple and affordable. My Halloween decorations also focus a lot on black and white, with hints of orange. My new favorite Halloween decoration is this Giant Halloween Poster. This poster is so easy to make. SO easy. First snap a picture of your resident ghost.

 

Then all you need to do is take the photo on a USB drive or on your photo card and head to your local Staples. There you can print off an Engineer print. Engineer prints are kind of spectacular. They print off fast and they are really cheap. Engineer prints are paper prints and they are only available in black and white. I printed off the largest size, 36x48. The print cost lest than $8.  Now our resident ghost is larger than life and ready to haunt our halls.

 

I enhanced the poster with some giant wood letters painted black. Saying, "BOO" of course.

 

 I hung up the poster with some washi tape and I added a few other black and white Halloween decorations.

 

You too can have your own Giant Halloween Poster. All it takes is a photo and an engineer print.

Easy Trick-or-Treat Bag

Halloween is almost here. Costumes. Candy. Trick or Treating. All the fun stuff.  Getting everything ready for Halloween is not always so fun. Don't fret! This Pillow Case Trick or Treat Bag is easy to make.

 

When I was growing up, my brothers and sisters and I could be found running around the neighborhood on Halloween dressed up and toting the pillow cases off our pillows. Pillow cases were the best things for gathering massive amounts of candy. We just threw it over our shoulder Santa Claus style. We were more than happy to just use the pillow case off our bed.

I thought I could steal the pillow case idea, but amp up the cuteness just a bit. I decorated the front of the bag with heat transfer vinyl. You could also use paint, fabric markers, or fabric. I made this image in Picmonkey. I saved it to my computer and then imported into my Silhouette software in order to cut the image from vinyl. You could also print off the image and  use it as a freezer paper stencil.


 

 If you want to import the image into Silhouette, here is how you use it with vinyl. Import the image into your Silhouette files. Bring up the image.

 

Select the trace function. Then pick the Select Trace Area. Drag a box around the entire image. Then pick Trace Outer Edge.

 

Drag away the original image and delete it.

 

Before you cut anything in heat transfer vinyl you have to mirror flip the image.

 

Cut out the image. Set it aside. Now that we have the image ready, we can prep the pillow case. Fold over the top of the open end. Iron.

 

Sew around the hem, leaving an opening to thread through the fabric. I used a fancy stitch option but a regular stitch does the job.

 

Pull off the negative of the vinyl. Iron on the image.

 



For the bag tie, use a piece of fleece. I cut it to a 3 1/2" by 52" strip.

       
Using a safety pin, thread through one end of the strip all the way around. Then thread the other end through the opposite way. Once both ends are through, knot the ends. Now you have a drawstring bag.  

 

Not just any drawstring bag. A really fun and perfectly festive Easy Trick or Treat Bag.

 

Happy Halloween!