Halloween: Sadness Costume

October 24, 2016July 3, 2017 | A Peace of Creativity

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If you haven’t guessed, our family costume this year is Inside Out. My daughter chose to be Sadness and the whole family jumped on board. Leave it to my daughter to pick the emotionally complex one and I was actually quite proud that she did!

Thankfully these costumes turned out to be quite simple. I found both the wig and the glasses from Amazon.

I knew that living in Southern California there was a good chance that it might be hot in Halloween. I asked my mom if she could crochet some wrist cuffs and just the neck part to give the allusion of a turtleneck sweater.

I also found her blue top and pants from Amazon which is super helpful when I can’t always get out of the house.

Click HERE for the final reveal!

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Halloween Treat Bags

October 20, 2016April 24, 2017 | A Peace of Creativity

My daughter and I worked on putting together treat bags for the trick-or-treaters. If you know me, then you know I love giving out goodie bags. Here’s what’s inside this year.

I absolutely adore these drawstring bags from Oriental Trading. Halloween for me is more cute than scary. That probably says more about my life than I would care to admit. 🙂

Also from Oriental Trading, I found Peanuts paper airplanes that come in a compact little package and are super easy to put together. Even the big kids like paper airplanes, and by big I mean my adult male friends. (These were so popular, I think they sold out. I couldn’t find the link for this one but there are a lot more Halloween Peanuts items for sale!)

Instead of glow in the dark light sticks, I chose glow in the dark Halloween stickers.

And we didn’t forget the chocolate! I know some people choose to do the opposite but we always pick the candy we like to eat since we know there will be leftovers.

If you love to hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters, you should try putting bags together. The kids go bonkers over them and all it takes is a trip to the dollar store or even just putting your handful of candy in a goodie bag!

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VDay Goodies

February 11, 2016April 16, 2017 | A Peace of Creativity

Here’s what is going in the VDay goodie bags this year! I prefer non-candy goodie options, especially to this preschool age group. Items are all from the dollar bin and put together with help from my almost 3 year old. She had a blast picking out what should go in each bag.

Processed with VSCOcam with c3 preset Mini heart slinkies, erasers, and boxes of stickers!

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day weekend!

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GUEST PEACE: A FUN CHRISTMAS JUMPER

December 10, 2015April 16, 2017 | A Peace of Creativity

Samantha is from England but has been in the U.S. for almost 8 years. She has been an amateur knitter most of her life after her grandmother taught her at an early age. She loves crafting but struggles to complete projects. She has recently started making what she calls “cheat-quilts” – sewing quilts without using any correct technique. Samantha loves making gifts for friends kids and any time she completes a project she is very happy. She says that the best part about crafting is the relaxation it provides so she never takes any project too seriously.

I really love Christmas, and I especially enjoy Christmas crafting. It’s a habit that only really started a few years ago when I found some winter wonderland felt templates on the Martha Stewart website. I had just found out my best friend was pregnant with her first child and in a show of solidarity I decided to not drink alcohol for her entire pregnancy so I spent New Year’s Eve making lots of Christmas tree ornaments for the following year instead of partying.

I came up with the Christmas jumper idea because I had an old jumper that was really comfortable but had a hole in it, so instead of throwing it away, I decided to alter it. I first knitted Christmas trees. I opted for untraditional tree colors (blue and white) because I happened to have that wool lying around and also because I thought they would look icy and snowy.

To knit the trees I cast on a few stiches (4 for the big tree and 2 for the small) and knit for a few rows to form the tree trunk and then at the end of each row, cast on more stiches (10 for big and 7 for small), knit across and then began reducing the stiches at either end to create a triangle type shape for the branches. Once I got back to my original trunk stiches I would knit one row and then begin casting on again at each end, doing less this time to create smaller branches as the tree got bigger. I sewed the trees onto the jumper covering the hole using a gold thread.

Once the trees were attached I used the gold thread again to sew on little tiny beads in a looping effect to create tinsel. This took a very long time and was a bit frustrating because not all the little beads had the same size center hole so my needle wouldn’t always fit through. If I made another jumper I would sew the tinsel onto the trees before sewing the trees to the jumper because it made a big mess with the thread on the inside of the jumper – but it’s ok, no one can see it.

The last detail was to sew on little charms which I found at Michaels. I used snowflake shapes, little gifts, stars for the top of the trees and I was most excited to find little multi-colored lights which I attached between the tinsel.

This was such a fun project that really didn’t take very long and I was so pleased with the result. I was really proud of myself because I am a total amateur when it comes to crafting. The one little catch that I didn’t think about when I was making it though…. I can’t wash it. Febreze!!!

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Christmas Wreath

December 6, 2015April 16, 2017 | A Peace of Creativity

My last post before Christmas is a super simple wreath. All you need is a premade wreath, I chose a silver tinsel one, some coordinating ornaments, and those cheap wire ornament hooks.

Once you figure out where you would like to place an ornament, pull the wire through and around the frame of the wreath. A couple twists should secure it.To evenly spread out the colors, I started with the blues, then greens, then silvers as those blended into the wreath the most.

I love how it glistens in the sun and reflects our colorful Christmas lights.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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Felt Christmas Tree Garland

December 6, 2015December 12, 2017 | A Peace of Creativity

Last year, I felt like our Christmas tree was missing something. It was filled with lights and ornaments but still did not feel full. It needed a garland and instead of making the tradition paper chains, I decided to make one out of felt so that we could reuse it year after year.

I cut colorful 1 inch by 6 inch strips…

and glued the ends together with hot glue in rainbow order.

I made three separate strands so that it would be easier to work around the tree. (Actually I only string it 3/4 around the front. Shhh!) Between holidays, I use an embroidery hoop to store it and keep it from getting tangled.

Now, our tree now feels complete!

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Halloween Costume: Baymax 2.0

October 26, 2015April 12, 2017 | A Peace of Creativity

Our daughter is finally hitting an age where dressing up is fun and for the most part, she gets the idea of Trick or Treating but we did have to help a little in picking out a costume. One of her favorite movies is Big Hero 6 and we thought it would be awesome for her to be Baymax 2.0 in his red super suit!

I don’t know about you all, but I am severely disappointed in the quality and look of kid’s costumes that you buy in the store. Unless you spend a fortune, some look like they will spontaneously combust into flames and actually still cost a fortune. Which is why I decided to make this one, and with minimal sewing!

I started with a plain red sweatshirt and cut it to be a crop top. I found ladies shoulder pads and covered them in red felt with a hot glue gun.

Using just a few small stitches, I tacked them to the sweatshirt.

For the purple parts of Baymax, I wanted to add just a touch of “girly” with this purple felt with silver glitter hearts.

Baymax had a purple belly, so I glued this egg shaped felt onto an old tank top right where it will peek out from underneath the sweatshirt.

Using red leg warmers, I cut a slit up the back and widened them to go over black boots.

Another touch of “girly” is the purple tutu. It was a little long and needed a trim.

It took a while to find the right shaped wings because Baymax’s wings go straight out like a bird’s, but these ladybug wings do the trick. I covered them with red felt and hot glue. We couldn’t resist buying the actual Baymax mask and fist.
To complete the look, I had to make his nursing bot chip and the slot that goes on his chest.

To be honest, I almost nixed this idea because I was intimidated by the process and did not really have a plan on what to do. I am glad I stuck with it though as it all came together really well.

Here’s our little super hero!

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Halloween Treat Bags

October 12, 2015April 12, 2017 | A Peace of Creativity

I have never been a big fan of Halloween. I don’t care to dress up and I really do detest haunted houses. Since having a home and a child though, it has become one of my favorites, mostly because of trick or treating!

We don’t get many trick or treaters coming to the house. I wish we had more, but on a positive note, it allows me to go all out on the treat bags without breaking the bank. Here is what the lucky neighborhood kids are getting this year with most of these items coming from the dollar bin!