Jaxon's Knight Costume

Armor: Recycled plumbing insulation foam is used to create the armor.

 Armor details are created with dimensional puffy paint. The body armor wears like a vest with velcro
 straps on the sides and shoulders.

Armor on the knees and arms are made for movement. Individual foam pieces are connected together with brads. Velcro is used to attach the armor to the clothing.

Helmet:  Papier mache. Cardboard structure with newspaper strips and a white flour and water mixture.
                Details are created with puffy paint. Face guard is made with foam and attached to the side of the
                helmet with brads so that it could swing open and closed.

Shield: $1.00 plastic serving tray with puffy paint detail. The knots of the rope handles are hidden with 

             ping pong balls split in half. Silver spray paint finish. 

Sword: Plastic light-up sword sprayed silver.

Maya's Athena Costume

Dress: $1.00 plastic tablecloth with gold ribbon trimming.

Helmet: Cardboard structure, newspaper papier mache. Puffy paint for dimension and feathers.
               Original post on the helmet is here if you are interested.

Arm cuffs: Maya added strips of newspaper to felt. Puffy paint for dimension and gold paint.
                  Velcro closure.

     Spear: End of a broom stick, foam tip, puffy paint for details, and gold paint.

Shield: $1.00 plastic serving tray. Puffy paint detail and gold paint.

Cape: My old sleeveless knit dress cut in half, buttons removed, arm holes sewed closed. 

           Ribbon trim details. 

    Belt: Rope painted gold.

Slippers: Maya's yard slippers painted gold.

Apartment Therapy Feature!

Apartment Therapy  featured Maya's Cleopatra Costume in their recent DIY Halloween write-up! 

Check it out for 17 other cool kids costumes you can make from stuff around your house. 

This Cleopatra costume was made with a pillowcase, paper shopping bag, and vinyl stickers. 

The original post for this costume is here if you are interested. 

Thank you Lauren  for the sweet feature! 

Olli Loungers

I really want one of these Olli Loungers bad!! They are so beautiful!

These are all hand-embroidered using the Otomi embroidery technique. The heart of Otomi embroidery is located in the town of Tenango, Hidalgo, Mexico. Tenango, a small town located on a plateau in a lush valley surrounded by cliffs and waterfalls is home to hundreds of embroiderers.

 Olli a luxury craft company, based in San Francisco, is dedicated to designing beautiful handmade products that honor technique and tradition. They work with a small collective of embroiderers to produce a range of custom luxury soft furniture and pillows. The embroiderers are registered with the government and set their prices with Olli for each project every year. It takes an embroider 3 to 4 months to complete an Olli Lounger.

I will take one of each please!

Olli / 550 Florida Street, Suite E, San Francisco, CA 94110 / 415-205-4200 

Scrap fabric made beautiful

I can't seem to throw away remnants of beautiful fabric.
Here's a few things I've turned them into in the past....

embroidered denim

Japanese fabric 

hand dyed cotton fabric 

waste tie turned mens bracelet

recently

Right after Halloween, I dove right into creating things for the holidays.
This is the third year I will be participating in a holiday event at my children's elementary school.
I set up a booth and for 3 days my main customers are children from age 5 - 12 looking to purchase gifts for family and friends. I absolutely love this event, getting to interact with children all day long. It is so much fun for me to try and think like a 'kid' and produce products that the kids may enjoy gifting.
Here are a few things I've been working on...

Arrow- hand embroidered bracelets in array of colors! 

Felt hair clips - inspired by rudolph's red nose. 

Scandinavian folk print magnets- using recycled paper

Miniature notebooks - handmade with origami cover

Monogrammed felt keychains- a bit of plush for backpacks etc. 

Leather tie tacks - recycled genuine leather, hand painted.  

handmade boxes / packaging 

woodland ornaments - hand inked, glittered, and sewed. 

Little French Girl

 This year's costume reflects Maya's dream to visit Paris France one day! This "Little French Girl" costume is made with  recycled foam board from Maya's second grade project for the Eiffel tower and deconstructed Goodwill finds for her whole outfit.

We found a striped hoodie at Goodwill and cut off the hood.
We reused the hood fabric to cover the elastic straps that attaches to the Eiffel tower.
That way she can carry the tower on her like a backpack. It camoflaged nicely into the striped top.

We found a polka dotted tutu and a red robe also at Goodwill.
We covered the tutu with strips of the red robe fleece fabric to create the poofy skirt.

I found a free baret template online and used some of the red robe fleece fabric to create this.
I added a red pom pom on top.

Eiffel tower - We transformed the foam board with grey paint, black sharpie, and glitter. I used an exacto knife to cut out the design. The Eiffel tower is architecturally incorrect, but we wanted to make it fun! We added a tea light on top with hot glue, for a "light-up feature"!

Voila! One happy little French girl!

 

Handmade mini dream catcher

We came home the other day, and were delighted to see this mini dream catcher placed at our entrance gate with a handwritten note. It was a gift from our neighbor Sally, a long time resident of the canyon who lives off the land. This dream catcher is so beautiful in person! She meticulously twisted branches to make the circle and the woven string is a delicate mauve color. The feather on the end sways with the slightest movement of air. There is nothing more I value than a handmade gift. Truly made from the heart. I want so badly to thank her, however, since she lives off the land the trick is to locate her first! I plan to give her a big hug when I see her!