Holiday plate

Another Pinterest project without directions.  It took a little googling to ensure I wouldn't have exploded plates or toxic surfaces when I was done, but the basic instructions were really simple.  Execution is another story, but I think it turned out well and the grandparents loved them!

Materials I used:
Porcelain plate
Craft enamel paint - red and green
sponge brush
disposable paint or tray
oven for baking

I found paint at Michaels, they've got several brands but just make sure it is an enamel paint, not just the regular craft paint.   I used Folk Art brand.  If you've got the right kind, it will have baking instructions on the back.   I found 2 Villeroy & Bosch plates at Marshalls that didn't have any lip, so they were perfect.

 

You can just stick your kids hand directly in the paint, but I've found other blogs that recommend using a brush for a cleaner result with handprint crafts.  One coverage is good for 2 or 3 handprints.  Now, this paint dries fast, so if you mess up wash it off immediately using a wet papertowel.  The upside to this is you can also just redo a partial handprint without worrying about smearing the completed part.   At Colton's age, I controlled the hand placement entirely and rotated the plate while I "stamped" his hand on it.   I followed the baking instructions on the paint and they turned out nicely.

 

 

Halloween

Time to resurrect this blog.  I've been slacking big time, and the holiday season probably isn't the best time to attempt to fix this, but I'm going to use this as a space to feed my pinterest addiction in addition to the usual family stuff.

So my original inspiration for Colton's costume was this.




Adorable, right?

So I brainstormed a little and decided that instead of using a onesie as the base, I needed something that could go over a long sleeved outfit.  After ruling out a black hoodie jacket, I settled on an old black t-shirt of Rich's.   While playing around with it, the hood piece became one of the sleeves.

 

I cut off both sleeves and made a Tshirt dress more or less, and sewed giant feather boas to it.  The comb was made from a red Tshirt leftover from last year's crab costume, with some cardboard inside for support.

 

 

The legs were pajama bottoms that I got lucky with finding on amazon...2 toned Dr. Seuss PJs were perfect!  And good old dish gloves for the feet.   The beak was orange felt with a little stuffing sewn to a pacifier.   For about a week before Halloween it didn't look like we were going to get it on him at all, but with a little distraction from neighborhood friends and Rich, we succeeded and he had a blast trick or treating.