Elephant and Piggie Halloween Costume

Me and 80+ blog buddies got together to bring you 80+ DIY Halloween costumes, including my Elephant and Piggie Costumes. I'm teaming up with Jamie Dorobek and her handmade Halloween costume site, Really Awesome Costumes to bring y'all tons of easy ideas to craft up DIY Halloween costumes for everyone including your pets, family costumes, and even a trunk or treat idea!

Along with my Elephant and Piggie Costumes, I'm sharing 88+ more really awesome handmade costume ideas from talented bloggers everywhere!

 

So let me say, I am crazy...

Let me finish. I am crazy about Halloween costumes. I also quite enjoy themed costumes for Halloween. This year we went with costumes that are based on book characters.

Our family LOVES the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems. Have you read those books? Oh my word, they are amazing, hilarious, and all together quite fantastic. We have almost all of them, and we read them all the time. All. The. Time.

So it was a no brainer on our Halloween O' Book Characters to dress the youngest two as Gerald the Elephant and Piggie for this Halloween.

Another reason it seemed destined to dress them as Elephant and Piggie is because Gerald, the Elephant, wears glasses and Little wears glasses. It was meant to be.

For both of the costumes I started with Butterick Pattern 3238. I used micro fleece. I altered the tail, the ears, and omitted the elastic in both costumes. The tails and ears are both made to mimic the book characters themselves. I followed then construction instructions I just changed the shapes.

The were a few components not made from the pattern.

For Gerald, I added the toenails in a lighter fleece. I cut 3 half circles for each "leg". That was 12 total. Then I sewed them on to the edge of the sleeves and the end of the splats (shoe covers).  I also made a simple trunk by sewing a tube, filling it with batting and then attaching it to a piece of fleece. Then I sewed elastic to the ends of the fleece..

For sweet little Piggie, I only added a cute but ridiculously large piggy snout. I sewed to black felt slits to the front of an oval piece of fleece. Then I attached a piece of elastic.

Did I mention anything about the cuteness?

Elephant and Piggie are a pretty good start to our Halloween O' Book Characters.

And now it's time for tons more DIY Halloween costume inspiration! Join in on the BLOG HOP! Click on the links below each collage to get the detailed instructions about how to make the costume pictured, just like mine above. Don't forget to follow the Handamde Halloween Costumes Pinterest Board for even more DIY costume greatness!   

  1. Handmade Baby Hamburger Costume 2. DIY Baby Game Boy Costume 3. DIY Minecraft Steve Costume 4. Football Brothers Halloween Costumes with DIY Pads and Onesie 5. Star Trek Halloween Costume for Kids 6. A Bee and Her Keeper 7. No Sew Magician Costume 8. Flint Lockwood Costume 9. Pinocchio 10. Marty McFly 11. Princess Wedding Dress Costume 12. Handmade Lalaloopsy Doll Costume 13. Homemade Toothless Costume 14. DIY Mermaid For Less Than $20 (No-Sew Option) 15. Easy Tinker Bell Costume 16. Mario and Luigi Go Kart Costumes 17. Dog The Bounty Hunter and Beth 18. Family Monsters University Costumes 19. Scooby Doo family costumes 20. DIY Storm Cloud Costume

  21. Cheap and Easy DIY Spider Costume 22. Easy Tin Man Costume 23. No Sew Bee Costume 24. Planet Halloween Costumes 25. DIY Cheshire Cat Costume 26. DIY Instagram Board 27. Elsa crown 28. Dog Collar Ruffles 29. DIY Pineapple Baby Costume 30. DIY Lego Movie Costume 31. Weeping Angel Costume 32. Disney Planes Costume: Dipper 33. Easy Pirate Costume 34. Easy Costume Idea - Renaissance Girl 35. 10 Minute Homemade Jellyfish Costume 36. DIY Cat Costume 37. Lucy And Ricky Costumes 38. Easy Frozen Costumes (Carrisa!!) 39. Easy Greek Goddess Costume 40. DIY Family Willy Wonka Costumes

41. DIY No Sew Maleficent Costume 42. No Sew Pineapple Halloween Costume 43. Graveyard Bean Bag Toss: Trunk or Treat Car Costume 44. DIY Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Costumes 45. DIY Raccoon Costume with Printable Mask 46. Easy WildStyle Lego Movie Costume 47. Simple Hello Kitty Costume 48. No Sew Minnie Mouse Costume 49. DIY Inspector Gadget and Penny Costumes 50. DIY Frozen Elsa Dress Baby Edition 51. Fairy Princess Dog Costume 52. DIY Hashtag Halloween Costume 53. Toddler or Baby Egg Costume 54. Easy No Sew Olaf Costume 55. DIY Baymax Costume 56. DIY Tooth Fairy Costume 57. Baby Short Stack Pancake Costume 58. Elephant and Piggie Halloween Costumes 59. Instagram Halloween Costume 60. Peter Pan & Mr. Smee Halloween Costume

   61. Wildstyle Costume from the Lego Movie 62. Fred and Wilma Couples Costume 63. Viking Family Costumes 64. DIY Cruella de Vil Costume for a child 65. Disney Frozen Olaf Halloween Treat Bucket 66. How to Make a Minecraft Steve Head 67. DIY Harry Potter Costume 68. DIY Duck Dynasty Costumes 69. No Sew Cupcake Baker Halloween Costume 70. DIY Skunk Mask 71. Ghostbusters Proton Pack DIY 72. Frozen Anna Costume Tutorial 73. Candy Corn Costume 74. Paw Patrol Halloween Costume 75. No Sew Toothless Dragon Costume 76. DIY Robot Costume 77. Wonder Woman Costume 78. Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Costume 79. Thrifted Gentleman Spy DIY Halloween Costume 80. DIY Boy Garden Gnome Costume 81. Group Costume: Bob Ross, Happy Tree, & Squirrel 82. DIY Blues Brothers Costumes 83. Snow White Costume 84. Peacock Princess Costume 85. Scarecrow Costume 86. Easy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Costume 87. Handmade Teddy Bear Costume 88. Princess Elsa and the Spy Kid 89. DIY Baby Koala costume

What handmade costume ideas did you love the most?! Be sure to click over to get the costume instructions, pin the costume, and let them know you love it! Also, follow the Handmade Halloween Costume board on Pinterest! Follow Jamie Dorobek {C.R.A.F.T.}'s board “Handmade Halloween Costumes” on Pinterest.

If you are stopping by from the C.R.A.F.T Costume Blog Hop, welcome! Stay around and check out some of my other Halloween Costume Ideas.

 

Phineas and Ferb Halloween 

 

Star Wars Halloween

Superhero Halloween

 

Toy Story Halloween

Have I mentioned I rather like themed Halloween? Haha. Well I do. Thanks for stopping by and checking out our first Halloween O' Book Characters. Keep checking back to find out what Oldest and Middle are going to be.

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Little Geranium Dress: Baby Girl Gift

I don't get to sew too many baby girl clothes over here in this house. When I get the chance, I kind of geek out. My friend just had a gloriously delicious little baby girl. I used that as an excuse to get my sewing on.

I chose to center my baby girl gift around the ever popular and always amazing Little Geranium Dress, which is a free teeny version of the Geranium Dress by Made by Rae. Rae is a pattern making genius people.

Some of you that have hung around here a bit know how I struggle with patterns. This is a great pattern. The pattern walks you through the construction and it is so clear. This is the most professional looking garment I have produced to date.

I love this dress.

I chose a heart print light denim for the main dress. The lining is a simple cotton polka dot.

I went back and forth between hot pink buttons to go with the tights or turquoise to go with the lining.

I obviously went with turquoise.

I added hot pink accents other places. How cute are these itty bitty pockets?

I also sneaked in a flash of hot pink on the inside. I used a little lace hem tape to polish off the inside.

The tights were made from one of my old shirts. I used Baby Go To Leggings pattern. This pattern is a free download. However, it only goes as small as 3-6 months, so I just sized the pattern down and made these for a 0-3 month baby. This pattern, too, is fantastic.

I made this felt bow thanks to the free template from Kiki and Company. I am pretty sure I am going make like a million more of these.

Now I just need to find some more baby girls to make outfits for. No, not my own. I guess my friends better start having some little girls.

Oh I love this dress.

Thanks Rae for the amazing pattern.

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Stained Harvest Crate

Today is the first official day of Fall. That is nature's way of saying that I can put my sandals away and get my boots out.  Since Fall is here, I can also now buy all the pretty gourds and squash that I want. My front step is just asking to be all tricked out for the Fall.

Last year I just stacked them around my front step. This year I wanted something different.

I wanted a crate. But not just any crate. I wanted a Harvest Crate.

Good news is you can now buy unfinished plain old crates at almost any craft store. The bad news is that in all their new and shiny glory they don't look very old and harvesty.

We can fix that though. All we need is a little bit of stain. 

I found this spray paint stain. Guys, it is GLORIOUS. Glorious I tell you.

You just spray it on. I sprayed on two coats.

Then you wipe it off. You spray and wipe to get the look you want. Less coverage or more coverage. You decide.

Once the stain has dried, you can stencil it. I cut my stencil out of vinyl.

I painted a light and rough coat of white paint. I did a light coat because I want it to look weathered.

Remove the stencil while the paint is still wet. Let the paint dry.

Now it can be filled with all kind of gourds and set on your front porch.

I pretty much love it. Now all I have to do is add a few more touches to complete my Fall front porch.

Oh I am so happy it is Fall. This is my favorite time of year.

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First Day of School: A Glimpse of Us

A few weeks ago we joined the masses and went back to school. It was a glorious day.

Now that we are have settled into our new school and sports and piano lessons routine, I want to share some photos and give you A Glimpse of Us and our first day back to school.

The older two headed out the door early in the morning while the two littler ones slept in.

They were pretty handsome.

They were as excited as two boys could be who had to say goodbye to Summer and hello to school.

With the older boys off to school, this handsome Little woke up excited to get ready for his first day of Kindergarten. We started the morning with donuts, chocolate milk, and sweet smiles.

The sweet smiles continued all the way to school.

I did pretty well while watching him slowly shuffle into his classroom.

In a few short hours, all three of them came home off the bus. They didn't look to worse for the wear.

In fact, I think they had a pretty great day.

Three at school and one at home. Wow, how did I get here. That is crazy.

How To Can Tomatoes

We actually had tomatoes from our garden this year. Since we had more tomatoes than we could eat, it was time to can them. You know, since I decided to can everything this Summer. Okay not everything. It just felt that way.

Canning tomatoes is one of the easiest and fastest things to can. Since it is so easy you can do smaller batches. Basically you can them as you have them, because you know not all tomatoes  ripen at the same time. They are high maintenance like that.

Good news, that is the only thing high maintenance about them.

Okay, so you have some tomatoes all ready to go. Let's start canning.

First is the preparation. Before I start canning I get everything ready. I wash the jars in hot water. I line them up on a cookie sheet and keep them in the oven set on the lowest temperature. Next, wash the rings and the lids. Then put them into a saucepan of simmering water. Keep them there until ready to use.

Now it is time to prepare the tomatoes.

Rinse off ripe and unblemished tomatoes. Lightly score the bottom of the tomatoes with an X.

Place a few of the scored tomatoes at a time into boiling water. Take them out after 30-60 seconds, or when the skin starts to pull away.

Immediately put the tomatoes into a ice water bath. Let them cool off for about a minute.

Peel off the skin, cut off the top, and core the top.

Fill a stock pot with water and set on high, to get it to a boil.

Pull a couple of jars out of the oven. They will be hot, so use a hot pad. If you are canning pints, then put in 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 tsp citric acid (or 1 Tablespoon lemon juice). If you are canning quarts then put in 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon citric acid (or 2 Tablespoon lemon juice).

Cut the tomatoes in half or leave them whole. Place them in the jar.

Ladle in some of the hot water. Fill to 1/2" head space (aka the space from the top of the jar to the water level).

Remove air bubbles. Add more water if needed.

Clean the rim of the jar with a clean rag. Remove a lid and ring from the hot water. Place lid on top and screw on the ring, until just hand tight. Do not over tighten the ring.

Place the jars in a water bath canner. Fill till water is an inch over the top of the jars. Bring to a boil and then process pints jars for 40  minutes and quarts for 45 minutes. Processing time needs to be increased based on your altitude. 1,001-3,000 ft increase by 5 minutes- 3,001-6,000 ft increase by 10 minutes- 6,001-8,000 ft increase by 15 minutes- 8,001-10,000 ft increase by 20 minutes.

When the processing time is done, turn off the stove, remove the canner lid and wait 5 minutes before removing them from the water bath. Cool and store. Only store once you have made sure the lid sealed. When you press on top of it there should be no give and it should not be able to be pushed up and down.

Then glory in all you accomplished. You deserve it.

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