Halloween Project Time: DIY Refrigerator Costume

This year I told my kids we need to keep the costumes manageable.  As in, this mom's not drafting unique patterns and sewing up 4 costumes every free moment in the entire month of October.  I also wasn't keen on spending a small fortune on materials.  So my middle guy decided to be a refrigerator and help make it (and enlist Dad to do the heavy lifting on this one).  Come on and have a look inside our DIY fridge!

Like the real thing on grocery shopping day, it's chocked full of food:

And unlike real grocery shopping, it cost next to nothing!  Here's our costume making story....

We started with a giant box from the basement (thanks Amazon!).  My son & husband used a plate to cut the neck & arm holes.  Dad then reinforced the interior with extra bits of cardboard and foam so it wouldn't tip forward while wearing and would be more comfortable and duck taped a piece of cardboard painted white inside the front flaps so they'd become the doors and we'd have a place to put our "food".

We saved a bunch of packaging from food to decorate the inside. Yeah, creating tons of fake food from scratch would've been cute & more Pinterest-worthy, but that was more effort & time than I had this year.  I'm still trying to recover from last year's 11th hour sew-a-thon DIY Darkwing Duck Costume that the same kid dreamt up.  Some scraps of cream colored felt cut into squares made our empty cheese package look full:

Cardstock peppers filled our produce bag:

Boxes and cartons got trimmed down as needed and glued in.  Dad cut up a foam floor mat to create sections for the freezer & fridge and added shelves by wrapping some foam pieces in aluminum tape:

To get a smooth and even exterior, large sheets of craft foam were glued on and white silicone caulk covered seams where we could add it.  

The wavy outer edges of the floor mat got trimmed up a bit too and wrapped in more tape to make the handles:

For a finishing touch I made a little Frigidaire logo out of vinyl with my Cricut and added that to the front:

To keep the doors closed, my husband added some magnets to the front inside and washers to the top corners of the doors.

Sometimes going wild on making costumes is a lot of fun, but with kids 3 getting bigger + a little one celebrating his first Halloween this year, we needed to keep the time & cost more under control.  This mom is T-I-R-E-D and doesn't want to be so busy sewing costumes that she misses enjoying the season or develop a loathing for Halloween because it equals work.  This one still took a bit more time than I anticipated (slap some stuff on a box - how hard is that? I thought), but we've got it done in time for some Halloween events this weekend and I love that it mainly used stuff we already had kicking around the house. Bring on Halloween!

Craftastic Monday Link Party

Hello Crafties!  Ready to share what fun crafts and more festive projects you've been making?  Check out some inspiring new ideas to try too.  Add new things all week long - the party's open through Friday night, so even those last minute creations are welcome:)

Last week I shared what fun fall wearables I made recently while Sewing for Baby with Euro Knit Fabric:

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Grab some free bonus advertising after linking up below, by heading over to Facebook for the Sew Can Do Craftastic Mixer to get the word out about YOUR blog or shop for FREE.
     

Share your blog or handmade/craft-related business or its Facebook page.  A new one posts every Sunday night on the Sew Can Do Facebook page at 5pm EST (the same time this link up kicks off).

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Now let's see those Craftastic Picks!

Satsuma Design showed how to make this fun pumpkin beverage dispenser - so perfect for Halloween & fall celebrations:

Celebrating Everyday Life gave us this pretty chic fall wreath tutorial:

Petals Pies and Otherwise shared this recipe for triple chocolate pudding cookies.  Yum:

Penny's Vintage House gave us a peek into her beautiful utility/laundry room.  So pretty I'd love doing laundry in there!

Frau Tschi-Tschi had this beautiful vibrant stripe crochet blanket free pattern.  I love the bright colors for fall!

My Bright Ideas gave us a cute felt toy pizza tutorial.  I love felt play food!  I'm looking forward to making this for my littlest guy when he's a little older:

If you're one of this week's features, be sure to grab my Featured On button over on my Buttons Page to share the good news. 

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Link back to the party somewhere on your blog.
I can't feature your post if you don't share the party.  
  

I also feature these projects on Sew Can Do's Craftastic Picks Pinterest board 

AND share each of them on Twitter too for even MORE exposure for YOUR blog!

Follow me there to see more great projects (and see if yours is one of them)!   

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Ready to link up your crafty creations?

 

Party rules are simple: 

• As long as it's crafty, and made by you, it's Craftastic (no links to shops, link parties or other people's work).  Add the link to your specific post. Product reviews, plagiarized or sponsored posts for random items will be immediately deleted.  
• Grab my party button & put it on your post, party page or blog somewhere.  If you want the chance to be featured, this is key.  The button code can be found HERE.
• Check out some of the other fabulous links and share some crafty comment love.  We all love getting comments!!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

Sewing for Baby with Euro Knit Fabric

Maybe I'm alone thinking this, but I'm beyond bored with all the blah hipster looking baby/kids clothes most US retail stores are all showing these days.  They all look drab and same-y and are crazy high priced for what you get.  Why would I want my 6 month old to dress the same as a 28yr old barista from Portland?!?  A baby should look like a baby! Clothes for littles should be cute & fun!  Apart from shopping exclusively at Carter's or going broke at Boden or Hanna Andersson (who is drabbing out too IMO), the only other option is to find better fabrics and make my own stuff, so here I am.  

I bought this fabric as a special order last fall from Frollein S and whipped up some comfy fun separates for my little guy.  It's a euro knit from Mamaliebchen called Mia & Max.  I just loved the mama & baby squirrel cameo on it.  It was bit too big to use when he was a newborn, but now it's ideally sized. Even when it comes to fabric options, there are SO many more cute prints available from European fabric manufacturers!  

I bought a panel & a fat half of the coordinating stripe in both the mint & rose color ways. Euro knits tends to be really wide so small cuts go a long way, which makes them more economical (as full yards can get pricey!).  The panel was 18 inches high by 60 inches wide, so the fat half of the stripe coordinate was a generous 30 inches wide by 36 inches high. Enough for several items for a baby and at least a nice long sleeved top for a big kid.

The best bit was this wasn't just a panel with one big design - it had cute branches & squirrels running the full width:

I'd been hoarding them for just the right projects and since we're in fall right now, I figured I'd better get on it or have to wait another year to use 'em.  I still have to do a top with the rose for my daughter, but the mint has been worn several times now and we love it.  I feel like I went uber European on it since it was German fabric, German thread and used a Scandinavian pattern;)

I decided to make a sweet pull-on top & pants outfit for my little guy.  The top pattern was the Pinaatti T-shirt from the 1/2010 issue of Ottobre Design.  I did the 74cm size for my 6 month old.  It's a roomy fit shirt with fold over cuffs, so it'll last for a good while.

The shirt has a fun back side as well:

Since the branches ran the width of the panel cut, it gave more visual interest than the usual back of a shirt:

I love the cute extra details like this little ladybug:

The harem pants are a pattern I made from studying a pair of baby pants I'd bought before my little guy was born.  I've used this pattern many times already and it's a super quick sew that gives lots of room so it fits for ages.  A few slightly smaller pairs I've already made have lasted from birth to now as far as fit.  I might make it into a pdf pattern and offer it in my shop since it's beginner friendly and doesn't require a serger.  Using rib knit for the fold-over waistband and cuffs gives an easy pull-on style that also grows with baby.  I'll just unfold the waist and cuffs as he sprouts more inches.  I slightly enlarged my original design, so these should fit for another 6 months+.  

Babies grow so fast and free time is so scarce for me these days that I feel that any baby clothes I make have to be able to get more than a measly 2-3 months wear.  This little outfit should last for at least double that, so I'm thrilled.   I'm definitely going to use both patterns again to make more fashion goodies.   And since the fabric cuts were so nice & wide, I've still got plenty of the mint fabric left over for another little top or a few accessories like hat & bib or burp cloth.  



I'll have to do a bit of blocking to make a matching rose top for my 9yr old with the same amount of fabric (since an 18in high panel is a little short for her) but I'm confident it'll work out well....once I get some extra time that is!

Craftastic Monday Link Party!

Happy Monday Crafty Friends!  Man oh man, has it been rainy and cloudy around here the past week!  It definitely affects the mood.  I must have food on the brain being cooped up inside since 3 of my 4 features are treats this week!  I need to see some fun crafts and more festive fall & Halloween projects to get my mood back on track, so link up all the good stuff you've got.  Add new things all week long - the party's open through Friday night.

Last week I shared a tour of my Small Space Dream Craft Room:

 ~~~~~~~
After linking up below, get some extra attention and gain more followers by heading over to Facebook for the Sew Can Do Craftastic Mixer to get the word out about YOUR blog or shop for FREE.
   
Share your blog or handmade/craft-related business or its Facebook page.  A new one posts every Sunday night on the Sew Can Do Facebook page at 5pm EST (the same time this link up kicks off).  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now let's see those Craftastic Picks!

Busy Being Jennifer created these adorable DIY fall gnomes.  LOVE them!

Home Cooking Memories shared this recipe for microwave candy corn taffy.  Such a cool idea:

The Scrap Shoppe did an incredible Harry Potter themed birthday party - the handmade spell books cake was just one of many fun things:

Adventures of a DIY Mom gave us a recipe for some perfect lemon bars.  My 12 yr old was just wanting to make these, so the timing is also perfect!

If you're one of this week's features, be sure to grab my Featured On button over on my Buttons Page to share the good news. 

 Want a Chance to 
Be Featured Next Week?  

Link back to the party somewhere on your blog.
I can't feature your post if you don't share the party.  
  

I also feature these projects on Sew Can Do's Craftastic Picks Pinterest board 

AND share each of them on Twitter too for even MORE exposure for YOUR blog!

Follow me there to see more great projects (and see if yours is one of them)!   

On Twitter: Follow @sewcandoblog

On Pinterest: Sew Can Do

Ready to link up your crafty creations?

 

Party rules are simple: 

• As long as it's crafty, and made by you, it's Craftastic (no links to shops, link parties or other people's work).  Add the link to your specific post. Product reviews, plagiarized or sponsored posts for random items will be immediately deleted.  
• Grab my party button & put it on your post, party page or blog somewhere.  If you want the chance to be featured, this is key.  The button code can be found HERE.
• Check out some of the other fabulous links and share some crafty comment love.  We all love getting comments!!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up
   

My Small Space Dream Craft Room Tour 2018!

I don't know how time has gone by so fast, but it's been 4 years since my last craft room tour!  That last one has been one of my most popular posts, so it seemed high time to open the door to my little slice of crafting heaven again and let my crafty online friends in for a new visit.  Come on in!

A little historical background on my space: the room is a former laundry room/galley kitchenette that's about 8ft x 11ft plus a 4ft x 4ft alcove. When we moved in, the alcove was a louver doored closet (sized for holding a washer & dryer) on one side and along the other wall there were a bunch of basic cabinets and a small counter with sink and a stove.  Since we have a normal kitchen and our washer & dryer are in the basement, this room was sort of a question mark as far as usefulness.  Check out these old photos from before this was a craft space and you'll see just how lackluster it was:

I think this is much better, don't you?

This catch-all, wasted former closet got cleared out:  

I migrated my plastic bins full of fabric & sewing gear out of the basement and eventually bought myself an EZ View desk from The Original Scrapbox and a padded swivel chair from Ikea to create a sewing nook.  

There's a second taller desk along the same wall for more crafting space and storage.  I saved up for a while to splurge on both desks and they were totally worth it. 

The see through tops make all the small supplies normally hidden in bins & drawers easy to spot and add some crafty beauty.  The key to keeping things organized in my limited space has definitely been my desks. They're designed to have loads of places to store craft and sewing supplies.  With 4 years of constant use, I can definitely say they were money well spent.  I haven't outgrown them and they've held up to everything I've thrown at them. Literally.   A sewing machine fell on one from a high shelf a few months ago and not a scratch!  

To keep cleaning up minimal, I make sure to always put things away in the same place. With 4 kids and a husband that all leave stuff everywhere (and almost never put things in the same place twice), I need as much help as I can get.  It saves me loads of time since I don't have to dig around looking for things or struggle to remember where something is if I haven't used it in a while.  This is especially true for things like patterns & manuals:  

The Original Scrapbox recently came out with sturdier plexiglass tote bins for the desk shelves to replace the thinner fabric totes my desks came with way back when.  New desk versions all come with these clear totes now.  They were kind enough to upgrade my previously purchased desks to those and I recut card stock fronts to decorate & camouflage the contents.  I also made some vinyl cut labels to stick on them for easy at-a-glance sorting.  Things look more up to date and stay well contained:

I still do all my oven baking with the stove in the room and half the cupboards house various cooking and baking items I don't have room to store in my kitchen. 

I made a less-than-useful sink into a built-in ironing surface by removing the faucet and cutting a piece of MDF to fit the sink lip. I upholstering it with Insul-Bright™ and a layer of cute canvas fabric on top. Since it rests in the lip all the way around the sink it's perfectly lined up with the counter for extra workspace. This little DIY has worked great over the years, is the perfect spot to use my Cricut Easy Press for heat transfer projects and has saved me a bundle by not needing to get a new counter (not to mention no longer needing to drag an ironing board in & out of this tiny space). 

To maximize the remaining space (aka the one wall left), I added white bead board shelves for storing & displaying my smaller supplies like ribbon & beads:

I still have spool racks mounted to the wall next to my sewing desk:

and a big revolving thread rack to store all my other threads neatly next to my Brother PE-770 embroidery machine. Not only do they add some color & a bit of themed decor, but they make it easy to find exactly what I need for a project instead of digging through bins like I used to.  With baby #4 having joined us this year, saving time and keeping things as neat as I can is a must!

Another new thing is that I now share the space with my 9 yr old daughter these days - she's taken over the cabinet under the sink area to keep her own scraps, mini dress form and sewing machine in so she can "work" with me when I'm sewing.  We're still trying to organize her things a bit better, so details on that to come, but the new sewing machine she got for her recent birthday will fit right in decor wise:

We did a sewing themed birthday party for her this year, so many of the props I made have found a home in my craft space, like the DIY giant thread spool storage canister on this shelf.  It's also where I keep fabric and craft books in my sewing nook:

Another improvement to my space has been this little guy, a ScrapMaBox shelf that The Original Scrapbox gave me to try out:

Before I got this organizer, I kept small notions in a drawer of my sewing desk.  Over time the drawer got fuller & fuller and I was constantly sifting through stuff to find things.  If I kept them in containers it looked neater, but meant I had to dig through those instead just the drawer.  Now that I've got this helper, all my little things like pins, needles, marking pens and seam ripper have their own mini shelves and I can see and grab them in an instant.  It's sized so that I can also fit it inside one of the main shelves of my desk if I want, but I like having it right on top, easy to spot.  



It's given me more storage room in my drawer now & doesn't look like a mess anymore:

It's also given me the perfect place to display my whimsical pincushions:

The shelf above my sewing desk is one I'd repurposed from a guest bathroom ages ago. It's still great for my sewing-themed knick knacks like a vintage Strawberry Shortcake figurine sewing, some My Little Pony sewing character figurines, my sewing machine USB drive: 

I'm trying to figure out a few ways to squeeze even more into my space now that I've got a junior crafter eager to join me, but overall I'm pleased that the set-up I've been using has worked so well for so long.  As much as I'd love a giant room for all my crafting endeavors, this cozy space is still a dream for me:)

I was not financially compensated for this post.  I received a ScrapMaBox & totes from The Original Scrapbox to customize as I desired and review.  All other items referenced were purchased by me.  The opinions are completely my own, based on my honest experiences.