Fall!

School started this week, which can only mean one thing: Fall is on its way!

I love fall! It is my absolute favorite season!

I love the light jacket weather, the falling leaves, the cool nights, wearing scarfs, drinking hot chocolate, going to football games (don't even like football, I just like going to the games)...and I LOVE Halloween!

Halloween is still 75 days away, but my mind is already racing with ideas for Thing 1 and Thing 2's costumes!

(An aside: My sewing machine is currently in the shop. Quelle dommage! But, it should be ready sometimes in September, so I should (knock on wood!) still have plenty of time!)

Before I think about the coming costume, I would like to review their costumes of past:

2007: Thing 1 and Thing 2

2008: Bert & Ernie
(This is definitely my least favorite costume, but they were 1.5 and really wouldn't have worn a wig, a hat, makeup etc...so we went very simple)

2009: Rock stars!

2010: Thomas the Tank Engineers

2011: Ketchup and mustard

So what do you think they'll choose to be this year?

They love playing Angry Birds on my phone...so maybe:

We could even get our new puppy into the fun...

They love Cars 2...so maybe: 

Or

They loved watching the Olympics, so maybe...

Or on second thought, maybe I could get Superman to do this one! ;)

Whatever we choose, I feel like nothing can beat the ketchup and mustard. We got sooooo many people staring and complementing us on that one. It was so simple, yet original, and everyone loved it! (Props to Thing 1 and Thing 2, because they came up with the idea all on their own!)

Hmmm...about 60 days left to decide!

Update:

The boys decided they wanted to be dogs. Thing 2 wanted to be a "red dog" and Thing 1 wanted to be a "rainbow dog." Not my favorite costumes ever, but the boys loved them!

Baseball Bat Coat Rack

One of the first things I added to my Boys' Room Re-do Ideas pinterest board was this baseball bat coat rack from Potterybarn ($75):

We decided to make our own version.

1. I asked Superman's dad to dig in the basement for one of his old wooden bats. He brought me a very old one with a small crack in the back (making it unusable). The color was not great, so I cleaned it really well, then put a quick coat of stain on it from just a random can we had in the garage. ($0).

You could choose to spray paint if you want a bolder color.

2. Then we ran to Menards and picked up some all purpose hooks: three packages of 2 hooks at $4 each.  ($12)

And a pack of hangers from the picture hanging sections. ($3).

3. Then we measured out then drilled 6 holes evenly across the bat. Then we screwed the all purpose hooks in. (We did have to cut down two of the hooks for the skinniest area/handle of the bat.)

4. Then we attached the hangers (show above) on the back.

5. The hung the bat.

6. Then hung the boys' robes and towels on their new baseball bat coat rack!

Voila!  Total cost: $15.  Total time to make: about an hour.

Removable TShirt Throw Pillows

Hi! Remember me?

Since my last post, I....

• finished my online class
• took a vacation to Myrtle Beach
• went school supply shopping
• have been watching lots of Olympics
• am trying to enjoy the last days of summer by spending a lot of time at the pool! 

Unfortunately, that means I haven't had a lot of time to craft.  Actually, my craft table became the "pile everything here that needs to eventually be dealt with" spot, and for about two weeks I couldn't have told you what color it was...but this morning I finally cleared it off!  Yay!

Todays project: Tshirt throw pillows to match their quilts.

A few weeks back, Superman happened on a box of miscellaneous baseball tshirts in the basement.  At the time, I was actually a little ticked off, since I had actually had to go to goodwill and buy extra tshirts in order to make the quilts the right sizes.  He found enough shirts that I wouldn't have needed the goodwill shirts! Which upset me because #1 I wouldn't have had to pay for those shirts (sure they were $1-$2 a piece, but that adds up!) and #2 I had wanted as much of the quilt to be authentically OUR shirts as possible. But oh well...he suggested I make ANOTHER baseball quilt to take to the minor league games with us (for sitting on in the outfield) which would actually be good advertisement if I really want to start selling them. 

But, before I did that, I wanted to pull two out and cover the throw pillows from their old beds.

Here's how they came out...

I've made tshirt throw pillows before, but not removable covers.  I've since decided I should only ever make them removable...because, um, I have kids!  So these are removable.

I was going to write a whole tutorial on how to make this, but a quick google search and I found this great tutorial which is very similar to what I did. So, I decided not to reinvent the wheel. :)

But I will add the two things I did differently, that I would suggest if you are making one out of tshirts.

1. Quilt the top. Tshirts (especially if they've been worn) can be pretty thin, so I quilted mine with some scrap white jersey I had and some super light batting.

2. Double up the flaps. In the tutorial given, her flaps are a single layer with a hem...I actually double mind up, so that they were sturdier.

I can't wait to post some pictures of the finished room soon!