First Round of Halloween Costumes

This year, the kids have two Halloween costumes. Their main costume, which was chosen by Oliver, will only work for trick-or-treating (to be debuted on Halloween!). So, I decided to make them each a costume they could wear for other Halloween costume festivities! Here they are in their finished costumes.

Oliver is a "chef explorer," which is really a cross between Indiana Jones and a chef. We got the idea from Sesame Street! In one episode, Elmo is a chef explorer who goes down to "Nacho Picchu" and has to make guacamole in the "Temple of Spoons." Oliver loves that episode! So, here he is dressed as a chef explorer, complete with some measuring spoons and a mixing spoon. He was a little disappointed that I didn't have an onion for him to carry around.

Joanna is dressed as Amelia Earhart. I thought about trying to borrow a wagon to decorate it as an airplane, but that hasn't happened yet. Maybe I'll get around to it this week, but probably not!

I made the chef explorer hat pattern up by myself, but the aviator hat (free pattern!) came from the Little Sticky Fingers blog. It's for newborns, so I had to mess with it a bit to get it the right size. Both of their jackets came from this pattern by Patty Davis (pattern price is $8), but the pattern didn't work well for me. I had to make a few mess-ups and really tweak the design to get it to work. I was happy with the finished product, though!

The Little Turkeys

I've spent so many weeks making monster hats for friends and family. It got me thinking of last year, when I sent out a number of turkey hat packages to my friends and family. They all posted cute photos of their little ones wearing the hats. I thought I'd share a little collage of all the little turkeys from last Thanksgiving. 

Giveaway: Monster Hats

Roar! That's what Jo says when she wears the cute little monster hat that I made her. I've been busy making these crochet monster hats all month! I saw these on Pinterest and just had to buy the pattern on Etsy to make some of my own. If any of my readers crochet, you can find the pattern on Etsy here for $4.99 from Emie Grace Creations. Some of the ones I made are for family, and some will be favors for the kids' birthday party at the end of October. Two are for my blog readers! Read below to learn how to enter to win one.

This is my cheesiest monster:

Here's my little ham wearing her monster hat and her Day of the Dead (Dia de Muertos) dress.

This giveaway is open to anyone with a mailing address in the US (I'm not mailing out of country; sorry!). Just leave a comment below with your email address, as well as your first choice in hat and your second choice in hat.

You can enter from now until this Saturday, September 7, at 9pm MST. I will use a random number generator to choose two separate winners. I'll email the winners sometime Saturday night, and the winners will have until Tuesday, September 10, at 10am MST to get back to me with a mailing address. If I don't hear from the winners by then, I'll choose an alternate winner. I will ship out the hats snail mail sometime that same week to get them to the winners in time for fall!

Here are the hats I have for the winners to choose from (size description is below). The pink one doesn't have a face yet (oops!), but it will be finished by tomorrow.

I have the following colors and sizes of hats for the winners to choose from (please indicate your first choice, and then your second choice in case the first winner picks the same one):

1 purple hat that fits babies approximately 6-12 months old

1 silver hat that fits babies approximately 6-12 months old

1 green toddler hat (fits toddlers approximately 12 months through 2T)

1 pink toddler hat (fits toddlers approximately 12 months through 2T)

1 yellow little kid hat (fits kids approximate 3-4 years old)

1 red little kid hat (fits kids approximately 3-4 years old)

To have an extra entry, follow me with Google Friend Connect (you'll find it on the right-hand side) and leave a second comment letting me know you're a GFC follower.

Good luck to all who enter, and two winners will receive an email from me on Saturday!

Andrew's New Hat, Made by Me!

Just before our flight to Scotland, Andrew realized the only hat he'd brought with him was a German soccer hat. He wasn't sure how well that would be received in the UK, so I decided to quickly whip up a hat with the yarn I'd brought with me for the flight.

I used a free pattern that I found on the Lion Brand website here. I have no idea what colors I used, as one was leftover from the turkey hats I'd made and another was from a yarn beard I've been working on. I thought the hat was really easy to make, and it only took me a few hours. I had to add about half a dozen rows, though, because the pattern just wasn't anywhere near long enough (or else my husband just has a big head.

Here are a few photos of him in the finished hat in Scotland!

Giveaway: Turkey Hats

What's the point of having kids if you don't dress them in hilarious outfits every once in a while? I've been busy all week crocheting some turkey dinner hats. I made some for my kids, and I made two extra to give away on my blog! I think they're so funny and cute; I'm determined to make more to give as gifts to some loved ones in my life. 

Read below to learn how to enter this toddler turkey hat giveaway.

Homemade Panda Hat

My mom's work friend, Stephanie, crocheted a panda hat for Joanna. I love panda bears. It's the perfect gift! I just had to take some pictures to show it off.