the queen of hearts

Sophie did not want to wear her angel of death costume for a third year and I don't blame her.  So, she came up with the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland.  Now my girl does not like any cutesy costumes they need to be weird, scary or just plain odd.  This look hit two of those. 
I did not use a pattern but found an inspiration photo and went from this:

I started with a pile of stuff: black and red fine tulle for the outer skirt, black stiff tulle for the underskirt, a black t shirt, some white tulle for the collar, felt and some trim.

Tulle is a pain in the butt to work with.  It slides all over when sewing it.  And with many layers it is even more difficult to do.

The original had harlequin ribbon.  It was a key part of the look.  We hit all the craft and fabric stores in town but no ribbon was to be found.  Heck not even any harlequin fabric could be found.  So, I had to make my own.  It was more difficult figuring out how to draw it then to get it all done.  I used plain white cotton and then colored the harlequin with Sharpe marker.  The equivalent to duct tape - works in a pinch always :)

 The first fitting was going well.

 I finished it while Sophie was at school.  It looks good to me..

It looks great on my dress form - Josephine.  I hope it looks even better on Sophie.

We shall see how it fits her. 

a halloween day look for sophie

The schools here in Texas do not allow costumes to be worn on Halloween.  Total bummer I know.  In NC you can wear a costume but it has to be a character from a book - non scary and no weapons.

With that being the case the girl needed an outfit to wear to show her Halloween spirit.  She had outgrown her t shirt from last year- but wait- big brother outgrew his too. 

I raided the fabric stash..yes I have a healthy stash of someday I'll do them projects.  :)  I found some black and white zebra print and orange polka dot.

Just whip up a pleated skirt to add to the bottom of the t shirt and make a big bow to go on the bun and voila- we have a Halloween spirit outfit.

The girl is a fashion diva.  She loves to work her stylin' magic.
Looking good Sophie. 

a bit of halloween decor- sophie style

Since we moved all the home decor back to NC the house was a bit sparse here for Halloween.

That is until Sophie got bored a couple of days and made us some decorations.

She took an old book and made a pumpkin by cutting it and then dying the edges orange.  She also added a nice lime green stem.  Then she stole a roll of toilet paper and covered it with tissue paper and added more lime green for the stem and tendrils.  She also made a tiny bat from a toilet paper roll.

Last but not least she made a mummy out of a box and toilet paper.

I'd say she did an amazing job and the pumpkins can stick around for Thanksgiving too.
Thanks Sophie.

4th grade program - Sophie

How to make an apple pie...
that was the theme of the 4th grade program.  Where you go in the world to get the ingredients all done in song.

Spin Sophie and Lilly Spin...

This is her boyfriend this year- Jake.

The girl sure does have sass in the dance department.  Gotta love it.

Flag Football Season 2

Jack was excited to play flag football again this year.  He has no desire to play tackle football so this will be his last year playing.  Go Broncos!!!

Love this little guy.

Back to school. 6th & 4th

Its that time of year- back to school.

Jack is hitting up 6th grade.

 Sophie is hitting up 4th grade.

I think they will have a great last year in Texas.  Go get 'em kids.

Some creativity time- Kid style

This summer was long- we are used to Tramway year round school of only 5 weeks off in the summer.  This 12 weeks off makes it a very loooong time.  And kids get bored quickly, especially with it so hot here in Texas that being outside is hard to do for very long.
Enter creativity time.

Sophie felt the plain composition books required for school were just that - plain.  She worked on glamming hers up some.

She wanted a chevron pattern.  So we worked on how to make the template.

Next it was her time to cut various colors and work them out on the book. 

I think it is coming along great.

Jack is not so much into crafts but the boy does love nutella and lava cakes.  So we researched how to make them and then he went at it.

My junior chef sure is cute.

Now tell me doesn't this look ah-maz-ing?

Look at the ooey gooey awesomeness of flavor.  And they were so good.