white homecoming dress

Sorry I forgot to take before pictures.  This was a dress my middle daughter got the summer of 2013.  It was donated to a church close swap.  What is a clothes swap you ask.  It is where you take your gently used clothes that you have out grown and trade with other people for sizes you fit into anything left over is donated to local thrift stores.  This dress was there ( actually is is a skirt and corset).  I took the embellishments off of it which had been six red roses and a few (about 30) red seed beads.  Thus leaving the dress almost totally white except for the red tie on the back.  I then repaired the damage to the dress and started to sew on white roses with green accent leaves and silver roses I also sewed on white sequin snowflakes. So the dress cost nothing except thread, flowers and sequins. It still retains the original red tie on the back may change that to white not sure as it does not bother me.

on a side note we also just used this dress in the play the wizard of Oz as the snow that fell on the poppies.  We had a ballerina dance across the stage with white disco lights going to represent snow.

We were given a wedding slip the summer of 2014 which happens to work well with this outfit length wise.  It too needed to be repaired where it had separated from its elastic.  So yet another part I did not have to pay for except for thread.

The head piece I made about a year ago just never posted on my blog.  when I got finished with the dress my daughter ran to my room to grab it from my dresser.  She was excited to add all the pieces together.  She also added the white shirt for modesty purposes.

Her hair  will be fancier for the dance but it is still a few weeks away so this was just her trying it on to see how it fit.

The play is done

The play is done and we all survived.

I had 2/3 of my children ill during the play.  All three of my daughters were in this play it was fun to be with them and watch them learn and grow. One had to learn to tap dance and do this while being tech crew chief and an actor in the play a dancer and a singer.  Another was singing and acting  all while going in and out of the hospital.  The third had the easiest time which was not easy and just had a stomach bug. It was not the easiest thing for us this go round as I said above I had a few ill children.  But as always we did enjoy it.  I would say lots of miracles happen during this play too many to go into.  The main tin man got sick and had to be replaced.  We had no understudy.  The young man who stepped in had two days to learn all the lines , songs, and marks and all and he did it God is amazing in what he can do to help us.  Another student rolled maybe tore a ligament and still went on.  I am not in the photo as I am  the one taking it so do not look for me in it I am not there.  There was almost not an actor on stage that I did not either make, loan or repair a costume or several for.  I did not do much with most of the munkins as we borrowed those.  The only munkins I did costuming for was my own daughter and the yellow brick road I did modifications on yes ours was a human not painted on the ground.  She would dance and the foursome would follow her thus follow the yellow brick road.  My daughter (  7th grade) was one tall munkin at 5 feet 5 inches much taller than Dorthy who was a (10 grader). My children I believe are born in reverse height order the oldest is the shortest and the youngest will be the tallest when they are all done growing  Thanks to all who came and supported the students made it all the more fun.

Wizard of Oz

Yep it is musical time again and all three of my kids are in the play.  Not leading roles but fun rolls: 1 monkey, 3 Ozians', 1 munchkin, 1 jitterbug dancer/singer, 1 jitterbug singer, 2 poppies... and as always all tech crew.

I helped a tiny bit with costumes and I do mean a tiny tiny bit this year. I have had a lot of family things I have had to do that has kept me away from doing as much as I use to.

 I made

•  my kids costumes
•  the poppies skirts
•  the trees
• loaned Glenda's dress and modified it
• 1 munchkin
• 1scarcrow head
• loaned shirt to tin man and face paint
• loaned bow tie wizard
• loaned spider and face paint witch 
• repaired lots of poppy flowers
• repaired Dorothy's dress
• reworked 3 raven masks made beaks yellow to make them more crow like and loaned

  I am sure I will repair more before the play is done .  Still figuring out parts of things for the Ozian's for my kids so the photos are works in progress.

Haunted cookie house

My youngest daughter made our haunted house this year.  We usually do it together but I was busy and she wanted to do it.  She did this yesterday while  I was running errand with my middle daughter.  The oldest decided she would sort of help and did one cobweb and the tomb stone.

Life has been a little crazy busy as of late I hope to be back to blogging soon but that is how life goes.

perserving a pumpkin at halloween

After you scoop out and carve your pumpkin, dip it in a large container of bleach and water (use a 1 tsp:1 gal mix). The bleach will kill bacteria and help your pumpkin stay fresh longer. Once completely dry, (drain upside down), add 2 tablespoon of vinegar and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to a quart of water. Brush this solution onto your pumpkin to keep it looking fresh for weeks.