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Another Big Bite

Another Big Bite

Tag Archives: diy

There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales from the glories of Halloweens long, long ago…

28 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by anotherbigbite in Nerd Alert, The "Joy" of Parenting, The Good Ole Days

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

brave, costumes, disneyland, diy, family, halloween, halloween costume, kids, merida, sewing, traditions, yeti

Another Big Bite Hal11

I could easily be listening to the song “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year” on repeat right now.  Not because I am excited that Christmas is sneaking up on me like a White Walker.  Not because I particularly enjoy Amy Grant (truth be told, her version grates on my nerves like nothing else at Christmastime – you know what I mean, Mom).  Because THIS is the most wonderful time of the year.  HALLOWEEN.

Last year, we had the best Halloween costumes EVER.  This year, I knew there wouldn’t be any way to top them.  The kids are getting older (and so are Nae and I), and getting everyone on board for one cohesive theme is… Difficult.  Which is fine.  Pretty soon, Nathan and I will be left to our (my) own devices and we’ll get to choose what to go as together since neither of us wants to dress up as a Skylander or something from Monster High.  But for now, the kids are into the things we expose them to and don’t take notice of much else.  Not having cable – not having commercials – really cuts down on the crazy shit they regurgitate from television.

Finn at the Matterhorn

Since our trip to Disneyland this summer, Finn’s Yeti obsession kicked into overdrive and he firmly decided that he would be a Disneyland Matterhorn Yeti (not to be super specific or anything).  After balking at the cost of faux fur, I opted to stick with a white hoodie with a fur hood, gloves and boots.

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And (obviously) Nathan had to be a Yeti as well.  It was either that or a mountain climber.  Not some high-speed 2014-era adrenaline junkie, but a 1950’s, Swedish, Riiiiiiiiccccccooooooolllaaaaaaa-yodeling dude in Lederhosen.  Yeti it was.

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Oh, and the eyes HAD TO GLOW.  Because they do on the ride.  And we are all about authenticity in this family.

Alice in Scottish Highlands

I did a little happy dance when Alice picked Merida from Brave.  I was dreading making that stupid Elsa cape, but a Halloween miracle occurred and she burned out on singing “Let it Go” and watching Frozen daily sometime in July.  Merida – or “Orange Mother” as Alice refers to her – is a bow-and-arrow-toting badass compared to Elsa and Anna.  Brave centers on the struggle between her and her mother (who she has turned into a bear), so when Alice proclaimed that I was to be “Orange Mother’s Mother” I had a slight panic attack over twenty thousand yards of green taffeta and me in a floor-length gown with bell sleeves.  Queen Elinor?  Christ.  Here we go.

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Not to worry.  Alice wanted me to be the bear.  Orange Mother’s Mother as a bear.  Black hoodie?  Check.  Furry ears?  Check.  Crown?  Check.  Orange Mother’s Mother as a bear? Done.  Waaay easier than Alice’s Merida dress.  Which only took me a week and a half.  Only.

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Outtake alert.  Here is Alice “hunting yetis.”  Finn is not alarmed at all.  Which is somewhat worrisome when your kid doesn’t even flinch when someone is pointing a weapon at them.

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We went to Boo at the Zoo at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  We were fully prepared for pandemonium like last year, but it turns out that it is way less crowded two weeks before Halloween and we had more than enough time to do the whole lap twice.

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We went on the Skyride for the very first time.

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We went on the carousel for the fifty-seventh time.

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And thank god that everyone recognized who the kids were.  Not that anyone who complimented Finn on his Abominable Snowman costume was politely corrected by the little man himself.

“It is a Disneyland Matterhorn Yeti.  AND his eyes glow.”

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We also got to wear them to the grade school’s Trunk or Treat on Saturday.  And on Halloween on Friday.  After that, they go into heavy rotation via the costume/dress up pile where the kids will wipe peanut butter on them and roll around in the grass while wearing them.

But that’s not the end of our Halloween story.  Oh, no.  Here in Colorado Springs, the population is a wee bit on the Jesus-loving side and lots of people don’t celebrate Halloween.  I am betting this has something to do with the bizzaro Halloween Costume/Celebration norms that have sprung up in Finn’s school.  The kids aren’t celebrating Halloween at all.  Sortof.  I dunno.  They are having “Literacy Dress Up Day,” in which a pre-approved list of (not-Halloween) costumes was passed out.  Spoiler: Yetis were not on the list.  Little Boy Blue was.  Georgie Porgie was.  Abe Lincoln was.

Whatever.

Which meant I had another costume to make.  And though I would never dream of buying a costume off the shelf, it isn’t like they have The Little Red Hen costumes at Walmart anyway.

I begged for Teddy Roosevelt.  “Round Glasses!  Mustache!  You could ride Alice’s stuffed moose!!”

Shot down.

“Oooohhh!  Three blind mice!  Mickey ears!  Sun glasses!”

Nope.

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In the end, Finn chose to be the grasshopper from Aesop’s Fable The Grasshopper and the Ants.  It took me some time to warm up to the idea, but it was more exciting than George Washington.

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And here is an action shot….

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(And Alice is quite smitten with it as well.)

(And Alice is quite smitten with it as well.)

I am bracing myself for the onslaught on post-Halloween cavities and looking toward Thanksgiving to fill the vacuum that Halloween has left in its wake.  Something tells me that construction paper pilgrim hats and handprint turkeys won’t give me the same thrill as fashioning fishing bobbers and battery-operated votives from Ikea into Yeti eyes.

But it will have to do until Amy Grant starts belting out, “its the MUUUOOOST wonderful time…. Of the YEAR” on the Christmas station.

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Biding My Time Until Halloween

31 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by anotherbigbite in I'm a Crafty Mo' Fo', Nerd Alert

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

disney princesses, diy, dress up, princess, sewing, snow white dress

alice snow white

Though I seem to repeat myself time and time again that I am not much of a “pink” person, I am a girlie-girl on a ridiculous level.  Alice wants her room painted pink? Pink bubble mower?  Nope.  But tempt me with an all-day Disney Princess marathon and I’m yours.  Whether it is an extension of my love for all things Disney World, my incredible nerdiness or my denial that dude, I’m like, an actual grownup now; who knows.  What remains is this; if I could dress up as Tiana from the Princess in the Frog on Tuesday and rock out Anna’s coronation gown on Wednesday (and have it be an accepted social norm), I’d be on my way to the satin aisle at Joann Fabrics instead of of tapping out this post.

It seems like it was just a few months back when I wondered if and when Alice would want to play dress up.  Once she tried on a twirly Cinderella gown at our local bouncy house place she was a woman obsessed.  Suddenly I was getting the evil eye from Nathan as he realized that Alice was wearing a crushed velvet, tulle and silk flowers over her jeans at Costco.

snow white dress 1

But one dress will not suffice.  As long as I have a working sewing machine and an arsenal of rotary cutters and (don’t-you-dare-use-those-to-cut-paper!) scissors, I might as put them to work.  Alice was going to get an Ariel dress, even if I had to sacrifice two nights of sleep for her to get it.

Nathan doesn’t have to remind me that I do this stuff more for myself than for the kids.  I do have to question what my outlet for girlie stuff would be if I didn’t have Alice.  The fact of the matter is it is NOT socially acceptable to run to Walmart dressed as Belle.  (How slippers, jammie pants, fishnet shirts or flesh colored leggings are deemed as appropriate Walmart gear and flouncy gold ballgowns are not – that is beyond me.)

Truth be told, the Ariel dress I made for Alice was a bit of a let-down.  Not that she cared much.  I still could not shake this image of my little lady tugging at the Snow White dress that we had her try on in Disney World last June.  Even Nathan considered forking over the enough cash to buy a week’s worth of groceries… She was THAT cute in it.  But hated it.  Now that she was older; decided to strike while the iron was hot.  This girl was going to have a Snow White gown; damnit.

dresses

I adapted this pattern (I picked it up when it was on sale for a dollar); I made the skirt a bit longer and spent more time than I’d like to admit wrestling with fusable interfacing to get the collar to pop.  I added blue satin ribbon to the red sleeves and a stripe of yellow fabric down the middle of the bodice.  Once it was finished; I realized that it HAD to have a cape; Snow White has a pink one in Disney World.  Alice would, too.  Hers attaches with velcro on the sholders and loops over a covered button in the front.  (It also hides the hack job I did on what was supposed to be an invisible zipper – win.)

photo 2

We had a total “mirror, mirror” moment the first time she tried it on…

photo 1

Now she wears it around the house singing, sweeping, making pies and playing Disneyland Adventures on the XBox with her brother.  You know, all things Snow White would do.

alice

Sure, Alice loves it.  But not as much as I do.  And I think she could totally get away with wearing it to Walmart.

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LEGO Man Pencil Holders

26 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by anotherbigbite in I'm a Crafty Mo' Fo', Party Hearty

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

crafts, diy, glass jar, lego head, lego man, pencil holder, recycle

Another Big Bite - LEGO Man Pencil Holders

We’ve been busy prepping for Finny’s 5th birthday party over here.  We’ve been making banners out of paint chips, making LEGO inspired trophies for our very own LEGO Derby and cutting out a bajillion circles out of construction paper for a large-scale LEGO backdrop.  While that sounds pretty exciting (or not), what I have spent the most time on is making all manner of yellow objects into LEGO man heads.  Yellow paper cups, yellow paper bags, yellow paint chips…

Yes.  LEGO MAN ALL THE THINGS!!

Since this is the very first birthday party I’ve ever thrown for kids, I’m terrified.  I’m taking a page out of Finn’s teacher’s playbook.  While everyone arrives, they are going to color.  It was that or play with Play Doh.  I’m sticking with colored pencils.  Which means that we needed something LEGO themed to put colored pencils in.

Sidebar…  When I started planning this shindig, I made it a priority NOT to go into Pinterest-Overdrive-Mode.  Suddenly, I am painting the inside of an empty artichoke jar.  It is a slippery slope, this birthday party shit.

photo 3

I started with two Anchor glass jars; the 32 oz ones that you can pick up at Walmart, Target or Hobby Lobby for about four dollars.  I thinned out some LEGO man colored acrylic paint and swirled around the jar to cover the entire inside.

photo 1

After sitting upside-down for a few hours, I flipped them over and let them dry overnight.

photo 2

For the faces, I printed out a few pictures of LEGO faces that I found online and used the same method to cut them out of vinyl as I did with Finn’s globe light.

photo 4

photo 5

Once all the pieces were cut out, I taped the sheet of paper I cut them out of on to the glass so I’d get the placement right.  I positioned my vinyl and poof!  Done.

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This little LEGO family has been chilling out on the windowsill in the kitchen awaiting the big day.  The kids have been on a major coloring spree lately, so they’ve already gotten some action.  I wish I had a little foresight to think about spray painting the insides…  I think it would have been a lot more durable.

For now, they are holding up well!  Next up on my list is to paint our LEGO Derby track that Nathan has been building.  I have to do something, ANYTHING to keep my mind off the fact that not a single individual has RSVP’d.  I suppose the upside to no one showing up is that I’ll have a dozen cupcakes to drown Finn and I’s sorrows.

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A Light of Global Proportions

31 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by anotherbigbite in Fixing Up the House, I'm a Crafty Mo' Fo'

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

boys room, diy, globe light, kids room, light fixture, light fixtures, Remodeling

Another Big Bite - DIY Globe Light3

Another Big Bite - DIY Globe Light2

Finn’s room has been done for quite some time, but the one thing we never got around to doing was updating his light fixture.  Finn’s was a builder’s special and hideous.  But, the light fixtures that I like are expensive…  I hate boob lights and they are seemingly the only affordable flushmount in the world.  Which is why we ended up DIYing a light fixture for him.  We had a lot of fun making his pin map, and this seemed like a logical direction to go in for his overhead lighting.

photo

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We started with a cheapie setup from Home Depot; a 4″ glass shade holder and a 8″ glass globe; which set us back about $15 total.  The holder got a nice coat of oil-rubbed bronze spray paint (which was from previous projects).

photo 1

We had silver and black vinyl lying around from a project that Nathan had dreamed up (and still has yet to come to fruition – surprise!).  I printed out a world map and got to cutting out each continent out of black vinyl.  I attached the landmasses to the vinyl with double stick tape and then got busy with my handy little embroidery scissors.  (A gift from my mom on my 21st birthday; proving that I had a mean DIY streak even then.)  I’m sure black contact paper would look just as good.

I eyeballed it for the continent to globe ratio… This globe aint going to win any cartography awards.  I started with North America, and by the time I got to Antarctica, I had to shrink it down to a quarter of its actual size.  And it is still swimming distance to Chile and Australia.  Little did you know arctic conditions now exist in South America.  Penguins have been spotted in Argentina.

photo 2

Oh dear god, someone get me some moisturizer…

photo 5

Once the continents were cut out (Russia in three pieces), I got to sticking and smoothing.  Wrapping a round object in a flat sticker is a pain, and it didn’t turn out perfect by any means.  There is a healthy crease through the middle of Africa and Russia is a major cluster fuck; I’m sure there is a meaningful political allegory in there somewhere.

But once it was up, even Russia’s problems weren’t noticeable.

photo 1 (1)

I cut a compass rose out of the silver vinyl (in 12 separate pieces) and we stuck that up first.  Nathan whipped out the compass on his phone to make sure north was really pointing north.  This, ladies and gents, is why I married the man.

Nae wired in the freshly painted fixture and we loaded it up with a CF bulb.  I’m not sure how wonderfully the vinyl countries would hold up to the heat if we had an incandescent in there.  Once the shade was on, all that was left to do was touch up the little screws that held the globe in place with some black paint.

photo 2 (1)

Even though I have checked three times with the compass and twice online – I still think the east looks weird on the left. The fact that it is on the ceiling must be what throws me off.

Finn has informed me that “I sure do like my new globe, Mom.  But I’m mad at Dad for taking away my Legos and I’m not telling him that I like it.”  So that is a plus, I suppose.  Even if we would have had to buy all the supplies we used, I doubt we would have spent more than $25.  Which about the cost of two fugly cheapie light fixtures.

Another Big Bite - DIY Globe Light

Another Big Bite - DIY Globe Light4

It is ten times better than that ugly mushroom lamp that was up there to begin with.  And two hundred and twelve times better than a boob light.

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A Day in the Life of Finn & Alice – A Typical 2013 Day

06 Monday Jan 2014

Posted by anotherbigbite in Being a Grownup, I'm a Crafty Mo' Fo', The "Joy" of Parenting

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

diy, kids, parenting, photo book, photography

book

It started as a gift for grandparents…  It was Nathan’s idea.  We had zero idea of what we would do for Christmas for our ‘rents.  Here were my qualifications for a gift:

  • Something affordable (dammit, there goes the 48 bottle wine fridge)
  • Something thoughtful (which meant that a round of winter formula windshield washer fluid was out)
  • One-size-fits-all (my 6’1″ stepfather and 5’5″ father-in-law probably would not appreciate Christmas-themed Isotoner gloves)
  • Something “from the kids” (and we’ve already given obligatory coffee mugs or mousepads emblazoned with the kids’ likenesses)
  • Something easy to ship (wow; that wine fridge really never had a chance)

All of this left me with a big, fat goose egg.  No dice; I was stumped.  Nathan thought maybe we should document a normal day in the life of the kids…. Since our parents don’t really get to see what these little monsters do when no one else (but us) is watching.

open book

It was after the fact that I realized that a regular day for one parent is VERY MUCH like a regular day for many others.  In short, our parents have already experienced this.  And they are now grandparents, and have realized what a joy it truly is to hand your grandchildren back to their parents after you’ve stuffed them with sugar, chips and toys with a bajillion little pieces.  This, however, is not something that most parents think of when they are in the trenches with their own children.

My children are unique.  And special.  And poop rainbows and cry unicorn tears.  My experience is so novel and new; there isn’t a parent in the history of the world that has been blessed with angels such as mine or the meaningful tribulations I deal with as their parent.

Riiiiight.

But in the end, all that was important was that they got a book of damn cute pics of their grandchildren.  And that it arrived on time in a standard Priority mail envelope.

A Day in the Life of Alice and Finn PAGE 2

A Day in the Life of Alice and Finn PAGE 7

A Day in the Life of Alice and Finn PAGE 19

I went around all day with my camera around my neck and went about snapping away.  This was actually the EASY part.  Once all the pictures were taken, it took me an entire day editing them in Photoshop.  Of course, if I was a better photographer, I wouldn’t have had to fake it with Photoshop.

I used Snapfish to make the books; they have their own templates that you can drop pictures in and add text, but their platform is sluggish and one of the worst I’ve encountered in the photo-book-making arena.  I opted to design the pages offline in InDesign (but Publisher or Photoshop works just as well), then upload jpegs of the whole page.  When it came to designing the photo book in Snapfish, the only thing I had to do was make sure they were in the right order.

While Snapfish is usually pretty well priced (compared to the superior Shutterfly in my humble opinion), they gouge you on the shipping.  Even though we ordered multiple books and they were all shipped to our house in one box, it was still $8 apiece to ship them.  Oooh, we’ll give you a killer deal on the books, but once we’ve got ya over a barrel when they are done, we’ll charge you an exorbitant price to get them to your door.  Nice.

We had the kids sign them (as did Nathan and I), and then sent them on their merry way with all the trappings of a well-wrapped package.

We didn’t order one for ourselves, but after they all left the house, I feel like we should make some kind of tradition of documenting one day each year.  Not for our parents (because do they really want a new book every year?), but for us.  We commemorate each year with a family yearbook, but methinks this might make a nice little companion to our annual recap of the previous 365 days.  (Shhh.. Secret: I still have not finished 2012’s book.  I’ve only gotten as far as August.)

If you care to take a peek into the monotony of Finn and Alice’s lives, you can see the whole book here.  Beware; there are many a naked baby tush in there.

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