A Costume for Con-Man

Halloween is here! I couldn't be more excited about dressing up little Con-Man in a Halloween Costume. I had a hard time deciding what he could be. He's a little young to be into characters on TV so I did a little searching. I loved the costumes the Pottery Barn Kids had this year.

My favorite one is the Dalmatian!! So cute!

As usual though I wasn't loving the price. It seemed like a simple enough design and I thought I could tackle it myself. I bought some black and white fleece at the fabric store, 1/2 yard of each, and some white yarn for the stitching around the spots. 

Since I didn't have a pattern to go by I traced some of his clothes to get an approximate size. I added an inch around the whole shirt to leave room for the hem. I made 2 of these pieces.

For the bottom I added about 8" to add some extra length.

I did this because the Pottery Barn costume was fluffy and fat at the bottom. After I cut out both pieces I sewed them together leaving the bottom open. I them folded the bottom in on itself and stuffed it pillow stuffing to get the fluffy look, then sewed it closed.

To make the spots I just traced a few different size cups, cut them out and used fusible webbing to iron them on.

To finish it off I hand stitched the white yard around the spots and added a red collar. Overall pretty simple and a lot less expensive than the one in the store and way cute.

I had made some ears for him as well but he absolutely refused to wear them longer than 2 seconds.

Have a Happy Halloween!!

Guest Blogger: Kaysi from Keeping it Simple

I am so excited to have Kaysi from Keeping it Simple guest blogging today! She runs one of my favorite blogs and I am so honored to have her here today. Thanks Kaysi!

Hello everyone! I am super excited to be here with you today!!

Let me introduce myself, I'm Kaysi

from Keeping It Simple.

Here are a few things about me:

I am the mother of three boys, ages 5, 3 and 1 and a little girl on the way

I have been married to an amazing man for 7 years

I love chocolate!!

I love color, green is my favorite but brown and blue are up there

I like to keep things simple, not overdo them

When I get a spare moment, I love to craft or look at crafts

Each day of the week, I have something different.

Motivate me Monday, that's where I have link party and you get to show me all the cute things that you have done.

Tutorial Tuesday, I give a tutorial of a craft that I have done

Whatever Wednesday, this is my day that I put anything up.

Scrapbook Thursday, this is the day that I post a scrapbook idea or give a scrapbook tip

Fridays are the days that I do Blog swaps with other bloggers.

Here are a few things that you can see at my blog:

Autumn Blocks

Car Seat Redo

Flower Shirt

Chalkboard Dresser

Toilet Paper Pumpkin

Basket Lining

Scrapbook ideas

You should stop on by and see what else I have!!

Thanks for having me today, it's been a pleasure!!

New Products

I'm done with Con-Man's Costume but I haven't been able to take pictures of him in it. So I'll post those soon but in the meantime here's a little eye candy for you. 


I was reading the latest Interior Design Magazine and they shared some of their favorite new products and I thought I'd share some of them with you!


I love this chair by Boex 3D Creative Solutions. The seat and back are made of willow branches and the frame is made of oak. It looks like it would be nice to sit and rock in on a patio or sunny room.

This light fixture by Bureau Pure'. It's called Wrapped Glass and is made of laboratory beakers. It reminds me of the light fixtures I posted about a few weeks ago. Isn't it cool?

And check out this wall covering that lights up! It's by Camilla Diedric and has lots of nature inspired images and colors. If you don't want a lighted wall it does come in paper that doesn't require a light source.

And in the interest of being Green, check out these clay tiles from Tegular that have solar panels built in. How cool is that? You can get your roof and solar all in one.

And I love anything by Ann Sacks. These tiles are made of Obsidian and I love them in the herringbone pattern.

And finally I thought these drawer knobs from Top Knobs were cool. They're made of crystal with brushed satin mounts and I think they're gorgeous!!

Hope you all have a great Halloween Weekend!

Dining Room Dreams

Lately I've been going on and on about changes I want to make to my dining room. I wanted to change the lighting and a new dining set, ect.

All these thoughts have been floating around in my head for some time now. It's hard to explain the look I'm going for- I want to mix vintage items with contemporary pieces. I love some of the items I already have but am ready for some new things as well. I finally got around to putting my thoughts down on paper and am interested to know what you think.

Some of the items may not end up being the exact thing I end up with but it's a start. I love the stained glass window I have hanging above the console table. I bought it back in high school for $30. One of the glass pieces was missing but I was able to find one that was similar to replace it with. It had white paint which I stripped off and stained with a dark stain. I'm partial to it and don't want to get rid of it.

The console table we have now doesn't do much for us in the name of storage. I'd like something with some doors and drawers. We don't have a lot of storage in our 1930's home so gaining some extra through furniture would be nice. I haven't decided if I want to go ultra contemporary like the white one I have shown or do something with some wood and metal like this one:

I love the metal and wood dining table. Though I think I'd like the metal legs to be raw steel, not painted in any way. A large vintage door would be awesome as the top! I've been searching Craigslist and Antique stores for deals but haven't found any yet. I've also been on the hunt for the rest of my dining chairs. I found this guy last week and am looking for some friends for it:

I think having a mix of chairs in the same style, upholstered in the same fabric would be pretty cool. I'd love to find a bold graphic print to use. I like the one with the dots from Knoll above.

Finish it off with a clean contemporary light fixture and I think I'm in business. 

Any thoughts? I always get these crazy ideas in my head and never know quiet how they will turn out!

Further Fallification

Since I had such a good time decorating for Fall last week I thought I do a little more this weekend. I've seen a lot of these crocheted pillows around this season and liked them a lot, but as usual I wasn't digging the prices.

Like these at Pottery Barn:

I hit up my local thrift store and found this sweater instead. It was only $3 and in really good shape. 

I still had the sewing machine out from when I was making Con-Man's costume, so I got started right away. I used my existing pillows as a guide to make a pillow cover out of the sweater. I simply laid the pillow inside the sweater and cut around the edges of the pillow.

Then I pinned it and sewed it up! Pretty simple.

Since I want it to be a slip cover I can take off for the spring I didn't sew it completely closed, only loosley hand stiched the opening shut.

Finished! This doesn't take to long and makes a big difference from the spring green I had before.

I was hoping to make at least 2 covers out of the one sweater but there wasn't quite enough fabric for both my pillows. So I'll have to do some more searching and find a second sweater similar to the first one I found. 

Hope you're all having a fantastic fall!

Linking Up to The CSI Project!

Latest Craigslist Find

I don't know if I've mentioned my obsession with Craigslist before; but it's true I'm a Craig Junkie. I bought several items for Con-Man's room from Craigslist (crib and dresser- $250 for both!), furnished our garage apartment for cheap, and we've sold a bunch of stuff on Craigslist too.


Well my latest find is my favorite so far. I love Mid-Century Modern Design. You may not be able to tell by looking around our house since most of what we have is family hand me downs, but slowly but surely we are updating the house to fit our taste. I've been thinking about updating the dining room lately. I was so excited to see this guy for sale the other day:

It's solid walnut, the lady got it from an estate sales years ago and was ready for a change. She sold it to me for only $30! I love the detailing-

And it's in great shape, just needs an update on the seat cushion. My plan is to try and find another chair that is similar and a set of 4 that are the same. Then upholster them in the same fabric. I'd like to find a unique table to go with them. Our table we have now only seats 4. It would be nice to have one that fit at least 6 so when we have company over people don't have to eat on the couch.

But for now it's hanging out in the corner just chillin until I find it some friends. I'm so excited about it though!

What's your favorite Craigslist find? Are you a Craigslist Junkie?

Future Coffee Table Progress

So you may or may not know that I have been lusting after this coffee table for some time now. However the price is way out of my limit for spending on furniture. So I had this brilliant idea to try and make one for myself.

I even went on a reconaissance mission to check it out in person to see how it was made. As you know that mission was a failure. But after studying the picture I have an idea of how it might be put together and drew up some plans-

Coffee Table Large

Coffee Table Small

And while I was studying up and doing my research I came across this table on the Viva Terra website. I like the simple design, it's the along the same lines as the first one I saw but might be easier to make. The top is made of recycled railroad ties; which is cool. I don't think I can get a hold of any old railroad ties but I bet I can make something that looks similar.

So while I was drawing up plans for the first table I drew some up for this one as well. 

Coffee Table Large

Coffee Table Small

I really think I am leaning towards this one as a favorite because:

A. I like how it feels more open and not as bulky

B. I think it would be easier to make

I don't have a lot of experience distressing wood but I think I can give it a good try. I think it would be easier to make these than it was to make my end tables. So in about a month or so I'm going to go for it! Wish me luck, I think I'm going to need it!

On a side note I had posted about the agate stone I had bought and was planning to make some necklaces out of the slices. I was semi positive my I could use my Dremel with the Diamond Drill bit to drill the hole. I mean, it has diamond on it; the strongest stone right? Wrong. It barely made a dent. 

I haven't given up yet though. A lot of my projects go like this, I just need to approach it from a different angle. I need to find a tungsten drill bit and try that. I'll let you know how it goes!!

Am I the only one who has projects go awry? Does anyone else lust after things you see in magazines, and try to figure out how to make them?

Hope your having a great week!

Finally some Fall

It's finally starting to feel like fall here in Texas (if you call 80 afternoons fallish). Either way I finally got around to doing some fall decorating. I thought it was about time since fall doesn't last to long around here.


I had seen some painted pumpkins on Apartment Therapy and thought it would be something fun and different to try over at our house.

I used some leftover spray paint and tape to get started.

I taped it up and spray painted away.

Peeled back the tape and got this! And while I was at it I thought I'd spray paint some other stuff around the house.

I also cooked up some Shrimp Etouffee to celebrate the cooler weather. (Sorry I didn't get to take a "pretty" picture, we were to busy digging in!) 

How are you celebrating fall at your house?

Linking here