Pup Sweater

My pup gets a haircut tomorrow, just as it's starting to get really chilly outside. Yesterday, north of my area, snow was already falling - and Halloween hasn't even arrived! It's probably going to be a cold winter so my short hair dog will need something to keep him warm during our early weekday morning walks. So, the easy dog sweater project is what I completed this morning, along with a few chuckles when I tried it on my dog :)  Check out the link (above) for easy-to-follow directions.

I started by measuring my dog's neck, torso, and torso length , and then divided the neck and torso width measurements by 2 (since there will be a front and a back material). I used newspaper for the pattern. I found the vertical center of the paper, then measured 1/2 of each measurement from that line, connected the neck and torso and had my pattern. I used that pattern to trace onto a sweater (the same pattern can be used for the back piece, just w/out the leg holes). The pattern's bottom needs to meet up with the bottom seam of the sweater (one less edge to sew up).

From the sweater, I cut off the neck and arm cuffs, and put them on the pooch for a trial run.

Then, I just did some sewing to attach the right sides of the front and back material and then the cuffs. Again, check out Resweater's dog sweater tutorial for detailed directions.

 True, the pooch doesn't look too excited, but come tomorrow when he's shaved down, I'm sure he'll appreciate my craftiness....

THANKS to Rhinestone Beagle for featuring my pooch on their link party!

Sunday Show-off

My owl costume is featured on Show Off Sunday.  How fun! Blogging has been such a great way to get new ideas, and also share. So happy that the owl costume was liked!

Pumpkin Custard Crunch

I'm ready to try this recipe this week - pumpkin, crunch, Mmmmmmm.

Pumpkin Custard Crunch from Gooseberry Patch

29-oz. can pumpkin
3 eggs, beaten
2 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 t. cinnamon
14-oz. can sweetened
    condensed milk
1 c. milk
2 t. vanilla extract

Mix pumpkin, eggs and spices well; stir in condensed milk, milk and vanilla.  Pour into a greased 13"x9" baking pan. Make crunch topping (ingredients below).

Crunch Topping:

3 c. quick-cooking oats, uncooked
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. cinnamon
1 c. walnuts or pecans, crushed
1 c. margarine, melted

Stir together oats, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nuts. Pour melted margarine over top; toss to mix. Spoon crunch topping over pumpkin mixture.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes, until a knife comes out clean. Watch carefully so that topping doesn’t burn. Serve warm. Makes 9 to 12 servings.

Spooky Boo-nanaTreats

How cute - Boo-nanas. Not only a sweet and spooky treat, but a bit healthy, too.

What a hoot!

I decided on the owl costume and it was a big hit. Looking forward to wearing it when handing out candy to trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. I can say, "Whooooooooooooooooo are you?"

The costume was pretty easy to make. I purchased one black long sleeve t-shirt from Target and four fat quarters for the feather fabric. It only took about an hour to cut out the feathers, using the template from Alphamom's post. I paired the top with a black with white stripes skirt that I picked up at the resale shop.

Starting at the bottom of the shirt, the feathers were pinned and sewn on in straight lines. It really didn't matter if a perfect line was made. I'm sure real owl feathers aren't even. Once at the top, I attached the final feathers in a curve to match the collar (a bit above the collar's edge) and then tried the shirt on to see where I need to attach any extra feathers. (I only had to attach a matching white feather on each shoulder.)

The eye mask is also from Alphamom's blog. I printed it out in color (from Alphamom's PDF file), laminated it with sticky laminate (the peel-off kind one buys at office supply stores), and then scotch taped the eyes to a pair of sunglasses. (The center of the eyes were cut out after lamination.) I wasn't able to wear the glasses all night (it was difficult to see) but on top of my head, the eye mask was still visible and cute.

The finished product was a big hit and I received many compliments - mostly from hunters who commissioned me to sew ghillie suits - one being my husband. Looks like I'll be busy this fall :)

What to wear?

I think I found my costume for this year....Care Bear!

Or I could adult-i-fy this owl idea...

Chicken Wire Ghost

How cool is this for a backyard - a ghost. Spooky!

Happy Bday to Me

It's my birthday and I share the number 19 with many of my favorites - my husband's birthday, our anniversary, Steve Yzerman's Red Wings number...

I love that my sister gave me a Masha tote bag which helped me to remember this artist's name. I love her work and think everything is so whimsical and pretty. Here's her picture for me, today:

Today, I am 32 years old. So, this month, I will work on writing about 32 things that I love right now. I'm very blessed.

1. My family
2. My husband
3. My friends
4. My dogs
5. My home
6. Hall and Oates
7. Earth Wind and Fire
8. Fall
9. Fried Eggplant
10. Fabric
11. Sewing Machine
12. Smell of freshly cut grass
13. Love, when you feel it
14. Pens
15. Winter storms
16. Losing power on the boat
17. Leo Buscaglia
18. Home Movies
19. Wolftrapp for summer concerts
20. Wolftrapp's sangria
21. The Red Wings
22. Memories of the people I loved and lost
23. Pictures
24. Pumpkins
25. Peppermint foot cream
26. The Writing Project
27. My Philosophies group
28. Traveling
29. Great movies
30. Sinbad
31. Cary Grant
32. Thrift Store Shopping

Spooktacular Front Porch

Seriously, isn't this the BEST Halloween front porch? Love it.

Perfect Dinner

Tonight for dinner we had Paula Deen's quick chicken pot pie with roasted potatoes and then for dessert we had perfect-for-fall Delightful Baked Apples. Everything was wonderful. I'll make each again and post pictures later. For now, check out the recipe links and give them a try. So good!

Pumpkin Tea Lights

I can't resist mini pumpkins in the fall, but I'm always unsure about what to do with them. This year, I did make pumpkin tealights and I really love them. In another tutorial, I read that I can rub cinnamon on the inside of the pumpkin and the heat from the flame will encourage a cinnamon scent to emerge. I'll try that tonight.

In the centerpiece, I included a tall pumpkin spice candle (that I already had) and then purchased two smaller apple cinnamon candles from the Dollar Store. The tray on which the candles sit is silver and I found it my local Goodwill store for only $10 (and the tray sits upon our coffee table, which I found on Craig's List for just $30). When I look at the centerpiece I'm not only happy that it's fall but I feel satisfied with my great thrifty finds this year.  Thinking of next year, I sprinkled the seeds from the mini pumpkins in the woods that meet up with my backyard. Next year, I'll view orange from my kitchen windows.

Trick or Treating

This will be the first year that my husband and I have given out treats for Halloween. We lived aboard a sailboat for almost four years, and then in an apartment, and now we have our own house. I didn't want to give out crazy sugary candy, so Ghost Poop is the idea I've been looking for! What a cute (and memorable) idea.

Princess Marker Roll

There is a little girl in my life who loves princesses, so I purchased some "Princess and the Frog" fabric and used it to make a marker roll. I've been perfecting the marker roll process, and I'm happy with it, except for the closure step. I've tried hairbands, ribbon, velcro and decided that it was time to work with buttons. I found the cutest button at Michael's with a big 's' on it (the first initial of the little girl's name).And, it was only $1.

When I opened the package, I discovered that the button was actually a pin. But it worked out well. The hairband at the edge fits nicely over the pin and secures the roll. Also, I realized, if the pin comes undone my friend, the young girl's mom, can easily reattach. Plus, it's just really cute.

  

My marker roll is based off of my good exprience making the crayon roll at The Pleated Poppy . For the marker roll, I increased the vertical measurement a few inches - just enough to cover the tops of the markers, once inserted. The inside pocket needed to be increased, just a bit, too.