Pages

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Homemade Thor Hat

Here is the third post to the Homemade Thor costume. This is the instructions on how to make Thor's hat!
Here's what you need:
  • Any plain cotton baby/toddler hat 
  • one sheet gray felt 
  • yellow pom pom/yarn
  • silver spray paint
  • hot glue
  • needle and thread
  • black sharpie marker
The first thing you are going to do is make the little spike at the top of the hat! You can make it as big or small as you like! Just roll a piece of gray felt as pictured below and hot glue it together!
After this step, I leveled out the bottom edge with a pair of scissors.
   
Then I hand stitched the "spike" to the top of the hat!
Next, you will make the wings for the side of the hat. I just drew out this shape on a piece of paper and then traced it on the gray felt four times. You can make these as big or as small as you would like depending on your hat. *Example: The longest line on my wing is about 2 1/2 inches long.
I then hot glued two of the wings together so they can be a little more sturdy. If you only used one it would be to floppy and wouldn't stick up! Then on the side of the wing that is going to show on the hat, I drew the lines to the wings with a black sharpie.
   
Then, simply hot glue the wings to the hat!
   
Next, I put the hat  on a glass jar. you don't have to do this but I found it easier to paint this way. Then spray paint your hat silver!
   
I wanted to have some hair sticking out of the hat. The dollar store is the best place to look for something that looks like blonde hair. Sometimes they have play yellow play dress up hair but they didn't have it when I went. However, they had these cool yellow and white pom poms! I just separated out the yellow from the white! You could also use yellow yarn for the hair.
   
I simply hot glued the yellow pom pom strips to the back of the hat. The hot glue is hard and I didn't want it to hurt my baby's head so I then glued a piece of fabric over top of it! What I am thinking of doing is once Halloween is over I am going to take off the hair so my son could still wear this cute hat during the winter!
  
This hat is the CUTEST!!! The hair adds such a great touch for Halloween but for everyday wear just leave off that step!
I love my happy chunky Thor baby! <3
If you would like to see how I made the costume click HERE!
If you would like to see how I made the plush hammer click HERE!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Plush Thor's Hammer

Here is the instructions on how to make a plush Thor's Hammer! This is actually pretty easy and it turns out SO CUTE! It is all hand stitch so anyone with a needle and thread can do it!
Here is what you will need:
  • A piece of grey felt
  • A piece of brown felt
  • Black ribbon
  • Needle and thread (I used brown)
  • Black elastic
  • Cotton balls
The first thing you are going to make is the handle. Measure and cut out a square of brown felt 6 inches by 3 1/2 inches.

   
Fold the felt in half and hand stitch the bottom and side, leaving an opening at the top. Then turn the felt inside out....like the picture on the right.
   
Stuff the handle with cotton balls till it feels tight and sew up the opening!
      
Now you are going to cut out the pieces of gray felt for the top of the hammer. The front and back panels are 5 inches by 3 1/2 inches. The top and bottom are measured 5 inches by 1 1/2 inches. The two side panels are 3 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches. So you will have to measure and cut out two of each size.
You are going to hand stitch the sides together, leaving the bottom open!
 With the bottom piece of felt, cut an opening about an inch and a half so the handle can fit into it. Just slightly put the handle through the slit and stitch it together.
   
 Now, start stitching the bottom on and when you are almost done start stuffing it with cotton balls. When it is filled stitch it up! 
   
 This next step you don't have to do but it really makes the hammer look cool!
I just stitched some black ribbon around the handle as pictured below.
   
 I found that the top of the hammer was a little floppy so I stitched the middle bottom seam to the handle for extra support! 
Then if you are making this for an infant who can't hold onto the hammer you can add black elastic to the handle. I measured the elastic around my babies wrist and then also up his arm a little. Then I simply stitched it to the handle.
Here is my two month old "holding" his hammer!
If you missed my first post on how to make an infant/toddler Thor costume click HERE!
For the instructions on how to make Thor's hat click HERE!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Homemade Thor Costume~Infant/Toddler


I start thinking about Halloween costumes Early! Before Garren was born I knew I wanted to do an Avengers theme with all three kids! I knew that my sweet little girl wanted to dress as the Incredible Hulk! The great thing is we already have two Hulk costumes. My Big boy, who likes to have choices, already has Ironman, Captain America, and Hawkeye (Click HERE to see how we made it). This leaves my baby boy and how perfect would it be to dress him as Thor!

I researched Thor and decided that I was going blend the old with the new Thor costumes. I wanted to make Garren's Costume all black like the new Thor but make him a hat like the old Thor. 
   

This whole costume will be broken up into three posts. In this first post I will show you how I made the outfit.
What you will need:
  • A long sleeve black onesie
  • Black tights
  • A piece of red fabric for the cape 
  • A small piece of silver fabric 
  • Black velcro
  • Steam A Seam 2
  • Hot glue
A black onesie is very hard to find... I don't know why there is hardly any plain black baby clothing. You can search for one online but it will cost you around 20 dollars, with shipping, for ONE onesie! 
Here are three things you can do,
Either turn a black onesie with a design on it inside out, dye a white onesie black, or if you have an 
H & M store near you they sell them for only 5 dollars! I got mine at H & M!
                                            
The first thing you need to do is make the six silver circles for the front of the costume and then use the Steam A Seam 2 to iron it onto the fabric.
I used a compass to make my circles and made 4 circles the same size and 2 a little smaller. The smaller circles will be the two bottom circles. 
If you want a step by step of how to use Steam A Seam click HERE or read the directions on the package.
   
Now that your circles are fused to the black onesie you are going to make your cape. You need to cut the red fabric down to the size of the picture on the right. I didn't put exact measurements because it isn't that big of a deal and it will vary by the size of the costume!
   
 I outlined the onesie and then drew up two flaps where the velcro will be hot glued.
Now hot glue the soft part of the velcro to the onesie and the scratchy side of the velcro to the cape.
   
 There you have it! The costume part of Thor is done! 
In the picture above, the costume is a little big on my baby because it is for him to wear in two months! I had to make it really big because he is growing so fast! At his two month appointment he weighed 14 1/2 pounds! =) 

As you can see in the picture below, you put the tights on first and then the onesie closes over them. If your child is old enough to walk you can try to find them some black boots. 
Click HERE to find out how to make the plush hammer!
Click HERE to find out how to make the hat!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Healthy Berry Doughnuts

My family LOVES doughnuts!!!!
One trip to Krispy Kreme can cost us at lest 8 bucks, the cost of the doughnut pan, and there is ZERO nutrition in what we are eating!!! This is why buying a doughnut pan was on the top of my list! I had come up with a way my kids could HEALTHY doughnuts!

Here is just one great recipe for healthy doughnuts. 
I added Chia Seeds to this recipe for extra nutrition. Normally they are about three times the cost of flax seeds but Trader Joes just started selling them for only $4.99 a bag! So if you have a Trader Joes near you, check them out! Flax and Chia seeds can be used as egg substitute in recipes. To substitute one egg, all you have to do is add a 2-3 Tablespoons of warm water to 1 tablespoon of seed and let sit for about five minutes, until it thickens a little.

Doughnut Ingredients:
  • 1 1/2 cups of Whole Wheat flour (or any other)
  • 1/4 cup Flax seed Meal (*optional* I also added Chia seed)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 1/2 cup 100% Maple Syrup
  • 3/4 cup Plain or Vanilla Yogurt
  • 2 large Eggs
  • 2 tablespoons melted Butter or Coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • 1/2 cup of Strawberries
  • 1/4 cup frozen/fresh Blueberries
Strawberry Glaze Ingredients:
  • 3 medium Strawberries pureed 
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
First preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 
Then add flour, seeds, and baking powder to a bowl an set aside.
Put your berries in a bowl and mash them up. I heated the in the microwave for 30 seconds so it would be easier to mash.


 Add yogurt, eggs, butter, maple syrup, and vanilla to the berries and mix well.
 Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
 Spoon the ingredients into a sandwich bag and squeeze into greased doughnut pan.
Baking time varies per oven.... 7-10 minutes
until a toothpick comes out clean!
   
 While doughnuts are cooling on a rack make your glaze.
Puree your strawberries then stir in the powdered sugar.
   
After your doughnut cool a little, you can drizzle the glaze on top or, as I like to do it, just dip the whole thing in.
   
 There you have it, HEALTHY Doughnuts!
P.S. I have never tried this but I heard that if you dip your baked doughnut in butter and then put it in the toaster oven it will give it more of the taste of a fried doughnut!