Halloween Costumes

This is a last minute post with bad pictures. I kept forgetting to take pictures while the sun was still up of all the boys and I am not sure I can talk them into dressing up one more time.

 My 5 year old. I made his costume, using his PJ's as the pattern and for the hood/cape the good old drape/pin/sew method. Not my favorite.

 My 2 year old dressed as a very low key Iron Man.

'Cultures: Kuwait' Explained

I recently posted to the blog "Cultures: Kuwait". I'm writing to clarify the intentions of that post and my intentions as a poster. Show Tell Share's "monthly challenge" for the past 2 months was to explore another culture and teach others about it. Kuwait was the country of interest for me.

I love to learn about other cultures and beautiful traditions of dress. I majored in fashion design and have always been interested in historical and cultural costume. I love to see the culture every people has arrived at through centuries of forming it and living it. Below are some other examples international costumes I've admired.

I have no hate for other races or cultures. I have respect for other cultures and do not support racism, prejudice, or discrimination. I love peaceful people. I believe hate and racism comes from people who don't or won't understand other people. The post was intended to educate and broaden positive awareness about this culture's clothing.

I am not a professional writer, and this blog is basically just a group of friends sharing and telling.

The original post said I wore this clothing for Halloween, but when I realized it offended someone, I removed the content. The intent was to sound more 'personal' but it came out looking insensitive. It was not intended to make fun of the culture or to be 'funny' to wear. I apologize for any offense, as it was not intended.

Spotlight: Halloween

Happy Halloween! While Janice is enjoying some family time, I get to do the Spotlight post.

This week I am sharing some fun sites with you. And our Jack-o-Lantern. 

 He has scared himself silly. It happens.

Have a fun and safe Halloween!

Trick-or-Treating Safety Tips
More Halloween Safety Tips
Even more safety tips

Halloween Recipes
More Halloween Recipes
Even more Halloween Recipes

Halloween History and Facts
More Halloween History and Facts
Even More Halloween History and Facts

Don't forget to check out and share your:

Fall Earrings

Now that I posted about a 'Fall Bracelet' and 'Fall Socks', time to show you the 'Fall Earrings'. Can you tell I am over the moon happy that our hot Texas weather has finally cooled down?

Brass leaf pendants, Swarovski crystal pearls in (I think) bronze or gold. Anyways, I had those pendants for a while. I meant to make a necklace and matching bracelet, but when the leaves arrived, I realized they would be too big to use as a charm for the bracelet. Set them aside and forgot about them.

A Note From The Administrator

We have received some responses concerning racism about a recent post titled "Cultures: Kuwait".  We regret if some of our readers may have found some content offensive. Racism is a touchy and complex subject today.  Since I know the author of the Kuwait post personally, I know of her admiration and support of many varied and different cultures. I know she meant to convey her sincere interest in this culture with the best of intentions.  However, none of us at Show, Tell, Share are professional writers and sometimes we may inadvertently cross the lines between what some may feel is appropriate or inappropriate. We strive to show respect and consideration for everyone, and will renew our efforts to be sensitive to cultural differences.  Idealeon is a caring and warm person who has more respect and love for different cultures than most of us.   We appreciate her creative contributions to our blog.

Thank you for reading our blog! We appreciate your comments and support.

Fall Socks

It feels like fall. Finally. We had a tough summer in Texas. And even though it never really gets cold enough for wool socks...I always knit some anyways.

I have been saving a skein of pretty hand

Ephemeral Fairy Wings- Last Minute Improvisation

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Handmade Gift Ideas

Are you getting ready to start working on handmade gifts for this Holiday Season? I went through our archives and found some great gift ideas. Enjoy!
Here it is:

Halloween Costumes

Here are some costumes I've made my family in the past. This year only the youngest got something new. Everyone is recycling and using past costumes- it gets really busy during the holidays!

Dia de los Muertos

Many Americans aren't familiar with Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, but we were introduced to this great tradition during the years we lived in New Mexico. Dia de los Muertos falls near Halloween, and involves lots of skeleton and skull imagery, but it's a very different holiday with a very different attitude. During the Days of the Dead, people in Mexico visit the graves of their loved ones who've died, but it's not the sedate, solemn kind of visit Americans might make on Memorial Day. It's literally a party in the graveyard. They bring flowers- bright marigolds, traditional foods, foods that might have been favorites of the dear departed, they bake Pan de Muertos, or Bread of the Dead, and they dance and sing, tell stories and remember those who have gone on before. Tradition has it that the spirits of their loved ones come to visit and join in the celebration, it's a chance to 'spend time' with those who can seem so far, far away, belief in the afterlife notwithstanding. This makes so much sense to me, and it's interesting to contrast it with our culture, where graveyards are scary places, and to 'dance on someone's grave' is considered a grievous insult.

Last year we had the opportunity to celebrate this festival as a community with our homeschool co-op, and it was marvelous. Being the Americans that we are, our festival was probably a bit more subdued than is traditional, but we still had lots of bright color and good food, and we shared a lot of memories. We put together a group ofrenda, or altar, with flowers, candles, sugar skulls, pictures, and mementos. My kids and I made papel picado banners to string above the ofrenda. The overall effect was beautiful:

Cultures: Kuwait

I love to explore other cultures and their traditions in dress. I'm really enjoying living down in a suburb to a large city. I go to the grocery store or to Walmart and see a man with a turban on or beautiful Indian women in a sari or salwar kameez. I really enjoy the cultural diversity near a large city.

A few years ago I found an online store that was putting most of the items on clearance. The physical store was located in Kuwait. I bought a bunch of head scarves even though I am not Muslim.

The head scarf is called a Hijab and many come with 2 pieces that are shaped like tubes and made of stretchy material.

Alice in Wonderland Themed Halloween

While browsing Pinterest one day, I came across a very cute Halloween costume of The Queen of Hearts. Besides it being adorable, what really got me excited to recreate this costume was that I randomly had lots of black and red tulle in my craft cupboard. Had I not already had the tulle, I would have dismissed this as an adorable costume and end up digging in the dress up box for my one year old. She'd be cute in anything, but it REALLY is so much more fun to create and be crafty.

 

Inspiration Dress. Very nice.

When I clicked on the Pinterest picture to get more information on this inspiration, it took me to an Etsy shop. I personally was blow away that it was selling for $100. And it has sold! I needed a much smaller dress and love to spend the smallest amount for projects like these.
My little Queen of Hearts costume cost me less than $10 + supplies on hand.

My interpretation

Jack-o-lantern Pot Pies

 

We've been having fun with Autumn and Halloween things around our house.  As I made dinner for our dinner exchange last night, I was inspired by my friend Tasha and decided to extend the fun into the meal as well with Jack-o-lantern Pot Pies.

Baking Soda Clay

This clay is just so much fun, I thought I'd share the recipe (below) and a few fun things my 5-year old and I made today! (I also used this clay for my Owl Tealight Tutorial.) Baking Soda Clay has a super texture, is very malleable and stores well, plus models air dry very quickly and are a beautiful pure white color.

Owl Tealight Tutorial

I'm really quite pleased with my little owl tealight; not only is he pretty cute, but I love playing with clay and this little guy can be made in a jiffy!

First off...
Baking Soda Clay Recipe (courtesy of Mudworks, by MaryAnn F. Kohl, who calls it Play Clay)
1. mix 1 cup baking soda and 1/2 cup cornstarch in a saucepan
2. add 2/3 cup warm water and stir until smooth
3. over medium heat, boil and stir until it is the consistency of mashed potatoes
4. put on a board to cool some, knead it and play away!
5. store leftover clay in an airtight container - this will keep for several weeks
6. modelled figures will air dry very quickly and are pure white in color

Crafting with 3rd Graders - Clay Owl Tealights

Another 3rd grade crafting project: little owl tealight holders made from clay!

The white ones were made with baking soda clay which is quite lovely to work with, is a pure white color and dries very hard. Tutorial and clay recipe pending!

The brown and golden owls were made with sand clay, an interesting tactile experience (unless the clay is too gooey, as was the gold batch)! I used decosand on these - which may also be the reason that the gold was not an ideal texture - and the brown had lovely glittery sparkles in it which the kids appreciated. This clay is also great to work with and dries to resemble stone.

Sand Clay Recipe
(courtesy of Mudworks, by MaryAnn F. Kohl)
1. mix 1 cup sand, 1/2 cup cornstarch and 1 teaspoon alum in a saucepan
2. add 3/4 cup hot water, stirring vigorously
3. add food coloring, if desired
4. cook over medium heat until thick in pan
5. cool (this is VERY important - let it cool because otherwise it is way too gooey!)
6. mold as desired
7. leave to dry, may take several days
8. store leftover clay in an airtight container

Have fun with this. The sand in the clay leaves hands feeling wonderfully smooth after you've played with this for a bit. Nice exfoliating properties!

Crafting with 3rd Graders - Stitched Christmas Cards

Yesterday I did some more crafting with another 3rd grade class. Stitching these pretty patterns was a bit challenging for a bunch of kids who 1) have never done much sewing and 2) had to concentrate a lot on matching up the appropriate holes, but you'll see they were successful in the end!

Plinko Board

I am apart of a little co-op music class for my daughters. My girls are really starting to enjoy it. It's awesome to hear my 3 yr old singing one of the songs at random and it's really cute to see my 1 1/2 yr old doing the hand actions. Well, with it be fall and Halloween coming up our little class is having a little party.

Rainbow Rug from T-Shirt Yarn

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Mini Saris

Here is something I've wanted to try for a year or two and finally did it.

I've been blessed with good business in my etsy shop this summer and fall, so I finally had the funds to experiment. Here are 2 'mini saris' that I made from full saris I ordered online from India. It was scary cutting into this beautiful fabric, but I did it, and I like the result.

The original idea was to use these as Nursing Ponchos or Nursing Shawls. I also market them as shawls or 'mini saris' for anyone- non-mother or mother. I hope you like it! They are available to purchase in my etsy shop.

Also, for those of you who like to shop at Etsy, there will be an Etsy Scavenger Hunt where you can look through certain etsy shops to find the special logo and win a prize! Click on the logo below to learn more about it.

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Dragon Cake

This was a fun birthday cake to make. Believe it or not this was for my three year daughter. Birthday cakes in our home reflect my kids likes and interests. And yes. Little Ms. S is loving Dragons. It started with having my little sister-in-law living with us for a few months. The kids loved having her put them to bed at night and she would tell fantastic stories about dragons to them.

SPOTLIGHT - Autumn Inspirations

The trees are full of color, the air is brisk, the ground is full of fallen goodies - Autumn is a time of bounty and the internet is full of beautiful crafts and creations profiting from this wonderful season. Here are some of my favorites.

These adorable acorn scenes and pinecone animals can be found on
www.makelearningfun.info.