Chalkboard Craft. Done and done.

 Chalkboard Craft!

I finally did it! I had been thinking about doing it ever-since I had seen so many cute and seemingly easy examples on Pinterest. My sister-in-law did it on her front door and it was awesome, so I finally tried it on one of my doors and an old mirror I used in college that had gathered a ton of dust sitting behind my bed frame.... They both have been significantly improved and dust bunnies have evacuated.

Anyhow, here is how it turned out today, and I plan on changing it frequently! Now, I am not yet a great chalk artist like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins, but I am pleased and so it the 5 year-old inside of me.

Here he is working on his personal touch. He is drawing "spooky"  and "fallish" things.

My witch's cauldron.

Just had to show-off the cool vintage Halloween book my mom found for me.

Here is is again and it having more fun as a chalk board than a dust bunny residence behind the bed.

My fall needlework sampler.

Knight Costume

My oldest son wanted to be a knight for Halloween, so I figured it would be easy enough to make a costume for him. I am a beginner at using a sewing machine so I needed to keep it simple. Probably during last Halloween season, I bought these knight accessories at Dollar Tree. Remarkably, they have held up all year long and are still looking great. (I also found another shield and breast plate at the last consignment sale and bought those both for two dollars as a back-up in case something happens to the other ones between now and Halloween.)

 I decided to use them as my starting point. Since they are black and gold, I found denim stretch black and gold sparkled fabric on clearance at Joann's. I think it was about $7.00 a yard. I bought a yard and a half, since I am a beginner and tend to make lots of mistakes. I have a lot of fabric left over because I worked slowly, measured twice before I cut, etc. This is a HUGE improvement to how I normally operate. I am often to impatient to get done, that I may rush a bit and then the end product is not what I wanted it to be.

I didn't use a pattern or pre-made template. I used a t-shirt cut in half to give me an idea of width and collar shape. I traced it onto craft paper and then used it to make a pattern. I hemmed it all along the sides and the bonus of using a dark fabric and black thread is that mistakes don't show!!! (Good for that too!)


I google imaged "knights" and checked out how the tunics looked, and decided to leave it open on the sides and just use a cord around the waist to close it up. I sewed the shoulder pieces together and it just goes over the head. Easy peasy!! I will buy a black thermal set or something similar to go underneath it.

Here's how it turned out! Not too shabby!