Victorian Hat & Costume DIY - A Wild West Murder Mystery Party

Our friend Amy hosts a murder mystery party every year for her birthday (which is right around Halloween).  Over the years, I've been a 1950's housewife, a 1920's flapper mob daughter, a Governor's daughter surrounded by pirates (a la Elizabeth Swann), a "Downton Abbey" style housekeeper, a fairy princess, and a 1980's prom-goer.  Coming up with a costume for the party is literally one of my favorite times of the year.
   
So this year's theme is "Murder at the Deadwood Saloon", set in the Wild West of 1874.  And my character was "Holly Hickock", a Southern belle / professional poker player.  The character description called for "fancy dress"...

...so I guess not selling this old bridesmaid's dress in our recent garage sale was a blessing in disguise! I spent some time Googling "Western Victorian era women's outfits" and eventually settled on a plan:

I had the dress, some black lace leftover from my prom outfit the previous year, a choker style necklace, and tall pointy boots that could pass for Victorian era.   I ordered black lace fingerless gloves from Ebay, along with a black lace fan (not shown in the drawing).

I found this video for how to make a quick "no sew" bustle to make the dress poof out a bit in the back, and bought a bag at the thrift store that would work for $3.50. Stuffed it with some lightweight material (a poofy underskirt from last year's prom outfit).  Pinned the black lace to the dress to make shoulder straps (since strapless dresses weren't common for the period, and it added some accents to the dress).

But the hair accessory...what to do?  I knew I could easily get a feathered hairpiece from Ebay, or a fascinator....but I kinda wanted to MAKE something.  I absolutely love the hats the ladies wear in the movie Tombstone, particularly the character of Josie:

...but finding something inexpensive was proving difficult:  ready made period-piece hats were $50-80, and most DIY hat sites were still using relatively professional tools and supplies that I knew would add up quick.  Other DIY sites recommended using a child's size hat so that it would sit on top of the head (rather than fitting around the crown), as is typical of the period's style.  But even then--the base for the hat was going to be $8-9, plus the cost of trimmings.

Finally, I found one website that shared something that appeared pretty easy--just some fabric, ribbon, and flowers over a cheap hat frame.  But then I couldn't find a link to the hat she'd used.  And at some point, The Hubs looked over and said, "I think you could make that with a Cool Whip container and some cardboard"...And I realized he was right.

SUPPLIES:
Small Tupperware bowl (or Cool Whip container)
Thick cardboard from a small box (I used an empty diaper box)
Tape measure
Real or makeshift protractor
Scissors
Box cutter or Exacto knife
Hot glue gun
Double-sided tape
Fabric
Ribbon
flowers/feathers/baubles for decoration

DIRECTIONS: Trim up one side of the box, and then use the tape measure to draw a line from corner to corner--this shows the center of the box.  Then use your protractor to draw a circle around this central point (this made about a 9 inch circle for me).  Double check with the tape measure to confirm it's about the same distance around--retrace in areas if you need.  Then trim off the outside edges.  This will make the brim of the hat.

Next, place your container on the cardboard, and use the tape measure to make sure you're centered.  Hold the bowl down firmly, and trace around the outside edge.  

Use the Exacto knife to trim out the central circle (do this on a cutting board so you're not gouging into a table or countertop). As shown above, this created about a 2 inch brim for the hat.

Add the bowl, and voila--you have your hat frame, for $0!

Next, you'll need fabric to cover it.  Find something that matches your outfit--in this instance, since I'm using an existing dress I don't have any "leftover" fabric to use, but I do want a sash for my dress, so I can make the sash and the hat out of the same fabric in order to tie the two together.
I've had this orange & gold shot silk in my craft room for years--made a vest out of it for The Hubs' costume during the Pirate murder mystery party.  I love the colors so much, and the dress is neutral enough that I can make it work.  

Perfect for a fancy Southern gal, don't you think?
I started by putting a couple bands of double-sided tape around the outside of the bowl, and then laid the fabric over that, allowing for plenty of extra (which could later be trimmed or tucked up inside the hat).  Then I tightly tied the ribbon around the the bowl portion.  The ribbon and double-sided tape will both help the fabric to adhere to the top portion of the hat.

Then, because my bowl has a lip on it, I used hot glue to adhere the fabric to the top of that lip to help tack it in place (more than likely, I'm going to want to use this bowl again in the future, so I chose hot glue, rather than something like spray adhesive.)

Then I started wrapping the fabric around the brim of the hat, creating some pretty folds/pleats as I went, and secured that fabric to the bottom of the cardboard brim with hot glue.  I used safety pins to help hold the pleats in place so I could come back through later and sew them down. 

After sewing, I used some additional hot glue on the inside of the bowl to help hold that fabric inside. (In retrospect, I should have saved the inner cardboard circle from making the brim--I could have pushed it into the bowl to help keep the fabric taut.  Live & learn...)

Then the question became..."How the heck to I make this thing stay on my head???"  Especially since I wanted it to sit forward on my head a bit, like the picture of Josie above.  The answer?  Hair combs!  I picked up a pack and then stitched two onto opposite sides of the interior of the hat, so I could push them into my hair, toward each other, and keep the hat secure.

Once I felt confident I could get this beast to stay on my head, I flipped it back over and busted out my trusty glue gun--we need some flowers up in hurr!!!

I found a nice fall bouquet at Hobby Lobby--I picked a bunch with a nice array of different flowers so I could take them home and see what worked--and then still have a really nice fall decoration for our kitchen table.
Since the hat is small, there was only room for a couple flowers...I mean really, I probably could have gone nuts having seen some of the crazy hats that were around during that time....but I decided to keep it a little subtle. Then I sewed the extra ribbon from the band into a bow at the back, and voila!

The sash for this was also quite a project.  If I would have JUST made a sash, it probably would have been way simpler...but I had quite a bit of this gorgeous fabric leftover...and it was fairly common for gals of the time to have lots of layers and frills and ruffles.  So...I decided to add some EXTRA to this dress.

I knew the weight of the extra fabric in the back would pull at the sash, so I wanted to make sure it would hold up well throughout a party.  It occurred to me that using an existing belt would work well.  So, I wrapped the fabric around this elastic belt (pinned it until I was ready to sew).

For the back ruffle, I laid the fabric out flat on the floor, and the started folding pleats along the top, and pinning them together as I went.  Then I pinned the ruffle to the sash.

I ironed the sash portion to get a good seam along the top and bottom edge, then sewed the bustle to the bottom flap of the sash.

Then used hem tape to adhere the sash to itself around the belt.  Finally, I hemmed the edge of the bustle to hide the rough edge, and voila!

All the pieces came together to make a lovely old-timey fashionista southern belle....who was not terribly integral to the story of the evening.  

I mean...when your "big secret" that you have to hide from everyone is that you're not *really* from the South... You're probably not going to play a huge role in the evening's performance.  That's OK though.  We had a blast, and the Hubs won Best Dressed for the evening!  

Work Life Balance

A few weeks ago I started reading a book called "I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time".  The author found a few hundred highly successful women, most of which who happen to also be working moms, and had them log their time for a week, and then analyzed the results.

(sidenote: if you're interested in the journal, you can find them here.)

I've gotten a lot out of this book, but mostly this: Stop thinking about your time as a day, 24 limited hours.  There are 168 hours in a week.  If you work 45, and sleep 56 (8 hours a night), there's still 67 hours for other things. You have a 1 hour roundtrip commute?  Then you still have 62 hours left.  You spend 3 hours a day getting ready and/or eating meals?  You still have 41 hours, to do with what you will.  Basically: STOP MAKING EXCUSES.  It's not that you don't have time to do the things that bring you joy--you're just bad at managing your time.

I'm not saying this to anyone else. I'm saying it to myself.  I had a wake up call.  Since having my kid, I've dropped my gym membership, stopped going to my caving grotto events, and just generally stopped doing a lot of things, using the excuse that "I'm a busy working mom". 

Which I am.  Sure.  I'm also a giant hypocrite. I'm in charge of time management and productivity training at my company...

But what have I been doing with those "free" hours?  Sure, 26 of those non-working-sleeping-eating-commuting hours are the weekend, and weekends tend to fill up pretty quickly at our house.  Those other 15 hours?  What am I doing with those?  I'll tell you...

...sitting on my couch scrolling through Facebook or Pinterest, with the TV on in the background (all hail the DVR).  That is our nightly ritual after Lil' Man goes to bed.  Get home from work, dinner,  about an hour or so of playing with the kid, and then *boom*, we're vegetables.

There are so many better things I could be doing.  Or at the very least--things that I could be doing WHILE watching TV!

So...I made a list.  A list of Things that I Would Like to Do More.

• Crochet.  I learned to crochet from my mom when I was a kid. I'm not good at it--I know exactly two stitches. My mom is left-handed, so I had trouble learning from her.  But I can still make things.  Chunky yarn hides a litany of poorly spaced stitches. I've got a basket overflowing with full skeins of yarn, but haven't made anything in a couple years.
• Crafting. I enjoy making things. I have a Pinterest board.  I have a CRAFTING ROOM IN MY HOUSE.  In which I've never made a thing (except beer.  We're pretty good at that).
• Crossword Puzzles.  My ideal weekend would start with a cup of coffee and the answer to 1 Across.
• Volunteering.  We currently volunteer at our church 2x a month, but I'd like to do more.  Usually my bi-monthly blood donations fill this need, but because of a trip to the apparently malaria-riddled Punta Cana, I'm benched until April of 2018.
• Exercising.  I'm a Flabby Abby and I know it. I get winded coming upstairs from the basement.
• Blogging.  I have about 10 recipes I could post right now, but don't make the time.
• Education.  There's some MIT Open Courseware classes I downloaded several years ago, planning to help fill gaps in my formal education.  I've never started any of them.
• Devotions. I have an alarm on my phone that tells me to do a devotional every day at lunch.  This gets ignored more often than not.
• Play outside with my kid/husband.  I see very little sunlight.
• Spend quality time with The Hubs. Sitting side-by-side watching TV at night while we each have our computers in our laps does not count.
• Have lunch outside the office.  I eat lunch at my desk almost every work day. And not necessarily because I'm working through lunch. Far too often I end up watching YouTube videos of people cooking while intoxicated, or Irish folks saying funny things about American food that wouldn't be half as funny if not for those awesome accents, or comparing street tacos to lavish meals.  Which, sure, is entertaining, but there are better ways to use this time.
• Date Nights.  This is probably something every couple with kids wants more of.  But sitters are pricey and we don't have local grandparents to drop our tot off with.

Quite a list.  But none of these are all that daunting individually, or even costly (Date Nights probably being the most so).  And the big revelation--most of these aren't even things I need/want to do every DAY.  Just MORE.

So, then I started thinking: how often could I reasonably do these things?  Or how often do I want to?  When can I fit them in?

What	How Often	When
Crochet	2-3x / week	While watching TV in evenings
Crafting	1x / month	An evening or weekend
Crossword Puzzles	1-2x / week	Saturday or Sunday mornings
Volunteer	1 hour, every other month	After work
Exercise	3x / week	Mornings? (ugh), during lunch, evenings
Blog	2x / month	During lunch, evenings
Online Course	2-3x/week	During lunch
Devotions	daily	During lunch (come on, lady, it takes like 5 minutes.)
Play Outside w/Family	2-3x/week (in good weather)	Weekends, After work
Quality Time w/The Hubs	every night	Before day care pickup / After Lil' Man goes to bed
Lunch Out	1x / week	During lunch (duh.)
Date Night	1x / month	Any Night

So...I started trying. I started small. On Sunday, I worked on the Washington Post crossword online while I drank coffee and made breakfast. Granted, I then didn't have time to shower before church, but hey...I did a thing.

I found an online devotional that I liked, and added a shortcut on my internet taskbar to make it as easy as possible to NOT ignore my daily lunchtime reminder.

Then on Tuesday night, I played card games with The Hubs instead of vegging on the couch.  And it was nice.  He slaughtered me, but it was still nice.

And then the next night, I grabbed some yarn and started working on an infinity scarf while we watched Expedition Unknown.

The next morning, I had to get up early for a work meeting. Both The Hubs & Lil' Man were still asleep, so I did on the USA Today crossword while eating breakfast. (I suspect that USA Today's puzzles don't get harder as the week goes on, because there's no way I could finish the newspaper's Thursday crossword in 17 minutes.)

Friday night, I cut out of work a little early and met The Hubs for happy hour at our favorite watering hole.  Then after picking up the kid, we played outside in his "water table" (read: storage tote filled with water and toys) while waiting for dinner to cook.

On Saturday, my brain woke up early, so instead of rolling around for another half hour, I got up, ran up & down the stairs 10 times, did about 10 minutes of floor exercises in the basement, then made a cup of coffee and read for a bit. Was it a LOT of exercise? No.  But it was better than none.

And obviously, I found made some time to blog, otherwise you wouldn't be reading this.  Did I hit all of my items? No.  But I had a great week.  And that's the real point, right?  I made time to do things that bring me joy, and it didn't require any sacrifices--I just used my time more wisely. Hopefully I can keep it up.  I suspect the exercise will be the hardest part--because it's not really something I WANT to do, but it's something I know I NEED to do.  So I'll work at it.

Hope you all have a joy-filled week and can make the time to do things you love.

Fifth Wedding Anniversary Gift: DIY Wooden Puzzle

How time flies!  It's a little difficult to believe that The Hubs & I have been married for 5 years now.  Sometimes it feels like it was just last year...and other times it feels like it's been forever.  In a good way, I mean.

(Amycakes.  Still the best cakes on the planet.)

In the past 5 years, The Hubs & I have:

Traveled to 7 countries
Visited 20 states
Bought & sold 1 business, and
Made one really awesome child.

As you may know, I like to give at least one handmade gift each anniversary.  I've blogged about each here:

• Year One - Paper
• Year Two - Cotton
• Year Three - Leather / Glass
• Year Four - Fruit & Flowers

So Year Five is "Wood". (Or "silverware" according to the "modern" list.  But I'm of the opinion that the "modern" list isn't so "modern" anymore, so let's just stick with tradition, shall we?)  

There's no shortage of wooden gifts available out there, so it's all about what suits your spouse's personal tastes.  And mine has a taste for beer.  So I ordered him a custom engraved bottle opener wall mount for our kitchen:

And then I also wanted to make him something.  Like a puzzle!  But I was having a hard time finding a blank wooden puzzle that I could get in a reasonable amount of time, and that wouldn't cost a fortune.  Then it occurred to me...I could just BUY an existing puzzle and use that--it didn't have to be blank!

So I found a wooden tangram puzzle with a small frame.  Then I picked two photos--one from our wedding day, and one from very recent.  My puzzle measured about 4.5" square, so I ordered 5x7" prints of each of the photos, and then trimmed then down to match the puzzle size.

I applied Modge Podge to the back of one photo, then overlaid it on the puzzle pieces, and let it dry overnight.  Once dry, I trimmed around the outer edge so it would be nice and even, and then Modge Podged the second photo to the opposite side, allowing it to dry.

Once fully dry, I used an Exacto knife to separate the pieces, and trim excess from the edges of each piece.  And then I used Modge Podge to coat the outside of each piece to add some extra protection and help fill in any gaps.

Last step was to put it back in the frame and then use some cling wrap to cover it & keep all the pieces in place once I put it in with the rest of his gift:  A box of truffles from The Candy House (for us to share, of course), and a bottle of BARREL-aged beer (barrel = wood).  

In return, The Hubs made me a very sweet piece that is now hanging in our bedroom:

Along with another mystery gift that arrived unassembled while he was out of town for work, and that I didn't look at so as to keep the mystery intact. All I know is that a) it likely is made of wood, b) it's heavy and large, and c) the box also contains glass.  Quelle surprise!

If you missed it, I did a Wedding Week a few years ago—here’s the links if you’re interested: 

• The Proposal 
• Finding the Dress 
• Engagement Photos 
• Planning & Prep 
• The Ceremony 
• The Reception 
• The Honeymoon

Holiday Food & Crafts!

I know--a non-baby post!  Shocking, amirite?  Maybe I'm starting to get the hang of this "mom" thing.  (*snorts* Yeah...don't worry, there are plenty more "adventures in parenting" posts to come. I know enough to know that I don't know ANYTHING.)  

Christmas is my favorite time of year, and since our little man is still immobile, this is probably the last year we'll be able to have a nice, fully decorated tree for a few years, so I'm enjoying it.

Since Baby J takes his best nap in the mornings, that's when I'm able to get the most stuff done, including Christmas crafts (and gift wrapping, of course)!  Granted, I don't have a TON of free time, so I tried to keep things fairly simple, but all in all, pretty happy with the results!

1) Keepsake Baby's 1st Christmas Ornament:  You've probably seen variations of this one floating around Pinterest and Facebook.  I took a clear plastic ball ornament, then managed to cram one of Baby J's now-too-small hats into it, along with one of his hospital bracelets, and a little sheet with his birth date stats on it.

2) Mistle-toes Ornament:  This one has also been pretty popular on the interwebz this Christmas.  I made a small batch of salt dough (1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup water) and tinted it with food coloring till I got a nice deep green.  Then we rolled it out, floured the top lightly (so his foot wouldn't stick) and stuck his lil' feet down on it...after which he promptly curled his toes and got a bunch of dough stuck between his toes, which he was NOT at all happy about. (SUCH a prima donna.)

SOoo...then after we cleaned his feet and calmed him down, we trimmed around the footprints, poked a hole in the heel, and baked them in a 300F oven for about 30 minutes.  Once cooled, I coated them with clear coat.  Then I took some bells that I got half price after Christmas last year, painted them red (and clear coated them as well).  I used hot glue to affix the two foot prints together, with their holes overlapping, then strung two bells through the hole.  Ta-Da!

3) Button Ornament:  This is a reprise of the one I did last year, only I used purple & various neutral colored buttons.  Went to a friend as a gift.

4) Spiced Pecans:  I usually make my spiced pecans in the microwave, but with a baby napping in the next room I didn't need the beeping every few minutes.  So I made them in the oven instead, using this recipe (though I added a bit of cumin, ginger, nutmeg, clove, and a pinch of cayenne in addition to the cinnamon).

5) Simmering Potpourri:  My in-laws family Christmas this year involves a $10 homemade gift exchange, so I made a quad of gifts--a jar of the spiced pecans, steak rub (next section), some gingerbread sugar scrub (see below), and a jar with all the ingredients for this simmering potpourri. (Hint:  use mandarin oranges or satsumas so they fit into the jar easier)...the link includes a free printable!)

6) Mocha Steak Rub:  I saw this on an episode of Brunch with Bobby Flay (because there's a lot of Food Network on while I've been on maternity leave) and it sounded really tasty and pretty easy to make!  We tested it out on some t-bones before gifting it (because when you have a food blog, it would really suck to give someone a foodie gift and then find out it tastes horrible).  To add a "cajun" flair, I used Community Coffee's New Orleans blend with chicory instead of the ground espresso.  The chocolate flavor is pretty subtle, but I LOVE the coffee flavor--I want to make some of the chocolate BBQ sauce that's also in that link and see if that helps to enhance the flavor.

7) Gingerbread Sugar Scrub:  I don't know about you, but my skin gets super dry & cracked this time of year, especially my feet.  So I really love sugar scrubs.  Now, I learned my lesson from that coffee scrub I tried last year, which was more hassle to clean out of my shower than it was worth.  So this year I decided to go with a scrub that was less likely to make a huge mess in the bathtub, but that would still be full of Christmas spirit. I saw the recipe for this gingerbread sugar scrub on Pinterest and since we had everything already on hand, I gave it a go.  YUM. (smell wise--I haven't actually tried eating it...though you probably could!)

Baby Prep: Nursery Finally Complete!

And so, at 37+ weeks, after many showers and much shopping and rearranging and organizing, the Just Beachy Nursery for Future FeauxBaby is complete!

Future Nursery: Before (as an office)

And NOW!

It's little, but cozy, and has everything the Lil' Man will need.  A place to lay his head (Crib: Graco Freeport), a mobile/projector (found at a consignment sale for $8 new in box--retail would have been $47!), a comfy glider for feedings (from Craiglist--we won't go into the miracle it took to get that beast inside this room), and a lovely window for plenty of natural light.  The crab & blowfish print above the crib is from my awesome & crazy-talented friend Naomi, and the two small canvases I painted.

 Across the room we have the dresser/changing station, along with a cubby full of toys & books.  Not even born yet and already a book hoarder!  Totally my child. :)  We got a diaper R2-D2 at one of our showers, and I just haven't had the heart to fully break him down...so we'll just keep it there for him to enjoy.

Found some great drawer organizers on Amazon--top right drawer has diapers, wipes, etc, and the top left has newborn & 0-3 month clothes, socks, hats, mittens, etc.  

Just a quick closeup of the decor area over near the changing station.  The whale is a bank!

A few weeks ago, The Hubs & I went to Firehouse Pottery so we could each make something for our lil' guy.  I made the bank, and his dad made that adorable little octopus.  Love it!

 A closeup of the mirror/net.  Thought about adding a bunch more shells & finding some little Feaux crabs, but just these three seemed to flow pretty well.

 The "message" inside the bottle is from us to him to discover once he can read.  And there's room to add more over the years if we like! (Bottle: $2.99 from At Home)

 The room has this little alcove over the closet, and there's an outlet up there--perfect place for our video monitor.  And we have a storage tote up there for things we won't need for a while (boxes for things we can resell once he outgrows them, his CARES airplane harness, etc).  Closet is full of 3-6 month clothes (like, literally full--people gave us more 3-6 month than anything), and everything bigger than 6 months is in another tote under the crib.  And you can kind of see our ridiculous diaper stockpile in the closet--people gave us tons!

 Another shot of the nursing area.  The blanket was made by my grandmother, and the little pillow is from our wedding.

Now we just need a baby to put in it!  (But...just not quite yet.  We're okay with letting him bake just a LEEEETLE bit longer.)

Previous Adventures:

Prepping For Maternity Leave

Future Mommy Ponderings

More Nursery Prep

Nesting & Nursery Prep

Baby Prep: Freezer Meals

Pregnancy Announcement