This Plastic is Fantastic! (Up-cycled painted trash bag masquerade masks)

A friend's daughter was going to a "masquerade themed" prom. Another friend had provided her with some masks. She asked me about adding sticks instead of the elastic strap that might mess up her hair. Easy enough, except this kid is SO nice to my family and always watches my kids when needed. I wanted to do something special, so I decided to embellish the masks a little more.

I wasn't opposed to spending a little cash on this kid, but I was at a spot where I couldn't get to the store for a while and I really wanted to play around with the masks. I had some feathers and flowers all of which would work on a girl's mask, but the red one was for the boyfriend. I thought of manly things like a devil or fire...... And then I got really creative with the trash that was laying around.

I started spray painting plastic to see what effects I could achieve. I was surprised at how well the plastic held the color, even the dark plastic garbage bags were starting to coordinate with the blue and red masks.

Next I played around with stretching and tearing the plastic to get interesting textures. This was SO much fun and so easy to do.

After gluing on only one layer of plastic to the edge of the mask, I am already getting the fiery look I was going for.

I ended up doing three ripple rows of plastic " fire" but it still needed a little something extra so I finger painted metallic paints in random patterns.

The finishing touches really look great up close.

For the "girl" mask, everything needed to be blue to match the prom dress. I sprayed some of the black trash bag, but also experimented with lighter colored grocery store plastic bags.

I glued the painted plastic to the back of the mask and it started to look like waves, which I thought was a good compliment to the fire on the boy's mask.

The thick row of sequins over the eyes inspired some smaller dot details under the eyes. I'm using liquid metallic acrylic paints and the end if the paintbrush on the dots.

I also added some blue metallic paint to the "waves" around the edges of the mask.

As a finishing touch, I added some feathers to the side of the mask. A little paint, some old masks, and TRASH bags create fantastic plastic prom accessories!

Up-Cycled Apron from a Thrift Store Dress

One of the three categories for the Miss Biscuit Competition that I entered was "sportswear", which at Biscuitfest meant an apron. I had a cute apron covered in tea and coffe cups, but I wanted something new and cute and it needed to match my biscuit plate hat!

The picture above shows my outfit, next to my competition. I don't want to brag (OK maybe just a little) but I think I look GOOD! Consider that I have yet to stop eating like a pregnant gal so NOTHING fits, and I am very proud that I made an apron that was figure flattering. It was so pretty, easy, and inexpensive to make. Here's what I did!

I went to Goodwill during lunch. I wanted a dress that could become an apron. I had no idea what I wanted my apron to look like so there were LOTS of possibilities. It was fun just to look at colors and patterns and not worry about the size. Basically, you want a skirt that has some fullness and a top that can cover your top in an appropriate way for an apron. The picture above shows my dress after I cut up the back seam. It was simple white cotton with large woven dots and a built in lining.

Once I had my dress, I went to the Internet for ideas and drew a simple sketch to guide my sewing. Below is the apron after I cut the dress into 2 parts at the waistline. If the dress had been any longer in the waist, I would have just left that part connected and sewn a waist band with straps right on top of the dress. This dress was small and the top was fitted, so I needed to move the top part up some.

I also wanted a scalloped hem. The first attempt had too few scallops, so I changed that later. I also added a yellow trim. At $3 a yard x 3 yards, the trim cost TWICE what my thrift store dress did, but it was SO worth it. I loved the detail AND the trim folded in on top and on bottom so I just inserted the raw edge of the apron and top stitched the trim, saving a lot of time and trouble.

Here is the new, improved scalloped hem with the yellow trim. Below is the apron top getting attached to the waist band sash.

You also can see the black piping detail that I added. This was in my original sketch. I didn't have any trim when I first dove into this project, but I did have a black t-shirt!

I cut strips of the shirt lengthwise. Then pulled on them until the ends curled in a bit.

Then I stitched them in place. Below are some different views of the finished apron. Not bad for a thrift store dress and a few hours during lunch!

The Miss and Mr Biscuit Competition

Saturday was a rainy day, but that didn't dampen the excitement at the International Biscuit Festival. The kids and I took advantage of the rainy weather and got our biscuit tasting in early, before the skies cleared (a little) and the larger crowds arrived. Then we rushed off to the Children's Festival of Reading and then home for naps (hair and make-up for mommy) before returning to Biscuit boulevard for the Miss or Mr. Biscuit Competition.

Here I am, mid competition, with the other contenders. I seem to be having a good time! We showed off our aprons (mine was up-cycled from a Goodwill dress, blog post coming soon). We demonstrated our poise by walking with biscuits on our heads. (Here it is on YouTube if you MUST see it!) Then it was time for our biscuit themed talents.

I carved the Knoxville Sunsphere, out of butter, in about 5 minutes. Above is my practice carving, made at home the night before. Below is my rushed job during the competition.

And there I am in the middle of butter sculpture madness (photo by Tanner Latham via Instagram)! There's a video of the entire butter carving ordeal, if you really want to see me rub my hands all over a greasy shaft of butter. Yep, it's THAT dignified! Here's the link to the YouTube video. I love the look of concern on Erin Donovan's face!

In the end Biscuit glory was not to be mine. My apron was super cute and we all did equally well walking with biscuits on our heads, so it must have been a question of talent. The winners all had songs and dances about biscuits. Oh well, I had a really fun time, as evidenced by my post loss portrait on Erin's Instagram feed.

It would have been nice to have earned a little "dough" for all my efforts, but I think the winners just got biscuit themed swag. I suppose there's always next year! Perhaps a bacon flavored Power T, or portrait of Pat Summit?!?

Yep, There's a Biscuit on My Head!

It's time for the International Biscuit Festival in downtown Knoxville! I've actually never been to the festival, but I heard about this beauty pageant spoof they do to crown Miss or Mr Biscuit and I decided I wanted in on the action!

Contestants are judged on sportswear (an apron), biscuit knowledge, poise (walking with biscuits on your head), and a biscuit related talent. My biscuit fascinator is overkill, but might prove beneficial in balancing biscuits on my head. Should you find yourself in need of similar food themed head covering, here is what I did.

I started with 2 circles cut from foam. I glued them together and covered them in glue and white paper towels.

Next I painted on some buttery brown texture. Speaking of butter, I wanted a big pat of gooey melting butter on top if my biscuit. So, I mixed a little yellow paint with glue and dripped it into a puddle. I cut a square from foam and also painted it yellow. Then I got some help from gravity.

I wanted a biscuit on a plate for the hat and decided to add some food accessories where a real hat might have feathers or flowers. Bacon apparently is the feather in my cap! To make my fake bacon I just tore some brown paper and glued on red and white tissue paper. Then I wrinkled the strips and let them dry that way.

I wanted a third item, so I made a small orange slice. I cut a half circle out of foam and added some texture with a hot glue gun. Then I added some paint.

I painted a cheap white styrofoam plate and assembled my hat.

It was missing some little finishing touch, so I added a ruffle to match my apron (more on that later) and attached a headband to hold it all in place.

Wish me luck, or better yet, if you can make it to Krutch Park around 3pm tomorrow come out and cheer me on!

Upcycled Shirt Sleeve Button Bag

I saw a list on Pinterest of baby games that were appropriate for each month of baby's first year. Joshua is already 10 months old, so I'm a little late, but I skipped to his part of the list and read about a "button bag" game. The idea is simple enough. Put REALLY big buttons (note: small buttons are a chocking hazard) into a bag. A younger baby will enjoy putting items in the bag and pulling them out. Eventually, an older toddler will enjoy sorting and counting the buttons.

Neat idea, but i wasn't planning on making one today. But then we ended up in the studio this morning because Lydia wanted to craft something. And I was wearing Joshua in the Moby wrap because he still has an ear infection and feels crummy. I was just hoping to clean up a little while Lydia played around when an old t-shirt caught my eye. The shape of sleeve made me think of the button bag game idea.

All I had to do was sew the sleeve shut at the cut edge where it used to join with the shirt. I now had a sleeve sized bag!

Adding a drawstring was as simple as cutting a little hole in the seam at the top of the bag, the part of the sleeve that was once the edge. I needed to be careful not to cut all the way through, but other than that it was easy!

Then I ran a ribbon through the sleeve hem casing and I had my draw string bag!

Three simple steps, a few buttons from my stash, a project so easy that I could finish it even with a cranky baby strapped to my chest!

I think the cranky baby approves!