Simple DIY Tornado Costume

I don't sew.   I don't like to spend a great deal of time on homemade costumes and projects.  Pretty much all DIY costumes I make are put together with a hot glue gun!

Here's how I made a quick and easy tornado costume for my little guy last year:

What you'll need:

Tomato Cage (I used the larger size)
Wire Cutters
Pool Noodle 
Tulle
Felt or Fake Snow (I used the pieces of snow that you can find around Christmas time)
Hot Glue Gun
Packing Tape or Duck Tape
Ribbon
Spray Paint

1.  Cut the tomato cage to the appropriate size.  Remove the bottom pieces - you don't want the metal portion of this costume to come down past the bum, so that your child can still sit and walk.  Cut off top rows of cage based on height of child.

2.  Cover sharp edges.  Slice open pool noodle on one side and cover top ring.  This covers any sharp areas and also makes a shoulder cushion.  Use tape to secure pool noodle.   I covered the bottom ring with bubble wrap.  Use tape to secure bubble wrap.

3.  Add shoulder straps if needed.  I found that the open area at top was just a little too wide to rest on my son's shoulders properly.   I added two pieces of 1" ribbon across the shoulder area.   Just time eem' and knot em'!

4.  Cover outside of cage in felt.  Use hot glue to secure.  Add more felt as needed to create your "fluffy" tornado shape. Use hot glue to secure.  I didn't use fill here because it is harder to secure with hot glue.  When making the bottom part of the tornado, put it only in the front so that the child can still move their legs.   Cut arm holes after covering.

 

5.   Wrap cage in tulle and secure with hot glue.  Wrap, wrap and wrap some more.  Until you've achieved the spinning tornado look.

6.  Spray paint entire tornado.  I used a little black to get the grey color.

7.  Add details (optional).  We grabbed some farm animals from the dollar tree and hot glued them to the tornado.

 8.  Put it on and SPIN! 

Tada!  You have a Tornado Costume!

Happy October from the Maglich Family!

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Harry Potter DIY Project Part 2 : Spell Book and Mandrake Root

Hooray!  Despite behind a month and a half past my original deadline, Christmas only 2 weeks away, pausing to celebrate my little man's birthday and managing the busiest cookie month EVER - I finally finished the Harry Potter DIY gifts for my daughter.

You can read more about how I made the potions in my earlier post here.

The Harry Potter Book of Spells and Magical Potions:

I opted to make it look like a scrapbook of spells.  A place where she could see the spells she's read about, but also add her own.  So, I looked up the spells here and formatted them using these free fonts.  I printed them on regular printer/copy paper, ripped the edges and aged them with tea.  After they dried, I glued them inside the leathery sketchbook I purchased from Hobby Lobby.  I also hand wrote a few spells for an even more handmade feel.  Finally, I added a sticker with the Hogwarts crest inside the front cover.

If you don't feel like editing and formatting your own spells, you can use the ones I prepared for FREE here.

Harry Potter Spells FREE Printable

Mandrake Root:



I'm a big fan of using what I have on hand for diy projects - so I made this Mandrake Root for FREE!  First, I shaped his body out of tin foil (this doesn't need to be perfect, as you'll be covering it in another thick material.)  Next I added the leaves and roots (from fake stems I had stored) using floral tape to attach them to the tin foil.  

To start shaping the body, I used all purpose compound (drywall mud) mixed with a little sand.  It took approx 3 coats to achieve the shape I wanted.  You could also use clay to mold the body.  Once that dried, I added some hot glue around the stems to assure they would stay in place and painted the little guy.  Finally I sprayed a sealer over the entire thing.  

*I'm planning on purchasing a little pot and a piece of brown felt (to look like soil) for him.  Oh and be sure to wear your ear muffs before you play with him!
 
The Extras:

Book: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them purchased on ebay.  Proceeds go to charity too!

Light up Magic Wand purchased on ebay.  This is really nice and very much exceeded my expectations.  It is not thick and bulky like the ones they sell in the costume store and the led light is very bright.


Potions Carrying Case / Wizard Kit:

I found this leather box (Hobby Lobby) with a handle to carry around her potion kit.  There's enough space for all the potion ingredients I made previously and her spell book as well as a small mixing cauldron of sorts (an oil warmer from the Dollar Tree) and 2 battery operated tea lights (to heat the potions.)

Harry Potter Potion Bottles DIY + FREE Printable!

Harry Potter Project Part 1 : Potion Bottles

I've finally started the Harry Potter DIY Christmas gifts for my daughter.   For the tutorials, I'll begin with the Potion Bottles because they are easily adaptable for Halloween.  There really is no wrong way to do these, so give it a try and have fun!

For my daughter's set, I'm going with mainly ingredients vs potions.  There will be a potion book to accompany the bottles later and I want her to be able to pretend to mix up her potions.

POTIONS:
What ingredients to use?  There is an extensive list of Harry Potter potion ingredients here and most of them have descriptions to help you when deciding what to add to the bottles.

BOTTLES:
I purchased a few of the cooler bottles, but all for $1 or less.  I also re-purposed several bottles I had on hand (bath and body works candles, food jars) and I bought a few mini wines, champagnes and shots at the liquor store (yes, I drank the contents - I do what I have to do!).  Here are some of the bottles I purchased (these go on sale often):  3" with cork, square bottle, heart bottle,   I actually found one bottle pre-filled with little wish bones at Hobby Lobby!

LABELS:
I had a difficult time finding free labels for the ingredients I wanted to use.  Let me be clear, a google search will pull up oodles of labels, but that does not mean they are free!  Many of them are meant to be purchased from the creator on etsy and such.  Hey, if you don't mind spending a few bucks there are LOTS of nice labels to be purchased.  For me however, I decided to make my own.  I printed them on regular printer paper, aged them with tea bags, and burnt the edges.  I also opted to hand write a few of them.  I attached the labels using the glues I had on hand (mod podge, diamond glaze).

Here are a few links to FREE (yes, really free) Harry Potter Labels by other wonderful DIYers:
*Update some links have been removed from blogs that no longer exist :(

Harry Potter Drink Printables by Over The Big Moon
Harry Potter Potion Printables by Over the Big Moon

FILLING THE BOTTLES:
I really wanted my daughter to be able to play with these.  That meant no liquids and contents that aren't too messy.  You'll find that many of the online tutorials for Harry Potter Potions use Elmer's Glue.  While they look very nice, they aren't good for "playing" or keeping to decorate year after year.  The Elmer's Glue won't dry all the way thru and you'll need to seal the cork/lid to ensure the liquid won't ooze out.  That being said, these video tutorials are great for reference, and the resin feels much like glue while you are working with it.

For the liquid filled bottles, I used EnviroTex Lite.  This is a 1:1 resin that cures hard and is permanent.  This is by far the most expensive part of this project.  You can buy it at Michaels or Hobby Lobby with your paper or online coupons to save a bit.  The best part about this is that it basically looks cool and lasts forever.  Your child can take the cork off the bottle and pretend to pour it into their potions without any mess.  Tip:  Since this is expensive, use the smaller bottles for "liquids" and be sure to mix small amount to reduce waste.

What I used in my resin bottles:
Dragon Blood - Food coloring and glue to give it an opaque appearance, Unicorn Blood - Food coloring and glitter, Gillyweed - small stones from my path and leaves from fake floral, Acromantula Venom - just a little food coloring. 

For the solids I chose non-messy items I had on hand:
Mermaid Tears - Table Scatter, Bezoar - Decorative Stone, Rat Tails - I cut them off a package of Dollar Tree mice,  Bat Wings - cut off a pkg of Dollar Tree bats,  Pufferfish Eyes - Cut the berries off a holiday stem, Mandrake Root - cut fake stem pieces, Flutterbloom - middle of fake floral, Jobberknoll Feather - blue feathers, Spine of Lionfish - cut fake flowers and colored with sharpie, Bouncing Spider Juice - coated the inside of bottle with glue and sparkles, Belladonna - small beads, Scale of Dragon - large sequins.

 

DECORATE:
Anything goes here.  I used a combination of paints, glues, twine, charms and various leftover crafting supplies to decorate the bottles and lids.

**NOTE: All the bottles I made can be opened and played with.  Please remember if you have small children, many of the items used in this tutorial can be choking hazards.  This project is NOT recommended for small children.**

This post contains affiliate links, which means that I may get a commission if you decide to purchase anything from suggested companies.


My next tutorial will be for the Screaming Mandrake Root!  Be sure to check back soon.

Still to come: Spell Book and Kit Finishing Touches

Easy and Inexpensive 4th of July DIY Decorations!

I saw these giant firecracker decorations at Hobby Lobby but they also came with a big price tag of $17.49 each.  So, I decided to make a few of my own on the cheap instead.

For my giant firecrackers I used old cardboard tubes (my hubby found some large ones at work, but you could you any size - even mix it up), acrylic craft paints (red, white, blue), fine sparkles (I purchased a combo pack), and gold pipe cleaners.  *Don't have any large tubes?  Make a smaller version using paper towel or toilette paper rolls.

I cut a piece of cardboard to fit inside the tube, poked a hole in the middle, and hot glued it on the inside about 1" down from the top.  Then, I painted the base colors (dry time is very fast with a single coat on cardboard) and the following day I added the sparkly stars (just paint and sprinkle immediately with sparkles).  Then I stuck the pipe cleaners (about 5 each) in the top hole - DONE!  I love them!  Just what I needed to jazz up my house for Independence Day!

My messy little workspace.  Keeping it real: just crafting in family room while binging on Netflix.

I wanted a hand painted - rustic look, but you could use stencils, stickers or even decorated papers for a cleaner look.  If you are making these for the outdoors, I would recommend using wood or pvc pipe with outdoor paints or clear coat lacquer spray so they'll hold up in the sun and rain.

Since I made some very large decorations, I wanted something a bit smaller that we could light up, so we made some Flag Luminaries using the tutorial by Keep Calm and Decorate as a guide.  This was insanely easy!  It only took me about 10 minutes to Mod Podge them.   I found the 3 pack of flags in the Target $1 section (they were perfect- not plastic) and grabbed some Mod Podge at the Dollar Tree.

Super pleased with my new 4th of July decor!  These projects were very easy and affordable - I hope you'll give them a try.

DIY Monster High Dollhouse

Santa elves finished up this Monster High Dollhouse just in time for Christmas (with a little help from me of course - and yes, I was a little stressed out about working with Santa on this project!)  There were a few little extras that didn't get done; laptop, cork board, fish tank and closet.  But, hey - there are always birthdays!

My daughter was so excited when she realized that the bedrooms light up!

So here we are with finished dollhouse.  As you can see from the photos my daughter was very excited on Christmas morning!  This project was very affordable.  Many of the items are hand made (and pretty easy too), the unit itself only cost $5 from a local garage sale!  The base has wooden dividers added for each room, is wallpapered in a variety of scrapbook papers and fabrics, and there is a battery operated light in each room on the ceiling.  You can read more about how we got started here.

In case you're thinking about taking on a similar project, here's some info on the materials used and tutorial links that inspired:

I "winged-it" on most of these projects.  I was inspired to make a canopy bed after seeing this listing on Etsy (I wouldn't judge you if you bought one pre-made, this was by far the most difficult.)  Since I wasn't really sure where to start, I used this free bed tutorial by Chad Alan as a guide.  A few differences; I used heavy duty straws for the bed posts and added cardboard at the top.  Also, the mattress is actually the soft foam covered in fabric so it is more realistic and squishy.  If you watch my video here, you can see when I push down on it.   Little extras: The small beaded box in her room came from Michaels Craft Store clearance section and the itty bitty bottles on her table are from the Hobby Lobby (I removed the screws).

My husband made the TV and DVD Player (remote and DVD too) out of cereal boxes (for real!) following this tutorial from MyFroggyStuff.  She has seriously cool tutorials available for all types of dolls - you MUST CHECK IT OUT!   The small wooden chest was purchased from Hobby Lobby for $0.99, painted it black and added the jewel stickers.  Little extras:  Mirror, duck tape and jeweled stickers were all purchased at Hobby Lobby.

For the chair (and Ghoulia's couch) I just cut each section out of styrofoam; sides, back bottom and covered with fabric using hot glue.  For the cushion, I covered a piece of soft foam in fabric.  Then hot glued them all together - easy peasy!

I used this tutorial from DollHigh to make Ghoulia's "glass" coffee table.  The "glass" is made from the plastic packaging from the doll boxes!  Little extras:  The little books are charms (again, I removed the hooks) from Hobby Lobby.   They have TONS of little charms that make great dollhouse accessories!

To make Draculara's coffin bed, I used cardboard to create the coffin shape and then covered in duct tape from the Dollar Tree (these are smaller rolls, but if you only need a little it's much cheaper than the craft store.) I then cut out some more of that soft foam for the mattress, covered in fabric and glued it to the bottom cardboard.  I also added a some lace trim to spice it up!

Since I ran out of time to make a proper closet, I used some Dollar Tree pill boxes for extra shelving.  Just cut off the lids and covered the sided in glitter tape.

So now that Christmas is over, my daughter has set up her new dollhouse in her room.  I'm sure we'll be adding a few crafts to it in the future...