Costumes: Cowboy, Daniel Boone, Jailbird, and Knight

Today's edition of Homecrafted Halloween is all about classic costumes - time-honored ones your father or grandfather might have worn. Click the thumbnail photo above to see the whole costume and click through to find out how the costumes were made and for the link to submit your own!

Kids Costumes - Owl, Crayon, Kitty, Ducky

Owl

aka: Lil (5 months)
location: Brooklyn, NY

materials: felt wool, onesie, feather pin, pilot cap, scissors, velcro, and iron

description: The costume was made from a Martha Stewart pattern, originally featured in Martha's Baby Magazine.

Crayon

aka: Anna (20 months)location: Brooklyn, NY

materials: baby nightgown (arms cut off), fabric paint, iron-on transfer, iron-on stencil lettering 

description: The "Crayon" sign was an iron-on transfer made in PhotoShop.The "pink/rose" letters came in an iron-on stencil kit, and the rest of the black designs were painted with fabric paint. There was also a pink hat (I covered a cone-shaped party hat with pink fabric, but it didn't last on her head long enough to take the photo. :)

Kitty

aka: Matilda (17 months)location: Brooklyn, NY

materials: A hand-me-down fake fur vest was the inspiration. Then added white onesie, one tights, a cream g-diaper and an extra foot of fake fur fabric. Some velcro and rubber bands. Scissors, needle, thread.

description: I cut a long piece for the tail and sewed it (right side in) and turned it inside out. Attached it to the G-diaper with a safety pin. then I cut small cuffs out of the fabric for both the wrists and ankles and sewed velcro closures (although, you could just safety pin or use the sticky-back velcro. Then I cut small loops of fake fur and sewed them around rubber bands for her hair.

Ducky/Big Bird

aka: Minya (2)location: Brooklyn, NYage group: toddlerdifficulty level: semi-easy

materials: lots of feather boas, orange masking tape, cardboard, old baseball hat, foam balls

description: I wrapped lots of feather boas around a big sweatshirt and anchored them with a hot glue gun. Orange masking tape over cardboard made the feet. An old baseball hat with eyes made her look more Big Bird than a duckling but i was too feathered-out to care…

Have a Homecrafted Halloween costume to show off and inspire others? Use our submission form to share it!

PHOTO ALBUM STORY TELLER

Now your album can share not only just photos, but your personal story behind each one!

When you add the Story Teller Voice Recorder to your photo-collecting efforts, you enhance your photo albums with immediately accessible, digital storytelling that will last for generations to come. It’s really easy: You simply attach a coded sticker near the photo, scan it with the Story Teller and then record your message. To play back the message associated with the photo, just place the Story Teller back over the sticker. Play back the story that’s associated with that particular photo, any time you wish.
Perhaps you’d like to identify all the people in a group photo, explain how each one fits into the family history, identify the occasion of the get-together, or add additional information about certain members of the group. Maybe you’d like to record the memories of a special trip while they’re still fresh in your mind. However you use it, the Story Teller comes with over 500 special stickers, so you can share a lot of family stories alongside those treasured photos, preserving family history for the next generation. You can also back up your recordings to your computer via USB.

Price: $99.95

Photo Album Story Teller

Kids Halloween Costumes

Nacho Libre

Homecrafted Costumes

Yoda

Ghostbuster

Halloween costumes are a source of anxiety for many parents. We're not knocking a last-minute run to the drug store to buy one, but in many families making your own costume is a time-honored tradition. We want to help you get a jumpstart on Halloween costume making this year by collecting and sharing readers' homecrafted (or partlyhomecrafted) kid costumes from the past few years.

Submit your costume below and stay tuned for plenty of costume making inspiration!

Bonsai Sheroes Giveaway...

Heros for girls Bonsai Sheroes review and giveaway ends oct 15

When you think of super hero's you think Superman, Batman, Captain America, Spiderman, etc. I mean they are awesome but what about the girls? There are a few but the only a few until now! Bonsai Sheroes are here to change that. To top it off you can now get their backpacks that come with a CD and door hanger to show off your Sheroes.

Bonsai Sheroes are FOUR TEENAGE SUPER SHEROES: JASMINE, IRIS, LILY AND ROSE FROM ASIA 220 BC, BROUGHT INTO THE PRESENT TIME IN A SPECIAL BOX CALLED THE TANKA. THEIR POWER AND WISDOM LIES IN THE STRENGTH OF THE GIANT BONSAI TREE FROM WHICH THEY BLOSSOMED. MIA TUMI THE EVIL EMPEROR WANTS THE BONSAI SHEROES TO JOIN HIS DARK SIDE AND RETURN THEM TO THE PAST, WHERE HE WANTS THEM TO FIGHT ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THE WORLD. BUT, WITH THE HELP OF THE UNSUNG BONSAI SHEROE DAISY - THE BONSAI SHEROES HAVE THEIR OWN AGENDA AND SPOIL THE BAD GUYS PLOTS... BONSAI SHEROES UNITE!

To me it is great to see a girl hero show. I think my girls will love it. My almost 6 year old loves her Bonsai Sheroes backpack. She think it is cool that girls can save people from bad guys too. My oldest loves the CD/ audio book and notepad to put her friends numbers in and actually all my kids love the CD/ audio book. They love to listen to the story over and over and the 6 songs are fun for them to dance and have fun with. My oldest loves the door hanger as well because it says do not disturb on one side so her brother and sisters know to leave her alone and then the other side says room service please which I told her that must mean she is in there cleaning because I am not doing it lol. Overall I am impressed with all the stuff and the whole idea of girl heroes. With 5 girls they need some self esteem and knowledge on what girls can do and to know there is no limits. I tell them all the time but something about seeing it else where means more ha ha go figure.

I definitely think if you have girls then they will love Bonsai Sheroes. I think they will enjoy their products as well. The audio books and Cd's make awesome Christmas presents. So head over and check them out!

We are giving one lucky reader a Bonsai Sheroes backpack yay!

To Enter:
1. Go to Bonsai Sheroes and tell me some thing on their site

Extra Entries:
2.Follow me
3.sign up for my rss feeds
4.Blog about this giveaway this will count for 4 entries
5.add my button to your site 2 entries
6.link to this page for 4 entries
7.Subscribe to my email feeds
8.follow me on twitter (collyn23) and tweet this contest
9.Enter my other giveaways 1 entry for each entered
10.Follow me on network blogs on sidebar
11.add my blog to your blogroll counts as 3 entries
12.Fav me on technoratti
13.comment on my non giveaway blogs 1 entry for each comment
14. Post this giveaway on any giveaway site, Online Sweepstakes, Mr Linky, or other networking website-leave the link where I can find it (5 entry for each site)
15. Vote for me on Picket Fencesbeautifulangelzz.blogspot.com/2010/09/heros-for-girls-bonsai-sheroes-review.html

Marbles for Kids

TheToyBoat.com loves marbles! This collection represents our favorite hand-blown and commercially made marbles designed for kid play. From traditional sandlot games to modern runs and toys, we know you'll love our "marblous" selection!
Kids Marbles

Try Crayons On Dry Erase Boards

Although dry erase boards are rather handy tools, we have one problem — the markers. They're smelly, expensive and easily get lost in sofa cushions. Well good news, you can ditch them all together and use crayons instead. No really!Dry Erase Crayons

24 Hand-Poured Cupcake Crayons

Cupcake Cutie....24 scented (optional), non-toxic, hand poured crayon cupcakes.

You may choose your colors, and shreded paper that holds them securely in their bakery box!!! 

Each cupcake comes in it's own 2x2x2 white bakery box. Other packaging options avail at your request.

Each additional cupcake is 1.25. Pleas convo us to change quantities.

Your choice of crayon colors: 
Pink 
Brown
Orange
Purple
Yellow
Green
Red
Swirl of any two colors
Pastels

Scents
Strawberry
Vanilla
Apple
Un-scented

Shredded paper colors:
Multi
Yellow
Brown 
Red


Each cupcake crayon measures approx 1.5 inches tall x 1.5 inches wide making them the perfect size for little hands.

The Etsy shop of "green" crayons. We are using high-quality, nontoxic crayons mixed with soy wax. We produce a crayon with a smooth & creamy texture, with a light scent of your choice. We offer Un-scented, Strawberry, Apple, or Vanilla. 

We love custom work and are always looking for something new to pour. We will work closely with our customers to achieve the product that they desire. 

Each set of crayons comes uniquely packaged ready for parties or gift giving. For packaging we use recycled products or items that can be re-used again. We will always be able to change colors and packaging options on all of our crayons for no charge. 

If you would like different quantities, please convo us to make you your own custom listing. 

We offer a 20% discount on large orders (over 15 sets) and custom labels on all of our crayons.

Wall Decals

8 YEARS OF BLIK AND COUNTING.

Since 2002, Blik has been bringing you mouth-watering graphics. What once was just a little wall graphics company in Venice has become the leading designer and maker of innovative, removable surface graphics. Don’t worry, we’re still young, fun and slightly irreverent. After all, we are only 8. So we promise to continue collaborating with up & coming and established artists as well as groundbreaking brands to bring you cutting-edge wall graphics for your home, office, dorm - you name it.

What Is Blik

Faux Birch Log SIde Table - How to...

If you've seen birch log tables at your favorite home design stores but the prices scared you off, then you may like this option. This little DIY table is a breeze to construct (no power tools required!) and cost a whopping $15 in materials. Estimated time to complete: 3 baby naps.

Materials:
a 12" diameter Sonotube concrete form
sheet of 1/4" thick mdf or plywood (at least 12" x 12")
5 bits of scrap wood (at least 1/2" x 1/2" x 1")
5 wood screws
gesso
paint
polyurethane
wood glue

1. Decide how tall you want your table to be and mark a straight line around the Sonotube where you will cut. Sonotubes usually come in 48 inch lengths, so you'll actually have enough leftover to make a second table. Using a handsaw (I used a $7 keyhole saw from Target) cut the cardboard.
Now set the Sonotube piece you just cut onto the sheet of mdf or plywood and trace just inside the tube. Cut out the circle with your handsaw. It takes a little elbow grease, but you can do it. The circle you cut should fit snugly inside the Sonotube.

2. Screw the scrap wood bits inside the Sonotube 1/4 inch from the top.

3. Squeeze a bit of wood glue onto the top of the scraps, and pop the mdf circle inside the Sonotube so it rests on the wood scraps.

4. To make the knothole texture, soak 2 or 3 squares of toilet paper in wood glue, and then press the wet wad of toilet paper onto the Sonotube. **If you have any gaps between the Sonotube and the mdf circle that you want to fill, you can push some glue-soaked toilet paper into the cracks.** Let dry.

5. Cover the screws with circles of craft paper or paper bag. Glue in place.

6. Cover the Sonotube with gesso. To make a birch-like texture, use short, horizontal brush strokes. Use plenty of gesso and make sure to cover the seams in the Sonotube. Let it dry.

7. Paint the top. I squirted some white, beige, and brown paint onto a plate, dipped a wide, dry brush into the paint without mixing it, and then painted in a circle on the top. I spun the table on a swivel stool while holding the brush still and used a lot of paint to create deep brush strokes. Also paint tiny, horizontal grey brown lines randomly around the table. Stipple a little grey brown onto the knotholes. Allow to dry, then cover the whole table in polyurethane.

You did it! Now you can use your leftovers to make another one!

Baby-Proof Your Appliances

There's a commonly held convention that perfectly stylish parents are apt to jump the shark when they decide to start a family. We choose to blame that on hideous kid-proof products. Let's face it: After you start plastering your home with bulky white plastic cabinet latches, it's tough to go back to your sleek modern ways. But there's no reason baby-proofing your prized tech has to be so... ugly. Here's 6 cool options for protecting everything from outlets to oven doors…
This is your official green light to say no to bulky hand-me-downs. Expectant parents, go out and baby-proof your home with these unobtrusive kid-proof solutions:

1. KidCo Universal Outlet Covers ($3.99 each, or 3/$9.99) are an upgrade from those cloudy plastic tabs we remember growing up. Install these instead of your usual outlet covers and you can slide your way to safety.
2. Ikea Patrull Cooktop Guard ($19.99) blocks little hands from grabbing hot pots and burning their fingers. It's stainless steel, easy to clean and adjustable to fit most any stove top.
3. ProGrade Front Loader Washer/Dryer Lock ($13.49) adheres to your front-loading washer or dryer to keep doors open or closed—without being visually intrusive.
4. Safety 1st Front Oven Lock ($5.99) is compact and heat-resistant to keep little hands away from a warm oven.
5. Safety 1st Flat Screen TV Lock ($32.52) tethers to the wall and keeps your heavy TV from falling and hurting the little ones. Or, you know, the big ones (If you haven't seen this picture, be thankful).

Natural Pops

College Farm Organic Naturepops

Here’s an all natural, organic candy that does a great job of looking and tasting like a traditional mass-manufactured lollipop. But these are different from the moment you pick up the package, because they’ve taken the packaging into account when creating the product.

College Farm Organic has been around for over 50 years (making traditional candies at first) and have only recently gone after the organic hard candy market. Their line of products include hard toffees, hard candies and these lollies They’re a nice size and shape. Not huge, but a good morsel. They’re oval shaped and rather flat. They’re smooth for the most part with some bubbles and voids, but nothing to cut up your mouth like a Tootsie Pop can. They aren’t clear, more opaque than most other hard candy lollipops, but the colors are appealing. They’re wrapped in a very noisy biodegradable corn starch cellophane.         Naturalpops

Kids Computers

Kid-Computers is the website for Digital Dimensions Inc., a privately owned business located in Oklahoma City. Digital Dimensions Inc. (DDI) has been in business since October 17th 1997. In that time we have developed software and custom computer systems for large corporations and individuals.
We are proud to bring our expertise to a new line of computers designed for children at home and schools. It is our mission to bring affordable and quality personal computer systems that will entertain, teach and inspire young minds.KidComputers.com is now our primary business, we have chosen to specialize in computer systems for home and educational areas where the demands of children come first. We are registered members of the Microsoft® OEM System Builders Group and our technician's are experienced computer builders.Kids Computers