nov, 9th - broken doll....

day 1368 / 467:

Halloween is long gone and I'm still playing catch-up.....

after a disastrous first year trying to make Limi's costume from scratch.....i now stick to customising. this year, we chose a 'broken/ forgotten doll'.....i used what we had in house and tried to make her look like she was stitched up with stuffing coming out. she was game for the whole outfit except the messy hair and couldn't understand why there were leaves and twigs in the wig......

Claya was meant to be stripy with a pumpkin head but as expected....she was just stripy!

apr, 12th - where's my parrot....

day 796:

awhile back, i mentioned that Limi dressed up as a girl pirate for her music class {see day 731} but i never shared the pics.....well here she is in all her pirateness......we never did get the parrot.....

do you think that she could be persuaded to dress up spiderman next?.....she's starting to take her dress-up quite seriously.....

jan, 30th - tulle and lace....

day 698:

and here is the result of my Sunday.....cream tulle found in the fantastic Berwick Street in London and lace bought from this local fair.......

Limi wasn't convinced by all the tulle until i told her that it was her Alice-in-Wonderland skirt to wear to a birthday party on Sunday afternoon......

now if only i could find some vintage circus costumes to throw into the dress-up box....

nov, 3rd - eek....

day 611:

Halloween passed us by this year.....

and not improving on last year's sneeze-inducing costume is a pretty poor effort on my part {see day 258}...especially when i so love a homemade, dress-up party.

anyway, i've had serious blog-envy looking at all the great Halloween posts....so here's a belated effort, our......

Halloween Photo Booth

Happy (Belated) Halloween.

oct, 27th - halloween party....

[our invite]

day 258:

we've been invited to a party today...well really Limi has, I'm just along to make sure that she doesn't climb up their bookshelf or eat the dog's food. it's a Halloween Party and of course dress-up. as i mentioned on day 247, i love a good dress-up. growing up, we were lucky enough to have a mum who is a fantastic seamstress...so whenever it came to dress-ups, we would go to her with some elaborate idea and she would have to try and turn these seahorse/unicorn/eagle fantasies into something wearable....

i have a lot to live up to!

anyway....i decided that i should start as i mean to go on and make Limi her first dress-up costume....i mean she's small, a bit like sewing doll's clothes. how hard can it be.....

Costume - Plan A

my idea was the WOLF in Red Riding Hood when he's dressed up in the Grandmother's clothing.....i know.....i should have gone with a big round, orange, pumpkin instead....but i had such high hopes for my bonnet!!! 

[i didn't actually get to paint the nose and whiskers on....had to add these later]

without the bonnet and just the fur headband she was channelling Donald Trump and i was doubled up laughing......scary?...i guess if you're an apprentice. anyway.....bonnets are a lot harder to make than they look.....and only a roll of sellotape would keep her from ripping this one off!

she had furry 'paws' sticking out from her nightgown......and well....

here's the problem, i may have gone a bit cheap on the fur because we were both sneezing like someone had ripped open a vacuum-bag in the room. i chickened out. i couldn't face making a room full of miniature witches, ghosts, zombies and skeletons sneeze uncontrollably all afternoon. it wouldn't bode well for Limi's future invites....

so onto Costume - Plan B.

the bought version....(yes, i may have had some doubts around my costume making ability)

a scary leopard......with a real painted nose and whiskers this time....

....that giraffe didn't stand a chance.....

roar.

this one was a hit and the hood even stayed on. 

 and maybe next year, she will even leave the house in her homemade costume.

happy Halloween.

oct, 16th - invite to dress up....

day 247:

Lissom has been invited to her first party and it's a dress up!! it's a Halloween party at the twins' house. 

anyone who knows me, knows I love parties, festivals and dress-ups.....but Halloween is not something that we celebrate in SA or really in London either. it took a couple of years of living here with sad witches, ghosts, pirates turning up at our door before we remembered to have a large bowl of treats on the ready.

but.....i'm ALWAYS happy to add another celebration to the calendar.....so, now to think of something to make Limi's first Halloween, one to remember.....any ideas?