Happy Holidays From The 4 Funky Funk's

(The girls are both wearing dresses I made with Sophia's Open Back Ruffled Dress pattern from Create Kids Couture http://createkidscouture.blogspot.com) check out their patterns.

DIY Dress Form

Make your own Child’s Dress Form Custom Fit

So I had been looking at how I could get (or make) a child size dress form, after scouring the web and a late night of brain storming with my mom we came up with this idea.  I was able to finish it all in under an hour. All you will need are these few items.

* Please do not wrap your child to tight as it could cause breathing difficulty

·         1 willing child to stand still long enough to wrap in duct tape

·         1 Roll of Duct Tape (you can precut into strips I didn’t do this but it would have been easier)

·         2 shirts for your child to wear (preferable two old ones as you will be cutting only one hopefully but use two old ones in case) I used my old T-shirt so I could make it a body suite style

·         1 pair Scissors that will cut fabric and duct tape at the same time (if you have a set that the hospital uses to remove clothing they work very well)

·         1 old pillow or other source of stuffing (depending on the size of your finished form you may need two pillows)

·         1 elastic to tie your child’s hair out of the way

Make sure your child has gone to the washroom before you begin as I made mine a full body suite style but if you only make the top then you should be fine.

To begin put both shirts on your child,



and start wrapping * not to tightly. I only did one layer of overlapping duct tape. I wrapped around her arms to allow my dress form to have arms for sleeve fittings. I also wrapped around her hips so could do pants and shorts in the future.

Once you have the child and shirt wrapped get your scissors’ that you can cut both duct tape and fabric and not have to dash around the house and find a better pair (like I did) Last think you need is your child thinking moms going to leave her wrapped up forever!





Now cut down the back of your form watching not to cut the child, hair or under shirt.

Now you have an empty shell.

Now duct tape up the back and your almost finished.

I wrapped duct tape a lower around the legs (mid thigh on my small girl) and then wrapped them all shut. If your doing a torso just duct tape up the bottom to help give it strength you can add some stuffing now. I used an old pillow that I pulled the stuffing out of as the pillow looked dingy but the stuffing was in good shape.

When it’s almost fully stuffed I added a hanger so I could (obviously) hang it while I sized clothes on it.

This took me under an hour to wrap my daughter, cut her out of it and then stuff it and close it all up.

 Not sure why all my photos but one is sideways.

Borax Stars

I've found a new site called Pinterest and can waste many hours just looking at all the things I wish I had time to do and wish my house looked like or craft room, it's a great site to find other creative ideas. I found this craft idea Borax Snowflakes  http://pinterest.com/pin/71846556525035933/ aren't these pretty.
I followed the instructions from http://deliacreates.blogspot.com/2011/01/snow-and-ice-activities-for-kids-part_11.html. These were so super easy and so sparkly when finished. We of course didn't have white pipe cleaners so ours are a little more colorful but I think whatever you have on hand will work.

So you take boiling water (enough to fill your pint mason jars) mix in 1/3 cup of borax in each jar.  

Then hang your pipe cleaners bent into snowflake or star shapes. We used pencils over the mouth of the jars to keep the pipe cleaners from touching the edges or bottom (some of ours touched and a little tug and they came loose from the bottom) Leave your shapes hanging overnight and in the morning.

You will have glittery stars.

Even the 12 yr old enjoyed this quick little craft.

Here's a quick recap of instructions

You will need:

Boiling water (enough to fill your jars)

1/3 cup of borax for each pint sized jar

pipe cleaners bent into snowflakes or stars

String or yarn (we used string)

at least 8-12hrs of time

This craft was quick and easy which to me is the perfect craft with two little girls keeping me on my toes.

I have to toot my own horn aren’t these dresses beautiful, I can’t take all the credit. I bought the pattern from Create Kids Couture at http://createkidscouture.blogspot.com they have some very adorable sewing patterns for children’s boutique style outfits. I picked Sophia’s Open Back Ruffle Dress pattern, and it turned out so super cute. I love how the quality of the design of the pattern shows through and how easy it was to sew. I bought the pattern last Wednesday night and it arrived in my inbox early Thursday morning (their patterns are all PDF documents with detailed instructions and pictures), but due to the furnace drama I couldn’t get to making this dress until 6pm. I sewed my little fingers to the bone and finished the dress (after many interruptions) at 11pm. I only had until Friday at 12pm EST time to submit the pictures of my finished product.

                         Miss LB in her Sophia's Open Back Ruffle Dress

Create kids Couture is having a contest on Facebook and if LB in my dress wins then I win 3 free patterns to keep my creative juices flowing. Please go to  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=312096592148127&set=a.312096248814828.80860.216885938335860&type=1&theater and "Like" LB in her dress.

I then started sewing away for B, I finished her dress just as quickly as the first, plus I had heat all day that day so it made for a few less distractions.

Now if I can get everyone bathed, hair done and dressed maybe I can get a family picture taken in front of the fireplace.



It's very rare that I ever wish this wasn't my life, but on Thursday when the furnace would not run and I can't even hot wire it together, I tend to wish this wasn't my life.

My son asked me who’s life would I want, “would you want to be homeless” ok life’s not that bad, I have four walls, a roof over our heads, food in the fridge and the ability to keep warm until the furnace is fixed. I am thankful for my life. Thanks to AJ to put the proper perspective on the days events.

The furnace has now been fixed since last Thursday afternoon and it has given me no more issues.

I love living in our small village but sometimes it can have it’s challenges, but also it’s blessings. When you are in need there’s usually multiple offers of assistance. I want to thank everyone who offered up their homes to me and my kids because they had heard of our chilly situation.

Thank You

Well my son AJ came home from school very excited that he’d shown everyone a “New Trick”, you never know what “New Trick” means from a 12yr old. So he showed me and his sister LB his “New Trick” which was a stage slap or punch and so after a bit of fooling around and me showing him the stage slaps I’d learned in drama he thought it was a good idea to show the 2yr old. So AJ got down nice and low so she could reach him, I then showed her how to swing far enough away so she wouldn’t actually connect with his face. First couple attempts were successful if not silly to watch AJ and LB stage fight, and just as I turn around I hear “SLAP” silence……then AJ “LB you’re not supposed to actually hit me.” Poor girl she looked sad (but almost secretly happy to have slapped her brother across the face).

Lessons for the day

·         Do not teach a 2yr old how to stage fight unless you want to lose!

·         Nothing like as you start turning your back you think this might not be a good idea

So after the stage fighting was quickly put to an end I found the real reason for all the over acting at the house. AJ got the Role in “The True Story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas” He is very excited (I’m excited for him and not so secretly happy that he shares my love for all things drama). He got the role of The Grinch….he’s walking around the house singing “you’re a mean one Mr. Grinch”

My creations for Once Upon a Thread

 The very colorful Drawstring skirt, Drawstrings pulled to reveal the other half of the rainbow of colors

LB standing in the snow, she was very cooperative for not have'n eat'n breakfast yet.

B in her matching outfit cause I'm crazy that way, and a shot of the diaper cover (not enough fabric left for a pair of bloomers) but who doesn't love ruffles on the bum.

First Post

I hope everyone is patient with me as this is my first attempt at blogging. My goal in starting this blog is to share my creative adventures as well as my children’s adventures with me and their creations. While home on Maternity Leave I began searching out other creative people on the web and I recently started following Katy from No Big Dill http://thedillspiel.blogspot.com/ and was inspired by her Once Upon a Thread to create something from your children’s story book. The book I chose was Suki's Kimono by Chieri Uegaki. I had been looking for an excuse to try and make a kimono looking dress for LB. I do have to say that my attempted creation actually turned out pretty darn well. (pat on my own back) I then had to make a matching one for B who of course has no say in what I stick on her. I used a few ideas from patterns I'd seen online and since I'm new at this did not take pictures to create a tutorial, maybe once the charger for the camera arrives (I being a busy mom as I am forgot it at my parents home while visiting them in October.) I will recreate the skirt and create a tutorial as well.  December will be a world of firsts for me. First Blog, First of sharing my creations somewhere besides friends on Facebook.