fix-it felix golden hammer

Because I won't hand a three-year-old a hammer spray-painted gold, I had to come up with another idea for the kiddo's Halloween costume hammer.

I could have used a regular toy hammer and spray painted that gold, but I thought something scaled a little more cartoonishly large would be fitting for Fix-It Felix.

I used a 90-cent piece of foam pipe insulation from the hardware store (it's sold in six-foot lengths), a piece of doweling that fit the space in the center, and some duct tape in regular and gold colors.

The handle is cut from an 18-inch piece, with an 8-inch top and two 1.5-inch pieces for the hammerhead.

I used an 18-inch dowel to connect the pieces.

The two pieces of the hammer head fit around the end.

Here's another photo to help illustrate how they fit (some trimming will be necessary to help them fit exactly).

 Then I trimmed the other end to make it look more like a hammer. The bits I cut off were used to fill the hollow spaces at the end of the handle and the hammerhead.

I secured all of the parts together with a layer of standard duct tape. Kids are kinda rough on stuff, so I made sure everything was extra sturdy.

Finally, a decorative layer of shiny gold duct tape to make it shine!

And there you have it! A perfect Fix-It Felix hammer.

You can click here to see how I made a Fix-It Felix cap for the kiddo's costume and here for a tutorial on the shirt and patch . . . and of course, here for my post on Felix's tool belt, pants, and boots. Thanks for reading!

fozzie wozzie woz a bear . . .

We actually did a Muppets trifecta for Halloween this year, and since Christmas seems to be rushing up at a crazy pace, I wanted to make sure to get a Fozzie Bear post up sooner rather than later.

The basics are pretty similar to my method for building Kermit the Frog, so you can follow along over on that post. It all starts with a baseball cap with the bill removed.

Add a foam structure.

Cover with furry felt.

Add features in felt and fake fur. To make the eyes more 3-dimensional, I put the bowls of plastic spoons under each one before hot gluing to the head.

The most frightening step of opening my work back up to attach the nose (another felt-covered foam ball, like Kermit's eyes).

All done!

And here we all are! Fozzie, Kermit, and the Swedish Chef. I'm hoping to get a tutorial up sometime for the apron and chef's hat; stay tuned!

So relieved to finally have Fozzie posted. Phew! It's been a real bear. Bu-dum-bum!

Thanks for reading. Do you have any tardy posts you've been meaning to make? Let me know in the comments below, or heck, make the posts and link to them! I love visiting your (non-spam) links.

halloween costumes, past and present

Halloween 2009—In utero. We didn't know gender yet, and it's hard to get a costume on a fetus anyway, so the kiddo just accessorized my "pregnant lady" costume. It was the laziest costume I could come up with, which was good because I was sleeping all the time when I wasn't working or pumpkin hunting.

Halloween 2010—What a difference a year makes! I knitted my sweetie's sock monkey costume freehand (without a pattern). As I'm a better crocheter than knitter, I always see a ton of flaws, but I still love how it turned out . . . just in time, too. I was still working on this on Halloween Eve.

I used a yarn needle to add this knitted "tattoo" after I finished knitting the sleeves; switching yarn in the middle of a row is not my favorite thing to do when knitting (and I'm not very good at it) so this shortcut was the perfect way for me to get this effect.

Halloween 2011—Max and one of the Wild Things from Where the Wild Things Are. The kiddo's Max costume and the mister's Wild Thing costume were blogged about here. I used a pattern for the Max costume and a Instructables tutorial for the Wild Thing head, both of which are linked in that blog. Two of my favorites ever, these were also a huge hit when we were out and about. It was the first time strangers ever stopped us and asked to take photos.

Halloween 2012—It's all about the Muppets. Here's a sneak peek of a costume in progress:

The sheer cuteness of my kid in a Kermit costume is going to melt your eyeballs, so be warned: a full Kermit post is coming soon!

Thanks for reading! 

p.s. you can make these images larger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that.