A Fun Turkey Project

Hi everyone! Today I'd like to share with you a fun project my son, Blake, made when he was in elementary school. This could be a fun activity at Thanksgiving to keep the younger ones busy or to make ahead. Blake's turkey is mounted on a poster board but it could be adapted so the turkey stands on his own. In case your curious, the slogan on his poster reads "Save the Turkeys, Eat Ham!" I think it was a persuasive writing assignment.

Instructions:

Blake used 2 different sized styrofoam balls and painted them brown to make the body. For the eyes, he used moveable doll eyes and glued them to the face. The hat, beak and mouth were cut from felt and the feet were shaped with pipe cleaners. The most fun was adding all the feathers and as you can see, my son wanted to use all the colors in the bag! A fun and simple project that could make a wonderful centerpiece for the kids table.

As for my shop on Etsy, Digital Scraps Etc., I have lots of great craft books including some Priscilla Hauser Tole Painting books. I hope you'll stop by and browse - there are lots of neat vintage items as well. Happy Holidays!

Happy Halloween!

Hi everyone! Halloween is just around the corner, so I thought I would show you some of the costumes I have made over the years for my children. But first, I want to show you a photo from my childhood. I remember Halloween always being lots of fun and the most important part was deciding who I was going to be. No matter who it was, my mom would make it happen. It was my mom who taught me how much fun there is in homemade costumes. And I am not a sewer!

In this photo, pictured from left to right, is my brother, Kyle, dressed as Farmer Brown, me dressed as a flapper, my sister, Kerry, the cowgirl, and last but not least, my baby sister, Keila, the army brat! We had such great fun dressing up and I couldn't wait to do the same with my children.

When searching for costume ideas, I would often check out Family Fun magazine. But, I think some of my best ideas were inspired by my sons' obsessions and discoveries. For example, one year, while we were up in New York celebrating family birthdays, we had lobster for dinner. My mother-in-law had picked out the biggest lobster she could find. My youngest son, Tyler, asked her if he could keep one of the claws. Well, needless to say, this became the inspiration to turn my son into a fishing net for Halloween. The hunt began and continued all summer.

I hit the jackpot when I found the ever-popular, singing fish mounted on a plaque. Remember those? Well, I rigged the plaque up in front of Tyler, camouflaged it by blue gauzy material, and then when he went up to people's houses, he would push the button for the fish to sing. Pretty cool, huh?! Its hard to tell in the photo, but there are several fish hanging in the net and a big crab on top. I don't remember what we used to support the whole thing but this costume was an especially tricky one. There were peep holes for my son to see and my husband went along as a safety guide.

This costume was great fun and everyone got a kick out of it. If you would like to hear the singing fish, click here.

Now, you may be wondering how I found all my materials. Well, I would scour all the local thrift stores, yard sales and junk shops in the months leading up to Halloween. This hunt was always the fun part for me and somehow, I always seemed to find just what I needed!

I kept the costumes from year to year which turned out to be a big help as the boys got older. They no longer wanted a whole costume outfit, it just wasn't cool! So, they would grab the ever reliable, green-haired mask and throw it together with whatever. Left, is a photo of Blake wearing the mask and part of the old swamp monster costume.

Below, is the original swamp monster costume, worn by Blake. He was in kindergarten at the time and we were living in Pittsburgh. I remember there were no street lights so my huband played safety guide again while I pushed Tyler in the stroller. This costume also came from family fun magazine and was fairly easy to make. I just love this magazine and gave my best friend and sister gift subscriptions. Its a wonderful resource for so many things but especially costume ideas.

Another fun costume was the Headless Butler. This one came from Family Fun magazine as well and was actually pretty easy to make. This photo of Tyler was taken when he was in elementary school. The children would dress up and parade around the school parking lot so parents could see all the costumes. I became quite famous over the years!

The pirate costume was inspired by the first Johnny Depp Pirate movie. I made the wig myself and added beads to it. The coat was a great find from a thrift store. It was covered in gold studs and came with a belt.

In this photo, left to right, Blake was Frankenstein, Tyler was a Ninja, and I was a ghost of sorts. This was taken the year we had a Halloween Party in our garage. We made a creepy fun house for kids to crawl through out front and we played some fun Halloween games. Lots of spooky fun!

These are just a few of all the costumes. One of these days, I'll get the rest scanned in and make a big collage. As for this Halloween, I will be handing out candy and checking out all the cool costumes. My boys are too old now for trick or treating and cute costumes. But not to worry, I plan on having a Halloween party for adults one of these years and costumes will be mandatory! I've already started mine :-)

Happy Halloween!

Kelley

Little Red Wagon

Hi everyone! Today I have a cute photo from my childhood of my sister, Kerry, and me, playing with a very classic toy - the little red wagon. I'm sure many of you had one growing up. And you may even have had a little sister who wanted to follow you everywhere!

Well, toy wagons have been around since the 1800s but its the story of Antonio Pasin and the first "Radio Flyer Wagon" that I want to share with you. Born in Venice, Italy, Pasin came to New York City in 1913 and made his way doing odd jobs. Then in 1917, he crafted his first toy wagon, naming it Liberty Coaster, after being inspired by the Statue of Liberty. Wanting to craft more wagons, he started a small factory west of Chicago. It wasn't long before his business took off, receiving an order for 7,000 wagons.

Now Pasin never had a wagon growing up so he decided in 1927, that he would make a wagon affordable for every child. Using mass production techniques, Pasin created the first "Radio Flyer" wagon, the name having been inspired by his amazement of the radio and the wonders of flight. The following excerpt from Wikipedia tells the rest:

"He renamed his company the Radio Steel and Manufacturing Company in 1930. His company became the largest producer of toy wagons producing 1500 wagons a day despite the Great Depression. In 1933 the World Fair was coming to Chicago and Antonio had a bold idea...he risked major debt [despite the depression] and decided to build a 45 foot statue of a boy riding a wagon. Under the wagon there was a shop that sold miniature wagons for 25 cents. After that the company captured the country's attention and the modern Radio Flyer was born.

Amazing, huh?! I hope you enjoyed this little bit of trivia. I became curious about the little red wagon's history because I recently listed a vintage item in my shop, Digital Scraps Etc, featuring the little red wagon. This item is a neat novelty barware set that comes with 4 cute little red plastic wagons, each with enough room to hold a drink and a small snack. Click on this link for more details and photos: On the Wagon.

You never know what you're going to find when you go out treasure hunting! I wish you all well and good luck in your treasure hunts!

Kelley

PS. Check out my auctions on eBay - Kelley's Odds & Ends for some more cool vintage stuff!