I did some further research on knight costumes and decided to combine ideas from all different costumes I had found. The hardest part was I didn’t want to spend a fortune on fabric, so I went on the hunt in my stash and the clearance fabrics at Spotlight. Turns out I still had plenty of left over fabric from making Addison’s Willy Wonka costume and thought purple was quite a regal colour for a night to wear. I got lucky with some other fabrics I found at Spotlight, in particular some unusual fabric that looked perfect for chain-mail.

I was able to draft a pattern for the costume myself and used a hoodie jumper pattern to make the hood from “chain-mail”. I lined the hood with soft felt I had in my stash. I made a sort of tunic, pull over and added chain-mail sleeves so it was all one piece. I found a lion image that i printed out and used as a template to make a crest for the front of the tunic. I found some more fabric in my stash, this time some crushed velvet and black satin. I have now decided after making the cape that these two fabrics are the work of the devil and I will never sew with them again!!! Horrible and slippery, extremely hard to work with and this cape certainly isn’t my finest work, but it looks ok, so that’s all that matters. I decided to use buttons and buttonholes as a form of attaching the cape to the tunic, that way after the parade is finished he can remove the cape and hood (which is one separate piece, that simply tucks into the tunic) and remain somewhat comfortable in the rest of the costume for the remainder of the day at school.

I made boot covers in a metallic looking fabric, using the same pattern I found for Addison’s Flynn Rider costume. He wore some plain black long pants with the boot covers over the top.

What “kings man” would be complete without his very own Humpty Dumpty to rescue! I bought a Styrofoam egg from Spotlight and decorated him, dressing him in clothes I made using felt. Stuffing the arms and legs with toy fill to make his body and of course a little hat with feather. Some googly eyes and drawn on face and cracks completed Preston’s Humpty Dumpty!

A great and versatile costume that could be used for many other Characters and dress up occasions. I hope you like this DIY Knight in Shining Armour costume, I think Preston looked fantastic.

We were also able to take her out to lunch and to the park with the boys to have a play. It was a really fun time!

When I first found out about this dress up I was super excited. I did what I always do and went straight to Pinterest. I found a whole bunch of ideas for different costumes that fit the theme. It’s actually a little tricky trying to find good ideas for boys, particularly original ideas so you won’t have 10 other kids dressed as the same thing. I saved a bunch of pins for Addison to look at, and let him pick from the ideas and suggestions I’d selected. I was over the moon when he picked Flynn Rider, the male main character in Rapunzel (or for our Disney fans.. Tangled). Tangled is one of my favourite Disney movies so I love that he wanted me to make this costume.

Now that we had that out the way, it was time for more pinterest. I had to gather all the different images and ideas of what I would need. Obviously this wasn’t going to have an available pattern, so I had to do what I do best and make my own from images. Now honestly, I really don’t know how I managed it, I basically was winging it for the entire time.

For Addison’s complete costume he needed a teal colour vest with an awful lot of pleating and little cuffs at the shoulder seams, with buckles and studs (I ended up drawing up a pattern to make this and really just worked out what I needed to do using photos of the vest). He needed tan pants which thankfully we already owned. A long sleeve white button up shirt (which for some reason we don’t have already in his wardrobe! This wasn’t all that tricky though, as I could get a pattern for this. It was still a learning curve having never made one before). Boot Covers which I luckily found a free pattern online from a pirate costume someone had made, I just made the adjustments needed to suit the Flynn Rider style. And he needed some props, a ratty leather bag with patches and stitching (I was able to make a satchel rather easy from some faux leather), some wanted posters (I found the images I needed online and was able to print this out on brown paper for that weathered look), a mini fry pan (after all, who knew!?!) and a brown belt to complete the look (for some reason we only have black in this house, so this was a huge hunt to find a cheap brown one!). We even put a tiara in the bag, after all he wouldn’t make much of a thief without the famous tiara.

He was the only Flynn Rider in his class which I think was even better. He loved his costume and so did I. Very proud of how this one turned out!

I did some more sewing during May, which actually saw me sewing a dress that I wore to my very first Emmanuel Mother’s day Lunch. I have always had Jasper home with me and this year it just happened to fall on a kindy day, so I was able to attend. I made both the boys matching hoodie jumpers, which was another first, working with a stretch material and making them on my over-locker. They got to wear them when we attended the Junior School Musical, The Lion King. The Emmanuel students should be so very proud of their performance, it was so entertaining and absolutely perfect. The best experience for the kids first time watching a musical. I made my first bucket hat, this time for Jasper, using some dino fabric. I also sewed a vintage inspired dress from some beautiful fabric I was gifted. This dress is really stunning and I can’t wait to wear it when we go to see Aladdin at QPAC for our anniversary gift.

We continued with some house renovations this month, continuing working on the kitchen. After finishing the tiles in the Christmas break we wanted to make some more progress at changing the kitchen. We were able to update most of the doors and timber stair panels in our house to this amazing black. The difference is incredible. We just have a few more pieces to replace on the kitchen island, near the bin and the drawers.

Jasper has been enjoying his last year at playgroup, recently using the dress up box and wearing the most adorable lion costume. He sure looks cute in it, suits him to a T.

The boys had their school fun run, but not many photos to share there because there were too many other children in them. The video of Preston was so adorable though, and really quite funny. I’m not really sure if he knew where he was supposed to be running, as he was heading in the wrong direction. I’m surprised he managed to catch up a little after going the wrong way. Both the boys did well considering they are not really runners. They sure give it their all, and that’s the important thing. After all it is a “fun” run.

I did some sewing in preparation for Addison’s dress up day, coming soon. Working on his Flynn Rider Costume that I’m making, finishing my first ever boys button up dress shirt. Jasper did some dressing up of his own, wearing the spider costume I’d made for Addi when he was in Prep. I made myself a play-suit too, however I’m not 100% happy with this one, love the cat fabric though!

We had our professional photo shoot done, that we had won first prize for, which was enough to get six images printed! They are beautiful photos, that I look forward to displaying proudly on the wall of our home. Thanks Sunlit Studios for our wonderful prize!!

Preston went back to school with a bang, earning his first Smiley certificate on assembly. Here’s to another wonderful school term in term 2!

We’ve been busy preparing Easter gifts for school. I’ve been working on making hand painted cards for the boy’s teachers and I’ll put some rocky road eggs with them. We did some baking for Easter too, making this fab GF chocolate donuts nest from The Whimsical Wife.

March was time for more sewing, I’ve got the bug! More pants, some skirts, and my first dress using a paper pattern. I’m in love with fabric, from unicorns, to llamas, licensed fabrics and pretty floral prints.. I love it all!

We had plenty of fun getting to know Emily, she’s a little ratbag!

Our garden was producing massive cucumbers and I was working on experimenting with ink and watercolour pencils.

I made the boys some Easter pj shorts with cute bunny fabric and prepared their Easter egg cartons (I painted and decorated one each) all ready for the Easter Bunny to fill with goodies. Watch out, the bunny is coming!

We had been thinking about it for a while, and had actually planned to do this as the boys Easter present. We thought a new little life would be something super special for Easter this year. But it turns out she was ready to come live with us much sooner than we thought. It was all organised and Daddy went and picked her up and brought her home. She didn’t have a name, we thought we would let the kids come up with something. Funny how we both thought they would come up with a cute, or funny name. That’s what you would expect for a new kitten. But instead she got a “real person name”. Introducing our latest family member Emelia ‘Lamington’ Scheuber, Emily for short, Em for even shorter. She’s a black ragdoll and as crazy as you could ever expect a kitten to be. So very tiny and really cute, and very very tolerant! This is the first pet for the boys, they still have a lot to learn, but I think she will make the perfect addition to our family. And at least now, I’m not the only girl in the family.

February was also a busy month for sewing. I’d been dabbling around with sewing for a while. I guess I kind of started in a back to front sort of fashion with my sewing. I was attempting to make clothes, just making my own patterns and making it all up as I went along. I used other ready made garments to work out how things were done and did my best to recreate them. I have so far done quite well using this method, but I thought it was about time to try to teach myself how to use a paper pattern. I managed, and I am on a roll. I made a pair of pants and shorts using my first ever bought paper pattern. I also made my own wrap skirt (my own design). Addison also got the sewing bug and wanted to make his own pj shorts. I showed him from beginning to end and he did it! They turned out really well. He did well using the sewing machine and really took it all in.

We had the school picnic this month, always lots of fun playing in the water. Thankfully everyone was well this year and we could all attend. We finished the night with some fireworks.

At the end of the month I got stuck in preparing Charles’ wedding anniversary gift. Our 9th anniversary, leather and bird of paradise for the flower, which we celebrate on the 1st March. I decided to paint this unique cow picture for him, thinking outside the box a little to combine the “leather” and anniversary flower. It seemed the perfect fit with my nickname being moo. It was clearly meant to be, as it took shape very quickly and just came very easily.

It was also a month for another first. The very first time that Addison had spent time away from home (other than one over night visit to Nanny and Poppy’s house when Mummy and Daddy were both very sick) but this time it would be an entire week, and in a different city! Addison spent a week in Toowoomba with his Gran, Grandad and Uncle Regan. It was such a strange feeling at home with just the two little ones but we tried to make it special for them with a beach visit and some other outings. It was a very hard time for all involved to say goodbye, but he had an absolute ball and it was a great experience for him to be away from home.

Addison and Preston actually started school on different days this year, as they ease the new Preppies in with a short school week. There were smiles around though as the boys eased into school and were happy to be with friends. Preston fitted straight in and was so very eager to learn even more.

Where else to look for inspiration, but my favourite place…Pinterest of course! Oh the myriad of photos and ideas that can be found on good ol’ pinterest. I gathered all my ideas and came up with a couple ideas, mostly for props and the over all look I wanted to achieve. I decided to go for a natural look and I have a couple of places at home that I could achieve this. I just needed a decent spot with a nice backdrop. Well I set it all up on one of our outdoor spaces all to find that the sun was bothering the kids and they were all squinty. I was beyond frustrated but determined to not just toss the idea out all together, I put my thinking cap on again and decided to move everything to my front deck. There was enough timber around to give that natural look I was going for. I might have to do some editing but it would be ok.

I decided to do some with Christmas props and some without, so it would also be an updated photo of all the boys. I also got them all to jump in Christmas clothes right at the end and do some fun ones with our Christmas hats and sun glasses. Once we all calmed down after the initial freak out and location issue, the kids all had fun and especially enjoyed the milk and cookies.

Honestly, I’m over the moon with the results. I did actually take a lot more than what is in this post, but these are my favourites of them all. I think these photos will be cherished for years to come. Hopefully I can manage to update them again next Christmas!