Christmas? Check.

I'm a little crazy and started thinking Christmas in August. No, I wasn't listening to Jingle Bells or anything like that... but I was planning, bargain shopping, crafting, etc. I've had this project done since September and have just been itching to post about it! But I could never find the right time to take pictures of it since Macey is my shadow from sun up til' sun down. I finally took some pics tonight after she was in bed... and I got all excited again! :)

So my friend and I were shopping at a craft outlet and found a trunk for $10. It was regularly $65. That's a deal that I couldn't pass up.. so I bought the plain wooden trunk and made a very girly dress up trunk out of it! I am thrilled with the results. I don't know who's going to be more excited on Christmas morning... Macey or me! :)

Before:

After:

The original plan was to just paint it cream with pink trim and paint all the metal pieces black... but I  love polka dots too much. :) The picture doesn't show it well, but there are pink polka dots and very light pink polka dots. I do need to put a finish on still so it's nice and shiny.

Inside with all the goods:

Crown:

The crown is made of felt, I hand-stitched the pieces because I am not a precise seamstress. :) Attached is an elastic with a fabric cover.

Princess hat:

This bad boy was a pain in the butt. I bought one of those super flimsy foam hats at a craft store for like a dollar, then covered it in fabric, ric rac, gems and lots of ribbons. It has an elastic at the bottom to go under the chin which you can't see. I should have had more of a plan when I attacked this project, it was a lot of trial and error before I got to where I liked it.

Wand:

I don't know why that picture is sideways. And it's almost midnight so I'm over it. :) The wand was semi-easy. A little messy. It's just a dowel painted and then 2 felt stars hand-stitched together and filled with batting and then stuffed with ribbon.

Necklaces:

Ugh. Same thing with the picture. Weird. Anyway, I love these necklaces... they were super easy and cheap to make! They are both strung on heavy duty elastic. The pictures don't give them justice at all, they are very pretty and blingy. One is hot pink with pink crystals, the other one is dark green and blue.

Superhero masks:

Oh my gosh these are probably my favorite. I have several pictures of me wearing these... but I won't post those. :P I found a free pattern online and just traced it onto felt, cut it out and decorated! SUPER easy and probably took 5 minutes.

Superhero cape:

I just winged this baby. I am not a pattern follower at all. I get an idea in my head and I go with it... looking back I probably should have done a little research. I could have saved some time. But overall am very pleased with it! The reverse side of the cape is light pink. The button says "Girl Power".

twirly skirt:

Macey loves twirling in skirts... so I thought a longer skirt with lots of fun colors would be fun for her. And I wanted to do something other than tulle. Turned out very cute and again, super easy!

Shoes:

The only item in the trunk that I didn't make. They were $4 at Walmart. Mace is going to flip!

I figure the overall cost for me was about $30. I had almost all of the items on hand, which was super nice! I am going to make one more twirly skirt for Macey and then I am done with it. Maybe another pair of dress up shoes. :) I'm very pleased! And I know she is just completely going to freak out on Christmas morning. All of this stuff is right up her alley!

Hooray for homemade Christmas gifts! I probably won't be able to get away with it for long with her before it becomes "uncool".  :) I also have a few other projects underway but can't exactly post them here because certain people read a certain blog. ;)