Book Week Costumes - Wenda

Each year, as part of a week long celebration of books and reading, my children's school has a dress up day where the students are encouraged to come to school dressed up as a character from their favourite book.  My children have had 3 years of costumes so far and I have had fun making their costumes for them each year.


For her third year of selecting costumes my daughter decided to go as Wenda from the "Where's Wally?" series of books.   Wenda is one of the additional characters that readers are encouraged to find on each page alongside their search for Wally.




Once again I made use of patterns I already owned to help make parts of the costume.  The Shirt and Trousers were made based off 2156 Simplicity's pattern.  Technically the pattern was for stretch material and the material I was using wasn't stretch so I enlarged the pattern a bit to make it work but it made a very helpful starting point for me.  A blue skirt she already owned + a pair of costume glasses from the local $2 shop and we were almost finished.

To make the hat I used a piece each of white and red felt.  I cut each piece in half and sewed a white piece to a red piece.  Once I had that finished I laid the two pieces of fabric together and sewed an arch across the fabric using the same method as the one mentioned in my post about "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" costume.  My daughter helped me make a pom-pom using red wool that I then sewed to the top of the hat and her costume was complete.

(Wenda)

This year my son was also participating in the dress up day so had his own costume (there's a separate post for that costume) and my younger daughter made use of components from "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" costume I made a couple of years earlier.

(Wenda, Butterfly, Rainbow Fish)

Book Week Costumes - Little Red Riding Hood + a simple Dinosaur/Dragon costume

Each year, as part of a week long celebration of books and reading, my children's school has a dress up day where the students are encouraged to come to school dressed up as a character from their favourite book.  My children have had 3 years of costumes so far and I have had fun making their costumes for them each year.

For the second year my daughter decided she wanted to dress up as Little Red Riding Hood.  She had a costume for this that she'd been given several years earlier that her Nanna had made for her.  Unfortunately, as tends to happen, she'd outgrown the costume so it was time to make her a new one.  For this costume I utilised several patterns that I already owned to make the various pieces needed.

 

(The three patterns that were used to form the costume)

The skirt was simply made using the basic pattern for options B, C and D from 2576 Simplicity.  The hood I made was a combination of pieces from options A and C from 9476 Burda Kids and was constructed so that it was double sided - one side pure red, the other a red and white check pattern using the same material as the skirt.  I also made an apron using red and white material adapted from pieces from 1595 Simplicity, although she decided not to wear the apron as part of the costume on the day.  To complete the costume she wore a white shirt from her cupboard and I bought a small weaved box from a local $2 shop.  A simple handle and insert for the weaved box was made using some ribbon and left over material from the skirt/cape and she added some toy food from her play kitchen.

 (Little Red Riding Hood)

 (The basket and apron)

 (Some play food to 'fill' the basket to take to Grandma's house)

To finalise the costume I braided her hair with some red ribbon threaded through it as well.

(You can also see the double sided nature of the hood in this picture)

My younger two children also wanted to dress up since their older sister was.  My son decided to use a store bought costume he had with a green tracksuit to become a dragon and my younger daughter was able to wear the other Red Riding costume we had.

Book Week Costumes - The Very Hungry Caterpillar + Simple Winnie the Pooh

Each year, as part of a week long celebration of books and reading, my children's school has a dress up day where the students are encouraged to come to school dressed up as a character from their favourite book.  My children have had 3 years of costumes so far and I have had fun making their costumes for them each year.

The first year my daughter chose "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" as her favourite character.  I wanted to make the costume in a way that was relatively easy to make while still allowing her to 'transform' from the caterpillar to the butterfly from the story so broke it down into 3 parts - a hat for the head of the caterpillar/butterfly, a body for the caterpillar and wings for when she became the butterfly.

To make the hat I bought 2 A4 size pieces of red felt as well as some green and yellow felt.  I cut out the eye shapes from the green and yellow felt and sewed them onto one piece of the red felt.  I also made 2 tubes of green to become the antennae which I laid between the two pieces of red felt before sewing an arch shape around the outside edge of the felt pieces to create the 'hat'.  A trim down to near the stitching and then turned right way out and I had my caterpillar/butterfly head.

 (Caterpillar head pieces)

For the body I decided to try to keep things simple and went for a sandwich board style costume using some ribbon and 2 different shades of green.  I cut the green out into strips and sewed the strips together to make one large piece of fabric.  I then folded the large piece of fabric in half, adding some ribbon to the top to make straps before sewing around the top and side.  After pulling the fabric right side out I sewed a hem on the piece and I had one side of my sandwich board complete.  Repeating the steps quickly gave me my 2nd side.

(Caterpillar body, laid out to show the two sides to the costume)

To make the wings I used a piece of colourful fabric that my daughter selected and created a 'wing' shape, using an old CD to help with the scalloped edges.  I cut two wing shapes out so that it was double sided and some ribbon attached in strategic places meant that it could be tied around her shoulders and looped over her wrists so that she could flap her wings around.  I sewed around all the edges, leaving a space to pull things through to the right side then sewed that space shut and the wings were complete.

(Butterfly Wings)

(The completed costume)

The rest of the costume just came from items she already had in her cupboard - a green jumper and a pair of track suit pants with a change to a pink shirt and purple skirt for as the day warmed up.  Her younger brother also wanted his own version of the costume so a 2nd one was made up minus the wings for him to wear too.

                                             (The 2 Very Hungry Caterpillars)

 (Transformed to a Butterfly)

 (The butterfly after removing the caterpillar body.  She was fortunate enough to win 'best dressed' in her class and received a book for her prize.)

There was actually a whole school parade on the dress up day where the students were going to display their costumes.  Since I had a caterpillar costume for my son I also wanted to make something for my youngest too.  I decided to dress her as Winnie the Pooh as it was an easy costume to make - a yellow wondersuit and a red shirt and her costume was organised.

(Winnie the Pooh)

Britt: Review: Dragonbane - Sherrilyn Kenyon

     It pleases me when she maddens me.

                When she makes me stand gaping and staring!        

                It pleases me when she laughs at me and makes fun of me, behind my back or to my face.

                For after the ill, the good will come very quickly, if such is her pleasure.

               ~Cercamon

I was pleasantly surprised when looking at good reads and noticing this book was out. It didn't get as much promotion as most of Sherrilyn Kenyons Dark-Hunter books, but it should have! I've been reading The Dark Hunter series for the better half of a decade, yeah 5-6 years sounds about right, and if you haven't started it yet you need too. This is the 26th book in the series, so you have some catching up to do.

Dragonbane is the story of Maxius and his Dragonsawn Sera. 

Max, Sanctuary’s attic dwelling dragon, first appeared in Night Embrace, Dark Hunter 4. And now he finally gets his book. I was PUMPED. Its been a long time coming! Thats for sure. Through the series we only see small snippets of Max. It fascinated me, I wanted to know more about him, and it seemed it would never come. Unexpectedly  Max’s past comes strutting into his life again, in the form of his Amazonian wife Seraphina and her tribe of Amazons sisters, acclaimed Dragonslayer. And they're there to add his scales to their armor.

Now the storyline in this book is as usual. Male/female romance, their ups & downs, his present, their past, their problems, ect. Followed by an interruption for the bad guys to get their 5 minutes of fame. Followed by The Hero's, & The Fix. But nothing is ever a true victory with Sherrilyn Kenyon, her villians are forever.

I loved getting an inside look into Max. After all the mystery, it's good to finally get to know him. His story is sad, he's the most loyal amazing man you could hope for, but the poor man is forever unappreciated.

Spoiler ahead:

One thing I loved about this book in particular out of all the Dark-Hunter books is Max's children. I'm glad he got to be a father to more than his brothers. And it leaves so many more book opportunities open. Hayden's and Edena's love stories, or a second Max book where he gets to bond with the children whose childhood he missed completely.

Now there is one thing I need to point out, on the negitive side. Since no review is honestly good without SOME type of criticism. Or else how would our favorite authors grow?

* There are so many sub-series to Dark-Hunter, which is a positive, not a negative. Dark-Hunter, Dream-Hunter, Were-Hunter, Hellchaser, The Chronicles of Nick(more YA) ect. But, the issue I have with this book is that she had to many guest appearances from those characters in the sub-series' all in one of her shorter stories. Even for a season reader like me, I was getting family ties mixed up. When your series is about numerous religious pantheons, and your dealling with hundreds of God's/goddesses, their children, parents, minions, lovers, ect all-in one book It can get confusing. Which, in normal circumstances I can honestly say Sherrilyn Kenyon doesn't usually do. However, I'm always happy to see Acheron, I was disappointed Simi didn't make an appearance. If you don't know who SIMI is, you need too. Be prepared to have a favorite new Star, because she's the titz!

All in all I give this book a 4/5 stars. I loved the character choice, the back story, the Ending that is not an Ending, the cover and the series transition. If not for the character jumble it would've been a perfect 5/5.

This is adult Paranormal romance. Sexual content and adult language. Violence.

Tiana's Review: Unleash the Storm by Annette Marie - 3 out of 5 stars

I really really wanted to love this book. But I couldn't.

Piper, Ash, and Lyre continue their journey to save the Dragonian's, save the underworld from the destruction of Samuel and save earth from an all-out daemon war.It started out fairly slow and we to the learn more about the history of the Draconians and the Taroth line. I liked how we got to meet new characters and get some fresh faces in the story.

Now I hate to bash a book but I'm going to have to. Piper drove me crazy. Shep kept whining about 50% of the book about where she is going to do, does Ash want her around, her world is different than Ash's so they can never be together, blah blah blah. Half the time I wanted to the book and not read it anymore but I wanted to see how it was going to end and Lyre saved the book for me (such a cutie and deadly) Piper has little character growth and I was really disappointed with her as a character, 

Ash he grew as a character but was really closed off as always. He needed to protect his people and the ones her loved. There was a scene between Ash and Piper that made my heart melt. "I don't belong to anyone, the only one I want to belong to is you" SWOON. With the events that tool place on the book (sorry no spoilers here) I grew to like Ash more and more. He was a power to be rivaled with and a born leader. He kicked some major TUSHY

Lyre, my dear sweet Lyre. The mysteries and secrets that you hold. I loved that you were in the book so much more than the other books. I cant wait to read more about you and see what mysteries you hide from us. You are deadly and oh so smexy, 

The battle scenes were off the hook and well written, I loved the epic battle between Piper, Ash and Samuel. I wish we could have read about the battle on each with Ra, Gains and Samuels army. But at least we got to see the aftermath......sort of.

I did like the scene with Natania and Piper in the end. That was a bittersweet ending and I'm glad it ended the way it did, 

Now here are my biggest issues:

Where is the romance with Ash and Piper. I feel like it severely tanked and there was no character growth. "I love you but I can't be with you, so I'm going to leave you, but I'll come back and visit." "I'll be waiting for you as long as you want me." "Oh I love you to" Happily ever after............snooze fest. I feel bad for writing this review but I need to be honest.

AND what happened with the Consul? Myisis? Caldor? Quinn? Where is Lyre going? Why is Piper being such a pig headed person. I have so many Questions...........I really hope we get a novella or something to wrap up the series.

Britt's Review: +18 Steal the Light - Lexi Blake (Theives Series)

Hey Guys and Gals!

 I'm Brittaini.

 A little about me. Im a 27 year old Mother/Step Mom of 5. I live in a small fishing community and reading helps me travel the world since I'm a little pussy and have a plane phobia >.<. I curse like the sailor that sired me. And I have an obsession with a dragon. Not just any dragon..A PERFECT dragon...-nods off into a day dream-....

Anywho, I sat back and wondered, what book should I review to get my party started! So without further adieu:

Since it's one of my AbsoFav series, I decided I'm going to review Steal The Light by Lexi Blake. The first book in the Theives series.

This is the story of a young thieving human heroine Zoey. Hired to steal a Paranormal Artifact of large purportions, she sets off on an adventure with her "crew", never knowing the love and loss that comes with taking the job.

First let's start with her opening line:

"Grief is a selfish beast ".

Now when I open the first book in a series, and I read that first line, I want to be HOOKED. And, after reading the blurb, downloading the book, and sitting down for a good read, this line was perfect! In 5 small words Mrs. Blake had me. Hook, line and sinker. We all relate to grief. Immediately I thought to myself, " Oh this is going to be good, I'm literally 2 seconds into this book and my heart dropped."

We enter the story at the morgue. Zoey is there to identify a body. A body she is very attached to. Definitely not the happy go lucky starting, that I'm used to these days. Authors want you to see the heroines fall from Normal, Happy, Everyday Girl.. To heroine with enemies, and troubles in their future. But Lexi Blake switches the script, which she seems to do in A LOT of ways. Very refreshing. Zoeys story starts out low, as low as a girl can get, and we see her grow leaps and bounds. Her LadyBallz shine, not just through the first book but the whole series.

By the second chapter, she's turned everything you read in the first around and surprises you! Surprises always make a read more enjoyable. Here, here!

Some of the things I liked about this book:

-Devinshea.. Yip. He is by far my favorite Fae, in all the the fae books, in all the fae universe's. Devinshea is KING fackin' fae. I'm melting the panties over here just thinking about him (But then again I know his whole story). In the first book, you only get a glimpse of his otherworldly sexiness, further on in the series you get a face FULL of his fae magic ;).

- Daniel. In this first book, I want to punch him!  Just grab him straight through the book and box his ears blue. Which seems like a dislike. But, when an author evokes a strong emotion like that, its hard to not appriciate. HOWEVER, knowing what's coming helps me let his boy stoopidness slide. You'll see ;).

-The world building. Mrs Blake merges reality/fantasy so well, the world is ultimately easy to believe in.

-The range of species in this book. We have trolls, vampires, fae, werewolfs, demons, witches ect.. The "clans", " packs", covens and organizations for each species, and their ranks have been well thought out. And, their contributing personal abilities as well.

-"The Crew".. You can tell these characters are tight. And Lexi writes her supporting characters so vividly, you really get a feel for their personalities. Which they DEFINITELY have plenty of lol.

 Speaking of which, Neil, the gay werewolf. He's just the bomb. Don't believe me? Here I'll show you :).

"You’re supposed to babysit me? I should warn you, unless you plan on tying me up, I’m leaving in the morning.”His eyes lit up. “Cool, what are we going to do?”I laughed as I sat on the bed. “You’re a crappy babysitter.” “I know. It’s like letting the fox watch the chickens. I have no idea what he was thinking.” Neil’s eyes were wide with incredulity. “The whole time he was talking I was thinking about all the things we could do after we stole his credit cards."

"Keys? Did you think about leaving the keys? The car doesn’t work without the keys, and big surprise—I can’t fly. But no, Superman here just wakes me and takes off like a superhot speeding bullet. I had to run twenty miles on an empty stomach. Twenty miles. Do you know what it was like trying to get across I-35? It was like playing Frogger, and I was the poor little frog. And I think animal control is hunting for me.” Neil paused briefly to take a breath and then started in again. “And then when my sad, starved body finally manages to make it to the place where my thoughtless boss has told me to go, I fall through a bunch of holes in the concrete. Who has sink holes in a parking garage? This hotel sucks. That said, I’m going upstairs to order room service. Did I mention I’m hungry?”

Yup that's Neil, he's the Best friend we ALL want!

Now for some things I Disliked about this book. It's a rather long list, so be prepared.

- Nothing.

Yup that's about it. I love Lexi Blake's writing, storyline and characters. Imagery is good, I felt as if I lived through the story. Not too much, not to little. I can't stand over doing descriptions and Lexi has found the perfect medium.

Warning. There IS a love triangle. It's NOT by any means your regular 3-point drama situation though. Lexi Blake makes this MFM conundrum work so it's not the annoying over used situation and in the end the series wouldn't never been the same without it.

I do have SOME grievances with Zoey. She strong, opinionated, loyal, smart and full of 'Tude... But she's also very blind sometimes. I mean hello! They're Both RIGHT THERE! You'll see what I mean when you pick up this book. And when you read the rest of this series, and the spin off! Because you will, believe me, the first book is just the first very addictive hit, of the Drug I know as the Theives series.

I wouldn't suggest this book or series to anyone under 18. There is strong sexuality in these books. Who I would suggest this to, are those out there that love Paranormal/Fantasy,  Romance and Adventure all bundled up into one Shiny, Sparkling, digital file.

This book gets all the stars in my books ;)!

Peace and Love Book Addicts.

And on that note I leave you with this:

If you're a dreamer, come in

If you're a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,

a hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer...

If your a pretender, come sit by my fire.

For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.

Come in

Come in

Come in.

Brittaini Over and Out ;)!

The Last Stand Teaser

Rachel E . Carter loves to give out her teasers. I talked with her recently about how her teasers are driving me crazy and I need more. All she did was laugh and send me a ton of hearts......