Father's Day on a Dime

There are quite a few celebrations in the summer...Father's Day, niece's birthday, mom's birthday, big baby's first birthday (squee!)...but, since we're ankle deep in the summer of cheap, we've got to make those celebrations special without breaking the bank. Since I'm pretty sure my manfriend is unaware that I have a blog, I think I'm safe posting some cheap Father's Day stuff tonight.

Here's how we did it for Father's Day.

Homemade carrot cake with cream cheese icing, homemade Father's Day card,
and homemade garbage bag for Dad's car.

The cake is supposed to be a ruler, like, "you rule." Cute and appropriate since he's a carpenter.

This is the car garbage bag. It has a removable PUL liner and
an adjustable webbing handle that can loop over the gear shift,
center console, or the back of a captain's chair. Right now, it's stuffed with ocean scenes
that the boys made.

Here's where we're at:

Fabric: $1.15
Snaps: $3.50
Webbing: .69
Carrots: $1.39
Powdered Sugar: $2.39
Black gel icing: $1.50
Grand Total: $10.62
Boy, I was hoping to stay under $10.00, but I'd say that's pretty good. We are going to grill out for dinner tomorrow, but it's nothing fancy and we'd have to eat anyway...so...Happy Father's Day to all you cheap smacks out there!

Here's our next project. And I don't mean the helmet ;)

Every Gal Needs a Hero

And lucky me, I've got two!

Thing 1 has been after me for awhile to make him a superhero cape. Actually, he wanted an entire costume. Red cape with lightning bolt, red mask, red jumpsuit, and red boots (again with bolts). I thought that might be a bit over the top when added to his red hair, but I was happy to oblige with the cape and mask. Thing 2 decided that his cape should be green, but no mask. When I asked him what he wanted on the back of his cape, he said, "A dot."
Me: "Um...like a polka dot? Or a period?"
Him: "I don't know. A circle."
Me: "Well, what superhero would you be?"
Him: "Circle Guy."
Me: "What would your super powers be?"
Him: "I can run circles around you."

I like it. Sass and smart all in one.



Who are you again? Circle Guy?

 I like how they turned out, especially since the fabric was a dollar a yard (woot!). In hindsight, I'd make them less vampire-y by making the collar smaller. Aside from that the boys think that they're boss. They were even defending the city on our way to the store this afternoon.



Don't worry! Lightning Guy and Circle Guy are on their way...
...to the grocery.

 


They're reversible, too, should they ever want to moonlight as the Silver Surfer or something.

 

Summer (of Cheap)

We're living on a shoestring budget over here. (What does that even mean? Like, you can only afford to buy a shoestring or maybe can't buy a shoestring? Your purse is being held together by a shoestring? No idea, but I'm pretty sure that's what we've got.) So, I'm planning a summer of cheap.

First step is dressing the squids for cheap. I've made Big Baby some cheap fat quarter clothes and plenty of summer dresses, but I haven't made too much for the boys. Well, I made them some super hero capes, but really those aren't too practical for days at the park. So today, I altered the pattern I used the pattern I made for Thing 1's gay baby pants to make some long shorts for the boys. I used a yard of a Hawaiian print that I picked up off a dollar table somewhere, so they were only .50 a pair of shorts! Score! Thing 1's fit better than Thing 2's, but he'll grow. I also wish that I would have put the pockets in like I did in the pants, but alas.

Welcome to summer.

I swear, this is them with tans.