Author: Robert Bailey

Shirley Temple

My sister-in-law commented on how Stella looked like Shirley Temple. I can’t believe I had not seen it. But after she said that, I kept seeing the resemblance. Except for the hair of course. When my friend Katrina came over last night, I immediately put her to work. Her last task was to roll Stella’s hair. She said I gave her the hardest job. I did. She’s a tender headed girl. But she slept on her sponge rollers and woke up with beautiful little corkscrew curls but unfortunately our hairspray didn’t make it through pre-k. But even without the tight curls, I think she did an awesome job. Not to mention she wasn’t feeling too well.

And while this is probably a stage mom’s dream costume, I did not force it on her. I may have swayed by talking about how cute it would be but she ended up getting excited about it and has been going around singing Shirley songs. She started tapping during the shoot. Wish I had video:/

The great thing is that it was a $2.97 costume! Goodwill again! We had her dress shoes and bobby socks and I changed the original ribbon for a sash from an old costume. We ended up doing quite a few different Shirley versions using old dresses that are too short but perfect for this look. Once I get to take a breath (it’s been a busy day) I’ll post some more as well as a few of the twins in their costumes.

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

October 31, 2014
It’s a Small World After All

One of my best childhood memories is the Small World ride at Walt Disney World. The ride is just my speed, I love all the cultural costumes and sets and most of all the song. Not only is it just a sweet melody, but echos such a simple, innocent message of world peace. Here we have representatives from Russia, China and India. Again, I hope this is not offensive to anyone. It’s simply a celebration of many nations.

Okay, enough of my hippie stuff, on to the costumes. It all started a couple years back when I bought the Mandarin style dress at our favorite consignment shop during an after season clearance event. They mark these things down to a dollar! Then during the spring I saw this Sari style dress at the Goodwill. I love the fabric in these Indian dresses and couldn’t resist it. But Harris was my wild card. I had to decide what country he would represent. I thought in my head that Russia would be easy. Hmmm. Well I used that old hat of my mom’s again. I had some slouchy pants of Scarlett’s. I thought we had some fake Uggs but could only find one so a last second, rash decision to put my socks over his sneakers. We pulled the fur off of a Christmas bag and stuck it in there. I found the shirt at the Goodwill earlier this week. And that gold belt has been used quite a few times. I think it was from an old dance costume.

October 30, 2014
French Connection

This really is a last minute costume. The twins were up for today but I wanted to do outside and of course, it rained. So I went the super cheesy route. Like, stinky, yet tasty cheese that goes well with a nice glass of wine. You’ve probably already seen the French Kiss costume. I don’t know who was the originator, but it’s rather genius. It just has that je ne sais quoi;) It inspired me to keep going with the French theme. I used Stella’s Old Navy dress and an old red beret. The possibilities are endless! I had to stop myself before I pulled out “French Quarter” but there are so many to choose from. So today’s costume is one of those things where you show how to wear the dress multiple ways.

The first one is in reference to the interior design of French Country. She’s got her brie, French bread, and sweet tea in a mason jar as she sits in her rocking chair. Cowgirl boots and the handkerchief were added for country flair. And there’s a nod to the great, late Minnie Pearl of Hee-Haw. Do you see it?

Moving on to the French Bulldog. This is for all the GA fans, especially Miss Shirley who let us borrow some props. I know, Uga is English and I’m sure the “Geaux” thing is offensive too. But give me a little slack please. I’m not known to be athletically correct. Nevertheless, Go Dawgs=)

And finally, this one is for her daddy. His first concert, at the age of THREE, yes, really, was KISS. I think he’s even gone as this star guy for Halloween. Like I said, I didn’t think of this one but it was too good not to do. Twiggy disagreed. She just didn’t care to be a part of this one. Oh, and we got to use my old Michael Jackson wig here=)

October 29, 2014
The Cat in the Hat and Double Trouble

From day one I said we will not do Thing 1 and Thing 2. Ever. It was too expected but it was also too easy not to do it. We had gotten these souvenir shirts at the beach this summer so of course, Dr. Seuss it is. But it turned out the twins weren’t too into the idea either. Especially Scarlett. So pretty much all I got were outtakes today.

The Cat’s hat was made from a paper towel roll cut in half vertically, then horizontally and taped back together to be wider. Covered it in felt. I ran out of white felt before I could put it on her belly but then remembered I had that white yarn stuff and it was perfect. (I’m resisting doing a purrr there.) I again used that little bread bag twist tie tip I mentioned yesterday. Needle and thread would have been more ideal here but who has time to thread a needle? The rest are just pieces that we’ve used before and keep around in the costume box.

The troublemakers are wearing sleeves from an old sweater turned into a hat. I didn’t have a lot of blue boa so I figured I’d do mohawk style. Scarlett hated it.

What’s so funny here is that they’re dancing. And it’s to that techno sounding Microsoft commercial song again. I love Harris’s moves for this! He usually goes to another room to dance and quits when you see him. Very bashful. But this is his jam=)

October 28, 2014
Raggedy Ann and Andy

Today we have the obligatory boy + girl twin costume, Raggedy Ann and Andy. It’s also the ultimate DIY costume so it was a no brainer that it must be done. My very first costume was Raggedy Ann and Stella also did it for the first Stellaween. It’s a tradition now.

And yep, another awesome photoshop job. I’m not even going to pretend. Can you tell I don’t typically do fake lashes and green dogs in my work? They had the makeup on and it looked soooo cute. But as soon as they saw each other, they knew what I had just done. They rubbed it off each other and then themselves. I should have known better.

All this stuff is obviously just stuff from the closet. Harris is wearing the hair from the first year though, which was just a few strands of yarn tied together under the hat. But there is an incredible tip I must share. I learned it from watching the new show The Real. They said you can put a button back on using a twist tie from sandwich bread!!! You just strip it down to the wire and then push it through. It was the easiest thing ever!

Here are a couple of outtakes showing how they rubbed all their makeup off. Man, one year olds! They were having fun though. We played the music from the Microsoft Surface commercial. They love to dance to it! (I kind of do too.)

And here’s a little look back at a few of my favorites over the years.

October 27, 2014
The Mythical Cherokee Princess

I can’t speak for the rest of the nation, but down here in the south nearly everyone has a trace of Cherokee in them and many will tell you their ancestor was a princess. Well I recently learned this is but a myth. I haven’t done enough research on the subject to say for certain, but I’ve gathered that they didn’t have princesses. It’s possible it was a loose translation for a chief’s daughter. Don’t shoot the messenger here. I wanted to go with the mythical aspect because it has a fun and lighter air to it. Something that isn’t real so doing the whole pink and purple princessy theme kind of worked. I hope. It’s supposed to be historically inaccurate since she didn’t exist in the first place. See, costumes can be enlightening as well. I’m all about pushing the envelope but not into offending an entire race of people. Most of these costumes are based on an item of clothing already in the house. I really wanted to use these pink moccasin boots. Native American was the first to come to mind. While I’m sure it’s a minute little drop, I’ve always been proud to say I had a little Cherokee in my blood. As a child I was certain that the right side of me was Native American and the left, witch. Yeah. Totally normal=)

So the cute boots are from Zulily. We reused last years Daphne dress. I self-fringed some baby pants that weren’t worth donating and pinned and glued to the dress. I can’t sew. For the headdress I pulled out an old belt from high school. Let’s face it. I’m not going to wear that again so I went to cutting. Glued the feathers and the applique things on and attached elastic to wrap around her head. We used her Merida bow and arrow. I would say this has a total Disney theme but I guess they did Pocahontas so never mind.

As usual, I didn’t prompt this expression. I don’t know how, but she usually nails it. This solemn face was just right.

Hope everyone is getting their costumes ready! Only five days left!

October 26, 2014
Rollllll Tide Roll!

Just in time for tonight’s game (to be ending) we’ve got an Alabama cheerleader, Coach Nick Saban and our awesome mascot Big Al-y=) Last I checked we were ahead of the TN Volunteers so hopefully we’ll win tonight. It looks like Coach Saban is about to get mad and that cheerleader is hiding being the mascot. Haha.

Today’s costumes turned out to be a first world nightmare for me. I couldn’t find the cheerleader skirt anywhere. I could file a report saying that we had been broken into and no questions would be asked. I completely ransacked the entire house. Finally found it in storage in the 2T box saved for next year. I should probably take that as a sign to give it up but I can’t. This is our thing. It’s kind of an addiction for me. The photo was only supposed to be Big Al and the cheerleader but I started thinking we really need Saban. I had an old purse that belonged to my mom and I noticed the strap was breaking. It was perfect to use as the coach’s signature belt! Rob had the headset from doing some telecommuting work. Then I had the “brilliant” idea of wrapping our toy football in bubble wrap to make it the championship trophy. That’s Nick’s other signature accessory;) But of course, I forgot all about it when we started shooting. Like I said,brilliant, right? But I got him to pose for a quick shot with it at the end. I think if you spent enough time on it, it might not look so bad.

The cheer outfit was used back in our second year I think. It was a handmedown from a friend. I tried to get her to wear the giant bow in the individual pic. It got pictured. On the ground. Get what you get, right??? And the Big Al was a handmedown from my sister’s kids. We added a bow to that too because well, it’s the south. We like bows. Oh when I finally found that skirt, I also found an extra cheer dress. It just so happened to be just Twiggy’s size. I just want to say that she’s gotten just as good as Stella at this. I guess she should. She’s been doing it for five years as well. They’re veterans!

So Roll Tide!

October 25, 2014
Darla from Finding Nemo

“Why are you sleeping? Fishy! Fishy! FISHY!” Now, I’m not a big animated movie girl but I love Finding Nemo. Stella does too. And the image of that crazy little girl Darla shaking the poor fish will forever haunt my mind. She’s scary! So perfect for Halloween.

Her outfit is pretty easy to find in your closet. She’s wearing a very tarnished old silver necklace of mine as her head gear. The semi-braces were added post-processing to enhance the effect. I don’t recommend gluing anything on your teeth=) And thanks to hoarding I had that blue cloth from my maternity visit delivering the twins. Add it to a beaded necklace and some alligator clips and voila! That fish. We looked in the cat section at the dollar store for a goldfish and got nothing. So I grabbed an orange sponge from under the counter, cut a fish and glued a googly eye on it. Be sure to check your bag for leaks before adding water. We didn’t think to do that=/

I add all this extra info because some people actually ask about ordering some of the costumes. So I want to share how we came up with them. But I also want to point out that I’m not out spending hundreds of dollars doing this. It’s all about doing it yourself and I try to go for free to $5. It all evens out in the end when I go over though. Also, I’m super lazy and short on time because I’m so unorganized so I really do try to think of the shortest cuts for everything. Hope you guys are enjoying!

Another Flashback Friday here. Look at my baby growing up! From nine months for four and a half. Well, that makes me a little sad…

October 24, 2014
1983 Cabbage Patch Riots

For those of you who don’t remember or are too young to, Cabbage Patch kids were huge in the 80s. They were the Playstations, or whatever the hot thing is these days, of that time. Parents began to fight over these things. They couldn’t keep them on the shelves. So there’s your retail history for the day.

I know it’s overdone and there are tons on the web done better but with Scarlett’s big cheeks I couldn’t resist. So Stella is the rioting mom who is proudly and almost psychotically posing with her new prized position. She looks rough and fought hard for that doll but you should see the other guy! All this is stuff we had. I can’t crochet and those Cabbage Patch wigs are really expensive so I went to my old trusty box of wigs and found this ragdoll wig. I braided it and added the bangs. Those were a little tricky. Stella was supposed to have a bat and a wig also but we settled for this look. Stella had a lot of fun painting the box. It really is fun to put all this stuff together=)

October 23, 2014