Steampunk Christmas Caroling

Yesterday, Blaze and I went Christmas caroling in the Levy Park neighborhood of Tallahassee. This was their second annual Steampunk Caroling event, a tradition they started last year after real gas lamps were installed down the middle of 7th Avenue. This was our first time going and it was actually Blaze's first time ever caroling, but it was a great group of people, who made us feel very welcome.




I really like the tiny canons on top of this hat!









It's a little fuzzy, but Blaze took a picture of me.



He also took a short video of us singing:

A Special Bike for Christmas

 Blaze's new bike arrived yesterday  (the fundraiser for Blaze's bike) and once again I would like to thank everyone who helped make this possible! It had been hard to keep the fundraiser a secret, since it was all over the internet, but somehow I managed to do it. He was so surprised and excited when the box showed up and I told him what was inside.

Hugging the box:







Today, we assembled the bike, although it was storming outside and it couldn't be ridden yet.

The written directions that came with the bike were confusing, but there was a very helpful assembly video on YouTube that made it much easier to figure out. My job became starting and stopping the video and explaining what needed to be done, while DH and Blaze put everything together.

Pennant Banner Garland

Sometime back around August, I was looking at the pennant banners that hang in Blaze's room and thought, "tiny versions of those would look good as garland on a Christmas tree." 

So, I made a pattern and cut out a few little triangles of cloth that matched the tree skirt and the Christmas stockings. I didn't start actually doing any sewing on this project until a couple weeks ago, though.  

It has taken an awful lot of little triangles! At 9 yards, I declared this garland finished tonight and draped it on the Christmas tree.

Homemade Window Clings

Several days ago, I posted a tutorial on the Steampunk Christmas Facebook page about making window clings for the holidays, using puffy fabric paint and waxed paper. A friend said she had done that same project with a group of Girl Scouts once, but that they had had a terrible time getting the designs to peel off of the waxed paper. She thought maybe parchment paper would work better, but had never tried it. I had both parchment paper and several colors of fabric paint, so I tried it.

It is easy to see and trace designs through the parchment paper.




The designs, also, peel off of the paper without tearing fairly well. Only one of the gears I made tore when being removed from the paper.

The only problem I had with the parchment paper was that it wrinkled when wet, giving the clings a more textured, rippled look when finished.



After the paint had dried overnight and the clings had been peeled from the paper, they were dampened a little on the side that faced the paper and stuck to the window. They have been stuck to the window for over a week now with no trouble.





Update, Oct. 2017:

It's been a long time since these gear-shaped window clings were in this wreath shape. A couple of them ripped when I removed them from the living room window. Six of the thicker gears were relocated to my son's bedroom windows, where they still cling.

Blaze's 13th Birthday

My youngest child is now a teenager.



For his birthday today, he chose a Harry Potter theme, which was great for me , because I had squirreled away discontinued and deeply discounted Harry Potter party favors when Blaze was still a toddler, thinking that someday he would ask for a Harry Potter birthday party.



Blaze hadn't realized that there was a Harry Potter party in a box in the back of his closet, just waiting to happen.











His two favorite gifts, were the Phineas and Ferb Wii game and a remote control helicopter.











Best friends:



New Harry Potter pajamas:

The Steampunk Christmas Tree 2013

This is the earliest we have ever put up a Christmas tree, but that's what we all wanted to do this past weekend.

DH and Blaze went to Costco and bought a tree on Saturday and we wrestled it into the house and into its stand yesterday.



We made the discovery that Blaze has become too big to be lifted up to put the topper on the tree.







I like this picture, but it just didn't look right with the Christmas decorations,



so I wrapped it like a present.

Happy Thanksgiving!