August 4th 2015 - Mr Maker has nothing on Mummy!

august 4th 2015 - Mr Maker has nothing on Mummy!

Today the local food bank had a viking day.  Lil man said he wanted to go dressed up.  Now if you have followed my blog you will remember how I made a Viking Tunic from a bath mat for world book day for middle son and also a viking shield.

So we were half way there for today.  I had hoped to use the knights helmet altered to make a viking helemt BUT we couldn't find it anywhere.  So I looked on pinterest and found this hat that can be made from cardboard and duck tape......cue my next problem the recycling was taken by hubby first thing this morning and I have no silver duck tape!  Ok not a problem, I sent the boys upstairs for the army hat, I started to cover it in white gaffa tape and then it came to me - tin foil!!!

This was my next yell at the kids, find me tin foil and sellotape.  They found them and gave them to me.  I covered the hat with tin foil and held in in place on the inside with selloptape.  From here I managed to find a small box that I could cut horn shapes out of and I covered them in white gaffa tape and stuck to the sides. 

From start finish was about 10minutes in making time, just before we charged out of the door!

Here is lil man as a viking:

and here is lil man, his brother who the viking at the food bank dressed up and the viking:

They had a really nice afternoon, it was very informative and they enjoyed being able to touch and look at things that the vikings would have had.  Thank you North Lakes Food Bank, Cumbria for hosting this event.

February 27th 2015 - Making a viking tunic

February 27th 2015 - Making a viking tunic

Following on from yesterdays post about making a viking shield (which is almost complete, just needs the front bit glueing onto it with hot glue).  I have set about making the viking tunic.  I got the idea from this pin which came from Where's my Glow blog.

As I said yesterday I bought a toilet and bath mat set for £3.99 to use as the base to make his tunic/ wasitcoat.  They are a great idea as they are brown and fluffy like fur.

I started by marking a line down the middle of the toilet mat on the back.  From the toilet mat I stitched the small top bit to one corner of the bath mat (I turned it the other way to the photo).  I then made my son hold it all whilst I worked out where the arm hole needed to be to, marked it on the inside with pen and took it off him.  I sewed up the side to where I had marked and tried it on him again.  It fitted ok.  I went to start the other side only to realise that the top is narrower than the bottom, so I had to cut on my line to make it into 2 pieces and then stitched the other small top piece to the bath mat - it was just over half way so I had to cut it.  I then stitched the side and left the arm hole.  This side was much harder to sew as it didnt have the nice bound edge, so I stitched it twice to make sure it holds.

This is what it looks like:

We are slowly getting there as a viking!

February 26th 2015 - Making a viking shield

Februatu 26th 2015 - making a viking shield

Next Thursday (5th march) is world book day.  Yesterday on our family learning at the school we were talking about books (its a literacy course after all) and world book day came up and how the school doesnt do dress up for it etc, the teacher who is sat in on the sessions said that as the school iss doing a big push on reading at the moment they ARE allowing the kids to dress up as a book character this year.

I spoke to my sons when we got home about it, neither had a letter (we were told they would be going out in day or so), and asked what they want to go as.  You name it and i'm pretty sure in 1 of the 3 boys cupboards, the box of dressing up "bits" (hats/masks/gloves and extras) or the halloween box in the loft we have most things or can at least make something from a combination of.  My youngest said he is going in his thomas the tank outfit (like a onesie but is a full thomas suit not just a picture of him)  and will take 1 of his thomas books.  Brilliant I don't have to do anything there.  Asked my middle son what he wants to go as hoping he says something we have etc and he goes upstairs to his books, comes back down and says "I want to go as a viking!"  ME -  "errrr it has to be a character from a book, you have no viking books", Son replies "I do, my how to train your dragon books have vikings in, can I go as Hiccup and take my toothless pillow?"  Well that shut me up didn't it, nothing like a smarta** kid and his comments. lol.

Well I started hunting the net for "proper" outfits and I am not paying the price that they are - £7.99 upwards, i'm not paying that much for one!  So I did my usual and hit pinterest in the hope of finding a "how to make a viking outfit".  I found a few including a really good tutorial on making a "furry" waistcoat" from a bath and toilet mat!  I went to town today and bought a bath and toilet mat set in brown for £3.99, but this will be tomorrows pin as I need to meansure son before I start cutting and sewing.

Todays pin is how to make a viking shield.  This picture is taken from google and is Hiccups orriginal shield from when he was younger (about the same age as my son is), in the later films he has a dragon it, this is the design I will be painting onto our shield.  There is also this pin that shows you how to make a shield in general.

I have cut out the curcle and have the duck tape to go round the edge, I have covered a small plastic pot in duck tape to make the silver bit in the middle of the shield - i'm going to hot glue gun this on once its painted, I also have a piece of cardboard that will be glued or duck taped to the back to  make the handle.