This has been a busy week since it included St. Valentine's Day and Carnaval. I had looked for a cute costume for Eric for Carnaval, but I could't find one. Mauri had been eyeing some Superman t-shirts at Old Navy, but we skipped buying them because $15 for a little boy's t-shirt seemed a bit pricey, especially when you consider that we had just bought 3 Old Navy fleece jackets on sale for $5 each.
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| Working hard at school |
I had hoped to get the type of print t-shirts I like for him next door at Steve and Barry's until I heard the sad news that the store no longer existed.
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| Mommy's little valentine |
Thinking back to all of that, I suggested that Eric be Superman for Carnaval. I would find a logo online and print it out on a t-shirt transfer. I thought it was going to be easy, until I found it impossible to find any shirts or pants or tights in the right blue color. In the end, I ended up making the whole outfit out of one of Mauri's blue work t-shirts.
I used the same pattern that I had used to make Eric's white pants for his angel costume at Christmas. Making those pants is actually very easy. There are numerous videos and blogs online that show how to do it. For those who are interested,
here is one of them. For the shirt, though, I had to be a bit more creative. I ended up lining up one of Eric's shirts with the leftover t-shirt fabric and cutting out what seemed to be the necessary pieces. I cut the sleeves from Mauri's t-shirt sleeves to avoid having to hem at the wrist. The long sleeves, though, needed to be a bit longer, so I extended the sleeves up through the shoulder of the t-shirt. I also undid the neckline and used it for the new one for Eric.
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| Superman costume can be used as pajamas without the red pieces |
I had a lot of luck on my side, and it actually turned out much better that I expected. The shirt and pants will work as cute pajamas once Carnaval is over.
I had planned on using red briefs over the pants, but decided I wanted something a bit wider in order to be able to attach to them a yellow Superman belt. I decided that I wanted all of the reds in his outfit to be the same anyway, so I decided to make it all. I got most of my ideas for the rest of the costume from
Giannyl, a girl who shows how to easily sew up fun stuff on instructables and YouTube as well as on her own personal blog.
Here is her Superman costume video.
Overall, it was fun to make, and Eric looks super cute as Superman.
Maite told me that she and I should go dressed as hippies, so I got out one of the tie dyed t-shirts I made, a vest, some platform boots, and an old pair of jeans. I cut up the bottom of the jeans to make a sort of bell-bottoms by adding a wedge of another fabric to the slit. To finish things off, I made myself a polymer clay peace symbol pendant, got out a small pair of sunglasses and tied my hair back with a groovy scarf.
When I got to l'Escoleta, though, I found that Maite had changed costumes on me. She didn't know where to find bell bottoms, and ended up dressing up as a Mexican girl.
The change meant there was more variety in the costumes there, but I still found another little hippie at the school with which I could protest and do other hippie activities.
Looking back on Valentine's Day, I don't have much to say. Usually, Mauri and I don't really celebrate. He does usually pick up some small token of his affection from one of his mother's neighbor's plant shop. I still have a heart-shaped cactus from one year, and two preserved natural roses from other years. This year, though, he surprised me with something that I had been wanting for quite some time: a new computer.
I play around with a lot of photos and videos, and our computer could not nearly keep up with me. I didn't expect such a great gift this time of year, though, especially after spending money on our trip and new American clothes for Eric.
To top things off, I still got a heart-shaped bouquet of flowers, making the little valentine that Eric and I made him with our handprints seem a little insignificant. Sigh.
So, over the last few days, not only have I been trying to get back into life in Denia, been sewing up costumes for Carnaval, but I've been trying to figure out my new, wonderful computer. The photo and video editing programs on it are a lot of fun, and I just played around with some of the features.
To give you a little taste of what's to come in the story about our trip to the US, check out the trailer that I put together:
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