I'm a mouse, duh!

Orlando had a downtown Halloween themed pub crawl.  So I needed a costume...quick!  I didn't want something complicated and I didn't want to spend a lot of money.  Mean Girls was on tv several times last week...

And thus I decided to become a MOUSE!

I already had the grey dress.  I just needed the ears.  (I opted out of the tail because it could be a hassle and I didn't want to look like a rat.)  I looked at Target, the Dollar Store, and Walmart.  None of them had a cute ear set, so I decided to make some ears.  

Materials

• 1 piece of grey felt (shade to match the dress) and 1 piece of pink felt
• 1 piece of cardboard
• 1 circle (you will use this to create the size of your eyes)
• grey string and a needle
• scissors
• marker
• bobby pins (6)

How to: 

Using your circle, trace 2 circles on the piece of cardboard.  Then cut them out.  These cardboard pieces will provide sturdiness to your ears.

Cut out 2 small squares from the pink felt, roughly the same size as your circles.  These will be the pink insides of your ears. Fold one square in half.  Draw a half heart.  Then cut along the line.  Unfold and you will have a heart.  It doesn't have to be perfect, just however you want it.  Use that first heart to trace a matching second heart.

Double check that your hearts fit inside your circles. 

Now we will focus on the ears.  Face your piece of grey felt face down if it has texture like mine did; this will hide your drawing marks.  Place down one circle onto the felt (textured side down).  You will want to draw around the circle.  Leave a 1/4 inch space between your cardboard circle and the line; this space will allow for your stitching.  Then you will draw an added 1 1/2 inch of rectangle at the bottom.  This will form the loop for your bobby pin to go into.  Cut out your drawing.  Use it to trace 1 more.  These two version will be the front flaps of your ears.  Then flip over your drawings and trace twice more; these will be the backs of your ears.  This will make sure your ears match.  Cut out the remaining drawings.  Then line everything up.  

I then hand stitched a pink heart onto the front panel of each ear. Since this is a front panel you want to be sewing directly onto your textured side.  (I liked the hand stitched look and could do this while watching tv.  Using a sewing machine this project would take less than ten minutes.)

Then line up your ears, one at a time: front panel, cardboard circle (sturdiness), then back panel (textured side facing out).  Start on one end and stitch all the way around.  Place in a bobby pin to allow enough room in your loop.  Stitch the end of your panel up to the top (over the bobby pin), thus creating a loop.  Continue for the second ear.  (I used bobby pins because I don't like headbands, but you could usually slip the loops onto a headband for a youngster.)

Your ears are complete! (Use more bobby pins to secure them in place.)

Here's what they look like on:

Happy costume creating!

making whoopie...pies

Love red velvet? Of course you do.  Here's an interesting twist on the classic combined with a childhood favorite.  These treats are easy to make and can be created for big hands or little ones.  

Ingredients

• 1 box of red velvet cake mix
• 3/4 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil 
• 3 eggs
• 1 box (4-serving size) instant chocolate pudding mix

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease baking sheets.  In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients until a smooth batter.

Pour batter in a plastic resealable bag.  Seal baggie and push batter to one corner.  Cut corner to create a small hole. 

Pipe batter into small circle (this will desire how big you want your pies), about 1-inch apart to allow for spreading. 

Bake 10-12 minutes.  Cool 2 minutes then place on a cooling rack.  Make sure to cool completely before filling.  

Once cooled, spread frosting on the flat side of one cookie.  Top with a second cookie, flat side down to make a sandwich.  

 

 Enjoy!