DIY Dragon Socks

Dragon Socks

Getting socks for your birthday is not something that most kids think is a great present.  It’s probably just as bad as getting underwear for your birthday as a kid. So as a parent, what do you do when that is what your kids really needs and they don’t need more toys. 

It was a real problem for my husband and me. So I did what I normally do, I started researching how to make the item that is need.  When I did this I found a blog called Me Sew Crazy where she had made dinosaur socks for her kids.  My reaction was,” She’s a genius!” that solved my problem.  My kid likes dinosaurs but he loves dragons.  I changed the spines to spikes and made the socks out of old pajamas and felt. 

Step #1

I traced a pair of socks of his older brothers that I knew fit my youngest son onto a piece of paper.  Then I added ½ for seam allowance.  Then I drew a spike on paper to use as a pattern for the dragon spikes which I then cut out.

Step#2

 

I took old pajamas that my kids had outgrown and seem ripped the necks and wrist band off the clothes.

Step#3

I pinned the paper pattern I had created to the old pajamas.

Step#4

I cut out the fabric that I had pinned for the socks.

Step #5

 I pinned the spike to felt and cut out enough spikes for four spikes for each sock.

Step #6

Then I put the spikes in between the two pieces of fabric for the socks.

Step #7

I pinned the socks together.

Step #8

I sewed the main part of the socks together.

Step #9

I flipped the socks right side out.

Step #10

  

I flipped the neck or wrist parts wrong side out to match up with the sock.  I made sure to make the “elastic” for the socks I was making smaller than the other part of the socks so it would grab the leg and stay up.

Step#11

I then stitched the “elastic” to the body of the sock and flipped it out.

My youngest son loved getting these socks for his birthday.  

   Materials

14 pairs of old pajamas-Already had these       0.00

Thread-left over from another project              0.00

Felt- left over from a family members project   0.00

Total Cost

                                                                        0.00

Planting Time

Planting Time

Day 1 

( last danger of frost has past)

 

Before

After

(cantaloupe, dill, blueberries,blackberries and green onions)

May is my favorite month of the year.  Some of my family would say it is because of Mothers Day, or that I take a break from teaching school.  They would be dead wrong.   I love May because it is time to plant. 

I pull out weeds and debris that has blown into our yard. I push the shovel into the dirt, it starts to break up and I get to smash dirt clods.  Then it’s onto mixing in any compost or fertilizer into the soil.  Next I soak the soil with water and start planting seeds.  Then it is the anxious waiting and watering. The anticipation of seeing something sprouts from the ground. 

Tiny little green seedlings sprout, J and I get so close to the little sprouts that its inches from my faces.  I am talking to the plants as I am now trying to keep weeds away as it gains strength.  Almost every day I go outside to see the growth that has taken place in the middle of the night.  I am happily playing in the dirt, I am enjoying watching the plants grow, and as the sun shines on my skin I feel all my stress melt out of my body like ice from winter in sunshine.

While my family loves harvest time because of all the yummy food.  I love the planting time because I get to watch things grow.  For me gardening is like growing my own sunshine.

Day 2

Before

After

(flower bulbs and seeds for attracting bees and wasps)

 

Before

After

(carrots and green onions, a little more weeding needed)

Day 3

( watermelon, corn, peas and oregano)

Day 4

 

Before

After

(carrots, Brussel sprouts, and sage)

Day 5

(Cabbage, cucumbers, dill and radishes)

The Cabbage I did not plant this year.  

This is growing back from last years cabbage.

Day 5

(cherry tomatoes, basil and marigolds)

The basil and marigolds are in the bricks.

Day 6

(Zucchini, radishes, marigolds, salvia, and irises)

Days 7, 8, and 9

(Echinacea, peppermint, thyme, beefsteak tomatoes, bell peppers, and Eucalyptus)  

Days 10 and  11

(Pumpkins, corn, sugar snap peas, and radishes) 

Days 12

(Roses, grapes (I hope), salvia, irises, roma tomatoes, garlic and marigolds)

Now I am just waiting to see the plants sprout, grow and lots and lots of weeding.

Tablet Drawing

Tablet Drawing

                   

  

              

 

                  

 Sketched out on paper first---------drawn on the tablet

My husband is working on his Information Systems degree in college.  One of the classes he had to take was web design.  For his project he came up with an idea for a web site that he couldn’t find on the internet for a product he would like to use.  Since there were no web sites like this online he also had a problem finding graphics to use for his site.  So he bought a graphics program for his tablet and a stylus for me to use so I could draw for him what he wanted on his web site. 

I had just previously gotten over my fear of drawing for my husband so I thought “I can do this”.  I am not a computer artist but I figured the object doesn’t need to move or be 3-D. I can probably do what he is asking.  

 I have always admired those who create art through technology.  Computer graphics and animation is truly an impressive art form.  It requires a high level of ability in art, math and computers.  It is impressive to put that combination of skills in a single person.  While I respect computer and graphic artists I have never felt any desire to explore that media after a truly epic failure in a required auto cad class in high school. 

However, when I attempted to draw on my husband’s tablet I wanted to get Mid-evil on his tablet.  I was daydreaming about taking our sledge hammer to the screen.  It seemed like a good problem solving method for the “THING” that was misbehaving.  I would draw with his stylus and then it would not register the lines I had drawn. O r it would record marks my wrist would make from brushing the screen.  And shading with it… I kept thinking “where is a great ax when you need one.”  It truly was my love for my husband that had me trying to use a tablet to draw anything.  I did eventually find out that if I put a towel under my wrist it would not registers marks from my wrist.  I also found by using the paintbrush instead of the pencil option would achieve the shading I normally accomplish with a pencil (well as close as I could get it).

I have yet again learned that I have a lot of respect for those who create art using forms of technology.  However, I don’t think I should be daydreaming about axes and sledge hammers everyday so I will not be pursuing that from of art for fun in the future.

Fixing Frayed Shoe Laces

I’ve got the World on a String

“I want to go outside” says my youngest son.

“Get socks and shoes on” I say in response.

He puts on his socks and shoes.  I tie the laces on his shoes and we go outside.  We go outside together and he goes to play in the back yard and I do gardening near him.  It is amazing all the planets he has visited, stories he comes up with, characters from books or movies he pretends to be while playing in the back yard. 

Yesterday I was planting carrots, sage and Brussels sprouts. I had prepared the soil for seeds.  My children decided that the weeds we were pulling were Mandrake that they well pulling out of the dirt.  They then threw these “Mandrakes” at the imaginary Death eaters.  As I was about to put worms in the soil they decided that the worms were really Flubber Worms from the Harry Potter world.  It was a lot of fun. Nearly every day in the back yard is something different and it makes me happy to hear them use their imaginations.

About two weeks ago my youngest son asked me his normal question.

“I want to go outside” says my youngest son.

“Get socks and shoes on” I say in response.

This time he says,

“I can’t my shoes are broken. He then starts crying.”

I comfort him and tell him, “I will see if I can fix it.”

I am thinking there is nearly no way you could have actually broken your shoes.  So I look at his shoes and the laces are frayed, badly frayed. I am thinking how did that happen so fast.  Now I am debating, well he will probably out grow these shoes in another month at the rate he is growing but he has to have shoes.  Just tying them with the laces that frayed would just lead to a head ache later.  So I start researching to see if there is a way to fix them.  However, I did not have the supplies others talked about using to fix the aglet on his laces.  So I thought, “Well, I will just have to do the best I can.”

Step #1

I cut off the frayed string.

Step #2

I took apart an orange marker that had dried out.  

Step #3

I put a small amount of glue on a piece of paper.

Step #4

I cut a small amount off the dried out maker.

Step #5

I mixed the fibers from the inside of the marker with the glue.

Step #6

I dipped the end of the shoe lace in the glue/marker mixture.

Step #7

I put  the needle threw the shoe lace then wrapped

 it along the lace where the aglet would normally be.

Step #8

Then i dipped the wrapped part of the lace in the

 mixture again and smoothed it with my fingers.

Step #9

Then i let it dry for a day.

It has been almost two weeks and the repair to his shoe laces have held strong and he is free to go outside and explore his world again, or whatever world he want to pretend he is on.