Monday, May 11, 2015

Hero In a Half Shell: DIY Turtle Costume

Welcome to the last week of school for my precious five year old. This week, his teachers have basically decided to completely forgo all educational planning and essentially make this week a party everyday for the kids. Which I absolutely love. As a kid in school, what was better than counting down to summer? Why not countdown to summer with a fun different activity each day? Today is Super Hero Day!

Zander wasn't really sure what he wanted to be for a super hero. He's totally in LOVE with every super hero lately, so this was a hard pick for him. Finally he settled on Raphael. AKA the Red Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. He already had a mask. Technically we have two masks which turns into all 4 ninja turtle masks. They're reversible, so one mask has two colors. Boom. Awesome. We're partly there for the costume! What about the rest? Enter my rare creative DIY Mom side of my brain. Thus the need to share this with y'all. You're welcome.

Y'all. I'm not gonna lie. I'm super proud of how this turned out. You see, I refused to buy anything for this super hero day thing at school. Refused. I immediately started googling how I could make this costume for Zander.... and I immediately got discouraged. Most of what is online required things I didn't have around the house. (Like spray paint)... So I really had to get creative.

How I made Zander's costume!

Turtle Shell
What I used:
  1. Cardboard box insert
  2. Markers
  3. Ribbon
  4. Stapler 


What I did:
  • The insert was a rectangle. I drew the oval shaped turtle shell in the middle of the box. 
  • Using markers, I drew the shell pattern and colored it in. No, it's not perfect, but who cares? It's for a 5 year old. 
  • After coloring, I bent the edges of the box so it would form a shell-like shape. 
  • Holding where I folded, I stapeled it in place
  • Using Christmas curling ribbon, I strung it through the folds & formed a "back-pack" like method to where Zander could wear the shell on his back. 


Turtle Belly.
Y'all! Huge props to Amanda for this. When I was posting all over instagram the progress of the shell, she suggested how I could do the belly. I took that idea and ran with it!
What I used:
  1. Old white T-shirt (too small for Zander so he won't miss it)
  2. Markers
  3. Scissors
  4. Needle & Black Thread
  5. Pins

Because Amanda is a Genius and really helped me out. I had to share via Snapchat!

What I did:
  • With I pencil, I sketched the outline of a turtle shell belly on an old white t-shirt. (I used the help of a google search image to see what several looked like.) I combined the look of two different pictures into one. 
  • Using a black marker, I went over the sketch once I was happy with the design. 
  • Now color away to how you want your shell to look! 
  • Once I was happy with the look, I cut out the outline of the shell. Here, I cut out both the FRONT and BACK of the t-shirt. The idea here, was I didn't want it to fray, so I was planning to sew a little. 
  • Because I wanted to sew, I left some of the white on the edge. 
  • Here, I sewed by hand with a running stitch along the black outline. Once I was happy with it and satisfied there'd be no fraying, I cut the remaining white. 


To finish the look:
// I took Zander's green ninja turtles shirt and pinned the belly over the logo. This way, he looked green and didn't have to ruin his favorite turtle shirt!
// We put the "back-pack" shell on, and finished the look with the mask and khaki shorts!



What I love is that this can easily translate to a Halloween costume with long sleeves and pants. Plus, super easy! Literally, y'all I didn't even make my markers go dry coloring everything. I was pretty impressed by that.
Do you make your own costumes? I feel like this would've been easier if I had a sewing machine, but lucky for me my running stitch has improved while doing this! What do y'all think?
 photo featured sponsor2_zpsov6ixzlo.jpg

 photo TRLSigNov2014_zps7a838dc4.png

27 comments :

  1. This is wonderful! I saw your work through the various stages and it turned out so well! I love it and even better it's all homemade. Best ninja turtle ever. Watch him want to wear it ALL the time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This turned out so great! Thumbs up to you super mom! Hope Zander enjoys his last week of school! TURTLE POWER!

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh, he absolutely LOVES it and definitely wants to wear it all the time. he was counting down for today to be able to wear everything at school. :) I'm glad it came out so well since my DIY bone is very small. obviously any success needs to be shared. haha

    ReplyDelete
  4. thanks!! I totally felt like a super mom since it came out so well. it was relatively easy, but would've been easier with a sewing machine. oh well. he loves it and he'll be the coolest Raphael in the classroom today! I'll have to ask him if there were other turtles today. lol

    ReplyDelete
  5. It came out so cute! You did a fabulous job!

    ReplyDelete
  6. aaaaand YOU ARE AWESOME. Zander looks sooo cute with that backpack! (Wait, don't tell him that. He looks so COOL!) My brother and I would spend literally hours upon hours watching the TMNT movies - on repeat. (My poor mom) One of my favorite stories to tell is when he was little and annoying the crap out of me, I told him I could hear the TMNT underground from a steam-gate in front of our house. I got in HUGE trouble though when my mom found my brother with his ear to the gate - in the middle of the cul de sac - as he was yelling "I HEAR THEM!! THEY'RE MAKING PIZZA!" hahahah. (I really was a good sister...)

    ReplyDelete
  7. thanks! :) I'm thrilled that he loves it!

    ReplyDelete
  8. bahahaha!! oh my goodness I love you so much! This sounds like something I'd do with my brothers now... my sister and I are 14 months apart and I never got a chance to really torture her as a big sister should. but my brothers are 10 & 12 now (so 15 & 17 years difference from me!) so I could totally pull off something like that. hahaha. :D
    While I was making this I was absolutely singing "ninja ninja RAP!" LOL.

    ReplyDelete
  9. wait!! I'm not familiar with that song... is that from the new TMNT? (I've only seen the old ones... because, you know. I'm old an stuff.)

    ReplyDelete
  10. It's from the second one that came out. It's an older one. Vanilla ice sings it lol

    ReplyDelete
  11. That is SO cute!!! Way to go mom!! I bet he thought you were just the coolest mom around!! I love seeing crafts and stuff like this with kids. Makes my heart so happy!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. thanks!! :) It was a lot of fun. and knowing that he loves it so much makes my heart happy!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Love it!! Genius and easy - even the kids can help decorate!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Absolutely!! Zander helped color the shell. It was so fun to make

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love love love how this turned out! So cute!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks dear!! He loves it and I found out he was the only turtle in his class!! Original costume for the win!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. thanks, Trish!! :) I think my most recent picture of him in his bike helmet AND the costume was the best yet. he absolutely LOVES it!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. thank you!! :) I'm just thrilled that he loved it!

    ReplyDelete
  19. So cute!! Love the pic of him wearing his costume...his smile is priceless!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. This is sooooo handy, mama!! Look at you! And he looks so happy with it -that's the best part!

    ReplyDelete
  21. He loved it for sure!! I'm just glad I was able to pull something out lol.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thank you!! I was so happy that he loves it. It warms my heart knowing he can appreciate home made things like this and he doesn't need store bought. He's aware of the value of home made

    ReplyDelete