Skip links

Just Measuring Up

Inspiration for the Everyday DIYer

Header Right

Main navigation

Archives for October 2019

DIY Baby Shark Halloween Costumes

by Leave a Comment

This post will show you how to make DIY shark family halloween costumes in less than an hour! If you’re kids have loved the baby shark hit as much as ours have, these DIY costumes are perfect and easy.

If there was ever a song of the summer for our family, it was this year.

It wasn’t a Taylor Swift song or even a pop hit.

Its popularity grew on You Tube – and it’s called… Baby Shark.

Our daughter listened to it all summer, bopping her head and attempting to sing the new sounds.

Our preschooler giggled at the lyrics and mimicked the dance – and thought it was hysterical that Grandma and Grandpa lyrics were in the song. We spent some of the summer visiting the kids’ Grandma and Grandpa at the beach.

So this year for our family costumes, baby shark seemed to fit the bill. 

This costume was super easy to make – even easier than my diaper box fire truck! 

The best part?

This baby shark family costume involves no sewing! Just a trusty mama (or papa) with a glue gun!

How to Make No-Sew Shark Family Halloween Costumes

I can’t emphasize enough just how simple these costumes were to make. I make family Halloween costumes every year, and this took me the least time.

And, I actually didn’t make these the same day as Halloween, as I did in the past!

You’ll only need a few materials, and you might already have some of them. I bought some hoodies and hats, but everything else I had. 

And, the hoodies and hats can be reused if you use the tip below!

Choosing the Clothes for the DIY Shark Costume

First, you’ll want to think about clothes. Gray is such a popular color that most people already have gray hoodies or sweatshirts. You’ll want to make sure you have sweatpants or joggers that are the same shade of gray as your sweatshirt, so your shark has a cohesive look. 

Also, if you have more blue clothes, you can definitely be a blue shark. That’s a thing 🙂

Next, I ordered some gear from Shirts In Bulk. They have really great prices and tons of color options. I ordered all of my Sesame Street t-shirts from them, and they worked out perfectly. I’ll link the exact pieces that we ordered below. 

Their shipping is super quick – usually two-day, so you definitely have time before Halloween to make these.

Gathering a Few Materials for the DIY Sharks

In the meantime, you can gather the rest of your materials. It’s basically felt, hot glue,  a piece of cardboard or card stock, and scissors. For felt, I used several white sheets and a little bit of black and blue.

Also, if you want to reuse your shirt or hats, definitely check out these adhesive glue spots called Zots. They give a really good stick and they can easily be removed after. 

For our costumes, I glued down the kids’ things (so their costumes wouldn’t fall apart at school), but I used Zots for my husband’s and mine. That way, we could still use our hoodies again.

Once your new clothes come, you’ll probably want to wash them first. Then, you’re all set!

Cutting and Gluing the Felt Pieces

From start to finish, this step took about 45 minutes for all four costumes.

Starting with the DIY Shark Costume Hat

I started by laying out my first article of clothing, which was the hat.

I used gray winter hats for the kids (it’s usually cold on Halloween here) that I got from Shirts in Bulk for a few bucks.

For my husband and me, I used two darker gray ball caps, which were also a Shirts In Bulk find. 

DIY Shark Eyes

I cut two white circles for eyes. Then two smaller blue circles and then two small black circles. 

If you are worried about perfect circles, find things around you to trace.

I glued these three layers together for the eyes. 

Then, I used Zots, the adhesive glue dots, to place them on the hat.

Remember the knit hats will stretch, so the eyes will looker farther apart when the hat is on.

Using the Zots gave me the opportunity to move the eyes around while my son was modeling (without the permanence of them being glued down).

Once I had the eyes placed where I wanted them, I did use hot glue to attach them well (on the kids’ hats). 

DIY Shark Teeth

Next up were the teeth!

I use two strips of white felt about an inch or two wide. Then, I made one angled cut after another to easily clip them into triangles.

If kids are helping you with the costumes, the teeth is a great job to delegate to them, as long as their kiddie scissors will go through the felt.

Then flip about an inch of the knit hat inside out.

You’ll glue the teeth to the inside. Start putting hot glue on the hat (or the teeth) and stick them down. 

If you are using ball caps, you’ll glue the teeth to the inside of the hat’s brim.

DIY Shark Fin

Once the teeth and eyes are on, you just need a fin.

I wanted to make sure my fin didn’t flap, so instead of just using felt, I glued card stock inside of the felt.

This will keep the fin sticking out. The card stock that I used was pretty thin, but it did the job perfectly. 

So first, I cut a basic fin shape out of brown card stock that I had.

Then, I glued white felt to each side of it.

Make sure you used enough glue on the edges so your felt doesn’t flap or so your card stock doesn’t show. 

Then, you’ll carefully line the back of your hat with a thick line of hot glue and stick the fin onto the hat.

Hold it carefully (or rest it on something upright) while it dries. You might want to put a little extra glue on the beginning and end.

The hat is done!! 

DIY Shark Belly

Last, you can cut a big oval out of white felt and stick this to the belly of your sweatshirts or hoodies.

Again, use Zots to make it a non-permanent stick.

That’s it!

It’s a very simple costume, right?!

Time and Cost of the DIY Shark Costumes

It took about 45 minutes to make all four of the costumes.

The cost was just in clothing, as I had the felt and hot glue. Super inexpensive, right?!

With these costumes, your family will be all set to trick or treat on Halloween as the infamous shark family from the baby shark you tube hit!

And if I know my husband, he will definitely be playing the song from his pocket 🙂

P.S. I totally glued my son’s fin upside down (see below) 

Yield: 4 Family Shark Costumes

DIY Baby Shark Halloween Costumes for the Family

DIY Baby Shark Halloween Costumes for the Family
Here's an easy print-out sheet of how to make these DIY shark family Halloween costumes.
Active Time 45 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes

Materials

Tools

Instructions

  1. Lay out everyone's outfits, so you know you have everything you need.
  2. Start cutting out eyes. Cut white circles for the eyes, along with blue and black circles for the inside (see pic).
  3. Glue eyes to the caps. Use Zots (optional) to place them.
  4. Cut white triangles for the teeth. Fold the inside of the hat up (or for ball caps, flip the cap over). Glue the teeth to the inside and then flip back.
  5. Cut a fin out of cardboard or cardstock. Cover this with white felt on both sides, and then glue down.
  6. Attach the fin to the hat by placing a thick line of hot glue on the back of the hat or cap. Hold in place until it dries.
  7. Cut a white circle for the bellies and glue or tape down. (Tape if you want to make it non-permanent).
© Eileen
Category: Crafts

 

10-Minute Floral Embroidery Hoop Wreath

by Leave a Comment

Learn how to make a floral hoop wreath in just 10 minutes! Perfect for a simple seasonal wreath or for wedding decor.

I have to admit that this was the first wreath I’ve made (although I did make this pretty cool holiday star last year).

I always see all these gorgeous how to make a wreath tutorials on Pinterest and Instagram, but they always seem so complicated.

However, I had a huge embroidery hoop taking up too much space in my craft closet that I was determined to make use of it.

The embroidery hoop was from a display at my sister’s wedding.

In fact, all of the materials I used for this floral embroidery hoop wreath were items I found around my house. 

I love a use-what-I-have project 🙂

In making this wreath, I wanted to make a fall wreath but with more modern colors than your typical deep reds, oranges, and browns.

Not that I don’t love those colors, but I wanted to make something lighter and fun.

This floral embroidery hoop wreath with wood bead accent made for the perfect fun fall wreath.

How to Make an Embroidery Hoop Wreath

If you haven’t made a wreath before either, this is so super simple!

If I can do it, you can too!

It just involves some snipping, some gluing, and a little watercolor paint.

Gather Wreath-Making Materials

First, I gathered my materials.

My materials for this embroidery hoop wreath consisted of the embroidery hoop, two bunches of flowers, wood beads, ribbon, watercolor paint, and twist ties. 

I also needed my hot glue gun, glue, and heavy duty scissors for snipping the stems.

At the end of this post, I have an easy print-out of materials and instructions, so keep reading for that!

The Floral Component

For the flowers, I had these pretty flowers that I also used for my sister’s wedding. They were from one of the craft stores.

I love the leaves because they almost have the feeling of felt. However, the flowers were red, and I wanted this wreath to have a softer look for fall. 

So, I clipped off the red flowers and used them for another project (making a 3D cardboard tree with my son).

Replacing Flowers with Beads

Once I removed the red flowers, I decided to hot glue wooden beads to the spots where some of the flowers were.

I thought the wooden beads would look so nice with the wooden embroidery wreath. Unfinished wood has such a pretty look to it, doesn’t it?!

And, I love these wooden beads. I’ve been incorporating them into so many DIYs lately.

Even though I loved the wooden beads, I wanted to add a little bit of fall into this wreath.

So I decided to give some of the wooden beads a light coat of watercolor paint in orange and brown. 

I just used my kids’ watercolor paints, which were perfect for this light coat of paint. I used mostly water – just a dab of the color.

Don’t you love the way it turned out?!

My kids joined in and helped paint too. I love giving them opportunities to be creative, and they really enjoy it.

Attaching Flowers & Beads

Next, I was ready to start attaching the flowers to the embroidery wreath.

I had a feeling I would want to reuse the embroidery hoop again, so I didn’t want to go overboard with the hot glue.

Also, I grabbed a few green twist ties from the kitchen to help hold the flowers together. 

I wanted to hide the tightening part of the embroidery hoop, so I flipped the wreath so this would be at the bottom (see below pic). 

Next, I laid the flowers down on the wreath and snipped a few stems here and there that wouldn’t be worth gluing down.

I placed both stem bunches on the embroidery tightening box and overlapped them (see below). 

After that, I hot glued a few spots (bottom on the tightening box, bottom left, and bottom right).

I used the twist ties to keep the higher parts of the flowers attached and hid the twist ties with the  greenery. 

Then, I started laying out where the wooden beads would go. I tried to scatter them here and there.

The beads are a little heavy, so you’ll want to choose areas where they won’t dangle (unless you are going for that look). 

Once you are happy with the placement of the wooden beads, you can hot glue these on.

Adding Ribbon

Last, I cut a strip of burlap ribbon and tied it into a bow. I actually used the inside of burlap ribbon that I had.

The ribbon was a little too much, so I just used the other side.

Since the wreath was so simple, I didn’t want a bow that was too extravagant – hence, the inside out ribbon.

Hanging on the Wall

To hang the embroidery wreath on the wall, you can use 3M command hooks and just rest the embroidery hoop on the hook (see below).

Or, you can cut a piece of ribbon and loop it on – whichever look you prefer!

Time and Cost

The embroidery hoop wreath with wooden beads took only ten minutes to put together.

I had all the materials, so it was a no-cost project for me!

However, if you need to purchase all the materials, it would probably cost you $15-20. Be sure to use a coupon at the craft stores!

Once I was finished with the embroidery hoop floral wreath, I hung it on the inside of my front door.

I love coming down the stairs and seeing it in the morning – it definitely makes me smile.

That’s what I love about DIY projects. Not only are they fun to make, but you get to create something that you’ll enjoy!

Even though I love how the wreath turned out, I’m trying to live more simply with less stuff!

So I have a feeling I’ll be removing these greens and turning this into some kind of holiday wreath next 🙂

I’m sure I’ll reuse those beads and flowers too.

Stay tuned for that tutorial!

Below you can find an easy list of the materials and instructions for how to make the floral embroidery wreath tutorial. 

10-Minute Floral Embroidery Hoop Wreath

10-Minute Floral Embroidery Hoop Wreath
Here are the easy instructions for how to make this simple embroidery hoop wreath - perfect for fall and for wedding decor.
Active Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Difficulty Easy

Materials

Tools

Instructions

  1. Lay out your greenery on your embroidery hoop. If you have a tightening box, position this on the bottom - to be covered with the greenery.
  2. Take your wooden beads and lay them out on the greenery to gauge about how many you'll need.
  3. Paint your wooden beads (or leave them wooden if you prefer).
  4. Once dry, hot glue your beads to the greenery.
  5. Use hot glue to attach the greenery to the wreath. Clip any stems or ends of the greenery that are unnecessary.
  6. Use green twist ties to hold the the upper greenery in place.
  7. Add a ribbon in the bottom middle. Tie it into a simple bow.
  8. Hang up and enjoy!
© Eileen
Category: Crafts

More Posts You’ll Love