10 Apples Up on Top

It was Read Across America Day yesterday and JR was supposed to dress up like a Dr. Seuss character. And with the only Hobby Lobby an hour drive from my house, I knew I needed to come up with something fairly easy. Easy, but original and, of course, funny.
Though you can't tell from this picture, JR did think 10 Apples Up on Top* was a funny idea. (You know how he is about having his picture taken in sunlight. Ugh!) And I will say this was one of the easiest projects I've ever done...except for the 3rd degree hot glue gun burn I inflicted on myself.

Since I had to make this Hobby Lobbyless, I found myself loading up my cart at Wallyworld with Styrofoam balls, red paint, glitter, and green pipe cleaners. My idea was to make the apples myself...when lo and behold, I happened upon decorative apples! And since buying premade apples was half the cost of making my own, I threw those apples in the basket as fast as I could. I was raised under my mother's motto, "Make it easy on yourself", and when it comes to crafting I have a motto of my own: Easier, cheaper, and non labor intensive beats messy, costly, and time consuming any day!

As for the only snafu in the process, here's my 3rd degree hot glue gun burn.

That would be the top of my leg. (No more crafting in shorts for me.) I thought the hot glue gun was out of glue so I was loading a new stick. Guess what? It wasn't out of glue. And as I loaded the new stick in, it pushed out the rest of the glue...right on my leg. On the bright side, I'm pretty sure I'm permanently waxed in that location for the rest of my life.

I never expected the costume to make it through the whole day. (JR is a boy, after all.) But the apples did stay all glued together, they just came apart from the headband. It might have even broken apart in his backpack. He said the headband started hurting his head around lunchtime, so he traded it in for this little number.

Just like me. Always up for multiple costumes...especially when they're hats!

*10 Apples Up on Top Costume Tutorial:

• supplies needed: headband, premade apples, hot glue gun
• step-by step instructions: Glue apples to headband.