The Blond Bombshells

My friend Emily and I tackled the Great Urban Race last weekend, scouring the city in search of fame and fortune. As part of our costumes (our team was The Blond Bombshells), I constructed turtle shells out of cardboard boxes and felt. They held up well considering we ran around town in them for five hours, cramming into trolleys and competing in soccer and cornhole challenges.

Here's the final look, with instructions below:

I started by cutting an octagon from a cardboard box:

Then I cut two slits on each side:

I shaped the cardboard into a shell, sliding the top flaps underneath the side flaps and taping the whole contraption until it was sturdy:

I then added straps made of spare ribbon and covered the whole shebang in felt:

This photo was taken after the race, so the shell had a few dings by then:

In the end, slow and steady did not win the race, but we definitely had fun!

Easy owl decor

To make this wall art, I just stretched scrap fabric over a canvas, cut owl shapes from felt, and glued them on. It was easy, and it's the perfect type of project for a nursery.

Everybody loves a seahorse

Sometimes the spirit moves you to paint a seahorse, so you do it. Now for a random seahorse fact: The males carry the females' eggs in a little pouch on their tummies until the eggs hatch. Awesome!