Karate Duffel

Dana and Rae celebrated "The Boy" over the last month,

and one of their guests shared this tutorial.

Bentley needed a bag for his karate sparring gear,

so I used the tutorial to make him this duffel.

I used some dark denim, and 18" separating zipper,

and plain 1 1/2" wide webbing.

I needed the bag to be large enough for his helmet,

so I increased the measurements.

I cut two zipper linings, each 18 1/2" x 5";

two 10 1/2" circles for the ends;

and for the body, a rectangle 32" x 18 1/2".

I bought 76" of the webbing, and then realized that

I should have bought more because my bag is wider.

It worked out okay, the handles are just shorter.

Also, the circles seemed just a bit smaller than the

body of the bag, so I ended up gathering a little around

the zipper on each side of the bag.

I spent about $10 on supplies, including a 10 pack of

sewing machine needles tough enough for denim.

Ninja Party!

Jonah had a few ideas for his party this year.

First he wanted a zhu pet party,

then dolphins, then ninja.

We went with the ninja theme.

He wanted to invite a ton of friends, but I limited

the number and he painfully selected 7.

When the kids arrived, they colored a ninja and

I stapled it to a bag for them (to keep their goodies).

Then, John told them a story about a ninja,

and they began their ninja training.

Each was given a black belt (fleece),

and we went out back. There, they practiced kicking,

punching, flipping over the swing set bar,

moving like a ninja, throwing stars, and nunchucks.

Once they were trained, they donned their hoods

(black tricot fabric) and began the search for their

ninja crystals. I had stolen those, and was reading a

magazine with the crystals beside me.

Using their super ninja skills, they were able to

retrieve the crystals (camo candy filled eggs)

without being caught.

Then we sang happy birthday, ate cake, and

opened presents. After that, each of the guests

was given a couple of little ninja toys.

Somehow, a couple of treat bags got switched,

but other than that, the party went really well.

(Thanks to John and all his help.)