Día de los Muertos

This year for Halloween I was a Day of the Dead skeleton bride. 90% of the costume was the makeup, which I thought turned out fabulous. I used Tulip brand face paint, which was wonderful! Great coverage, went on easy, stayed dry (with baby powder), and washed off clean at the end of the night. I used Tulip brand rhinestones and skin glue - which also stayed on perfectly. (No, I am not being paid to endorse Tulip, I was just that impressed!)

I put two black roses and a feathered head piece from Mood in my hair.

I painted a black turtleneck from Good Will with the filigree bones and glitter. The dress is compliments a costume swap with Andrea.

I even carved my pumpkin like a Day of the Dead bride!

I am slowly going crazy

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, switch
Slowly going crazy, am I?
6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Do you ever spread yourself so thin, you wonder how you haven't blown away like a leaf? I'm having one of those months, years, life times. I love being involved and having a lot going on, but things have been getting a bit out of hand. It's really no one's fault but my own.

Moral of the story? I don't have much time for this post, but I wanted to show a picture of my completed Ursula costume. I am pretty happy with how it all came out.

 

The dress is a summer one from Old Navy that's too long so I've only worn once. I thought the white vine design sort of resembled seaweed. The tentacles are made from triangles of sparkly purple fabric, black cotton and one layer of quilt batting. I sewed them right onto the bottom of the dress - I'll just cut off the inch or two that I sewed them to, then hem to the length it needed to be in the first place. I connected the tops of the two tentacles in front and two in back right to the dress. The left two and right two tentacles have ribbon loops to go over my fingers, so they move with my arms. As we were outside and it was windy, I put on a shrug too.

The eels are felt. I just made elongated ovals and sewed them together like a single piece of an Amish puzzle ball - 2" seams inside-out so I could make their fins. I curled them up and tied them with a rubber band for the week so they stayed that way when I attached them. Then I used a Sharpie to make eyes, nostrils and a mouth. They are attached from the inside with safety pins too.

Shell necklace, crazy makeup and half a can of Auqas Net later, I'm Ursula!

What do you think? 

We are having our Halloween party on Saturday and I think I am going to skip the hair thing this time. It is so gross to have that much hairspray and white coloring in my hair. I was impressed that I retained that volume the entire night!

268 days!

I am considering being Medusa, Urusla from The Little Mermaid, Malecifant from Sleeping Beauty. Apparently I am feeling like a villainess this year. The problem with these costumes is that we host a big Halloween party every year. In order to be a good hostess, I can't have a really cumbersome costume and I don't like to wear things over/on my head except witch hats. I also dislike face/body paint. For liking Halloween and costumes so much, I sure do have a lot of restrictions and dislikes!

I need ideas for villainesses that don't require face paint or elaborate headdresses. Ideas?

Here's a list of things I can remember off the top of my head that I've been for Halloween as an adult: Cheer Bear from the Care Bears, Velma from Scooby Doo, a witch (several times), Mrs. Lovett, Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas and the Queen of Hearts. I know there are more but I can't think of them right now. 

Only 269 days

Until Halloween! I know that's really not a normal countdown to start in February, but it's already on my mind. I make my Halloween costumes and sometimes they get a little elaborate. If I don't get started early enough, I run out of time. Typically it's about this time of year when I decide what the next costume will be. This year, I'm stumped. The past two Halloweens, I used Helana Bonham Carter characters as inspiration.

Queen of Hearts in 2009

Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd in 2008

Witch in 2007

The only idea I've come up with so far is Medusa and I'm not that enthusiastic about it. I was a Carebear with a group of 3 others back in college, so I was trying to come up with 80s cartoon inspiration too. Maybe Judy Jetson? My fall back is typically a witch because I love witch hats and I could never have to many. It's hard to justify buying a new one if I'm not going to dress up as a witch for Halloween though! Ideas?

Queen of totes

I went to another Halloween party last night. The weather was dreary, but that kind of sets the mood for a creepy costume party. I did get a picture of my entire Queen of Hearts costume before we left and here it is!

What do you think? Here's everything that went into it: I made the crown out of fabric and cardstock. I sewed the jacket from a 99¢ pattern and put in the grommets for the gold rope lacing. (The tank top I already owned.) The skirt is my skirt that I sewed last year for my Mrs. Lovett costume; I added the hearts for this year. The shoes came from the Salvation Army and I painted the gold swirls and black stripes. I had heart earrings I bought off Etsy and my pendant is a 97¢ clearance charm from Michaels. Money spent: about $15.

Today I also made three totes from Premier Prints' Illusions in Sweet Potato. Here's a preview of one:

Halloween costumes

We had our 10th annual Halloween party on Saturday. Many crockpots of soup, balls of cheese and bottles of wine were consumed and, judging by the disaster of a house we woke up to on Sunday, it would appear everyone had a really good time. It's mostly the same people who attend every year and each year I think the costumes get better. I am probably biased, but I believe we have the most creative group of costume-making friends. This year, the clear standouts (once again) were our friends Cavan and Scott. They were Russell and Carl from the Pixar movie Up.

Here are the characters from the movie.

Cavan & Scott in their costumes.

 Close up of the house with balloons that Scott made out of foam core.

This year was a continuation of their Pixar theme. Last year they were Wall-E and Eve from Wall-E.

Amazingly, out of over 160 photos, we didn't manage to take a single picture of me where you can see my entire costume, so you're going to have wait until after the 24th when we have our next costume party to see the whole effect. I won't forget then!

A witching night tonight

Tonight is our 10th Annual Halloween Party! I am very excited and have so much left to do. I have yet to put all the elements of my Queen of Hearts costume on at once and I can't wait to see it all come together. I've posted about the shoes I painted and the crown I made, so I thought I'd give you one more piece of the puzzle - the jacket. It is one of the most complicated pieces I've ever sewn and I am very proud of it. I think it was 26 pattern pieces and I didn't have to rip a single seam or re-cut any pieces! (The clothes underneath are just what I happened to wear to work that day and not what I'll be wearing for the actual costume.)

Hopefully tomorrow I will have party pictures to post and you can see the entire Queen of Hearts costume (shoes, skirt, jacket, necklace, earrings and crown). I also made a Mad Hatter costume this year. Check out the top hat I made and the teacup ring I bought on Etsy from Sugar Rain Drops. I also made a plaid jacket and vest for the costume. I can't wait to see it all come together tonight.

Queen of Halloween

I finished the Halloween costumes! It's a good thing too because our first party is Saturday. I put the elastic string on my Queen of Hearts crown, the grommets and lacing in the Mad Hatter's jacket, trimmed the top hat and ironed the collars of both jackets. (I had just had my brows down, which is why I'm so red in the picture!)

To make my crown, I took a piece of cardstock and rolled it into a cone. I trimmed the bottom and top to be straight at the height I wanted. I cut a triangle template to draw the points so they were even. The seam of the paper was in a weird spot so I unrolled it all and used that for a template on a second piece of cardstock. I added a tab to that piece in order to connect it into a circle nicely.

While the crown was still flat, I glued on gold fabric (left over from my best friend's Madonna costume last year - thanks, Linds!). I used a hot glue gun to glue the tab to the inside and it was done. So fun. It wouldn't pin to my hair nicely so I took super thin elastic (for jewelry making) and thread it through a large needle. I went through each side of the crown and tied the ends. Voilà! I jaunty little crown that sits just perfectly and all for free!

Strange evening activity

"What did you do last night?"
"I watched tv. What did you do?"
"I made a top hat."
"What?"

Last night I made the top hat for the Mad Hatter costume. The entire time I was making it, I was thinking that it wasn't going to turn out and wondering why I didn't just go to the theatrical shop and buy one for $10. The last step is to sew the brim onto the top. It was so ugly and misshaped at this point, I almost threw it away. But I figured I'd come this far, I'd sew on the brim and see what it looked like. I did and it's awesome! The fabric store is out of black trim, so the brim has a raw edge that won't be there come time to actually wear the hat, but other than that it's done and I love it. I kept saying, "I made a top hat!" last night. That's normal.

Making the hat was even more satisfying because I already had black felt left over from my skeleton buddies. The Simplicity pattern I used last year for Sweeney Todd's vest came with a top hat pattern that worked with minor alterations (making it a bit taller and wider at the top). The ribbon is the fabric I used to make the jacket and vest. So the only cost I will have is the $1 trim around the brim!

Orange Apron Grocery Bag

I made this bag this afternoon out of some fabric I had left over from an apron I made a while back. I think it turned out well and is fun & funky. I didn't even use a pattern! Is it good enough to sell? The problem is that it is so cute I want to keep it now. (Yes, I did take groceries out of my cabinets and refrigerator to pack into it for the picture and then unpacked again and put it all away.)

I spent most of the day in front of the sewing machine today. Besides the above bag, I cut out and completely finished the Mad Hatter jacket. It turned out a little on the small side - the center where the lacing goes is rather far apart. I think once I get the vest done and they are worn together, it won't be too noticeable. It is just a Halloween costume that will get worn 2-3 times at most, so I'm not too worried.

Designer shoes

I've mentioned that I am going to be the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland for Halloween this year. I found a pair of heels online that were super cute for the costume, but they were one-of-a-kind and, needless to say, not within my means to purchase. Anyway, I went secondhand shopping and found these shoes at the Salvation Army. I'm not sure who would ever wear these for real, maybe a square dancer, but I saw potential in them. I bought them for 99¢ and them painted black stripes on the white portion and gold swirls on the red. I am so happy with how they turned out. I think the flats are a better idea than heels anyway because a couple of the parties we go to are outside and heels would be a pain.

Feeling ambitious

Last night I cut out the pattern for the Mad Hatter costume's jacket and vest. I am using a Simplicity pattern for the jacket and vest. Hopefully I will have time this weekend to cut the fabric and get started sewing.

I also want to make some reusable grocery bag prototypes out of some leftover fabric I used to make curtains for my living room and office. One is a red striped heavy weight cotton and the other is yellow and green. I'll post pictures if I get them done. I made one a couple of weeks ago (right) out of some fabric my friend had leftover from a dress she made a couple years ago and it turned out fabulous. I could see people checking it out as I carried it out of the store while running errands over lunch! I made this one out of this Butterick pattern (C - bottom left and upper right) which gave me some ideas for what I want to do if I ever make them to sell on my Etsy page.

Halloween Costumes

I found this super cute Mad Hatter hat on Etsy at Gypsy Lady Hats. She has a ton of amazing hats.
Last year I was Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd Demon Barber and I wish I would have known about her then. I needed a tiny hat and ended up having to alter the one I final bought.

Halloween Costumes

I am going to be the Queen of Hearts for Halloween. My costume is almost done. I need to make my crown, which I have all the stuff for, but haven't started yet. I am also making a Mad Hatter costume, which I have the fabric for but have not started. I found this ring on Etsy in Sugar Rain Drop's shop and it's so perfect for the costume! I will post pics of both costumes here when I'm finished with them.