BAD ASS HALLOWEEN COSTUME!

That is right folks! I'm giving you a sneak peak at my Halloween costume!

Mostly because I just put the three layers together and it is BAD ASS!!!

Inspired by one bad ass Disney villain! I decided after months and himming and ha-ing over what to be, I came across this picture and my mind was made up!

Now personally, the chick who plays Ursula on Broadway is WAY annoying...so much so that despite her FANTASTIC costume, I will NOT be seeing this show if I happen upon New York soonly. Yeah.

Now, I don't dick around when it comes to Halloween...have you seen my previous posts?! You should go look...

Yeah.

So I had to out do myself this year as well. And in doing that means making my own costume...not purchasing this piece of shiit that Disney pawns off as a legitimate portrayal of Ursula the m.f. sea witch!

yeah.

So I decided to enlist the help of my super talented friend Megan.

That's her being a bad ass in our production of Bye, Bye, Birdie. Yeah, I say "Megan, wanna be passed along like a hoggie!?" She says "sure!" I say "Megan, wanna let me use your mad design skillz for a pair of tentacles!?" She says "of course!" I did pay her in Salmon Fettuccine, so everybody wins.

Step one: the hoop skirt.

Don't judge. It's my first time making something like this with form, etc. I used 1/2 in plastic pipping from Home Depot.

Yep, David got in on the Action too!

So here is my sad attempt at a hoop skirt:

I know...I know...I had a pattern too...eek...good thing it goes underneath! I had to make some stuff up as I wasn't using boning...that shiv is not strong enough to hold up my tentacles...

Don't judge me.

Step two: The over skirt (which will go under my tentacles).

It is made from this super awesome sheer material that when you look at it one way, it's blue, and when you look at it another way, it's green! Way bad ass. Don't tell David, by my initial plan was to have the skirt made from blue cotton...easily a $10 skirt...this cost a little bit more...but bad ass Halloween fabric at 60% off was calling my name...I couldn't let it down!

Step three: The Tentacles!

The tops are made from black on black somethin-or-another...some kind of Halloween fabric, also 60% off. Black fabric with glittery black flocked swirls.

The underside is a purple suede like polyester. The plan is to have wires in them so they curl up and around. Suction cups too...what kind of octopus doesn't have suckers?!

Still missing is the bad ass webbing between each tentacle...it's this sheer material that when you look at it one way, it's green, and when you look at it another way, it's purple! Yeah...Megan picked it out...and is also why blue cotton wasn't going to fly as the underskirt...it just wasn't awesome enough to match the webbing!

The whole tentacle skirt has a zipper up the back and is stuffed with three huge bags of polyfiberfil. Eventually there will be a waistband, but I have to get the wires in first...which David said he'd help on....but he's asleep on the couch right now. I might need to make more Fettuccine for Megan!

On top I will not be wearing my teal hoodie, but rather the bad ass corset that NancieNan made me for my Halloween costume last year. I also took some sculpey and made a sea shell necklace like the one Ursula keeps Ariel's voice in....bad ass!

I still don't know how to do my hair. I have closing night of my show, so I don't get a whole lot of time...not too worried...no one is going to be looking at my hair...

So there you have it folks! You don't have to be a drag queen to be Ursula for Halloween. despite what google images tells you!

PS: Can someone please tell me why when you search "Disney Ursula" I got a bunch of Mermaid porn depicting Ursula with legs and one tentacle? Use your imagination...or search for it yourself...weirdo.

So keep yourself tuned in to see this bad ass costume come to life!!

I am so stoked right now!

Craftster challange!

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=343481.0

I can't wait to do this challange!

I have been waiting for one that I could actually come up with something creative for!

I'll post pictures as soon as I create something!

More pics when I'm finished!

http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/2010/03/freaky-friday-tea-rose-home.html

This is just way too cute! I just started figuring out how to make wrist cuffs, including fun shirt sleeve wrist cuffs (pictures soonly).

http://kari-youcanmakeit.blogspot.com/2010/03/drum-light-tutorial-with-flowers.html

I need these...bad!

Fun Activity

http://www.vanessachristenson.com/2009/11/tutorial-spraypainted-wheat-pillows.html

So I am a part of about a million different Crafty groups from Facebook and Twitter and they always post tutorials and other fun ideas. I decided to share them with you all. I usually keep the page open, forgetting to bookmark it, then the hubby closes the 10 tabs I have open, forever losing the awesome projects I'd like to try...So if I post them here...then maybe I'll actually get around to doing it!


So the link above is for Spray Painted Pillows...pretty cool if you ask me...I think my house needs more fun stuff in it...like throw pillows...

I'll post pictures as soon as I make some...but send me links to pictures of spray painted pillows YOU'VE made!!

Here is another one from the same blog!
http://www.vanessachristenson.com/2010/03/guest-tutorial-blogger-dana-of-made.html

Way too cute!

I have a new skill!

I decided in my recent flower purchasing adventures that I LOVE Ranunculus'!

I love them in my hair, I love them in the ground, I love them all over.

Anyway, I found a really cool site (which of course I can't find again) that gave a tutorial on how to make organza flowers and suggested plain circle petals to make the flower more reminiscent of Ranunculus'.

Here is what I cam up with!

I put one on a hair clip, and one on a pin back...

Thank you District Nine for being unengaging because this is what I decided to do instead of pay attention to you and your South African Aliens...

The Great Shrinky Dink Adventure!

Yes, I bought some Shrinky Dinks. I learned from several pretty cool chicks this weekend just how awesome they are and what cool stuff you can do with them!

Aimee from Beach Chicken puts them on the ends of her necklaces. I decided to see for myself!

Now I have cool Jewelry Tags!

Go and say nice things about me!

http://contributors.marthastewartweddings.com/portal/contestGallery/wedding-crafts

I entered a contest where they pick the dyi wedding craft they like the most and it will be featured on Martha Stewart's wedding website as well as an etsy blog and maybe, just maybe, Martha herself will be so enthralled by my amateur sculpting skills to feature it on a segment in her show!

So go to the link above and say nice things and view it a million times and help your Swingin' Chickadee out!

My First Crafty Event!

My first crafty selling event!

I joined an Etsy group, Idaho Indie Works, and they have a venue for Downtown Boise's First Thursday market and wine tasting! And after being a member for only a week or two, the let me join in on the festivites!

Look at all the goodies I had to sell!

It was so much fun! I got visited by a bunch of my friends and family and it was really nice to have so much support for something I've only been doing for about a year!

The prep was out of control though!

I took the day off of work!

I even got the hubby in on the action!

He also did the pin striping on my necklace board!

Here is the necklace board with necklaces on it :)

I got an old fram at the Thrift Store, painted it black, of course, then where the matting and glass usually goes I took a piece of foam board, covered it in some awesome fabric, and VOILA! Add some push pins and the hubby's sweet art skills...

He even cleverly rigged it to stand up by itself!

And look at the awesome new make up brush roll I made!

I was so proud of this until I melted it trying to get my label on :(

Long Story.

But it was such an adventure! Now I have all of the materials I need for more selling events! I am scheduled to do September and October's First Thursday events, the Bike race thing October 2nd-4th in Sun Valley in cooperation with Krazy Dog Catering, plus several Holiday Bazaars around the valley!

I hope to see you all out and about and come say hi!

The Display

The sign! Glorious! I took some old Vinyl that my father in law has been pushing on us for months :) and added some sparkly vinyl letters - thank you Kesley from the A.S. Bookstore on teaching me how to print out cool fonts from my computer then cut the letters out form those "stencils".

Good thing my dyslexia only goes so far - last night, before the glue dried thankfully, I was "Swingin Martinis Desings." I don't plan on doing any Singing at these craft events.

And the hubs really pulled through this week! Thanks to Miss Courageous, I was given the idea to use a coat rack to display my purses (how to display them was actually starting to worry me). So I mentioned that to David, who mentioned it to his dad, the finder of all weird crap people may need, and TA DA!! Within an hour they found me a gem! It was brass and rusted with price tag sticker goo forever glued to it...but three cans of matte black spray paint and look at my new awesome purse rack!

Thanks hubby!

Still a productive night!

My Photo Memory Board!

Black Satin, red star ribbon, red plastic buttons, lots of hot glue and a burned finger...

What a night!

What a productive afternoon!

So I bought an old hard make up case from a garage sale a while back. I never really used it for anything and it really wasn't in that great of shape - so I spruced it up with a coat of black spray paint...

And a hip new lining!

White browsing the Internet one day, I found an article on how to make a vinyl record bowl...So the hubby was sorting through our record collection and found one that was never going to play because of all the scratches...I got to try something new today and it worked out great!

Aprons!

So until I can get pictures from people I have made aprons for - here are some of the cool ones I have made!

This is one of the first ones I made form a pattern I found online. The pieces were kind of wonky...and I ended up finding the real pattern at the fabric store...but cool nonetheless!

This is the same pattern that I made for Vanessa, I just added some pockets...this is one I used from the pattern online - see how the pieces don't all match!?

This is fun fabric I found in the clearance section at the fabric store and I have no idea why! It's so cute!!! I made this from that same online pattern, but I only made a half apron from it...I ended up giving it to my sister in law - she likes aprons - but I'm jealous that I don't have it any more...

I also made this for my sister in law - jealous again that I didn't keep it :)

This is ANOTHER apron from that online pattern, but I actually used the real pattern instead...I found this beater fabric and it is just too awesome! I piped each petal - which was a pain in my arse, but it looks great! No one bought it on etsy, so I might just keep this one...

Coming soon are pictures of the Dia de las Muertas apron I made plus a few other retro awesome ones!

Expanding my craft part Eins

So I decided that a long time ago that I wanted to be proficient in many areas. I took woods shop and ceramics classes, and even within my theatrical night job I have worn the hats of Sound Board Operator, Light Board Operator, Spot light, singer, dancer, actor, choreographer, costumer, stage manager, assistant director, props, dramaturg, set designer, isher, box office attendant, and patron. Each job had it's pros and cons.

Well, I want the same kind of "exposure" in the craft world. I was pretty good at the "makeshift crafting." Nancie will attest that I never made or fixed anything in the "right" way - even thought I knew how to mend items, all of my clothes were held together by safety pins.

Hot glue has also been my weapon of choice for years. I still resort to it and the hubby has to veto it's use for the appropriate solution 9 times out of 10.

I have by no means mastered sewing yet - so I'm sure glad that my "make shift" crafting skills are there for the more "hassle-some" projects.

But there is a whole craft world out there that I don't even know about!

So in this series of posts, I'd like to explore the other crafts I have worked on, and others that I would like to try.

My Mother-on-law taught me to crochet on Super Bowl Sunday 2009. I'm still only able to make scarves and blankets and other square/rectangular goods.

Next in crocheting, I would like to leaen to make flowers. I found some patterns, but I have no idea how to read them - anyone want to lend their knowledge?!

And what about knitting? What's the difference besides the stick you use? Is one better/easier than the other!?

This is the scarf I started making - see - the long way it looks awesome, but when you look at it normally, you can tell that I need to be counting my loops...oops! Perhaps it gives it character!