Thursday, November 10, 2011

Halloween Costume Obsession


Hey Readers,

              I thought I would let you in on Halloween at our house.  Yes, I know it’s past Halloween but it’s my FAVORITE holiday!  We are not such big fans of the cute Halloween stuff. We like scary around here.  The day after Halloween may be my second favorite day because that’s when all the Halloween stuff goes on sale for 50-75% off.  So, each year we stock up on stuff for the next year.  This year we got a massive spider, some more lights (purple and green), more tombstones, pumpkin string lights, and a skeleton scarecrow hanging thingy (don’t you just love that description)  Aside from decorations I LOVE dressing up.  I have never stopped dressing up, that’s right from the time my parents dressed me as a baby to now I have never not had on a costume for Halloween. I make our costumes now and have since college.  I was not super OCD about every little detail being perfect and on costumes like I am now.  No, that craziness didn’t start till my sophomore year of college when I did strawberry shortcake.  I first picked a great photo of her whole outfit then went to town.  I had a pink shower cap that I painted with strawberries, lined with lace, stuffed with tissue so it had that poof to it and topped with a strawberry. (that was my hat) I dyed a mop head red, spray painted my hair red, and dreaded my hair into the mop.  It was a PAIN to wash that night but totally worth it for the costume!  From that year on EVERY costume had to be perfect.  Let me also explain that I don’t sew I can’t even sew a button.  To be honest, I get my husband to do that!  Since Strawberry shortcake I have been a Maiko (it’s the proper name of a Geisha in training) complete with the large boat shoes we hand made from wood, Sally from Nightmare before Christmas, Shrek and Fiona, Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd, Mother Nature and Old Man Winter, and The Wizard of Oz.  This year we were part of the Wizard of Oz.  Our friends and their little girl, who is a week younger than Audrey, were the other part.  In all we had Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion, The Wicked Witch, and The Yellow Brick Road.  My obsession this year was with Dorothy and Scarecrow.  I go nuts and check out my favorite website, the costumersguide.com.  Like I said I wanted every detail right on Dorothy and Scarecrow and referenced that website like it was going out of style.  I was crafty with mine because well how on earth could I be tin man??  I put my own little feminine touch on the costume. I think it turned out decent it was not my best costume by a long shot but it was the best I could do with 2 other costumes to make and a baby. lol We didn’t go trick-or-treating because I feel bad walking up to houses, or in our case driveways, to get candy that we all know the adults (Carlo, Krista, Lane, and me) will be eating.  Our neighborhood gets a ridiculous amount of kids, in 2010 we got 425 kids!!!  It was crazy!! We didn’t pass out any candy this year but just walked around and we had fun. For 2012, we were the Peter Pan crew: Captain Hook, Peter Pan, and Tinkerbell.  We got together with a large group of our friends and went Trick-or-Treating.  I was still pretty crafty with my costume and didn't have to do much in terms of alterations or adding details but it was MUCH better than tin woman for sure. 

Halloween 2007 (Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas)
We took an old dress I wore to a friends wedding and hand sewed different colored fabric on. I then painted/colored it all of the different patterns and textures. 
Shrek and Fiona (Halloween 2008).
I found that green crushed velvet long sleeve dress at a thrift store!! I cut the top in the square put embroidery, and stenciled the front.  I chopped the ears off the wig and placed them where they needed to go. We stuffed ourselves with batting and painted ourselves green from a mix of colors. Carlo has a bald cap on with ears that I made from foam and I dyed and made the vest.
Halloween 2010 (Mother Nature and Old Man Winter)
Mine is a nude tank top and a nude skirt that I hot glued piles of leaves and flowers on. I painted my belly to go with it and made the wreath as well.  Carlo's is a bathrobe that has snowflakes safety pinned on. He has a white santa hat with icicles around it.
close up Shrek and Fiona
Halloween 2009 (Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett)
Carlo's vest was a piece of work! That is a long sleeve leather jacket that was brown.  I took a toothbrush dipped in grey paint and changed the color then cut the sleeves.  That is a real straight edge razor we found while antiquing. 



Mrs. Lovett with homemade meat pies (2009)
This is the most complicated costume I have made to date for myself.  Everything was bought white and I dyed it.  I added: the sheer sleeves, the lace up at top and painted it gold, the red lace at the top,the black lace on the bottom of the top, the red around the bottom of the skit.  I painted the skirt. I also made layers to the back of the skirt to make it dead on accurate. 

Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion (Audrey and Amelia)
Audrey's costume is a white onsie that glued blue fabric on. It is way harder making a costume for a little one since I like to start so far in advance

I LOVE this one!  I guess that mane looked great to yank on.

Our friends! Lane, Krista, and Amelia

Tin Woman, Scarecrow, and Dorothy (Halloween 2011)
 My costume: I am wrapped in silver sprayed bubble wrap. I have on a sprayed silver shirt under (this is my least favorite costume and I am slight embarrassed of it)  Carlo's costume took forever I glued all of the straw and the patches. There is a shirt under the fabric. I glued all of that fabric to an existing shirt of his as well as the buttons.  The hat is made from scratch and is felt rolled and tucked with twisted brown felts around the base.

the whole Wizard of Oz crew (Halloween 2011)
                                   Captain Hook, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell (Halloween 2012).
Carlo: that is actually a women's red trench, I made the burgundy sleeves from white rolled poster board that I covered in burgundy velvet and added the buttons.  We found the shirt and the sweat pants and the hat.  I added the feather and yes that is a real sword. lol  Audrey: that is a girls 14 terry cloth beach cover up that i cut down and made her size. Her wings were from a costume and I made it stick to this one.  Heather: that is a dress we found at TJ Maxx that we cut up to hell. The sleeves were open but we sliced the bottom and the neckline.  I found the ears and made the hat from an existing hat but cut it open and re-shaped it. I added the red feather


Sorry they are all out of order but I have the years under each photo. ENJOY!

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