Our Yule Ball - 4th Year Hogwart's Party

Had a FANTASTIC weekend!  Just wrapped up our 4th annual Harry Potter themed party.  We hosted a Yule Ball to celebrate two of our family members b-days.  Also got to go see the new "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" movie!  Thought I would give a quick preview of all the stuff we made and received at the party. My sis and her daughter overwhelmed us with some of their awe-inspiring creativity!!! (I'll probably post some more better pics when the dust settles.



As we have done for the past three years, we decorated the whole house Hogwart's style.  And, each year the theme and activities of the party match the corresponding book.  This year was all about the Tri-wizard cup, Yule Ball and Mad Eye Moody.  :)  We had a DADA earthworm fountain, foe-glass dark detector, goblet of fire for choosing champions, and much more!



We made a couple golden dragon eggs.  I used paper mache over an 8 inch tall plastic egg.  The top clasp is polymer clay.  I wanted to make it open, but found it to be too complicated for the time I had to make it.  But, I may go back and cut one of them open at a later date.



My mom and I also worked on our first attempt at a Grindylow.  He was a mixture of a couple of our patterns for the gnome head and the house elf's jointed arms.  The tentacles were a big challenge.  We plan to go back and make another slightly larger version with larger tentacles and head.



Since this was first and foremost a Yule Ball, we spent a great deal of time turning our Great Hall into silver dance hall with decorations and lighting.  :)  We taped silver wrapping paper to the walls and made faux ice castle sculptures out of plastic beverage containers and icicle lights.  We also had an extensive wizard rock and HP parody playlist for the evening.  (If you'd like to hear some of the songs:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5bioASvRaQqMoQGlhpkkf6ne3L2xv3ZL)

Since Harry receive b-day cakes from all his friends while Dudley was on a diet, we asked the guest to bring 3 cup cake each for a competition.  One for each birthday person and one for a "cake walk" or exchange where they could receive a different cake.  We had some really clever submissions.  (I will get the pics soon.)

One of the last tasks we planned was a "Pin the Nose on Voldemort" or "You Nose Who".  We had guests stick it to Voldemort by hanging two laminated Voldy Faces on the wall with a selection of noses to pin him with. (Will get pics.)



For the last task, I drew up a quick Ministry banner on brown paper for above our cemetery laden mantle.  (This awesome instant cemetery is the work of Crafterella.  I received it in a craft swap a few years ago, and I just love it.)

And, speaking of craft swap, we received the craziest, coolest, most amazing items from my sis and her daughter this year!



They made us a faux stain glass mermaid window like the one in the Prefects' Bathroom.  It is so cool!  They used Gallery Glass on a textured plexiglass.



And this amazing piece!  I'm still reeling from this one!  I've wanted the hog-headed pumpkin juice pitcher since I saw it in the first movie!  She did an unbelievable job on the head details!!  :O



She even had the time to make us a textbook cd box which is perfect for our growing Wizard Rock and Audiobook collections!  We were so spoiled this year!



My sis also made some Mad Eye Moody Eyes!  She even had the thought to make a spare one removable so we can put it on the door for year seven.

So many wonderful creations.  My niece even made us another baby dragon to go with the other I posted before.  (I will get pics up when I get a chance.)  I loved everything so much.  We definitely had Xmas early this year!  (Notice the bowtruckle in there? See below.)



If you saw the bowtruckle in the book pic above, it was my first attempt at Pickett as soon as we got back from the movie.  LOL  He is simply made by cutting/wrapping a couple flower stems I had in my craft stash.  We call him "Stick-ett" (Pickett's cousin).  I did make a more detailed one for my sis later that day using wire, tape and fabric paint.  I will hopefully get some pics of that one soon.  Until then, have a Harry Holiday!

If you want to see more cool stuff, please go check out my sis's facebook page, Creepy Creations.  Jamie makes some really awesome Halloween themed stuff, too!

Monk Robe Pattern with Hooded Cowl

This robe was a quick project we came up with after finding some great knitted fabric on clearance.  We thought we'd do something different for first weekend of the Texas Renaissance Festival this year.  So, we're hosting a Monty Python Invasion.  (I'm amazed how the interest in our event took off!  Already have 80+ people listed as going and many more interested! ) Should be a blast.  You can join our event here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1641099259548673

If anyone is interested in making these quick and easy robes, here is the pattern layout I used:



The robes took a total of 105" of 60-inch wide fabric.  I set it up so that we could take advantage of the unique ratty looking selvage edges to avoid having to hem.  If you're unsure how it goes together, feel free to ask questions in the comments.

Also working on a prototype for our fake wooden planks.  They're made of layers of corrugated cardboard.  Still need to be painted, but I made them open up to a silly walk sign inside.



We also put together some reversible silly walk signs made with knights that we will have posted around camp.  I designed the sign in Adobe Illustrator before printing on cardstock and affixing them to paintsticks with staples and spray adhesive. (If you'd like the digital files to print your own, just message me.)

Still hoping to get some knight's surcoats made, too.  Wish me luck and time!  :)

DIY Makeup Organizer Upcycled for Zero Money

For some time now I've been considering solutions for organizing random makeup.  I've accumulated so much over the years for costuming that my bag/basket is out of control!  I'm constantly digging for hard to find things in the bottom.  Well, not long ago someone posted a product on Facebook that was actually pretty clever and totally DIY-able. It inspired me to try constructing my own upcycled version.  (However, at $10-13 each velcro palette,  the "Beauty Butler" (http://getbeautybutler.com) product is reasonable enough for the more lazy non-Do-It-Yourself-ers.)  But, this post is not about how to make those.  I have another idea that would work really well in conjunction with a "Beauty Butler" type system.

The one thing I don't like about this velcro method, is that I still have to lug around all those plastic cases for each color of eyeshadow, blush, powder, lipstick, etc...  I usually end up with many multi-color sets that I only like one color in, anyway.  Don't get me started on the almost empty containers of colors I can no longer find.  So, I got to thinking, and came up with a fairly easy down and dirty and absolutely FREE version using stuff I had around, of course. I used clear acrylic DVD cases and sheet magnets.

I turned all of these:

Into these two cases:



Concealer, powder, blush and lipstick in one, while eyeshadows are in the other.  How I did it was pretty easy, though I won't lie, it is not for all makeup.  Some brands do not use the same metal pots as most do.  And, some can be near impossible to remove from the cases.  It did work well with about 98% of my compressed cake makeups.  I chose to try this with my older used makeup (Hence the half empty pots and worn out cases in the pics.)



I started by removing the metal pots from the containers.  This is probably the trickiest part.  Some are glued in better than others.  Cover Girl, Maybeline, MaxFactor, Almay, Clinique and Este Lauder all seemed fairly easy to pry out with a razorblade or thin palette knife.  But, they could change their packaging at any time.  Please be careful if you try this, especially with expensive makeup.  Be patient.  The glue will need time to release slowly in some.  (If you crack or crumble some of the powder content, it is easy enough to fix them.  I use the lid on a chapstick or any clean flat object I could find to tamp the powder back into the pot., But, it really only happens when the powder is almost gone or in a flimsy pot.)  Don't forget to remove the mirrors, too.  You can stick those right in with the pots, or glue them to the case lid.



I removed the disc holder liner from a DVD case and cut the part with the hinge off and put it back in the case to use as a brush holder (I cut it using my trusty jeweler's saw.  I can't stress how handy these saws are for crafters and DIYers.).  If you cut it just after the hinge, the narrow compartment should open up when the case is open.



I lined the flat side of the case with a large magnet sheet I happened to have.  You can also tile the smaller business size magnets.  A little spray adhesive should hold them in place.  You can cover the back with some paper or other material to hide the back of the magnet in the clear acrylic case.



Now, I arranged all the various makeup onto the magnets.  The little tin pots normally contain iron and will stick to magnets with no need to alter.  However, you can use another piece of magnet and some adhesive to back the pots that won't stick.  (I only had one off brand set that was aluminum.)  The great part is that being magnetic, you can rearrange them endlessly.  I also had a couple almost empty lipsticks, so I scooped out what was left in the tube and squished it into a clean empty pot using a palette knife.  (Waste not, want not!  Hehe )



I even added some magnet sheet to one of the larger blush containers, so I could travel lighter when needed.  This whole thing also works with the smaller CD cases.

TIP:  If you remove the fronts of another DVD/CD cases, you can use them lined with magnet sheets or velcro compatible fabric for a DIY Beauty Butler to hold your brushes, tube lipstick, mascara, eyeliners, etc...  (The black protector cover pictured in the 1st pic is actually an old Samsung tablet cover.  They make some really nice cover s these days that could work really well for this.)

Hope you find these tips useful!  Until next time be craftabulous!

Let's Give This Dementor a Hand

We just recently hosted our daughter's 3rd Harry Potter themed birthday party.  She's now a teenager?!  :O  How time flies!  We had lots of fun with the party.  Even after two previous years of Harry Potter parties, we still managed to create a few new things for year number three's Prisoner of Azkaban theme.



The first one I'll share is for our WIP dementor, Pete (His name is inspired by the Moosebutter song.  We love all the clever Wizard Rock songs out there).  Our dementor never quite got fully assembled, but we may get him finished before year Five when dementors show up near Privet Drive and the Ministry.  But, I managed a pair of hands and a quick mask.  Here is a brief tutorial of how I made the hands:



This process is very similar to how I made my dragon wings.  I started with a wire hanger, some wooden beads (from a Christmas cranberry garland I found on the clearance table years ago.  I've used these beads in many projects.) and lots of masking tape.  I like the masking tape because it was already the color I wanted, it stays flexible and easy to use.



I straightened the hanger and cut the wire to lengths and placed the beads where I wanted them for the joints in the fingers and taped them in place.



Then, I taped the fingers from tip to bottom leaving extra tape off both ends to make a pointy tip.



Next, I taped the fingers together one at a time adding them to the hand.  Then wrapped more tape around to secure them in place.  Some tape was wrapped between the fingers until they wouldn't move around too much.  At this point I bent the fingers to resemble a more natural hand shape.  This isn't really necessary, yet.  They will still be posable once finished.



I painted the taped covered wire with lots of fabric paint.  The mixture of translucent Glow-In-The-Dark and Black slick paint makes a good slimy gray flesh of the dementor.  One good squirt of black directly into the GITD paint bottle should be enough.  (The applicator tip should pop off to make it easier to squirt the black in.)  Shake it really well, and then shake it some more.  You can test it and clear the tip of unmixed paint.  Let it dry to determine the actual color.



Once the whole hand is covered, I added more paint as a webbing between the fingers.  I found the fabric paint bottles were convenient to spread the fingers.



Once completely dry you can pose the hand however you like.  Be sure to not lay it on anything it will stick to.  If it is tacky, rub it with a little corn starch to prevent it from sticking.



This is what I ended up with.  They were fun to pose around the house.  I want to make a second pair with attached arm to hang them on Pete easier.



Here is Pete's face.  I used a plastic skull with it's mouth open to mold a piece of foil over before taping the foil and painting it the same way I did the hands.  It looks lighter, but it is the same color as the hands.  I'm still on the lookout for a suitable fabric for the dementor's robes.  I see that the cheaper decorations this year are using black interfacing-like fabric.  It may be too stiff for my purposes, though.



Our hands ended up guarding the entertainment system cabinet, so older students wouldn't try to skip class and watch football.  :/



But, I think they look just as creepy hanging out in the quidditch trunk my sister made for us.  :)  Next, I hope to post about some shrunken heads my mom and I made and the inexpensive upcycled bell jars we put them into.

Gilded Cage Corset

If you follow my craft page on Facebook, you might have seen that I recently entered a corset decorating contest held by Orchard Corset.  The challenge was to embellish one of their corset styles using whatever material we wanted to.  Well, the results are in, and though I didn't place I consider my results a win for me.  I'm happy with my new corset, which probably wouldn't have been finished without the motivation of the contest.  There were some really nice entries you can see in OC's Pinterest board.



It was slightly frustrating and labor intensive, but also an enjoyable learning experience that I managed to squeeze in between my other projects.  (...and the main reason I didn't get a new witch BOO't available for this year.)



For my concept I wanted to do something with spooky trees similar to some of my witch boo'ts, but I stumbled across a raven in an image on Pinterest called "The Doorman" by Katya Horner that sparked my creativity.  I liked the idea of an illusion of a gilded cage where it looks as if you are looking in at a raven in a cage or out from behind a gate/cage at the raven in the woods.



I chose to use their 345 corset.  I purchased one that was slightly uneven at the bottom edge, so I wanted to try my hand removing the binding to correct it, anyway.  I figured the single boning channels would work well as part of the cage bars.  While I had it apart to trim the lower edge I removed the boning and labeling the pieces to put them back in order.  Removing the boning would prevent it from rusting when I dyed the beige/tan color with RIT's Aquamarine and Denim liquid fabric dye. I diluted just a little before applying it with a sponge brush.  I avoided dying the boning channels only because I was going to paint them anyway, and they are thick and would take longer to dry.  It is hard to see the two-tone color variation in the pics, but I was sorta going for a blurry shadow look for depth behind my imagery.



Once I had it dried, I wanted to try a few different mediums on my wearable cotton twill art canvas.  ;)  I drew the raven and branches in place with pencil before going over it with permanent marker.  I know marker isn't the best choice, but I really didn't want to make the panels on the corset too stiff with paint.  This corset has not been broken in, and I imagine it still needs to do a bit of stretching to conform to me.  Once I had the design on I started painting the boning channels black with craft paint.



Next, I brushed a thin coat of bronze craft paint over the black channels.  I also traced over the spiral designs with a mix of slick fabric paint in black and metallic gold that made a darker antique gold before adding some painted faux rivets to the channels.  In hind sight I find it just a little too dark to contrast with the black silhouette branches in some lighting.  I would like add a little more gold and go back over them.




After I was done decorating the corset, I found some brown bias tape to replace the bulkier double-layer tan twill binding that came on the corset.  The brown actually matches with the bronze paint pretty well.  Originally, I was thinking about using black binding and painting it like the boning channels, but opted not to thinking it would make the binding stiff and rough at the edges.



That's pretty much everything.  You can see more of the progress pics and supplies in the Pinterest board created for the contest here:
https://www.pinterest.com/mieljolie/so-you-think-you-can-decorate/

Though I really love painting my witch boo'ts and other decorative projects, it's kinda cool to be able to wear your creations.  I had a lot of fun on this.  I really want to try another.  I found an irregular 426 long line Orchard Corset in tan, but it will need way more correction before I can decorate it.  Should have some costuming and props to show in the meantime.

DIY Roller Skate LED Lights - Quick and Simple for $2

I hadn't been roller skating in quite a few years.  I'd really forgotten how much fun it can be...and good exercise.  So, we decided to start going more often with the daughter.  We even found a classic pair of roller skates for $10 at the local thrift store!  But, they were looking pretty plain jane.  I wanted to dress them up a bit.  I wanted to paint them!  Alas, the daughter didn't want me to.  Pom poms?!!  Nope. Daughter wasn't having that either.  She did let me change out the white lacings for black metallic ones from a pair of boots she grew out of.  And, we agreed I could add lights!  Woo hoo!  LIGHTS!

I've seen some kids with those light up wheels, so I did a google search.  Some shops want as much as $50 for light up wheels!  Umm...no thanks.  Our plain black ones will be fine for now.  :(  Then, I found some invention that mounts under the shoe between the wheels.  They were pretty cool looking and cheaper than the wheels, but they required somewhat complex installation of the LED strip and a battery pack.  Besides, it looks a bit dangerous with the wires and stuff that could fall and get caught in the wheels.  Eventually, I gave up my search keeping the idea in the back of my mind.  Surely there is a more affordable and less dangerous way.



And, there was!  How simple?!  (Okay, it doesn't look like much in the pic, but turn out the lights and you got a party under your skates! WOOT! WOOT!)



Do you recognize it?  We have a friend we see at many evening events who frequently is wearing, and even kindly gives out, the flashy rubber LED rings.  (She must buy those things in bulk or something!)  One time she gave me one that I wore for about 5 minutes before it started driving me crazy with all the bright blinking.  My eyes were drawn to it like a deer in headlights.  I could hardly socialize or walk for that matter.  I had to shut it off.  I'd take it home for the daughter.  Later, it occurred to me that perhaps we could use this rubber ring on her skates.  I found more of them at the party store for $1 each.  Thank you party store!



I'd originally just intended to weave it in the laces or wrap it around the rubber toe stop in front.  But, it was still rather bright and distracting looking down (and at our skill level we do a LOT of looking down).  So, I wanted to mount it under the skate out of site but still visible lighting the ground under the skate.  So, I found that it's possible to stretch it over the truck part (forgive me for not knowing correct terminology)  without getting in the way of the wheels.  There is a piece that sticks out that is not connected to the axel thingy, so with a little squishing and pulling you can get it between them.  And, being rubber, it doesn't slip or easily budge.    I suppose you could put a 2nd ring in the back in the opposite direction, too.  Being easily removable, you can even use these on rentals.  Then, you just give the back of the rings a squeeze to turn them on.  And.....YOU'RE READY TO ROLL!!

Viking Inspired Helmets in Paper Mache

I've been so busy that I failed to share some costume helmets made for a viking themed party we attended back in December.  They were fun to make....and in no way historically accurate.



First, the helmets are made from cereal boxes and paper mache painted with acrylic paint and decorated.  I love working with cereal boxes.  You'll probably notice I use them frequently.  They're just so darn convenient and easy to work with.

 

My helmet was painted silver and light blue to match the tabistry corset I wore with it.  (Sorry I didn't get any pics of the outfit.  I just used pieces from my ren faire wardrobe and fashioned an apron dress out of an old tan rayon tank dress I had.)



Of course our helmets had to have the obnoxious horns, which are formed from wadded up newspaper taped with masking tape before paper maching.  I painted my horns off white and stained them brown.  Then, I applied a thick coat of translucent fabric paint that made them shiny, rubbery and GLOW-IN-THE-DARK!  Afterall, what's a party costume that doesn't glow.  :)



Then, I made a friend a custom bunny-eared hat inspired by her nickname.  Yes, it appears to be a steampunk robot bunny viking hat!  Hehe

 

I used some white faux fur and pink velvet scraps for the ears, and embellished the hat with painted hot glue rivets and some silver rimmed pink jewels



The last and largest hat was for Mr. Sam.  His has a purple and black glitter swirl and striped horns that also glow-in-the-dark.  It was quite the sight to see.

In true viking style, we also raided another party, actually a masquerade birthday ball, the same night before heading over to meet up with the other vikings.  We got a few stares.  LOL!  Hope to wear these again for other parties.  I want to eventually make matching shields and sword, but I didn't have time for this event.  Hopefully I will get caught up on other projects to share on here.  In the mean time, keep being crafty!