Friday, October 29, 2010

Cute Halloween Finds

Well, the holiday is almost upon us!  Nick’s family always sends a cute, fun-filled package for him to enjoy since they’re far away, and I wanted to share a few of the adorable items included!  To the best of my knowledge, these come from Target’s dollar section or from dollar stores.

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Cute mini-stockings with a Halloween theme!  They’re just about 3-4 inches long, perfect for little snacks and candies.

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Pumpkin bells – just like their Christmas cousins – jingle and look jolly with jack-o-lantern faces.  They’re making a great appearance with some soy candles and snacks on my dining table, but they’d be equally charming on a Halloween wreath.

What are your favorite frugal Halloween decoration finds?

Thursday, October 28, 2010

A new family member…

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I purchased a new sewing machine, the Singer 7470 Confidence!  This is the first new machine I’ve had in about 7 years (the last being another Singer that was a Christmas gift from my folks), and I’m truly excited about it!  First, I saved a lot of money on the purchase by getting it from Amazon Warehouse.  Items that are returned to Amazon are checked and then sold at deep discounts!  Second, it’s a sewing machine that’s NOT OLDER THAN ME.  Finally, it has a number of decorative stitches that I have envied in friends’ machines for years.  Pretty scrolly leafy stitches, here I come!

It was a bit of a tough decision, but when I looked at what it would cost me to clean and tune up my vintage Kenmore, it would have run up to a good percentage of the total cost for this new machine.  A lot of the automatic features, like the button hole setting, will also save me a lot of time and effort.

A friend and I gave it a good test out last night on her Halloween costume, and we had a lot of success!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Easy Savings

Nick and I took a trip for groceries to Target yesterday after a little extra planning on my part.  Of course I’m using myrecipes.com to create great menus and work with the ingredients I already have in order to save some money in that department, but I thought I’d try to take it a little further still.  Target makes it really easy with their website coupon printer.

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Hit “Coupons” at the bottom of just about any page and you’ll go directly to Target’s online coupon book.  What makes this even cooler?  You can search and print only the coupons you want (there is a program to download, but it’s very convenient and unobtrusive!).  Last night I printed about 15 coupons and ended up saving myself around $20.  All for about five minutes of browsing through the coupon printer.  Best part about this?  Target has coupons for their brand, too, Market Pantry.  Savings on top of savings!  We spent the dividends on dinner at the delicious L&L Hawaiian BBQ!

What are your easy ways to save?

Friday, October 22, 2010

Cough! Hack! Hoot!

I do not knit or crochet at any level (I’ve tried.  The skill escapes me.  I will stick with the sewing machine, I guess!).  So this is A) amazing, and B) just hilarious.  Crocheted owl pellets!

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 Futuresticky made this hilarious little creation for her dad, who likes owl pellets (which is kind of dried up owl hairballs, basically made up of parts of animals that they eat that they can’t digest).  I remember reading about them as a kid and hunting for them, never to be found.  I would probably be grossed out a little now, but this funny little creation makes me aw and squirm all at the same time!  So cool!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Obscure Costume Sources

As a cosplayer, this is certainly not a foreign idea to me, as I’ve mentioned before.  Cosplay costumes don’t make good Halloween costumes, of course, but I’ve found myself picking out even more obscure designs for creation among books – especially children’s books.  I blame it all on the teaching thing.  Here are some ideas I'd love to go after:

imageThe pretty maiden from East of the Sun, West of the Moon by Mercer Mayer.

I’m working on an author study of Mr. Mayer for graduate school, and this is one of the main reasons I chose him: his beautiful illustrations and tales. East of the Sun, West of the Moon is one of my favorite fairy tales (linked with Psyche and Cupid, the Frog Prince, etc), and I adore the detailed dresses and lush fabrics in Mayer’s illustrations.  I’d love to create one of the pretty dresses from this story someday.

imageThe Beloved from the Twelve Days of Christmas Golden Book.

This little book was such a surprise!  I got it in a collection of free kids books that were donated to my future classroom,  and this was indeed a treasure.  Filled with beautiful illustrations of a girl and her holiday sweetheart, I fell in love with the medieval inspired dresses the girl changes throughout the twelve days.  Also I HAVE A THING FOR PRETTY DRESSES.

Now that I think about it, I actually have done a slightly obscure book character: Arha, the Eaten One from the Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin.

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And of course Ophelia, in her Waterhouse incarnation… that’ll be finished up soon.  What sort of obscure projects are you dreaming of?

Monday, October 18, 2010

All the colors…

Even though Nick and I rent, the owners of the townhome we rent were kind enough to hear out my thoughts on painting some of the walls and agreed to let us paint some!  Right now everything is a nice but plain cream color, and I thought some interesting highlight walls would benefit not only us, but the owners whenever they decide to reclaim the house.  Besides, they get free labor and we get to enjoy it!

One of the rooms I really wanted to address was our tiny living area.  Our townhome is a long but thin space, and the living area is very confined.  Nick’s large TV fits perfectly into the alcove next to the fireplace, and I thought that wall would be perfect for an accent, especially with the TV already taking up so much of it.

Here’s what we have now:

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And here’s what I’m looking at doing:

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I know it seems a little counterintuitive to apply a dark color in such a small space, but I think with our beautiful bright picture window on the right there, we could get away with it.  To me, it also seems to add a depth to the room; as light as the alcove is right now, it seems to just emphasize the shallowness of the space.   It’s also a technique to help disguise and blend in all the electronics.

I meant to get this done over the summer and never quite got to it, but maybe over some of the fall holidays I can fit it in!  Here’s hoping?

Got a project you still need to get around to?

Friday, October 15, 2010

Aaaalso…

Ophelia is finally a dress. Tada!

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More on how she got there later!

Two Peas in a Pod

So I mentioned a few weeks ago that it was Nick’s and my second anniversary, and I received a delightful (if a little late!) anniversary gift from him yesterday.

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It’s a Silver Peapod Necklace from Dancing with Silver on etsy.  They come in other counts besides two, and many colors of Swarovski pearls.  As an artisan myself, I appreciate the work that went into this little delight!  It’s a really charming little piece, and I love it!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

And by adorable I mean creepy.

My reader is currently overflowing with Halloween crafts, much to my delight.  This one struck me as especially cool and creepy today!

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Heather at Dollar Store Crafts has constructed this fantastic faux taxidermy crow!  And the cost of this unique decoration is firmly placed between about $1 and $3 (depending on what you have on hand)!  Incredible, and eerily adorable!  Easy instructions and images can be viewed at the post over on Dollar Store Crafts.

What’s your favorite creepy craft for Halloween?

Monday, October 11, 2010

It’s a sniffly day…

I would like to have had a better post to make for NOMday, but I’ve been on the couch with a touch of cold all day (really, since Friday, but I did have class on Saturday…), nursing my sore throat and aching body with what else?  Tea with honey!  Jasmine tea with honey, black tea with honey, chamomile tea with honey, any kind of tea with honey!  I will take it!  It’s a great little product, honey, so I thought I’d make a little post about that.

imageWe know of course that it’s delicious and has been in use for thousands of years of human history.  In addition to that, many people with allergies will go out of their way for local raw honeys that can help them create better immunities to the local allergens.  Since honey has antiseptic properties, it’s now being looked at as useful for treating MRSA!  Wikipedia says:

“Wound gels that contain antibacterial raw honey and have regulatory approval for wound care are now available to help conventional medicine in the battle against drug resistant strains of bacteria MRSA. As an antimicrobial agent honey may have the potential for treating a variety of ailments. Antibacterial properties of honey are the result of the low water activity causing osmosis, hydrogen peroxide effect, high acidity, and the antibacterial activity of methylglyoxal.”

Wow!  That’s pretty amazing stuff!  What do you love about honey?

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Thursday, October 7, 2010

Delicious… felt?

This has nothing to do with anything other than I think it’s the cutest thing I have ever seen.  FELTED PASTA.  In fact, felted ravioli and felted bowtie (or farfalle) pasta.

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I may have to go on a search to create a complete grocery store of felted foods and fixins… Adorable!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Dressing Ophelia – Part 3

I finally found time on Monday to get the dress pieced together, as well as the collar in place (sleeves are coming up today!).  I decided the dress would be more period appropriate without lining and worn with a  chemise underneath instead.  seamThis is a good choice because with all the beadwork and pearls that will eventually be installed on the dress, it won’t make for an easy cleaning.   I’ll probably still put in some underarm shields to save myself some struggle later, too!

That still requires some work for the collar, a facing, something.  Since the collar of this dress shows the same gold accent on the cuffs and above the hem, I went that direction and did a sort of inside-out neckline facing.  This is something I learned in the SCA as it’s an easy way to add the common neckline detail seen in a lot of medieval clothing.  It’s prepared just the same way as a typical neckline facing, only with the facing coming to the outside instead of being hidden inside the garment.

backwardsTo make this reverse facing especially successful, finish your inside shoulder seams using a French seam or other treatment (I simply folded under the raw edges of the seam and ironed them in place).  Then you won’t have to be concerned with any raw edges of seams showing at your neckline.

Here’s where the inside-out/backwards part comes in.  Instead of right side to right side, sew the pieces together right side of facing to wrong side of garment.  This makes it so you can display the facing (the right side of the facing, without any seams or interfacing!) on the outside of the garment!  It still enables a really tidy edge, but you get a nice contrast. 

I went in after everything was ironed out (don’t forget to trim and grade those inside edges so the collar edge sits very nice; I just used my serger) and stitched the bottom edgcollare down, as can be seen in the photo.  Since you have this raw edge, zig zag stitching or covering the edge with trim is advisable, though if you feel like going to the trouble of hemming and stitching it down, that’s a nice look, too!  I think I’ll be using a pretty strand of top-drilled pearls to accent the REST of the beading that will go into this dress.  I liked the more earthy look of the offset pattern in the beads.

So there we are!  I’ve also finally received all the beads I’m going to use on this costume, so it’s just a matter of getting the trim on sleeves and hem, and getting the beading done!  The wig is also in my possession, and I think I’ll toss in a few flowers in as well!  Just a few more steps and Ophelia should be finished!

How are your projects going?

Monday, October 4, 2010

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

It’s October!  Fall starts, squash and pumpkins are in season, cooler days, maybe even some snow!  And finally, Halloween!

I often get comments from my non-costuming friends that Halloween must be an easy holiday for me... just head into the costume closet, pull something out, tada, set for Halloween!  Oddly enough, nothing could be farther from the truth!  Because so many of my costumes are tied to sources not in the mainstream, they’re typically not recognizable to the general public (ah, the downfall of cosplay!).  Not to mention that even if I’m doing something recognizable, I admit to a bit of fussiness and perfectionism in the creation of it.  i mean, I’ve been creating costumes and competing for over ten years now… I guess I just can’t help myself a little!

Last year I wore one of my favorites, Sophie from Howl’s Moving Castle, to my elementary school.  It was a success, but not as Sophie… Everyone thought I was Laura from Little House on the Prairie!  Oops!  I can definitely see where the resemblance might be:

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Can’t really argue with that!  And being that those were some of my favorite books from my childhood, too, I decided I was perfectly willing to accept that conclusion.  Funny how things work out!

This year Nick and I are planning on Princess Leia and Han Solo; pretty recognizable characters!  I still find myself fussing over details (let me tell you, the ordeal of finding a very soft-handed fabric for Leia’s dress… well, I can’t really complain since it was on the search for this fabric that I ran into Mondo and Michael C.!), but I’m also willing to let things go!  For example, Nick’s costume is mostly altered secondhand clothing; more information about the process will come out as I continue working on them.

What’s your plan for Halloween?

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Starstruck!

I am a faithful viewer of Project Runway, so imagine my UTTER DELIGHT when I was in my beloved Denver Fabrics this afternoon and who was there?  Michael C. and Mondo!  I know Mondo is a Denver resident (represent!), but I was surprised to see Michael C. as well.  Once I got over my initial shock, I was able to approach the guys, say hi and how cool it was to see them, and even got a photo (thank you, Nick!).

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HOW COOL IS THAT?  I’m honestly not usually such a goofball when meeting favorite celebrities (I like to think my meeting and ten minute chat with Peter Beagle at Dragon*Con was an enlightening one!), but I think the surprise of seeing these incredible designers in MY local fabric store just sent me over the edge!  Thanks for being so cool to the nutty fangirl, guys!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Officer’s Club

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There are a few trends in fashion that come back periodically and I’m always happy to see again, military style being one of my favorites.  This seems to constantly be in and out of the spotlight and the runway, and it seems to be back again for the fall!  Of course, I’m not going to destroy my checkbook enjoying new and returning trends, so I head over to one of my local secondhand stores to try my hand at them the frugal way!

I found this delightful military jacket at a local ARC for just $10!  It’s a REAL Army jacket, I’m told, as evidenced by the construction, the patches on the arms, and some tags inside (interestingly, the tags detail instructions to give to your cleaners so your uniform looks its best!  Cool!).  It seems to be an older style, but in impeccable condition, so we think it belonged to someone who served quite some time ago and then kept their things in storage.  It’s such an amazing find from any member of our armed forces, people who take care of us every day!  Thank you for your service!

It is a seriously solid jacket with a heavy lining, good I suspect even in cold weather, but good for just cool fall, too!  I wore it out on Wednesday for a Whedonverse Geeks Who Drink trivia event, and it kept me toasty warm while we sat outside on the patio and racked our brains!  As the fall evenings keep getting cooler, I’ll keep it around!

What’s your favorite fashion steals?