Family Star Wars Costume DIY

As you probably now by now, I love dress-up!  So naturally, I love this time of year.  Our sweet little resident all-boy is crazy about Star Wars, so naturally we decided to a galaxy far, far away...

If you want to recreate the looks, here's what you'll need:

Han Solo:

- My sweet husband indulges me, so when he asked if he could wear just a Han Solo T-shirt, I said yes.  :)  Your husband will thank you if you let him off the hook every once in a while. 

Princess Leia:

- I found the white turtleneck at Goodwill.

- The white skirt is from a dance costume website.  We bought them for a Christmas production one year (I actually layered two, because they were a little see-through).

- The belt is aluminum foil.  I didn't go crazy with all the accessories this year, but I think it turned out pretty cute. :)

- I wore some white flats that I had.

- I made two sock buns - which turned out adorable, if I do say so myself.

Ewok:

- We ordered a bear costume from amazon.com.  It was cute, and served our needs perfectly. 

- I bought a brown men's shirt for the hood.

- I cut the side seams and arms off the shirt, and placed the bear head piece on Aidan.  I then laid the shirt on his head, with his face in the head hole .  I drew lines for where the ears were going to pop out, and cut out holes.

Aidan had an adorable toy ewok from his Aunt and Uncle, so of course we had to get a picture of them together.

Family selfie!

I hope you liked our costumes this year!  Any ideas for next year?  What did your family dress up as this year?  Do you still do family costumes, and if not, when did your kids decide they were too old for them?  I'm already dreading the day...

Parade of Literacy - Book Themed Costumes!

I love how creative my students and their parents get every year for the Parade of Literacy!  Here are my top picks for this year!

1. Amelia Bedelia

2. Rainbow Fish

3. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

(Notice the "gum" [gel] in his hair!)

4. Charlie Brown

5. Cindy Lou Who

And of course, our teachers, who go all out every year!

The Adventures of Tintin and Captain Haddock DIY Costumes

It's the most wonderful time of the year... no, I don't mean Christmas.  PARADE OF LITERACY!!! 

It's my favorite day of the year, and pretty much my favorite part thing about being a teacher.  Two years ago I went as Ms. Frizzle, and last year Aidan and I went as Max and a Wild Thing from Where the Wild Things Are.

I totally plan a year in advance.  I know I'm crazy, but at least I channel it into something productive - costume making!

This year, I decided to dress Aidan and I up as Tintin and Captain Haddock.  In case you don't know who they are, don't worry, you're not alone.  If you DO know who they are, I am so happy we are friends!  The Adventures of Tintin is a comic series, created by Belgian cartoonist Herge.  Since Dan and I met, and went to college in Belgium, plus my mom is/was a huge fan, so growing up, liking the comic series wasn't really optional, it felt like a perfect fit!  Plus, while Aidan isn't a ginger, he definitely has some red tones to his hair.  Let the planning begin!

Tintin's costume:

(Especially for Aidan's part, I wanted to get things that he could wear anyway.)

- Khaki pants (found mine at Target)

- White collared shirt (found mine at Old Navy)

- Light blue long sleeved shirt (found mine on Burt's Bee's website)

- Dark brown/black shoes

- Alfalfa-esque hair spike

Optional:

- Stuffed Snowy dog toy

- Light colored trench coat

- Leather backpack/satchel

Captain Haddock's costume:

- Navy pants (mine were ones I already had)

- Royal blue shirt (found at Goodwill)

- Navy blazer (found at Goodwill)

- Captain's hat (found it online)

- Black booties

- Fuzzy craft fabric (found at Michael's)

- Black felt

- Hot glue gun

- Ribbon

- Anchor stencil

Tintin's costume was pretty straight forward.  Captain Haddock's took a little work. 

1. I cut out a beard from the fuzzy fabric, and hot glued ribbon to the corners.  I also cut a long strip of it, and hot glued in to the inside of the captain's hat.

2. I printed out a large picture of an anchor I liked (in the comics, Captain's Haddock's anchor is pretty small, but I wanted it to be noticeable, so I took some artistic liberties.  I cut out the anchor, pinned it to the felt, and cut the anchor out of felt.  I then hot glued it to the front of the blue (Goodwill-find) shirt.

Ta-da!

Then, we took Aidan outside, and got a few pictures.  Because, seriously - he looked way too stinking' adorable not to have photographic evidence.  Besides, he'll need proof when he needs to see a shrink once he's an adult.

 

And... just for reference sake, here are the original Tintin and Captain Haddock:

Disney Villain Costume DIY Tutorial - Cruella de Vil and Dalmatian

In my last post, I showed you the costumes I made/helped make for our youth group's Disney villain night.

I decided to go as Cruella de Vil, because - let's be honest - she has AMAZING style!  And the girl knows how to rock black and white, which is my favorite look!

I'm pleased to say, that I had all the items for my Cruella and Dalmatian costume.  Now, I understand not all of you have two tubs of G-rated costumes under your bed, but let me give you the details!

Cruella de Vil:

- 1 fabulous black and white dress (mine is a Liz Claiborne dress from a couple years ago.)

- Slinky black necklace

- Black and white wig (I actually combined two wigs - an Effie Trinkett and a Cleopatra one.)

- Black (or more traditionally red) leather gloves

- Red belt

- Black pumps

- Some kind of fur coat/shrug (I found mine at a thrift store.)

- Cruella makeup

Dalmatian:

There are many ways you could make a dalmatian costume.  A White sweatsuit set, a sleeper, you could enhance it with face paint.. but here's what I did.

- I took Aidan's Max costume, from our Where The Wild Things Are escapades.  I cut off the crown, painted on some spots, sewed on some felt dog ears, and voila!

With my sweet puppy!

With my bestie, Yzma

Captain Hook, Cruella and the sweetest puppy!

I love our Summer Camps, and I LOVE dressing up!

What a fun summer!

Disney Villain Costume DIY Tutorial - Yzma and Kronk

Every summer our youth group has what we call "Riptide Summer Camp".  Every week has a theme, for which the students are encouraged to dress up.  This year we're finishing the summer off with a super-fun Color War!

What this means for me though, is the opportunity for SO MANY COSTUMES!!!

The first night's theme was Disney villain.  Our best friends here in Jacksonville are also some of our youth sponsors.  We brain-stormed a little, and then came up with the PERFECT costume idea for them... Yzma and Kronk, from The Emperor's New Groove (Which is one of my favorites, and I could quote the whole thing to you!).

Incase you're unfamiliar with the movie, here's who they are:

So, my friend Amy and I went to Michael's and Hobby Lobby, and got all the supplies we would need.

Kronk's Costume:

1 plain blue T-Shirt

3 sheets of large yellow foam paper

1 yellow foam construction hat

Yellow pipe cleaners

1 roll of light purple duct tape

Yellow cord

2 yards of dark purple fabric

Yzma's Costume:

Strappy little black dress

Purple boa(s)

Purple feathery hair pieces/decorations

Wide, wired purple ribbon

Teal foam paper

Earrings (ones you preferably don't care about)

Black stretchy hair band

Lots of purple make up (falsies optional)

First, we started on Kronk's costume.

1. Take the blue shirt, and cut off the sleeves.

2. Take one of the large yellow foam papers, in the top middle, cut a semi circle for the neck.  Cut two rectangles out of the two bottom corners.

3. I laid a wrap-around skirt I had on the purple fabric, and cut along that.  Basically, you're cutting the fabric into a semi-circle, but don't forget to leave a thin piece at the top to tie it with.

4. Cut one piece of the yellow foam paper in half, creating two smaller rectangles.  Cut the bottom of each one into a curve.  Using a hole punch, punch holes along the edges, every two inches.  Lace the yellow rope through, like shoe laces.  These are the leg cuffs.

5. Repeat with slightly smaller rectangles for arm cuffs.

6. Cut the rim off the yellow foam hat.  Push a pipe cleaner through the top.  Using duct tape, secure it on the inside.  Using left-over yellow foam paper, cut out two small semi-circle-type shapes for the top of his hat.  Using hot glue, glue them to the top of the pipe cleaner (one on either side).

 7. Make a belt out of the light purple duct tape, by adhering strips of it to itself.

8. Assemble! (Pair with sandals or flip flops.)

Yzma's Costume

1. Find a scrappy black dress.

2. Cut two large ovals out of he teal foam paper.  Glue them to earrings (that you don't particularly care about).

3. Purple boas.  We used two, to add a new dimension.

4. Pull hair into high pony tail.

5. Put on black hair band.

6. Cut long piece of ribbon (12 inches).  Curl around your hand.  Take off hand, and uncurl gently, and adjust to your liking.  Tuck bottom of curl into the hair band, near the nape of your neck.  Use bobby pins to secure at the top of your head.  Add feathery hair piece.

7. Assemble! (Pair with black shoes.)

The moment you've all been waiting for...

Don't they look just perfect!!!

I love her!

Guess who that is next to her... Tutorial coming soon!

Halloween Fishers Of Men Trunk Or Treat Idea

One of the things about growing up overseas, is that we never celebrated Halloween.  Even if we did live in the States, we probably would've been the family hosting the harvest party at church.

So, I get really excited about the fun, costume and candy aspect of Halloween.  Of course, I don't like the evil and scary aspect of Halloween (the scariest movie I've ever seen is Jumanji).  I do, however LOVE costumes, as I've mentioned in the past, and candy - well, I love candy too.  So, yeah, this is right up my alley.

Our church started an annual "Light Up The Night" Trunk or Treat event last year.  We love it!  Last year we did a David and Goliath trunk.  We painted a Goliath face on foam board, cut two holes in it, and had a bean bag toss game for the kids.

This year, I really wanted to make a sushi costume for Aidan.  I had seen it on pinterest, and thought it was adorable!  So, we went with Matthew 4:19.  "Jesus said to them: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Here's what I used for Aidan's sushi costume:

- white onesie

- felt (peach, salmon, pink, green, black)

- thread

- scissors

- fabric glue

Directions:

1. Draw out a basic pattern on paper.

2. Cut them out, pin them on felt, and cut them out as well.

3. Glue pieces on top of each other.

4. Finally, glue and/or sew pieces together.

Voila!

After that, I took to the actual trunk.

You'll need:

- Large piece of cardboard, cover with blue bulletin board paper

- Blue plastic table cloths

- Different shades of blue balloons

- Chinese lanterns

- Googley eyes

- Colored paper

- Duct tape

- Rod

- Yarn

- Large magnet

- Clasp-type paper clip

- Swedish Fish Halloween candy

- Hot glue gun

Chinese lantern fish:

1. Cut out fins and such, out of colored paper, and glue them to the Chinese lanterns, to make fish or other sea creatures. 

2. Then, using hot glue, glue them on, along with the google eyes.

How to put it together:

1. First, we took the lid off the part of the trunk that has our spare tire.  And then, the spare tire.  We then laid the blue plastic tablecloths down, and the large piece of cardboard in the back.

2. Using the duct tape, attach balloons to the piece of cardboard.

3. Turn rod and yarn into a fishing pole.  Add magnet to the end.

4. Hang fish, and other sea animals from trunk.

5. Put large clasp-type paper clips on the bags of Swedish Fish.

6. As the kids walk up, let them use the magnet to "fish" for Swedish Fish!  Just make sure you remember to take the paper clip off before handing it to the kid.  Can you imagine how much a mom might freak out, to find a paper clip in their kid's Halloween bag!?  Yikes!

7. Also, Dan and I bought Sriracha shirts from Target.  Have I mentioned yet?  I love Target!

Our Sushi Baby

"Fishers Of Men"

I'm already thinking of ideas for next year... it may involve spandex.  Or lava lamps...  Shag carpet?  Or capes...?  

So, have you or your family ever done anything for a trunk or treat?  What ideas do you have?  What are your thoughts on celebrating Halloween?

I'm so glad you stopped by!  Please leave me your thoughts!