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!

Hungarian Cheese Pogacsa Recipe

I may be a little rusty, 6 months is rather a long time to be absent, but here goes.

Our church has this wonderful annual event called the "International Food and Culture Fest".  People sign up for a table, and bring food from their home country.  We have Indian, Italian, Mexican, German, Filipino, and of course, Hungarian.  :) This year we also invited Panamanian, Chilean and Indian dancers, which was really fun!

This year, Dan and I decided to make Hungarian biscuits called "pogacsa".  There are many different types; fruit-filled ones, meat-filled ones, but the most common ones are the cheese ones.

My Hungarian grandma's are the best.  Of course everyone thinks their grandma/mom make the best, but mine really does.

Unfortunately, I didn't have her recipe, but I found a really good one at relish.com.

Ingredients

Dough

1/2cup whole milk, heated to 110F to 115F 

1package active dry yeast (about 2 teaspoons)

1/2teaspoon sugar

4 cups all-purpose flour

5ounces finely shredded Gruyère cheese (we used smoked - it added a great dimension)

1tablespoon salt

2 eggs

14 tablespoons (1 3/4) sticks softened unsalted butter

1/2cup sour cream

Topping

1 egg yolk

2ounces finely grated Gruyère cheese or other cheese

Instructions

1. Combine milk, yeast and sugar and let stand until yeast is softened, about 10 minutes.
2. Combine flour, cheese, salt, eggs, butter, yeast mixture and sour cream in a large bowl. Mix on low speed until dough comes together. Beat on medium speed 1 to 2 minutes. The dough should be smooth and not sticky. 
3. Roll dough 1⁄2-inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Make a shallow cross-hatched pattern with the point of a sharp knife over the top of the dough and brush with egg yolk.
   
   Sprinkle cheese on top, and cut out rounds with a 1- to 1 1⁄2-inch cutter.
   
4. Arrange circles in rows on a parchment-lined baking sheet, about 1⁄4-inch apart. Put pan in a cold oven and set temperature to 400F. Bake about 25 minutes, until pogácsa are nicely browned on their tops and bottoms. Let cool completely and store airtight. Pogácsa may also be frozen up to 1 month. Thaw and reheat at 225F for 20 minutes.

Now, my pogacsas turned out a little denser than I would've liked them, but they tasted great, none the less.  

The yummy pogacsa on my beautiful Zsolnay Hungarian porcelain.

Dan bought some salami to go with it, and voila!

Szalami/Salami.

Apro pogacsa/Mini pogacsa.

Representing Hungary! (Only a real man can pull off a pink apron.)

Some Hungarian cook books, pictures, and of course yummy food.

My favorite view, the Budapest skyline.
That print was a wedding gift from my great uncle.

And so, for another year, we showed our Hungarian side!

As a bonus for making it through my post...

I may or may not have also done a Hungarian folk dance.
You're welcome.

What would you like to see me make next year?  Join the conversation!

Oh Christmas Tree Ornaments, Oh Christmas Tree Ornaments

If you've visited my blog before, you know that I love Christmas!  My mom was always really good about special ornaments, and things like that, and I've tried to keep up with that tradition.  I would've loved to have had all of you over, but since I couldn't do that, I thought I'd give you a little tour!

Every year, I make/get us a family ornament.  I've made a felt cupcake ornaments, I made clay ornaments in the shape of Hungary, I got these really cute metal ornaments from Shutterfly, and this year, with Aidan's help, we made "Aidan's First Christmas" handprint ornaments.  This year, we also got palm tree ornaments, for our "Christmas in Florida".

I think commemorative ornaments can be a hit or miss.  They're not all cute, but the ones that are, are REALLY cute! :)

I love this Lenox "First Married Christmas" ornament.  It was a gift from our pastors in Ohio.  So pretty!!!

I got this ornament for us from Etsy.  It's one of our wedding pictures printed onto a clay tile.

Awww, I love our new little family ornament from our best friends!

Aidan got his "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornament from his grandma.  I love how sweet it is!

My mom got us a few new ornaments, that I love.

 The "pastor" Hungarian figure (In Hungarian pastor and shepherd are the same word) for Dan

 Little Hungarian boy for Aidan

 And the Hungarian maiden for me

This GORGEOUS ornament made from a sea urchin and spindle.

Here are a couple other pictures from our Christmas...

My mother-in-law got me my very own Willow Tree Nativity set.  I have been wishing for one FOREVER, and was so excited she got it for me!

I really love our Christmas cards every year, and have wanted to display them.  This year, I strung some baker's twine, got some little mini clothes pins, and hung our cards above the TV.  

                                    

My mom had a Precious Moment Nativity set, which was very dear to her.  It was always my job as a kid to put baby Jesus into the scene.  I just loved his little face!  When I moved out, she gave me her Precious Moments.  I put them up every year, and get very nostalgic!

This year, instead of a tree skirt, we used a galvanized tub, and I LOVE how it turned out!!!  I'm never going back!

Last, but not least, here is this year's White House ornament.  Every year, the White House comes out with an ornament, centered around one of our presidents, and comes with a little booklet about the history of it.  My Gramps has gotten them for my parents for years, and once Dan and I got married, he started sending them to us too.  They're really special, and if you're interested, you can check them out here.

Well, there's our apartment at Christmas in a nutshell.  Hope you enjoyed a quick tour of our apartment.  Happy New Year!

Cookies In A Jar How-To

I love making hand-made gifts, especially at Christmas time.  I just think they're heart-felt, and people seem to really like them.  From a budget perspective, they're usually more cost-effective too.

I also think mason jars are totally adorable.  They are starting get overused, but I still love them.  So, I decided to make our friends Cookies In A Jar.  I used this recipe as a starting off point: somethingturquoise.com.  They turned out really cute, so I thought I'd share them with you!

Here's what you'll need:

(This is for one mason jar.  Multiply by how many of these you're making.)

1 12 oz. mason jar (with lid)

3/4 cup packed flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips (you could use any kind of chocolate candy or nuts you'd like)

Directions:

(Tip: Even though it might be tempting to measure out all the ingredients for all the jars, you should do each jar individually.)

1. Measure out 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt into bowl. Gently mix together.  Pour into bottom of jar.  (Tip: You can make a funnel out of paper to make it easier, and not get on the sides.) Pack down.

2. Measure out the 1/3 cup brown sugar.  Pour into jar, and pack down.

3. Measure out 1/3 sugar.  Pour into jar and pack down.

4. Measure out 1/2 cup chocolate chips.  Pour into jar.

(Tip: you could use red and green M&Ms, or other colored ones, if you're making these for a baby shower, or party.  You could add nuts too.)

(Tip 2: If it doesn't fill the jar to the top, add a little more.)

5. Screw on lid, and voila! :)  

Okay now for the baking instructions.  I made labels, that I cut out, and glued to the top of the lid.  Here's what they said:

Directions:

Empty contents of jar into mixing bowl. Add 4 tbsp of butter (room temperature), 1 egg and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract.  Beat until smooth. Put batter in freezer for 15 minutes before baking. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Roll dough into balls (makes 10 cookies), and place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 13-15 minutes, until golden brown.

Now for decorating.  You could cut out a piece of fabric, put it on the top, and wrap baker's twine around it.  Or, you could do what I did:

I made little labels out of Crayola air dry clay.  Once they dried, I stamped the word "joy" on it, and wrote our friends' name on the back with a Sharpie.