SUPERDUPERHALLOWEENCRAFTPROJECTNESS!

     So as all of you know (or I thought by now you might have heard), I have been crafting my butt off these past few weeks. It all began with my desire to create a costume for my sister-in-law's 5 month old son. Since his mommy is a Tolkien nerd, I asked if she'd be interested in a baby hobbit costume, and she said yes! So I got to work, and I only had to purchase the green fabric for the cloak since I had pieces of this and that around my apartment. - SCORE -

 So, without much ado, here is my baby hobbit costume, modeled by the gorgeous baby boy belonging to Kim Neyer of Kimberly Neyer Photography! You guys know I can't say enough great things about her, and you can see why in these pics. She's just got a way with capturing the moment, doesn't she? Hit her up for any sort of pictures you can think of -- the only thing she does not do is weddings. Check out her website and blog kimberlyneyer.com . You won't be sorry!!!

ha - gotcha. This is a pic I took on my phone to show the detail I painted onto a onesie for under the outfit.

Here it is :)

OH MY GOODNESS. I just melt when I see these! This little guy made a perfect model for my costume. Now I can't wait to hear from my sister-in-law in Minnesota to see if she got it in the mail this week.

AND THEN I HAD TO MAKE THINGS TO REPAY KIM FOR HER AWESOME JOB TAKING PICTURES FOR MY BLOG!!! 

Her two boys are being a pirate and a parrot for Halloween this year, so I offered to make footwear for their costumes since she already had the costumes themselves. Here's what I wound up with.

I made pirate boot shoe covers, and I was insanely entertained that they are like fingerless gloves for my long adult feet. 

BAHAHA. 

I painted my toenails just for these shots... is that weird?

(too bad)

LOOK AT THESE PARROT BOOTIES!!!





The hardest part was trying to figure out how to make them look like he had three toes. I thought it was important in making parrot feet. Otherwise he might have just been a kid with orange feet, and I couldn't have that. I like to make my costume parts as realistic as is possible (without stressing or going overboard).









Since the little one is just starting to stand, I decided he needed some "grip" on the bottom of his little booties. I didn't want him to slip on Halloween and get a boo-boo (nyuck nyuck nyuck -- I love puns).

I need to put a disclaimer out there that my mommy helped me make one of the booties. It was a great mommy/daughter bonding time and you know you're jealous -- Thanks, mom!

SO ONTO THE NEXT PROJECT WE GO!

After I made the children footwear, I was like, "OMG, HALLOWEEN PARTY IN 6 DAYS, OH NOOOOO!"

And then I realized that there was nothing wrong because I was doing it in the typical halloween fashion. There is no way that you can start a costume any earlier than that -- it's a logistical impossibility! So I pressed on! I had been wanting to be a can-can dancer for the last couple years, but I kept running out of time (big surprise). I decided to go big or go home this year and just do it. I started with a $5 floor-length skirt that was part of a bridesmaids dress I found at goodwill -- a teal taffeta with a cotton underskirt. I figured that I could throw on one of my corsets (it was buy one, get two 1/2 off when I had to buy undergarments for my wedding), and so began my project. I cut the under layer to just over the knee, and I tied the to layer of the skirt up "valance style", so it was shorter than the under layer. I gathered a bunch of colored ribbon and sewed it all over the underskirt to give it color. Add some patterned tights, a corset and tank top, and you're almost ready to go!

Which brings me to my next project.

spools? spools you say?

I need something to adorn my head. A tiny tophat fascinator, you suggested? Why, you read my mind! So I stayed up until nearly 4am making this adorable little hat!

It's made out of a feather, some ribbon, felt, and pure, unadulterated fun  magic costuming addiction.

And look how cute it is on!!!

As per usual, I completely forgot to take photos of myself at a party. These are the best of what I can recover, and I apologize in advance for the terrible pictures.

You can slightly see the ruffles made from ribbon on my thigh. I used pink, purple, and robin's egg blue. It turned out SO much better than I expected.

 This is as close as it's getting to "full body" -- The hulk on the right is my mother! My 4 year old nephew told her to be Hulk for Halloween. Could you refuse a request like that? I didn't think so.


While I was working on my own costume, I also helped beef up/change my other friend Kim's costume for Lydia in beetlejuice, so feel free to love up on her dress, too. :)

This is a good shot of the gang! And look at the tiny hat! 

And this is the last of the photos I have for this post -- there will be others, more, later! 

OH! Monday, I made a cape thing for a bat costume at work. There will be photos of it in the next several days. I had hoped to take all of the photos of all of the things, but I just ran out of time. Guess you'll just have to check back, huh? :)

UNTIL NEXT TIME! There are always projects cropping up on me, so STAY TUNED FOR ANOTHER EXCITING BLOG POST BY workthatcreativity.blogspot.com !

P.S. I opened an Etsy shop last week to unload some of my vintage jewelry and give you guys a chance to own some of my blogging history! Check it out! etsy.com/shop/workthatcreativity