My DIY Halloween

This Halloween is the first year I actually sewed something for myself. I've thrown costumes together from pieces of thrift store finds but I've never actually made something new for a Halloween costume.My son loves Batman and has been asking to be Batman for "Edd-o-ween" for months. He got a great costume from his uncle for his birthday last month so he is set.

I asked him what I should be for Halloween and he answered, "You be Wobin." That means, "Robin." I was so touched that he wanted me as his sidekick (and all of us moms know that this won't last for long!) that I was determined to be Robin at any cost. I was surprised to find that they actually make Robin costumes in women's sizes. Two problems. Problem #1: It looks like this:

For those of you out there who have this costume, more power to you. It's just a little too, er, tarty for my taste. Plus, I'm lacking in certain areas to fill out the costume as expertly as this model does. Problem #2? It costs $40 at the least, not including the leggings I would need to wear to cover my pasty legs. So, this price was totally out of my budget. I would have to make my own. Here's what I did:

I made the skirt and cape from scratch. I used this tutorial to make the skirt. It's the first skirt I've ever made and it only took about an hour to make! I bought a red v-neck shirt and the red elbow gloves at Walmart. One of the gloves fit fine but the other one was made for a woman with kielbasa fingers . . . seriously, it was huge! So I "took in" the fingers of the glove with my sewing machine and it magically worked out. For the logo on my shirt, I used craft foam and hot glued it on. That's the beauty of costumes . . . you can totally jimmyrig them with no worries! I prefer the foam to felt because it offers sharper edges and colors. Finally, the belt and boots were already in my closet. So, the final cost adds up to this:

Skirt and cape materials: $10.00
Shirt: $3.00
Gloves: $3.00
Foam: $0.99

Final: $16.99

MUCH better than $40, not to mention I had over 2 yards of fabric and lots of foam left over that can be used for other projects (I overbought!).

Another perk of making your own costume is that you can do anything you want . . . and if you're like my hubby, he has some unusual requests. Our Batman wanted the Hub to go as Killer Croc (from the cartoon). Er, a giant, spiky gray crocodile man seemed a little out of my league so we settled on The Penguin. I thought we should go for the classic 60s show look but the Hub preferred the 1992 "Batman Returns" look. Finally, we decided on an amalgamation of the two. There was just one thing the Hub had to have . . . webbed gloves. Insert groan here. But, amazingly (I was full of luck this week!), they worked out okay. I drew around my husband's fingers and cut out some knit white fabric. I don't have a serger so I was surprised my regular little machine did such a good job of sewing the gloves. His hands look more Ninja Turtle-ish to me, but I'm still happy with it. I also made his vest (it's not a whole vest . . . I only sewed the front and pinned it on his shirt), bow tie and pocket square. Because he wore a suit he already had, borrowed a top hat from my brother and carried our umbrella, his costume cost a whopping $10.00 (including the makeup). Nice!

I'm really proud and happy with how our costumes came out. Batman approved and we had a great time at our church's Trunk or Treat last night. I was surprised at not only how easy all this was but that I had fun doing it. I might just have to make our costumes every year!

A Very Merry Un(Licensed)Birthday

September is a busy month for my family. We literally have a birthday every week in September. I guess you could say January was the busiest month . . . or the month everyone "got busy" . . . sorry, sorry, couldn't help myself. I celebrated my birthday this past weekend and my little guy's birthday is this weekend. Since I've got birthdays on the brain, I thought I'd share some of the birthday cards I've created. Well, they aren't just any b-day cards . . . they all feature a character from a movie or TV. I love doing something so personal (and technically illegal, I suppose) for somebody . . . especially when it's not likely to find a card with their favorite character on it.

Case and Point #1:


ANTON CHIGURH CARD

I made this card for my older brother Nathan's birthday a few weeks ago (his b-day is the first September birthday). His favorite movie is "No Country For Old Men." I saw it on TV a few months ago and personally I think it's overrated . . . okay, I'm babbling. Anyway, for the uninitiated, Anton Chigurh (played by hot, hot Javier Bardem, only he's not hot in this movie so maybe that's why I didn't love it) is the sociopathic serial killer everyone is trying to catch or run away from. His weapon? An air pistol, usually used to kill cattle. It kills the person instantly without leaving a bullet or any other evidence behind. So, I found this picture online and copied onto Word. I added a "Callout" (what Word calls those little word bubbles) and the text, "Need help blowing out those candles, Friendo?" ("Friendo" is a term Chigurh uses for people he's about to kill . . . which is pretty much everyone he meets) Tee-hee. I love my corny little puns . . . hope you do too, because there are more to come . . . My brother loved it. My family has a sick sense of humor, so a card with a serial killer threatening the recipient is like a bear hug. Warm and fuzzy . . .


HARRY POTTER GOLDEN SNITCH CARD

This is probably the most complicated of the bunch. I made this card for my niece's 8th birthday last year. It's a Harry Potter card and a game. The card is a giant shaker box. I printed off a picture of a Quidditch pitch from the Internet and made that the backdrop for the card. I added some gold glass marbles. Here's the part where I'm insane . . . I made a tiny Golden Snitch. I used a seed bead for the base and threaded a tiny piece of paper through it to make wings. Then, I painted it gold. This Snitch was was maybe the size of an ant. Here's a picture of it:



I sealed the "box" and added a picture of Harry (found online, again) and a scroll that says, "Can you spot the Golden Snitch?" I typed the words and then stamped the scroll stamp over that. So, you shake up the box and try to find the Snitch among the little gold marbles. Fun, no? And yes, I spent waaayyy too much time making this but I'm still really proud of it.



LAW AND ORDER CARD WITH SOUND

My mom is a huge "Law and Order" fan. We all grew up watching it. Last year, I decided to make my mom a special "L&O" card. I wanted to recreate, in card form, the opening moments of an "L&O" episode in it's glory days . . . that is, when Lenny (played by the late Jerry Orbach) was still part of the cast! You all know the formula: someone's dead, the cops show up, Lenny has a sarcastic one-liner and bum-BUM! The theme music starts.

First, I searched for a picture online. I have to say, this picture was the hardest to find. I honestly don't remember where or how I found it but I'm glad I did! I did the same thing I did with the "No Country" card and pasted it in Word.

Next, I tried to find a funny Lenny birthday quote. The guy was on the show for a decade, so I was positive he had at least one one-liner about a birthday. Nope. Not so much. I had no choice but to make up my own:

DET. GREEN: Today was his birthday.

LENNY: Yeah, but somebody else blew out the candles.

It didn't even really make sense, but it was the best I could do. Now, for sound. I can't take credit for this idea . . . my younger brother came up with it first. I used one of those cards you can record your voice on, but instead of saying something, I recorded the "L&O" theme song (I played a clip on YouTube and held the card up to the speaker).

I was so excited to give it to my mom but when she opened it she sort of chuckled and that was it. My mom is super emotional so I was surprised when she didn't offer much of a reaction. Finally, I just flat out said, "Mom, don't you like the card I made?" Come to find out, she thought we bought it! She was much more excited when she realized I had made it. Her initial reaction was disappointment that I hadn't made her a card! That card is over a year old and she still has it displayed in the kitchen.



DARK KNIGHT JOKER CARD

This is probably one of my favorite cards ever. I made it for my younger brother's birthday a year or two ago. He's a Batman fanatic.

At first, the card doesn't look like much, until you turn the Joker's hand, and . . .



This is one of those rare ideas that came together at the last minute. I'm not going to go into details about how I put it together because I haven't been able to pull it off again since! I think it was just luck that the mishmash of glue, foam and a brad came together like this. My brother still has this card on display, too.