Wednesday, October 31, 2012

DIY Halloween Costume

Today is Halloween, so I have decided to share a simple DIY costume that I made just this last weekend.  It was very easy to make and inexpensive.  My best friend and I wanted to dress up together, so I brainstormed costumes we could make ourselves.  What I came up with was the "red queens of the deck."  She was the queen of hearts, and I was the queen of diamonds.  Here was our basic costume inspiration:


I really enjoyed making this costume because I found that I had a lot of things already that would work for it.  Here's a basic run down of what we did:

For the main dress, I found a four pack of Hanes men's large white t-shirts on sale at Ross for $8.99.  I was excited that it came with four shirts, just in case we messed up on the first ones (which we didn't!)  We grabbed some red paint at Walmart for the Qs and the heart/ diamond that would make up the front of the dress.  The paint was around $2.95 for a large bottle.  We didn't bother with fabric paint, since we knew these would only be one time use!  We also got sponge brushes from Walmart as well for about $1.00.  The last thing we purchased was glitter which we found at the Dollar Tree. 

To make the dresses we steamed the shirts, cut off the sleeves, and laid them out on a flat surface.  I drew what I wanted the shirts to look like on a piece of paper and put it inside the shirt to follow while I was painting.  I then painted a right-side-up Q on the left upper-hand side of the shirt, followed by the heart (or diamond) in the middle, and then an upside-down Q in the lower right-side similar to the playing cards above.  To finish them we painted red glitter over the heart/diamond, and silver glitter over the Qs.  We then let them dry.  (We did have to blow dry them later to speed up the process.)  Here they are laying out to dry:


Once the dresses were dry, we folded the sleeves and tied them with leftover lace ribbon that I had, to keep the sleeves looking feminine.  We also cinched the shirts in the back so the dress didn't look "baggy." 

We also made crowns, because every queen needs a crown.  These were so easy and so cheap.  We bought two packs of foam sheets from the dollar tree, and two packs of decorative gems from the craft aisle at Walmart.  The gems were about $2.95 each and we got diamond colored ones and larger multicolored ones.  To make the crowns I just cut the foam sheets in half (the long way) and cut large jagged edges along the top.  I then stapled two pieces together, making sure they fit our heads.  I decorated them by gluing the diamond colored gems in the shape of a "Q" in the center, with the colored gems on either side.  Ta-da! Easy. 

It was my best friend's birthday, so she wrote on hers. 
The last touch we added was simple.  We took delicate white ribbon (which I had already), "our" queens from a deck of cards, and a hole punch.  We punched a hole out of the corner of the card and used the ribbon to make a necklace for us to wear.  We figured it would help make our costume more obvious! 

And here is the finished product!


We paired the dresses with black tights/ leggings because it's getting colder out.  We also painted our nails red, wore red lipstick, and wore "fake" large pearl necklaces.  We had a great time making and wearing the costumes!
Happy Halloween!



Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Simple Fall Decorating

Halloween is almost here, and the chilly fall weather is already here.  I've been seeing so many great ideas going around on how to decorate for fall.  My favorite that I've seen so far is using shepherd hooks to hang pumpkins along a walkway.  I just recently got married in June and had purchased a bunch of shepherd hooks to decorate the aisle, so I thought reusing them for seasonal decorating was genius!  I also had a ton of twine leftover from the wedding too, which meant all I had to purchase were the pumpkins.  If you'd like to make something similar for your front yard, here's all you need:
  • Scissors
  • Shepherd hooks (I used four, but the amount is really up to you)
  • Twine
  • Pumpkins (I used four again that I got from Safeway for a little over a dollar each!  I loved the variation in colors I found)
The process was quite simple.  I put the hooks into the ground, evenly spacing them along my driveway.  I then cut the twine, guessing the length I would need.  I wrapped the twine around the stem, making sure to secure it with knots before doing the same thing to the shepherd hook.  Once the pumpkin was securely connected to the hook, I took leftover twine and tied a bow around the stem of the pumpkin because, well, I love bows.  Here's how they turned out:


 
I love the simplicity of them, and that they work for both Halloween and Thanksgiving.  I plan on doing them every year now! 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Blog one of many more to come!

In honor of my first blog, I'm going to dedicate this post to some of my favorite firsts.  Here we go!

1. My first puppy:

 
This is my adorable Katie-bug.  She is my very first puppy that my husband and I adopted from our local humane society earlier in the year.  We still aren't quite sure what mix she is, but she is adorable nonetheless. 

2. My first macaron:
 
Thanks to Pinterest, I heard of these tasty little treats and knew I just had to try them.  I'm very glad that I did, as they are delicious!  Since no local bakeries in my hometown sell these divine little pastries, I made sure to find somewhere that did on a weekend trip to Seattle.  These pictured above are from La Panier Very French Bakery

3. My first trip to Mexico:


Here I am standing in front of the beautiful Caribbean!  My first trip to Mexico was in 2009.  This picture was taken in Playa Del Carmen, in front of the prettiest ocean I have ever seen.  I cannot wait to go back!

4. My first Cosmopolitan:

The ultimate girly drink, pink and tasty.  This was my very first Cosmopolitan, which I had at Bond, a fabulous lounge/bar in (where else!) the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. 

5. My first San Diego sunset:

Here I am, just this last summer, in San Diego, CA.  Seeing a sunset was on my "vacation bucket list," and what better place to see one than in the beautiful and sunny San Diego.  This was at Ocean Beach on the pier. 

Here's to many more firsts to come!