Halloween Costumes

So, Caleb and I had a Halloween party to go to this last weekend, so we needed costumes.  We only realized we'd be able to go a week ahead of time, so I had a week to make Caleb's costume.  Obviously I was fine, with plenty of options.  I wanted to wear Rinoa, but there was going to be drinking, and I spill things when I drink.  If I ruined my Rinoa jacket I'd probably cry for the rest of my life.  Same issue with my steampunk stuff.  I thought about Jessica Albert, but no one would have know who she is.  And Ellone, Raine and River Tam are too subtle to be interesting.  So I went with Aerith.  Did the hair and everything.

Bangs aren't quite as stand-uppy as Aerith's, but you get the idea.

For Caleb, it needed to be simple, inexpensive and fast.  He doesn't like dressing up, so I wouldn't be allowed to do anything elaborate or spend a lot of money on it, and it needed to be easy and quick to make. I also wanted to the character to appeal to him at least a little bit.  So, I went with the Great Saiyaman from Dragonball Z.

He was a very good sport about it.

He already had black pants, I bought him a black longsleeve shirt.  The vest was made using a vague shape based on a t shirt of his.  The cape is four triangles buttoned at the shoulders with functional buttons in case he wanted to take the cape off.  The helmet Saiyaman wears was not an option so we went with the other look. The bandanna is just a triangle of jersey fabric tied around his head. The sunglasses are some cheap ones we'd gotten for free from some sample site and the earpieces used to be neon orange, so I just painted them.  Those were one of our favorite parts, they're the exact same style as Saiyaman's. The belt is a wide strip of elastic with velcro sewn on and a belt buckle made of two circles of foam glued on.  The gloves were difficult cuz I've never made gloves other than my failed attempt for Shannon.  But I managed.  They're just an outline of his hand with interfacing around the cuff for support.  They just barely fit.  The boots are boot covers I made using the same principles from my steampunk spats, only expanded to fit what I wanted.  They have zippers installed in the back and the toes were extended to a point and a cardboard cone glued in.  Painted the toes gold and added the lines with a black sharpie. 

I'm pretty proud of how it turned out, all his nerdy friends knew instantly who he was and assured me that he looked great.

Hee. I got my husband to cosplay. :D

An update

So.... I've been a bit out of the blogging spirit since I finished Rinoa's jacket.  ah well.  No one follows this, it's just for me anyways.  Well, this is what I've been working on:

first, I made another River's vest for Amanda for Christmas, No pics, cuz it looks exactly the same.

And here's what I was making for Shannon for Christmas:

Thirteen Disney princesses.  To be fair, two are Ariel.  I wanted a human one.  I also made her a Gromit, from Wallace and Gromit.










And a Nibbler for Eloise.

And a Slender Man for Corey.

And what I'm most proud of, this quilt for Caleb.  The quilt top was made by his grandma, who passed away last year.  He was very close to her, and it was kinda rough for him.  She gave us this quilt top some years ago, but never finished it.  And so I learned to quilt and did it.  BEST PRESENT EVER.  He didn't see it coming.  it was awesome.

Then, after Christmas, I made some slippers:

nothing fancy, but they do the job.

so, that's what I've already finished.  I have some things I'm working on now, and I'm planning for, but I think I'll do a separate post for that.  more fun to break it up.

Father's Day

so, we're less broke than we were for Mother's day, when we were both unemployed. I got Caleb a Boise State shot glass, since he collects them. Which people find ironic, since we don't drink. Someday I'm going to get him a nice display case for his collection. Shannon made him a card that I helped her with that she wrote "I love you, Daddy" and then put stickers all over it. Then we went out to Caldwell to have dinner with his parents, and went in with Caleb's brother, Aaron, and sister, Katie, to buy thier dad, Paul, a barbeque for Father's Day. it was fairly uneventful, other than the usual stress that Katie's kids cause.

Holly hell. they make me insane. The oldest is Shiann, a foster kid, who's 14 and has cerebral palsy, and all the extra stress with that. Then there's Madison who's 8, and Kayla, another foster kid, who's 10-ish. they're snotty and bossy and will tattle at the drop of a hat. Then there's Devon and Hope, 6 and 7, who ignore everything Katie says and do whatever the hell they want. And then Fintin, who's 3, and is the biggest whiny drama queen, EVER. and she lets him get away with it. Finally, there's Claire, who is 8 months old and just has the natural stress of a baby. She's also a foster kid. So, no, I don't like being surrounded by her kids. they make me crazy. It might not be so bad if she actually disciplined them and had any control AT ALL over them. sheesh. I was ready to leave by the time we finally did. I don't know how she stands the chaos.