My Little Pony Cosplay- Rarity "Tutorial"

I can't believe how late I am {FINALLY} getting around to posting this! Ah, well, better late than never.

So this past August was the third year I've gone to the "nerd" convention called Fandemonium. It was lots of fun, as always, although a little more difficult this year than last. Remember this little cutie?

Yeah...well...she grew up into a very cute, very sweet, and very ENERGETIC little toddler. :) 

Still as cute as ever though, no? ;)

Anyway, we had a great time, but we were definitely kept busy with her around. Plus it wasn't very easy for this pregnant mama to chase her either. Good thing Daddy was there to help out. :)

So, I know that I mentioned about a year ago (how time flies!!!) that I was going to cosplay Rainbow Dash. Well, I changed my mind. I like Rainbow Dash and all, and as much fun as it would have been to have awesome rainbow colored hair, I just wasn't feeling it. I felt like I had chosen to cosplay her because she was cool, everyone would think I was awesome, and she's popular. But really, as great as Rainbow Dash is, I realized that she's just not my favorite pony. Actually, I really do like all of them, but I do have a few that I like just a little more, and then one that I like just a little more than those. 

My favorite pony is the lovely Rarity. I know, I know, everyone seems to think she's self-centered and boring, but I just find her absolutely hilarious! I've never really taken anything she's said too seriously (like as if this show is all seriousness anyway, right?), and if you don't, then she's just so funny! Plus she loves to sew and create, and so do I, so there's something that we have in common. :)  Plus, what's not to love about that accent of hers? I'm not even sure where exactly that accent is from (it's not quite British, but close), but it sounds lovely! Also, I've seen some people say before that she isn't at all generous. Um, false. In the episode where she is making dresses for her friends for the gala, she changes every single detail of her original ideas for the dresses just to make her friends happy, although she knows they are terrible. Not to mention all of the extra, painstaking work of having to make everything exactly how they want it. What's not generous about that?! If I were her, I would have told them, "Too bad, this is what you're wearing because these look fabulous and your ideas stink!"

Okay, this post wasn't necessarily supposed to be about my favorite pony, so we'll move on to the actual project now. :)

There were quite a few parts and pieces to this costume. Getting ready took a bit of work, but I think it was well worth the effort. 

First off, Rarity has long, purple, curly hair, so I had to get a good wig that matched that description. I found a great seller on eBay called cosplaydna. They have soooo many wigs to choose from, they are great quality, and they are a great price as well! Here's a picture and link to the one I got:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/150779393766?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

My one disappointment with this wig is that it wasn't quite as curly as it is in the picture. It still looks great though, so not a big deal. :)

Next, I needed ears and a horn, since Rarity is a unicorn. I found a simple tutorial online for how to make ones out of felt, but the idea just wasn't working for me. I wanted something that was going to look really good. So after some searching, I found this on Etsy:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/83086853/my-little-pony-ears-unicorn-set-mlp?ref=shop_home_feat

Seriously, these are GREAT quality, and they look so nice! Definitely worth spending the extra money. :) And I chose the white set, in case you were wondering. ;)

For the "body," I wanted to wear something that I thought Rarity would wear. I felt that she would most certainly wear a dress. My original idea was to sew a knee-length dress with purple tulle underneath and a purple ribbon around a fitted waist. I was so excited because I thought it was just perfect for representing Rarity and then...I found out I was pregnant. Haha! So I had to bag the whole dress idea and find something that my pregnant tummy would fit under, but still looked somewhat elegant. This is what I chose:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/280854358163?var=580083564078&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Still looks like something Rarity would wear, plus I was certain I could still wear it while pregnant, which I did. :) I bought this one in white, of course.

Next, I decided to put a bolero shrug over the dress, mostly because I enjoy being modest, but I also thought a bit of lace would dress it up some. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/280869113963?var=580165374434&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

I got this one in the purple color. 

After that, I needed a cutie mark. I had originally planned to find an image online, print it on screen print paper, and iron it to my dress, but then one of my friends, who was cosplaying Applejack, found this on Etsy:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/110582577/my-little-pony-rarity-3-diamonds-cutie?ref=shop_home_active

The color of the thread is actually not quite that bright of blue, but the quality of the embroidery is great, it irons on, and it looks waaaay better than screen printing would have looked. 

I then added big, voluminous false eyelashes the I bought from Claire's. I also added some diamond pearl earrings and a necklace that I already owned. I wanted to wear some white high heels since I know that Rarity would wear only the  most feminine and fashionable thing, but pregnancy and high heels do not mix well. Instead I wore some flat sandals that had diamond looking jewels on them, because if Rarity can't have high heels, I know she would never pass up diamonds. ;)

So that's everything I did for my cosplay. Funny that I didn't sew a single thing for this one, haha! But here is the finished project:

Brandon was Spike and Kessie was Rarity's little sister, Sweetie Belle. Huzzah for family themed cosplay!

You can see the false eyelashes really well in this picture. I also did some blue eye shadow since Rarity wears blue eye shadow too. 

Here's the whole group! I think we looked pretty darn awesome, wouldn't you say? ;)

Totally loved doing this! It was so much fun! Here's to Rarity- BEST PONY!!! :)

[PMV] Paradise

I've really gotten into My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic lately. Like, crazily so, lol! Here's a very well done video starring all your favorite ponies. Enjoy!

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, All of my base, Are belong to you!

My brother-in-law once said that catchy little title to his wife on Facebook a couple years ago. Since then, my darling husband and I have had this great idea.
Why not make Zero Wing valentines?
YES!!!
This year, we FINALLY got around to making them. And I must say we did  a great job with them.

(In case you are not familiar with the hilariously bad translation of the opening for the video game Zero Wing, watch this.)

 

We ordered the prints online through FedEx Kinkos on card stock paper.  Once we cut them out, we made sure to decorate them with lots of hearts and such. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Avatar- Remember the Name

Avatar: The Last Airbender is a GREAT show. Really great storyline, humorous, fun, and creative. So here's an amv (anime/animated music video) of Avatar by MamoruMe. I like this one a lot!

Princess Tutu

Ah, Princess Tutu. My favorite anime. Seriously, my most favorite. Anime. Ever. :)

(Click here to watch the Japanese promo trailer)

This anime is about a duck named Duck (Ahiru in Japanese) who sees a handsome prince dancing by her lake, and falls in love with him. The prince's eyes are always sad, however, so Duck wishes to help him. Suddenly, an old man appears and gives her a magical pendant to transform herself into a girl, and then into a magical ballerina named Princess Tutu. She discovers that the prince is actually from a story that the old man wrote called "The Prince and the Raven." In this story, the prince shattered his own heart to seal away the Raven. Since then, stories and reality have intertwined and it's up to Princess Tutu to restore the pieces of the prince's heart.

• Age Appropriateness: Preteens +
• Content Rating: Although the name and look may suggest otherwise, I would recommend this one for about age 11 and up, due to the complicated plot. I just think smaller children would get confused in it. Swearing is very mild and very minimal. There are also a couple times too where a character is naked, but nothing is explicit and it is not sexual. It is either being used to convey feelings and ideas (such as despair or being one with nature), or because it is realistic (such as when the bird form of Duck transforms into a girl. Of course she wouldn't be wearing anything. Ducks don't.) Princess Kraehe, the main antagonist, is dressed quite immodestly as well. 
• Dub vs. Sub: I would suggest watching this with the English dub (because Lucy Christian is awesome!) but the Japanese with subtitles is a wonderful way to watch it as well. You really can't go wrong either way. 
• Overall Rating: I would give Princess Tutu a 5/5. I watched this anime for the first time a few years ago, and it is still my absolute favorite. I will warn, however, that the show may be difficult to get into at first, mostly because it may seem repetitive and goofy, but please keep watching . Give it until at least after episode 6 or 7 when Princess Kraehe appears. That's when it gets really good! This anime has so many twists and turns and actually has more to it than it appears. The classical music is beautiful and the numerous ballet references to other ballets is genius. 

Princess Tutu picture from: http://www.freewebs.com/siteoftheswan/apps/photos/photo?photoid=111529937

Cosplay

I love to dress up. And I love to make my own costumes too! So, naturally, being somewhat of a geeky nature, I love cosplaying.
Now, for those of you who don't know what cosplay is, according Wikipedia, it is " short for "costume play." [Cosplay is] type of performance art in which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea." Some popular sources of cosplay come from anime, manga, sci-fi, fantasty, video games, and films. Some people will take it to a level of awesome where they act out their part as well, but for me, I just like the dressing up part. :)  

Here are some pics of a few of my favorites, just to give you a good idea:

 Princess Peach

 Anastasia

 Odette from The Swan Princess

 Emily from The Corpse Bride

 Ganondorf from Legend of Zelda

 Korra from The Legend of Korra

 Mulan

 Thumbelina

 Link

 Giselle from Enchanted

 Peter Pan and the lost boys

 Dot from Reboot

 Mai from Avatar the Last Airbender

 Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon

 Tangled

Now, I know it is really early on in the year to be thinking about what I want to cosplay as (the usual convention I attend isn't until August, although there is another in May), but I've decided what I want to do.
And here it is:
My most exciting project for the year:













RAINBOW DASH!!!
From My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!

I am sooooooo excited!!! I didn't really understand what the hype was about this show, and why there was such a huge fan-base for it, until I started watching it a couple weeks ago. I'm hooked, and I love the show. It's cute, but also very, very funny! 
It's kind of funny though. My favorite pony tends to be Rarity, but for some reason, I really wanted to cosplay Rainbow Dash instead. Must be that awesome hair of hers... ;)
 Anyway, I have some great ideas for my costume, so I'll be posting my progress here on the blog every now and then. 
Also, Kessie and Brandon are in on this as well! (Seriously, I have THE SWEETEST husband EVER! He knew I really wanted to do this one, so he said he would join in, and I promised I would 1.) Make his costume looks awesome 2.) Not make him wear a wig, ears, or wings. Which I'm totally fine with). I wanted us all to match, so Kessie will be Scootaloo and Brandon is going to be Soarin', one of the Wonderbolts. This. Is. Going. To. ROCK!!!! :D

So here's my wig I just ordered. (Click on the picture to see where I got each item from. That way, if you're looking to make your own, this can help you find what I found!)

It should be here in about a month, so I'll have a picture of me trying it on and see what it looks like. :)

Plus I just ordered these as well, for both me and Brandon.

 I got the jacket in the mail today, but it's a little big, so we'll see if I can exchange it for a smaller size.

And here's a baseball tee to go underneath. I'm planning on putting Rainbow Dash's cutie mark on the front. :)

Woot! :)         

My Only Wish...

Here's the video of the week! Sorry it's up late. It's been a busy day already. :P
So I wanted to post a video that is Christmas themed, and I wasted a lot of time trying to find something to no avail. Blah. But then I remembered that there was a Christmas video I made a few years ago. Although it is a fun video, I'm glad to say that I have improved in my editing skills, lol! :) Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Change of Seasons

And here we are with the Video of the Week! I love Avatar: The Last Airbender, and ended up watching The Legend of Korra (the sequel to the latter). I liked it in the beginning, but the plot steadily went a little downhill for me in the end. I could get into a whole discussion of how if only Nickelodeon would have given the creators another season in the first place instead of just one, this wouldn't have happened, but I'll pass that and just say that for the most part, Korra was enjoyable. But I just love this video that MentalProdigy made of my favorite episode in the series. Fabulous job! Enjoy!

Our Super Duper Super Mario Bros. Halloween! Part 3: Costumes

So I'm guessing that you're all probably wondering how I made these fun costumes, right? Well, I'll tell you, but be warned that I won't have a lot to show since my costume was made years ago, Brandon's was mostly stuff found at the thrift store, and I didn't take any pictures of the making of Kessie's. But, for anyone interested, here's what I did:

Princess Daisy Costume:

So, I know it's not exact, but it was the best I could come up with. And yes, this picture of me looks old because...it is.

1. I bought the shirt from the thrift store. I was looking for something that had short sleeves and was a little "princess"-like. I then took some green and white felt and cut out a big oval and a daisy pattern. Then I used pins to attach it to the shirt. You could sew it as well, or even use hot glue, but if you do, do NOT put it in the dryer after washing.
2. The skirt was sewn using a simple poodle skirt pattern that can be purchased from any sewing store. The fabric is just a yellow cotton that matches the shirt well so that it all looks like one dress.
3. The sash is very simple to sew and was made from orange cotton material. It's about 9 inches in width, and then folded over (so that it's 4.5 inches when being worn). I did this so that the bow in back would be big and spread out. It's also about 3 yards in length. 
4. The gloves came from my mom's stash of kid dress ups. It's a wonder my hands fit them, but I'm sure that it wouldn't be too hard to find gloves at either the thrift store or a costume shop.
5. I got the crown from a dollar store. It was actually quite a bit bigger, so I cut it smaller to the size I wanted, and then stapled it together. Then I took some felt and a green craft jewel to make the daisy in the middle.
6. The earings were also made from the same items as the crown flower, but I attached them with hot glue to some old stud earings I didn't care about anymore.
7. Last, and probably least, I just used a pair of white dressy shoes. I chose flats because I really don't love high heels.

And that's that! Moving on to Luigi:

Yes, this is an old picture too. Peach and Mario's costumes were made the same way too, in case you are wondering.

1.  The overalls were purchased at a thrift store. Unfortunately, guys overalls must be in extremely low supply, because these poor guys were unable to find them in men's sizes. So yes, they are wearing girl overalls, and if you choose to do things this way, you too will most likely have to wear girl overalls. Sorry.
2. The shirt was also bought at a thrift store. Ideally, it should actually be long sleeves, but I didn't even realize this until actually looking at a picture of Luigi later. So if short sleeves is all you can find, it will do.
3. The gloves were purchased at Walmart during the winter season, which was nice and kept his hands warm. We lost the gloves though and later had to use white, leathery gardening gloves instead.
4. The hat was another thrift store item (although I would suggest thoroughly washing it before wearing it). We cut out a white circle, and a green L, and hot glued them onto the hat.
5. The mustache was simply cut out from black felt and stuck on with double sided tape.

And you're done! Woot!

And now, for the best costume, little Toadette:

1.  We'll start with the hat. So, what I did was I took a shower cap, laid it out flat, and measured how big the circle was. From that, I cut out a circle on my fabric (pink cotton). After that, I did a basting stitch around the outside or the circle and pulled on the thread to gather it. Then I took a baby cap and attached the gathered circle to it, making sure to do this inside out so I wouldn't have any raw edges showing. Of course, you'll have to make sure to leave an opening someone so you can turn it back to the right side, so don't forget! Once it's back to the right side out, fill it with some stuffing (not too much though or else it won't fit right on your little one's head). After that, hand stitch the opening closed. Cut out 5, 3.5 inch circles from white felt and hot glue them to the hat. I also added a strap made from leftover material from the hat so the hat could stay on better. I just made two strips with velcro so that it would be comfortable putting on and taking off.
2. I actually made two different kinds of braids. My first idea that I did for the local convention was to use yarn. It was simple, and I just decided what length I wanted the braids and wrapped it around and around, then sectioned it all off into three parts (plus a small top to attach it to the hat) and tied the sections off with more yarn.
3. The second kind of braids I made were much better looking. I made two "tubes" out of the same fabric used for the hat and placed three foam balls inside. Then I tied some thread to section them off. After that, I hot glued some five white felt circles to the end of the braids. Then I simple sewed the braids onto the hat. I sewed them on a little more towards the back so that they wouldn't get in baby girl's way.
4. The shoes were made from a baby booties pattern I got from my sewing class a few years ago. I just used brown knit fabric for those.
5. For the dress and the vest, I used this pattern: 

Pattern B is what I used. After the dress was done, I added some very thin, white rick-rack to the bottom of it.
The vest was made with the same pattern, but I shortened the length. Then I added thick, yellow rick-rack around the outside.

And there ya have it! A whole family of Mario characters!

 The mystery box we made held all the candy we passed out.

 Not the best picture, but here's the whole creation all together!

Princess Daisy Picture: http://www.freewebs.com/princessdaisy178/
Luigi Picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi
Toadette Picture: http://www.mariowiki.com/toadette

Our Super Duper Super Mario Bros. Halloween! Part 2: Pumpkins and Peach and Mario put-your-face-in-and-take-a-picture things...

And we're back with more on how to make these:

What you'll need:

• So, first of all, you'll need one large, tall box. Our boxes measured about 3-4 feet tall. Yes, it's on the short side for adults, but we figured that children would be interested in these more than adults anyway.
• Picture references 
• Assorted primary color acrylic paints
• Assorted size paint brushes
• A pencil
• A Sharpie
• A box cutter and/or X-ACTO knife
• Your creative artistic skills!

First, gather your pictures. Again, I've provided on this post the pictures we used so that you won't have to search for them, but you can always do other ones if you want.

 The lovely Princess Peach!

 Mario: Hee-YA! 

Basically, it's pretty straightforward. I just drew the picture first with pencil, and then went over it with a Sharpie. Of course, there's no need to draw the face since you will be cutting that out anyhow. After that, paint everything accordingly. You will most likely have to mix up some of your paint to get a skin tone color. I mixed some white, yellow, and red together. I honestly can't say how much of each I did, but what I would suggest is just mixing a little of each and see what you come up with. :)

 After your masterpiece is painted, go over it all with Sharpie again to give it that finished and defined look. 

Once you've got that all done, take a break to admire how awesome you are. You deserve it. ;)

Then, take the box cutter/X-ACTO knife, and cut out the face, and you're done!

 "I am the Princess!"

What a ham... ;)

Now, if you'd like to do the pumpkins, there really isn't much instruction for those, so I'll just list what you'll need and give you the pictures I designed them after.

You'll need:

• Two pumpkins (or more if you want more characters like Toad, a turtle, etc.)
• Picture references 
• Assorted primary color acrylic paints
• Assorted size paint brushes
• A pencil
• A Sharpie
• Your creative and artistic skills! (Funny, this one seems to be so essential...)

My Yoshi turned out just a little different, but basically the same.

King BOO!!!

So there are your pictures, and as before, I would draw your picture first in pencil, then in Sharpie, paint, and then go over again with Sharpie. 

And there you are! :D

Princess Peach Picture:http://s285.beta.photobucket.com/user/HyperGon/media/ItadakiPeach.png.html
Mario Picture: http://www.nintendo.com/sites/mario/
Yoshi Picture: http://www.discover-how-to-draw.com/how-to-draw-yoshi.html
King Boo Picture: http://dreager1.com/2012/03/29/king-boo-vs-meddy/