This year for Halloween...Erica and Wes are going to a masquerade!

"Masquerade! Different faces on parade, masquerade!"  Last month, we went to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Civic Center. I think it was my favorite musical I've been to thus far. One of my favorite scenes was the masquerade song. And so I thought, "I want to go to a masquerade!!" Since I probably won't be invited to any here anytime soon, I decided that Wes and I would just have to pretend.  Here is my mask.

Nothing too fancy. Just a white mask from the local craft store and some glitter, feathers, and other fun embellishments.

What I'd like to showcase is my hat.

I got all of my supplies from the Dollar Tree. A plastic party hat (like the fake bowler hats you wear for New Years or 4th of July), some floral arrangements, a piece of poster board, and paint...only $4, guys!! Here is how you turn a cheap plastic hat into a mat hatter's, masquerade worthy top hat:

Materials needed: all mentioned above, AND a paper sack, scissors, tape & glue, ribbon, any embellishments.
1. Cut apart the plastic hat; the two pieces should be the brim and actual hat part.
2. Roll a piece of poster board into the circumference and height of hat you want. Tape the poster board roll into the brim of the hat. Tape the other hat part to the top of the poster board. Now your plastic hat should look like a stovepipe hat.
3. Cut pieces of poster board into small sections and tape them to the brim of the hat. This will expand the brim. Trim as needed.
4. Now your hat should look like a mess of tape and poster board. Rip part the paper sack and glue it over the poster board.
5. Now your hat should look like its made of paper sack. That will be your canvas to paint. I just painted mine one color but if you're more artistic, work your magic!
6. I used the ribbon to hide how I glued the floral pieces to the hat. I glued a piece, tied ribbon around and then glued more floral, etc.

I'm off to the ball...

Last year for Halloween...Erica was a cupcake!!

Its that time again... costume parties a plenty. What are YOU going to be for Halloween? Last year, I was a cupcake and Wes was a baker.

 

Yup, we were adorable. We made it to two Halloween parties and I got to strut my cupcake-ness all night long. Once again, this tutorial would have been awesome if I took step-by-step pictures but I didn't know at the time that I'd need the aforementioned pictures. So, here's the best I could do. (Just a tad bit of advice...this project should be done over multiple hours with breaks or days in between and its best of have an assistant, boyfriend or craft night buddy to help because there's lots of "hey, can you hold one thing out of the way while I hot glue something else" involved.) 

 

Cupcake costume tutorial -

Materials needed: laundry basket, poster board (2 pieces or more...depending on how big your basket is), shoe laces (I used two sets), tulle (the mesh fabric, I bought a yard), cotton stuffing (one bag should do), embellishments, hot glue (A LOT of hot glue... so much so you'll develop a love hate relationship with it in the end), scissors, duct tape, a small bag (I used one of those little bags that you get when you buy jewelry from a craft fair or boutique)  

 

1. Purchase a laundry basket you can fit in. Cut the bottom out of the basket and tie the shoe laces on as if they were suspenders.

2. Cut your poster board into a few pieces and fold each piece accordion style. Since the basket is round, you can't use one piece all the way around. I cut a piece that folded into about 2 - 3 accordion folds and hot glued it on.  One piece at a time until the basket resembles the cup part of the cupcake.

3. If your poster board is not evenly shaped in the end, go around with scissors and trim the top and bottom. I found this easier than measuring each piece to make sure they were the same size.

4. Hot glue is amazing but it doesn't hold everything. Duct tape the poster board to the inside of your laundry basket to make sure none falls off. This would be another good time to have a buddy help you hold everything in place while you go around with duct tape... not necessary but it does make it easier.

 

After steps 1-4, you should look like half of a cupcake. This would be a good time to take a break and find your assistant. You'll need him or her for the next few steps.

 

5. Cut the tulle into 4 - 6 pieces. Glue the edge of each piece onto the top of the laundry basket.
6. Open the bag of cotton stuffing and tear apart the stuffing and fluff it up so its not one large bundle.  This is where it becomes a two person job...
7. Hold some cotton stuffing on the edge of your laundry basket, fold the tulle over and hot glue.  Do this all around your laundry basket. I used soooo much hot glue and burned every single one of my poor little fingers but was successful in the end.  Don't despair!!
8. After hot gluing all the cotton stuffing into the tulle and onto the laundry basket, I went around a second time and glued all the loose pieces to each other or onto the laundry basket. This would be another good time to have a buddy help you hold everything in place while you go around with extra glue.

After steps 5-8, I became a cupcake!!

 

 9. Lastly, is the fun stuff. Embellish that cupcake!  Give yourself some sprinkles, some jazz and pizazz. LOL I used stick-on gems on the accordion folds of my poster board and little cupcake and baked good stickers all over the tulle. I wanted to add glitter as sprinkles but figured that would be way too messy. 

10.  Tie your little jewelry bag inside your laundry basket. Then you can be a partying cupcake without a purse or clutch and still have your lip stick, keys, etc.

 

 

Here is the finished project.  I went to one of my good friend's epic Halloween party and took third in the costume party. Here's me graciously accepting my ribbon.  Another costume to come next week. See you guys then : )