Civil War Show

In the last few years, I have become active in a theatre group in my community. I started with To Kill a Mockingbird and have done several since then. Most recently I was asked to do costumes in our upcoming Civil War era show. I am crazy excited about the chance to make costumes in this era. It has always been a dream of mine. I am also in the show so a few of the dresses will be ones I’m wearing. One is a 1865 day dress for a moderately wealthy woman and the other is a mourning dress (sort of) from 1874.

I just finished the day dress as well as the dress for another cast member. Here are the finished products!

1865 day dress, Asia Booth Clarke

1865 dress, Mrs. Hale

I used Simplicity pattern 3723, which is actually an American revolution era pattern. Of course, it isn’t entirely time period but for theatre purposes it is working perfectly. And it is much more cost effective than some of the other patterns I have seen. I did make some adjustments like pleating the skirt rather than gathering it and adding ruffles. I’ll be posting more as I finish them so stay tuned!

Museum of Extraordinary Things

The theme for my school’s haunted house this year is going to be The Museum of Extraordinary Things based loosely on the book by Alice Hoffman. I’m working on details like my current piece, the sign advertising the mermaid.

It will have an arrow underneath pointing to the exhibit. I’m hoping to create something that looks like a tank for a “real” mermaid to scare out of. We shall see!

Toilet Paper Tube Candles

I finally tried the toilet paper tube candle trick where you use a hot glue gun to make it look like the wax is dripping. I like them better than I thought I would.

They aren’t perfect but I am going to put them in all of the front windows of the house. The curtains will hang in front of them on the inside so perfect wasn’t the final goal. For a table, I would much rather use real candles. These are sufficient for a place where people aren’t going to be closely inspecting them.

I like that they are easy and cheaper than buying frameless candles already made. The tea lights are way cheaper!

Skulls and Roses

• Cheap frame
• Black and white paint
• Red roses
• Cheap skull

I pulled the mirror out of the frame because I just wanted the frame and I painted it black. I lightly brushed on a coat of very dark grey to give it more dimension. I cut the back off the skull I got from Walmart for about $4. (PSA: be glad I am not a brain surgeon because I butchered the back of that skull.) I got glued the skull and roses to the back part of the frame. I am going to hang it in my entryway! 

  

Halloween Table

I got started on my table today. It’s the first year I have full reign over my space and I plan to use up every bit of space. I have bright yellow chairs so I want to stay with a Nightmare Before Christmas theme using black, white, and yellow. I plan to use symmetrical and asymmetrical lines. Here is my candlestick, table runner, and my new vase.   

Creepy Lanterns

• Glass jar 
• Creepy cloth
• Dryer lint
• Twine
• Acrylic paint- red, yellow, green, gray, brown
• Glue

First I painted the glass jar to look dirty and a little bloody. I put the red lines on the inside and some of the brown and yellow paint mixed. I brushed lightly the brown/yellow mix, brown, and green on the outside. 

Over the opening I cut and stretched some creepy cloth I got at the dollar store. 

The mossy stuff is dryer lint mixed with brown and green paint which I simply glued onto the rim of the jar and a bit around the creepy cloth. 

I tied it all up with twine to hang it. All together, I took about 5 minutes to make it. 

  
P.S. I love that my friends feed my Halloween addiction and have promised me more jars to make as many as I can! 

Spider Jar

Spider charm

Wire

Beads

Glass jar

Simple spider apothecary jar! 

Queen of Hearts Costume Continued

Progress if being made on my 2017 costume! 

  
  
The bustle is coming along reall well! I am about to start on part 2 the long skirt! 

Wire Web

I saw a cute little Burton-inspired spider web on Pinterest and thought I would try my hand at one. I made mine from florist wire and black acrylic paint. 

I’m not the best with wire but I kinda like the not so perfect look! 

  
I started by drawing out what I wanted it to look like so I could get an idea of how long all the pieces needed to be.

  
I wrapped 2-3 pieces of the wire together for the main structure of the web. Then I wrapped all of them together at one end. 

  
I use a single piece of the wire to make the other lines. I wrapped them twice around the main structure to keep them equidistant. 

  
Painted with actrylic paint (my wire was silver and I wanted it black). 

  
Finished! A lovely, creepy, little web!