Happy Halloween!

Cheers to my favorite holiday! I dressed up as a cowgirl for work today. Then spent the evening taking my baby brothers trick-or-treating and handing out candy to all the little monsters. I hope everyone had a spook-tacular evening! (I can't help it...)

Thank You Seattle

I had an epic weekend and of course a HUGE thank you to my love Ryan.

Halloween: Seattle Style

Last night Ryan and myself dressed up as Indians (Native Americans) and headed out for a night on Capital Hill. We ended up staying at the first bar we visited, it was packed. The costumes were perfection. I could not believe some of the costumes that were made.

A few of the details from my costume: Feather necklace (added to my headband) purchased at Forever 21, my headband was actually a very small child's belt, I had the moccasins in my costume box.

 This gentleman made his wings... they were Victoria Secret worthy, and the best part? He had a cord that he could pull and his wings would open.

Seattle, you know how to do Halloween right. 

Masquerade Anyone?

Tonight Ryan, Sean and myself threw the masquerade party. It was fabulous.

Sean decorated, I especially liked the cob webs. 

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A few masks from the night:

 Ryan and myself, I made his mask with liquid liner and dusting powder on top: 

 Apparently the party started getting out of hand because the police showed up and started arresting guests. ;)

I hope everyone's Friday was fantastic!

Creating a Costume II

For my second costume I bought a bustier like top Charlotte Russe and a basic skirt from Forever 21. Then purchased fringe from a craft store, Joann's.

I literally made tiny stitches about every inch to attach the fringe to both pieces and tucked the straps on the top to create a sweetheart neckline. Simple and I can cut off the fringe if I want to use these pieces again.

    

Of course no night is complete without random sombrero wearing.

Creating a Costume I

I have been making bits and pieces of my Halloween costumes. I do not know how to sew, I can make stitches though, so this has been quite the challenge. Halloween celebrations will be in Seattle this year. Ryan and myself are throwing a masquerade party Friday night and we will be going out as Indians Sunday.

For the masquerade party I had this vintage three tone lace lingerie piece sitting in my costume box for a while that I figured would be perfect for the dress.

I knew I needed to take this shapeless ankle length dress and give it a bit of a makeover. I figured by be creating some kind of petticoat underneath, I could have the poof I was desiring. Thus, I created this no-sew tutu:

Items needed:
Scissors
Tulle
A piece of ribbon

Tie the ribbon around your waist then add about 6 inches. On each end tie a knot about 3 inches from the ends, this allows for you to tie a bow when finished.
Fold your tulle about 1 1/2-2" thick and then cut off the ends to make them even.
Cut 3-4' pieces.
Unroll these pieces and fold them in half, cut again.
Taking one of the two pieces, fold it in half and make a loop put the ribbon in front of the loop and pull the ends through (essentially a cow hitch/lanyard knot).
Repeat this until you get the desired fullness.

If you're like me and need a visual, this is the YouTube video I used: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTXo6uv9HxA  (skip to 1:30 minutes to start the tutorial)

I ended up pinning the lace lingerie piece and making small stitches to create this:

Questions

One thing about starting over is it's hard, a lot harder than it sounds. To begin you have to take everything you've known about yourself and analyze it meticulously to see just how much of it you really want to keep. What roles do you want to play (ie. friend, lover, sister etc)? What kind of person do you want to be? Where do you want to live? Do you keep the same job or get another? There are a million questions to ask.

Affirmations

A little while ago I found a great free Iphone app, always a reason to celebrate. It's called "Affirmations!" I use it every morning before rolling out of bed to set the right mood for my day. 

Inspiration

"... sometimes good things fall apart so that better things can fall together." -Marilyn Monroe