I can feel it in my code....time for an update!

oh, wow. I haven't updated my little part of cyberspace in forever! Lots of things have happened since my last update in march including, summer internships, semesters of college, hospital stays, Disney Vacations and of course conventions and lots of toy buying. I have been meaning to get back into blogging for a while now and wish to share my adventures with you!

 I feel like I should start with a general update and post pictures and slightly embarrassing completion stories of my Vanellope cosplay,  which I did manage to debut at Dallas Comic Con!

This cosplay was the very first costume I ever completed from scratch! It gave me a whole new level of respect for the hard work that goes in to cosplaying. My costume was by no means perfect but I loved the process and the final product. I want to break down the individual pieces before posting the final product. 

Vanellope's hoodie was VERY hard to find. I searched thrift shops relentlessly. I finally found a teal hoodie that matched Vanellope’s but it was a zip up instead of a pull over. Sometimes you have to work within a budget and with what is readily available to you. I used yarn to add the licorice hood strings and embellishments. The flash unfortunately distorted the colors a bit so you may get a better idea from the final product photos.

The Leggings were just as tricky to track down and duplicate. Thankfully, I found a pair of teal/ mint colored tights at my local target. I do not remember the price but I know they were pretty inexpensive. Target is the place to go for Tights if you are looking for slightly oddball color choices. At this point, I enlisted the help of my friend Kat for panting the stripes. This is largely due to the fact that I have very little artistic talent and frankly, she would be painting the tights while they were on my body.  This act of true friendship, resulted in standing backyard on a warm day while singing Disney songs (badly on my part but Kat has a wonderful singing voice) at the top of our lungs. She expertly wrapped the stripes around my legs using a Martha Stewart fabric paint with a small paint roller.  Once the paint dried ( in like 20 minutes) she used a purple sharpie to add detail. Could we have found an easier way? Yeah, probably but where would the fun be in that?

We also coated candy pieces in Mod Podge to add to the wig I bought from ebay but I failed to take pictures of that process. Now, on to the finished product. It was imperfect but for my very first Cosplay it was not Bad! 

The second is my favorite photo because a racer is still a racer regardless of what galaxy she is in. Sometimes you just feel it in in your code!

I have lots of other cosplays planned like Lydia Deetz and a school girl version of Madoka from Madoka Magica. Plus, a blog about my recent trip to Disney World!

This Blog Just Got a Bit Glitch-y (Cosplay in Progress)

It's officially my first day of Spring  Break! After spending the majority of my morning laying in bed and watching Attack On Titan via Netflix, I decided to start working on My Vanellope Von Schweetz cosplay.  I am hoping to have this costume done by Dallas Comic Con in May.

                                                          (image by Disney/Pixar)

I decided that I wanted to work on a Vanellope costume the second time I saw the film because that is when I truly fell in love with the character. I loved that she was a Glitch in the game Sugar Rush and seemed to be a dose of sarcasm in the sugary sweet world. After searching E-Bay for about a month, I was unable to find any pre-made hair clips that I felt would be *perfect* for the bits of candy and sprinkles in her hair.  I decided it would probably be best to make my own.  Luckily,  my problem was soon solved when I found jelly bean shaped beads. Almost every crafter knows that glue guns are the secret to creating magic..

so this morning, I put on my Pikachu Kigurumi (Because I am *such* a serious person) and set to work.

(yes, I took a picture to back it up)

I gathered my supplies while my hot glue gun heated up.

Which Included:

• One Ad-Tech mini Glue Gun from walmart ( I feel compelled to brag about my glue gun having a zebra print design which makes me a huge crafting dork.)
• One mini glue stick (I think these were Ad-Tech brand as well)
•  Bobby Pins  (I used basic black ones and actually need to buy more)
• Jelly Bean Beads ( Multiple colors from E-Bay $4.00 Including shipping gets you 24 beads)
  

  Simple right?

Basically, it took about 15 minutes to attach the beads to the black bobby pins. This can be done by applying a small dot of glue to the closed end of the bobby pin and then placing the  bead on top of it. once you have placed the bead hold it in place until the glue hardens. I actually placed my beads differently (some up and down and others sideways) this is because the bits of color that are in Vanellope's hair are not perfectly symmetrical. Some of the glue might create what I call "gluey webbies" or strands. glue imperfections tend to peel off easy, so don't be too worried about it if this happens.

If you were wondering, this is what the beads look like before they are glued to the pins.

and this is what the finished product looks like when in my hair. Keep in mind I will be adding a lot more because some were not finished drying and I ran out of pins.

The pins will actually be more camouflaged  and there are more colors as well. I just wanted to take a photo to give myself a better idea of how they actually look in my hair.