Time To Get Sewin'

Just some funny cuteness.

I'm almost finished with the Poke'mon board! All that's left is the Ninetails and I must say I'm nervous. The pencil outline looks amazing and I'm worried I won't be able to keep all the detail outlines when painting. I have a very fine-headed brush which is awesome for small details (such as with this occasion) but sometimes it's not enough without a surgeon's hand.
More exciting news is Alex and I got our sewing machine back. It's all ready to go and the only somewhat negative comment the people at Keep Me In Stitches had to say was that, because it's an old machine, the motor needs a little help getting started. In order to give it the necessary push, they said to spin the hand wheel manually then it should go just fine. On the plus side we have 60 days to bring it back if anything goes wrong. So it's time to really get sewin'!
I'd really like to make a clutch but there's no way I have enough time to do that and everything else I need to do before the wedding. It'll have to be a clutch for another occasion but I'd definitely love to work on one. Anyone have any cute ideas? I'm on the hunt for free online patterns and such.

Red Lantern Binge!

After weeks of looking at different comic shops Alex and I finally found the Red Lantern comic issues we need to catch up to the current one. You can bet when we got home I binged on all the ones I've been waiting to read (I don't like to read out of order so I wait for the next one even if I have the one right after that).

This week I need to get my hair trimmed (yay I'm going with Kaitlin), work on assignments so I'm not worrying about them during my brother's wedding, and decide whether I want to get my nails done or just do them myself. I also need to call Keep It In Stitches to see if they've even gotten started working on our sewing machine. I'm really anxious to get it back so I can actually practice sewing stuff. I know Alex is too but he's found projects around that obstacle. He hand sewed a jersey-knit fabric into a pull-over mask (Rorschach). Tampa Bay Comic Con is getting closer and closer and I still don't know what I'm going to wear. It'd be nice to dress up at least with a nerdy t-shirt but I don't have any. (Maybe I'll buy one, I know plenty of websites with awesome t's). 

Just To Match

I recall the time when Alex bought me the Hungry Oh So Hungry T-shirt from Shirt-Woot (Hungry Hippos meets Hunger Games). He loved it so much that he bought himself one, too. He was visiting when I received mine in the mail and I was like "We have to both wear our shirts to go see The Hunger Games today!" And we did.
Since then, we haven't been allowed to match-- it's too cutesy for my honey bear. Well, today I'll match one of his blog posts. Cosplay excitement and anxiety towards when we get our sewing machine back are what we feel much of the time. We're both working hard at our fitness and I stand by what I said about it improving our relationship and giving the big nudge he and I needed to really bring our activity level to, well, the next level.
One of Alex's recent posts was a list of cosplays he would like to do (obviously not all at once), so I thought I would share mine.

Sally Jupiter (Silk Spectre's mom)

This one I got super excited about after seeing another cosplayer do it quite well. When I get to this one, I think the toughest part will be the hair (these styles were done with short hair). I really like the idea of this cosplay because I love pin-up style and it would be really fun to portray such a sexy, flirty character.

The New Maleficent (dark)

(AND fairy!)

After seeing the Maleficent movie, I immediately knew I had to do it as a cosplay someday. There are so many challenging aspects that you can already tell it's beyond my current level of skill. I will save this desire for when my sewing skills hold minimal flaws and gaps. This is a cosplay that I know will be close to me because it's about showing a side of the story that no one's ever heard and it's just so magical. I don't care how wrong people say it is or how inaccurate anything is, this movie is now one of my favorites.

Red Lantern OC

Of course, there will be my Red Lantern costume which will serve as Alex and my debut. I won't be doing Bleez specifically; instead, I will be looking at her, Antipathy, and other female lanterns for inspiration to design my original character. I know i'll be wearing black boots so I need to incorporate most of the red into the outfit itself  (gloves perhaps). So far I'm pretty sure I'll want a neck corset and a one-piece style swimsuit kind of outfit. Alex and I are pretty sure we'll need to take the costumes to be embroidered at a shop.
I want to do this Red Lantern because it'd be nice to match Alex since we're coming out together. I also chose Red Lantern because they're the anti-heroes and, like with Maleficent, they are neither hero nor villain (Or, if you watched the movie, both a hero and a villain)-- they see injustice and those who lack compassion and they do what they can to cleanse the evil. If there's a tragic, horrible death or crime and enough rage is emitted from someone, the Red Lanterns are the ones who will crash in and give you the revenge you deserve.

Elizabeth (Bioshock Infinite)

The only other cosplay that I'm considering is Elizabeth and I'm drawn to her because I love how she comes to learn her powers and, while the story took me for a crazy turn (especially when I discovered there is no alternate ending but, at the same time, infinite alternate endings), I did like how she turned out and took control. Plus she's cute and I love her starting outfit.

Siren In the Shop

Almost forgot to post again but yay I didn't! 

Work today was okay, fairly busy-- before I knew it it was time to close. I came home and made dinner, watched movies; I wasn't productive in any way. I just have a big case of summer school blahs. I don't want to do school work and I have to encourage myself to do my crafty stuff so that I at least to something with my time other than the internets. 

Today I realized we're only three weeks away from my brother's wedding. I am so excited to see him and Jenny and actually have time with them afterwards while on our family cruise. I'm hoping everything goes well and they both get to really enjoy their special day. On Wednesday I go back to the seamstress to check on the status of my bridesmaid dress and, hopefully, it will fit well. 

I've been working out almost everyday for about a month and I think it may have shown some results when I went earlier this week to the seamstress to get the fitting (the first visit was to take out the dress because the silly dress sales lady told me to get a size too small (according to measurements I gave her that remained relevant up to the time I got the dress in the mail). But this next fitting should do the trick-- I hope. 

Another update is that Alex and I took the Singer (I want to name her Siren) to the shop and we're having it fixed. We're both excited (if I haven't expressed it enough in the past posts). We both just really want to get started on our practice and mini projects. 

In the meantime we're harvesting Youtube videos, tutorials, patterns, ideas and various tools for our belts. I am currently searching for cosplay blogs and the like.

Gotta Catch 'em All... Poke'mon!

Tonight it's just a quick post since I nearly forgot again. I was working on Alex's and my pokemon playing board. It's pretty cute and I enjoy working on it-- painting is always fun. Alex's half is almost done. I just need to add Torkoal's smoke from his nostrils and top of shell. That'll cover up the funky looking legs.
I only just started working on my side the other night. So far, the outlines are awesome and the pokeballs are as good as I can make a circle.
I hope everyone's weekend is off to a good start.

Mâché Ole'!

Pay-pah mâché! Ole'! Alex taught me how to paper mâché tonight and it was awesome! I tried to make a bowl and idk if it'll come out good but yay for something new to paint. 

I was so tired today after last nights fun but there was no way I could say no to a paper mâché lesson. Alex is working on

making a mask form. He was to do some sculpting and maybe do a few things for a different cosplay far in the future. It makes sense since there's not too much we can do immediately for our Red Lantern cosplays. 

We re both really excited though and there's lots of healthy positivity towards being more active and being smarter with food choices. 

For me the gym and making good food choices is going well. I woke up earlier than I usually do on the weekends so I cod squeeze in a quick morning workout on the elliptical (as expressed on my Twitter). I'm feeling more energized and motivated which is always nice. 

I hope everyone had a nice weekend like me. 

Get Carried Away Into Cosplay!

Almost forgot. Almost... but I didn't. Yay. So I mentioned in my previous blog post that Alex and I are going to do cosplay. Well this rocket ship is taking off fast! We went thrift shopping (imma pop some tags) to look for a sewing machine and lo and behold the first place we went we found an old Singer 457 for $17! It's missing both spool pins and has a little rust on the slide plate but it runs, stuff spins, and the pedal is in good condition. Alex and I have also been finding a lot of patterns and tutorials for miscellaneous costumes and accessories (both relevant and not so relevant). I'm nervous about working with lycra/spandex but we have time to get our basic sewing skills mastered then build on top of that. First project? Penny's pillow. I hand-sewed it and now it's in need of a wash-- perfect opportunity to use the sewing machine. It will also help me see about the efficiency left on the needle and learn by trial an error how to use the machine in general.
Alex is really getting into everything. He's signed up on Cosplay.com to ask questions and comment in the forums and he's watching Youtube videos as I type on making masks and such. It makes me smile. He was also extremely excited when we got the sewing machine for just $17 (compared to the $90 we were seeing as a beginning base point in Joann's). We knew there was no way we were going to get better than that for that type of machine.
My point of excitement was the $30 investment in some hot boots that we found at Anarchist Closet (support local shops!). There they were originally priced at $59.99 but this weekend only they had 50% off everything. When the lady rung them up she said that they're actually new and the woman who had them didn't want to sell them so cheap considering she bought them for $200. I have no idea how you spend two hundred bucks on a pair of boots and never wear them. They're pretty high and tough to walk in-- I'll need to wear thick socks and make some adjustments but they really are kick @$$. They go a little higher than mid-thigh and are shiny black (totally originally from a sex shop but they're going to be PERFECT).
Oh lookie, I found an image of them on Amazon.

I'm not going to do Bleez but her costume is inspiring my own
(at least as far as the hot boots go!).

Perhaps something closer in similarity to Antipathy's outfit.
I won't be ready for quality masks or wing structures for a while.