Halloween 2016

Now that I have a working computer again, I've got some back blogging to do. Starting with Halloween, where I blab about sewing for far to long.

We went to Main Street Fright Fest in downtown Temple. We went last year but felt super awkward without a kid, it is definitely an event for children. So we were happy to tote Indiana around and pretend like we feel like real parents. HA! Parenthood is still so surreal.

We take costumed events pretty seriously, as you well know, so our baby's first Halloween was a big deal. We had about a hundred costume ideas, but for whatever reason I picked Frozen? And not even the regular Frozen but Frozen Fever, which is, if you're not a Disney nut like me, an animated short about Anna's birthday. I swear it was really just an opportunity for Disney to sell even more Frozen merch because this film had two new dresses in it. I could go on forever about the insanity of the money making machine that is Frozen. But all that being said, I picked these costumes for us. I thought Indiana would make a crazy cute Olaf (I was right) and I am an insane person so I thought making Anna's dress would be a fun challenge. Right again.

I made my dress and Brendon's costume. He's Kristoff, which is confusing because Kristoff is blonde and beardless, but whatever. I did NOT make that Olaf costume. Amazon provided that. I know everyone thought I'd be making her costume (and a ton of outfits for her), but sewing tiny clothes turns out to not be my thing. I am a selfish sewer and mostly just like sewing for myself. Plus sewing tiny things is hard. And I mean, look at that Olaf costume! It's hilarious, I could not have done better.

Brendon's costume was pretty simple. I used fleece for his pants and vest, and altered an existing shirt to make the shirt. The most time consuming part was all that trim, which was sewn on by hand. Lots of layers of ribbon. But there's something meditative about sewing by hand and I really didn't mind at all.

My costume on the other hand was an undertaking. Also I am so proud of my my hair! I did it all by myself and I made that little sunflower thing.

I used Simplicity 1094 for the costume and altered it pretty heavily. The good thing about Frozen being so popular is that there are mass produced costume patterns out there, and they're licensed so they're fairly accurate. That being said I still made quite a few changes to make it a bit more accurate. I shortened the skirt from the top which made a sort of wider fuller skirt and then I pleated it to match Anna's in the film. The pattern had you make your own bands of binding between the shirt, bodice, and dress, but I used bias tape instead and sewed it on to make it look like the dark blue part of the bodice was more like a bustier/corset (which I believe is more accurate) instead of all one piece of the dress. It's still all one thing, I just tried to create a more layered instead of flat look.

The vest is where I took the most creative liberty, and it's my favorite part of the costume. Anna's vest in the film is full of appliques/embroidery front and back, but the pattern just had a few flowers on the front. So I added all kinds of stuff and made up a design for the back using the same sort of patterns from the skirt/front of vest. I added a yellow braided cord that swirls around the whole vest, and sewed that bad boy on by hand. Also the vest is made from the prettiest grass green flannel backed satin, which was a serious pleasure to sew.

All those flowers, leaves, and butterflies on the bodice are appliques that I individually cut out and ironed on. There are probably over a hundred pieces. It seemed daunting at first, but it really wasn't bad and I love that sort of crazy challenge. I'm pleased with how it turned out. My only issue with the dress is that I chose cheap fabric for the yellow undershirt and bodice lining and it was constantly falling apart as I sewed. It just shreds. Indiana grabbed the front of the shirt while I was holding her and it just ripped right apart. Fixable, but it's a huge bummer because I'm very happy with this dress otherwise. You get what you pay for I suppose.

Sometimes when I have an idea for a project it turns out nothing like I imagined, but this thing came out better than I hoped. Also, the blue bodice of the dress is drapery fabric. Forever channeling my inner Fraulein Maria and forever grateful for my years sewing drapes in Austin and for allll the marvelous fabrics Susi sent me home with!

Anyway, I want to give a shout out to Simplicity for this pattern. It's not perfect, but it is pretty dang close. One of the first things I do when before I start a new pattern is a google it to see other folks who have made it, to get an idea of what it looks like when it's sewn up. But no one has made this (and posted it on the internet) which I sorta get but I sorta don't. Cosplaying is a huge thing these days and people love Frozen and this is a great pattern! But it is definitely time consuming and not easy so I guess I get that too. But maybe someone will Google it like I did and find this post and say, "Hey, I can do that!" Because you can and you should!

ANYWAY enough about sewing. Let's talk about how we entered Indiana in a costume contest!

This picture cracks me up, that little cowgirl was obsessed with Indiana and she just came right up and yanked her hat down over her face by Olaf's nose. Kids are so weird. Indiana didn't win (possibly because the lady announcing thought she was a penguin??? WHAT?) but the little baby who won was dressed as Carl from Up with a little walker with balloons and it was amazing. His dad was Russell and his mom was Kevin; mad respect from fellow Disney nerds. This pirate who was serving serious face got runner up:

Indiana's little face under that big ass Olaf head kills me. She is the sweeeeetest baby.

It was pretty fun! We had some grilled cheeses from a Star Wars themed grilled cheese food truck and then headed home. A decent first Halloween if I might say. I hope Indiana had a good time anyway! Next year she might have some opinions on what she's dressed as, but I'm hoping I'll be able to squeeze at least another year of family themed costumes out. And maybe we can go trick-or-treating!!! Eee!

Pumpkin carving 2016

WADDUP I LOVE PUMPKINS. I love holidays. Any excuse to do anything festive. But I loooove Halloween. It's just so fun. That's what Halloween is, pure fun. I mean, yeah it can be scary too, but I ain't about that life. For me it's just fun. And PUMPKINS! Ah! They're fun too! The most wonderful time of the year begins when those pumpkins start sneaking out.

Brendon and I have carved pumpkins together every year for the past I dunno, decade? But last year we invited people over to carve them with us and it was a blast. So this year we did the same! (I can't wait until we've got a bigger place and can finally throw a real Halloween party!!! You're all invited.)

Here are some very candid slightly low quality photos. It's hard to take good photos while also keeping a baby out of too much pumpkin trouble! Also Indiana is topless because she puked on her dress right as we started carving. Babies, man.

Indiana was helping Amy, by eating her pumpkin.

Indiana really likes pumpkins. Maybe because they're big and orange? Who knows, but she loves 'em.

The final products! Ben's, Amy's, Ben's (we had two Bens!), and the Hogans' pumpkins!

Brendon and I carved a joint pumpkin this year since we knew one of us would have to watch Indy. So we found the biggest pumpkin we could. Brendon cleaned it out, I carved it, and when we were done... we put our baby in it.

Contrary to this face she's making, she loved it. She was dancing and smiling and was pretty dang content to just hang out in a pumpkin. Best (and weirdest?) baby award.

And of course, we had to light them up! Everyone left their pumpkins with us for the night so our place looks like the coolest porch in the hood!

Halloween is the best! I'll be sad when it's over. But that means Turkey Day is coming and that means Christmas is coming and it's just the best time of the year!

Jurassic World Halloween

Happy Halloween! A little early! You guys know I love Halloween. I love dressing up, and I love making costumes. It's a perfect match. But this year was a little weird because I am pregnant. It just makes Halloween costumes a little more challenging. A pregnant Disney Princess would be a wee bit awkward, no?

But over the summer when we saw Jurassic World I made a goofy Facebook post saying that for Halloween Brendon was going to be Owen and I'd be his chief velociraptor, Blue. So after coming up with zilch for costume ideas I said, what the heck, lets do it! And believe it or not, this is the first coordinated Halloween costume I think we've done in a loooong time. If not ever! Usually it's just like, "Well I'm making this for myself, you can be whatever you want!" ;)

Forgive the quality of photos! It gets dark so early these days, and we only managed to get one photo outside from the shindig we went to last night before the sun disappeared.

Brendon's costume was really easy. We found the blue shirt at a thrift store and I made the vest out of a huuuuuge suede long sleeved button up we found at the thrift store as well. I cut off the sleeves, took it in about 1000 inches, altered the neckline/lost the buttons and plackets, and made a bunch of little pockets on the front. Basically took it all apart and started over. I tried to mimic the real deal as much as I could. Just suede instead of leather. I actually really enjoyed making that vest? I want to say it was my favorite part of this whole project, my costume included. Weird!

LOL, I spy a Greg, trying to get some attention!

My costume was a whole different bag of worms. Everything is made out of poly knit stretchy fabric, because stretchy is my best friend these days. The dress is a really simple pullover shift dress, New Look 6298, and I just added a big ribbon as a belt because I needed some sort of waistline. For vanity reasons. I made gloves (Butterick 5370), which was a nightmare. As in way more work than I planned on putting into gloves. But it was a learning experience. The pattern I chose wasn't just normal gloves (like two hand shaped patterns sandwiched together), but historical fancy gloves. With gussets (bands of fabric) between each finger. It was insane. But I made them, they fit... like a glove... HA, and I hot glued blue felt claws onto them. Rawr!

THE HEAD. Omg, what was I thinking? I made this up as I went. Just totally winged it. And it mostly worked. I used all kinds of velociraptor photos as references, even a skeleton! This baby has the correct amount of teeth and everything. I started with the middle strip of the head piece and just added to it, sculpting the head. I channeled my inner art school student. Design 2 was all 3D wasn't it? I remember having to carve a piece of popcorn out of a 18"x18" or something cube of styrofoam. Those were the days. Bleh.

Sophie looooved it. She thought I was making her a big pillow!

The eye! I made little slightly puffy eyes out of felt and embroidery thread, then kind of shaded some red and orange onto them with sharpies to give them a little more dimension. They looked like coins from Super Mario at first.

The teeth are made from felt and I lined the inside of the head with red. Kind of looks like a tongue hanging out in that picture! I sewed a cheapo baseball cap into the inside so it would fit onto my head. The bill goes into the mouth to give the head a little more support.

The bottom jaw was the trickiest part. I made a sort of triangular jaw shaped tube, and then ran a coat hanger through it for support. I stuffed the back of the head, sewed it all shut, and called it a day! Oh and I added a blue bow. Since technically Blue the raptor is called Blue because she's covered in blue accents. I thought about painting blue onto the fabric, but that seemed too over the top. For a velociraptor hat...

Finished product! I am pretty happy with it. For it being a giant dinosaur head. I don't know how many times while making this costume I was like, "NOPE, eff it. I've got cat ears, I'll just be a cat." But I stuck it out and finished the damn thing. And now it's sitting in my living room as a cat bed/toy.

Human-raptor love is kind of weird. But you don't have to understand us!!

We wore these costumes early this year because our apartment complex was having a little party. (Brief note here, this is the nicest place we've ever lived. The people who run this joint are so awesome. They throw parties and events at least twice a month for everyone. They are so involved with all their residents, it's amazing. There's a very definite sense of community here, which is something we've never experienced at any place we've lived! Kudos to this place!) And we have like zero plans on Halloween now because of all the impending rain, so we wanted to make sure these saw the light of day. I'm pretty happy with how it all turned out! I think Brendon made a perfect Chris Pratt. Starlord next, or what?

So boom, there are our costumes this year! I definitely missed making something pretty for myself. Sewing with cheap grey stretchy fabric isn't quite the same as sewing with pretty colors and textures. I'm already planning on sewing myself a pretty dress to recuperate. Ha! I have problems.

Have a very Happy Halloween you guys! I hope you have fun celebrating, in whatever way you do! And if you're getting a deluge of rain like we are, stay safe and dry!

And for some Halloween throwback, here are a few of our costumes from the past! All our Halloween selfies from last year, Halloween 2013, Snow White 2012, Ace Ventura 2012, and Marie Antoinette 2011. AND JUST WAIT UNTIL WE HAVE THE SEAHORSE! Oh gosh, it's going to be a blast. Especially when she's tiny and get's no say in her costume. Mwahahaha!

Hogan Halloween Selfies

I don't know how this happened. Really. We watch the same Halloween movies every year, it's tradition. But this year after we watched the Addams Family I was like, "HEY, what if..." and this string of very intense selfies happened.

If you know me at all you know that I love dressing up. Any excuse to get into costume, I'm in. Also, I LOVE HALLOWEEN. So this was a blast for me. The challenge of making ourselves into other people was so so fun. I mean, the hair and makeup!! Yes! I got very good at shortening my hair and making my eyes look huge. Brendon enjoyed it all too? I think? Anyway, the man gets mad props for sticking it out and letting me put makeup all over him.

We spent $3 on this entire thing, and it was on three tubes of face paint from HEB. Because I just don't have white face paint in my arsenal. Everything else was just stuff we had. We made/found all the props and the costumes are just clothes thrown together. Most of the time, we were wearing shorts or pj's underneath everything and the backs of the costumes were held together by bag clips. Throwing everything together took like max, 30 minutes. Some were easier than others obviously. But anyways, here they all are, all together! And I got a new phone about half way through so pardon the quality difference.

The Addams Family, Morticia and Gomez Addams. The one that started it all! Yes, I realize the rose should be cut off and that was originally the plan, but my scissors weren't cute enough for the photo.

Ghostbusters, Dana Barrett and Dr. Peter Venkman. I am wearing a piece of fabric. Keeping that fabric situated correctly was the biggest challenge of this one.

Rocky Horror Picture Show, Brad and Janet. So scandalous! I tried to convince Brendon to be Dr. Frank-N-Furter, but nope.

The Corpse Bride, the Corpse Bride and Victor. OOOOO, the makeup was so fun for this one.

Sleepy Hollow, Katrina Von Tassel and Ichabod Crane. Easily the most obscure. I love this movie, but I guess it's not a "classic" Halloween film. But I mean, it's a Tim Burton movie! With Johnny Depp! So Halloween.

The Shining, Wendy and Jack Torrance. This one was real fun. The outtakes are amazing, we look so foolish.

Casper, Kat Harvey and Casper. Hands down, the least flattering for me and the easiest for Brendon. Attempting to make yourself look like a 90's teenager... it's not a good look for anyone. I die every time I look at that giant Brendon-Casper though.

Young Frankenstein, Igor (EYE-gor) and Dr. Frankenstein. Up there with the Shining, taking this one was so much fun. Lots of laughing involved. I'm definitely wearing a bathrobe.

Beetlejuice, Lydia Deetz and Betelguese. Thus begins the insane makeup on Brendon. WHICH WAS SO FUN. And I am very proud of my masking tape jacket.

Hocus Pocus, Winnie Sanderson and Billy Butcherson. This is my favorite Halloween movie, and this was my favorite picture. I'm wearing a sheet.

The Nightmare Before Christmas, Sally and Jack Skellington. Every year I watch the Nightmare Before Christmas on Halloween. It's tradition. It marks the end of spooky October and the beginning of the holiday season! We took each photo after we watched each movie, so Jack and Sally bring up the rear! We needed to Windex our mirror.

So there's that! Proof that you don't have to spend a lot of money on Halloween. Creativity goes a long way, y'all! It was very very fun and although I'm sad it's over, I think my skin is glad. I'm recovering from some terrible makeup inflicted breakouts.

Hope you guys enjoyed this month long ridiculousness. We loved all the support on instagram and Facebook! If no one had enjoyed the first one we wouldn't have done any more! So it's really all y'alls fault. ;)

Halloween 2013

Did you all have a spooktacular Halloween? Mine was pretty good! We started the festivities a couple nights before with a door decorating and pumpkin carving party. Our apartment complex was having a "decorate your door contest" so of course we participated. Although we didn't win, I think our door is pretty fantastic.

I carved my pumpkin into a snarky vampire and Brendon carved his into a Cyberman. Kudos to you if you get that reference! Carving pumpkins is so fun, we ended up skipping it last year because I was in Dallas for a week, so I was very ready to get my carve on this year!

And now, dun dun dun... the costumes!

Brendon was Hugh Hefner. This was definitely a last minute thing. I was supposed to make him a different costume, but I ran out of time. Although I did make that smoking jacket. For our company Christmas card we take crazy photos every year, and this year we all dressed in smoking jackets. And of course I made mine. That jacket he's wearing was made for me, it is an extra small! Yet it is HUGE! I used a bathrobe pattern and just shortened it to smoking jacket length. Brendon added the hat and walked around school all day with a stuffed bunny. Classy.

I was Glinda the Good Witch for Halloween! This costume was a challenge for sure. I had a decent pattern to start with, but I changed quite a bit. I completely re-did the sleeves and ended up drafting my own pattern for the pale pink undersleeve. Their sleeves didn't stick out quite enough and Glinda rocks some killer sleeves. I shortened the whole dress, lowered the neckline (always), and instead of sewing the bodice with facings, I fully lined the whole thing and altered the collar as well.

I hand sewed all those star sequins on the collar, and then said eff that and glued the rest on. There are sequins on the collar, sleeves, and skirt. And I hand placed every single one. Because I'm insane.

The hat was the crucial piece. The hat is what makes this Glinda and not just some princess dress. It was fun to make, although the mylar I used for it was hard to track down. Luckily detective Brendon found some at a blueprinting company downtown. (Shout out to Miller Blueprint! You guys are the nicest!) I got wild with glitter glue and sequins and am very happy with how it turned out! And it actually stayed on my head all day (I wore this ridiculous getup all day at work).

I am pretty satisfied with how the whole thing turned out. There is a lot more I wanted to do (never enough sparkles!) but unfortunately Halloween snuck up on me this year and I ran out of time. It also doesn't fit me as well as I'd like. The bodice could use taking in a few inches, but since I'm crazy and fully lined it, it is not a simple fix so I just rolled with it. It was comfy anyway!

And for your viewing pleasure, here's a couple Halloween Hogan's.

It was a very good Halloween. And because we're nutzo, I think we've already got our costumes planned for next year. Maybe if I start now, I'll get Brendon's done in time. He was supposed to be the Wizard of Oz this year. OH WELL!