Can you make a cosplay in a day?

Yes. The answer to that question is yes, you can.

Today I have quite a lot to bring you guys, and it all happened in the last 24 hours.

First of all, if you follow my Facebook page, you'll have noticed that I did a little giveaway yesterday while cosplaying Ariel to help promote free comic book day at Darkside comics in Chelmsford. Below is the prize design and progress for the winner of the giveaway. Themed to match, of course!

If you missed out on this one but you're in the Chelmsford area next weekend, you'll have another chance to win! Next week I'll be Wonder Woman (again) so the prize hoop will be themed to match. The design work can be seen below.

But the papier mache Wonder Woman couldn't be worn again. So that meant I needed a new one. And I had some scrap fabrics and old leggings I was never going to wear lying at home, so I grabbed a red top in Primark yesterday ready to begin.

Low and behold, I started working on this cosplay at about noon today. TODAY!!

I made the entire cosplay below in a single day. All it's missing are the cuffs, which I will do in the week. Because to be fair, I think it's awesome enough I was able to make as much as I did in one day. Don't you think?

I cannot wait to wear this cosplay next week and possibly at MCM in May. It's a bit skimpy but no worse than a strapless swimming costume so as long as I'm not alone while flyering, I'll be fine.

Besides, I think I actually look pretty darn rad! Plus now I know I'm pretty good at boot covers and creating my own random patterns, so hopefully Glitter Lucky will be ready in plenty of time for October's MCM!

Until next week!

Suddenly Sunday

This week's been pretty busy, unfortunately not so much with the crafting, but mainly with running. I had a race to train for, it went well, yay. But you don't want to hear about that, you want to read about what I've been making, right?

I have done a couple of odd bits and pieces here and there in between going out running in my evenings and weekends.

The first thing I made this week was a hand-lettered motivational plaque for one of the girls I work with. She loved it and I'm glad because this is my first time doing anything like it but I do hope to do a lot more in the future.

I have some weddings coming up shortly so I'm thinking something similar to this but obviously romance/love themed might make a nice little gift. Maybe.

The next thing I worked on was making a start on some Hufflepuff themed postcards for the birthday card exchange for Hogwarts Running Club. This meant digging out my Christmas present from my sister and playing with chalk on the cards lucky enough to have embossed bits. (Sadly some don't as I only had very limited pre-embossed cardstock and no appropriate embossing folders to use. Never mind though, eh?)

The chalks are really fun to use with the little pom-pom applicator things and I chose the yellow for the flowers so they were in house colours. I've since added green to the leaves and it looks really cool but I've not got any pictures of that yet.

At this point, I'd like to take the opportunity to post a whole bunch of cards I've made in recent months and just never got around to posting. Say hello to picture spam!

You can probably guess what occassions most of these cards are for so I'm only going to go into detail on the big one. I was actually really proud of this card because I made a few of them as invitations to my "games night" birthday party, hence the theme. Sadly on the night everyone in attendance was super tired and we all kept nearly nodding off but it was really fun anyway and at least my invites were awesome.

The last little update I have to bring you is cosplay related... Hooray! Yes, you're probably going to see something cosplay related every week in the run up to MCM in May but you love it, so here it is.

My Tippy Pillow arrived, which means I got to add a pink ribbon and complete my Squirrel Girl in pajamas cosplay with my very own Tippy Toe!

Isn't she adorable? She opens up so many possibilities for photo posing too. I can cuddle her, prop her on my shoulder, leave her round my neck, rest my head on her like I'm sleeping. So many things!! I love her. And it makes me incredibly happy to complete a cosplay with plenty of time to spare.

Now I just have to get my butt into gear making Glitter Lucky.

Until next time!

Saturdays Are For Sewing

So I know it's technically not Saturday anymore but I accidentally had a nap in the day that lasted a lot longer than planned. Which meant my sewing got delayed and it was dark outside by the time I got the machine out...

Whoops.

I was then very productive though and got my Squirrel Girl costume finished and tried on, all except Tippy Pillow (I do hope she comes soon just because I love a finishing touch to a cosplay) and I'm really happy with the results!

This cosplay isn't canon but it's just a fun one and I think pretty accurate for the character. The ears are felt stitched over an Alice band and the earrings are made from polymer clay and painted. (It was easier for me to get them a decent, not tacky lookingcolour that way, I know you can use coloured polymer clay).

That wasn't all I did though. I finally sewed my boot covers for Glitter Lucky as well.

They still need pink toes, heels and cuffs added, plus the little ribbons on the front, but they're looking pretty good so far and I want to focus on the dress for a while. I'll be making that as a skirt and top combo though so it's a bit more comfortable.

I still have a lot I wanted to work on today, like a motivational plaque for a gift and some badger themed postcards to send out to the April birthdays in my virtual running club. (Hogwarts Running Club. I'm a Hufflepuff. Get it?)

So far all I've managed to do is cut the cardstock to size and dig out a badger stamp for the postcards. Hopefully I'll get to work on them properly tomorrow though.

That's about all for this week but I'm currently training for a big run next Sunday so next week might not have a lot of exciting stuff in. I'm sure I'll think of something to bring you all, I just don't know what yet.

In the meantime, if there's anything specific you guys want to see, mention it on my Facebook page! If you want certain tutorials or more detailed shots of my cosplay progress, reviews, shopping tips, you name it.

Until next time!

Wonderful Wednesday

I have been a terrible blogger. Let's start over, shall we?

So lately I've been having some difficulties but they all seem to be worked out now and I'm using my daily planner to keep motivated as well as organised using helpful, colourful little stickers. This is what a week of mine looks like. I'm a busy girl even outside of my day job. But I shouldn't be letting my projects and the things that make me happy sit on the sidelines and believe it or not, this blog is actually really important to me. I just need to know what I want to write every week.

So here's what I'm going to do.

After this post, I'm going to cut back to making entries once a week and keep those regular. On weekends, when I'm actually going to be home and have time to do them. This will mean no more Workdesk Wednesday but that doesn't mean I won't be crafting at least once I week. I need to, I have some big plans for this year after all. It just means that instead of showing you exactly what I'm doing, when I'm doing it, I'll be delivering longer, more varied content of a better quality, but it'll be delivered less frequently.

So that this isn't just a super boring re-introductory post though, I have the finished Wonder Woman costume to show you all.

Towards the end of making the costume I stopped taking progress pictures for two reasons. The first being that I was using the same processes over and over and didn't want to keep repeating what I was posting and the second being that I just didn't have the time. I had to get it finished before I wore it to Dark Side Comics in Chelmsford on 26th March.

But I got it done, it looked better than I'd thought it would and it got some great comments. Yes I had to keep adjusting the boobies every five minutes and my toes got so cold that I thought they were going to fall off but it was so unbelievably worth it for the reaction it got from people. There was also some excellent photography taken by Joseph Leeder, some of which you can see below!

Do not fret! This doesn't mean I'm out of cosplays to make! I've booked my tickets for May's MCM Expo in London and will hopefully be debuting two new cosplays. The first being Squirrel Girl!

I'll be doing this with a twist though as I'll be joining a group of other Marvel characters... in pajamas!!!

This cosplay is complete with the exception of turning up the trousers and the arrival of "Tippy Pillow" my squirrel shaped travel pillow that will have a pink ribbon round it's neck by the time I reach the con on the Sunday. Hopefully I'll get the PJ trousers turned up and be able to try everything on and get some pics of that this weekend. Keep your eyes peeled!

The other cosplay I'm working on for May isn't guarenteed to be finished but is already in progress. I discovered a Netflix original anime called Glitter Force recently and immediately had an overwhelming need to cosplay from it and fulfill my lifelong dream to finally be a magical girl. So this happened:

And I will be working on it a lot more over the coming weeks. I mean, what am I meant to do when I already have a wig that works, not cosplay it? Psh.

So as you can see, I have been quiet but certainly not given up my goal of doing something crafty at least once a week this year, I have in fact been quite the busy little bee.

I just need to sort out my blogging routine and get a handle on managing it once a week before I start posting more often.

Until next time!