Zombie Gretel (from Hansel and Gretel) Costume

     This costume came about because of a romper I found at Charlotte Russe a year or so ago.  I saw it and it just screamed Hansel and Gretel to me, not that it is anything like what a historical Gretel would have worn.  I love costumes, as many of you are aware, and so I figured I'd pick it up and save it until I had the opportunity to put a costume together.  I know this romper is a very specific garment that most of you probably won't have lying around, but if you have an old fashioned, storybook-esque dress, that would work just as well.  The props are, I think, the key to this costume.  If you haven't seen my previous posts on the props, here's how to make the lollipop and here's how to make the gingerbread plushie.

Here's another pic of the costume.

     Earlier in the day, I dressed up as a non-zombie incarnation of Gretel, as you can see in the above picture.  I only painted the blood spatters on one side of the lollipop, so if you reverse it, it looks like a normal lollipop.  At some point in time, I also want to make a cutesy gingerbread plushie to complete the non-zombie Gretel look.
     Also, if you ever need to make fake blood in a pinch, add a little red food coloring to caramel sauce and you're good to go.  If you need it to stick, you'll want to use a thicker variety of caramel sauce.  I had it on my face for at least a couple of hours, and it stayed on my face.
     I had a lot of fun with this costume, so if you're thinking about holding a quarantine costume party, I would definitely recommend.  If you do, I'd love to see what costumes you come up with.

Zombie Gingerbread Plushie

     This zombie gingerbread plushie may be my favorite part of my costume.  Not feeling the zombie aspect?  Leave off the blood splatter and give it normal eyes, and this tutorial works fine for making a cute gingerbread plushie.

Materials:

*Light brown felt
*Light brown thread
*Sewing needle
*White paint
*Fine paintbrush or nail art brush
*Oven bake clay
*Green acrylic paint (or other gumdrop color)
*Purple acrylic paint (or other gumdrop color)
*White acrylic paint
*Red acrylic paint
*Black acrylic paint
*Brown acrylic paint
*Scissors
*Metallic marker or chalk
*Pillow stuffing
*Iridescent glitter
*All purpose adhesive

Directions:

*Print out or draw a gingerbread template.

*Cut out two copies of the gingerbread shape from the brown felt.

*Using a fine paintbrush and white paint, decorate one of the gingerbread shapes so it looks like a gingerbread cookie, except if you're going for a zombie aesthetic, give it x's for eyes.  If you have puffy fabric paint, that would probably work even better, but I didn't have any on hand, so I just used regular white acrylic paint and it worked out fine.

*Sew the two gingerbread pieces together, wrong sides together, using a blanket stitch.  Leave an opening in the gingerbread's head to add stuffing.

*Stuff and sew closed.

*Form two gumdrop shapes from oven bake clay.

*Bake the gumdrop shapes in the oven following the directions on the packaging.

*Paint the gumdrops in your chosen colors.

*While the paint is still wet, sprinkle on some iridescent glitter.  It will look a little like the sugar sprinkles on some gumdrops.

*Once the paint has dried, glue the gumdrops to the gingerbread plushie as buttons.

*Add small amounts of black and brown paint to create a crimson color.  Add crimson bloodstains to your gingerbread.

Bloody Lollipop Prop

      Why am I posting Halloween crafts in April?  Well, a friend of mine suggested doing a costume contest as a fun self-isolation activity, and you know how much I love costumes.  Instead of saving this for Halloween season (roughly mid-July through October on this blog, unless I have a spooky themed birthday party, in which case we're talking late May-October ;)), I figured I'd post it now as an idea for something to do while you're at home.
     While I have a number of costume pieces and props on hand, I thought it wouldn't be fair to pluck something out of my stash.  I already had the clothes I wanted to use for this, so it wasn't completely from scratch, but I decided I'd make all new props.  I'll reveal the full costume as the final post in this series, but until then, see if you can guess what I dressed up as.

Materials:

*Modeling clay
*Acrylic paint in two different colors, such as pink and blue (Alternatively, you could use colorful modeling clay)
*Red acrylic paint
*Black acrylic paint
*Brown acrylic paint
*White acrylic paint
*Thin wooden dowel
*Hand saw or other wood cutting implement (If your dowel is thin enough, a box cutter will probably work just fine.  You may even be able to get away with using scissors.)
*All purpose adhesive

Directions:

*Roll out two long, thin strips of clay.  Roll them together in a spiral formation.  (Note: I originally tried dyeing the clay using food coloring, which is why one of the spiral pieces appears to have a light blue tint to it.  It didn't really work out, so that's why I'm not including instructions on that piece of the project.)

*Cut a dowel to the size that you would like your lollipop stick to be, plus an extra inch or so.

*Insert the dowel into the clay spiral in the location where you would like your lollipop stick to go.  Clay is pretty heavy, so you'll want to insert it about an inch or so into the clay so that your lollipop will be stable.

*Carefully remove the dowel.  Bake the clay in the oven according to the directions on the packaging.  Let cool.

*While the clay is cooling, paint the dowel white.

*Once the clay has cooled, paint the clay in your desired two color scheme.

*Glue lollipop to its stick.

*Mix together red, black, and brown paints to create a crimson color.

*Apply to your lollipop in a blood pattern of your choosing.  I doused my hand in crimson paint and placed it on the lollipop to try to make a bloody hand print shape, but you can't really tell it's a hand print.  A blood spatter effect might work better, which you could create by dipping the paintbrush in the crimson paint and flicking it at the lollipop.

Rainbow Nail Art

     When I was trying to decide what nail art I wanted for my dissertation defense, Kesha's song "Rainbow" came to mind.  It's a song I listened to frequently during a rough and uncertain period of my graduate education, providing me with solace and hope, and so it seemed only fitting to bring an element of this song with me into my defense.  The opening line of the song is,"I used to live in the darkness," so I originally planned to paint all of my nails but the accent one black for the dark times I've dealt with.  On the accent nail I would have some sort of rainbow design, as the rainbow symbolizes hope and possibility throughout the song.  I ended up adding some rainbow glitter to the black nails because initially I wasn't pleased with how my nails were looking (although I think that had more to do with the beige background I originally used for the accent nails).  Even though it was primarily an aesthetic choice, you could read the rainbow glitter as light in the darkness.
     Oh, and in case you were wondering, I passed my defense.  I am now Dr. Amber Hathaway.  I can't really believe it.  It feels so surreal.

Me, post defense.  "Yeah, now I see the magic inside of me."

Materials:

*Clear nail polish base and top coat
*Black nail polish
*White nail polish
*Acrylic paint in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple
*Sky blue nail polish
*Ultra fine nail art brush
*Rainbow glitter top coat

Directions:

*Paint nails with clear base coat.

*Paint four nails on either hand black, leaving the accent nail unpainted.  Paint the accent nail white.

*Using red acrylic paint, draw the first band of a rainbow on the accent nail.  You'll notice I also painted my nail a beige color.  I ended up not liking that as a base color and painting over it, so that's why I didn't include a step regarding it.

*Add in the orange band of the rainbow.

*Continue with the yellow band.

*Paint the green band.

*Paint the blue band.

*Paint the purple band.

*Paint around the rainbow with sky blue nail polish.  I used acrylic paint here because that was what I had in reach, but nail polish would probably have given a nicer finish.

*Seal the accent nail with a clear top coat.

*Add a rainbow glitter top coat to the black nails.

DIY Face Mask Ear Savers

     Many health care providers and other essential personnel are having to wear masks that go over their ears for extended periods of time right now.  Ear savers (also called face mask adapters) can help relieve the strain and wearing on their ears.  These require only a few materials and are relatively quick to make.  If you have the resources to do so, you may want to check and see if your local first responders, other medical professionals, or anyone in your community who has to wear masks frequently is looking for donations.  Make sure to check with whomever you're hoping to donate these to first, though, as some groups may have specific needs that these will not fill.

Mary the pirate octopus serving as quality control.

Materials:

*Sturdy ribbon
*Sewing needle
*Thread
*Large buttons

Directions:

*Cut off a length of ribbon that is about 5" long.

*Fold the raw edges over by about 1/4" and hem.

*Sew buttons onto the ends of the ribbon.  I sewed through each hole three times on the four holed buttons and four times through each two holed button.  If you have a mask handy, you can use a person or a plush toy with a reasonably large head to make sure that the ear saver will hold up to strain.

Alice in Wonderland Inspired Teacup Thank You Cards

     I've been meaning to send out thank you cards for my bridal shower for a few weeks now.  I wanted cards that were in some way reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, but also that were not a ridiculous amount of effort to make.  These teacup cards are what I came up with.  While I'm using them as thank you cards, these could be great for many other occasions as well.

Materials:

*Floral scrapbooking paper
*Scissors
*Pencil

Directions:

*Print out a copy of the teacup template given below, or draw a teacup template of your own.  Make sure to size the template such that it will fit inside your envelopes.  I apologize for the blurriness of the teacup handle.  I had made a handle that was more vertical and had to rotate it using Paint Shop Pro to get it to fit on the cup correctly, so that's why the handle ended up so blurry.

*Fold your sheet of scrapbooking paper in half lengthwise, right sides facing inward.

*Place your template such that the top of the teacup rests against the fold and trace around the teacup.

*Cut out the teacup shape, making sure to cut through both layers of paper at once.  I was able to cut out the inside of the handle using scissors, but if you have an X-acto knife, you may find it easier to use that.

*Fold your paper back along the crease you created, so that the right sides face outward.

Dandelion Puff Nail Art

     Make a wish with these adorable dandelion puff nails.

     I generally don't show pictures of my "other hand" (as Simply Nailogical would call it) because I'm very dominantly right handed, so the nail art I do with my left hand usually doesn't come out as nice looking.  However, I'm really pleased with how the dandelion puff came out on my right hand.  It's a bit of a different from the left hand stylistically, a little messier, but I like it.

Materials:

*Sky blue nail polish
*Black acrylic paint
*White acrylic paint
*Ultra fine nail art brush
*Medium dotting tool
*Black nail gem
*Clear nail polish base coat/top coat

Directions:

*Paint on a clear base coat.  Let dry.

*Paint each nail with a coat of sky blue nail polish.

*Dip the dotting tool into black acrylic paint and place a dot of it in the center of your ring finger nail.

*Using your nail art brush, paint a black stem attached to the black dot.

*Use white acrylic paint to draw lines emanating from your dot, like this:

*Add little "fringes" protruding from the ends of the white lines, like this:

*Continue adding lines with fringes.

*Add lines with fringes until you have filled in the whole dandelion head.

*Using the ultra fine nail art brush and white paint, paint a couple of dandelion seeds on your middle finger nail and one seed on your index finger nail.

*Seal nails with a clear top coat.

*Add a black nail art gem over the black dot at the center of your dandelion head.  Cover with another clear top coat.