Halloween Spider Web Nail Art

 

Need a Halloween manicure idea?  Why not try adding a spider web accent nail?  I forgot to take pictures while I was painting this, so I have only a video tutorial this time around, which you'll find below, but feel free to ask me any questions you have about the process.

New Halloween Costume Contest Trophies

Normally this post would focus on my Halloween party, and I'd show you a ton of party picture, but this year the party happened virtually, so I don't have any pictures to share.  Originally I had been hoping to have an outdoor, socially distanced event with just close family, but with the weather forecast predicting chilly temps, two days before the event I moved the whole thing to Zoom.  Even though it was virtual, we still had our annual costume contest.  I won "best costume" for my Little Red Riding Hood look, while Jacob won "most creative costume" for his "guy who stuck into Area 51 and stole an alien" look.  Sadly, I do not have pictures, but I'll leave it to your imagination.  Anyway, here's how to make the trophies, plus some tips on holding an online costume contest.

Witch Cat Trophy

Materials:

*Cat figurine

*Jar lid

*Black paint

*Red paint

*Paintbrush

*Hot glue

*Fabric

*Sewing needle

*Thread

*Scissors

*Printed or handwritten trophy label

*Purple cardstock

Directions:

*Glue the cat figurine to the jar lid.

*Paint the cat and lid black.  Let dry.

*Paint the cat's eyes red.

*Cut out a scrap of fabric for the cat's cape.

*Gather the top using a needle and thread.  Tie the string around the cat's neck.

*Construct a mini witch hat from cardstock.  I took a witch hat template and shrunk it down small, then printed it and cut the pieces from cardstock.  I used glue and a little decorative thread to hold the hat together.

*Glue the hat to the cat's head.

*Write or print a label for your trophy and glue it to the jar lid.

Vampire Cat Trophy

Materials:

*Cat figurine

*Jar lid

*Black paint

*Red paint

*White paint

*Paintbrush

*Hot glue

*Fabric

*Sewing needle

*Thread

*Scissors

*Written or printed label

Directions:

*Glue the cat figurine to the jar lid.

*Paint the cat and lid black.  Let dry.

*Paint the cat's eyes red.

*Paint on little white fangs.

*Cut out a scrap of fabric for the cat's cape.

*Gather the top using a needle and thread.  Tie the string around the cat's neck.

*Write or print a label for your trophy and glue it to the jar lid.

Virtual Costume Contest

Holding the costume contest online turned out to be relatively straightforward.  At the start of the party, people took turns explaining their costumes.  I used Google Forms to create a survey where people could vote on the costumes.  I had never used Google Forms before, but I found it pretty intuitive.  In place of a question, I wrote out the costume category, e.g., "Best Costume."  For the options, I added each person's name as well as their costume.  There was also an option to add pictures, so you could ask your party guests to send in a picture of their costume in advance and add those pictures to the form.  That way, if, say, you have two Draculas, your guests would be more easily able to pick out which one they were trying to vote for.  The votes were automatically counted by the form, so it was easy for me to see who was the winner in each category.

As for the trophies, my siblings ended up coming up for a visit the following weekend, so I was able to hand off Jacob's trophy.  However, had they not been able come up, I was planning on sending little "scare packages" with some spooky goodies, including the trophies.

Are you planning on hosting a virtual Halloween celebration?  I'd love to hear how it went, or any tips you have for making your virtual Halloween party a success.

Halloween Costumes from My Closet: 15 Ideas

One of my favorite aspects of Halloween season is dressing up.  As part of my #31DaysofHalloweenOutfitChallenge, I decided to challenge myself to wear a Halloween costume, cosplay, or bound each day of October.  Since getting to stores isn't safe for a lot of us this year, I figured I'd share some of the looks I came up with which use either items that I think many people are likely to have around the house or which should be DIYable with common household supplies.  Hopefully these can give you some ideas for costumes you can piece together with materials you already own.

A lot of the costumes do include rompers or dresses, because I have those in my closet, but I know not everyone will have these types of items.  However, just because I use an item doesn't mean that's the only way to orchestrate the costume.  Matching a character's color scheme or vibe goes a long way, and there are no rules requiring you to style your look around the gender that these characters had in their source materials.

For more inspiration, check out my Three Cheap and Easy Halloween Costume Ideas and More Cheap and Easy Halloween Costume Ideas posts, and follow along on Instagram either through my account, @amberscraftaweekblog, or using #31DaysofHalloweenOutfitChallenge.  For even more DIY costume ideas, check out these Meowth, Magikarp, and Vaporeon looks, these Pikachu ears, this paper doll costume, this Astrophysicist Barbie look, this Ricky's Girlfriend (from The 'Burbs) costume, these Dana Scully and Fox Mulder looks, this Yellow Ribbon scary story costume, and these Daphne Blake and Shaggy Rogers looks.

Tiffany Valentine (aka the Bride of Chucky)

Items I used:

*White dress or romper (could be a wedding dress)
*Black faux leather or leather jacket
*Carving knife
*Dark eyeshadow
*Black lipstick
*Fishnets
*Combat boots

Putting the look together:

Looking for a way to re-use your wedding dress?  If you got married in white, then this may be the perfect costume for you.  My wedding dress is blue, so I couldn't use it for this look, but luckily I had a white romper on hand that I thought had the right vibe.  To finish this look, you really just need a (faux) leather jacket and some dark makeup, although the carving knife is a nice touch.

Alice in Wonderland

Items I used:

*Blue dress or romper
*Black bow headband
*Key shaped locket necklace
*Pearl jewelry
*Black shoes

Putting the look together:

Speaking of wedding dresses, here's me repurposing mine for this Alice in Wonderland look.  I have done a ton of Alice bounds (bounds are similar to costumes, but they tend to be more about matching the character's vibe than replicating their look exactly) and would love someday to write a post on all of them.  This is my "fancy Alice" look, but when I wear just the romper without the overskirt, I have a look that's closer to the classic Disney Alice.

With Alice, since there are so many variations on her, you have a lot of leeway.  Pick the items that you think best represent her.  For me, it's the black bow and the blue dress.  If you don't have a black hair bow of your own, here's how you can make one using black ribbon and a headband.  From there, I'd recommend trying to add a few jewelry items or accessories which you feel give off Alice's vibe or have a Wonderland feel.  I have some key shaped jewelry items, a cat pearl ring, white tights, black and white striped knee socks, and a "drink me" vial pendant necklace that I'll alternate using to switch up my Alice look so I'm not always wearing the same thing.  I also have a pinafore apron that I sewed that I'll add for a more classic Alice look, and if you have a plain white apron, that could be a nice addition to your costume.

Frances "Baby" Houseman from Dirty Dancing

Shorts and Bodysuit Look:

Items I used:

*Coral colored bodysuit
*Light wash denim shorts
*Brown belt
*White shoes

Putting the look together:

My key objective here was finding items in the right color palette that resembled the ones Jennifer Grey wears in the film.  I didn't have her iconic white Keds (or any white sneakers), so I opted for a pair of white heels instead.  Since these are regular clothes, and this outfit isn't as recognizable as Baby's pink dress look, be prepared to explain it to people.  Unless perhaps your pals on the Halloween Zoom party are all die hard Dirty Dancing fans.

Pink Dress Look:

Items I used:

*Pink romper and pink tulle skirt (or you could use a pink dress instead)
*Pink heels
*Bobby pins

Putting the look together:

Okay, I've done Baby's pink dress look before on this blog, so maybe this one's cheating.  But I had a flouncy skirt and better heels this time around, so I couldn't help but share.  Got a flouncy pink dress?  Then you're good to go.  If you have long hair, you can always put it in a faux bob to better match Jennifer Grey's hair in the film.  Here's a faux bob tutorial that I've worked from before. 

Cracked Porcelain Doll

Items I used:

*Doll-like dress or romper
*Tights
*Heels
*Bow
*DIY wind up key
*Black liquid eyeliner
*Black eyeliner pencil
*Setting spray
*Pearl jewelry

Putting the look together:

For this cracked doll costume, all you need are clothes that look doll-like to you and some eyeliner to draw on the cracks.  I like to draw the cracks with an eyeliner pencil first, so it's easier to clean up if I mess up, and then go over them with liquid eyeliner to make them darker.  Setting spray is optional, but it can help make the cracks last longer, especially if you have oily skin.

You can add all sorts of embellishments, such as a wind up key (see this tutorial) or ball joint tights.  Or stitched tights if you're going for a doll with a cloth body but porcelain head.  I wore a similar look last year for Halloween, so if you want to see a slight variation on this look, check out this post (the costume is about midway through the post).

Scarecrow

Items I used:

*Plaid shirt
*Tan jumper
*Brown belt
*Brown shoes
*Scarecrow hat
*Scarecrow gloves
*Stitched tights
*Orange eyeshadow
*Gold eyeshadow
*Red lipstick
*Black pencil eyeliner
*Setting spray

Putting the look together:

The scarecrow is a fantastic costume option for many reasons.  The makeup is what makes the look, so as long as you have the right makeup on hand, you have the main tools you'll need.  I, as usual, didn't work from a tutorial and winged it, but if you're looking for a scarecrow makeup video tutorial, this one looks good.

For clothes, you've got a lot of options.  A plaid shirt and denim jeans or overalls are classic, but scarecrows can wear all sorts of clothes.  This look is also great if you live in a cooler climate, since you can bundle up and add layers without it looking awkward.  You can also add fun scarecrow accessories if you'd like, but you don't have to.  Here's my look minus the hat and gloves, and I'd say it still gives off strong scarecrow vibes:

Bonus: Scarecrow and Scared Crow Couples' Costume

Items we used for the crow:

*Black cardstock or construction paper
*Scissors
*Tape
*Black clothes

Putting the look together:

Need a match for a scarecrow costume?  Enter the crow.  Construct a beak shape from black paper and pair it with black clothes and you're good to go.  You could add some elastic to hold it to your head, but Brian ended up taping his to his nose.  It's not the most elaborate costume, and there are nicer ones you can make if you have more time, but it should work in a pinch.

Little Red Riding Hood

Items I used:

*Red cloak
*Red liquid lipstick for scratches
*Dark eyeshadow for scratches
*Plastic axe

Putting the look together:

If you have a red cloak or cape, that's basically all you need for Little Red Riding Hood.  Accessorize with a basket or a fake axe, if you'd like, and use liquid lipstick and a little eyeshadow for some scratches from your confrontation with the wolf (here are seven tutorials for making fake cuts without using special sfx products, including the all makeup one I loosely followed).  But all that's the cherry on top.  If you have the cloak, people will probably recognize you.

Princess Leia

Items I used:

*Bobby pins.  ALL the bobby pins
*White romper
*White leggings
*White shoes

Putting the look together:

Princess Leia's cinnamon bun hairstyle is so iconic that if you pair it with an all white ensemble (or another look she wears in the films), people will know who you are.  Brian was in a virtual meeting at work, and I had to walk past his desk, where his low resolution webcam was, and someone said to Brian something along the lines of, "I see Princess Leia walking around in the background."  So even though I didn't feel like it was the greatest match for Leia, it was super recognizable (and also my most liked look on my @all_of_my_outfits Insta).  Here's the tutorial I tried to follow for the hair.

Belle from Beauty and the Beast

Blue Dress Look:

Items I used:

*Blue romper or dress
*White long sleeved shirt
*Brown shoes
*Book bag/book
*Book pendant

Putting the look together:

Instead of trying to match characters exactly as they were depicted in film, why not give them a modern upgrade?  For me, the key elements I wanted to incorporate to make this feel Belle-like were the blue and white combo and books.  It's not a replica of Belle's look, but I think it still has strong Belle vibes, especially with all the book elements.

Yellow Dress Look:

Items I used:

*Yellow romper or dress
*Book pendant

*Artificial red roses

Putting the look together:

Here's another modern spin on one of Disney's beloved princesses.  I opted for a yellow romper instead of Belle's classic ballgown, mainly because I don't have a yellow ballgown, or the room in my house to store a ballgown.  With the book pendant and red roses, I think this look still gives off Belle vibes, but a more modern, semiformal Belle style.

Daphne Blake (featuring Shaggy Rogers)

Items I used:

*Purple romper or dress

*Lavender headband

*Purple shoes

*Green scarf

*Lighter purple removable vinyl

*Colorista hair makeup in bronze-auburn

*Magnifying glass

Putting the look together:

I've put together a Daphne Blake look before on this blog (see this post), but this updated look has some details that the previous one didn't, so I figured I'd include it.  First of all, notice that stripe at the bottom of my romper?  That's removable vinyl.  If you need to add details to a costume, but don't want to permanently alter your costume, then removable vinyl is your friend.  To give this romper a little more of a Daphne vibe, I just cut off a few strips of removable vinyl, stuck them to the bottom of the romper, and when I was done, peeled them off.  I wouldn't recommend using it on delicate fabrics necessarily, but I've used it on sequined materials and cotton/polyester without issue.

Instead of hair chalking, I've shifted over to using hair makeup, which is less mess and less hassle.  Unfortunately, Colorista doesn't have a color yet that's a perfect match for Daphne (or other fictional redheads), but if I apply the bronze-auburn very lightly, brushing out most of the color as I go, I can get something that kind of works.

Queen of Hearts

Items I used:

*DIY crown

*Red romper or dress

*Heart belt

*Heart scepter

Putting the look together:

The Queen of Hearts is another character who has been depicted in many different ways over the years, so you have quite a lot of freedom when it comes to your look.  I opted for lots of red and heart details to convey my Queen of Hearts vibe.  I threw together a quick crown from gold cardstock and added glittery red hearts, but if you don't have cardstock, yellow and red construction paper should work.  Your crown will just be a little flimsier.  Also, I like to cut tiny slits toward the bottom of my crowns so that I can slide bobby pins through to hold them on my head.

Witch

Items I used:

*Paper witch hat

*Black romper

*Velvet bell sleeved top

*Bat belt

*Spellbook necklace

*Buckle booties

I have done so many witchy looks over the years (see, eg., me in 2016 and me in 2017).  In fact, my witch costume was the first costume I featured on my blog, and the hat and cape I sewed for it were some of my first machine sewing projects.  The version I have pictured above isn't the most elaborate witch look I've put together, but it's one of the more accessible ones because you don't have to sew anything.  If you don't already have a witch hat, you can throw one together from cardstock or construction paper and glue it to a headband.  Or you can go without a hat, because plenty of witches don't wear hats.

Cat

Items I used:

*DIY cat ears

*Black clothes

*Red ribbon

Putting the look together

The cat is probably one of the most universal Halloween costumes there is.  It makes sense; cats are adorable, and cat costumes are fairly easy to assemble.  All you need are a set of ears and some clothes in a color scheme that matches your vision for your cat look.  I went with all black, because black cats are awesome.  Don't have a pair of cat ears?  Cut ear shapes out of felt and glue them to a headband.  Seriously, if you're looking for one crafting material to invest in, make it felt.  It is relatively inexpensive and oh so versatile.  But if you don't have any felt on hand, you could use colored paper or painted cardboard in a pinch.  Try adding some ribbon or a choker for a collar.

Prom Queen

Items I used:

*Party dress

*DIY bouquet

*Tiara

*Sash

Putting the look together:

Some of the best horror movies happen at the prom, so why not throw together your own prom royalty look?  I bought a tiara for this, but you can always throw together a paper crown (see Queen of Hearts above for an example).  I cut out one face of a paper bag and used some ribbon to tie it around my DIY wedding bouquet to make it look more prom and less wedding.  I also bought the sash, but I think with the crown and flowers, people will get prom or pageant vibes even without a sash.

Bonus: Zom(bie Prom) Queen

Items I used:

*Prom Queen outfit (see above)

*Crimson paint for fake blood spatters for sash

*Red food coloring + caramel sauce for fake blood

*Black, purple, and gray eyeshadow for bruising effect

*Brown eyeshadow for contouring

Putting the look together:

The zombie bride has been done to death (pun absolutely intended).  If you're looking for a glam zombie transformation, why not try prom royalty?  Just take your prom look and add some fake blood and makeup to make your face look bruised and sunken in, and you're good to go.  If you have a prom sash you don't mind messing up, you could also splatter some crimson paint on it for fake blood spatter.  Muss up your hair a little and place your crown off center because the living dead aren't too concerned about appearances.  They're just looking for their next meal.

I hope this post gave you some ideas for your future costumes.  If you end up using any of them, I'd love to see what you come up with.  Tag me with #31DaysofHalloweenOutfitChallenge or @amberscraftaweekblog on Instagram, add pictures to my Amber's Craft a Week blog Facebook page, or shoot me an email at hathaway.amber@gmail.com.  I can't wait to see what you come up with!

DIY Misdreavus (Pokemon) Necklace: Pokemonbounding Ep 6

     It's October, which means spooky season is in full swing.  For this month's Pokemonbounding project, I thought it would be fitting to go with a ghost type Pokemon and opted for one of my favorites: Misdreavus.  I've also done looks for the ghost type Pokemon Gastly, as well as Meowth, Magikarp, Vaporeon, and a Pikachu Fan Trainer Costume, so if you're looking for Halloween costume inspiration and love Pokemon, be sure to check these posts out.
     This is a great last minute costume idea, especially if you already have some wooden beads on hand, or a pink costume jewelry necklace.  I have both a video tutorial and a written tutorial for the necklace in this look.  I've included the video tutorial below, and keep reading for the written tutorial, as well as some more pictures of the completed look.

Misdreavus Necklace

Materials:

*One 20 mm wooden bead
*About twenty 16 mm wooden beads (you may need more or fewer, depending on the neck size of the person you're making it for and how tight the person would like it to be)
*Pink acrylic paint (if your beads aren't already pink)
*Paintbrush (if your beads aren't already pink)
*Elastic cording
*Scissors
*Clear nail polish (optional)

Directions:

*If your beads are not already pink, paint them pink.  Let dry.

*Cut off a length of elastic.  I like having plenty of extra elastic at the ends for tying, so I cut off a segment that was large enough to wrap around my head and then some, but the amount you cut off will depend on how tight you want the necklace to be and how comfortable you are tying elastic.

*Slide your largest wooden bead onto the center of the elastic.

*Add about 10 smaller wooden beads on either side.  You could also use a few different smaller sizes to get a more tapered look, closer to the "necklace" Misdreavus has, but that will require more beads.

*Knot the ends of the elastic together.  If the elastic you're using is slippery, to keep the knot from coming undone, you can cover the knot with a little clear nail polish.

Putting the Look Together

Materials/items:

*Misdreavus necklace (see above)
*Navy blue clothes
*Colorista Hair Makeup in raspberry, or other pink temporary hair color
*Navy blue eyeshadow
*Pink lipstick

Tips:

*For the strongest Misdreavus vibes, pick flowy navy blue clothes, if possible, since Misdreavus is a ghost type Pokemon.  A flowy navy blue dress or maxi romper could be an excellent choice.

*If you want to dye the tips of your hair for this look, make sure to pick a dye suitable for your hair color.  I personally like the Colorista Hair Makeup for brown or black hair because it shows up vibrantly in my hair.  However, if you have really light hair, make sure to get hair color for blonde hair, as the temporary colors for dark hair may stain your hair.

*If you're a dark blonde (the tips of my hair could be considered dark blonde, so that's the color I'm talking about here), the hair colors made specifically for blonde hair may not show up well one you since they're usually designed more for platinum blonde hair.  You probably can get away with using the temporary colors for dark hair.  However, I'd recommend testing it on a few strands on the under layer of your hair where it's not very visible to make sure it washes out before you go ahead and color your tips.

Misdreavus Look

     That's it for my Misdreavus look.  I'm not sure which Pokemon I want to bound as next, but I'm thinking maybe an ice type here soon, since we're moving into winter.  (Maybe I'll save that one for December, though).  If you have any Pokemon you'd like to see me bound as, feel free to suggest one.
     Happy spooky season, everyone!  I hope you have a safe and fun October.  Stay tuned for more Halloween fun, and more Pokemon projects.

DIY Alice in Wonderland Paper Doll Costume

     Looking for a relatively inexpensive yet cute costume idea?  Why not try making a paper doll costume?  I opted for an Alice in Wonderland look. but you can use these techniques to make your own custom design too.  Add some cartoon makeup if you'd like to give your face a paper doll vibe (I just winged it, but there are tons of tutorials out there on how to do cartoon makeup.  Here's one that looks pretty good, and certainly more skillful than my attempt).

Materials:

*1-2 sheets of blue poster paper.  I was able to get away with just one, but it was a tight fit.  A good rule of thumb would be that if you are making the costume for someone who wears about size 12-14 kids clothes, then you can probably get away with just one sheet, but if you're making it for someone who wears larger sizes or is tall, then you probably will need two sheets.
*1-2 sheets of white poster paper.  Since the pinafore apron is narrower and shorter than the dress, you probably have a little more leeway here, but I'd still pick up an extra sheet of poster paper if you're unsure.
*Red cardstock, poster paper, or construction paper
*Black marker
*Scissors
*Pencil
*Glue
*Black or blue ribbon
*Duct tape
*Dress or romper with little stretch
*Ruler
*Black poster paper
*Headband
*Form fitting clothes, ideally ones close to your skin tone, to wear underneath.

Directions:

*Take a dress or romper that fits you or your intended recipient well and isn't stretchy.  Lay it down on the sheet or sheets of poster paper you're using to create the dress.  If you're making this in two pieces, I'd recommend lining things up so the top of the dress lies on one sheet of poster paper and the skirt or shorts portion lies on the other.

*Trace around the dress, leaving about an inch or so extra space along all sides.  One tricky part of making this is that if you don't want what you're wearing underneath to show through the costume, you'll need the dress to be wide enough to hide it.  This is why initially you want to add a lot of extra room.

*Cut out the dress shape.  Put on the clothes you'll be wearing underneath the paper doll costume, ideally something form fitting like a cami and shorts or leggings, and hold the dress up in front of you.  See if there are places along the dress that need to be trimmed or taken in, keeping in mind that anything you take away can't be added back.  If the dress is in two pieces, you can tape the two pieces together with some duct tape along the back.  We'll reinforce the waist seam later, but for now you just need it to hold together.

*Make adjustments to the dress as needed.  Here's what my dress looked like after alterations:

*Once you're happy with the shape of the dress, it's time to start working on the pinafore apron.  I made the apron by tracing the shape of the dress onto the white poster paper and using a ruler to draw an apron shape inside the dress shape.  That way, I knew the apron should fit the dress perfectly.  I've included a picture of what I did below.  Note that I had to turn up the contrast a ton so that the pencil lines would be visible.  This works best if you can make the apron as a singular piece (it adds more stability at the waist and will hide the waist seam, so even if you had to make the dress in two pieces, I'd recommend making the apron as one continuous piece if possible.

*Glue the apron to the dress.

*Optional: Cut out a red heart shape from your red paper of choice and glue it to the apron.

*Use a black marker to define the edges of the pieces and make the dress look more cartoony.

*Next it's time to make the tabs.  Sketch out six tab shapes on the leftover poster paper using a pencil.  Follow the pencil line with a black marker, making dashed lines like you will often see on paper dolls.

*Glue one tab to either shoulder and tabs to either side of the waist.  Set aside two for the bow.

*Draw a bow shape onto black poster paper and cut it out.

*Use a black marker to add an outline and details.  The details may not show up super well, depending on how dark the black of the poster paper is.

*Glue tabs to either side of the bow.

*Next it's time to figure out how to fasten the dress on you.  I've seen some people attach Velcro to the dress and also to the clothes they will be wearing, so the dress just sticks on.  However, since I didn't want to mess up the clothes I'd be wearing under by permanently affixing Velcro to them, I decided to use ties instead.  Cut off two lengths of black ribbon which are long enough to tie comfortably around your waist.

*Turn the dress over and glue the ends of the ribbons to the waist area.  Let dry.

*Glue two to the shoulders as well.  Let dry.

*Once dry, reinforce the ribbon with a little duct tape.

*If you cut the dress from two different sheets of poster paper, you may want to reinforce the waist.  You can cut off strips of excess poster paper and glue them across the waist seam in the back, or perhaps use some thin cardboard, like what you might get from a cereal box.

Tip: One tricky piece to this costume is that since it's 2D and we're 3D, it's easy for the costume to shift and show what you're wearing underneath.  Wearing tight fitting clothes will help minimize the impact, and wearing clothes close to your skin tone will make it less noticeable.  I was wearing a pale pink romper under my costume for the photos.  Here's a picture of me turned slightly to the side, so you can see behind the costume.  Since the romper is so close to my skin tone, I feel like it's less noticeable than if I'd worn a high contrast color, like hot pink or neon green.

Monsters are Real Quote Art

Content warning: Anxiety, panic disorder

     Today's post is not a typical craft post.  Sure, there is a craft, and if you just want to print this quote art I designed and use it for your personal use, it's at the end of the post.  However, I wanted to use this space to tell you a little about how this art came to be.
     The beauty of Stephen King's "Monsters are real..." quote is that it resonates with many of us, even if our struggles are different.  We all have our own monsters and ghosts that we are grappling with.  When I see this quote, my mind goes to the main monster living inside of me: anxiety.

My Anxiety Journey

     Before we get into my inspiration, I want to give you a brief overview of my anxiety journey.  Feel free to skip this section if you already know what it's like to live with anxiety and don't want to be reminded of how much it sucks.
     I have exhibited symptoms of anxiety from a young age, but it took me until I was in my mid-20s to piece together what was going on with me.  Up to that point, I thought I was just cautious and a bit of a worrier.  I didn't realize that there was something atypical about the way I reacted to the world.
     Everything changed during the summer of 2014, when I had to get my wisdom teeth removed.  During the weeks leading up to the surgery, I had to attend a couple of consultations with my oral surgeon.  Something about these appointments triggered in me not only anxiety, but also panic.  To quote from my old anxiety blog I started that I never did anything with, "I would sit there in the waiting room sweating buckets, my heart hammering away a mile a minute as my stomach churned like a washing machine, wanting to flee to the safety of the car and feeling trapped and helpless because I couldn't."
     In retrospect, I had probably had many panic attacks before this series of events.  Since I did not know panic disorder was a thing, I thought what was happening to me was a physical ailment.  I have dealt with bouts of gastrointestinal unrest since childhood, and these instances often seemed to correlate with events happening in my life.  For example, during my first two years of college, I would feel sick for the first week of the semester, missing some, if not all, of the classes that week.  I was afraid each time a new semester approached that I would get sick and - lo and behold - I would then get sick.
     So the issues had existed long before my wisdom tooth extraction, but what happened after my surgery was that any time Brian and I would go somewhere, I would feel anxious, and that anxiety would quickly escalate to panic.  We would get three quarters of the way to our destination and then it would become too much and I would be on the verge of tears, begging Brian to turn back.  This was when I finally realized that I wasn't getting sick all the time; I was having panic attacks.
     I've been in treatment twice for my anxiety and hopefully will be back in treatment again here soon.  I was hoping that once I finished my Ph.D., I'd finally be able to relax and get things under control, but then the world turned upside down and here I am, as anxious as ever.  I was rereading my old anxiety blog as I was writing this post, and even though these entries were from four years ago, so many of the issues I was experiencing then I'm still struggling with.  Anxiety sucks.

The Meaning Behind My Quote Art

     Anyway, that's enough about my anxiety.  Now let's talk about what this quote art represents to me.  I wanted to find some way to visually represent my anxiety.  Since it is a part of me, I thought I could achieve this by having two Ambers in the image, one to represent me and one to represent my anxiety.  The Amber that's curled up behind the tree crying?  That's me in the throes of a panic attack.  The Amber with the red cape is the physical manifestation of my anxiety.  To me, anxiety is red.  It is screeching red, alarm sirens blaring ad infinitum red.  That's why anxiety is wearing a red cloak and red lipstick.  Anxiety can bring with it feelings of helplessness and despair, which I envision as pitch black, the hopeless color of a starless night.  This is why the rest of anxiety's outfit is black.  I'm sure there's a lot more symbolism you can read into this image, but if there is anything else there, it probably wasn't something I consciously invoked.

Printable Monsters Are Real Quote Art

Materials:

*Printed 8.5"x11" "Monsters Are Real" Quote Art
*8.5"x11" photo frame.

Directions:

*Print out a copy of this quote art, ideally on matte photo paper.

*Place the image in the photo frame.

The Completed Harley Quinn Costume

     Here we have my finished Harley Quinn look!  To be honest, when I started piecing together the full look, I was not sure how it was going to come out.  I had put so much time and effort into sewing the parts of the costume that I was hoping that it would work, but there was a piece of my mind insisting that I couldn't pull off Harley.  However, I tried it anyway, and I'm so glad that I did.  I love how my look came out.  If you haven't seen them yet, here are the links to the tutorials for the top, shorts, bat, and jacket.
     I originally intended to do a video tutorial for this, but I can't apply makeup without staring into the mirror, so I wasn't sure how to accomplish the filming process while still making my makeup turn out okay.  I've included a written tutorial, but if you're looking for a video tutorial, you may want to check out one of these ones.  I haven't tried any of them because I just kind of winged it with my look, but they look like they could be useful.
     This post is organized in two parts.  First up I have a bunch of pictures of the costume so you can get a good sense of what it looked like.  After that I have somewhat of a tutorial.  I had good success with the makeup I used, so I've included links to all the products, but feel free to use whatever products you have on hand.  These are not sponsored products, just what worked for me.

Harley Quinn Costume Photos

     You can probably tell by how vibrant the picture at the top of the page is that it was taken using a filter.  These first three pictures were taken without a filter, though, and you can see that the hair and makeup are still vibrant.

     The picture above Brian took using the camera's red filter.  With the desaturation like that, this picture kind of looks like one of Harley's black and red looks.

Harley Quinn Makeup and Hair

Makeup:

*Face primer (I used e.l.f. cosmetics's tone correcting primer)
*Eye primer (I used Urban Decay's Anti-Aging Eyeshadow Primer)
*Foundation (I used e.l.f. cosmetics's foundation in porcelain)
*Black pencil eyeliner (I used Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide on Eye Pencil in Perversion)
*Black liquid eyeliner (I used Urban Decay's Perversion Waterproof Eye Pen for the upper lash line and e.l.f. cosmetics's liquid liner in Jet Black for the heart detail)
*Black mascara (I used Urban Decay's Perversion Waterproof Mascara)
*Red eyeshadow (I used the red from the Harley Quinn palette from Hot Topic)
*Blue eyeshadow (I used the color chaos from Urban Decay's Wired palette)
*Setting spray (I used Urban Decay's All Nighter Setting Spray)
*Translucent powder (I used e.l.f. cosmetics's HD powder in sheer)
*Red lipstick (I used F*ck Kavanaugh by Lipslut, which is currently out of stock)

Tools:

*Makeup sponges
*Eyeshadow brushes
*Two hair elastics
*Cotton swabs

Hair colors:

*Blue hair color (I used Colorista Spray 1-Day Color in Blue)
*Red hair color (I used Colorista Spray 1-Day Color in Red)

Makeup Directions:

*Apply your face primer, eye primer, and foundation like you normally would.

*Apply a black eyeliner pencil to your lower lash line and water line.

*Next comes the eyeshadow, and this is where it gets especially tricky to explain things.  The nice thing, though, is that Harley's makeup often looks messy, so you don't have to worry about perfection here.  I started by applying red eyeliner to the lid and underneath my eye using a makeup brush, and did the same thing to the other eye with blue shadow.

*If you look up pictures of Harley Quinn's makeup online, you'll notice that she often has these makeup smudges under her eyes.  To create this effect, I used a cotton swab to drag some of the eyeshadow down beneath my eye.

*I also used a cotton swab to blend the eyeshadow along the upper part of my eye a little.

*Apply black mascara.

*Use liquid eyeliner for your upper lash line.

*Add translucent powder to set your foundation and mattify your face.

*Apply red lipstick to your lips.

*Draw a little black heart on one of your cheeks with black eyeliner.

*Set your makeup with a setting spray.

Hair Directions:

*Divide your hair into two roughly equal sections and pull into pigtails.  Secure with hair elastics.

*Over the bathtub or some other area of your house that you don't mind getting messy, apply your hair color following the directions on the packaging.  If you're using a spray color, I highly recommend wearing gloves to apply the spray.  Even though temporary color should wash off your hands fairly easily, it's less mess and less hassle to just wear gloves.

*I've found that spray dyes tend to transfer a lot.  I had red and blue patches on either side of my neck a few hours after applying the hair color and I couldn't touch my hair without getting color all over my hands.  If you're looking for a less messy option, I'd recommend Colorista Hair Makeup in pink and blue.  I've used their bronze auburn color before, and it does not transfer nearly as badly.  I'll be using that next time I attempt this look.