New 52 Green Arrow Cosplay Update

Hey, I've been pretty lame lately. Not writing on here, because I haven't really felt like I have done anything noteworthy...and then I realize how much crap I have done. One quick note before I get to the thick of the GA cosplay.: If you are planning to go to the C4 (Central Coast Comic Con) GET YOUR TICKETS NOW. Seriously...I foresee that thing selling out like Deadpool buying up chimichangas at a chimichanga place. Here is a link: C4
There are going to be some pretty epic cosplayers there...oh, and me & @chambernaut as Black Canary (old school) & Green Arrow (New 52). So...no big deal or anything...just me with blonde hair for the day! (If you know me you know how I feel about my natural hair color! If you don't know me, disregard the natural hair color statement!)
Ok lets get down to what I have been up to..which is playing with bows, arrows, feathers, foam, and paint! And on my lazy time...yarn.

Ollie's bow is pretty amazeballs.

 

yay!

Ollie's arm guards before paint! (I will tutorial the SHITE out of this process when I am done with them!)

Flunked my first attempt at foam armor! In other news, I have child sized hands.

Reference materials, mask, clean bow, and template pieces of arm guards.

Hail Hydra!

Wally, Wally, Wally. Yes, I know...I am making that face. That face means I have mastered crochet, kicked it's patootie, and ran around with my new accessories. I'm insane.

So that's what I've been up to...I'm really excited one of my friends is getting into cosplay madness! You can stay updated with the GA cosplay pics over at Nerd Rendezvous' facebook. I am super excited for this C4. Like I said...go get your tickets now. <3

Comic or Steampunk Inspired Gift for Girly Girls

Hey you, yes you...you probably waited until the last minute or forgot about Mother's Day, didn'tcha? Yeah yeah...blah blah blah excuses, excuses. You don't want to get her the boring standard of flowers or chocolate....you want to make her cry on how thoughtful you are, and how much time you must've put into this (even though it really doesn't take that much time), right? Of course I am right. And because I am who I am, why don't we theme the gift too? And since you probably have other occasions where you need to have a quick thoughtful gift for a girl...you can alter this in anyway to fit your needs.

Now...back to my original thinking for mama. She protests the thought of one of her children spending money on her, even though we say the same yet receive presents from her all the time. I knew she had been super interested in my DIY projects, and had previously asked me to redo a pair of her orthopedic shoes with comics, which was not exactly easy. I wanted to do something I hadn't done before so she couldn't expect it, and I can't leave well enough alone. I decided to make her a "Spa Day in a Basket." But being me, and not being able to leave well enough alone I decided to theme the crap out of said SDiaB.
The first thing you want to address is what all needs to be put in a basket. Try and include everything you can think of that would make the spa feel more authentic. I figured on sugar scrubs, lotion, soft fluffy towels, candles, etc. You can absolutely stop there...if you are not me.

Since I'm me and you're still reading this, you want to tackle how to add in a theme. She LOVES Aquaman. I don't. Not only don't I like him as a character, I don't really like his color theme, especially for a spa basket...who wants orange, yellow, and green all over their bathroom? I do like tridents and underwater/mermaid themes, but I have been down that road before. Lucky me, she also likes Stephanie Brown, and I can make it feel comic themed just by  printing out my own labels to put on the spa stuff, getting a popping effect from the colors you choose, or you can completely ditch the comic idea and go for the strategic move of steampunk themed...I've already shown you how to make the steampunk roses which would add a beautiful touch to the basket (you could spray a little rose scented perfume on them too!)
You can add some fancy towel folding like I did by going here for an easy tutorial. If I didn't make custom cupcake wrappers it would've taken less than 5 minutes. LESS THAN 5 MINUTE MOTHER'S DAY GIFT IDEA FOLKS!!!!!
http://yoonie-at-home.blogspot.com/2010/07/tea-towel-cupcake-tutorial.html

So...Batgirl: Black, Purple, and Yellow. I added white to make everything pop. Also before I show you these pictures. Yes I know SNIKT is Wolverine's sound. It happens to be my favorite sound blurb so I put it in the basket.

Everything Inside:

Candle, Hand Towel, 2 Wash Cloth Cupcakes, Lotion, Soap, Shea Sock cupcake, Loofa, Back Scrubber, Skin Noms Chocolate Sugar Scrub, and the purple box is a Spa Hair Towel. 3 action sound sticks.

What is Skin Noms? Delicious natural scrubs that smell like your favorite treats, and leave your skin amazingly soft, not to mention smelling great. Find them here: Skin Noms

What are wash cloth/shea sock cupcakes? Rolled towels or socks wrapped in a cupcake wrapper. Mine just happen to have on a bat belts. Printed out on card stock and taped on.

I layered everything in so the cupcakes would stand out, and then shoved in the little sticks with the action blurbs on them.

What else can I do? What else can I make special? Flowers. The old stand by. So you get your mom flowers every year....but will she expect you to go above and beyond and create a custom arrangement just for her?

I ran out of yellow flowers, so my notes to you: always buy extra! I really hope you're lucky enough to have a mother you love and loves you more than the world. Remember to treat her extra special, not just on Mother's day but every time you think of her.

Never Stop Learning

I love to learn. My brain craves education. As part of my trying to make myself happy schtick, I took up a circus fitness class in January, I started reading and reading and reading, and most recently I started to learn to crochet, not because I felt crocheting would make me happy, or even something I considered doing before, but because I have no clue what it entails, and it's hands-on.
I thought, "This will be a piece of cake." I am always good at picking things up. Especially crafty things. And after I learn it (in what I figured would be an hour) I will be able to make really awesome crafty things for myself, family, and friends.

Day 1: I threw my laughable project at my desk after ten attempts/fails at starting a beanie with a magic ring in a puerile hissy fit. I pick it up twice more and fail both times.

Day 2: I managed to start the first two rows successfully, and did 6 rows with a TON of mistakes.

Day 3: I had to pull three rows out because I realized I did it wrong. Three rows that had taken me two hours to complete. Did I mind? No. Normally I'd be throwing a sh*t fit because I couldn't do something, but I stopped and realized I was understanding how the single/double crochets work, why those rows wouldn't work and how I wanted it to look. Do the first three rows have mistakes? Yes. Do I mind? No. Normally mistakes have me cringing. Two things: One, I realized I'd be covering most of them with the faux-hawk I am attaching, and two, I'm not good at this yet, changing those mistakes would be like forgetting the fact that I was learning. I still don't really understand it all, and only understand how to make circles and hats, and how to make those hats loose or tight right now, but I just learned the building blocks, and you know where that will lead.

So...why am I sharing this with you? I hope that you don't give up on something. Anything. Pick something. Learn it. Add it to your skill box. You may learn something about yourself or change in the process. It's satisfying. And yeah...you may find it's not actually something you want to do after all, or something you just aren't good at no matter the effort you put in *cough circus fitness cough* but that's okay. You can't be good at everything, which is what I learned from circus fitness. So I don't really want to dislocate my legs and arms to be good at something. I still took away some really cool aerial moves and awesome stretches. Go forth, push your comfort zone, and learn.