Back lit Emil Stenjar Knock-off Starburst Mirror DIY Update

Well, it took nearly a year to create enough milk jug flowers to cover the largest spokes of my Emil Stenjar wannabe mirror, but I did it.  A year of tracing, cutting, heating and pushing the cookie cutters through plastic, and around 70 glue stick batons later, I think it has its own, cool thing going on.  I also reinforced the linkage strips with hot glue, since the tape wasn't holding.  Finally, the lights fell off the back, but I will fix that when I add flowers to the smaller spokes.  Here she is, in her partial glory.

Buddy the Elf! What's your Favorite Color?

I just like smiling.  Smiling's my favorite!

I figured I better not let my last post lead off this blog for long, just like I don't let the horrible parts of my work keep me down for long.  I'll switch gears completely and show you how I created my very own Buddy the Elf costume.

Wearing their ugly sweaters.
My husband's includes lights.

Next year's ugly sweater?

We had Ugly Sweater day at school.  I've made ugly sweaters before, including one that lit up!  But, brainstorming out another hideous sweater, I came across the style that makes the wearer look like an elf.  And then, elf on the brain, that turned into me recreating the hero of one of my favorite films, Elf. Everything about that film is right up my alley, from the North Pole aesthetic, to the innocent in the city, to the word "purply".  It's perfect!

T-shirt with puffy black fabric paint
"placard" and yellow "Scandanavian"
designs, alternately glittered gold.

So, I bought one t-shirt, two rectangles of green felt, one each yellow and white, and 5 black.  I already had black and yellow puffy fabric paint and gold glitter and tights, so this was far cheaper than my foray into Elsa territory.  I started with the shirt, drawing a line down the center, then spreading each one out to the corners at the bottom to imitate the Nordic jacket Buddy wears exclusively.  Then I drew Christmasy decorations around the placard, and glittered every other one.  Because I thought originally I wear them the same way as the cotton headed ninny muggins, coat tails were a must, so I cut two rectangles from one sheet of green felt, and curved the outer edges, to cover my elfin tushie.  I cut from the white felt two collar shaped pieces and whip stitched them to the neck line.

Traced a plate to create the cone hat.

Better view of the hat

For the accessories, I cut a roundish shape from the remaining piece of green felt to make the hat.  From the yellow, I cut out a band for the hat, and finished it with a white feather.  Also from the yellow felt, I cut a belt buckle, and from one piece of black felt, I made a belt by cutting it lengthwise in thirds and whip stitching them together.

The template that I eyeballed
for my booties

That left the booties, my favorite part.  I've always wanted to make shoes, for real, like Irish gillies or the kind that the insane folk at Ye Olde Renaissance Faire wear.  I modified this pattern from About.com.  I didn't make the bottom, I just placed the tops over my shoes.  It happened that an 8 1/2 x 11" square of felt just fits a size 8 1/2 shoe when you cut out two pieces per foot!  Happy coincidence.  I whip stitched them together and placed them over my footwear and voila!  In the end, I threw on a pair of yellow shorts, even though I put a pair of leggings underneath them.  Can't be too safe from the easily offended (at least, by teachers, certainly not by each other, whose behavior is beyond reprehensible) population that I "serve".

Oh, it's not a costume, I'm an elf.  Well, technically
I'm a human, but I was raised by elves.

Help Me

I need help.  Seriously.

Olaf Head Tutorial

I like warm hugs

The mouth shape left uncovered
and already starting the duct
tape.

No self-respecting Elsa would not be accompanied by her snowy creation, Olaf.  I whipped this up in two evenings, and it would have been quicker if the papier mache did not need to dry.  I started with a balloon, drew what I thought the mouth should look like, and then covered it with one layer of paper mache.  If this was meant to last, and if I had more time, I would recommend more coats, but I was under a time crunch.  After that dried, I put a layer of duct tape over it.  Then I hot glued some cotton batting where Olaf's cheeks and his head bulge were, and covered those with duct tape as well.  That approximated his head shape close enough.  I covered this with white felt, stapled and hot glued into place.  The nose is a cone of orange construction paper hot glued on, his "hair" is pipe cleaners, and I used puffy fabric paint to his eyes and eyebrows.  Astute Frozenites will notice that he is missing his teeth (tooth?).  Don't care.  Good enough.  Many smiles from the kids yesterday.

After I covered both cheeks and the
 head bulge,I felt his head could
use even more of a bulge.

Right cheek covered in
duct tape, first head bulge
applied, and left cheek still
 uncovered by duct tape

Ta-Da!

My First Dollhouse's Homemade Details

This post is primarily for my niece, Nora, although, it is also for me.  For me, because most of these things were made so long ago, and left at my parents, and forgotten.  So when my mother brought these items out, and I saw them again for the first time in over 30 years, I couldn't even relate to that girl about to become a woman who had this creativity and free-time to produce such wonderful things.  Since then I've gotten three college degrees, had two careers after my initial working life as a secretary, been engaged, been married, and finally, had a daughter.  It seems so far in the past, this other, leisurely life. 

The book set was a purchased set of wood with printed covers
glued on.  Some of the covers became detached, so I bound
pages together to make a "working" book.  This one was called
"My Biography"

Here are some of the details that survived.  I remember I had made bread from actual kitchen ingredients with an edible glaze, and food from a recipe I memorized from the Mr. Roger's Show; none of that survived.  I had also made miniature pictures cut from a picture of a picture (this was before anyone had computers and printers).  I guess this is what children did before video games: explored their interests!

Armed with a Bic, I meticulously documented the story of
Dr. Doolittle (the male occupant) and Sunshine Family
daughter (the female) a la Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Farmer Boy"

My baby sister found the unfinished text
 and  decided to "help", marrying off the
 couple and giving them a "cild" in
just over a page.

Tiny carrot and celery, along with jam
jars from a picnic set purchased at
Benny's

A tiny shelf with plants made from
quilling paper

Another plant from quilling paper

A wreath made from arbor vitea dried
buds, a hersey bar, a birthday candle
cut to size with a bead holder, and
a wooden spoon carved from a popsicle
stick.

Plant from quilling paper,
in a macrame planter, held
up with a pearl-headed pin

Another view

Elsa Costume Part 4 - Complete!

 Well, I finished it, and with weeks to spare.  The good news is that it will be much harder to steal than the Kitty head.  For info on how I made it, find the three prior posts.  She loves it, and I'm fairly happy with it.  We will do her hair and makeup on the days she will wear it.  Let it go, let it go!

Elsa Costume Part 3: Putting the Pieces Together

Let it go...

Let it go...

We're beginning to see something resembling Elsa!  In these pictures, she is holding the bodice, which is sewn onto the skirt, to the undershirt, which has not yet been attached to the bodice.  As you can tell, she is loving it. 


Glittering the cape.

So, all that remains is the glittering of her cape, and attaching that, and voila, I think we're good to go.  I've started glittering the cape below, and since I'm older and wiser, I put freezer paper underneath the design while the glue was drying, therefore eliminating the need to painstakingly remove the stuck-on paper with a Q-tip and nail polish.