Hi, Phineas. Whatcha doin'? Isabella costume

 

Riley wanted to be Isabella Shapiro Garcia from Phineas and Ferb for Halloween. I thought that the normal outfit for Isabella was going to make her difficult to figure out. Pink jumper, pink bow...so we made a deal. She would be Isabella as the Fireside Girls Leader. 

I don't know how I managed to make everything without a pattern but I survived with little damage. So many people knew who she was...well at Disneyland of course for the Halloween Trick or Treat party. One group even said she looked just like her...face and all. 

I spent hours at Joann's matching my photos of the Fireside Girl costume from Disneyland and actual printouts from the cartoon. Matching colors with the thought also on the weight of the fabrics so she wouldn't be cold at night. I did find that the costumes they have for the show in the California Adventure park were way off from the actual colors. But it did help a bit to see texture. 

You can't see really her sash with the badges behind her Fireside Girls book I made with actual felt pages which were finished off with a serger. I used inkjet canvas to print the logo. The first page has the Fireside Girl song printed on the fabric as well. 

I thought that the costume for sure needed to have something to show Phineas and Ferb. We headed to the Disney store and bought the characters. Funny story...the Easter Bunny brought the basket two years ago. It had a fabric insert. When we removed it, it had a sticker on the inside that said it was a Target item and made in China. Riley, in awe, says, "the Easter Bunny shops at Target too!" Well I guess he sure does. So I  used the original insert to create the pattern. You can't see it so well but underneath Perry, there is a little yellow text. The front side says "Isabella" and the backside says "Fireside Girl." That of course all courtesy of my sister-in-law. To keep the characters up peeking over the side of the basket, I stitched in a pocket to hold them.

Anyhow, Phineas and Ferb were the last characters we saw that night. We were so excited! Mostly at the party, you will see the villains. They were hidden in the Innovations theater. And we only got a posed photo of Perry before taking off to bring out Phineas and Ferb 45 minutes before the park closed.

The shoes were about a year a half old. How they fit...who knows! They were canvas with a big bow on them and grey. I first used a red dye but it was more a tulip color than a warm red. I decided to use food coloring and sponge it on. Still...not quite there. Even with Riley telling me it was going to be nighttime and dark...I proceeded to fixate. I mixed acrylic paint, water and acrylic fabric medium to come to an exact red! When she took off her shoes that night, she had a blister and I thought it bled all over her foot. Nope it was dye that came right off with a bit of lotion.  

We came home with over 20 pounds of candy collected by Riley. The night, obviously, a success.

Boo!

Over at True XOXO, we were given the task of creating a Halloween layout and not use black or orange. The orange I could easily do without...as I have said before, it clashes with my skintone! Okay so here is my layout.

It all really started with the photo I was going to use. Generally I don't start this way but I had to figure out an image that I could use that I haven't scrapped before. Anyhow, next came the Making Memories frame. I of course reached for the closest solid cardstock which happened to be My Mind's Eye. I don't know when I will ever run out of MME cardstock from when I bought it during a trip to Utah for a retreat and they had a warehouse sale. I came home with over 50 pounds of new stuff but they even included free shipping for all of it and was under $75.

I used quite a few products on this layout. I began with misting punchinella. Then a few drips of India Ink blown around with the heat gun. I thought it needed to be roughed up so I misted the entire sheet with homemade mist that only contained sparkle. I crumpled the entire thing and then I thought, "oh no!" Ironed the entire sheet and was back on track. After playing with stamps, Distress Inks, Stazon, acrylic inks, acrylic paints and PanPastels. I even added extra heavy gel medium and molding paste to the pieces. I had Pink Paislee Halloween glitter stickers that are brown which I laid down. And then I thought you would think they were black. So I added a bit of corn starch to the stickers which made them appear gray. At that point, I thought "oh no" again because you would still think they were black. So I added silver acrylic ink to the stickers applied with my fingers. I lightened them a bit more with gray PanPastels. Other products used...of course bling, frame and brad from Making Memories, bead end caps, lace, Pink Paislee chipboard and wood letters, string of pearls, Creative Imaginations brad and rubons.

I was thinking yesterday that I really enjoy the process of making these "solid cardstock" type of layouts. I may be able to actually go forward never using a piece of patterned paper again. But don't hold me to it! 

Costume recap

Over the past few months that I have been MIA, we have had a ton of time playing around with costumes. I thought I would bring you up to speed.

We have had favorite book character dress up day at school. . . .(pictured below was Riley's favorite from Monster High...Draculaura-- a close up on the face so you can see her fangs and they lasted all day even after having lunch.)

The Chinese Lion Dance during the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade

Little Willy Wonka for her vocal recital and first vocal competition (she took first place)...this was the best photo of her so you don't get to see the skirt but it is basically gold with the same lace ruffles and trim you see here. Oh but you do miss the spats I made too. Oh well.

My little jazz diva....who was missing her two top, front teeth and loving it!

Hula girl...

Cheetah for The Lion King musical..and by the way it's the same Kryolan makeup I used for Draculaura and this stuff does not budge. You can wear it all day and it stays perfect with or without fixative. When I spray the fixative she gags so I try not to use it. Here in this photo, I had to rush her from Tahitian dance rehearsal to a performance and I dressed her, did the hair and makeup in under 15 minutes.

Check out one of the masks I casted for the musical as well...it's an exact replica of SCAR and it sits on the head just like the ones they use in the Broadway production. Here I was fixing up the mask after the actor did an intial paint job. I thought it needed some livening up. So I spray painted the hair and tried to cover up the gold duct tape he put on right before the show. I made a Simba and Mufasa mask/headpiece as well.

And now you get the various Tahitian dance costumes. Here is her photo from her first competition where she placed third. 

Her second competition...there was a lot of talk about it being fixed by many of the groups. Day 1: eliminations. Day 2: Finals  which was also her birthday.  And by the way, these are fresh leaves and flowers.

A few days later in a group competition piece (my mom's favorite photo):

Picture day at her other dance school:

A production of "South Pacific"

Competition in Tahiti a few days after her birthday...where she took FIRST PLACE... the one in pink.

And this was from the most recent competition from early September....and look I sewed live leaves and flowers. Can barely see the little thing!

Well anyhow, I thought it would be nice for a brief catch up since my mom...she reads this and asks why I haven't posted the costume photos. So there you go, mother! I have some new costumes coming up. Think characters from Phineas and Ferb. I even have a spider dress. Both costumes were constructed from hand sketched patters. Can't wait to show you!

I adore Fall!

I think that autumn has to be my favorite season. Now one could say that we can wear the same clothes all year round here in San Francisco but I think it's more than just the clothes. It's the colors! I have to admit, I don't wear much green...or any orange or yellow at all (orange and yellow really clash with my skintone). So that being said, it doesn't mean that I can't play with them on canvas.

There are reasons I think I haven't scrapbooked much over the past year. One is that I felt a bit confined to the square of a layout or canvas. Maybe I wouldn't have noticed a difference if I hadn't started sewing. Fabric is so versatile. I can make it into just about anything and in any size. I may not be the best at sewing or follow directions but I can make it hold together just the same and no one knows it. Being self taught....I am okay with this.

Recently I have gotten back into mixed media to ease myself into holiday teacher gifts. With the same methodology, it doesn't have to be perfect and no one knows the difference. Here are peeks at my most recent fall creations.

Above, I used Dollar Tree synthetic leaves for the majority of my background texture. I love the bubbling of glue and paint when hit with a heat gun. So I figured I would heat the edges of the leaves...and they looked even better after they curled. There is a ton of texture on this canvas. The cardstock was flocked and gave it a great look.

This was the first owl canvas I had created. I got a Paper Smooches wood grain stamp last week. It has deeply etched edges and no texture in between which allows for great stamped images on any cardstock. Well, I used it on molding paste. Okay not really. I pressed the stamp into molding paste. I will suggest that if you do the same, rinse off the stamp under warm water before pressing into the paste a second time. I got a lot of paste stuck in the stamp and the image didn't come out clear on the second stamping because it was all clogged up (see the open space?). Now I should have placed the own on the other side but I liked how I tied the gingham ribbon. So it was too bad, so sad.

I hope I have given you the inspiration to create mixed media art work inspired by fall

First non-sewing project in a gazillon years

I know I haven't posted in what seems like forever. So much has been going on. My little girl started dancing in competitions. She placed third in her first Tahitian (solo) dance competition in late April. There were a few other competitions that her group won. She also sang her first vocal competition and placed first.

The Tahitian group (well one of her groups) was training 5 days/week. Summer wasn't a time to let up. We actually took a 10 day trip to Tahiti. Not only did they dance there but Riley took first place in the competition. I think it says a lot about being able to come in first dancing in the country where the dance originated.

Anyhow, this brings me to my first non-sewing project in almost a year. It is a canvas based on the "Keep calm and carry on" posters. With Tahitian dance, it is all freestyle in competitions. The house dryers play beats and you have to know what steps go with the particular music right away. A "fa'arapu" is the fast circular hip movement and is the main step they judge dancers on. Oh I bet you are even wondering what Tahitian dance is.

You know when you think of hula girls in coconut bras and grass skirts...well that really is Tahitian dance.

Anyhow, I covered the entire canvas with matte gel medium which didn't turn out the way I hoped. My medium is really old. And it gave the piece more of a bees wax appearance. Instead of redoing everything or trashing the canvas, I stuck it out and went with the flow. Well, I hope to be back soon with more projects.