She's Crafty | Thinking Ahead

I know it may be a bit early, but around this time of year I begin thinking about crafting a spectacular Halloween costume. Not that I go anywhere fancy or do much that day, I still like to dress up so I can hand out candy to all four of our trick-or-treaters in something other than my spiffiest set of lounge wear.

Pretty much each year I end up making something for a costume. So now I have a heap of masks; a pile of head pieces, including a feathered mini top hat; a small collection of flamboyant jewelry; and one nearly done steampunk ray gun. Pew pew.

Made this one following a YouTube
video by KlairedelysArt

This eclectic collection of costume accessories makes it easy to throw a quick costume together, but one day I dream of making a full head-to-toe Halloween costume. A fully lined, fully loaded, "Wow, you look just like so-and-so!" kind of costume found at comic book conventions and Renaissance fairs. I'm a master modifier but a complete newbie when it comes to making a full costume.

Whether I decide to create a single piece or a full costume this year I know the library and the internet are there to help inspire and educate me. I use tutorials found online and historical costume books like the series Dressing a Nation found at the library to keep my costume ideas going. I will even consult YouTube for makeup tutorials, on which you will never encounter a shortage of Halloween makeup tutorials.

One year I even learned a new needle craft by following a tutorial on the website known as Instructables. I was looking for a new mask and came across a tutorial for a tatted mask, written by an instructor who goes by TotusMel. The mask was lacy and beautiful, and I had to do whatever I could to make one, which meant learning how to tat. I checked out books on tatting from the library, I found other tutorials by TotusMel and on other websites, and after learning the basics I tackled the big project. Her tutorial was great and by the end of the whole process not only did I have an incredibly cool mask but I also learned how to tat!

Are you as excited about Halloween and dressing-up as I am? How do you prepare for Halloween? Do you buy your costume? Do you modify your everyday clothes with props and accessories? Have you ever entered a costume contest? Or, have you set aside the fun of dressing-up for gasp not dressing-up?!

I have some grand costume plans floating around in the ol' brain box just begging to be made and a lot of stuff in my costume bag o' tricks to play with but if I make something new or encounter a new trick to add to my bag, I'll keep you informed.

Until then, stay crafty!

Malia and Kaye

She's Crafty | Winter Wonderland on the Inside

Brrrrrrr! It's cold outside! This kind of weather makes me think of snowflakes. Lots of them. And, while I like the idea of snow, I've never really developed a love for the real deal--not much going for it in my opinion. It's probably because I've never lived where it snows--I just don't understand how people can think sliding around on the cold, wet stuff is so much fun. To each, her own, I guess.

But, the look of snow, that's what I love. Beautiful, soft shapes covering the world outside like a blanket, yet also a sparkling crisp whiteness, blinding in it's intensity when the sun hits it. Oh, and there's the snowflakes;  real ones you can only see in extreme close-up. I've only seen them in photographs, but what amazing things they are, all with six sides, no two exactly alike. Breathtaking. Enchanting. Absolutely beautiful.

Wilson Bentley

Have you ever heard of Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley (1865--1931)? He was the man who first worked out a way to photograph nature's own snowflake designs. Our library has a few titles concerning Bentley and his snowflakes:

• Snowflake Bentley [DVD Videorecording] by Weston Woods (Pub.)

• My Brother Loved Snowflakes by Mary Bhar Fritts

• Snowflake Bentley by Jacquiline Briggs Martin

• The Snowflake Man by Duncan C. Blanchard

And, from a link plus library, there's a glorious photographic album of real snowflakes, The Art of the Snowflake, by Kenneth Libbrecht, who uses technology Bentley had never dreamed of to photograph snowflakes today. Libbrecht has also collected some of nature's most beautiful snowflake designs in his photographs...at least, I think so, but I can't be sure. You see, photographs can't capture all of the myriads of designs mother nature produces every year when the snow falls. I can't even imagine how many unseen snowflakes there might be in a single drift outside someone's cabin door, let alone everywhere there's snow. And, once they melt, the designs are lost forever.

M Scott Moon - AP

I think that's one reason Malia and I have been making our own winter wonderland indoors every year. We can save the designs we like the best. Not that the designs we've created in white paper, white crochet cotton, white coffee filters, and anything else white we could fold, snip, hook, or weave into intricate designs could ever come close to capturing nature's real deal. But, I think it gets us closer to the idea of snow and snowflakes and the enchantment of nature's yearly show. Plus, we don't even get cold or wet!

Last year, snowflakes were a major theme for all my holiday crafting and decorating. During my internet research, I ran across two amazing ideas.

1. Make snowflakes out of coffee filters.
2. Hang snowflakes from the ceiling, around the Christmas tree.

So of course, I had to do it.

Our very own indoor, six-sided, coffee filter snow storm.

Coffee filters make the best snowflakes. They're easy to cut, they twirl around on their own when hung, the translucent paper gives the flakes an ethereal look, and if you plaster them to a window they look fantastic!

If you'd like to try your hand at making some snowflakes, there are some great instructions to be found online. Just type "paper snowflake instructions" into Google's search bar and you'll get plenty to choose from. There's one from the Instructables website that's especially good in that it teaches you to analyze snowflake photographs so you can make your snowflakes look as real as you can get them.

Enjoy your fantastic flurries while you stay warm, dry, and crafty!
Kaye & Malia