Home Made Darth Vader Costume

FINISHED DARTH VADER! 

 Down to the LAST detail...well ok, except his light saber is the wrong color. (click to see labels)

Made the Helmet-$4  DIY post

Made the Mask -$4   DIY post

Made the cape-$0   DIY post

Made the Shoulder Armor -$0   DIY post

Made the vest -$0   DIY post

Painted the Shirt (got it from a thrift store) - $2  DIY post

Made the Belt - $0   DIY post

Made the Cod Piece - $0

Bought the Gloves - $0.50

Bought the pants at a thrift store - $2

Bought the shin guards at a thrift store - $2  DIY post

Had the shoes :)

Had the Light Saber :)

TOTAL COST---$12.50!!!

For the COOLEST Vader costume. :) (if I do say so my self)

 See how handy the sunglasses mask is?!? It just comes right off as soon as he is done with it (which is fairly quickly)






I'm doing a nerdy Happy Dance right now cause I'm so exited at how good it turned out. :)

Easy no sew cape (takes 30 sec)

All you need is an old adult size shirt and a pair of scissors

You can use the front of back for the cape. The side that you want for the cape cut as you see the red lines, then flip the t shirt over and cut around the collar like the blue line

And there you have it! Easiest cape ever. My kids play with these ALL the time. 

Totall Cost--FREE. Who doesn't have an old t shirt laying around?

If both sides have print you can turn it inside out. 

Bat Girl Mask

We recently discovered the awesomeness of foam. Did you know that if you heat foam you can mold it and it will hold the shape?!?!

Bat Girl wanted a hood with ears like Batman, but she also wanted a cool mask. The Masks at the store have ears on them, but it was only $3, so we got it anyway. Mostly cause I wanted to try this. :)

Regular piece of craft foam

Apply heat. We used a heat gun, cause Marisa is AWESOME and just happened to have one. But I have also done this over a burner on the stove. Set the heat to med-low or med. When the burner is hot hold the piece of foam about 6 inches over the burner. When the foam goes limp it's ready to mold. It's hot, but not hot enough to burn you. You can put it on your skin if you want to mold it to a specific part of you. (but I don't suggest putting it on a child's skin)

This is the mask I used as a mold

I learned it's easier to cut teh foam down to size before you heat and mold it. I didn't get a smooth edge cause I had too much excess. 

You can see I just pressed it down and used my fingers to get it into the crevasses (it's really a 2 handed operation)

After it cooled (about 15 secs) This is what it looked like!

I also took a black ball point pen and drew some crease lines on the forehead. Gives it extra depth. :)

I didn't trim up the edges cause I wasn't  sure how I wanted to do the nose, but I ended up just cutting it straight across the bottom. 

Now use a glue water mix. I do roughly 3 parts glue to 1 part water. But I NEVER measure. I just pour some in till the glue is about the consistency of egg nog, or slightly thinner.  Paint it on the out side to seal the foam. 

When the out side dries turn it around and to a layer of glue water, then a layer of fabric strips, and then another layer of glue water on top. This keeps it stiff  and helps it hold it's shape.  (I found out that it's easier to cut teh eye holes BEFORE the glue and fabric. So trim it FIRST)

 This is what it looks like dry and trimmed. Pretty awesome huh!

 Then I just sewed a strap of elastic to the back

 And the mask is done. Just think what else you can do with foam!!

Now we have a formed black mask for the costume box. Zoro, Dread Pirate Roberts, super hero, villain  we can use this for a number of things. 

We have plans for storm trooper armor some time in the future with this technique. :) Seriously, now cool would THAT be?!

Crafting Supplies

Hey everyone! Don't forget to visit the JoAnn website and claim your 50% off coupon for any item! This is a great store for getting supplies for you DIY projects. Especially when it's 50% off! (click on the thin banner in the middle of the page)

Been a Little Busy

Hey Everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been putting together a Baby shower. I want to post the neat decorations I've been doing...but the person I'm throwing the shower for reads my blog. So my lips are zipped until after the shower. And then I promise I'll have some neat things for all of you.

WINNER!

Anitha S. R. !!! Congrats! 2 Pairs of Earrings coming your way!

Easy last minuet costumes

We have been posting a lot of the costumes that we have been working on this year. Although they are SUPER AWESOME, sometimes you need an easy costume, or cheap/free costume, or a costume that you can throw together in 10 mins. We can do that too. In fact growing up, those are the only kind of costumes we ever really did. (Mom doesn't think costumes are as FUN as we do :) )

PIRATE COSTUME:

Almost EVEYONE has what they need to put together a pirate costume. Bandana for your head, you can do a button up shirt, a solid T or a stripped T. If you have an old T that is to big the the intended Pirate that would be best. Then you can cut it up a bit, make it look ragged. The the bottom and the sleeves like this:  VVVVVVVVV. Throw on a vest if you have one, and an adult belt over the shoulder is a nice touch. You can use regular pants or find some old shorts or sweat pants and cut them like the shirt. Tie a scarf or sash around the waist if you have one and BOOM you have a pirate. 

This is one I did when I was 12. Trick or treating was 10 minuets away and I had NO costume. Mom helped me put this together. 

BABY

 Baby footie PJ's stuffed with paper (or what ever you have on hand) A baby blanket pined around the back of my neck, and the baby "body" pinned to the blanket. We pinned the hands together and stuck a bottle in there. With one hand I held the baby up so it was sitting on something and not just dangling  and with the other hand I held out the diaper bag for my candy. This one got some GOOD laughs. :)

Any kind of Animal is SO easy. You don't have to buy a costume. I made little ears out of felt. (you can use Construction paper, craft foam or scraps of fabric too)

I cut out the shape and used my hot glue gun (tape, staples, or glue would also work) 

And I glued a little loop to go over a head band. 

 Add spots with colored duct tape, felt, craft foam, fabric, or draw on it the clothes with a sharpie. You can sew, glue, tape or pin the spots on.

 Lighten McQueen

I put this together for my 2 year old last year who LOVED Lightening, but didn't like costumes. I cut out the lightening bolt out of felt and sewed it on a red jacket. He still wears it. :)

Did we get your wheels turning?