5 Non-Slutty Halloween Costumes- How to!

Hello Folks,

Tis the season for scary movies, too much candy and dressing up in creepy costumes. Here are my top 5, DIY, easy, non slutty Halloween costumes I've found- far cooler than your average lingerie and cat ears combo.

5. Carrie from "Carrie" (1976)

An absolute classic of the genre, based on the novel by Steven King- if you haven’t heard of Carrie and the bucket of pigs blood scene- well- just rent the movie, its iconic. 

Heres how you make Carries gory prom night costume, it’s pretty simple but messy!

You will need:

1. A long light dress or silk night gown- ebay!
2. Long blonde wig
3. A TON of fake blood- As you’d need quite a lot, I’d advise making your own WASHABLE variety, heres a good recipe.

Easy enough to do- put the dress and the wig on, get in the bath and douse yourself with a load of fake blood and you’re done!

4. Coraline from "Coraline "(2009)

I’d recommend Coraline by Neil Gaiman for a short scary read for Halloween, the film is pretty good too! If you know and love it already, then the costume is pretty simple to do, for a Coraline Costume 

You will need:

1. A Short blue wig.
2. Pale face paint and and kohl black eyeliner- here is a good tutorial for the make up: But I wouldn’t recommend GLUING BUTTONS TO YOUR EYELIDS like this crazy Italian lady did.
3. A yellow raincoat.
4. Yellow Wellies
5. Jeans
6. A dragonfly hair slide- Ebay has them (of course!) or you could make your own from a hair slide, cardboard, paint and glue
7. Optional: 2x very large black buttons & some clear elastic or wire.

For the button eyes, I’d recommend perhaps making a clear wire glasses frame or connecting them with a clear elastic band all the way around like an eye mask so you can take them on and off.

3. A Lichtenstein Girl

Roy Lichtenstein’s 60’s iconic pop art style looks super creepy in real life! This costume is pretty much all about how good the makeup looks.

You will need:

1. Face Paints
2. Kohl Black Eyeliner
3. A bright coloured wig (preferably yellow)

The make up tutorial can be found here, it’s not too tricky or delicate, I’m pretty sure anyone with a mirror and the right tools could do it!

 

Pair it up with any simple outfit you can find, (if you have it to hand anything polka dot or a fifties dress) and make a speech bubble from light cardboard and a hairclip and slide on top of your wig.

2. Tippi Hendren from "The Birds" (1963)

Who doesn’t love Hitchcock? The master of suspense! This costume is great for film lovers,- its easy and relatively cheap as you can get all the items on ebay or charity shops.

You will need-:
1. (If you are not blonde) A blonde Wig
2. A pale green (or similar) skirt suit- there are tons on ebay
3. Fake blood
4. Some fake ravens (ebay)
5. Flat shoes, clear stockings
6. (Optional) a large plain handbag- charity shops are a great place to find “old lady” style bags!

1. Marceline from Adventure Time

For those of you who don't know- I freaking love Adventure Time, i’m not dressing up this year but if I was, Marceline the vampire from AT would be my first choice. The costume is a little harder than your average face paint and wig jobby but any crafty person should be able to handle it.

You will need:

1. A 100cm long black wig- heres a good one.
2. Grey face paint
3. A grey vest
4. Skinny or straight leg jeans
5. Red Cowboy boots or similar style
6. Materials for the Axe Bass Guitar- Theres a great tutorial here.

Everything can be bought on ebay or charity shops if you allow yourself enough time- I’m keeping an eye out for cheap red boots just in case for next year!

Happy Halloween Y’all!

Hayley x

Victorian Inspired Reptile Silhouette Necklace

Hey Folks, 

I made this for spooky skeleton pendant for someone else, so I didn't get to keep it sadly! I made it from bits and bobs I had lying around, some wire, paint and hot glue so it's completely unique! 

It was part of a Victorian themed swap on Cut Out + Keep, I also sent her a top hat ring, a lace and black ribbon choker, and some tie on ruffled cuffs, but forgot to take pictures! 

I haven't done any crafting for Halloween yet, but have seens loads of cool things on other blogs at the moment like these:  Halloween Peg People and Chicken Wire Pumpkin!

I think I'll be trying out my pumpkin carving skills soon though so watch this space...

Hayley x

Cake Pops!

My first attempt at cake pops went pretty well! I used left over chocolate birthday cake...

Here's my Cake Pop Recipe:

Chocolate Cake Pops

Ingredients

• Chocolate cake (I used half a large chocolate birthday cake!)
• Chocolate Frosting (You can make your own by creaming butter, adding icing sugar and cocoa powder but I just used shop bought ready made frosting)
• White chocolate- about 500g
• Cake Pop Sticks
• Decoration
• A large Piece of Foam or Polystyrene (to put the cake pops in)

Instructions

1. Crumble up the cake until its just crumbs.

2. Add a couple of big dollops of chocolate frosting to the crumbs, get your hands in there and mix the frosting and the crumbs together- it should come together nicely into one mega cake ball.

3. Get a teaspoon and use it to scoop some cake pop mix- if you use a spoon to scoop they should all come out the same size.

4. Roll your teaspoon of cake pop mix in your hand lightly until it resembles a ball. Do this until you have used up all the mix- you should have 15-20 balls!

5. Melt about 50-100g of white chocolate- I found the easiest way to do this is to get a small saucepan of water and bring it to the boil, place a good quality ceramic or glass bowl on top of the saucepan so the steam heats it up, then you can melt the chocolate slowly by stirring it.

6. Grab a cake pop stick and dip the tip (about 1cm) of it in the hot white chocolate, then place the stick in the cake ball (no more than half way through), repeat with all the cake balls- do it as quickly as possible as after about 5 mins the white chocolate gets lumpy and hard to use.

7. Put them on a plastic tray and pop them in the fridge for about 30 mins until the white chocolate has set the sticks in the cake balls.

8. Melt about a quarter of the remaining white chocolate up in the same way as before, take a tablespoon and scoop up a big helping of white chocolate, take your cake pop and rotate it in the hot white chocolate until its completely covered.

9. Pop the cake pop in the foam to set- quickly decorate with sprinkles if you like while its still warm.

10. Repeat until your chocolate turns lumpy and then add another quarter more of the white chocolate, heat up and start again, twirling it in the chocolate, placing it in the foam and decorating.

11. When they are finished, place in the fridge overnight to set.

12. If they are a gift, you can cover them in cellophane, this is easily obtainable for free from florists and use deco tape to hold it in place. If you are planning to wrap with cellophane, note that the chocolate melts really easy when touched- so try to do it without touching the chocolate at all!

13. Decorate the foam- you can paint it, or cover it in tissue paper, ribbon, or completely cover in deco tape. Arrange your cake pops, and you’re done!

 

They keep for about 3-5 days in the fridge, they’re super easy, fun to do and really tasty, so I’d recommend them to anyone.

I think next i’ll try Red Velvet Christmas themed cake pop in December.

Hayley

Amazing Autumn Fabrics

Hey Folks, 

Autumn is my favourite season! Everything looks really pretty, especially the English countryside AND I can get out my much loved tights, boots and knits! I think it's safe to say the typical English Summer was in full effect this year, but lets just forget all about that and focus on a beautiful autumn.

So I put on my thick PJ's, sat down with a nice hot cup of tea and the radiator on and became slowly but surely obsessed with woodland animal themed fabric! Here are my Top Five Autumn/Fall Fabrics I'm trying not to buy right now! (Trying and failing)

1. Little Red Riding Hood Print- by Aneela Hoey for Moda

Part of her "A Walk in the Woods" range. It also comes in baby pink, baby blue and grey. I really love her whole Walk In The Woods collection, which also has cute woodland themed foxes, toadstools and sparrow print. I think this fabric would look amazing paired with some red gingham! It can be found at a good price for U.K at Quilty Pleasures and is stocked in various US shops too. 

2. Illustrated Squirrells at Fabric Rehab

Squirrels! I'm nuts about this fabric (see what I did there), it's being stocked here at: Fabric Rehab UK but I'm unsure of the designer, so I can't tell you much about it- other than LOOK AT THE SQUIRRELS! I think it's a UK only stockist. Anyway, cute squirrel stamped fabric- Squirrels! 

3. Bears in Woods by David Walker

Bears in woods from David Walker's Get Together collection features fun loving animals cavorting across this adorable fabric. I really love David Walkers inexpensive geometric prints- I usually find geometric print really dull, but I love the twist of using cute animals rather than just block shapes.  This collection also features some little piggies and bird fabrics that are worth checking out, you can find Bears in Woods in this U.K retailers: Stay Stitching or for USA here is a good place to find the whole collection: Hawthorne Threads

4. Pet Deer by Michael Miller

Love this fawn themed fabric by Michael Miller, it's just been released for his newest Orchid Spa collection. Its a really versatile fabric and would look amazing paired with the polka dot fabrics of the same colors that are also featured in this collection. It can be found for a good UK price here: Funky Kitsch or you can go straight to his US website (which I've lost hours of my life too!) Michael Miller.

5. Red Owls on Natural by Kokka Japan

This sweet little owls fabric is really trendy for this season, I think this simple print is freaking adorable. Kokka Japan do a real variety of Japanese cute "Kawaii" inspired fabric, and i'd recommend them to anyone- all there stuff is very different- but always fun, bright prints, perfect for kids projects. This fabric can be found for UK here: Fabric Inspirations

Or a great place to find their stuff for USA is: Fabric Worm.

I love fabric shopping! I just wish I could afford them all! I'd love to hear from anyone who is planning on or has already bought these. 

Hayley x