Monday, November 2, 2009

Budget Halloween

Normally I’m kind of a big spender at Halloween. I love dressing up and I love making costumes. This year I had very little money to work with, and to be honest, my spirits are kind of low as well, so my creative juices are running low. But despite all that, I ended up with a pretty awesome costume.

I’ve been reading a lot of Melissa Marr fairy books*, and as such, that was in the forefront of my mind. That said, I went to the Halloween super store one evening with no real plan in mind. I just knew that NOT dressing up is LAME and I wanted to spend very little.

These wings were so pretty, and only $11.00. So I took them home and figured I’d go from there.

Halloween

I added:
1. A formal dress I have passed over for re-wearing at least a dozen times now. It had a buble hem and I just didn’t care for it anymore. So I hacked off the end, which worked really well as there were three layers of fabric, all different textures under there which looked really nice.

2. A petticoat from last year 50’s day costume, I took about 2 tiers off, by ripping them

3. A sweater I used to love, but that had holes and had seen better days. I cut off the bottom, and made all the edges raw. I added slits in the back to insert the straps on the wings into so that they were not visible, since I felt that look kind of weird.

4. Black tights

5. Ankle boots

6. A ton of bird/bat skull jewelry and such that I already owned.

Halloween

I managed the wings OK both night I wore them. They got caught in doorways and I had to fold myself into the car pretty carefully but it was not so bad overall.

The necklaces included this awesome bat skull but the same maker as my tiny bird skulls...


Halloween

It’s little jaw is hinged and moveable.

Halloween

As a finishing touch, I made this awesome hand piece to wear a fourth skull I just couldn’t make work with the three already around my neck.

Halloween

Halloween

*I’m not normally a fairy person. At all. But MM makes them dark and urban and real.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

You look SOOO GREAT!! Your costume came out awesome and I love those wings (and $11 wow!)! Amazing jewelry! All around PERFECT!

xoxo
Amy

thebargainhunterextraordinaire.blogspot.com

BAM said...

That worked out great!! I love the bracelet/ring/hand dealy.

Sheila said...

Great costume! I love the hand jewelry - my eye went right to that.

yotababy said...

I missed seeing you guys this year! You look gorgeous--very MM indeed! :)

eednic said...

this hand piece/bracelet thing you made....can you make more? i'm SRS. i really really like it.

Tina said...

I agree that it is lame not to get dressed up for Halloween. And sadly, we were uber lame. What did y'all end up doing?

Wear Necessities said...

I LOVE your costume! I did a half-assed costume this year and totally regret it! Oh well, there is always next year. Your wings and dress and jewelry are truly fabulous.

A said...

I think that's very creative, actually! You had to put a lot of thought into it, make adjustments and totally accessorize! It looks great.

I love that hand piece... when I was in jr. high and those pearl necklaces were popular that you'd string in a bunch and twist together, I used to take those and wear them on my hands like that. I have an elaborate piece I bought somewhere that has a ring and strands that go down to the wrist too (but I never wear it--where do you wear something like that to?!).

Anyway, LOVE it! What was Nathan?

Meesh said...

Great costume!

Layla said...

LOVE the costume!!

Interesting handpiece indeed!!

Anonymous said...

That's a great costume. It's creative how you threw it together, and it looks great on you!