How to Wear a Half Wig

    As promised, here is my tutorial for how to wear your half wig, or fall!

    Here is the breakdown, in case you'd rather read than watch.

    You will need:
    ~Half wig
    ~Hair clip
    ~Lots and lots of bobby pins
    ~Wig cap
    ~More bobby pins
    ~Hairspray
    ~A few more bobby pins

    Step 1:  Try on the wig to see how much hair you should leave out at the front.  It should be somewhere just behind your ears.
    Step 2:  Clip the front section of your hair out of the way.
    Step 3:  Pin curl the rest of your hair (twist sections of hair into ringlets and criss-cross bobby pins over each one).
    Step 4:  Stretch wig cap over pin-curled section of hair.  Pin into place.
    Step 5:  Take front hair out of hair clip.  Stretch wig over wig cap, starting at the front, and holding the top in place as you cover the back with the wig.  Pin into place.
    Step 6:  Incorporate the front section of hair into the wig, either by spraying/pinning back, or by braiding into the wig.

    If you hadn't guessed, I'm wearing the wig in this video and doing an Arwen cosplay for ComiCon this weekend.  My husband and daughter and I did a photo shoot a few days ago, so pictures of all the costumes will be coming soon!

Check out my Etsy shop! I sell hand painted wooden signs with a variety of themes including geek, Disney, and Christian, and I also make custom orders!

DIY Femme Tenth Doctor Cosplay

    ComiCon is a week from tomorrow, and I'm so excited!  However, I don't yet have pictures of our costumes for this year.  So today I thought I'd throwback to our first year at ComiCon and my 10th Doctor cosplay.

    This was a super fun cosplay, and relatively easy to put together.  It got a lot of attention at ComiCon because although there were a lot of Doctors (male 10th Doctors, and male and female 11th Doctors), I was the only femme 10th Doctor.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the terms, femme generally refers to a feminine form of a male character, whereas genderswap or genderbend refers to when a female dresses as a male, or vice versa.

    First off, I always find a good photo on the internet to go off of.  Here's one of David Tennant as the 10th Doctor in his blue suit:

    So, for your femme cosplay, the first and most important item (partially because it may be one of the hardest to find) is a blue, pinstripe skirt or dress.

     Your best bet may be looking for this on the internet...I say this even though I hate shopping for clothes on the internet.  I got lucky.  I saw this one on the internet, and then realized it was from H&M.  So I went to our local H&M and happened to find the very last one that was on the rack, and it happened to be my size.  Score!

    Next, if you've chosen a skirt and not a dress, you'll need a white button-up shirt.

    This should be relatively easy to find, though don't take my word on that!  I saw this one at H&M when I was shopping for the skirt.  I think I ended up paying about $40-$50 for the skirt and shirt together.

    You will also need a red neck tie...this one I borrowed from my dear husband.  :)

    If you have a husband, boyfriend, dad, grandfather...any kind of man in your life, chances are they have one of these.  If not, it should be easy to find one.

    The second difficult to find item is a brown trench coat.

     David's coat is more of a medium-brown, while my coat ended up being more camel colored.  However, I was excited just to find this coat, so I wasn't going to be too picky about the color.  I'm sure that you could order one online and get it closer in color, but I was looking to spend the minimal amount.  And guess what?  $12 at a local thrift store.  Score again!

    Next you'll need a great pair of red shoes.

     My first plan was to go with red Converse, just like the Doctor wears.  However, like I said before, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on this costume, especially on items that I wouldn't wear outside of cosplay.  Converse isn't my personal style, so I really didn't want to invest in a pair of them to wear once or twice.  I looked for knock off brands, but no luck finding the right color.  Then I went shopping at Payless, and found this pair for $10.  I couldn't pass that up!  They're super cute, and they were the same type of canvas fabric as a pair of Converse.  Plus, I think they ended up looking much better with the whole outfit than sneakers would have.

    And that's your outfit!

    The only thing left is a couple of accessories, which aren't absolutely vital, but I definitely recommend having.

    A pair of brown, rectangular glasses (with no/fake lenses if you don't need them!), and of course, your trusty sonic screwdriver!  The 10th Doctor's screwdriver can be found in multiple places such as  Walmart or Barnes & Noble, for $21-$25.  It may not be the most important piece of the costume, but it's a whole lot of fun to play with!  :)

    As far as hairstyle goes, I chose to have my hair pulled back out of my face, but with a "bump" in the front, to kind of mimic David Tennant's hair.  

    This is a fairly easy style.  There might be fancier ways to accomplish it...Bump Its and whatnot, but I made a short (2 min) video on how I do it.

    Also, one last detail (and in cosplay, it's all about the details!)...the shoes I found were peep toes.  So, I had to make sure my toenails looked nice!  I chose to paint them with a galaxy style.  Maybe someday I'll do my own tutorial for that, but for now, here's one from Pinterest.  And another note on the shoes...if you do choose heels, particularly peep toes, please do what I did not and bandage your toes before hand!  You will want to take those shoes off as often as possible (sitting in celebrity panels, etc.), but you will also want to wrap up your toes and heels in bandaids/medical tape to keep them from blistering.

    This is definitely a cosplay that I plan to repeat someday (with taped up toes!).  I'd love to see your versions of the Doctor, too, so please share!

Check out my Etsy shop! I sell hand painted wooden signs with a variety of themes including geek, Disney, and Christian, and I also make custom orders!

No-Mess Painting with a Baby or Toddler

    I don't do many crazy, creative projects with Sugarplum because I don't generally consider myself a super creative person when it comes to those sorts of things. Also, I am blessed with a generally happy-go-lucky baby who entertains herself pretty well!  However, this project was one I adapted from a couple of different Pinterest ideas, and it was a big hit not only with Sugarplum, but with everyone who saw the results.
     The original ideas I was seeing on Pinterest were using paint in a Ziploc bag, taped to a table.  This way baby can squish the paint around without making a big mess using finger paints.  However, I wanted an actual painting in the end, not just a Ziploc bag full of paint to throw away!
    Pretty easy fix.  I just added paper to the bag!  The main issue here is finding paper that will not fall apart with the amount of paint soaking into it.  This will depend on how much paint you use, of course.  The first time, I didn't use very much paint, so construction paper worked just fine.  Next I tried cardstock with a lot more paint, and when I peeled the bag off it peeled most of the paint and the top layer of paper off, too! :(  After that I used a thin piece of 8x10 canvas that I got from Hobby Lobby.  It's a bit pricier, of course, but the great thing about using canvas is you can create a real keepsake.  We framed Sugarplum's canvas masterpiece and gave it to my mom as a Mother's Day gift.
    So, step 1.  Select your paper or canvas.  Then add paint (I just use cheap craft paint that you can get at a craft store or Walmart) in little blobs all over the paper.  Carefully slide the paper into a gallon-size Ziploc (or off-brand if you're like me!) bag, and seal it tightly!  Sealing is definitely one step you don't want to skimp on, if you truly want no-mess painting.  :)
    Depending on the age of your baby/toddler, there are a few different options for the next step.  Our first time painting, I taped the bag using painter's tape to our kitchen table, and put Sugarplum in her highchair with the tray removed so she could reach to pat on it to her heart's content.  The next couple of times, she was crawling, so I taped it to the hardwood floor or the front porch and let her crawl and sit all over it.  Now she's walking, so the most recent time, she grabbed that bag and carried it all over the house with her (this works best with canvas, not paper).  Any of the above will work just fine.  The main thing is to get the paint thoroughly squished all over the paper, and for your tot to have a good time doing it.  You can also experiment with using toys to roll over and beat on the painting, which can create interesting patterns.
     The last step is to get the bag back from your toddler (if you can!), lay it flat on top of something you don't mind possibly getting paint on, and cut the bag open.  You will need to cut all down the sides of the bag and peel the top layer back, rather than trying to slide the paper back out.  Then lay your child's masterpiece somewhere safe and flat to dry and enjoy!

    These pictures are from our first try:

    The rest of the times I used more paint, and I liked the end results better.
    Painting on the porch:

    End results, framed for hanging:

    Have fun painting!

Check out my Etsy shop! I sell hand painted wooden signs with a variety of themes including geek, Disney, and Christian, and I also make custom orders!

How to remove shine from a synthetic (curly) wig

    I recently purchased a half-wig, also known as a fall, off of eBay.  I often have my hair cut to around shoulder-length, and I was tired of worrying about what length my hair was going to be by the time ComiCon rolled around!  In case you've never dealt with falls before, the purpose of them is not to change your hair color, but to extend it.  The front part of your own hair is incorporated into the wig so that it all blends in and looks more natural.
    Unfortunately I didn't take a "before" picture of the wig...I didn't have a blog at the time!  Here's the eBay version, though.

    I don't know if I would have even thought of the fact that the wig was unnaturally shiny, had I not recently pinned this article on Pinterest.  So, once the wig came in, I thought, "Hmm...here's a perfect opportunity to try this out!"  After all, the more natural looking the cosplay, the better (at least in my opinion!).
    So I bought some cheap fabric softener and went to work.  Tip #1: Make sure you like the smell of the fabric softener you use, because your wig WILL smell like it afterward!  I'm currently debating hanging mine outside somewhere to air it out.  :P  The tutorial suggested using 1-3 cups of softener, depending on the length of your wig, so I used 2.  Pour the fabric softener into a bucket or dish pan, anything big enough to lay the wig in (flipped inside out), and then add enough water to thoroughly cover the wig.  Next comes the hardest part of the process - finding somewhere to leave the bucket where babies and dogs can't find it!  Or maybe that's just me...
    I left my wig soaking for about 5 days (the original tutorial suggested 5-7).  Then take it out, letting it drip, and lay it flat on a towel to dry.  Don't squeeze it!  My wig has a good bit of hair, so I had to spread it out to get it to dry.  This process took another couple of days for me.  Also, in case you're like and me and are worried about the water messing up your curls...in my case, the curls were perfectly fine.  I watched a video another cosplayer posted of doing a similar process with their curly wig, and they had no problem, either.
    Okay, honesty time...I have no clue whether the fabric softener did any good or not.  The second step of this process is what actually impressed me.  However, I'm sure there's a reason that the article said to soak it first!  The wig did end up pretty soft, so maybe that's the result I was looking for.  However, it was not at all soft until after I finished completely, so don't worry about the fact that it is now a little icky looking/feeling.
    Now for part 2 of the de-shining process!  This part gets a bit messy, so lay out a towel (and you should probably be prepared for your clothes to get a little dusty, too).  Either lay the wig out flat, or pin it onto a wig head if you have one.  The original tutorial says to use talc, aka baby powder.  However, baby powder is no longer made of talc because it's actually toxic.  Yuck!  I never use baby powder with Sugarplum, so I was a little clueless.  But when I looked at Walmart, turns out that baby powder is now made out of "Pure Corn Starch" (plus scents, etc.).  My thought: Why would I buy baby powder made out of corn starch when I have a box of corn starch in my cabinet at home?  I even googled it, and yep, you can use corn starch instead of baby powder in most, if not all, instances.  Even on your baby's bum!  :)
    I poured corn starch into a cleaned-out spice shaker to make it easier to apply.  You will also need a wig brush...in my case, this was an American Girl doll brush!  Basically what you're looking for is a wire brush.  If you don't have American Girl dolls :), I'm sure you can find them online or at a wig store.

    Start coating your wig, section by section, with corn starch, and working it through the hair.  I rubbed it in with my fingers, and also brushed it.  If your wig is curly, just be very gentle with the ends!  It also helps to twist up each section after you finish it, to make sure the curl stays in.  You'll find your own method of applying the corn starch as you go.  I ended up deciding it was easiest to sprinkle the corn starch into my hand, then dip my fingers in it and rub it into the hair, like this:

    You'll be able to see the shine disappearing as you work!  I was able to get a pretty good "before and after" picture.  With flash:

    Without:

    You can especially tell in the picture with flash.  Natural hair doesn't reflect a flash like that!  

    After a couple of sessions brushing and corn starch-ing (you might be able to finish it in less if you're not trying to work around a toddler sleep schedule!), it was done!  

    All the curls are still intact (yay!), and it's now much more natural-looking.  Plus, it ended up matching my hair a little better in the end than it did to start with.  Which is worth making note of - the corn starch may lighten the wig ever so slightly.
    Next, check out how to wear your half wig!


Check out my Etsy shop! I sell hand painted wooden signs with a variety of themes including geek, Disney, and Christian, and I also make custom orders!