Late photos are better than none!

I had been trying so very hard to get everyone's costumes done, photos taken, and finishing up the photo story from last Halloween, but it just didn't happen. With my back almost going out twice in a month I have been spending most of the time stuck in bed. While the costumes got done, nothing else did. I still really wanted to show off what I made. More pictures will be coming later once Raven has a chance to help me where it won't make my back worse. Despite my discomfort, I'm still really happy to show off the kid's costumes!

 

 

Ringo: "I'm the princess of the flower fairies! So that means I want fairy cakes and two My Little Ponies."

 

Ringo's outfit was intended to be the easiest of all, but turned into a complete beast to design. She looks so adorable in it that all the time it took was worth it. Everything (except the wings) is made from felt and all hand sewn or hot glued. Her hat keeps it's shape because I hot glued wire between the petal layers so I can adjust it however I want. It's actually pretty cool! This is my attempt to make an outfit out of flower parts and Ringo is just LOVING it!

 

 

Ringo: "This outfit is definitely better than Tinkerbell's! Her's looks like something Rainie would wear..."

 

I think the corset lacing on the back is pretty cute. There is hot glue reinforcing the lacing holes, but it sure was a bugger getting it threaded! I pinned the Dollar Store wings on because I was so tired of trying to figure out how to attach them without ruining the look of the whole outfit. Maybe I should add some felt violets to the center of her wings so they will just cover up the pins.

 

 

Ralph: "Dude, its the Great Pumpkin!"

 

I do have to give thanks to Marq V & Poofiemus for giving me the idea of Ralph doing a Peanuts costume. Ralph surely doesn't fit Charlie Brown's personality, but with that bald head of his I couldn't resist! Fortunately this was almost a no-brainer costume for me because I already had the patterns drafted. His shirt is made from felt since that was the only yellow fabric I had (I'm not a big fan of yellow...) In the end it worked out though because it made the collar really easy and I just hot glued the fold down.

 

 

Mommy: "Naiomi, lift up your skirt a bit to show off your crinoline!"

Naiomi: "Mama, I can't show anyone my petticoat when we're taking a picture!" *blush*

 

Naiomi's dress still blows me away knowing that I drafted every last bit of it from scratch. That may not be a big deal to most people, but for me it was the hardest dress I could think of that she would want. I didn't set out to do something so challenging, it just happened to be what was needed for this year's witch dress. I definitely plan on getting better pictures later of the details (and putting the zipper in!) Thankfully the petticoat was easy to make, but I had wanted to have at least 3 done to make her skirt really poofy but there is only one in the pic. I'll find a way to convince her or Yuriko to show it off later. Her hat was one I bought and it was attached to a human sized headband that I removed. On a whim I also bought the green hair extensions that are in her hair, and they are both the same length! They are held on with hair clips and I braided them together with her own hair. That shade of green is becoming her favorite Halloween color!

 

 

*click*

Rainie: "Hey wait, I'm not ready yet!!"

Mommy: "Gotcha!"

 

This is not Rainie's costume... I have rarely seen Rainie in quite some time because she's still having to share a body and Ringo's outfit took me way longer to do than I imagined it would. I just thought this picture is really cute. Looks like Ralph is going to be sharing his shorts with his sister.

 

~Sister Kyoya

Such fun costumes ^^ I love that fairy outfit, it's really cute and beautifully done!

Wow, great costumes. You are really talented! Will you be selling that dress in the future (versions of it, I mean)?

Really nice costumes !

I do like Charly Brown a lot as it brings childhood memories

Those costumes are really great! I love the Charlie Brown one, it's really awesome. ^__^

Such fun costumes ^^ I love that fairy outfit, it's really cute and beautifully done!

Thank you! Normally stretching felt isn't something that people do but done just right and and it can make even a chunky fabric like that turn ruffly! I had to turn my brain inside out a bit to get her outfit figured out even after many image searches for ideas, but I'm definitely proud of what Ringo ended up with! It also gave her an excuse why we had to keep on watching the Tinkerbell movies too.

 

Wow, great costumes. You are really talented! Will you be selling that dress in the future (versions of it, I mean)?

 

Thank you. I still often struggle sometimes seeing the greatness (?) of what I do because blowing people out of the water is a regular occurrence for me. All I know is I try my best and see what happens. I normally don't know how good something is until I can hear people's comments. I'm assuming 'that' dress is Naiomi's? And yes, I fully intend to have it for sale in Naiomi's Closet once I can test the dress with a lining. I've been slowly working on more fabric prints too so this dress could be done in any of those prints, with a contrasting front panel or all made from a single fabric! All of my test outfits are done with whatever fabric and notions I have on hand so the final versions have different fabric.

 

Really nice costumes !

I do like Charly Brown a lot as it brings childhood memories

Those costumes are really great! I love the Charlie Brown one, it's really awesome. ^__^

 

Thank you, and thank you! Ralph as Charlie Brown just cracks me up. Tamayuki also looks adorable in that shirt even though yellow isn't his color. I still can't think of Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas without thinking of the Peanuts cartoons. Even when it isn't a holiday I still watch Peanuts a lot! Peppermint Patty is still my favorite.

 

I found it to be an interesting challenge to see how many new costumes/outfits I could design in October. Since a few of them took me longer than I expected, other costumes had to be scaled back to meet the Halloween deadline. Everyone ended up being really happy though, and I still think they are all adorable. We are planning on getting the rest of the photos done tomorrow.

 

~Sister Kyoya

Love the Fairy costume! And Ralph's Charlie Brown one is awesome. He looks adorable. Can't wait to see what the rest of the family's outfits are. And you did these while on bedrest? ! Geez. What you probably can do while being 100% will most likely be even more fabulous.

That fairy costume is wonderful!! She looks soooo cute! You've done a terrific job on all of these costumes!!

 

Ha, Ha!!! You did make Ralph into a Peanuts character (at least for Halloween) *cue Vince Guaraldi*

 

It was very nice of you to mention Poofiemus and myself helping with the idea. Maybe next Halloween Ralph could be Linus or have him play in the dirt and turn him into Pig Pen

omg! That Charlie Brown costume damn near killed me!! Too funny! looks awesome Everyone looks great!

Love the Fairy costume! And Ralph's Charlie Brown one is awesome. He looks adorable. Can't wait to see what the rest of the family's outfits are. And you did these while on bedrest? ! Geez. What you probably can do while being 100% will most likely be even more fabulous.

 

I really love felt because it doesn't fray, but the down side is that it pretty much needs to be hand sewn to look good. Much of Ringo's outfit has two stitches per millimeter (3 to 4 stitches about every 1/8th of an inch) so I guess it was good practice for my hand sewing. Ralph keeps hinting that his costume is going to make an appearance off and on during the year "To confuse the aliens."

 

And yes, these were all done on bed rest with me propped up like the queen of pillows. Drives me nuts because I feel so slow. I have a bed table made from a board and shelf brackets that helped a lot in being able to draft patterns. After a while I got really tired of my hip cramping and trying to move so it would quit without setting off my back.

 

That fairy costume is wonderful!! She looks soooo cute! You've done a terrific job on all of these costumes!!

 

Thank you! Figuring out some of those pieces was surely a challenge, for the longest time Ringo didn't have a top. That was the part that stumped me the most on how to have it look like a flower and not 'human clothing'. I really wanted to make a matching fairy boy outfit for Tamayuki, but after spending 2 days making his acorn hat (140 pieces cut out by hand and hot glued...) I realized I wouldn't have time to get everyone else's outfits done if I didn't think of something new for him. I'm totally planning on finishing his at a later time.

 

Ha, Ha!!! You did make Ralph into a Peanuts character (at least for Halloween) *cue Vince Guaraldi*

 

It was very nice of you to mention Poofiemus and myself helping with the idea. Maybe next Halloween Ralph could be Linus or have him play in the dirt and turn him into Pig Pen

 

After you and Poofiemus mentioned Peanuts I just couldn't get it out of my head. Still wish I had the time to make his shoes and Charlie Brown's hair (that part I just forgot.) Raven and I have already decided on next year's costumes, but I'm sure that with Rainie's spy troops and her working on her master of disguise technique and Naiomi loving to sew costumes in sets that more Peanuts renditions wouldn't be hard to do.

 

omg! That Charlie Brown costume damn near killed me!! Too funny! looks awesome Everyone looks great!

 

Thank you! Ralph has a way of catching me off guard a lot of the time when he plays the straight man. He says some of the goofiest things like it is completely normal and common knowledge. So with the outfit he can both look completely silly in it like it doesn't suit him at all, but at the same time make me wonder how he could ever wear anything else because it just so perfectly suits him.

 

~Sister Kyoya

As promised, here is more photos! This is still not all of them yet but I figured it was better to get a few and take another day off from the photo shoot before going back at it instead of going gung-ho and getting stuck in bed for a week and a half...

 

 

Tamayuki: "I'm going to show you my magic trick! I can make a rabbit pop out of this hat! I just wave my wand around a little bit..."

 

*the stage magician wiggles his wand*

 

 

Tamayuki: *whispers loudly* "Ok, you can get in the hat now! Hurry!"

 

 

Tamayuki: "Tada!"

 

Dakota: *wiggles her nose and eyebrows and tries not to giggle*

 

 

Even though Tama's outfit feels like a last minute choice to have Dakota's outfit make sense, I am still totally in love with it! I wasn't sure how the top hat would look with clippie but Tama just doesn't look right without it. It's really hard to see but there is a velvet band on his hat. I knew Tama would always be a bowtie type of boy, but now that I actually get to see him in one he's just super adorable! His pleated pants are great but I hate that fabric because it picks up everything like crazy... His wand is made from a dowel rod, paint, and matte Mod Podge.

 

The shirt is a Bitty Twins (from American Girl) shirt that's pinned in the back and why the sleeves look a little odd. Eventually I'll make a shirt like this to fit Tama properly. The cape had to be pinned on and the bow tie is just lightly sewn on so I can remove it later and give Harry his shirt back. I'm sure the cape will get a lot of use too since it is about a 3/4 circle cape with a collar that you can't see very well. The cape is heavier than it looks because the black is jersey but the unexpected bonus was that it made it so Tama could stand all on his own (with careful balancing) despite his busted ankles. That alone made me very happy!

 

 

And lastly (for today) there is Dakota... who has strangely found her costume to be totally hilarious! When I first suggested the outfit to her I thought she would want to smack me. Any other time I have put her in unflattering clothes, her disgust wasn't even veiled. But with this? All I can think of is that Halloween costumes are supposed to be very different from what you would normally wear, and since her casual clothes seem to cover very little, I guess this is the logical choice.

 

In case you were wondering the outfit is an old baby onesie that used to belong to my niece who is now a senior in high school.

 

This by far was the easiest outfit, even with needing to make the ears! I want to send a huge thank you out to Maarit again for sending me the plastic headband base. I could have thought of another way to do it but your unexpected gift just made this project SO easy! These ears like Ringo's hat have wire hot glued inside so I can shape them and change them all I want! I'll have to get some pictures showing that off sometime.

 

The huge hat is made out of clean delivery pizza box lids, poster board, hot glue, paper clay (to fill in the holes in the side of the cardboard), paint, matte Mod Podge, and a red ribbon. That thing is seriously huge. I have stuck it on my head a couple of times just being silly and I feel like a small child with a huge grown up hat.

 

 

I still can't believe how adorable 'Da Bunny' is! The faceup that Anouc did is just totally, totally perfect for this. All I did was add the nose (made from paper clay & paint.) I never would have expected that the red lips I requested would work so well with something like this. I just can't quit staring at this picture! I also finally got around to doing a neck mod for her so she can tilt her head back now. I'm stunned at how huge of a difference it makes!

 

 

Dakota: "I have a few 'magic' tricks of my own!"

 

Leave it to Dakota to make even a baby onesie look sexy.

 

~Sister Kyoya

Hahaha! Love the sexy, giant bunny!

I was going to finish these photos today, I promise. I'm finally getting back into doing photo stories but I'm finding that the more DD I have to move around the harder it is to get a lot of pics done before my back starts screaming. As much as I always want to go gung-ho on everything I'm having to learn to do things in smaller increments. Sometimes I do get a bit lost though because our DD stories keep going on in my head and it's often hard for me to catch them before the next one pops up. Still trying to effectively figure out how to make sense of all of the long overdue stories that I still want to do. I'm only a little more than a year behind...

 

Ok, off to play photographer!

 

~Sister Kyoya

Finally the photos are done, no thanks to Bree... She would not cooperate the first night at all (and why I didn't get the photos done) and felt like chucking her out the window. The weight of her hair makes it impossible to get her to stand using Tama's floppy body. I'll be much happier when she's on her solid 40cm Obitsu. Either way it felt like she was not giving a darn what I was trying to do and continually kept toppling over. Same thing the next night, but I got the photos done because she was only 'misbehaving' when Raven wasn't in the room. I love her to pieces but when she doesn't want to do what I need her to, she sets me off like a stick of lit dynamite. Anyway, onto the photos!

 

 

Bree: "I's gots skeddi!"

 

Yuriko: "I'm sweet as an adorable cupcake! I wanted to be a ballerina too, but Mama said she wasn't going to make me two costumes. If I saw myself in a cake shop, I'm so cute I'd nom myself up!"

 

 

Bree: "Das mine!"

 

Yuriko: "I know. You already took a bite out of it." *makes a grouchy face*

 

 

Bree: "Mine candy is sticky. Candy you no go in mine hair. Bad candy." *laughs*

 

Yuriko: "Well, we were going to have more treats to share, but a certain someone left bite marks and fingerprints all over the rest of them. I would let you have one of these, but they're mine... and I want to eat them. It is Halloween, and what's Halloween without eating candy? Sacrilege!"

 

If anyone is wondering about the chair, Bree knocked it over after getting annoyed that she couldn't sit in it with the plate of spaghetti around her waist and pushed it over. Strange, because as much as she kept falling over I thought she would get a kick out of continually sliding out of the chair.

 

Here is a couple of pics of Naiomi's dress with and without her petticoat underneath.

 

 

 

As for Rainie's outfit, you'll have too see the effect it had here.

 

~Sister Kyoya

Glad I waited till now to comment, since now I can gush over ALL the costumes! You really cranked these out, and they turned out adorable. Tama and Ringo I think are the cutest, but I think Rainie, Bree, and Yuriko get points for most creative.

 

I love that you actually made Ralph into Charlie Brown! He really pulls off the look. Now he just needs Snoopy. . .or a tree-munched kite. (Maybe next year Rainie can be Lucy. )

 

I'm just squeeing inside at the sheer variety you managed to come up with.

Someone send over that cupcake and bowl of spaghetti over to Canada... What?! They're costumes?! Hmmm... I guess their talking and having arms and legs should have clued me in. Duh! Lovely, lovely work. But I have to say Rainie's is the BEST ever!

OMG They are so so so cute! I love the bunny one the most! So sexy and cute at the same time and this little bunny snoot >.< They are really well made too.

Wow, you did an amazing job on all their outfits!!

Lovely photos too!