halloween 2018: how i made my imagine dragons costume

I. LOVE. HALLOWEEN. I know I've said this before. Every year I spend months coming up with an idea, then buying entirely too many things to make it work. I try everything on over the course of a couple weeks and am ready to go on Halloween. 

Not this year. This year I came up with an idea a couple weeks ago, and started ordering things last week. It all arrive on Thursday and I put it together for the first time Saturday morning, a couple hours before my Farmoween Halloween party. The panic kicked in immediately and was very real. Nothing worked in real life like it did in my head. 

I was going to be Imagine Dragons. They have been all over the radio this year and I finally got to see them in concert, so it fits my rule of something having to do with my life that year. I'd be this fun colorful dragon and then I'd have a thought bubble that was dry/erase so people could be hilarious and draw things that I'm imagining. 

Problem one: I didn't know what a dragon looked like. 

I did some research on the Google machine and decided it's a lizard with wings. Instead of painting an entire bodysuit like I did the past two years, I bought one. Didn't try it on, just felt good about a medium. [Note: a medium was not good. It was way too tight.]

Problem two: There were zero tails that matched my bodysuit. 

In my head, this was no issue. I'd buy any random tail and spray paint it to match. I never thought about the fact that there is no paint that is holographic like my bodysuit was. I bought a holographic green tail, and ended up painting dark purple over it. It actually worked better than I thought when I started painting.

Problem three: Getting the thought bubble on. 

I had seen thought bubble headbands on Amazon, but they weren't Prime, so I ordered some random thought bubble magnet thing. It was so damn heavy. Thanks to my dad, mom, and boyfriend, we figured out how to peel off the dry/erase layer, glued that to some foam board, then glued all of it to a wire hanger that we wrapped around a very tight headband. With 3 minutes left until I had to leave, it seemed pretty sturdy. I hot glued some nice demon horns on there for extra scary dragon effect.

Problem four: How to do my make-up

Maybe this isn't a problem... this is probably the most exciting part of Halloween now. It helps me feel girly even if I look ridiculous in my costume. I found this tutorial on dragon make-up, bought a dragon scale make-up stencil [turns out that's a thing, I guess], and got to work. I just held the stencil on my face and used a contour brush to put about 5 shades of teal, purple, and blue on my face. It turned out to be much easier than I imagined, and I'm obsessed with it. 

I had other problems like forgetting my wings at home and having to send the other Dragon back to get them, and my shirt constantly hanging out underneath, my other Dragon having a giant costume head that was impossible to stick the thought bubble onto, not having any good shoes, and a lack of people wanting to draw on my thought bubble, but overall- it came together and I'm good with it. Maybe not my best Halloween costume, but it'll do. 

I mean, Instagram likes aren't adding up like I'd like them to, but life isn't all about the likes... right?... 

love,
elizabethany

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halloween 2015: diy my little pony costume

Halloween.... one of the holidays where I feel ALLLLLL the pressure to live up to the year before. I always put so much effort into my costumes, so I need to outdo, or at least live up to, the year before.

This year I decided to be Rarity, from My Little Pony. When I was searching for things with purple hair, there weren't many options, but I knew this one could be fun to play with when it came to my make-up and hair. It was.

*once again, be patient with me with my pics. I'm never prepared with a charged camera these days.*

-the bodysuit is from Amazon. I ordered it white so I could dye it the really pale periwinkle color. It's a lycra so it was tough, but with a heavy mix of purple AND blue, it worked out! Decided to go with shoes under the footies instead of worrying about hooves

-the ears are from a simple sheet of foam that I folded over a headband and hot glued at the tip for some shape

-the light up unicorn horn, or "light up dildohead," as it became, was a random lucky find from Target. I had to super glue it to a headband so it didn't always fall over. 

-a tail made of cheap purple yarn, hot glued onto the bodysuit finished the outfit!

I was probably MOST excited to do the hair. I bought some good blonde extensions and had Ruby dye them to match my hair, then found this tutorial for a "pull through braid" and somehow pulled it off. It's a little sloppier than I'd like but all the layers in my cut will do that. I also did it without a mirror, so, there's that. 

Also fun: The make-up

-purple eyebrows thanks to some Halloween make-up from the Spirit store
-NYX lip butter purple lipstick stayed on all night, even with the drinking
-Urban Decay was all over my eyes. I used a white pencil underneath to try and make them look bigger, and a bright blue and white on my eyelids.

Also, my parents are pretty great at Halloween. I mean, JUST LOOK AT THEM RIGHT NOW.

So beautiful.

So here's to another successful year of being something else for a night! Send me your costumes, I'll throw up a post of them later!

love,

elizabethany

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bachelorette party DIYs

This past weekend I took my monthly trip to my old home of Morgantown, WV for my girl's bachelorette party! It was the first time I've been to a bachelorette since college, so I wanted to actually help out this time. I decided to take it upon myself to create some bar fun. 

A couple years back I remember someone asking me to help them with a photo hunt of sorts. They had a list of things they had to complete that sounded so fun! That was a must. 

I created this one. Each color was a different number of points, from 1-4, in order of black, pink, silver and gold. Some were generic and some were personal to the couple.

It's kind of plain, but I printed them out on sparkly paper that I got at Michael's and they looked perfect. The prize was a simple martini glass filled with condoms and airplane bottles. That's what's important for such parties, right?!?

Unfortunately, everyone was drunk enough by the time we got out that I was the only one that really went for it. Got a lot of the items, got on the mic to do a toast and ask for more.... basically called game over from the beginning.

I should learn to be less intense sometimes.... maybe.

On Pinterest, I saw these personalized tats that were perfect. They said you had to order them from Etsy, but I decided to research a DIY version. Turns out, all you need to do is order tattoo paper for like $3 a sheet and, as the bride said, YOU HAVE ENDLESS FUN! 

They printed out kinda blurry because I didn't make the Photoshop file big enough, but they still looked great once they were transferred on!

With the other sheet, I made some fun ones to define us in a way. For the bride, the bridesmaids, and the single people who can do all the real penis activities that night. [If you ever want to print these out yourself, you have to use the backwards one.. which is why I'm sharing it.]

Because I'm classy, I put mine on my neck. 

They came right off the next morning, almost like a sticker. Pretty sweet. I think I'll be ordering more of this paper. All you do is print it out, put the adhesive on, and BAM! PARTY TIME, YO!

It was a prettyyyy solid weekend that made me feel like a cougar around all the younger college kids but also like I can still hang with all of them.

What I've needed to come to terms with is that you keep your damn mouth shut when it's the Bachelorette's weekend. What she wants to do, you do. Whether that be raging, napping, eating all the things, etc etc. I'm so used to planning activities that sometimes it's hard for me not to suggest things.

I'm growing up..... like .02% a day.

love,
elizabethany

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diy chevron and jeweled nails

I've been really slacking on this here blog. I wish I had a good excuse beyond focusing on other things. This has always been my baby and it always will.... but a new bossman in the office has brought a couple changes around here that I'm getting used to. [Good changes. I'm very excited for this!]

Anyway, I may not have had time to blog, but I had time to do my nails... and I'm pretty obsessed with them. 

The pink was done in the salon and I wish I had remembered the color but I failed you and for that I am sorry.

I added some gold glitter to the one nail and then a chevron Jamberry applique. The triangle gems came from BlueLans! A whole pack of different ones for $2. Holla. 

As you can kinda see, I'm still not perfect at knowing how much glue to use for the gems, and my Jamberry could use some more smoothing out, but like... ADD. And they still look great. Also, lotion, Elizabethany. Ever heard of it?

love,

elizabethany

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gasparilla 2015: a video and a costume

For five or more years, I've been hearing all about how fun it is to go down to Gasparilla in Tampa. The Kane Show and our iHeart station down there get a big ol' fancy float and it's like a pirate themed Mardi Gras. With my 2015 resolution being all about traveling, it was the perfect time to go down for it. 

I was hella obnoxious with a selfie stick/GoPro, and just put together a quick 15 second representation.

And some more screenshots:

That moment when Kane hijacks your camera....

A little look at my outfit

Just having a blasty up top with Kane and his wife.

Meet DJ Goofy Whitekid. The one who always told me about the epicness.

Watching a parade from a boat... Yes please!

Here's a better look at my outfit and the only other guy who got into it as much as me. [You can't see the skull fishnet, but they're legit.]

-corset from Amazon! $17, holla

-fishnet from a Halloween store when they were closing. You never know when you'll need skull fishnet!

-combat boots from Macy's on Black Friday

-skirt and bandana was made from $6 total worth of scrap fabric from JoAnn's. 

I picked out a bunch of black, white and red patterns, cut them into strips, and just tied them around a ribbon. Easy! 

And now I leave you with a gorgeous sunset in case you're stuck in a cold place like me. 

love,

elizabethany

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my inspirational gallery wall

I'm so excited about this!

Last Christmas, my aunt gave me a couple canvases after seeing this on my Pinterest. 

I'll be honest, I forgot what the original inspiration was, but I just wanted something for my huge, bare wall behind my TV. Once she finished making a couple more, I think my living room is complete. [Well, as soon as I get a real couch and not this futon....]

Fun, right?! I love the colors and the variety. And people either love or hate my vase of sticks on the side, but I dig 'em. 

That little gray one is the only one she didn't make.

These pictures are very frustrating because I used a level to hang them for once in my life, and some are clearly a bit crooked when you look that close. Sigh. They're gonna stay that way. 

If you're wondering how she made them, she has a Silhouette Cameo machine that cuts out the stickers to put on the canvas. Awesome, right?! I feel like I'm going to want to look out for more to expand the wall even more or con my mom into making some. 

It's a nice reminder on a lazy day when I'm watching TV to get my ass up because while I'm lounging, someone else is doing something great. We can't have that. 

love,

elizabethany

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i spy: halloween 2014

Sigh. Another year of not having all of my Halloween pictures because of losing my precious technology, but I was still able to get soem of my fave costumes from around the 'net and friends circle! Save 'em for next year along with this CVS receipt. 

Terrifying DIY clown from American Horror Story. 

Regina George and Aaron Samuels!

Fix It Felix and Wreck It Ralph!

HOW GOOD ARE THE MUPPETS?!

But I'm pretty sure there will never be a better Darla. SO legit.

I eyerolled all the Elsa's and Anna's but this is too damn funny.

Little DEAD Riding Hood. I'm into puns.

If you're preggers- be the blueberry chic from Willy Wonka! 

YES. BOP IT YES. 

OBSESSED with this Happy Meal crew picture. 

And this would be so easy to do last minute!

They did South Park perfectly. 

One of my faves that I personally saw! That Chucky is great.  

Crazy that grown as women dress up as 7 year olds? Whatever.

Homegirl's got a good boyfriend for him to dress up like this for the Shining twins.

As for me, I spent the Friday night in Salt Lake City, UT for my first event with my station out there! Their party was hella fun! 

And after a lot of DIYing, my costume for Iggy Azalea came out pretty good I think!

How bout the hardest thing to find was a freaking wig?! I didn't find that one until 30 minutes before the party. Thank goodness. 

And yes, of course I stuffed the booty.

A solid 7 wash cloths were in that thing. 

A lot of people asked me where I got all the pieces.... well, I got a little crafty. And while they looked a bit ratchet up close, it worked!

I bought a white tummy tucker pair of granny panties, dyed them yellow, and added plaid with a black Sharpie and white puffy paint. As for the bra- I just took an old white one and made it plaid with puffy paint. VOILA!

Now I can't freaking wait to show her at Jingle Ball. I have everything in my body crossed that I get the chance to.. and that she'll find it hilarious. 

The next day, my friend and I did the tutu versions of Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse! Is it ridiculous that I already had every part for both costumes besides the white tutu?

Tights, tutus, and a t-shirt... with the ears or a bow. So easy! She spray painted her flats and put polka dots on a t-shirt to make it more legit. 

So props to another fun, creative, and DIY Halloween, friends! 

love,

elizabethany

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