Halloween-Professor McGonagall

Usually I go all out for Halloween and it takes me months to make my costume.  This Halloween I decided to go super simple.  I am crazy about Harry Potter, and my favorite professor is Minerva McGonagall.  She has these gorgeous emerald green robes and always looks so sophisticated and classy.  Her robes were quite easy to make: I got the material from SAS Fabrics https://www.sasfabrics.com in Tempe for cheap.  The outside is velvet and the inner layer is a type of faux silk.  I measured myself from the bottom of my hairline down to my heels and added two inches for error.  At the store, I had them cut the material twice as long as my measurements, and then I just folded it in half, and had my sister lay on it while I cut around her to make the silhouette of the robes and making sure to leave extra room for the long, flowing sleeves.  Then I pinned it, flipped it inside out and sewed it up!  I took some of the extra velvet material and made a trim around the opening to make it look a little more realistic, and that's pretty much it.  Let me know what you think!

Halloween Party-Harry Potter Style!

This was my first Halloween with roommates, and one of them decided that we should throw a Halloween party!  We all thought it was a great idea, but we had a deadline of only a week to get everything together.  In working full-time jobs and going to school, that didn't leave much time to prep, so we have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off for the last week in an effort to go all out for this party.  It was Harry Potter themed and I was one of two in charge of the decorations, with my personal favorites being the floating candles and the giant six-foot spider, as well as the Moaning Myrtle sound effects int he bathroom.  Needless to say, we just had fun!

DIY Modge Podge

After a bout of sinus infections, ear infections and upper respiratory infections when moving out of my parent's house, I decided that I wanted to do something productive.  I have been very into projects lately and I wanted to try my hand at modge podge.  I decided to take an old filing cabinet and re-purpose it into a cabinet for my music to live.  I took some old sheet music and modge podged the top and sides, and then I took some chalkboard paint and painted the drawers.  It turned out looking like a cross between sophistication and quirky.  Pictures below!  Let me know what you think:

"Mary Poppins" Toes!

As a spin off of my last post about Mary Poppins, I took the liberty of doing mine and my sister's nails for the occasion. I put Mary Poppins flying on the big toes and I think they turned out great!

Gilbert High School's Production of "Mary Poppins"

This year was a musical year for Gilbert High School and the musical they chose to do was "Mary Poppins."  I must admit that I didn't know much about the music when they first started, but I had the privilege of helping with some of the costumes this time and I had so much fun!  Lots of long hours and back-and-forth, but the musical was a huge success!  Unfortunately, the only photos I got of the costumes were the ones below:

I must say, this Halloween was epic!  My costume turned out great this year!  I took the Disney version and the Once Upon a Time version of the Red Queen/Queen of Hearts, threw in a little Tim Burton and VOILA!  This costume was a heck of a lot of work: The only part that I bought and kept in tact was the red blouse that I then adorned in the colors of the Disney Queen of Hearts.  The rest of it was pieced together from different skirts, fabrics and ribbons to add to the royal look.  In addition to my costume, this year I also made two of my brother's costumes: one brother was the Mad Hatter and the other was Knave of Hearts from the Tim Burton version of "Alice in Wonderland."  It was a great group!

Gilbert High School's Choir BBQ

Tonight was one that was worked toward for quite a long time.  It was the first time that all of my siblings and I decided to sing together.  Now we all have varying degrees of vocal ability, with some of us being classically trained and others having only sung along to the radio, but we pulled it off.  Two of my siblings go to Gilbert High School and are in the choirs there, and every year the choirs put together a Choir BBQ.  This includes food, raffles, silent auctions, a jailhouse and live entertainment provided by the students.  This year, amongst all of our busy schedules we were able to get together, prepare a song, audition, make the cut and perform the song "Compass" by Lady Antebellum at the BBQ.  It was an amazing experience to be up on stage with all of my siblings just having fun!  It was western themed, obviously, so one of my brothers decided to dress up as Woody from "Toy Story."  It was my second time being on this stage, my first being able to sing with my cousin when she was in choir there, singing "Jesus Take the Wheel."  What a fantastic choir program Gilbert High School has!

My siblings and I after our performance: