Owen is a pretty funny kid.
In groups and social scenes, he's somewhat quiet and shy.
But ask him to dance or model for photos?....and he totally hams it up.
In fact he wasn't an ounce embarrassed to be walking the streets dressed like a fox, with mom and camera close behind.
Like Nick Wilde, I think he enjoyed the attention of owning the moment.
Haah.
What a guy.
Oh, this fox head was so much fun to make. And could be used for so many different animals ---- bear, pig, bunny, elephant.
The best moment of the season is when Owen walked in the room and saw the finished fox head and bellowed out, "EPIC!" Haha.
Making Halloween dreams come true for everyone.
Now, in all honesty when Owen said he wanted to be Nick the fox from
Zootopia, I first looked on Amazon so I could click and purchase a costume. I'm kind of in that "we can only make one kid's halloween costume a year" mode.
But I was totally unimpressed with what I saw. The costumes were all those onesie type things, where the shirt and pants are attached and the whole thing velcros in the back?
No gracias.
So we put together our own look, with the fox head being the star.
SHIRT:
You'd be surprised how hard it is to find a green shirt! So....
RIT Dye to the rescue.
• I found a white cotton shirt at Old Navy and dyed it in a bowl in my sink, using
this liquid Apple Green dye. His shirt in the movie is actually a green print with palm leaves, but this was close enough. Make sure your shirt is 100% cotton or it might not dye properly (see next bullet point)
•
Use my tutorial here for info on dying fabric and
elastic.
NECKTIE:
It's also hard to find simple blue/pink striped fabric. So....
• I cut out a tie using my
Everyday Necktie Pattern, in navy blue fabric.
• I sewed skinny satin ribbon to the fabric to create the stripes, spacing them about an inch apart. I just used the width of my ruler to help guide me. I sewed the ribbon the whole length of the outer tie fabric (it didn't take as long as you would think). And I actually love how it turned out. The satin makes the cotton fabric feel a bit "fancy". I might have to try this technique for reals on other ties.
FOX HEAD AND TAIL:
As I mentioned above, the real star of this costume is the head----kind of like adding a
yarn wig to your ensemble.
I'll have to do a full tutorial for this later. But here are some photos to get you started:
• I used the same concept as the
Bat Costumes,
Kitty Cat Costume, and the hood in the
Beach Robe Pattern.
• I used white faux fur for the outer head and orange cotton fabric for the lining.
• I drafted my own patterns and sewed everything first. Then I spray-painted everything with orange paint.
• For the tail, I added stuffing and bunch of floral wire stems so the tail could bend and stick out.
• Once the orange paint dried, I used black spray paint to add some accents.
• Then I sewed the ears to the head (similar to the
Cat and
Bat costumes)
• I added two ties at the bottom of the hood so it would stay on his head (but this is optional. It would have stayed on without the straps also). I used pieces of bias tape with velcro attached.
And there you go!
Hat and tail ready to go.
(And, another goofball who likes to get into character.
The moves were all her own. I merely asked her to try it on for size. )
• The tail is attached to the back waistband of the pants with a couple
safety pins.
I pinned the tail from underneath...meaning: when you're pinning, hold the tail
UP toward the shirt, then when you flip it over it helps it to stick
out more.
Then throw on your brown pants and make your sly way to the party.
Happy Halloween from Willardtopia!
Have a festive weekend!
Too much?
Never too much.
Or too little. Because I'm a big believer that amazing things come in little packages.
And when things are little, I can eat more of them. Right?
If you knew me in college, or in LA, or if you know me now!...you know that I always have a bag of little chocolates stashed somewhere in the kitchen, for those times when I just need a little treat. Sometimes there's a bag in the fridge (cause some chocolate is better cold). And sometimes there's a bag of chocolate chips half-opened and half-eaten (cause they're great on crackers with peanut butter).
But in general--Life is like a box of chocolates. And every day should include a small bit of it....with all the caramel strings attached.
Seriously. I may or may not be eating chocolate AS I'm writing this post. But what is one to do, when this is their job for the day??? My kids watched me editing these photos and said, Mom, your job is to talk about chocolate?? (this is going to take career day to a whole new level)
But yesss. I was contacted by Godiva Masterpieces to share a little story. And to share their cute indulgent chocolates, which you can now buy in a bag at the grocery store! Woohoo! They're individually wrapped (perfect)
((and easy to give away in goodie bags or gifts))
(((and would be so fun in a guest room)))
But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let's jump back to 1992.
Yep. That's me with those awesome eyebrows.
And when Godiva asked me to share their new Godiva Masterpieces I was like....ummm. Yes! I worked at a Godiva shop in high school! It was blogging destiny.
I don't know why I have a photo of me in my Godiva apron, working at the store, when I was 16? My mom must have stopped by the mall that day. But I'm glad I do. It's fun to see these pics side-by-side, 20 (+) years apart.
I can still remember that first day on the job when we tried some of the famous Godiva flavors, which is what the Masterpieces are based on--their most decadent, legendary pieces. Like the Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Oyster:
Guys. Up until this point in my short life I had never tasted hazelnut before. How is that possible?
And when I bit into that thing, it was like part of my life had been found. And now I think of it in two parts--life before hazelnut chocolate filling; and life after. Mmmm. So delicious.
Of course there's also the famous Milk Chocolate Lion (which also comes individually wrapped in the Masterpieces bags).
And I love how easy it is to purchase high-end chocolates, right at the grocery store, and have a little treat when I need it.
They're the perfect little size.
I "heart" dark chocolate ganache. Heh heh.
So for this post, Godiva asked me to come up with a fun way to use their new Masterpieces for the holidays, and every day.
And since my family loves to sit around the table and chat and share stories and laugh (that's my brother and his wife in the photos above), I immediately thought of a dinner party.
I grabbed a bag of Godiva Masterpieces, wrote some mixer-game questions on pieces of paper, and taped them to the back of each individually-wrapped chocolate.
You could do this so many different ways...as an appetizer, or as a post-dinner sweet treat. But the idea is to pass the basket around, each person picks a chocolate and has to answer the question on the back before they can eat the chocolate.
Share two truths and one lie.
Where would you like to travel to most?
What was your best grade in school? Your worst grade?
Three things you're thankful for?
The craziest thing you did as a teenager?
Share something you love about the person on your left?
Obviously the questions can be modified to include children in the game too. And you can mix it up with "questions" like, steal the candy of the person on your right and answer their question. And then that person gets another piece of chocolate. I really love this kind of conversation, even with family that I've known for years. You always find out thing you still don't know about a person--even your spouse.
And, you get to eat chocolate.
Win-win.
I highly recommend throwing a dinner party and see where it takes you.
Thank you Godiva for letting me relive my high school memories---and for bringing them up-to-date with the Masterpieces chocolates. If you want to find out more you can check out Godiva Masterpieces here (they also have chocolate bars. Mmm). And look for the Masterpieces bags in your local grocery or retail store. Happy early holidays!
