FraserPop 2.0 - Cheshire Cat Cosplay

In the lead up to FraserPop 2.0 they advertised they would be having a Mad Hatter's Tea Party and as I had always wanted to do a Alice In Wonderland costume (long before I even considered trying cosplay) I thought it would be cool to do a Alice in Wonderland cosplay but I quickly dismissed it as I didn't think I would be able to find anything.
Shortly after dismissing the idea I was doing some op-shopping and it entered my mind as I parked my car, I walked into my local St Vinnies op-shop thinking "If I find a dress that is suitable for converting into a Alice In Wonderland cosplay then I will grab it and go with what ever character suits."  As I walked in the door I looked up and there was this hideous pink dress, checking the size it was 1 size above my size and just $4 so I grabbed it and so started the journey to creating my second ever cosplay, 1st cosplay with some DIY needed.  My Cheshire Cat cosplay.








On my way home I popped into Lincraft and grabbed some purple fur fabric to make fur boot covers and add purple stripes to my dress, some pink and purple tulle to attempt a petticoate, some pink felt for my ears and some pink and purple wool to make my tail.

Before cutting 4inch wide strips from my fur fabric I needed to cut out my Ears (tutorial can be found here) and Boot Covers so that I could cut all the remaining fabric into 4inch strips to ensure I had plenty of stripes to work with.

Wearing the boot covers on the day I noticed some problems with my design so my next adventure into boot covers (my Steampunk costume for Steamfesta) I experimented with a fix to the issue, I am hoping to add this to my fur covers before Saturday so I will share photos of them after this weekend.

I cut off the bottom of the dress as it was a little long and the stripes were not suited to my Cheshire Cat.
I just did a rough hem as it would be hidden under my purple fur stripe.
I used Helmar Fabric Glue to adhere my purple fur fabric starting at the bottom and working my way up.

Now to make my tail.
I created wool tassels and brushed them out with a wire pet brush.  
I pricked my fingers so many times doing this and it became quiet painful.  Wendy used a old Barbie hair brush for her wool feathers in the Beautiful Australia YouTube Hop so I am on the hunt for a old Barbie hair brush whenever I go to the op shop to use for future project like this.


I then platted several strands of wool together and started tying my tassels to my plat until I had a awesome tail.  I wore it on the day by simply pinning it to the back of my dress.

To finish my look on the day I scrunch my hair with hair mousse and then sprayed it with a full can of pink hairspray and I attempted to give myself a Cheshire Cat look with pink and purple makeup, I struggle with applying make up due to my hand issues so this was a challenge, as was finding pink and purple makeup, it just wasn't around at the time.
I am happy with my results but really excited that my daughter who is very good with makeup including costume makeup is attending FraserPop 3 this year and will do my makeup for me and best of all we are doing a little group cosplay with my daughter joining me as the Mad Hatter and my Granddaughter as a adorable Alice.  :)

Will you be attending FraserPop 3 this year?

I hope you can make it as it is a great event.

FraserPop 2.0 - What we loved.

As FraserPop 3.0 is just days away.  We are getting really excited and I realised I haven't finished my FraserPop 2.0 blog posts so I wanted to share some of our experiences of this awesome event last year.  

We loved FraserPop 2017 and were so excited to hear the staff say it was such a huge success they  would be making it a annual event, so as soon as the dates were announced for 2018 I put it in my diary.
FraserPop 2017 was our first con and definitely something we hope to attend every year.
2018 didn't disappoint, it was bigger and better, the students and staff did a fantastic job.  If you haven't been I highly recommend attending in 2019 which is going to be much, much bigger from the posts so far.

At FraserPop 2.0 one of the new things was The Store Of Requirement setting up in the room they used for the Doctor Who display in 2017.  This room is perfect for getting that Hogwarts feeling in a small space.  The boys enjoyed some Butter Beer and E bought himself some Gryffindor robes and a tie.
You can see my layout about the Butter Beer here.

It was really hard to get a good photo to show just how perfect this space is for this set up.  Hopefully I can get one this year.

Day 1 of FraserPop 2.0 E wore his Sans cosplay that he wore to Supanova 2017, he added pink slippers to it to finish the look.  And C wore his 11th Doctor cosplay.

Day 2 the boys wore their 10th and 11th Doctor cosplays.
As C was growing his hair to donate it was at a length that was impossible to style how it was needed but he made do. His donation happened at the end February and he is feeling much lighter now, and looking forward to being able to style his hair at FraserPop 3.0.

When having some food we wound up sitting next to a family whose son was cosplaying The Empty Child so we got a pic of the 3 boys together.

At FraserPop 2.0 they created a prop room which had all the Doctor Who stuff they kids had created including some wonderful new items like K-9 and Darleks as well as props from a wide variety of Pop Culture like Stranger Things, Goonies, Indiana Jones, Game of Throwns, etc.

They created a transportation display which included the TARDIS the students built in 2017, a SHIELD vehicle, Delorian, Herbie Beetle, etc. 

This year there will be a Batmobile. 

Brick Events set up a fantastic Lego Display and came back later in the year to do a full event at Maryborough State High School.

There were so many fantastic vendors this year, they had to have stalls outside the Gym as well as inside.  It was fantastic.  Make sure you check out the vendors this year as there are so many talented local artists who do stalls at this event.

Other things we enjoyed included The Sons of Obiwan Saber Academy, 501st Redback Garrison, Laser Tag, VR, watching the Cosplay competition.  We missed out on tickets to the Mad Hatter's Tea Party that inspired my costume, I am hoping to get tickets this year to take my Granddaughter to it as my daughter and Granddaughter are visiting for FraserPop 3.

So do yourself a favour and check out FraserPop 3 this weekend, you will have a lot of fun.

I will post about my Cheshire Cat Cosplay I wore to FraserPop 2.0 soon, so watch this space.

Scrap the Girls November Challenge - We're All Mad Here

Every month I promise myself I will do at least one challenge and then I get caught up in the chaos of life and creating and before I know it I am typing up the next challenge list.  I was determined to do this month's Scrap the Girls Challenge as it was the perfect prompt for getting photos of myself cosplaying the Cheshire Cat at FraserPop 2.0 scrapped. 

I also had the perfect kit for it, the kit I created because I needed Alice In Wonderland themed supplies to scrap these memories.  SHHHH this is a sneak peek of a 2019 kit from Scrapping Fun Kits ;) 

I won't go into details of how I created this project in this post as I literally sat down to create this page at 430pm on November 30th and I am typing this a 545pm so I am under the crunch to get it entered and  I would like to share the how it came together with you when the kit is released, including a process video for it.  So for now here is a pic of my layout.  I hope you like it and it inspires you to either enter Scrap the Girls in December or create a Alice themed layout :)

Cheshire Cat Ears

I am so excited to share this project with you, it is a bit different to my usual projects but a lot of fun. . 
When I saw that FraserPop 2.0 was having a Mad Hatter's Tea Party I was inspired to do something I have always wanted to do, create a Alice In Wonderland inspired costume, as I am a novice I decided to see if I could get a dress that would suit converting into a costume so the colour I found was perfect for a Cheshire Cat costume so I started planning out what I needed to do and knew I needed to make some ears.

I watched and read a few tutorials so the way I created them was what stuck in my head from the tutorials.
I used the template that is in the description of this tutorial by Ember Tay to cut my pink felt and purple fur fabric, when cutting the fur I did not use scissors as I didn't want to cut the fur just the backing of the fur.  So make sure the fur fabric has the right side facing down and go gently with a craft knife so you just cut the backing and not the fur, you get a nicer result with the fur this way.  I can't remember where I got this advice from but it was great advice, so thank you to those who share tips :)

I used Helmar Fabric Glue to adhere the felt to the fur fabric.  I lined the middle point of the felt up with the middle point of the fur and stuck it down.

Then I ran a line of Helmar Fabric Glue down the side of the felt and folded the fur over on each side.

Next trim off the overhang of the fabric.

Then I ran a line of Helmar Fabric Glue on one half of the bottom of the ear and glued the 2 side together.

They are already looking like ears, now it is time to add clips.

Once the ears were dry I grabbed my hair clips and opened them so I wouldn't glue them closed.  I used some Helmar Quick Dry 450 Glue on the top part of the clip and adhered it to my ear with the narrow end of the clip (open end) going to the back of the ear as this is where it is narrowest.  The clip helps the ear shape complete itself.

They turned out so cute and being made with Helmar glues I know they will last.

So when you are in need of making something for a costume why not try some Helmar glues, they get fantastic results that hold up to cosplay really well.

Butterbeer at FraserPop 2.0 - Scrapping Fun Kits DT

When I saw that The Store Of Requirement was going to do a pop up shop at FraserPop 2.0 I decided before I scrapped another thing with the July Harry Potter inspired Kit I needed to record my boys shopping at the store.  The crowds at FraserPop 2.0 were huge this year, 10,500 attended and due to the amount of people inside the store and it being dark inside to give the right ambiance getting photos was challenging.  So I took photos of the 2 staff members serving us and the boys drinking their Butterbeer, it was so cool that they had Butterbeer on tap at the pop up store, it just added to the experience.  So this layout is about the Butterbeer.

Before I started scrapping I typed up some journalling about the day added some free printables including a Butter Beer label and printed it on 160gsm paper.

After much fiddling trying to make the layout work on a 12x12 I decided to do a 6x12 and use the parchment edge washi from the kit to create a parchment feel for my background.
I started by adding the washi to my bottom edge, completely up the left and 5cm up the right side; I mitred the corners so it looked like a proper edge of a piece of old parchment.







Note: I use the left overs from kit creating for my scrapping so sometimes I have a little more of something and sometimes a little less so I decided to only use how much was in the kits so you can recreate it if you wish.

Next I grabbed my Distress Ink in Walnut Ink and used the packaging technique followed by dragging the cardstock through the left over ink to create a more parchment feel to my white cardsock.  I spritzed some water in my hand a few times and sprinkled it onto my cardstock, dabbing off with paper towel before it dried.

I also coloured my printed journalling with the watered down walnut ink and I inked the edges with the ink pad to give it a darker edge.











To embellish I used the mug of Butterbeer from the cut apart and some of the thread from the Gryffindor tassel in the kit.  In addition to these bits from the kit and the Butterbeer label from the free printable I used a Hogwarts crest.

To adhere the Butterbeer label and Hogwarts crest I added a couple of layers of scrap cardstock in the middle to lift them but I didn't want the cardstock showing so used Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots at the points and just had the cardstock in the middle.  I also used Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots to adhere the mug of Butterbeer from the cut apart and my journalling.  This gave them a nice little lift and helped them pop.

When trying to work out how I wanted to add the tassel I accidentally messed up my Scrap Dots but they still look great.  I realised I couldn't use the full tassel so instead just added some of the thread coming out from under the top of the Butterbeer label, I adhered it down with Helmar Premium Craft Glue.

I used my photos and embellishments to hide the white wherever possible which helped the layout come together, the only decision I made about placement was that the staff member pouring the Butter Beer should be placed as the first in the sequence to help tell the story.
I matted my photos and journalling with some black cardstock and since I always stick things slightly wonky and have to fix them I used Helmar's Acid Free Glue so I would have some wiggle, it was so much easier than how I used to stick my photos down.

I love this layout, and I actually journalled which is always a good thing.
Once I decided on using the parchment washi and some distress ink the rest came together quickly and easily.
If you would like a mini version of this kit send me a email and I will create a mini kit for you.

The Exhibition Hall at FraserPop Pop Culture Festival

Here is my last post about the fun we had at the FraserPop Pop Culture Festival.  You can find my post on the boy's cosplaying here and the fun we had here.
There were many great local and visiting businesses and artists in the Exhibition Hall that I could not fit them in my other post

Some wonderful art, some fantastic handmade items and some great collectables businesses.
I did 2 loops so I could see what everyone had to offer, I will share the business in the order I browsed.

Smudged Pixels Art had so many beautiful works of art.
On my second trip around we had a lovely chat about markers and I gained some useful info on budget markers for Mr C's anime drawing.

I couldn't resist getting this postcard from ART FORGE to use as a tipin in my journal.  It was just perfect and only $1 was a bargain.  I loved their art, the bookmarks were just gorgeous.

Shayla Morgansen is a Fantasy Author.

RJ Timmis is a Children's Author and Illustrator

Aimie Jennison is a Author.

Then came the lovely Amy's Little Space, I just loved her handmade goodies.

Fairy Linda had so many great handmade items.  I loved the trifold wallets and the cold packs.

Comics N Pop had a big range of various Pop Culture items for sale.

Ozcan Costumes and Ozcan Photography were in the corner.  You could get your photo taken in front of various Pop Culture backdrops thanks to their green screen.

It was great to Sam and Sarah from Preplayed Games and Movie Traders at the Festival with a wall of Pop Vinyls, lovely displays of collectables, some games and much more.

Good Games had a impressive display of games and collectables also.

Poppy Cotton Handmade had some great food wraps and lunch bags, such a great way to reduce plastics in school lunches and I think Mr E would be less likely to lose something like this.

Century Collectables had some great items available and they customise Pop Vinyls unfortunately I can't find their link, if you have their link please let me know so I can add it.

When we entered Mr E headed straight for the Iron Thrown so I missed getting more than a glance Horror Closet until I was doing my second trip around and wow they had so much great stuff and a Creepy Encounter.  Did you check out the Creepy Encounter?
If you need scary items make sure you check them out as they have plenty to choose from.

BC's Collectables Emporium had so much wonderful stuff including vintage transformers.  So cool.
You can email Brian at bag78@hotmail.com

Pocket full of Sunshine had so many lovely pieces.

Anime Allstars had a great range of anime items.

It was really great to discover so many local business that I didn't know were local before this.  We are long term customers of Preplayed Games and have been buying our gaming needs off Sam and Sarah for 10 years and we knew Good Games and Horror Closest but we discovered so many wonderful local businesses such as.
Anime Allstars
BC's Collectables Emporium

Amy's Little Space

and Pocket full of Sunshine.

Overall FraserPop was a wonderful weekend that introduced us to some great businesses, resulted in the boy's first Cosplay and featured many fun things to see and do.  I highly recommend attending next year and if you have a Pop Culture event that happens near you why not check it out, it is a lot of fun and worth the time.