Shopping for our Steampunk Costumes.

I hope you have enjoyed my Steampunk posts.  I wanted to share with you the op-shop buys we made for our costumes.

When the boys friend asked them to join him in participating in the first Steamfesta we jumped at the chance as Steampunk is something we have always wanted to give Steampunk a go.

Our 2 families went on a initial op-shop tour together to find items that would suit a Steampunk Costume for each family member wanting to participate.  On that tour we found a couple of items but we still had a lot we needed so I spent my op-shopping over the next few weeks looking for items and over the course of a month I found E a vest, a lovely blue shirt for C and for myself a skirt, blouse, tank top to go under my blouse and a lovely black shawl.

For shoes C was ok as he had a pair that would suit but E and myself needed some suitable shoes so we went to Rivers during a big sale and scored boots that would suit our costumes for $17, that were comfortable and supportive. 
E's serve a double purpose as they are perfect for the Ezra Bridger cosplay he is working on, it is always great when a item can serve multiple costumes as well as every day wear.

Other purchases were supplies to decorate my Hat, safety googles to turn into Steampunk Goggles, cogs and gears on ebay as I didn't have enough, various trims for decorating the various projects we would be creating including my Handbag, supplies to try making Spats and last minute I would buy some Sunglasses to alter.

The boys also altered Nerf guns we had in our Nerf stash to enhance their costumes.

I love this gorgeous photo Paul Aurisch Photography took of the boys and I.
I just wish I wasn't slumping but pain levels were high which makes my propreconception much worse.









Here I am with my friend Ruth (I am the one wearing the shawl), isn't her costume amazing?

I am really happy with how the boys and my costumes turned out and my budget is happy too.
 
If you want to get into costuming but worry about the cost just remember Cosplay and Steampunk don't have to be expensive and depending on the requirements of a particular costume you may even be able to select some pieces that you can wear as everyday clothing.
So go check out those op-shops for items to start a costume with.  It's a lot of fun and is a great family hobby.

Endo High Tea

I am hoping to get this post up quickly as I think it is important I share it today, the last day of Endometriosis Awareness Month and the day after my Endo High Tea.

Next weekend is the next Aussie YouTube Hop and the theme is based on Awareness raising and using a ribbon on your project so you won't see all the photos from the High Tea in this post as one of the decorations I made was for the YouTube Hop, so make sure you check out the Hop next weekend to see how that came together and how it turned out.  ;)

I also filmed my process of making the door prize so I will try to get that edited and up asap.

I decided to host a Endo High Tea this year as it is so important that awareness is raised of this painful and debilitating that is suffered by 1 in 10 women and the High Tea sounded like a great way to raise awareness and funds while enjoying lovely food and company.

I spent some time over the last couple of months looking for Yellow items for my Endo High Tea.  I found my gorgeous yellow table cloth, the doilies and the Yellow Cupcake Stand at my local op-shops over a period of about 5 weeks. 
I often see people say they can never find what they need at op-shops but I have found the key is going regularly and having a basic sort of list of what you are looking for.  I have a lovely collection of solid coloured tablecloths now but that is another post I think.

I found my gorgeous Teapot set on Gumtree and pick up was right near my daughter's boyfriend's work so he picked it up for me and I collected it when visiting my daughter in February.  A very round about way to do it but it all lined up and worked well.





 

Now onto the food.  With how hectic life is right now it was really important I keep things as simple as I could for myself but I also wanted to explore some foods (preparing and eating them) with my boys I otherwise would not get around to.

I decided to try making cucumber sandwiches, my sons love cucumber so I knew if no one ate them I wouldn't be stuck with something going uneaten for long but I know cucumber sandwiches can have a bad rep so I did some research online and after reading several recipes with good reviews in the end I winged it on the day.  My sandwiches were a big hit.  There was very positive reactions and feedback from guests.
To ensure they were as fresh as possible for guests I prepared my fillings at home but didn't assemble my sandwiches until at the venue, as I went a hour early to set up and once I had everything set up started assembling sandwiches.

Cucumber Sanwiches
1 225g packet of Cream Cheese (room temperature)
1 15g packet of fresh Dill
Juice of half a lemon
a crack or 2 of salt from the salt grinder.
Place cream cheese in a bowl and with a fork stir until creamy and free of lumps.
Add Dill, Lemon Juice and Salt.  Stir to combine.
Refrigerate overnight.

On the day thinly slice cucumber in sandwich sized lengths.  Pre-butter bread with a thin coating of butter (you could probably skip this but I was planning on doing a assortment of sandwiches and most needed butter so it was easier to do it this way).

To assemble spread a generous amount of the cream cheese mix on each slice of bread.  Cover 1 slice with cucumber and put the other slice on top.  Cut and Serve.

Low FODMAP Quiche Cups -  note only lofo if you tolerate dairy

Another easy recipe we made was Quiche cups.  I tried doing the bread base option but you can skip this if you have a silicone muffing tray.
This recipe make 12 quiche cups but you could spread it out if you want flatter quiche cups.





4 Large Eggs beaten
2 slices of ham cut into small pieces
Diced spring onion greens
300ml Milk
100g shredded tasty cheese
Bread flattened with a rolling pin, crusts removed for the crust.  You can do 1 slice per Quiche Cup or a half slice if you wish but the egg mix may go through the bread.

Preheat oven to 180c.
Spray muffin pans with cooking oil spray.  Place bread in them.
Mix beaten eggs, milk, chees, ham and spring onions in a bowl.
Spoon evenly into muffin pans.
Bake until golden on top.


I also made mini Caprese Salad with Yellow tomatoes.  E and my first every attempt at making a Balsamic Glaze, it was so yum.
And Mini Cheesecakes which I merged 2 recipes to create, the base was not the best so I won't use the base recipe again but the filling was delicious, I did put way more lemon juice in than it called for.  Instead of measuring with a spoon I used the juice of 1.5 lemons.  Here is the link to the recipe that is the filling I used.  I made 20 in a mini muffin pan and 5 in a standard muffin pan.  I baked until they were just starting to crack on top.  Next time I will do a base with arrowroot biscuits, butter and sugar I think as the one I tried used vanilla wafers and it wasn't as good as a arrowroot biscuit base I have made in the past.

To reduce how much work I had I bought a Lemon Slice, Madeira Cake with lemon icing and some yummy shortbreads.  I cut the Lemon Slice and Madeira Cake into small squares.

My friend Tracey brought some delicious cupcakes and mini banana muffins so we had a really wonderful spread for our small group of attendees.

We had a lovely time chatting and we all knew multiple women with Endo who had had dreadful experiences with Doctors dismissing them so hopefully with the improved awareness we are now seeing this experience will become a thing of the past soon.

For more information on Endometriosis visit Endometriosis Australia and Pelvic Pain Foundation
The Pelvic Pain Foundation has some great info for parents, teens, women, men and health professionals.
Here is a link to the website
https://www.pelvicpain.org.au
Here is a link to the parents info.
https://www.pelvicpain.org.au/for-parents/
Here is a link to the teens section which even has links to a children's book that is about children having pain, all types including migraines so a great resource.
https://www.pelvicpain.org.au/category/for-teens/
Here is a direct link to the children's book.
https://www.yumpu.com/…/61002…/a-journey-to-learn-about-pain

Budget Doctor Who Cosplay

The boys informed me a week before the FraserPop Pop Culture Festival that they wanted to attend in costume.
Mr C was having a particularly bad day with his chronic pain and then Mr E started trying on his old costumes, just the standard children's costumes you get at department stores like Kmart, Big W and Target, etc and Mr C perked up and asked about creating a 11th Doctor Costume for the Festival.
Mr E wanted to be the 10th Doctor but with only 1 week to create these costumes I was sure I would not be able to find anything to suit 10 that would be small enough for a child.


We started by searching ebay for what we knew we had no chance of finding in our small town, selecting Australian only stores to improve our chances of the items arriving in time.  I didn't purchase them until after our op-shopping trip as I wanted to be sure we could get the other bits needed.
From ebay we ordered a 11th Sonic Screwdriver, Red Suspenders and a Wine Red Bowtie for Mr C and a 10th Sonic Screwdriver for Mr E.

We set out to the Op-shops starting with Salvos as my local Salvos has the best variety of Tweed Jackets I have come across.  We found a suitable shirt and jacket at the Salvos, unfortunately the back of the jacket is damaged due to being burnt with a iron by the looks of it but we grabbed it for $1 just in case we couldn't find another jacket as suitable as this one.  My MIL took the hem up during the week which meant most of the burn mark is no longer visible.

Including his Sonic Screwdriver Mr C's costume had a total cost of $40, plus hair supplies.

Then we headed to St Vinnies to grab him more jeans as the Salvos didn't have any jeans in his size, while browsing the men's clothing I spotted a lovely Navy pinstripe suite, I was really unsure it could be adjusted enough to suit Mr E but for $15 we grabbed it as a investment in future cosplaying.  I also found a great Burgundy Tie to suit Mr E's 10th costume.  The boy's Gran did a fantastic job taking in the suit, it is a temporary job so that it can be undone and taken in again next year when he is bigger.

Including his Sonic Screwdriver Mr E's costume had a total cost of under $47 plus haircut.
Mel at Hair Palace did a good job given she had never seen 10's hair before I showed her some photos on my phone.

His hair was styled by his Uncle Lucas, he did a fantastic job with Mr E's difficult hair.



Thursday I attempted to style Mr C's hair in 11th's style and his hair still hates product and holding a style.  I used really strong wax and hairspray and it just flopped within minutes.  He has the same hair as his sister and it took a very experienced hair dresser using the strongest products available and lots of pins to get her hair to hold a style for a ball she attended.

Thankfully I had some success with Mr C's hair on Sunday morning after his Uncle Lucas had a try and suggested we try Mousse in addition to Wax.
So I used Schwarzkopf Extra Care Push UP Volume Mousse, Fudge Urban Matte Wax and Hair Spray.
I started by combing his wet hair to the opposite side to how it needed to be, applied a good amount of the Mousse and blow dried it to nearly dry.  Then I flipped the hair over and did his part, applied the Wax and continued to blow dry as I shaped his hair.  I finished it off with the Hair Spray.

Mr C was very please to place second in the Children's Cosplay Competition.
More about our day at the Festival coming soon.

Thank you to the judges, Twerkin Gherkin, Paul Truscott and  Michelle from Horror Closet who took the time to officiate the Children's Cosplay Competition.

Mr C was very pleased to place second in the Children's Cosplay Competition.
More about our day at the Festival coming soon.

Op Shop Finds

I love op-shopping. 
The area I live in it can be difficult to find a great bargain though but every now and then I have some pretty good op-shop finds.  Here are some of my op-shop finds of 2015.

 I found this lovely bag at the RSPCA op-shop that is perfect for a mobile office for myself.
I was expecting to be studying in Semester 2 and spending a lot of time waiting so thought taking my study needs with me would be a great idea, unfortunately things changed and I was unable to study in Semester 2 but I am looking forward to Studying Semester 1 2016 and using my mobile office.

 It has multiple sections that are very useful, a space big enough for a small laptop or large tablet.
Plenty of room for my study essentials, wallet, phone, and my other regular handbag items.
And the section with all the pen loops, sunglasses pouch, mobile pouch (though too small for my current phone), business card slots, etc is so very handy.

I found this lovely old book that is a collection of Jules Verne's stories for my husband.

A collection of handy stationery that were bargains, including a cheap no-brand planner that has come in quiet handy in addition to my Filofaxes.

 This massive bag of flowers for $2 from the RSPCA op-shop.
There is a mix of fake flowers that have been cut off their stems, craft flowers and ribbon flowers.
I just love this big bag.
I have now sorted into colours.

 I found the perfect laptop bag for hubby to use as a mobile office for his second job at the Salvos.

Handy business card slots, a spot for his external hard drive, pen loops and more in the front section.
It has a large compartment that is padded that suits a laptop but has 2 sections so the big presentation binder he has to take with him can fit in there.

It has a file section so he can take essential forms with him.

 One side has a mobile pocket though it is too small for current mobiles and the other side has a pocket to keep the shoulder strap in.

This TYPO satchel that appears new was $2 at the RSPCA op-shop.
Love a bargain.








I got this cute Christmas Present bathroom container at the RSPCA op-shop for $1 which was a bargain as the same one in red was $4 at another op-shop.
I got a Santa soap bottle at Lifeline for $4 and for a while these 2 items were our only Christmas decorations in the house.
Some other great finds this year included a lovely leather satchel I gifted to a friend who loved it, a purple JAG handbag I got myself that was like new, 2 more letter writing kits and plenty of great clothes for the boys some brand new.  Mr C has had a massive growth spurt going from a size 6 to a size 12 in just a few months, he was size 10 for only 1 month so op-shopping for quality clothes for him has been a great way to cloth him without breaking the budget.