Halloween 2018: Link & Zelda

This is a super late post, but I wanted to show some of the work I did on Brandon and my Halloween costume this year.  It was a labor of love, but it turned out really good, I think.

Halloween is not my holiday, and it never really has been.  But, of course, Brandon loves it.  Since we've been together, I've been more and more committed to our elaborate costumes.

In 2017, we went as Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange.  We got up extra early and liquid latex-ed down Brandon's nose, thickened up his brow line, painted his face and did up his make up.  My look was much easier.  I just did big hair and sprayed it black.  It was fun and we won Best Costume at our office.

Halloween 2017

For 2018, we decided to go the retro video game avenue, and decided on Link & Zelda.  (I wanted to be Mario and Luigi, but maybe Halloween 2019??)

I wasn't a huge fan of the Zelda costumes available online.  They seemed cheap... just too shiny and mass produced.  I looked at Etsy for more toned down options, but every piece was/is extremely expensive.  They definitely cater to the Cosplay clientele.

So instead of spending hundreds of dollars on our costumes, I spent about a hundred hours or so.

Since Zelda is a princess, the first order of business was making my crown.  After the crown was complete, I started working on the belt.

I've never created any of these types of things before, Cosplay armor and whatnot, so I went to Etsy for a template.  The template for the Crown and Belt was 10 dollars.  I went to Michaels and got sheets of craft foam, some jewels, jump rings and clasps, blue glitter, gold and black acrylic paint, gold spray paint, black felt, and thick gauged wire.

I don't think I had any idea how much time and energy this project would take, but I was excited to make something!

I printed the template, cut out the pieces and started tracing them on the craft foam.  Once all the pieces were traced, I cut them out and began painting.  Painting craft foam is an arduous process.  I first coated each piece with a glue stick and then started paining.  Foam is really absorbent, so each piece required 3-4 coats of gold paint.

Once everything was gold, I then "aged" the pieces with some black paint.  Then I sprayed everything with the gold paint spray to give a more realistic gold metal appearance.

Below are photos of the crown and belt.  I don't have detailed photos of the crown in progress, but please enjoy Brandon's white fedora as my crown holder!

I couldn't find the right size jewel for the front of the crown, so I improvised with a large round, smaller rounds to create a teardrop shape and then put glitter in the gaps.
I had to move the center piece after gluing it.  I fixed the paint issue later.

Back of the crown

Front: I used hot glue to create the leaf veins

Back: I painted the pink inside later

Belt template pieces cut out, ready to be traced

Painting in progress - 2nd or 3rd coat

All the belt pieces drying before assembly

Assembled!

Jump rings and clasps spray painted 

I put felt strips of felt on the back of each piece to attach the rings

This is the completed product (you can see I'm painting the inside of the crown here!)

Next order thing on my list was painting and aging some of Brandon's costume.  Brandon asked that I paint the hilt of Link's sword and age Brandon's Link shield so it looked more authentic.

Brandon didn't like the blue of the hilt, as it didn't match the blue of the shield.

Before I started painting

In the middle of the painting process - the foam sword was extremely time consuming to paint.  It had so many groves and it took forever to dry!

Before: Brandon was trying on his things

After: Sprayed the shield with watered down gray paint, and then added some black to make it look battle worn

My dress, Brandon's boots, wig, gauntlets, and our elf ears are from Amazon
Brandon's tunic and hat are from Etsy
House is in our neighborhood

Our finished product!

I was really happy with the way everything turned out.  After this project, I would definitely create pieces from craft foam again!

Revised Cat Shelf

Our cat shelf is a hot hangout since Brandon installed it a couple of weeks ago. The kitties love their new high spot and view of the bird feeder.

The only issue we were having with our initial installation was the ramp was too steep for the kitties to go down. They were jumping down onto the couch, which was a bit alarming when you weren’t expecting it. 

Brandon, being the very intelligent man he is, came up with a new design that would make the ramp less steep and make it look more store bought. 

The first thing he did was put ladder steps on the ramp, for better footing. 

We found that the opposite side of the shelf has more real estate, so we switched sides, which helped with the ramp's steepness, but not a lot. We really want to encourage the kitties to use the ramp, so getting it just right was important to us.

Brandon’s last change, and this one was a bit tricky, was making a post (with an angled edge) to brace under the ramp. This made the ramp at the correct angle for the cats to comfortably go down it.  He then screwed the ramp into the post, giving it more support.




We had to coax the cats into using the ramp the first few times down, but now they run up and down it like it's no big deal!

Kitty Window Shelf - Damage Free

Brandon and I both like working on projects and keeping busy. This weekend was filled with projects and luckily they have all turned out well. One in particular is super exciting and I wanted to share it with you!

We have two cats who are delightful, sweet and super curious. Brandon made them a shelf a few months ago in one of our small windows so they can watch the birds outside our condo, and they love it. 

This weekend he decided to take on an even bigger project, making a shelf for our long and narrow windows over our couch. The cats love to get up there and critter watch. 

The best part about this shelf is that there is no damage to the window area. Brandon is very clever and made the shelf so it would stay put with some vertical pieces of wood to brace against the window frame.  So if you are renting your home and want to make something cool for your cat(s), you have an option!

Our window is 5’10” wide and the base of the window sits at about 6 ft high. We needed an easy way for the cats to get on the shelf without taking death defying leaps. My smart hubby decided to make a ramp on a hinge to give them an easy way up. (The hinge was for the easy connection in buidling)

Brandon cut the wood for the window, cut the bracing pieces, and the ramp. We wanted some shag carpet, similar to their cat condo, to cover the wood and found a fairly inexpensive rug at Walmart. 

Once all the pieces were cut and covered, Brandon attached the hinge. Then we adhered some foam double-sided tape to the window sill and slide the shelf into place. Then we put the bracing pieces in each corner, also with some double sided tape, and tapped them into place with a mallet. They should be very snug. Then you’re all finished!

Window Before

Window After

Kitties enjoying the shelf

Let me know if you have any questions!