Why hello everyone!
At the beginning of February, I had an great opportunity to meet some awesome young ladies from Montana's first chapter of the Navigators USA scouting group (more info of what they are about here: http://navigatorsusa.org/ and their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/NavigatorsUSAChapter62 )
While these scouts are normally working with nature and preserving the great outdoors for their activities, thats a little difficult to do in the harsh Montana winter. So when its cold and wintry outside, what else can one do but some awesome arts and crafts?
This was my first time ever preparing and teaching a workshop of any kind, so I was unsurprisingly nervous. I decided to hold the workshop on my mini top hat tutorial (here), with a bit of a show and tell with some of the cosplay props I've made. These decisions weren't out of the blue; it was after I learned from the scout's leader, Peggy, that the girls were excited about costuming and arts and crafts that I went with this theme.
For assistance, I enlisted the help of my friend and fellow mini top hat enthusiast, Aubray. We dressed up in our most girly, frilly, top-hat-themed finery, loaded up her car with cosplay props and craft supplies, and embarked on our journey to the meeting place. One map mishap and a phone call later, we made it!
Thanks to the kind parents in this scouting group, we had a warm place to have the workshop, and another parent donated some marvelous materials for all the girls to use. Five girls were able to attend, around the ages of nine and ten. All of them were very nice, but most importantly they were enthusiastic! After I did a little show and tell of the props I brought, including my Buster Sword (kudos to Aubray for lugging it from her car!) we jumped right in to crafting time! There is a little fashion show that Peggy caught on video, check it out below!
Everyone had so much fun, so I was really relieved! Things got a little sticky with the hot glue guns, not even I came away unscathed from the wrath of super-heated glue, but I think despite that all the girls had a great time! They were all so energetic and creative, and all their hats came out so unique. Mine looked almost boring in comparison, haha! At first, I wanted to jump in and give advice on how I thought the hats should look and be made, but then I remembered that my original intent for this whole workshop was to show that you can do anything you want when you are creating art or costumes. There is no right or wrong way to do art. So when you set a pack of ten year olds loose with glue, feather, beads, ribbon, and fabric....magic happens! It happens so often in today's schools and society that you are corralled into doing things a certain way, to conform to certain standards, and I think we lose a lot of our creative freedom as we grow up. I can only hope that Aubray and I showed these young girls that you can still have creative freedom as a "grown-up," and that if you want a purple leopard print top hat with pink and green feathers and polkadots all over, go for it!
As for myself, I learned a lot from this workshop as well. For example, I'm better with kids than I first thought I was, or so I hope! Secondly, I'm really thankful that I asked for help from Aubray and that she agreed to help (thank you soooo much! ^.^) Also, if I ever do another workshop with the mini top hats, I would probably prepare the pattern and basic structure of the top hat beforehand so we have more time to focus on what is important-- creating your unique top hat style!
A big thank you to Peggy and the Navigator scouts for arranging this and having Aubray and I for the workshop. It was a great honor to be able to do that. Thank you to the parents who lent us their house and donated materials! And thank you to Aubray for assisting me the whole day long. I was seriously impressed by your mad glue gun skills!
Sincerely,
Alycia
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Sakura-Con 2014! Post 1 of 3: Zack and Cloud!
Hello everyone!
Welp, another Sakura-Con has come and gone. It always feels so surreal when I think about how much fun I had there interacting with other people, shopping in the exhibitor's/artist alley hall, and going to all the different panels and events. It is also difficult how fast those three days fly by. Three days in a normal work-week go by so sluggishly, but somehow three days of Sakura-Con fly by!
We arrived in Seattle Thursday evening, and once we got checked into the hotel, we took to wandering the streets around the convention center. Much to our bewilderment, most people we happened upon had their badges and swag bags for the con already! After a little asking around, it turns out you can actually pick up your badge Thursday night if you pre-registered! Oh man, it was so relaxing being able to do that! I'm definitely going to remember to do that next year.
Friday morning, I woke everyone up bright and early, despite their protests. We, okay, I, decided we would wander around the exhibitors hall and convention center before getting into cosplay, because it is just a lot easier to maneuver when you are not wearing pauldrons and carrying a twenty pound, 6 feet long sword. I scored plenty of great loot, do you guys want to see any of it? If there is enough interest I will definitely post some photos.
After about an hour or two, Justin and I decide we can't wait any longer to get into our cosplays, so we return to the hotel room to get into our Final Fantasy 7 cosplays. We decided to wear these again this year for multiple reasons. One, the swords are freaking epic. Two, we love FF7. Three, a heck of a lotta time was devoted to creating these cosplays and it would be a shame to only wear them to one convention. It is my pleasure now to show you the photos we captured of us cosplaying as Zack and Cloud at Sakura-Con 2014! *hint- click on the photos for a gallery view, or view one by one below!
As for the next two photos, we were trying to capture the "intimidating" aura that members of SOLDIER, imagined or not, should have. I'd say Justin succeeded, but as for myself... I don't come across as too scary haha.
The photo below turned out so well that I actually printed off a poster-sized version of it for Justin and I! Really pleased with how this came out. Thanks, Brenton :)
Another photo of myself, staring wistfully into the distance. It's hard for me to remember not to "smile for the camera" when I'm cosplaying as Cloud. I'm a very smiley person, but Cloud is a very somber, stoic character, so I catch myself smiling a lot. Plus, its hard not to smile when I'm at Sakura-Con!
Before I forget, I just want to give a big thank you to everyone who wanted pictures of Justin and I this year. To have the cosplays we worked so hard on be so well received for two years in a row is a huge compliment. It means so much to me when someone wants to give me a hug or tell me how much they like my cosplay. Thank you all so much!!
Friday night, we arrived a little late to the Final Fantasy photo shoot gathering, but still managed to get into some shots! One of my favorites is below, it was all the "angsty" characters doing what they do best-- angsting. It was a lot of fun posing with everyone!
Fun fact: after we left the photo shoot area, we ran into this awesome Sephiroth who was rocking that one giant wing! So who could resist a few pictures??
Welp, another Sakura-Con has come and gone. It always feels so surreal when I think about how much fun I had there interacting with other people, shopping in the exhibitor's/artist alley hall, and going to all the different panels and events. It is also difficult how fast those three days fly by. Three days in a normal work-week go by so sluggishly, but somehow three days of Sakura-Con fly by!
We arrived in Seattle Thursday evening, and once we got checked into the hotel, we took to wandering the streets around the convention center. Much to our bewilderment, most people we happened upon had their badges and swag bags for the con already! After a little asking around, it turns out you can actually pick up your badge Thursday night if you pre-registered! Oh man, it was so relaxing being able to do that! I'm definitely going to remember to do that next year.
Friday morning, I woke everyone up bright and early, despite their protests. We, okay, I, decided we would wander around the exhibitors hall and convention center before getting into cosplay, because it is just a lot easier to maneuver when you are not wearing pauldrons and carrying a twenty pound, 6 feet long sword. I scored plenty of great loot, do you guys want to see any of it? If there is enough interest I will definitely post some photos.
After about an hour or two, Justin and I decide we can't wait any longer to get into our cosplays, so we return to the hotel room to get into our Final Fantasy 7 cosplays. We decided to wear these again this year for multiple reasons. One, the swords are freaking epic. Two, we love FF7. Three, a heck of a lotta time was devoted to creating these cosplays and it would be a shame to only wear them to one convention. It is my pleasure now to show you the photos we captured of us cosplaying as Zack and Cloud at Sakura-Con 2014! *hint- click on the photos for a gallery view, or view one by one below!
As you can see in the above two photos, Brenton captured some awesome images of the "behind the scenes" preparation. I couldn't not include them! In case you're wondering, I'm carefully applying the scar to Justin's face, haha.
As for the next two photos, we were trying to capture the "intimidating" aura that members of SOLDIER, imagined or not, should have. I'd say Justin succeeded, but as for myself... I don't come across as too scary haha.
Another photo of myself, staring wistfully into the distance. It's hard for me to remember not to "smile for the camera" when I'm cosplaying as Cloud. I'm a very smiley person, but Cloud is a very somber, stoic character, so I catch myself smiling a lot. Plus, its hard not to smile when I'm at Sakura-Con!
Before I forget, I just want to give a big thank you to everyone who wanted pictures of Justin and I this year. To have the cosplays we worked so hard on be so well received for two years in a row is a huge compliment. It means so much to me when someone wants to give me a hug or tell me how much they like my cosplay. Thank you all so much!!
Friday night, we arrived a little late to the Final Fantasy photo shoot gathering, but still managed to get into some shots! One of my favorites is below, it was all the "angsty" characters doing what they do best-- angsting. It was a lot of fun posing with everyone!
Well, this is concludes the first post in my series chronicling Sakura-Con 2014. It was so great adventuring as Zack and Cloud again, and I can't wait to show you guys more photos from the next couple days of Sakura-Con!
Any questions or comments about our cosplays, or our time at the con? Hit us up! My Twitter handle is @whimsyAly, you can comment below, or shoot us an email to heartandsoulcosplay@gmail.com. Love hearing from you!
-See you soon,
Alycia
Thursday, April 24, 2014
April 2014 Loot Crate
Hello everyone!
I hope things have been going well for everyone. The past month was pretty busy for me, as I was finishing up Justin's and my own new cosplays that we debuted at Sakura-Con 2014 this past weekend. It was awesome, we all had a blast, and I will blog about it and have pictures posted very soon, I promise!
Now, coming back to reality after a weekend of nerdy awesomeness is always rough, but this year my pain was eased by returning to work to find April's Loot Crate waiting patiently on my desk. I'll tell you right now, I was totally stoked for this months theme, Dragons, because I have been completely obsessed with dragons longer than I have been obsessed with Hello Kitty, which is saying something. I think I received the first dragon in my collection when I was 7 or 8, and my passion for them since has been undying.
I could go on about how much I love dragons forever, but thats not what you came to read! Instead, read about how much I loved this months Loot Crate!
First up, the Loot Crate exclusive Nord figure! What a cutie, er, ferocious little guy! His helmet is removable, his arms posable, and his weapons also are removable. Loved that they included the (miniature) great-axe along with the sword, as the great-axe is usually my go-to weapon in Skyrim (still lamenting my lack of Elder Scrolls Online...) Anyways, here is a picture:
The next item I plucked out of my crate was the Game of Thrones mystery figure box. I hopped on the Game of Thrones train a little later than most people, but it's one of my current favorite live-action shows. I mean, DRAGONS!! How could I not like it?? It was with baited breath that I opened my box, because I reeeeeaally wanted a dragon figure. And if you saw my recent Instagram post, you would know the answer to this, but I am thrilled to announce that my mystery figure was in fact the dragon Viserion! I honest to goodness squealed out loud. Take a peek at the cuteness:
I thought the Dragon Shield screen clean was a very unique addition to this month's box. Being relatively new to Loot Crate still, I'm still not sure what to expect, but as always I am pleasantly surprised. The screen cleaner works really well, although it is intended to be stuck to the back of your phone, but my deco, blinged-out phone case doesn't really allow for that.
So, in case I didn't make it clear, I loved this months Loot Crate. It continues to surpass my expectations, and I always enjoy every part of it. Not to mention, DRAGONS!!
Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. Did you like this style of write up, or did you better enjoy last month's write up where I also filmed a video. Talk to me in the comments, or send me a Tweet to let me know! And the Sakura-Con 2014 blog post is coming soon, so keep an eye out for that!
Take care!
-Alycia
I hope things have been going well for everyone. The past month was pretty busy for me, as I was finishing up Justin's and my own new cosplays that we debuted at Sakura-Con 2014 this past weekend. It was awesome, we all had a blast, and I will blog about it and have pictures posted very soon, I promise!
Now, coming back to reality after a weekend of nerdy awesomeness is always rough, but this year my pain was eased by returning to work to find April's Loot Crate waiting patiently on my desk. I'll tell you right now, I was totally stoked for this months theme, Dragons, because I have been completely obsessed with dragons longer than I have been obsessed with Hello Kitty, which is saying something. I think I received the first dragon in my collection when I was 7 or 8, and my passion for them since has been undying.
I could go on about how much I love dragons forever, but thats not what you came to read! Instead, read about how much I loved this months Loot Crate!
First up, the Loot Crate exclusive Nord figure! What a cutie, er, ferocious little guy! His helmet is removable, his arms posable, and his weapons also are removable. Loved that they included the (miniature) great-axe along with the sword, as the great-axe is usually my go-to weapon in Skyrim (still lamenting my lack of Elder Scrolls Online...) Anyways, here is a picture:
Double dose of awesomeness this month in the form of two d20's! The bigger the better? The big orange one is actually a stress ball. Gonna keep it on my desk at work for those really tough phone calls. And also to make crucial decisions, like where to eat for lunch or if I check my voicemail now or in 15 minutes, haha. In all seriousness, you can never have enough d20's around. Love it!
Okay, we've spent most of this blog post talking about how much I love dragons. Truly, I'd rather befriend them than slay them. No kidding, I have to mentally prepare myself in Skyrim before I go fight a dragon because I end up feeling bad for slaying it. But the dragon slayer dog tag is pretty neat. Again, a unique concept in my opinion. I'm wearing it as I blog, actually!
Last, but not least, the dragon jerky. I'll admit, the green, powdery coating on the outside made me a little cautious. But, for the sake of authentic blogging, I made my husband try it with me, and it was delicious! The right balance of tender and tough, with a savory flavor that wasn't overly salty. I have a hunch that dragon jerky, if dragons did exist, would not be quite so succulent, but if it were I may just have to retract my previous statement about befriending rather than slaying dragons (I jest, I jest!)
So, in case I didn't make it clear, I loved this months Loot Crate. It continues to surpass my expectations, and I always enjoy every part of it. Not to mention, DRAGONS!!
Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. Did you like this style of write up, or did you better enjoy last month's write up where I also filmed a video. Talk to me in the comments, or send me a Tweet to let me know! And the Sakura-Con 2014 blog post is coming soon, so keep an eye out for that!
Take care!
-Alycia
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