New Website

Hey guys!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I now have a new website I will be posting on! I'll still keep this blog up, but new content will be on my website!

http://www.whimsyaly.com/

I also created a Facebook page, feel free to like, follow, and share ;)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/WhimsyAly-Cosplay/718736851532919?ref=hl

Thanks for your support, as always!
XOXO, Alycia

KuroNekoCon 2014 Review!

Hey gang!

Spokane's annual anime convention, KuroNekoCon, was this past weekend, and I had the joy of being able to attend for the second year in the row! Its such a fun little convention--everyone there has so much energy and just wants to have fun.  And I was prepared enough this year that I pre-registered, but it also seemed like the regular registration line had improved in efficiency compared to last year.

I cosplayed as Winry on Saturday, but somehow didn't end up with a single photo of myself! And while wearing gloves, it is rather hard to take photos with my own little camera, so I couldn't grab many photos of other cosplayers, but I will post what I have.  There was always a little something going on throughout the whole day, but mainly I stuck around the anime viewing room and the exhibitor's room/artist alley.  Managed to score some cool loot, which I will also share!

For now, take a look at some of the cosplayers I grabbed photos of! I love seeing other people's cosplays.  It's awesome to be able to connect to other like-minded people :)

As promised, some loot photos! I can never resist prints from artists, but I am running out of wall space, like seriously! Also, a really cool little table had a thing going where if you donated $2 to Hospice, you got to role a 12-sided die and have a chance at some prizes! I did a little prayer to the dice gods before I rolled it, and ended up with 3 comic books- the Bloodlines one you see on top, then an Elfquest one, and a Fantastic 4 issue! I don't think any of them are the first in their series, so I'm gonna have to track those down now! Haha.

That's all I have for tonight, folks! Thanks for stopping by! I genuinely enjoyed myself at KuroNekoCon, and I can't wait to attend again next year and watch it grow! 

On a related note, I also bought tickets for Geek Girl Con in Seattle, coming up in October! Big plans for this one, so watch out!

Sincerely, 

Alycia

Photoshoot: Genderbent Makoto from Free!

How's it going, everyone?

Summer is going by way too fast, if you ask me.  I'd love to be able to hit the lake at least once or twice before fall arrives; I will have to think of a way to make that happen.  Maybe a pool would be better.  Growing up, my summers from the time I could walk were spent taking swimming lessons at the local pool.  As a result, I have a strong love of swimming.  I swam competitively in high school for a couple years, but the atmosphere just wasn't right for me, but I still love to lap swim for exercise and for fun!

Maybe now you can imagine my excitement when a swimming anime was started airing last summer-- Free! After years of having only basketball, football, soccer, tennis anime and manga to read, I was overjoyed when they announced the swimming anime!  Call me a fangirl or whatever, but I am totally obsessed.  I love all the characters, but Makoto is the one I can relate to the most, despite my love for the water.  So what do I do when I love a character in a series? Cosplay them, of course!

Now, if you have seen glimpses of the anime at all, you probably are wondering how I would cosplay a tall, muscular dude.  That, my friends, is where I took the creative liberty of "genderbending."  In all honesty, this was totally a closet cosplay.  My current training suit is green and black, I had green contacts laying around,  I have an adorable orca stuffed animal for the "official animal," plus some green track pants and flip-flops and I was set!

Ideally, my hair could have had a little more of a green tinge, but considering I haven't spent much time in the chlorine lately, I settled for my natural blonde hair.  But paired with some cute bangs and a green ribbon, it turned out pretty good!

All in all, this was so easy and fun to do.  Normally I spend a ton of time planning cosplays and photo shoots, but this one fell together so spontaneously that it was a weird feeling to me!  My husband was kind enough to humor me for the impromptu photo shoot last weekend,  and we had so much fun at the little lake we went to, but the water was way too frigid for any decent swimming. I hope you enjoy the photos!

Heading to KuroNekoCon this weekend in Spokane! Super excited to visit this con again.
Until next time,
Alycia

Winry Photoshoot!

Hi there!

I hope everyone's summer is going well.  I can't believe we are more than half-way through July already.  Luckily, I've been able to have some good times with friends and family, and it seems like weekends fill up with plans quickly!  Work has been hectic, but that is a pretty common complaint I have.  Had a nice, long weekend due to the Fourth of July, however, so I knew I had to spend some of that extra time to do a photo shoot with my Winry cosplay!

Winry is a cosplay I completed for my very first Sakura-Con I attended in 2010.  The overalls were my mom's old work overalls from the farm we lived on, and were white, so I dyed them a light purple.  The handkerchief I wear is also from mom.  I purchased the black tube top, and found the sandals at a thrift store.  The wrench I carry around is one of my dad's.  So in short, its a very meaningful cosplay to me.  Additionally, Fullmetal Alchemist is still one of my favorite anime/mangas to this day, and who couldn't love Winry??  I think she is a great character.  

Back to present day, I realized I didn't have any photos of my Winry cosplay that weren't taken at Sakura-Con, and there is either someone or something in the background, or I have an incredibly derpy face.  So I dug it out of my closet, dragged Brenton down to my parents house, and we took some photos!  More specifically, we took photos at my dad's garage, where there are all sorts of cars, parts, and miscellany hanging around for photo shoot fun! Despite the heat, we had a lot of fun, and here are the best of the best!

I think it was obligatory we get some photos with an old Volkswagen body outside my dad's garage.  That old part I found? Yeah, I have no clue, it was just sitting there, begging to be puzzled over.  I have a feeling Winry would be able to figure it out, oops! Haha! And of course I found a kitty to cuddle! That's Toby, a stray who adopted my family.  He is no Den, but he was kind enough to allow photos.  

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret now, I have one more photo that isn't here that is my favorite of the whole day.  Instead, I'm going to post it exclusively on my deviantART account.  Just to clarify, I have no intention of abandoning this blog, but it is just nice to offer diversity once in while! So if you are interested in checking it out (which you totally should be), here is a link: deviantART.  I only have a couple galleries up right now, so if you are a frequent reader of my blog you should be familiar with most of the photos.  But it is nice to have them in one place rather than search back through old blog posts.  

KuroNekoCon in Spokane is only a couple weeks away now! I've preregistered and reserved hotel rooms, and am very excited to be attending this con for the second time!  I'll be in my Winry cosplay there, can't wait!

Thanks for stopping by!

-Alycia 

Update: Oops, June flew by!

Hello, friends and family of the interwebs!

Wow, June sure passed in a hurry!  It feels like I blinked and it passed.  I know I crammed a lot of stuff into June, like visiting family for a week, spending time with friends and coworkers, and making time for myself and my husband.  It also possible I may have rediscovered Magic: The Gathering, and have spent a great majority of the past two weeks collecting cards and playing games, but I will plead the fifth on that matter, haha! That all said, I really enjoyed myself through all of it, and I feel more rejuvenated for it!

I haven't been totally slacking off; I just haven't been broadcasting it in my blog, oops! So instead of rambling on, I'm gonna make a list of things I've been up to, and ideas floating through my mind.

1) Made a deviantART account for Heart and Soul Cosplay.  For those who don't know, deviantART is an online community for any sort of artist.  I like how accessible and easy to navigate their gallery layout is, compared to Blogspot for example, hence the duplicity.  I only have one gallery up right now, of my Erza cosplay, but I will definitely add more.  Here is a cute little link to take you to the Heart and Soul Cosplay profile:  http://heartandsoulcosplay.deviantart.com/

2) Pre-registered to go to KuroNekoCon in Spokane!  This is "Spokane's Premier Anime Event."  I also attended last year and had a great time, so am really looking forward to going again.  And while I've started a new cosplay (more on that later,) this con is only a month away and I don't think it is feasible for me to be able to finish a brand new cosplay in that time frame.  I think for this year, I will wear my Winry cosplay again.  It's fun, its easy to wear, and I still loooove Winry and Fullmetal Alchemist so I think I have made a good choice.

3) Did a proper photoshoot with my Winry cosplay! I will make a post with the photos soon; Brenton captured some good ones!  All my photos of Winry before have been from Sakura-Con and were rushed photos, so it was great to take our time getting some photos in.

4)  I think I may have said this before, but my next cosplay is going to be Kiichi from Karneval.  See the Google search results here: click! The manga and anime for Karneval are super pretty, and I'm excited to cosplay Kiichi because I think she is a fun character, and the cosplay will be a new challenge for me.  Plus I've always wanted to cosplay a character with a scythe, and have blue hair, so this all just lined up!  In fact, tonight I dyed the fabric to start making her dress, and getting that done was the only thing impeding my progress before, so I should be able to move pretty quickly now.  Yay!

5) I've been brainstorming and planning out an original costume/cosplay design.  I'm trying to keep it all a bit of a secret, because I might start selling some of the props I make for it in a store, but the designs I've been drawing out are pretty awesome and I am incredibly excited.  I want to drop a hint for you guys, but then I might spoil it! So we will see how long my self control lasts, hahaha!

6) Been seriously thinking about making a Facebook page for Heart and Soul Cosplay.  Right now, I only put the updates on my personal Facebook, but I feel like I'm spamming all my friends and family on there too much.  I mean, cosplay is what I'm passionate about and thats what excites me and makes me want to post something on Facebook, so maybe I should create a separate Facebook page for it?  Would anyone reading this want to like my Facebook page? Do you think I should go for it? I would really love to hear from everyone on this, so feel free to comment below, or tweet at me or email me.

Anyways, I think that is all I have to say for now.  Sorry there are no pictures this time, but I will have more pictures to post soon.  If you made it this far, thanks so much for taking the time to read this.  I would also super appreciate any input on making a Facebook page, so don't be afraid to tell me what you think!  I hope everyone has an awesome week, and please keep an eye out for more updates!

Sincerely,
Alycia
@whimsyAly
heartandsoulcosplay@gmail.com

Morgiana Cosplay Makeup Tutorial

Why hello there!

I decided to try my hand at another cosplay makeup tutorial filming, this time with the makeup for my Morgiana cosplay.  I had lot of fun filming this, and even made myself a pretty background to film against rather than my chaotic bookshelf lol.  I think the video is pretty self explanatory, so I'm gonna post it below, but below the video I will put a list of all the items and makeup I used, including the wig and contacts.


Wig is from Arda Wigs,  an Inigo in Maroon.

Contacts from honeycolor.com, Super Pinky brand in Wine.

Makeup used (in order):
Revlon Stay Matte primer
Clinique foundation
Clinique eye primer in Canvas
NYX three gold palette
L'Oreal Project Runway palette
Be a Bombshell felt tip eyeliner
L'Oreal white eyeliner
Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter liner
Maybelline Falsies Mascara
Rimmel Stay Matte pressed powder
Rimmel Matte Bronzer
Red lip liner
Maybelline clear mascara
Clinique lipstick in Adore U

As always, if you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear them.  I hope you enjoyed my tutorial, and thanks so much for stopping by!
Take Care!
-Alycia

May 2014 Loot Crate

Hey everyone!


So I know I'm posting this in June, not May, but I think I have a pretty flimsy decent excuse this time.  In the later half of May, I started seeing more Looters popping up in the Instagram tags, showing off their loot! So yah I kinda spoiled the surprise for myself, but there were still some blind-box things I could be surprised with.  But now that I knew some of the things in store for me,  I started to get antsy ha.  After a couple weeks of patiently waiting, my Loot Crate the last Thursday of the month.  Of course, I could no longer patiently wait to film an unboxing, so I tore it open right in my workplace, and boy was I thrilled to bits.  Now, 5 days later, here is a picture and some brief thoughts lol.

Firstly, love love love the Link tee and Legend of Zelda bottle opener.  Definitely my favorites out of this crate.  Haven't got a chance to check out "The Friend Zone" soundtrack, but the Loot Crate team has never given me a reason to doubt their tastes.  Well, frankly speaking, I'm not a big fan of "Adventure Time,"  so I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with the zombie Jake I got in the blind box.  I don't play Minecraft, either, but the little piggy keychain I got is actually pretty cute.  Then a pretty neat addition to this months box is the stickers and temporary tattoos.  I'll have to do a little more research on those brands to better appreciate it, but there are some funny stickers on my sheet.  

That's all I have to say right now.  I have some cosplay related things in the works, so keep an eye out for those!

For now, go enjoy the beautiful weather!!

-Alycia

Fun with Washi Tape: Dresser Edition!

Hi friends!

Are you every plagued by the feeling that your furniture is just not quite cute enough?  I seem to have that problem.  Shocking, I know.  I bought myself a new dresser recently, and it was just so plain and white that I just had to do something about it.  

I wanted something that was really cutesy and feminine, but not something I would have to put a lot of effort in to.  Scratch that, I wanted it to look like I had put a lot of time and effort into it, haha.  That when I though washi tape would be perfect for the job.  Washi tape is a growing in popularity in the papercrafting crowd,  due mostly to the cute and fun designs that get printed onto the tape (read more here: http://www.omiyage.ca/what-is-washi-tape.)  Scotch tape has put out its own line of printed tapes, which is what I used to create my perfect dresser!

So here is my dresser, freshly assembled.  While it's simple, its not quite the look I was going for.

 At Target, I pickup up two different washi tape designs, and some rub-on transfers.

 Next, I taped it all up!  I was very pleased with Scotch's washi tape.  It went on easy, and came off easy if I needed to quickly replace it.  It stays in place pretty well after you apply some pressure to it.  I chose alternating patterns for my dresser because I liked how it looks.

 Next, I just had fun with the rub-on transfers.  These took a little more work than the washi tape, but well worth it in my opinion.

 Now, when you look at this thing, you'd like to think that it can't get much more girly.  That is false.

 I broke out my hot glue gun and lace, and put a layer of lace along the top of the dresser.

 Still not girly enough, am I right?  Look at those plain drawer pulls.  Wanna know  how to fix that? Silk flowers and pearls.  Thats right, pearls.

 Double layer the silk flowers for maximum effect.

 The final result?  100, no, 200% cuteness and fun.  While some people, including my husband, think its a little over the top, I think its perfect.

Any questions or comments? Like always, hit me up!

-Alycia

Sakura-Con 2014! Post 3 of 3: More pictures!!

Greetings, everyone!

Ahhh I can't believe it has almost been a month since Sakura-Con 2014 has passed.  It still feels like it was just this past weekend.  I guess that means we are just this much closer to the next one, right? Lol.  Some people say I'm too optimistic, but I can't help it!

It goes without saying that I have a lot of "favorite things" about Sakura-Con, but when I say that seeing other cosplayers is one of my favorite things, I sincerely mean it.  As a fan, it's so fun to see people bring my favorite characters to life.  And as a cosplayer, I'm always interested in the methods other cosplayers use to do their cosplays.  

Unfortunately, when I'm in cosplay, I can't run around getting as many pics as I would like to get.  Fortunately, Brenton is a very understanding husband, and pulls double duty capturing pictures of Justin and I, and the other cosplayers at the convention.  Thanks so much, Brenton!

As for the batch of photos we got this year, I put little captions under the ones I know, and left the ones I'm not too sure about without caption.  Feel free to chime in if you recognize something I didn't.  Hope you enjoy them!

Adeptus Sororitas from Warhammer (Battle Sisters) 

League of Legends

League of Legends

League of Legends 

World of Warcraft (seemed outnumbered this year haha)

So this next batch of photos should be titled "We let Justin loose with the camera Saturday Night," ahem, "Late Night Sakura-Con hosted by Justin M." Brenton and I are so exhausted by the time the concert ends on Saturday that we usually call that bedtime.  But apparently, the nightlife of Sakura-Con is a whole different beast than the daytime.  I'm gonna need to learn to like energy drinks so I can join in the fun next year! Justin and Bob somehow had the energy to explore all of this, and captured photos of it!

Star Wars

Gundam!

Attack on Titan

Cool little explanation for this next photo- this year Sakura-Con had a little partnership with Dungeons&Dragons to have a campaign at the con this year, DM'd by none other than Matthew Mercer, the voice of Sinbad from Magi, among many other roles and talents.  Here he is hard at work.

Matthew Mercer

League of Legends

The rave!

Rave + Borderlands = ?? 

Cosplay chess

Well guys, thats it for this year! I had such a blast, as usual.  I'm hoping to make it to more conventions throughout the year, but in the meantime definitely keep coming back here for updates and ramblings.  I've set some pretty big goals for myself, and have a lot of new cosplays and photoshoots planned, so please look forward to that.

Any questions, comments, or concerns? As usual, I love to hear from you so don't be afraid to comment or seek me out on the Twitterverse, @whimsyAly.

See you soon!
-Alycia