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Easy (Disney) Cosplay Tips

October 16, 2015 by Bel 1 Comment

So as you know, I love to make costumes and I love to cosplay. I’ve been to a few conventions now – LFCC last year, London MCM in May of this year, SFCC in August and a small Lincoln one in September, two of which I cosplayed for. However not everyone has the ability to sew (or the money to buy handmade) so I decided to share some tips about costumes you can threw together easily, using clothes readily available in stores and online.

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For MCM Comic Con, I was originally choosing to go as Go Go Tomago. If you haven’t seen Disney’s Big Hero 6 then you’ll have no idea who that is – and if you haven’t seen it, then you should! Go Go is an awesome female character and her “everyday” look is really easy to replicate.

The costume is basically made up from a black leather jacket, white t-shirt, black (and purple) leggings, black shorts and black trainers. Depending on how exact you’re wanting to be with your costume, sourcing the exact items might prove tricky. However if you’re happy to improvise, you should get most things fairly easily.

I started with the leather jacket. Of course I wasn’t going to get actual leather, as that would be expensive. I headed off to Ebay to find something cheap and secondhand. The important thing to note about Go Go’s jacket was it’s style – the way it zips up, neckline etc.

JKW6 Pokerun_Womens_Marylin_Leather_Jacket_zoom

Can you spot the difference between the two?

After the jacket, the rest should come fairly easy. A simple white t-shirt, relatively non nondescript. Black leggings, with purple poking through rips – either a double layer of leggings, black over purple with tears cut in the black – or black leggings with rips, patched up underneath with purple material. Black fingerless gloves. Black trainers. Black shorts. Depending on how close you’re wanting to match, I’m sure you can find black trainers with a splash of purple and black shorts with a splash of red. Failing that you could always add your own – paint for the trainers and ribbon for the shorts.

Last but not least, this leaves the hair. Of course if you’re radical you could cut and dye your own (I actually tricked all my facebook friends into thinking I’d done that) or you can buy a wig.

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So long as you plan fairly far in advance (allowing time for shipping from China) you should be able to pick up a relatively cheap cosplay wig. Mine was around £10 mark and took about 3 weeks to arrive. There are some great bargains out there, for all things cosplay, the more time you allow and the further it can travel from!

Filed Under: cosplay Tagged With: baymax, Big Hero 6, clothes, comic con, cosplay, costumes, Disney, dressing up, ebay, fancy dress, Go Go Tomago, GoGo Tomago, LFCC, London film and comic con, MCM expo, MCM London Comic Con

Day 3: LFCC – London Film and Comic Con (July 11th-13th)

July 17, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

Day 3 and my final day of LFCC – Sunday! This day, there was going to be 8 of us instead of the 5 from the other days. Our friends, Nat, Tom and Jon had joined us the evening before and so together we were all attending for the Sunday.

Having ended up in a long queue the day before, we were all prepared for a long wait that morning too. We were prompt getting away from the Travelodge, this time with all our bags in tow too. Luckily we could leave everything in the car at Hounslow, as we caught the tube to Earls Court yet again. We weren’t dressed up and for that I was glad. As much as it had been nice to Cosplay the day before, I missed my jeans and t-shirts! The eight of us headed out of Earls Court tube station and were very pleased to see a lot less signs of queues than the day before. However, it wasn’t long before we realised the queue was just being a bit better organised and wandering in a different direction. It was still almost as long as the day befores! That said, the queue moved steadily from the moment we joined it and it wasn’t long before we got inside.

There were quite a lot more celebrities there for signing on Sunday and so we made our way around, deciding if we’d want anyone’s autograph or not. As we were mostly in pairs now, we all split up to wander around and it was really nice just spending time with Chris as a couple. Though it was still fairly busy (and got busier as the day wore on) it wasn’t as hot or as busy as the day before. Also, as we’d seen and done most things, it was nice to just browse and take some time to buy some last minute souvenirs. Since I wanted to take something back for the girls, I ended up buying a Time Turner necklace for Megan, a Minecraft plush for Lily and then some Hogwarts biscuits for them both.

My only really grumble about Sunday was that the cash machine inside Earls Court was out of cash and on top of that, only a few of the stalls would take card payment. As such, midway through the day, Amy and I ended up heading out to find a cash point – only to find that 3-4 along the way were actually out of cash too. In the end, we stopped at a Co-op, bought some food and a drink and claimed some cash back. After that we headed back to the convention, buying the last few bits that we wanted.

I bought this beautiful canvas (as you might remember, it matches the decal on my laptop), along with some film clip pictures – ones of Tron for Chris and one of Harry Potter for myself and the girls.

Eventually, even though it was only about 1.30pm, we decided to call it a day. We had to get back to Hounslow, then drive back to Lincolnshire, and all of us were looking forward to getting back to the kids. All in all though, it was an amazing weekend and I’m so glad we went. I genuinely can’t wait to go to another Comic Con or another LFCC specifically.

My most prize posession/buy of the whole weekend, is by far my Funko Pop figure of Stan Lee. It’s a Limited Edition, LFCC 2014 Stan Lee Collectible. It’s taking pride of place in my dining room right now!

Tomorrow I will be posting all about the various costumes and cosplay that we saw at LFCC. I will also be writing about my own cosplay and how I made my costume – so please look out for that!

Day 1: LFCC | Day 2: LFCC | Day 3: LFCC

Filed Under: where we went Tagged With: beauty and the beast, Disney, earls court, Funko Pop, harry potter, July, LFCC, london, London film and comic con, Stan Lee, travel, Travelodge, weekend adventures

Day 2: LFCC – London Film and Comic Con (July 11th-13th)

July 16, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

Yesterday when I started my post about LFCC, I had fully expected to write about all three days in one post. However the more I wrote, the more I realised it would be better as separate posts. So if you’d like to read about my Friday, and Preview Evening at LFCC, you can read my Day 1: LFCC post here.

Today I want to focus on the Saturday – by far my favourite day of the whole weekend. The five people in our group, had all agreed to dress up. As Amy had decided to be Ariel, after much thought, I decided to go as Vanessa – Ursula in disguise. My brother and his girlfriend decided to go as Han Solo and Princess Leia, while my partner Chris went as Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist.

I got up at 7am and jumped straight into the shower. I knew it would take me a while to get ready and we wanted to be out of the Travelodge around 8am. Once I was showered, I got straight into my costume and this is pretty much how I looked:

Next I moved onto my makeup. Since Vanessa doesn’t really wear makeup (or at least she doesn’t seem to) so I kept mine fairly basic. I’m not really one for lots of makeup anyway to be honest, so I preferred it that way.

Once everyone was ready, we set off for Hounslow again. While we waited on the platform, we took a group selfie. When we got on the tube, we took another. It was actually great fun, getting on the tube all dressed up – especially as no one really batted an eyelash.

On the next carriage over, there was another group of cosplayers, all dressed up in DC Comic themed costumes. There was The Joker, The Riddler and Harley Quinn. When we arrived at Earls Court, the first thing that hit us was just how much busier it looked today, than it had the night before. As we walked towards Earls Court 2, the queues looked huge (and chaotic) and we knew it was going to be some time before we actually got into the building! However Optimus Prime and all the other Transformers were outside the building and this time I wasn’t going to miss photographing them!

Eventually we found where we were supposed to queue. We had Early Bird tickets and the queue ran up one way and then back the other, but it didn’t seem so bad. We started to queue at around 9am but it soon became obvious that we would be queuing a long time. Though it had appeared to be a short line, the queue in actual fact went right around the building, way further than you could see. It was actually about 10.30am before we got inside of the convention hall. Even then, it was obvious to see that it was much busier than the night before, so we quickly wandered around to see whose autographs we might want, grabbing a VQ ticket. I got 176 for Anthony Head and 726 for John Hurt. Chris also got one for Casper Van Dien. I would have loved to also meet Jamie Bamber, T.J. Thyne, Edward James Olmos, Jenna Coleman, and Milo Ventimiglia, but unfortunately funds couldn’t run to that! Instead we then wandered off around the stalls, popping back every now and again to check what numbers our VQs were at.

The rest of the day isn’t so much of a step by step guide, but instead a vague relay of what happened. Chris met Casper Van Dien, we both met Anthony Head. Our group split up for the majority of the day, but every now and again, especially when it got too warm in the building, we’d all meet up outside and sit in the shade for a while. We had lunch, we checked out the West Brompton building and then we wandered around some more. There were definitely parts of the day when I wished we could go home and change. I loved my costume but it was just such a warm day that I wanted to trade it in for my jeans and a t-shirt. We also had to hang around for the Game of Thrones screening and commentary at 7pm, so it did feel like a bit of a wait at times.

At around 5.30pm, after checking John Hurt’s queue loads of times, it was finally my turn to queue! It felt a little rushed and almost like we were being herded into the autographing area, but at that point I didn’t care. I was about to meet Mr Ollivander!

I have to admit I went a little fan girl after meeting John Hurt! It was a long day and he wasn’t personalising autographs, but I still got to say how nice it was to meet him and he said it was nice to meet me too and then we shook hands. I almost skipped out of the signing booth!

By that point, the convention was starting to wind down for the day. Amy and I ran around taking shots of all the different celebrities, as the queues to meet them died down. Afterwards everyone had to leave the hall, but we re-queued as we needed to get back in for the GoT screening. Again it was another long queue and while it was supposed to start at 7pm, it was actually 7.30pm before everyone was even seated.

Even then it was 7.45pm before anything actually got started. We watched an episode of GoT, with a commentary from Finn Jones, Kristian Nairn and Daniel Portman. It was pretty fun but at the same time there were moments that just felt a little awkward. I also thought it was a bit of shame that Showmasters had advertised a Special Guest and then it was just a Joffrey piñata. That said, it was an awesome piñata and now I want one!

The screening finally finished around 9pm. We had friends waiting outside for us – two of which had been to the Harry Potter Studio that day, the other of which had caught the train up just to meet up with us. We all headed back to the tube and then back to Hounslow. There we got Pizza Hut and KFC for dinner before heading back to the Travelodge. Outside the hotel, we got chatting to someone who was running a stall at Comic Con. We also saw Optimus Prime in the car park again! Finally though, we all headed to bed, knackered from an exhausting day and ready for another the next day!

Filed Under: where we went Tagged With: Anthony Head, autograph, comic con, cosplay, earls court, game of thrones, John Hurt, July, LFCC, london, London film and comic con, Optimus Prime, Transformers, travel, Travelodge, Vanessa, weekend adventures

Day 1: LFCC – London Film and Comic Con (July 11th-13th)

July 15, 2014 by Bel 1 Comment

Although I want to carry on with my #LincsBlogMeet company focus posts, I am absolutely desperate to tell you all about my amazing weekend. The weekend just gone was London Film and Comic Con by Showmasters and I really had one of the best times of my life!

Many months ago, Amy and I decided we wanted to go to a convention, largely to dress up. When looking through all of the available options, LFCC stood out the most, due to its sheer volume of celebrities attending. Not only that but it was the furthest one away, datewise, and still had more people listed than some conventions that were happening only a few weeks away. We also noticed that over the weeks that passed, more and more celebrities were added to their “attending” page and this totally sold it for us. On top of that, Stan Lee would be attending and he has long been my hero. It was also to be his last European appearance and so if there was any doubt, this sealed the deal!

We booked our tickets, way back in February and they arrived in April. I was so super excited to actually receive them – tickets for the whole weekend and a photo shoot with Stan Lee. Originally the weekend consisted of myself, my partner Chris, Amy, my brother Chris and his girlfriend Erika. However over time it developed into being Tom and Nat for the Sunday and then eventually even our friend Jon for the Sunday too. In all honesty, I know a lot more of our friends would have liked to come but there are only so many people you can fit in a car!

In order to keep things cheap, we booked a Travelodge at Heston, planning to catch the Underground into London each day. When the numbers grew, we also swapped from taking my own car, to taking my mum’s car, which I think is slightly more fuel efficient. On top of that, we spent months planning what costumes we may or may not wear.

Finally the day was here and though I was working until 1.30pm on Friday 11th, I was so excited to finish and get on our way. We left Lincoln at about 2pm and arrived at our Travelodge around 5.30pm. We checked in and stayed only briefly, before heading to Hounslow where we would catch the Tube to Earls Court. We paid for 3 days car parking there, topped up our Oyster cards and then we were off. The car journey had been only myself, Chris, my brother and his girlfriend, as Amy was arriving a little later. When the four of us arrived at Earls Court – left via the wrong exit and walked all the way around – it was about 7.30pm and so we got straight into the convention. My brother and I headed straight over to where the Stan Lee photoshoot was as we both had tickets, but our partners went off for a walk while we were queuing.

The wait wasn’t really that long and we managed to find plenty to talk about while we queued. My brother and I were really excited to finally see Stan Lee, even though we knew it would only be for a few seconds. Just as we were about to head into the photoshoot area, Chris and Erika joined us again, both having found where the programmes were being sold. They waited though while my brother and I went in for the photo and while it was literally only 2 seconds with Stan Lee, it was actually awesome.

For a little while I walked around like a giddy girl, chuffed about how Stan Lee had said “Hi” to me as I stood beside him and how I had said “thanks” after the photo was taken. I was also incredibly pleased for how the photo came out, half expecting to look fat or be sporting a double chin.

The four of us then wandered around the convention hall, seeing who was there to offer an autograph that evening. Many people were saying it was the best time to meet people and get their autographs as they had a lot more time on a Friday night. This was true about a lot of the things that evening to be honest. We soon spotted the Game of Thrones, Iron Throne. There was absolutely no queue and so we all jumped in to get a picture!

Again, I was really pleased with the photo, thinking it came out pretty well. Everyone else seemed pleased with their photos too. The rest of the evening we spent walking around the hall, up and down each aisle, looking at all the stalls. We were well behaved and didn’t buy anything, knowing we would have a proper look over the next few days.

Amy text to say she was outside and actually the evening was drawing to an end anyway. I was excited to get outside and photo the Transformers who had been outside when we arrived. However when we got outside, the Transformers were gone. I was really disappointed but I figured they’d be back the next day and would just be sure to photograph them then! We met up with Amy and caught the tube back to Houndslow. There we decided to get food, some of us getting kebab and the others getting KFC. We ate outside on a wall near the station, before finally getting in the car and heading back to the Travelodge. There we got a wonderful surprise, spotting Optimus Prime parked in the car park!

We spotted him out of the window and quickly stopped to take some photographs. However I knocked my can of coke over in the car and since it was Mum’s car, we all panicked a bit, parked up quick and cleaned up the mess. Once we’d all dropped off our stuff in our rooms, my brother and I headed back outside to take a few more photos. We both took pictures in front of Optimus Prime, just to prove we were actually there!

Finally we headed back to our rooms and all just went straight to bed. It had been a long day, I was tired from work, the driving and of course heading straight out to comic con. We were all really excited for the next day, as it felt like it would be the main day of LFCC.

Come back tomorrow for Day 2: LFCC – London Film and Comic Con (July 11th-13th)

Filed Under: where we went Tagged With: comic con, earls court, game of thrones, Iron Throne, July, LFCC, london, London film and comic con, Optimus Prime, Stan Lee, Transformers, travel, Travelodge, weekend adventures

Week 28 – Monday Round-up

July 14, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

I’m not feeling very well this evening so I can’t really be bothered to post. However I feel like my blog has been neglected enough as it is this last week.

Monday to Friday was work as usual, but this week was better than most as it was the last before summer holiday break. Sadly it was also incredibly busy, with an extra evening shift, a function day and a packing/moving day. Otherwise though, work was fine and actually quite fun at times.

What wasn’t that fun, was Megan being away on a school trip for 3 out of the 5 school days. I actually ended up posting about it over at Twice the Mum – Missing Megan. The first day was pretty hard but Nat came over in the evening and occupied most of my time. Tuesday was by far the hardest day as I didn’t get to see Megan at all and by Wednesday I was almost desperate to see her. In fact, when her coach pulled up outside, I burst into floods of tears.

That whole day wasn’t great to be honest. After I picked Megan up from school, we were all supposed to be heading to Pizza Hut for dinner. Instead Chris got knocked off his bike again and we spent an hour and a half in A&E car park. After that we just did drive thru KFC and went home. It was a pretty depressing evening, especially as it was my only one with both the girls as I was working Thursday night and away on Friday.

However, Friday was a fantastic day. When work finished, it was the beginning of a great weekend, as well as 7 weeks off! I felt brilliant and so glad to be off work. On top of that, we were straight off down to London, a 3 hour trip to our Travelodge and then another half hour on the tube into Earls Court. We headed straight for Comic Con and I had a photo shoot with Stan Lee all lined up!

The next day we dressed up for Comic Con and had a fab day doing so. It was tiring and it was hot but it was so worth it. Our whole group – myself, my Chris, Amy, my brother and his girlfriend Erika, all had costumes. I’m sure at times we regretted it, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat too. After Saturday’s Comic Con, three more friends joined us – Nat, Tom and Jon. We’d planned it so they stayed in the same Travelodge as us and the next day we all attended Comic Con together. While we only did about half a day before traveling home, it was still amazing fun. I finally got back to my kids around 6pm and after a quick cup of tea we all headed home. The girls were pretty much straight to bed and I was so knackered I didn’t really do much at all. Obviously I plan to post separately about Comic Con though so look out for that!

I had a long and tiring week but its plus points were most definitely anticipating the weekend, plus knowing I had seven weeks off after all the hecticness. LFCC was such fun and I can’t wait to go again. While it was a very draining week, both emotionally and physically, in the aftermath of Comic Con it all leaves the memory of a very good week!

Filed Under: Monday Round-up Tagged With: busy week, comic con, Frieston, holiday, LFCC, London film and comic con, summer holidays, work

Get “Tangled” up in Cosplay!

May 23, 2014 by Bel 1 Comment

Guess what? Less than a week has passed and already I’ve changed my mind about the costume I’m wearing to Comic Con! Yup, I didn’t even stick with my “final” decision.

You may remember that I posted about some of my costume ideas here and then made a final decision here but only a day later and I’d changed my mind about it all. In fact, my actual final decision, wasn’t even one of my original ideas!

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I’m going to go to Comic Con as Rapunzel! But of course, not the blonde version… the brunette one!

In fact, I’m so set on the idea (which I had on Saturday), I’ve actually already bought my costume – or at least began to. For starters, I have purchased this dress from Ebay:

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Sadly, I’ve had to buy the dress in 16-18, but it was that or 12-14 and while I’m losing weight, I don’t think I’ll have lost that much by then! I’m hoping that if necessary, I can always take it in. The dress cost £36.35 including postage so its not that bad really and a lot less hassle than trying to make it myself!

Then, the biggest shock of all my costume… is that I’m going to get my hair cut, to look like this:

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Of course, I could have just bought a wig, but where is the fun in that? Also, a Rapunzel style wig is pretty expensive. I found one I liked on Etsy but it was £121 (and even the cheaper one was £79). On top of that, a wig would still be warm and the whole point of the costume I picked was to keep cool in July.

In addition to all this, I’m going to buy some nude pumps for shoes. Technically Rapunzel is barefooted but I don’t especially want to walk around London barefoot (I did that once, mind you) so I figured skin coloured shoes is the best I can do. In all honestly I’d love to buy a ridiculous pair of shoes but a) more expense and b) I’d probably be hobbling by the end of the day!

Left (top to bottom): Heels, Converse, Pumps
Right (top to bottom): Heels, Pumps

That said, I would genuinely love a pair of the Rapunzel converse (left column, middle) but sadly they are £70 and I definitely can’t afford that! The heels in the left hand column are also amazing, though they remind me of the Disney Store ornaments, not actual wearable shoes!

Then of course, there is the crown. This is by no means essential (luckily) but it would be pretty awesome! The only nice one I can find is on Etsy (and Ebay) but its £120.

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If I decide I really want a crown (which right now I don’t), I think I might have to make do with this beautiful ring that I’ve found instead. Rapunzel did get married to Flynn, after all… right?

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For less than £20 its a bit of a steal and like I said, very beautiful. However I suppose the only thing putting me off is just how much I’d wear it afterwards. From my birthday murder mystery last year I have a replica ring of Snow White’s from Once Upon a Time. I only wore it that day and never since but I just can’t bring myself to part with it!

Finally and again non-essential, I’m thinking about buying these:

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I’ve never worn contact lenses in my life, but I figure it would be pretty cool to try this camoeyes. Not just that but Chris wears them so I know if I need help getting them in, he’ll be able to help me. These ones are from Amazon, they have good reviews and they are £16.50 delivered.

And so that completes my Comic Con costume idea! A dress, already purchased! A haircut, to be done the week before! Some shoes, perhaps a crown and whatever additional extras I decide to take… pretty simple really and definitely a lot cheaper than my other option!

Filed Under: about me Tagged With: comic con, cosplay, costume, Disney, disney fashion, fancy dress, London film and comic con, Rapunzel, tangled

Cosplay – to Buy, to Make, to Assemble?

May 16, 2014 by Bel 4 Comments

As you possibly already know, I’m going to a Comic Con this year! I’m super excited to even be going, but mostly to decide what I’m going to wear! This post has been a few weeks in the making to be honest and even in that time I’ve changed my mind a hundred times. Originally our group was going to go to Comic Con in two different costumes, for the two main days. However over the last few days its been agreed that (largely due to cost) we’re only going to do one costume, for one day. This is a massive help to me as I’ve always been definite on one of my costume ideas and have been struggling for a second.

So who am I going as for Comic Con? Regina from Once Upon a Time. More specifically, The Evil Queen Regina.

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I can’t exactly explain why I want to go as Regina, since I definitely don’t like some of the stuff she wears, but for the most part she is awesome and I would love to dress like her for the day. However with the “who” decided, its now to decide the “what” and the “where”.

To Buy

I looked into buying a costume of Regina, straight out. I knew it would be expensive but a) it would probably look awesome and b) it would all just be simple and done for me. Sadly though, there aren’t a lot of places that I’ve found which sell Regina costumes.

Costumes seem to vary, from one extreme to another.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/180326995/costume-based-on-once-upon-a-time-regina

This jacket above is for sale on Etsy, at a price of £76.36. It’s custom made so any size etc. but its hard to tell how good it would be, as its on a mannequin and not on a person. However, aside from that its pretty good and all you’d need would be a corset style top and some leather trousers.

A middle of the road option, would be this blue dress below. At £351.27 its way out of my budget though and definitely not one of the Regina looks I would go for.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/189522262/once-upon-a-time-regina-evil-queen

Finally, a beautiful copy of a Regina costume, but absolutely out of my price range. I don’t entirely think it would suit me either but hey, if I had the money I might give it a bash!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/167051758/regina-once-upon-a-time-ouat-lana

None of these grab me and in which case I don’t really want to part with my hard to come by cash. If it was one of the dresses or outfits below, then maybe I would be swayed!

To Make

Of course when I couldn’t find something I liked, I considered making my own. After the last sewing incident, you’d think I wouldn’t be in a hurry to do it again… but these things cross your mind regardless. I remembered seeing a pattern for Regina’s costume, back when Nat and I were making our Shakespearean one so of course I went looking. As with most patterns, they’re a fairly reasonable price but then of course that’s not the part that gets expensive!

McCall’s do a pattern, that is fairly easy to get your hands on. I think I saw a few on Ebay and a few on Etsy, some from this country and some from the US. From what I could see, you’re looking around £8 for all three of these patterns together. Obviously from that point, you can decide which one you like most and make it.

When you go to Comic Con, there is definitely something about a handmade costume. People spend hours and hours making their costumes and I suppose it would be nice to say I made mine. But what if it goes wrong? What if it doesn’t fit right? What if its so stressful I take the dress-making scissors to it with only a week to go! Not just that, but it actually ends up pretty expensive to make a costume like this. Along with obvious time its going to take to complete, where do you get the beautiful fabrics that make it look authentic? Are they even readily available?

I first considered making my own costume about 2-3 weeks ago and even then I thought it was crazy and could end up too time consuming. Now I’m 2-3 weeks nearer to the deadline and I haven’t even started/decided yet! Would it even be possible?

To Assemble

After talking myself out of making a costume (though please note I’m not completely talked out of it as its an ongoing decision that I really should make soon) I decided to look for ready-made clothes that I could just assemble to look like Regina’s costumes. I searched through Ebay for hours and this is what I came up with!

Now I’m not clothes or fashion expert, so I haven’t even attempted to put any of these together as an actual outfit, however I’m sure I could figure something out from all these bits (or at least ones that are similar). Even better, some of the items start as little as only about £5 – though some of the jackets and skirts go up towards £80-£90. The concept of putting together already made clothes seems like a good one to me, if I can find the right stuff. The plus points are that I’ll possibly be able to wear some of these pieces again, which obviously wouldn’t be possible with either of the other two options. However, to really get the look, some of the clothes would definitely have to be the more expensive items. And then, when I have it all together, will it look right?

I really must make a decision ASAP but at least even writing this post has helped me to compile all the information and thoughts that I have!

What would you choose to do in this situation?

Filed Under: about me Tagged With: clothes, comic con, costumes, ebay, etsy, Evil Queen, London film and comic con, once upon a time, OUAT, Regina

Comic-Con Cosplay Choices!

April 30, 2014 by Bel 6 Comments

As you will know from my post about London Film and Comic-Con, I am going to Comic Con this year!! One of the biggest reasons for this decision, was to enable Amy and I to dress up like Disney characters! I know that probably sounds a little crazy, but to be honest as an adult, you rarely get a chance to dress up. Even less so, as something like a Disney Princess.

It’s been a couple of months since we officially decided and at least a month since the tickets actually arrived. All that time I’ve been trying to think who and what I want to go dressed as, but I’m not having much luck!

The first go to, as I mentioned before, is Disney Princesses. There is one very obvious choice for me and that’s Belle.

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For as long as I can remember, Belle has been my favourite Princess. She is one of the few brunettes in existence, she has an awesome name (haha) and she basically just rocks. Numerous times I have likened myself to Belle and in my birthday murder mystery last year, I even took on the role of her (sort of…). I love Belle, but in all honesty, do I want to wear that poofy yellow monstrosity?

Following in the Disney theme, my second choice would be Megara from Hercules. She isn’t a Princess, which often makes her underrated, but I’ve always loved her sassiness and of course – another brunette.

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I would love to dress like Megara and I adore her dress. However sadly, at a size 16 and very unhappy with my current weight, I know I wouldn’t feel happy in a dress that tight (or, from what I’ve seen, silky).

One of my kids favourites, though perhaps a little childish for me, is Vanellope from Wreck-It Ralph.

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She’s a fun, quirky kind of a character but more importantly her costume is incredibly simple. A hoodie, a skirt and some tights would make a very easy AND cheap costume.

My final Disney interest, would have to be Queen Elsa, from the latest Disney animation, Frozen. Again, not technically your tradition Disney Princess, she is awesome. Clearly I do not have blonde hair however, so that would require a wig. Also, as much as I love her blue flowing ice dress, I don’t really like the real life representations I’ve seen of it. Instead, I would like Coronation Elsa.

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However, from what I’ve seen, this costume would be incredibly expensive to buy. It’s not something readily available yet, so it would definitely be a custom made. Definitely a tempting option if I could splash the cash.

Moving on from Disney, but not from Fairytale, I considered playing on my fandom of Once Upon a Time. My instant thought is Regina, the Evil Queen.

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I adore Regina and always have – both as the Mayor and as the Evil Queen. However her evil queen costume would be far more interesting to wear, than her regular clothes version. I have always had a love of Disney Villains and so that’s possibly another Regina appeals. Let’s face it, who’d want to dress as Disney’s Evil Queen, or better yet, Ursula?

Still keeping in theme with Once Upon a Time, but also connected to my previous suggestion, is Belle.

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I loved Emilie De Ravin from her days in Lost and I love her even more as Belle. She has beautiful versions of the traditional Belle costumes, making me more than happy to dress up as this version of Belle.

My final consideration from Once Upon a Time, is Ruby aka Red Riding Hood. Sadly she doesn’t have a very big part but the part she does have is kick ass (apparently she’s not actually even in it from Season 3 onwards).

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She has a very simple yet beautiful costume, which I don’t think would be too hard to put together. Yet again she’s a brunette (noticing a theme here?) and I love the colour red!

Past Disney and Fairytales, I’m having a bit of a blank. Though I do have a million fandoms, a large amount of them have very nondescript dress, or are basically just average humans. I made my way through a few other things I liked, finding only these four options.

Game of Thrones: Daenerys Targaryen

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While I don’t really have the figure for a large amount of her costumes, this one pictured above is fairly simple and doesn’t require me to be super thin. Also the actress who plays Daenerys is naturally a brunette, which gives her dark eyebrows and a blonde wig which I could also do.

Game of Thrones: Margaery Tyrell

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I wouldn’t necessarily say that Margaery was one of my favourite characters but she does have some beautiful dresses. I’ve seen a few I like on Etsy, so she’s definitely a consideration. Not to mention, the actress who plays Margaery – Natalie Dormer – will be at London Film and Comic Con.

Harry Potter: Hermione Granger

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Well not technically Hermione I don’t suppose, but a Hogwarts student. I’d love an excuse to buy a proper set of robes and this could be just that excuse! Plus I could pretty much wear whatever I wanted underneath, making it a fairly simple costume.

Hunger Games: Katniss Everdeen

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Katniss has a lot of pretty dresses, but even her simple outfits are nice. She’s another brunette as well and being Katniss Everdeen would be a good excuse to learn how to fishtail braid.

I’ve racked my brains and I’m really struggling for other suggestions. Velma or Daphne from Scooby Doo perhaps? Tomb Raider? Star Trek costume? What I do know is that it won’t be anime, like a lot of Cosplay is – and it won’t be Superhero, owing to the fact those costumes are usually skin tight. I’m open to suggestions if anyone has any but right now I’m hoping to pick one, if not two of these suggestions above.

Filed Under: about me Tagged With: comic con, cosplay, costume, Disney, fairytale, fandom, game of thrones, geek, harry potter, hunger games, London film and comic con, movie, once upon a time, OUAT, TV

OMG I’m going to a Comic Con!!!

March 8, 2014 by Bel 3 Comments

For several years I’ve fancied going to some sort of Comic Con, largely because I’m a massive geek. In an ideal world I’d travel over to America and go to the Comic Con (San Diego), meet all the stars, get their autograph and have my picture taken! However, I’m not made of money and so the chances of that happening are incredibly slim.

The thing that’s awesome about Comic Con’s, is that they’re really not just about the fandom of comics. They pretty much cover all mainstream fandoms. Doesn’t matter if you’re into Superheroes, Dr Who,
D&D, Anime, Magic: The Gathering, OUAT, Pokémon, Fantasy Art, Star Trek, Game of Thrones, etc. etc. it’s all just covered under the same umbrella.

Anyway, I’m getting slightly off point! A few weeks ago, when Amy was here to visit, we were talking about Cosplay and Disney Dress-up. This is a fairly regular topic for conversation these days, as we hold many Murder Mystery parties and always love an excuse to dress up – Disney being the costume of choice wherever possible. After my partner turned down the idea of a Fancy Dress party for his 30th birthday, we were really beginning to give up hope of ever truly going all out on a Disney costume. That was until, I suggested we go to a Comic Con – and so the idea was born.

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I started to look through several different options for Conventions, the majority being in London. Some were big and some were small – some looked better organised than others. I’d previously looked into going to London Comic Con, but when I checked this time there was still no Guest List. Being mothers and given that that convention is in May, we couldn’t really wait for a guest list to be published before deciding, as we need to organise child minders etc. However I stumbled across London Film & Comic Con in July and this looked perfect.

Sold instantly on the fact that STAN LEE will be attending, I then grew more and more excited as I looked through the Guest List. While I’m not a massive fan of any one attending (except Stan Lee of course), it was great to see so many famous names. Amoung the guests listed as attending are; Summer Glau (Serenity/Firefly), Glen Morshower (Tranformers/24), Ian Mcdiarmid (Star Wars), Kristian Nairn (Game of Thrones – HODOR!), Giancarlo Esposito (OUAT/Revolution), Colin Baker (Doctor Who), plus loads more from Star Trek, Starship Troopers, WWE, Lord of the Rings, Lost and so on. I also recognised several of the names from the Comic Creators list, as well as author Patrick Ness.

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The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go. I knew Amy would be sold on the Cosplay alone so I just had to convince my partner and then even my brother and his girlfriend so there would be a group of us going. Most importantly I had to ask my mum to babysit!

Luckily everyone was in and so now it’s a thing! We’ve all bought our tickets and I can’t wait! Even better, my mum agreed to buy both myself and my brother a photoshoot with Stan Lee. That’s booked too – which is amazing since apparently this is his last European appearance!

Now we have just four months to decide what cosplay we’re going to go for! I’m sure Amy will go Disney Princess all the way. Maybe even two costumes, one for Saturday and one for Sunday. I’m trying to convince Chris into Hellboy and since I caught him looking at pictures the other day, I think he might! As for me, I’m really torn. I’d love to do Belle or Megara from Disney, but it might be fun to do someone like Lara Croft or Katniss Everdeen!

Anyway, cosplay ideas are a whole nother post entirely! Watch this space ;)

Filed Under: about me Tagged With: Amy, Chris, comic con, cosplay, costume, earls court, fancy dress, fandom, geek, london, London film and comic con

Hi, my name is Bel!


I’m a forty something, mother of two, self-confessed geek!

Here on my blog you’ll find;
books I’ve read, clothes I’ve made, movies I’ve watched, cakes I’ve baked, products I’ve tried, places I’ve been, pictures I’ve taken… plus lots and lots of DISNEY!!

I’m a lifestyle blogger – covering a little of everything I love <3

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