Ember Costumes and Crafts

So remember my $200 Con article?? Well, that's all well and good advice if you have a real job (as in, you're not working on a novel and costuming/gaming full time) but this year, I find myself a bit short on money and will attempt a feat that I have only ever heard about: Going to a Con for Free. Now, I've already done the number one most important thing and been accepted as a volunteer. This means three things: 1. I get a free badge 2. I will have access to crash space 3. I will have a (limited) source of food I also plan to: 4. Hitch a ride with my brother, who has a car which seats seven and gas can be split thusly 5. Have friends/family whom I may be able to mooch some food off of 6. Picked a comfortable costume which will allow me to carry everything I need for the weekend, and even sleep in. (Chell from Portal 2, if my last post wasn't clear enough about that.) So my budget, after costume-making, is approximately $30 which includes gas and two or three small me...

Actually, I had more games and less life in general for the last week, since I played both Portal and Portal 2 pretty much exclusively to everything else in the world. I was playing them both for the first time and they were AMAZING!!!! I actually only needed John's help once in Portal and game FAQs help three times (in the last few tests) on Portal 2, but I guess I'm smarter than I give myself credit for because I managed to solve all the puzzles myself for the most part. Very satisfying. I won't give any spoilers away for you unlucky souls who haven't finished Portal 2 yet, but I will say that my next costume will indeed feature a companion cube and a potato.

I was browsing Craftster a while back and someone made a thread asking: What's in your costume closet? and How do you organize your costume closet? The thought is terrifying. Especially now, because I'm having to confront it head on while trying to get packed to move! I'm literally wading through a pile of costume pieces, fabric remnants, and boxes. In the craftser thread, I ESTIMATED what is in the costume closet presently, between myself and John, and spread out between Austin, Round Rock, and Nebraska. In about a month after me and my husband move and John graduates from college and moves back to Texas, we'll do a REAL inventory of what we have. But for now, this is what I think we have.Oh, and this is only RENFAIR gear. In other news, Ember just had her 11th birthday! Tops -Light Pink Flowy Fairy Top -Red "Susan" dress -Silver "Susan" dress -Leather Armor Breastplate -Black Sleeveless Pirate Shirt (round collar) -Black Sleeveless Pirate Shirt ...

Just not... real life crafting. I've been crafting in MINECRAFT . It's an awesome indie sandbox game which is actually still in beta, so there's cool updates every month with new features. I've been playing for a while, but I just started a world with the seed "Amerasteras" and downloaded a texture pack (gerdoku) and have been having lots of fun building a cool base in this epic world. My base from the outside. This is the main part of my base inside at sunset. I built a lava-heated onsen. Some people build some truly epic stuff in minecraft. There are lots of tutorials and demo videos on youtube, and a thriving forum where people post ideas and give feedback about the game. It can really suck you in and is great for people of all ages. So that's what I've been doing six hours a day for the past two weeks...

John's super-cool-awesome friends came made the 12 hour road trip from Lincoln Nebraska to Austin Texas with him for Spring Break! From left to right: Judy, Diana, and Katherine. THEN we all drove another four hours south to the beach in Port Aransas! At some restaurant in Port A. The girls getting eaten by a shark. We buried people in the sand. John was buried the deepest. He's actually sitting in a hole, not laying down. Skim boarding. We weren't very good at it. We looked up some tuts on youtube at the hotel, but there was so much seaweed even a pro would have had trouble. More costume stuff to come...as soon as I can figure out how to convert the RAW photos my friend gave me into something I can use on my computer... I'll give another hint about the costume I made--it fits right in with my beach theme!

Guess what it is!!!

John and I both like to be prepared, like Scar and the Boy Scouts. And I have to say that the Costume Emergency Repair Kit has saved me and my friends from some truly terrible catastrophes. Like giant rips in the crotch of home-made pants. Like buttons popping off in the middle of the Renaissance Fair. Like getting to the hotel and realizing that key pieces were smooshed/ripped when you shoved them haphazardly into your suitcase. Like bra straps that won't stay covered up. (That last one was was actually at a wedding, and the subject of my repair kit's ministrations was the maid of honor.) You get the idea. Repair Kit=Extremely Handy. The key, however, is to keep it with you while you're at the event. If you have a pocket, put it in your pocket. If you have a purse, that's a good place too. If you have a husband, girlfriend, or accomplice, you can ask them to hold it for you. But if you're in a ripped costume ten minutes before the cosplay show and it's in y...