Currently Obsessed With: Daryl from The Walking Dead

Normally I would just say that I was obsessed with 'The Walking Dead'- the zombie-rific tv show from AMC. But after catching the Season 2 premiere on Sunday I think my current obsession is much more Daryl based. Yes my crush on Andrew Lincoln was renewed, yes I love all the zombie-ness and the discussions that arise from it but I was really digging Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon. He is the resident bad boy with a heart of gold and I think that is why I love him. His brother on the show was kinda awful but so far Daryl is the man there when you need him (and least expect him) and he seems to have the best skill set for living in the zombie filled world.

Sure the days of absolute drop-dead-gorgeousness may be gone (See Boondock Saints) but his crossbow skills and his arms alone make me sort of drool a little. If he keeps kicking ass and saving lives like he did Season 2 Episode 1 he is sure to remain my own personal fan favorite.

Also I just want to mention that I really miss having AMC as they are in full swing now for the scary Halloween time movies. Sigh.

Happy Zombie Hunting!

Zombie Time

Finally! The crawl has come and gone and a fairly good time was had by all. Our group was fun but sort of too large. I ran into some dear old friends and just other old friends who for reasons we don't need to go into will probably not be my friends after that night! Sigh. Drama. And zombies. Sometimes those things just go hand in hand. But on to the crawl!

Good times. I think last year was a little more fun but it is still an experience!

Now that is taken care of I need to figure out a Halloween costume!

Happy Haunting...

...Last of the details

Well this post is just sort of a wrap up of the zombiefication process.

 Made some little brain matter barrettes to nestle into my hair. This was just one plastic brain that I bought from the dollar store and ripped up into smaller bits. I tried hot gluing the clips on but it didn't work the best so for some of them I just used a couple of stitches to tack it down.

 I made this 'wooden finger' out of an plastic glove and masking tape. A little brown paint on top and it will serve it's purpose well. (Although it did fall apart towards the end of the night.)

 Zombie makeup case.

 Zombied! The night before the crawl I shredded up my items and added paint for mud and blood. This way I got really good coverage for my bloody look but it was not messy at all! All I had to do was my hair and makeup the day of.

My 'handbag' with the extra fingers glued to it...see what I did there? Handbag. Hahhahahaha.

Almost ready...

The last couple days have been a bit of a mad scramble to make sure everything is zombified as possible. Tonight is going to be epic.

 Alteration of glove.

 The outfit in the official 'before' photo.

 First things first. Before blood and rips and mud you need to make your costume as functional as possible. This means adding pockets. Events like Zombie Pub Crawl are super fun but they are also long and you are probably not going to be heading back to your 'home base' anytime soon. Even though this coat has pockets on the outside I wanted to add one on the inside for things like my ID and cash. (Just for the record, who else thinks it is kinda pointless to ID someone when they are in full zombie getup?) Anywhoo I put on the coat and marked where I wanted my pocket to be (for me this was somewhere below my bust line- I don't need to be adding any more bulk up there). Then I just cut a piece of scrap fabric to the approximate size and sewed on three sides.

 It does not have to look good! But it does need to actually hold stuff. Pockets will make  your life so much better. Make sure you have plenty and remember when you get the the 'slashing' stage to be careful not to cut through your uber handy pocket.

 Speaking of hands... I wanted to make Margot's signature barrette zombie-esque. So I bought a pack of severed fingers at the dollar store and used a plain hair clip I had in my craft stash.

 The fingers actually kind of freaked me out! The unused fingers are going to be incorporated into my costume as well...waste not...

The final clip. I ended up sewing it on because the hot glue wasn't really working for me. Again the sewing of this fake plastic finger kinda grossed me out. Apparently I am not really made for this type of work!

Now off to finish aging and bloody-ing. The crawl is tonight! Stagger forth my fellow zombies!

Be safe and happy Z-Day!

They are coming...

...Zombies that is.  Last year a group of us went to the Zombie Pub Crawl in Minneapolis, MN. 

This year they are going 'all city' and having a dual crawl in both Minneapolis and St. Paul. After much deliberation we have decided to go with the St. Paul crawl. You could buy a wristband to both (and it includes transport between them) but we decided that one city was more than enough last year. And since we already did the Minneapolis thing last year we decided change is good...also the Guinness World Record attempt is happening in St. Paul. At 8pm this Saturday we are all going to be part of the attempt to break the record for the most zombies in a single place! A horde of the living dead. What do we want? BRAINNNNNNSSSSSSSSS. Epic good times ahead.

Of course I take the threat of zombie invasion pretty seriously. I consider every zombie movie I have ever seen to all be part of my training. The pub crawl is a fun way to take all of our (very real) fears and have some fun with it! Some people will get really self-righteous and say that "you shouldn't dress up as a 'fun' zombie as it ruins the authenticity of the crawl". Um? Authenticity? If this was a real thing people would be running for the hills and not to the next watering hole. The best part of the pub crawl is seeing all the super creative zombies out there. Why would I want to just be myself as a zombie? Boring, and may happen some day on its own. This year I predict a high number of Amy Winehouse zombies.

Last year I had a mini-break-down over my costume. I was going to go as 'Mary Poppins Zombie' and I was intensely invested in that idea for like a week. Then the weather was supposed to be really warm so I ended up going as Marie Antoinette Zombie. It all makes sense...trust me. But this year? What to be? I seriously considered Care-Bear Zombie but the lack of pockets and the added difficulty of peeing in a porta potty while wearing a onesie won that argument for  itself. Then I thought about returning to the Poppins idea but I couldn't make myself love it. So now I am going as Margot Tenenbaum zombie. Mostly because I love her.

Don't see it?

 How about now?

Haha. Well here is what I have thus far:

 

Dress, coat, bag. All thrifted. Still need: Blond wig, shoes I can destroy, and pink gloves. And of course some much needed zombifying!

Warrior Dash- MN 2011

 

Well this snuck up on me a bit! All of a sudden it was here! So much for training...

Warrior Dash is a 5k obstacle course. Peer pressure and the promise of a costume contest got me to sign up. Fear and adrenaline got me through the day. Pretty much any event that encourages costumes is a good choice in my book. Of course I wasn't going to be 'competitive' enough to be a bad-ass warrior so I went in the opposite direction- Care Bear. That's right people I said Care Bear. First off I went as 'Good Luck Bear' and let's face it I needed all the luck I could get. Secondly I was hoping to show that I was there to have a fun time and not to break records- and I had a faster time than over 1,500 people...so they all got their ass kicked by a Care Bear!!!! I kid. Everyone was really nice and except for a few crazy people there was more a sense of community then competition. Complete strangers talked me over the cargo net obstacle and the rope wall. I got high fives from groups I didn't even know as we conquered obstacles together. Minnesota Nice at its best.

My time was just over an hour which was fine by me. Most of the group I went with was in the 45 minute range and one crazy guy got done in 28 fricken minutes! CRAZY! The part that really killed me? The hills. The whole course was at a ski resort so the hills were insane. I never completely stopped moving and I did all the obstacles. Our group split up pretty fast so it was just me and my crazy self running around, trying not to die and making friends. Other large groups would wait for each other after every obstacle which was really cute. Adorable couples were encouraging each other along the way and passerbys had hilarious comments on how 'this was a dumb idea' and 'omg we paid for this'. Good times!

The rest of my group is already talking about doing it again next year. I don't know if that is in my future or not. I am super glad I did it but I don't know if I need to do it again. We will see.

Crossing the finish line!

Now that my super-cute costume is a bit roughed up and dirty it might transition well into an adorable Care-Bear zombie costume for this year's Zombie Pub Crawl. We will see...plenty of brain eating storming until then : )

These are just a few of our pictures I am hoping that the official website will have some really cool pictures up soon and I will try to share those as well.

Later that same day I got to go see Captain America with an old friend who I hadn't seen since college. It was a super good day. Go see the movie!(Chris Evans...droooooool.)

Let them eat BRAINS!!!!

 So all was well. A good time was had by all. Zombie Pub Crawl WIN!!!!

Oh the frustration...

So forgive the pictures. Apparently they are all blurry because I am shaking I am so upset. Why you ask? Well I am a responsible person so when I hear 'Zombie pub crawl in October' I think "Hmm. I will need something creative and warm because it will be chilly out". Now we are having a heat wave. Like record temps heat wave. So my completely awesome idea is being shot down out of the sky by GOOD WEATHER. Yes I know I am whining but I can't help it. I have spent a solid week on my costume. Lots of time and some money has gone into this and now it is all falling apart. Here is what I got done:

 

Shirt (thrifted),

Coat (thrifted and 'adjusted')

Skirt (whipped up about an hour ago)

Hat (made w/cardboard, felt, and hot glue)

Bag (thrifted with body parts from dollar store)

Boots (borrowed from lil sis)

Umbrella (bought and then pimped out with handmade parrot head)

 The plan was to rig up the umbrella so it looked like it was impaling me but I don't know if I will even mess with it if I am not going to wear it. Grr. FRUSTRATION.

I guess I will be going as a plan old boring zombie.

Zombie Mary- The Coat

 

So this is what we are going for. Except zombiefied. I bought this coat at a thrift store:

Not exactly right but for 2 bucks we can work with it. I will say it many times throughout this process but when it comes to zombies...YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE PERFECT BECAUSE YOU WILL BE DISHEVELED AND BLOODY WHEN YOU ARE UNDEAD. So even though Mary might be practically perfect in every way her zombie counterpart does not have to be. 

The skirt I bought for this project is a bit shorter than I would like so the coat was a bit long. I took off the 'brass' buttons, cut it shorter, took out the shoulder pads (shudder) and cinched it in the back a bit to make it more fitted.

I am leaving the edges undone and frayed. Like I said...we are not going for 'put together'. 

This is all I have for now. Next up- crafting a hat out of things I have around the house!