Mod Mischief

Halloween is almost here! Last week Axel, Lennox and I went to a dress up party. There's no shortage of costumes around here, so when Axel decided to be Spiderman, I pulled out some superhero costumes for Lennox and me too. Yesterday we dressed up again for the Canada Games Centre's Spooktacular event. This time it was just Axel and I, and we went as Rocket Raccoon and Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy. I made the Rocket costume and Groot mask for Yukomicon. There's also a full Groot body suit for Chris but it's not finished yet. Hopefully it will be done in time for Halloween and Axel's Guardians of the Galaxy themed birthday party.

So what do you do when you've been invited to a Star Wars party and realize the morning of the party that you need costumes? You whip up a last minute toddler Jedi and imperial officer. First you gather a bunch of earth toned clothing for the Jedi. I found some beige/khaki coloured pants and a long sleeved shirt in Axel's closet. I grabbed an old belt of mine and some brown shirts from our clothing swap donation bin. I figured this Old Navy shirt that no longer fits Chris would make a good Jedi tunic.   The best part about working with t-shirts is that the fabric doesn't fray, so there was no need to worry about finishing the edges. I cut off the shirt's sleeves and collar, and then cut down the center of the front.   Layered over the beige shirt and pants, and with a belt around the center, it was already looking like a Jedi outfit! The belt has holes all the way around, so I just folded it in half to fit Axel. I had Axel try i...

We've settled in for winter here in Whitehorse, under a beautiful blanket of fresh snow. People are already preparing for Christmas, so I figured I should get around to sharing some Halloween photos. Chris, Axel and I all got sick with a bad stomach flu shortly after Axel's party , so we ended up scrapping our plans for epic costumes this year. Fortunately, there's no shortage of costumes around here, so we were still able to dress up (in multiple outfits!) On the big night, we all dressed in matching flight suits and aviator sunglasses, for a whole family of Top Guns. Not the epic costumes I had originally planned, but I think we'll look pretty good as Top Guns A photo posted by Allison (@modmischief) on Oct 31, 2015 at 4:03pm PDT YuKonstruct hosted Halloween craft night which was a lot of fun. 2015 Axel has grown a lot since his first YuKonstruct workshop a year earlier ! 2014

babies look adorable in top hats Last week I made a tiny top hat and covered it in sound-reactive LEDs. For the most part I followed instructions from Offbeat Bride to make a mini cardboard top hat.   Then I covered the hat in black silk. I didn't actually realize the shirt I was using was real silk until after I had already started cutting it up. I found it at the free store and had assumed that it was cheap polyester. Now I have a little silk top hat! There was a bunch of leftover copper tape and little LED stickers from the Christmas card craft night at YuKonstruct , so I decided to use some to decorate the hat. With the chibitronics effects and sensor stickers I was able to get the lights to fade on and off and to light up in reaction to noise.   I've posted the full step by step instructions for making the mini top hat on instructables .   Originally I was making the hat to wear to the Rendezvous Steampunk Ball , but now I've got an even...

YuKonstruct has been keeping us really busy! never too young to appreciate lasers Inspired by a cardboard plane costume I saw online, I talked Chris into helping make YuKonstruct's Winterval Santa Clause Parade entry. Chris did all the design work and we built a small prototype at home before using YuKonstruct's laser cutter to cut out all the full sized pieces. It was a great way to use up a bunch of the cardboard we had left over from our ongoing renovations! Chris' work on the planes even landed him in the news paper. "Elves with lasers" might be my favourite headline ever. We took a quick break from assembling planes to host YuKonstruct's Christmas card workshop and Chibitronics build night  this past Thursday. We rejigged some of our past cards to make craft kits for the event and made some cool new cards that light up. Yesterday was finally the big day for the parade and the planes were a huge hit! Air North, liked ...

My mom brought Axel this cute Halloween stuff when she came to visit us Even though we kept our Halloween pretty low key this year, we still had a lot of fun.   We decorated the house with t he Zero ghost dog and Oogie Boogie Man I made last year . One new addition was a teal pumpkin sign that Chris painted. Have you heard of the Teal Pumpkin Project ? Displaying a teal pumpkin is a way to show that you have non-food treats available for kids with allergies or special diets. We handed out little tubs of Play-doh and toy whistles along with candy and it was a huge hit with the trick-or-treaters who came to our door. Our little pumpkin Originally, I wasn't sure if I'd have to work my costume around a pregnant belly, so there was no grand plan for this year. A jack-o-lantern costume came with some second hand clothes we got recently from kijiji, so even though it was meant for a baby twice his size, Axel dressed up as a little pumpkin. Chris and I raided our ...

Baby Axel's early arrival has necessitated some changes to our Halloween plans this year. Since he's not ready to join us for any big parties and costume contests, we're going to focus instead on decorating the house and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. I still don't even know what costumes we'll wear! (but there's no shortage of options as my archive of costume blog posts will attest) Axel at his first YuKonstruct workshop While we haven't worked out our outfits yet, we have been helping others get their costumes ready. Chris and I have been teaching a mask making workshop at YuKonstruct . It's been a lot of fun showing people how we've made masks like the ones we use for Ludo and Bebop and Rocksteady . The class participants have some really great plans for their masks and I can't wait to see how they all turn out when the workshop wraps up this weekend.

Chris and I didn't even have a chance to unpack from our trip before we were helping set up the YuKonstruct table at YukomiCon . The first Yukon comic convention was a lot of fun! Hundreds of people stopped by our table to find out more about our makerspace. We had a 3D printer set up (which always attracts lots of curious folks), a diy comic creation station and a cosplay repair station so people could fix any wardrobe malfunctions before the costume ball. Chris tinkering with the 3D printer Speaking of the costume ball, Chris and I obviously wanted to attend but we only had a few spare hours to put together some costumes. Unfortunately I don't fit into most of the outfits in our tickle trunk at the moment, so we threw together a last minute Rick and Lori from the Walking Dead. Don't look so happy Rick, the baby is probably Shane's Enjoying a special YukomiCon beer from Yukon Brewing

Last night Chris and I went to Wonder Geeks Activate's Halloween in July event. I love any chance to dress up! I got this dress on sale after last Halloween It was too hot to wear our big costumes, but it was a great opportunity to put together outfits we've never worn before. Admiral Chris There were lots of great costumes there. I didn't get pictures of the winners of the costume contest, but I did snap some photos of a few of my favourites. This time traveler makes jewellery   My favourite costume at the party - so awesome! and the girl wearing it was super sweet It took this guy 4 weeks to weave that chainmail shirt He let me try out his sword!

I get so excited when people send me photos of the costumes they've made by following my instructables ! Here are some great pictures that were emailed to me or posted on Instructables this year: Ludo from Labyrinth made by Stefernie Kidnapped Mermaids by kwmermaid by sarahabijo by studio9118 by SpankieLovesDan by dpiercy risken by gwen7478 Headless Brides by gbaenen by cbragg2 by sarahabijo by April Headless prom queen by Natasha If you've made one of my costumes, or anything else inspired by my blog or instructables, I'd love to see photos!