Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Bonjour one last time in 2015, my friends. :)

This post has been a long while in coming, mostly because I decided to go hay-wire with the videos, but also because of Christmas (*happy sigh*), getting together with friends during my time back in TN, and working on moving to my family's new house in Virginia (which we just bought last week!!!).

But enough with the excuses, right?  You all know that Star Wars: VII finally released two weeks ago (I do hope you've seen it by now! It's suuuuuch a fun movie), and that I cosplayed as Rey for opening night.  Well, I've finally got the pictures and videos you are looking for, right here in this post. ;)  Nothing fancy or high quality, just having fun with media and dressing up for the premiere. :)

Now, before I say anything more, I just want to talk about THE MOVIE for a sec.  So, I saw it again yesterday, and it was even better the second time.  It's so much fun, so exciting, so visually enticing... I love the new characters so much, and it's so great to see the old ones again.  Yeah, it has a few issues, such as the fact that the story is somewhat of a re-hash of A New Hope, but I think that's only because Disney wanted to play it safe with a tried-and-true formula instead of branching off into really new creative territory.  I'm okay with this, because it made for a great re-entry into the Star Wars universe, and I'm sure that we'll see plenty of creative storytelling in future movies (both the next two in this trilogy, and the spin-offs).  With that in mind, I can enjoy The Force Awakens for what it is: the magical, lovingly crafted re-entry into a galaxy far, far away for a modern audience, paving the way for many movies to come. ^_^

And now, back to the business at hand. ;)  First off, a little video I filmed while making (quite literally) the final stitches on my Rey costume, the day before The Force Awakens premiered in theaters:

Then, one more sleep and it was premiere day! So I made a time-lapse of getting ready with makeup and hair for the cosplay (note that I decided to not do my hair exactly as Rey has hers in the movie, but rather did an "inspired by" style):

And lastly, I made a mini vlog of the rest of the night, featuring my two sisters and my dad (who, like the great father that he is, came to the premiere with us. ;D):

Aaaaand one last pic, in case you wanted a clearer shot of my costume.  I took this the day before the premiere, just for fun when I tried it on for the last time (which is why my hair isn't fixed).  I'm hoping to do a photoshoot with the costume at some point, but no promises. ;)

Well, I hope you enjoyed hearing about my Star Wars adventures as much as I enjoyed telling about them. Until next year, my friends! I can't wait to write up a "looking back on 2015" post... so you shall hear from me soon. :)

Sneak Peak: Rey and the Star Wars VII Premiere

I know I promised you all posts yesterday and tomorrow, but I've been so crazy busy with finishing up my costume, school, and moving into our new house (!!!) that I've just had no time.

But tonight was The Force Awakens premiere, and I'm just exploding from happiness.  The movie, wearing our costumes, the whole experience was just amazing.  I had SUCH a fun time.  It was a night I will remember for a long while. ^_^

And now, it is close to midnight, and I am exhausted - plus I have a whole day of packing and moving ahead of me tomorrow, and then driving back home to Tennessee on Saturday.  But I wanted to share with you just a little sneak peak picture from the premiere night of my Rey costume -- with a very epic Kylo Ren:

I'm so happy to finally be able to show you my full costume, and I absolutely CANNOT WAIT to share all the other pictures, videos, details, and thoughts from the night - but I shall have to wait until this weekend for that. ;)

For now, have you seen the movie yet???  Planning to???  Did you dress up???  What did you think of the movie??? (no spoilers!)  Can you hardly wait for the next one???? ;D

Week 16 - [Almost] Done

The 16th week of my college career has come and gone.  Classes for the four courses I have remaining wrapped up on Wednesday, and finals week officially began on Friday - which was also the day I had my first final exam.

As of Friday, at 12:30 pm, my "thorn in the flesh," Philosophy 201, was behind me, and I was free (for the weekend, at least).  I must admit, I will, in some ways, miss it.  I met some super cool people, had some fun times in class, and, though I hate to admit it, did learn quite a bit of practical philosophy.  So, though I am relieved it is over, I do appreciate the time I spent taking the course.

You know, that would be the second time God has put me in that type of situation...  I suppose I am just a reluctant learner. ;)

So, with Philosophy behind me, I feel like I can finally breathe easy (though the 59 definitions I had to memorize are still swimming around in my head...).  I still have three other finals to go, but they won't be anywhere near as trying as that one for philosophy.  Come to think of it, my schedule worked out rather well, actually, because I ended up having one exam every day of finals week... that makes my OCD self rather happy. ;D

Friday night was the big, final event of the semester, Christmas Coffeehouse.  Basically a sort of concert/talent show, featuring music, dancing, lip-sync battles, and videos made by students, all based on the theme "Falalalala."  It was a great night, lots of fun and super crazy loud.  This was one of my favorites of the night -- it's just too funny.  Oh, and don't forget to watch 'til the very end...

Now it's time for some cosplay updaaaaaates...

So.  Belt is taking shape, after spending an eon of time working on the pattern to be just right...

Tried my hand at dying with coffee for the first time, and it worked fabulously!!  Big fan of coffee dying.  It gave the perfect aged, distressed look -- exactly what I was going for.  I did this to the arm wraps, which are simply two rolls of cotton gauze bandage (which look exactly like what was used for the real costume), as well as to the shirt I made, to give it a bit of an aged look, as I wasn't entirely happy with the color.

arm wraps

shirt

I'll save the end results until the reveal of the final costume. ;D

One last thing I did for the costume this week, was do a makeup and hair test.  Both turned out quite well - even though I don't look exactly like Daisy Ridley, and I'm planning on doing my hair slightly different than Rey's (in three little buns rather than half ponytails, which I just think looks odd.. xD).  I'm planning on making a video of the hair/makeup process on premiere day, maybe, possibly, hopefully.  'Cause those kinds of videos are just fun. :D

Next week!  A change to the posting schedule:  You should expect another post on Wednesday (hopefully, at least - unless I'm hard at work finishing my costume ;D) detailing the official end of the semester and all the finishing touches on my Rey costume.  Then, I'll hopefully get another one up sometime after Thursday with all the events of the Star Wars premiere!

Now... how 'bout you?  Super stoked for The Force Awakens, riiiiight??? :D

The Fifteenth Week, College and Cosplay

There's only 1 and 1/2 weeks left in my first semester of college.  It's absolutely crazy, but I'm so excited to finally be nearing the end... and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. :D  Those are the two topics of interest for today... ;)

Classes are going quite well.  Two have finished already, so I've just got four classes remaining - and I don't have any big projects left, just finals.  Yay! :)

So, in PHIL201, we're almost done studying philosophy of religion; I finished making the apparel project (pajama pants) in FACS222 on Friday; we've just got one last class period for CRST290 (History of Life), which will just be a review of the semester; and we just finished watching the 1989 Batman in CINE101 (not a huuuge fan of it, but for an 80s film and the first serious superhero movie, it was fairly good).

Now, as for my Rey costume, things are going just swimmingly. :D

I got around to buying some faux leather at Joann for the belt earlier this week, and I'm super pleased with it.  Though it was described as suede on the label, it's actually got a half-leather half-suede finish, which I thought was a really neat look, and lent itself to looking nice and old and distressed.  Plus, it's the perfect color and weight, AND it was on clearance.  Basically a total win.

Thursday night, I made the leather cuff (when I should have been working on a paper for philosophy instead, and ended up staying up until 2am to finish that buuuut regardless...both got done... xD), and I'm super pleased with how it turned out:

Isn't it just the coolest design??  I'm obsessed with it.

I also started work on a template for the leather belt, but I'm only about half way done with that:

Welp guys, only 11 days until the end of my semester, and 12 days until The Force Awakens.  So hold tight.  This next week-and-a-half is going to be crazy.

See ya next Sunday. :)

Week 13&14, Thanksgiving Break

I dunno if you noticed, but I skipped posting last Sunday.  See, Thanksgiving break had just begun and I figured I deserved a break, and knew you wouldn't mind not hearing from me for an extra week. ;)

But now that I'm all rested up and more than ready for the final 3 weeks of my first semester of college at Liberty University, I'm also ready to tell you all about the past 2 weeks.  So let's get this post on the road.  Hehe.

Week Thirteen is a bit of a blur as I look back on it now, but I do remember buying more fabric for my Rey cosplay (beige linen for the pants)... a presentation on the problem of evil for my philosophy class... the 3rd exam in my History of Life class... and packing up for the seven hour drive back to my old home in Tennessee.

Which leads me to Thanksgiving break -- 9 whole glorious days of no classes, spent with my family and friends.  And how wonderful it was to see my dear friends from highschool again, just like old times, feeling like an eternity and yet only yesterday since I last saw them.  We just fell back into friendship as if I'd never left.  Oh, and two of them surprised me with dozens of these glorious pictures and little sticky notes pasted all over our house when I got home:

Again, a bajillion thanks to you girls for making my life. ;D

The rest of the week was just homework, youtube videos, reading, hanging with friends, finally introducing myself to twenty one pilots' first album (and now i'm just obsessed with it duh BUT NO NEW [TO ME] MUSIC UNTIL THEY RELEASE A NEW ALBUM TEARS), Thanksgiving with the fam (which was so lovely), a wonderful drive back to school, some major progress on my Rey costume...

Makin' pants out of that gawgeous, and might I add perfect, linen I bought last week...

progress progress

bad fitting pants feat. my fab modelling skillz and doctor who regalia
["keep calm and don't blink" tee and dalek socks]

and lastly, a little tease at the costume put together just for fun,
and meh awesome Rey boots.

AND FINALLY that trailer for Captain America: Civil War...

Oh guys.  Oh guys.  OH GUYS.  Let me tell ya, I won't be getting over this anytime soon.  Not at least until the movie comes out 6 months from now.  And even then, I won't get over it.  So basically... I shall be in a perpetual state of "can't even" in regard to this movie for a very long time, beginning last wednesday and heading off into eternity.  Basically.

#BECAUSEBUCKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Until next week, dear.

P.S. feel free to post any fangirl-y comments, because you know i'm right there with ya. obviously. ;D

"On the Twelfth Week of College..."

This week I have been so busy.  Or at least it's felt like I've been busy.  With cosplay and snowboarding and things... ;)

I had an exam in History of Life the same day as my very first snowboarding competition, that Trails 2 Rails thing I keep talking about.  It was such a good time, even though I didn't do any tricks worthy of note and our team didn't win.  Honestly, it was just fun to get together and snowboard.

Warm ups before the comp.

The competitors (the winning team with new snowboards!)

Tired and happy to be at the end of my very short pro snowboarding career. ;D

So, I also mentioned cosplay has been happening this week... if you saw my last post, you know that I'm working on a new costume.  For Star Wars: The Force Awakens. :D

The idea of cosplaying for the premiere really started to stew in my brain during the past several months, but it's been there ever since the first trailer was released last November (has that really been a year ago now???).  I mean, c'mon.  This movie is basically the event of the decade.  How could I not cosplay for the premiere?! ;D

As far as costume ideas went, they ranged from jedi to stormtrooper and everything in between.  I mean, with a universe as expansive as Star Wars, how does a girl choose just one??  But, in the end, the obvious choice won out:

I initially pushed against this costume, because I knew so many people would be making it.  But, in the end, I decided this wasn't such a bad thing, and Rey was actually a really good choice.  See, I'm a hipster at heart.  I love to be different, unique.  But, I realized, as long as I make this cosplay high quality, screen accurate, and, most importantly, gorgeous, it'll be worth creating, no matter how many other people cosplay Rey. :)

Now that that exposition is over, I'll tell ya all about my progress on this costume so far, with one month left to complete it. :D

Cotton, knit, and cotton gauze.

So, I've got three different fabrics, one of which (the far left in the pic above) I decided actually won't work for the costume.  It's some 100% cotton I got at Walmart that I initially thought would work well for the pants, before I had done much research, but after doing all the research I knew it wouldn't do.  But no matter; I only spent 5 bucks on it. ;)

The other two fabrics I bought at Joann on Monday.  They're so perfect I literally cannot even.  The middle one is for the under shirt/tunic, and is a beautiful and luxuriously soft knit blend.  The last is some absolutely gorgeous cotton gauze fabric (also known as bubble cotton), for the wrap.  It's so light and airy and natural feeling, and is an almost exact match to the fabric used in the real costume.  In case you can't tell, I'm kinda super pleased with it.. ;D

I haven't started sewing yet, since I still have to buy fabric for the pants, and matching thread.  But I have been doing some cutting and pinning.  I've cut out the tunic, using a well fitted shirt as a guide, and pinned it so it fits well.  So now I just have to sew that up to be finished with it.  The wrap is almost done as well, it just needs one seam to connect the two lengths of fabric.  See, the cotton gauze was 45" wide, so I just bought 3 yards and cut it in half lengthwise, and I just have to sew the pieces together width wise to have the proper 6yd wrap which loops at one side.

I always cut too big. xD

Welp guys, it's time for me to go to bed (yes I wrote this the night before I posted ;D).  Hey, leave me a comment telling if you've got plans for the new Star Wars movie, what you think of my next cosplay idea, and if you're looking forward to Thanksgiving? :D

Love you guys!  Until next week! :)

Eleventy: Spring Classes and My Next Cosplay

Bonjour, my dears, and welcome to a brief summation of Week 11 of Beth's First Semester at Liberty University.  Let's jump right in. :)

Last week, I completely forgot to tell you that... I've signed up for next semester's classes!

FACS 322 - Design & Construction II for Apparel

CINE 201 - Intro to Screenwriting

INFT 110 - Computer Concepts and Application

BUSI 223 - Personal Finance (Honors)

COMS 101 - Speech Communications (Honors)

BWVW 102 - Biblical Worldview II

I'm pretty happy with the schedule - it's a nice mix of "fun" classes (fashion design and film) and gen eds... and the only drawback is that I've got an 8:15 class, 3x a week.

*runs away in tears*

Nah, it'll be okay.  It was inevitable and inescapable.  On the plus side, it's a class for my fashion design minor: 2 hours of sewing goodness, bright and early. ;D  I'm trying really hard to convince myself that I'll be fine...

Next, guess what's happening this thursday???  My first snowboarding competition.  2 months after I started.

Fun fun, right? :P

The judges will count a contestant's 3 best tricks, out of 5 runs, and so far I've only got one "trick" (it's not really even a trick) under my belt.  Speaking of which, I've got practice tonight (the plan is to attempt a new trick!) so I better wrap this post up.

Lastly, I've officially started my next cosplay:

More info on that is to come. :D