Tutorial: Cinderella 2015 Cosplay

If you're like me then you totally fell in love with all the costumes in the new live action Cinderella movie! Lily James portrayed the princess perfectly! I knew right away that I had to have her dress in my life, but I was scared to take on such a project. Her dress is massive!! So with a little creativity I was able to recreate a version of that magnificent ballgown without breaking the bank. I realize I didn't make a 100% screen accurate cosplay and I'm okay with that. I still felt like a princess wearing this! I'm hoping this semi-homemade tutorial will help inspire someone else that might want to make Cinderella's gown. Enjoy!

Tutorial: Princess Anna Cosplay

Hi everyone! It's been way too long since I posted, and what better way to come back than with a cosplay tutorial! Halloween is right around the corner, and Frozen isn't going away any time soon so today I am sharing with you how I made my Princess Anna costume. I wore this cosplay to Animation Celebration last year and this past January I fixed it up a bit and took some better photos of it! I hope you find this tutorial helpful!

Tutorial: Wonder Woman Cosplay Costume

She is brave! She is fierce! She is .. Wonder Woman! I chose to make a Wonder Woman cosplay to wear to the Dallas Comic Con (now called Fan Expo Dallas) because I wanted to wear a costume that was fun, colorful and a character I admired. I feel like no other comic book superhero fits that criteria better than Wonder Woman! So if you have ever considered making this cosplay for yourself here is my tutorial/walk through/guide of how I made mine!

OMGlitzy! New blog! New name!

 

I’m excited to share that I have come up with a fun new name to go by – OMGlitzy! I’m still Glitzy and I’m still geeky, but I have felt like going by a different online handle for awhile now. I’m still going to update this blog with cosplay tutorials and giveaways, though. So don’t lose this bookmark! Since this site became cosplay centric and still gets lots of hits, I plan to keep it updated when I can. But my new blog www.omglitzy.com is going to be a little more random and a place for me to hopefully post more often without the pressure of making an epic post each time. What I mean is I started to feel like if I didn’t make a cosplay post with lots of photos, links, and information then no one wanted to read it. I didn’t want to clutter this site with random ramblings. I dunno, I am sure it’s just some weird blogger insecurity thing. But what I’m getting at is my new blog will be more laid back and easier for me to just chat about what’s going in my life!

 

I’ve already updated my Instagram and Twitter to my new handle – @OMGlitzy – but my Facebook and YouTube links will have to stay /GlitzyGeekGirl since they don’t offer name changes. I debated about how to handle my Twitch channel (since they don’t do name changes either) and ultimately decided that since I plan to stay pretty active on there that I would go ahead and make a new channel with my new name. So if you’d like to keep following me on Twitch head over to twitch.tv/omglitzy and give it a follow!

 

Thanks so much for staying interested in this blog while I’ve gone through some transitions this year. Coming soon here will be a Wonder Woman cosplay tutorial!

 

HUGS!!

Tutorial: Rapunzel Tiara

I've got a dream! I've got a dream!

It's to be a princess, of course! I had been looking for an affordable Rapunzel crown for quite some time but sadly could only find child sizes. So one night I decided to make the crown myself with whatever materials I had laying around.

 And to help other lost princesses I decided to make a tutorial so you can become royalty as well!

PAX South 2015

Since my first visit to PAX Prime several years ago, I have been anxiously awaiting my next chance to attend another PAX convention. When they announced a new location to their schedule here in my home state of Texas I couldn’t contain my excitement! I bought tickets as soon as they became available and counted down the days until the con.

It’s now been a few weeks since my visit to PAX South in San Antonio, but looking through my photos have brought back all the wonderful memories. I went to Prime by myself so I was really happy to go to South with my family. We are all first and foremost gamers. My mom and brother especially! So it was super special to be able and share this convention with them and nerd out over all the games and merchandise.

After the 5 hour trip from Dallas to San Antonio, we checked in to our hotel and walked next door to the convention center. To me that is one of the best things about PAX conventions is how they place the events in large centers around great hotels and fantastic night life. We headed straight in and to the Nintendo booth to try and grab a paper Majora’s mask souvenir. It was already gone for the day, but we did manage to get one the next morning!

Another great thing about PAX is the chance to try out new and upcoming games. My mom and I played the demo for Dungeon Defenders II and loved it! It was really colorful and interactive. I was so proud of my mom for trying out a PC game. She’s usually into console gaming. We were on easy mode but still enjoyed the gameplay and features. Plus we got a code for an early release and also a limited edition pin.

That evening we explored the rest of the convention center and checked out the Magic: The Gathering tournaments as well as some panels. I was excited to see my friend Mia Moore at the Women in Geek Media Panel!

The next morning I woke up really really early to get in line for the Guild Wars 2 panel. They weren’t letting people in the doors until 8am so my dad and I got there around 7:15am. There was already a line outside the building but once we got inside most everyone went a different direction than the main theater where the panel was to be held. So me and my dad and the two guys in front of us went straight to that queue and began our 2 hour wait until the panel started. Lucky for us we were awarded a Corsair Gaming Mouse for being one of the first 5 people there. I also got to meet two of Arena Net’s marketing team members and also cosplayer Sarah Cain who was dressed as a Guild Wars 2 character. The best part was seeing my face on the live Twitch stream. I was seated close to the front and in the center and my white hoodie and pink hair showed up nicely in the sea of black shirts. (See top right photo; I’m above his shoulder.) You can watch the stream here.

We spent the rest of the day collecting street passes on our Nintendo 3DS and then exploring some of San Antonio. My family and I ate at a great Mexican restaurant on the River Walk. Even though it was chilly it was just nice enough to be able to eat outside. Then we walked along the rest of the River Walk and found the The Alamo. I visited this once when I was very little but sadly don’t remember it. (How dare I not remember The Alamo!!) So I was very very excited to make up for it and take in all the history of this monument.

One of the best things about a PAX convention is all the free swag! I came home with SO many goodies! I bought a few of the collectable pins and adorable books they had and also a sticker sheet and patch. But literally everything else was free! I got Magic: The Gathering cards, the Majora’s Mask, lanyards, several coupon codes for online stores, and best of all a Guild Wars 2 Heart of Thorns shirt and pin!

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This was a very memorable trip and one I am happy to have spent with my family. I am looking forward to PAX South growing and becoming bigger and better next year.

Texas Renaissance Festival: All Hallows Eve

This year I attended the Texas Renaissance Festival for the second time! TRF is one of the largest festivals around with numerous vendors, performances, food and people to watch! I went on the weekend with the theme "All Hallows Eve" which was the right before Halloween. So many people came out in costumes of all kind. I decided to dress up as a fairy! I made the jacket and flower crown myself, and my tutu was purchased at a convention. I was most excited to show off my fabulous corset from Corset Story, too. The wig I wore was a Luthien in Warm Light Brown from Arda Wigs. I wore this for my Princess Anna cosplay and decided to leave in the blonde streak just for fun!

Tutorial: Sailor Ariel Cosplay

For AKon 25 and Anime Fest 2014, I cosplayed as Sailor Ariel – a mashup of The Little Mermaid and Sailor Moon. The original art for this was done by Drachea Rannak. Here is a walkthrough of how I made my costume. 🙂

Dallas Fan Days 2014

This past weekend was the October edition of Dallas Comic Con! It was originally called "Fan Days" but I just learned that they will be renaming their 3 conventions. (If you're curious – February's will be Fan Days, May's will be Dallas Fan Expo, and October's will be Dallas Comic Con) But anyway I will probably still refer to this one as Fan Days for now 😀

They had announced early on that Elijah Wood and the Phelps twins from Harry Potter would be attending! I immediately bought a premium badge because I knew I would want to meet them. They also announced Alex Kingston (Doctor Who), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Burt Ward and Adam West (Batman and Robin) but they all sadly had to cancel. There were still several other great guests from Indian Jones and The Goonies as well as some big named comic book artists. I am totally blaming the Ebola scare that happened in Dallas this month for the cancellations. Thankfully I think it's all under control now!

Tutorial: Princess Celestia Cosplay

In My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Princess Celestia is the co-ruler of Equestria alongside her sister Princess Luna. I had been dreaming of cosplaying Celestia for a long time because she is so majestic and beautiful. She has such a kind and gentle spirit and is a wonderful mentor to Twilight Sparkle and the other ponies. I love her pastel rainbow mane and golden armored accessories.  So for this tutorial I will show you how I made my cosplay!

Anime Fest 2014

This was my second year to attend Anime Fest. The first time was in 2012 (you can view the posts here and here.) This is a very fun convention because it's similar to AKon but just a little smaller in size. I can tell it's still grown since my first visit, though. The hotel it is at is one of my favorites in Dallas – the Sheraton. I love the layout and location. Anime Fest had many guests in attendance including the band FLOW as well as several voice actors and game developers. The other best part of this con are the fan-run panels. I was happy to provide some prizes for the Disney Panel which is always a very popular one to attend!

Once Upon A Time Cosplay: Evil Queen Regina Costume

I am so excited to share with you all my Once Upon A Time cosplay of the Evil Queen Regina!!!

This cosplay is special to me because it's proof you CAN use a Halloween costume for cosplay! Anyone that says you can't is silly. Sure, I enjoy making a lot of my own stuff, but sometimes I just don't have the time or money to make an entire cosplay from scratch. I've used pieces from Halloween stores for several of my cosplays in the past. So when Costume SuperCenter contacted me about modeling one of their costumes, I couldn't have been more stoked!! Going through their gallery was a lot of fun, too. They have SO MANY to choose from for all genres and fandoms.

After narrowing it down, I finally chose the Elite Wicked Queen costume. I picked this because it's not something I would know how to make on my own. Evil Queen Regina from Once Upon A Time wears some exquisite dresses, and the time and money it would take for me to find patterns and fabrics would have been stressful. The costume came in a dress bag inside a well-packaged box. 

**I chose a size Large – I'm 5'10 and about 145 pounds.**

More photos and lots of great details>>>

North Texas Comic Book Show: July 2014

When I was asked to attend the North Texas Comic Book Show as a cosplay guest, I couldn’t have been more excited! I attended this event in January (you can read about it here) and loved the smaller size and feel. They have two large rooms full of comic artists, vintage toy sellers and other cosplayers. 

When I arrived I saw my face on this giant poster and said WOW out loud 😛 This is also the convention I debuted my Steampunk Princess Leia cosplay. I couldn’t have done this costume without the amazing corset from Corset Story. You can read my tutorial for this costume here.

I brought along several prints and accessories to sell. A few of these are still available in my Etsy store.

I was happy to see quite a few of my friends in attendance. Here’s my good friend and fellow blogger My Geeky Geeky Ways!

Photo by My Geeky Geeky Ways

I even hosted a panel! I’ve been a panel guest one other time (at Animation Celebration) but I was joined then by 4 other girls. So I was really nervous to talk by myself this time. The topic was about basic cosplay construction. I made note cards and listed out the steps I go through to determine how to pick a character, what materials I’ll need and work well, and the best places I’ve learned to find them. The crowd was small but still had at least 20 people there! I loved that I knew most everyone and they all joined in the discussion. 🙂

I held a drawing to win a giant Spider-Man 2 poster and my friend Mindy of The Geeky Seamstress won it!

I also had some Punisher posters and my friends Jesse and Ricardo won them! Jesse’s PikaPool was great!

Courtney wore her Azula cosplay and brought along her fireball. I was excited to see this in person since I missed her at Comic Con!

Photo by Trevor Jaro Chambers

I helped out as a judge for the cosplay contest, too! This was so much fun and, all the contestants did a great job!

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The next North Texas Comic Book Show is in November. 

Be sure to check it out because it’s awesome!!

ScrewAttack Gaming Convention 2014

This year the ScrewAttack Gaming Convention was held at my favorite downtown hotel – The Sheraton Dallas. This is a smaller gaming convention that still packs a lot of punch. It’s guest list included Smooth McGroove, The Angry Video Game Nerd, the creator of Nyan Cat – Chris Torres, and the co-creator of Mega Man – Keiji Inafune. 

I wore my Annie cosplay from League of Legends. After picking up my badge I immediately ran into another Annie, too! (You can read my tutorial for this cosplay here.)

There was also a lot of fun things for sale like shirts and apparel, Nintendo plushies, and vintage games.

In the open area you could play arcade games for free.

My favorite part is the console room where you can play against your friends and watch tournaments. 

I loved this Sylveon cosplay!

Don’t mess with the Khaleesi.

These two girls were from Gears of War and looked amazing!

This was my second year to attend SGC. You can read about last year here. It was fun wearing my Annie cosplay again and seeing the convention grow. Gaming conventions are fun because I pick up so many Street Passes on my Nintendo 3DS! 😀

Share Your Blog or Fav Blogs

“Nrrrd Grrrl” by Jessica Grundy – available on Etsy

Hi friends! This is kind of a different post than usual. I am hoping some of y’all can help me with updating my blog reading list!

Since I got a new computer, my bookmarks got messed up 🙁 So here’s your chance to post your own blog or one you like to read a lot!

These are a few of my interests:

Cosplay, comic cons, fashion, makeup, hair dye, cats, gaming, fantasy (elves, fairies, magic), book reviews, kawaii, DIY

What I’d really like to start reading more of:

*Disney – any bloggers that might live in Florida or California and have annual passes and post about their daily trips! Also, Disney inspired outfits and cosplays.

*Easy recipes – I’m trying to cook more often, but need lots of guidance. Any *really* simple cooking blogs for beginners would be great.

Even if your blog doesn’t fall into any of those categories, please post in the comments! I’d love to branch out more.

I’ve been trying to google search new blogs, but all I come up with are big named blogs with lots of ads. Thanks for your help, and I can’t wait to see what y’all post 🙂

~Glitzy Geek Girl~

Tutorial: Steampunk Princess Leia Cosplay

For the North Texas Comic Book Show, I decided to make a Steampunk Princess Leia cosplay! I have always loved the Steampunk culture, but never made a costume before. The reference art is by Jeff Miller with concept by Bjorn Hurri, and the photo of me was taken by My Geeky Geeky Ways.  I was excited to do Princess Leia because she is a strong heroine and very recognizable. It was fun putting a Steampunk twist on this classic character. In this tutorial, I will show you how I made a Steampunk Nerf gun and holster, and where to find the other pieces for this costume.

First, I couldn't have done this costume without this amazing corset from Corset Story. I made a faux corset before (you can find that tutorial here), but for Princess Leia I wanted it to look really legit. Corset Story has so many options for corsets including over bust, under bust, steel boning, bridal, waist training, and numerous colors to pick from. There's no doubt they will have what you're looking for.

Tutorial: Furry Ears

After watching the incredible Commander Holly make a Rocket Raccoon cosplay for SDCC, I was inspired to make some raccoon ears myself! I figured this would be fun to wear to the premiere of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. I looked up pictures of raccoon ears for reference, but you could use this tutorial to make cat, bear, fox, or any furry ears!

What you’ll need:

A headband, wire, wire cutter, craft foam, fake fur, scissors, hot glue, Sharpies

1) Cut your wire to make two ear shapes on your headband. Then sandwich some craft foam around the wire to hide it.

2) Cut your fake fur a little bigger than the foam ears and sandwich them the same way. 

3) Glue it all the way around with hot glue.

4) Gently color your fur with your choice of Sharpie. I started with black in the middle, silver around that, and then left the edges white. I would have liked to have added brown, but I didn’t have a brown Sharpie with me. 🙂

Keep adding color to it until it suits your fancy! I also colored the back of my ears to look striped like a raccoon. And since there is wire in the ears you can bend them! I cupped mine a little and folded one ear down more than the other.

Now you’re ready to guard the galaxy as one of the most fierce raccoons ever!

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These ears were so easy to make! I would love to make more in different colors. Let me know if you use this tutorial!

What animal ears would you like to wear?

Will you be seeing Guardians of the Galaxy?

Tutorial: Thor Cosplay

Photo by April Miller

For the Dallas Comic Con this year, I was asked to be in a Marvel vs Capcom group! I chose to make a Thor cosplay because he's one of my favorite superheroes, and I really like his new design. At first I had a hard time deciding how to tackle this. After brainstorming for several weeks I finally figured out a pretty easy way to make the outfit. I hope this tutorial helps anyone that may be interested in cosplaying as Thor!!

Cosplay: Choosing a Character

One of the most frequent questions I am asked is “How do you pick what to cosplay?” If you’ve never worn a costume before you may have asked this question yourself. It’s a great first step to becoming a cosplayer! A lot of people will answer “Just wear whatever you want!” I definitely agree with this, but with thousands of characters to choose from you still have to narrow it down somehow. 

Reasons for choosing a character will vary for everyone. It’s actually quite a personal commitment to undertake, but nonetheless I wanted to give some insight to my OWN procedure for choosing a cosplay! This method may not work for all, but I hope it gives some ideas for deciding what criteria will be important to you.

Princess Zelda and Thor photos by Alan Tijerina

Choose a Genre

Pick something you love. It’s that simple! If you love video games then I am sure you have a special character you enjoy playing. Or maybe you’ve admired a certain superhero from Marvel or DC Comics. Some people even dress up as their favorite TV hero or heroine. I saw a Scully from X-Files cosplay once and totally fangirled! Cosplay isn’t limited to one genre over another. You can go with classic 80’s movies, childhood cartoons, or even an original character from a manga you might be developing. There’s a lot of creative freedom with cosplay, and the first step in choosing a character is deciding what you are passionate about. For myself, I love fantasy genres. So I’m really drawn towards characters with a medieval or magical feel to them. Once you find a genre you like the characters will speak to you, and you will enjoy your cosplay more.

Overall Look

This is the most important decision for me when I choose a character. I personally look for long sleeves, really cool hair or makeup, an interesting prop, and materials I’ll be comfortable in. These details help me decide if I’m going to enjoy wearing the costume or not. I prefer to cover my tattoos so that the focus is on the cosplay, and I love to wear long wigs. The props and materials are important to consider because convention hours can be long. A heavy sword, large wings or intricate armor may not be fun to wear after the 5th hour mark. I’ve also learned I am not a fan of wearing tight fitting bodysuits. So I am more likely to choose a character wearing a dress or skirt. These are just some things *I* look for in an overall look. So think about what makes *you* confident and the happiest in to have the best time in your costume.

My first comic con and cosplay!

Skill Level

No matter what your skill level is you CAN cosplay. You don’t even have to make it all yourself. A lot of people commission costumes. If you just want to have fun walking around a convention then do not worry about what others will think of your craftsmanship. However, if you plan to enter a competition there might be some rules to follow so be sure to read those beforehand. When cosplaying for the first time, I recommend wearing something simple. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Try doing a “closet cosplay” where you find items you already own that you can turn into a character. I did a closet cosplay of Ramona Flowers for my first con. It helped me get my feet wet and motivated me to put on something more detailed for the next event. Start talking to other cosplayers for advice and google tutorials (or check out mine here!) for sewing and armor making tips. Then you’ll be ready to pick a character with a more difficult design for the next time.

Sewing my Fiona from Shrek costume after long hours of making the props.

Budget and Time

Some costumes are going to take a lot of work. When you look at a character’s armor, body paint, or prop be sure to make a list of all the materials you think you’ll need. Trips to the hobby or hardware store can become expensive. Plan out how much money you want to spend on a costume. If the character seems like it may be out of your budget then you may want to choose a different design. A lot of characters have more than one outfit, too. So if you don’t have the supplies to make an entire Batman suit from The Dark Knight maybe you can make Adam West’s version instead! Also, be sure to look at your calendar. When are you planing to wear this? Is one week enough time to sew all of Cinderella’s dress? Will my wig arrive by then? Do all your research as soon as possible to make sure you’ll have all your pieces ready before you plan to wear it.

Convention Specifics

If you will be attending an anime convention then you might want to wear an anime cosplay. Or a comic book character to a comic convention. Now remember: This isn’t a rule at all! I actually see a wide variety of cosplays at every convention I’ve been to. But one thing you might want to consider is the type of guests that might be at the con you are going to. When I met Billy Boyd (Pippin) from The Lord of The Rings I chose to wear an Arwen cosplay. Or when I met Tom Felton I wore Luna Lovegood. By choosing a character specific to the convention theme and guests, you’re more likely to run into other characters from that genre, too. This makes taking group photos especially fun! I also recommend looking at the weather. If you’re going to a convention in the summer, then you may want to choose a character that isn’t in full armor or heavy body makeup. If it’s in the winter you might not be warm enough in that Slave Leia costume.

Lord of The Rings cosplayers I met while at Sci Fi Expo 2013

The most important thing to remember when choosing a character to cosplay is you can be anything you want! Gender, height, weight, race and age – none of that should matter when you cosplay. Your options are limitless. Pick a character you love and have fun!

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So these were just a few of the things I personally consider when I choose a character.

What specifics do you look for?

If you haven’t cosplayed before, but want to, which character would you like to make?