Halloween Costume Series Day 15: Cute Ladybug Costume with Black Lace and Antennae

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So… yeah… has it really been four days? I’m so sorry, time flies when you’re glued to your computer playing Mother 3, which I think is possibly the best videogame I’ve ever played, ever. I can’t stop thinking about it and may start another play-through, but don’t worry, next time I’d balance it out with things like drawing paperdolls and doing dishes.

Anyways, back to Halloween! Sharon posted a comment about how her granddaughter’s name is Liana too and she loves ladybugs, so she wanted to see a ladybug costume — I hope this one doesn’t disappoint. Always happy to do something for a fellow Liana. When I was a kid I wanted to do something great and famous so that people would be inspired to name their daughters Liana and I could get pencils and stuff with my name printed on them. Since I never figured out what that great and famous thing would be, and “a pencil with my name on it” became less of a life goal in and of itself, I wound up drawing paperdolls, but nonetheless I urge people to consider the name Liana for their future children. It sounds pretty, it goes well with a variety of last names, it’s a type of tropical vine, a type of programming language and a kind of car, and — to me at least — it looks more simple and pure than Leanna, Lianna, Leeanne, and such variants. (Begone, double N!)


Oz’s Female Form From The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

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After the eighteen hour exercise in class consciousness, eternally frustrated romance and parade of death that was North and South (I tease, I tease — actually I really enjoyed it, but it was somewhat hard to take at times), I thought that perhaps I would enjoy something lighter. So I’m now listening to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Of course I’ve seen the movie, but I’ve never read the book before. I wasn’t sure about the paperdolling opportunities — Dorothy is too young, the Good Witch of the book is Munchkin-sized — and thought that I might be doing a Wicked Witch of the West outfit from this one. (And I may yet do so…) But there’s a part where Oz appears to the Scarecrow as a beautiful fairy, and the description says that she “was dressed in green silk gauze and wore upon her flowing green locks a crown of jewels. Growing from her shoulders were wings, gorgeous in color and so light that they fluttered if the slightest breath of air reached them.”

Now, after years of paperdolling, I cannot possibly read a paragraph like that one without thinking “Bingo!”…

So here is my interpretation of Oz’s female representation. I must confess, too, that if this hadn’t shown up I’d be drawing one of the Emerald City court ladies. I haven’t drawn anything green for a while, and it’s my favorite color!


Red and Black Devil Costume (based on a costume from Liana’s Paperdoll Boutique)

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Still feeling uncreative, and anyways I have a weak spot for my old Boutique costumes. This is an update of this devil costume, even if it is months until Halloween. The tail is designed more to be cute than to be easy to cut out; my apologies.


White and Blue Angel Costume (based on a costume from Liana’s Paperdoll Boutique)

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It’s a half hour before midnight and I’ve managed not to break my streak of two days in a row, although not for lack of trying. I started out so nicely this morning with an attempt to recreate my favorite dress from the Oscars, Penélope Cruz’s amazing pink concoction, which will be up here, eventually. But not today; my attempt at the bodice wasn’t quite the right color. Less of a sophisticated pale peachy-pink — more Totally Actress Barbie! pink. Brian said the pattern looked like muscles, or mummy wrappings, and I’ve known him long enough to take it as a compliment… So then I tried Reese Witherspoon’s dress. Twice.

Night came around, and I thought I’d give up and go with what I knew. So here’s a reproduction of one of my old Boutique outfits: a white angel costume with blue edges and absurdly annoying wings. Don’t ask how one is supposed to keep the halo anywhere near Sylvia’s head; the old one didn’t even have a halo, which makes this, at least in theory, an improvement.

I’ve spent a lot of time with my old Boutique outfits lately: a lot of them make me cringe, all these years later, but some of them weren’t half bad. I never did put them back up after I lost my University space, something my mom has often reminded me of, but if I’m feeling particularly uncreative I may redo some of the ones I like. If I’m feeling really uncreative, I may just put up a small set of Boutique outfits and call it a post of historical interest!