As soon as I bought this Sister Jane dress (which I got during one of Shopbop’s sales), I knew I wanted to make yet another witch hat to match it. I decided to make this one as more of a fascinator, because I thought it would look a little cuter with this babydoll silhouette. We went to one of our favorite photo destinations outside of the city, Ringwood Park, which is gorgeous and empty in Fall. I posted some behind the scenes videos on my instagram, but I went wading through the creek to get the shot for Bobby. Well, now you can see that he snapped some photos for me, as well. Just in case you thought I always dress up as a witch to take Bobby’s pictures!
I have so many more Halloween photos to share and the clock is already ticking. How did October fly by?
p.s. Speaking of flying, I know most people will assume that picture of me floating is photoshopped, but I’m a witch and I’m just really good at flying!
I teamed up with Walmart Beauty and Rewardstyle to put together a witchy beauty look with their Halloween Beauty Box, which features an assortment of cosmetics to try out.
I love to mix high and low cosmetics, and get really excited when I find products I love that are lower price points. NYX and Milani never fail me, EVER. I’m also wearing my own Milani Rose D’Oro blush, one of my favorite blushes of all time. And I love that Hard Candy has a lot of more fun, playful products (like this glitter lipstick)! I used an assortment of the provided products (detailed and linked above) to create this red witch look (in a handmade hat!). Smokey eyes, red lips and nails, golden highlights…she’s a saucy little witch, isn’t she?
Despite what some may say, Halloween is not canceled. It just looks different, this year! Standard trick or treating may not be an option, but there are safe and socially distant ways to celebrate spooky season. I’ve been haunting Airbnb for some inspiration and found that they have a whole entire section dedicated to not only Halloween stays but online experiences (!!!) which means we can celebrate Halloweeneven in the time of Covid-19. Check out all of the Halloween online experiences here, like ghost hunting in a haunted opera house, pumpkin carving with pros, and special effects artistry to perfect your costume, and see below for five spooky airbnb stays to add to your wish list.
Haunted Magnolia Hotel Suite Located in Seguin, Texas, this hotel dates back to 1850! Though the suite is restored for modern comfort, there is an unrestored area of the hotel you can explore — and they say that’s the most haunted and spooky part of the building. If those walls could talk!
2. Haunted Honeymoon Cottage: Located in Jerome, Arizona, this little haunted cottage sits on 10 acres, complete with a rose garden, small fruit orchard…and a ghost! From the listing: “Friends and family have reported a thin lady dressed in white with dark hair, a grumpy old miner, and a tall gentleman wearing a top hat. On occasion there is faint parlor music and wind chimes sound with no wind.” SIGN ME UP, PLEASE!
3. Haunted guest room (with private entrance) in Wake Forest: This place originally stood out to me because 1. it’s cute and 2. Bobby’s dad went to Wake Forest University. But then I read the “…it’s haunted.” part of the listing — seemingly an afterthought — and wanted to learn more. Though this is a private room listing (vs. an entire house), it has a private entrance to keep your social distancing intact from everyone except, hopefully, the ghosts. From the listing: “A note of CAUTION for the faint-hearted. Several friends, family, and guests have experienced supernatural events here including: footsteps in the hallway or upstairs, the hall and basement lights turning on randomly, a shadowy figure in the kitchen and dining room, glowing orbs in the living room, and even a music box that has played by itself. Ask me for a haunted tour of the house if you’re interested.“
4. Haunted room in Canadian Merrill House: For my Canadian followers, can you please stay in this gorgeous Victorian house and report back? The listing states that it’s haunted but doesn’t give any details. I do love the little skeleton…that’s a nice touch. But I want to know more!
This group costume of Disney’s Haunted Mansion Hitchhiking Ghosts — Phineas, Ezra, and Gus — is extra special because we were able to make it happen in the middle of a pandemic in two different states. That’s the magic of Adobe Photoshop! Even with Kristyne and Chelsea states away, I was able to shoot mine from the comfort of my home and make a composite. I’ll show you the basic process:
It started with this photo of Kristyne and Chelsea, taken in a studio in Orlando by @mackeemousemedia. One thing I loved about our “costumes” is that they are normal clothes we will wear again — I’m a sucker for a matching set! — vs. something we will only wear once a year (or once, period). The accessories (and ghoulish makeup) transformed them into recognizable costumes. They sent me the raw file and I took a similar portrait in my home studio and added myself in, like so:
I determined my lighting (key light front left, fill on the right) by the shadows cast in their portrait, and some input from Chelsea about their photographer’s set up. Close enough, because I still had some ghostly editing to do!
I started with a black and grey stock photo of the Haunted Mansion from Adobe Stock. I converted it to CMYK and tweaked the color balance to make it a cyan hue, then added a gaussian blur to give it some depth of field. Here, I have fog layers already inserted…but that actually came later. Watch my screen recording to see the process:
Once I dropped our photos in, I tweaked the color balance, added an inner and outer glow, reduced the opacity to make us look see through — we’re ghosts, after all! — and added some fog layers. Here are all the layers:
I also made this full body version, but I wasn’t as pleased with it. We’re too small in comparison to the bricks, and it was kind of a rushed job…the shadows are wrong and it looks like we are floating. Although, I guess that’s not too bad since we are ghosts! But oh well, it’s all about trial and error for me.
Kristyne and Chelsea got their outfits on ASOS. I already had my outfit in my closet (including the bag, which I borrowed from Bobby), but my coat is currently available. I think you could make any green pants and coordinating coat or jacket work for my look, to be honest! Our exact pieces are below:
Turn off your ad blocker to view content
Last but not least, I made a video of us appearing and disappearing in front of the Haunted Mansion, trying to hitch a ride. Would you let us follow you home? We’re friendly ghosts!
I hope you enjoyed seeing behind the scenes of this process. Make sure to check #keikoshauntedmansion on my instagram for more photos from this series!
After spending so much time indoors for the last seven months, Bobby and I have been trying to get out at least one day a week to experience this magical Fall weather and chase the changing leaves. We drive outside of the city and make sure we’re nowhere near anyone when we take photos, but of course I ALWAYS have my masks on hand. Truthfully, I have been enjoying making them to match my outfits and it’s a great way to use up scrap fabrics. I also like that it adds an extra spook factor to this bat print outfit…mwahahahaha!
Today is the LAST day to get this dress and many other pieces on sale for 30% off (or 35% off on their app). The sale is site wide, but I highlighted my favorite Halloween pieces in particular because that’s all I want to wear for the rest of October.
Shop more of my favorite Halloween clothing from Modcloth below, and use code 30FREE for 30% off!
2020 has been a strange and scary year, but one of the personal triumphs to come out of being home 24/7 is that I got back into sewing. It started with making cloth masks for essential workers (watch my cloth mask tutorial video), and after making and donating several hundred, I decided to branch out and get back into making clothes. I think I’ve made 15 garments so far (both for me and for some friends), plus lots of matching masks, sashes, bows, and scrunchies. Today, I wanted to share 4 of my recent handmade dresses and remind you that I share lots of quick sewing videos on my instagram! Check them out below and let me know your favorite.
I found this soft eyelet cotton in the garment district (a store on the corner of 37th and 8th) and I thin I got it for $5 a yard. It’s extremely soft and comfy, so I decided to make a quick and easy tent dress using a yoke pattern in my pattern box. See it in motion here. This is an extremely easy dress to make, since it just involves a gathered body and any sleeves you want to use — but if you need to follow a pattern, there are lots of good options below.
This one was made with a 1960s pattern: Simplicity 8075. There used to be several on Etsy, but right now they only have the newer 8075. That is one frustrating thing: they use the same pattern numbers for totally different patterns. I bought about 15 yards of this particular fabric, in this color and in a black version. Almost all of it went into masks, but I used about 4 yards to make this dress. I ordered it from Joann Fabrics, but this is the exact one on Etsy. See below for similar pattern options:
Turn off your ad blocker to view content
I have a pattern box full of vintage patterns that I found at thrift stores, online, or that were given to me over the years. In one envelope, there were some handmade pattern pieces — some were made with newspapers from the 70s and early 80s! I found these two yoke pattern pieces that were marked “night gown” and decided to put them to use with one of my favorite silhouettes: a trapeze dress. I made some puff sleeves (of course), and to make the body of the dress, just follow the same rules as a basic circle skirt. Just make sure to keep your bust and length measurements in mind! It’s the easiest style but takes a little more fabric if you want a full circle. I got this strawberry print Italian cotton (it’s beautiful!) from my favorite fabric shop in the garment district: Metro Textiles. If you don’t see it in his website, give Kashi a call and see if he still has it in store and he’ll ship to you.
The only modification I made to this vintage pattern (1969 Butterick 5225) was an addition of ruffles to the sleeves. I can’t wait to make it again and use better fabric. This was an inexpensive cotton from Joann that I wouldn’t normally use for clothing — especially not something that needs a nice drape — but I really wanted to make a dress for our first big outing since March. We went to the sunflower fields, so I made a sunny dress with a sunflower mask and scrunchie. More photos of that will be posted this week! I’m wearing my Keiko Lynn x Bonlook frames in the first photo.
Which dress is your favorite? Have you made anything, lately?
Bobby and I recently had our first trip away from home, to an airbnb just outside the city with Courtney, Paris, Courtney’s mom Lori, and their dog Waffles. Courtney found and booked the place — you can find the listing here. It’s a quick drive outside the city but everything feels worlds away once you’re out of NYC.
Courtney and Paris are the first friends we have seen since March, save for a quick curbside, early birthday gift drop off from my dear friend Angie a month or so ago. Angie and I were both masked, socially distanced, and got to chat for about 5 minutes before she headed out. I cried on my way up the elevator — I miss my friends and family so much. I’m lucky that I’ve been in Bobby’s company and that we have a big outdoor space, but being with friends in a “normal” setting was just what I needed for a mental reset.
Paris, Courtney, and her mom have been as cautious as we have, forgoing casual social interactions even as our city has largely reopened, and so we decided to take an isolation bubble trip. Honestly, I’m well aware that I have been a little over the top, but it’s not out of fear — it’s out of caution. I would love to see my friends, but knowing they’ve seen their friends without masks, who have seen their other friends without masks, etc…the chain is too long for me to feel comfortable and I’d rather just wait a little longer. It will make our reunions that much sweeter.
I do feel hopeful, because we have learned how to mitigate risk and dip our toes into rejoining society in a cautious way with masks and social distancing and outdoor activities. This trip felt like a big step in navigating a limited social life outside of our apartment!
We didn’t even have to leave the property, and Lori (Courtney’s mom) cooked dinner for us each night and made us feel like family. Most of our time was spent just hanging out and chatting, working on our laptops at the table, or lounging around. But naturally, we had to shoot some photos for our respective blogs and social, because it was so nice to have a background other than the insides of our apartments!
A few weeks ago, Courtney asked if I wanted to put together some Disney inspired cottagecore looks with her for her account @colormemagic, and the answer was YES, of course! I never heard the term cottagecore until a few months ago, but turns out it’s just kind of a big part of my daily style. This Sister Jane dress (exact one can be found here, on sale!) felt like the perfect Belle outfit for a day in the country. It beat out my yellow Loveshackfancy dress that I wear all the time, because it had the twirl factor. Princesses love a good twirl, don’t they?
Stay tuned for another Disney Princess duo…can you guess which ones are next?
