F.A.C.T.S. 2016!

Oh my glob, it's that time of year again!

The blog has been pretty quiet lately, but I just have to upload my F.A.C.T.S. pictures like I do every year! I had a blast, as always. The venue was organised differently this time, so that makes it hard to compare this edition with others, but overall it was great. My boyfriend and I went as a duo from Adventure Time: Finn and Lumpy Space Princess. I made the costumes with Elvi's help, who is a lot better at DIY stuff than I am. Thank you Elvi!! For the Finn costume, my boyfriend already had most of the clothes he needed. He bought a foam sword from Flying Tiger Copenhagen for just 2 euros, and his hat was made out of a second hand ski coat that we bought for 1 euro. If you want to know how to make your own awesome Finn hat, check out THIS very helpful tutorial! My costume was a little more complicated, but still very doable for a beginner. I also used a second hand ski coat (1 euro again, aw yeah) for the base of my costume, and then added tule to it. If you want to see how we made it, check out the whole process HERE! The star is made from cardboard with fabric glued to it, and the rest of the outfit (clothes, shoes, makeup, nail polish) I already had. Tadaa!

When we arrived, we got ourselves a Finn and a Jake plush, which we carried around all day. We saw a lot of cool costumes today! I always love watching other people's cosplays. There were a lot (A LOT) of Harley and Joker cosplays, and as always there were quite some Elsa's as well. It was strange to see how few Daenerys and Lord of the Rings cosplays there were, considering how popular they used to be. The only really cool Lord of the Rings cosplay we saw was a person dressed up as a very impressive Sauron, followed by the Nazgûl. Awesome. Sean Astin was there today, so I had expected to see more hobbits! We were able to see Sean Astin quite well while he was signing autographs, and he looked super nice. He was wearing an adorable hat, which made him look super British! We were also able to see Nicholas Brendon really well. Being a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, I was super excited about this! 

Some best-of moments (not in order, because I can't put these wonderful things in order):

1. Our super cute photo shoot on the (new) Millennium Falcon

Yeah, that's some true love right there.

2. Running into someone dressed as BMO, which I was really hoping for

3. Meeting up with my BFF Nele, dressed as Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire (holding soda for some reason) 

4. Taking a picture with Rey and Kylo Ren (who I was kind of scared of) 

5. R2 BUILDERS!! They are always so cool.

6. Getting my boyfriends foam sword checked at the weapon check #becauseitlooksdangerous

As you can see, we had a great time! We also enjoyed watching a drone race and a robot battle, which we hadn't done before. Last but not least: I bought a bear onesie which I love sooo much! I've wanted a onesie for so many years already, and now I finally have one! I was kind of frozen when we got home, so getting into this amazing fluffy suit and having some pizza was... well, you know how life can be good sometimes. Today it was great. 

Stay geeky my friends!

Jade (LSP)

D.I.Y. Lumpy Space Princess costume

Hi everyone!

It's convention time again here in Belgium, and this year I wanted to go as Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time! Since I always get a lot of help from other people's tutorials when working on a DIY project, I thought I'd share the making-of process here! Like many people, I love cosplay but I'm not a great sewer. Sewer? Ew. Is there another word for this? Sewing person? One that sews? Anyway, most people would go to an auntie of a grandmother for help. Me? I have my fairy godmother: Elvi. 

For the base of the costume, we used a second hand ski coat. I liked how 'lumpy' it already was, and found it for just 1 euro. However, any base will do. A tight dress would be perfect. 

We cut part of it off, because it was kind of long. Just your regular cutting and sewing up again process. 

After seeing some other amazing LSP cosplays and some loofah costume tutorials I decided I wanted to work with tule to make the lumps. I ordered some online, which was the cheapest option. I cut the tule in pieces, which I then folded three times so it was layered. Elvi then tied some thread around the middle of each piece, so you got ribbons. 

Then, once we had our pile of tule ribbons, I started patiently sewing each ribbon on by hand. Elvi pinned them onto the coat while I was wearing it, and tried to spread them out so that the coat would be decently covered. Afterwards, I sewed them on while we ate fries and watched some Jane the Virgin. The tule hangs really flat at first, so you have to lump it up a bit by going through it with your fingers. You can also use safety pins to keep some important pieces in place. Also, I curled some tule around the collar, so my neck would be covered in tule.

And then it was finished! It's not too hard, it's pretty cheap and it looks adorable! I also made a star, which I cut out of a cardboard pizza box. I then used some needle and thread to attach it to a hair tie, and glued some yellow fabric to it (which I got from a second hand top, also 1 euro). I put my hair up in a high bun and simply tied the hair tie around it. I applied purple eye shadow to my eyelids and cheeks and wore purple lipstick. In my ears I wore pink crown earrings, because let's face it, I'm a princess. Add some purple nail polish, purple leggings and pink shoes to that and you're done! 

My boyfriend went as Finn. Clothes-wise this was a pretty simple cosplay because he already had everything he needed. All we had to do was make a Finn hat, which we did using another 1 euro second hand ski coat. We used this tutorial, which worked perfectly! 

Darn did we look cute! If you want to read about our day at F.A.C.T.S. and see more pictures, click HERE! 

Much love,

Jade

F.A.C.T.S. 2015

Wowza hello it's been a while how are you?

So, we haven't been posting for a while, but I just had to share this with you peeps!

This past weekend, the 25th edition of the Belgian F.A.C.T.S. convention was held. It's one of my favourite days of the year! Me and my boyfriend cosplayed Fry and Leela from Futurama. It was so silly. I was going as a Rebel from Star Wars and my boyfriend as Fry. Then (totally not because of F.A.C.T.S.) I dyed my hair purple. And the day before we went, my boyfriend said "Wait... Why don't you just go as Leela now that your hair is purple?" and I was like "Omg how could I not have though of this before??" We were kind of on a budget and had to improvise something easy, which I think turned out quite well. We heard some people saying "Leela!" and things like "Shut up and take my money!" which is always fun. Also, it was my birthday and I have been eating SO MUCH candy. Maybe it's for the best I didn't go as Leeloo again! :D As always, there were lots of amazing cosplayers and the general atmosphere was great. It's incredible how fast it is growing though. This year, more than 50.000 people attended. I really think they'll have to find a bigger location for next year! I also saw some great actors! First of all we met with Alfie Allen, and he is really handsome. Everyone I tell is like "Eww that's gross" which I don't get. Yes, he is creepy on Game of Thrones, but he has taken a bath since filming those episodes you know. He seemed super sweet, but kind of exhausted. Seriously, they should have better air-conditioning during photo shoots and signing sessions. Poor thing. Handsome thing. We also saw Peter Mayhew. My mom asked me how we could possibly know what Chewbacca actually looked like, and we both just went: "Uhm, duh, everyone knows!" He's such an iconic person and it was super cool to see him in real life! We also caught a glimpse of John Rhys-Davies, which was also awesome. Unfortunately, the doc (Christopher Lloyd) and Summer Glau (Firefly!!) were hardly there. The flyer said they'd be signing almost all day, but every time we went to look, they weren't there and we didn't feel like waiting amongst the big crowds.

As far as extra's were concerned, I felt like they recycled a lot of last year's stuff. Maybe they are waiting to get new things for next year, because then The Force Awakens will have been released. I sure hope so! As long as the R2-Builders are there, I am a very happy me.

Here are some pictures that we took!

First, I made this cyclops eye in the nearby Ikea. Because, why not in Ikea?

Then, over the parking lot we go. Totally enjoying my new hair colour in the sun btw. :)

Force Awakens! Rey! Speeder! Omg!

R2-Builders with a BB8. Aw yiss...

Hello mr. Bounty Hunter.

Assassins's Creed preview: yay!

I love it when the make the Artoo units communicate with you. It's so real!

Time for some meditation with mrs. Twi'lek here.

Fry and Leela <3

I got this purse a while back. Normally, it has a picture of Laika in it, but I changed it to Nibbler for the occasion.

Alfie!

And then enjoying my hair some more on the way home. Purple grey all the way!

Did you go to F.A.C.T.S.?
See you next year!

✎ Jade

ps: here is my f.a.c.t.s. post from 2013's edition and here is a post about last year! 

F.A.C.T.S. 2013

Hi!

I'm still enjoying the aftermath of F.A.C.T.S. 2014. It's lovely how everyone keeps posting pictures and video's to their facebook and stuff. It's really a community! Anyway, I thought I'd share some pictures of me @F.A.C.T.S. last year. I wasn't really cosplaying, but I was wearing my R2D2 skirt and had tried to match the rest of my outfit to it. The wonderful thing about this was, that all the R2 units from the R2D2 Builders kept following me around and I loved getting the attention from the R2's, because they are my favourite part of the whole convention! 

✎ Jade

F.A.C.T.S.

Hi!

I went to F.A.C.T.S. today and it was great! I know a lot of people compare it to other years, but I personally didn't experience this year differently than last year. It's the same thing: a lot of stalls selling great merchandise, a lot of cool stands where you can stand in awe of things like a huge Jabba the Hutt, a lot of R2 units, a big bantha, a creepy Walking Dead door with zombies coming through etc. I think one of the best things of F.A.C.T.S. is watching other people's cosplay outfits and just the main vibe in there. You know that everyone there enjoys the same kind of things as you do, which creates this wonderful atmosphere. I was also really happy that a lot of people recognised me as Leeloo. I constantly heard people saying "Multipass" around me and people asked to take my picture. I always felt like The Fifth Element was mostly known in the US, but apparently quite some Belgians know about it too! I also really love the weird situations you get, like having Daenerys asking Leeloo to take a photo with her, awesome! ***SPOILER ALERT*** She was with a guy dressed as Khal Drogo, and another guy dressed as Viserys who had molten gold over his head haha! I also caught a glimpse of Carrie Fisher (!!) who was wearing a really cool bonnet with subtle glitters on it, which was adorable. I didn't get her autograph because that's just too expensive, but still, it's really cool that I got to see her! Last year C3PO, now Leia, next year Han? I swear, if he comes next year, I'm definitely getting my picture taken with him! I also saw Carice van Houten who plays Melisandre in Game of Thrones and she looks so much younger and prettier in real life! Adam Brown, who plays Ori in The Hobbit was also there, and I saw the main actor of Spartacus, who actually looks super nice! All in all, it's been a great day. And so educational, because I even got to meet Charlie Chaplin! Also, check out the adorable kid in the last picture... 

Last but not least, thanks Elvi for helping out with the costume! We had to leave some of the details out due to a very small budget, but I think we did a really good job, since everyone recognised me! I don't care if people buy their costumes from a store or cut them out of cardboard, it's just fun to have so many people dress up together! 

✎ Jade