If you're anything like me where crafting and baking cool things is part of your daily cravings and actions, then you probably find yourself browsing through a craft store fairly often.
...
Or is it just me?
I promise A.C. Moore did not pay me to endorse them or advertise them. I just happen to live conveniently close to an A.C. Moore (seriously. The location is a 10 minute walk from my apartment. It doesn't get any more convenient than that, short of a taxi service from my front door to theirs). So I happen to be in there a lot. I find myself doing a lot of DIY projects, and most of those projects involve various materials that I simply do not have laying around. I'm also a pretty avid scrapbooker. My boyfriend and I started doing "adventure books" together -- scrapbooks filled with fun memories of things we've done together. This means I'm always looking for fun stickers and scrapbook paper. I'm also looking for material to work on my DIY projects. Needless to say, I'm always at this A.C. Moore.
When I first started out shopping at A.C. Moore, I constantly bemoaned the fact that I had to pay so much for stuff that probably could be found cheaper at other places. Then, on a whim, I decided to sign up for their rewards program. This ended up being a pretty great decision. If you're looking for a way to lower your A.C. Moore craft cost, definitely sign up for their rewards program.
I get emails every day with at least one coupon. Most days I get two. They're usually pretty good coupons, too. It's usually something like 50% off a regularly priced item. In fact, I've received so many coupons that I honestly don't get a chance to use most of them. I don't feel like I've missed out, though, because I always get a fresh coupon the next day.
Another great way to save at A.C. Moore is their receipts! This tends to get overlooked quite often. In fact, I overlooked it all the time for a while. But on their receipts, A.C. Moore usually has a coupon. It's usually something like a 50% off coupon that's valid about a week after your purchase. Having to wait before you can use the coupon can be a drag sometimes, but it comes in handy when you're at the store and need a coupon but don't feel like having to browse through your email on your phone to find the coupon.
Another thing on the receipt, in smaller print, is the opportunity to get a discount for taking a very quick and easy survey. If you go to acmoorecares.com and put in a few details about your purchase, you're asked to answer a series of questions that's essentially rating them on a scale of 1-5 on various aspects of your shopping experience. It's pretty easy and painless to complete. At the end of the survey, you get a validation code that you write on the receipt, Then on your next visit to an A.C. Moore store, you get a discount on your next single-item purchase. Like I said, super easy.
Now with all these new ways to save on your next purchase, go forth and shop!
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Showing posts with label craft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label craft. Show all posts
Monday, November 7, 2016
Thursday, October 29, 2015
DIY Peter Pan's Escaped Shadow Costume
Hey all!
With Halloween creeping up so close and me being the world's biggest procrastinator, you can imagine how stressful it was for me to come up with a costume. Since I'm a teacher, I figured it's an unwritten requirement for me to dress up for my kiddos. I wanted something easy to put together, cost me as little as possible, and comfortable to wear (New Jersey is getting cold around this time of year, y'all). I came up with Peter Pan's escaped shadow.
I looked online for some ideas, but everything I looked for involved a morph suit, and as much fun as that would be, I feel like it's pretty important for my students to be able to see my face. So I tweaked it as I went, and I have to say, I am very happy with the final product. So here's a super easy, no sew DIY Peter Pan's shadow costume. It took me all of an hour to make, and that was at a pretty leisurely pace.
What you'll need:
- Black XL t shirt
- Black tights or leggings
- Black belt or rope (to cinch the waist)
- Black feather (or a colored feather that you'll have to paint black)
- Two sheets of black felt
- Hot glue gun (plus the glue sticks, of course)
- Scissors
Since I already had most of the materials, all I really needed to get were the pieces of felt and the feathers, which cost me a whopping $5 from Walmart. I guess my thrifty broke-college-student ways haven't quite left me yet.
Here's how to put your costume together:
1. Take your pair of scissors and cut triangle shapes on the bottom of your XL t shirt and sleeves. It's okay if the cuts aren't perfect. I think that actually gives it a more authentic feel. There's no set amount of triangles for you to cut. Cut out however many you want, but make sure the sizes of the triangles aren't too big or too small; we're trying to recreate the look of Peter Pan's tunic.
That's the bottom hem of my shirt. As you can see, my triangles were very rough and jagged, but ultimately, it gave my costume a good look.
That's one of my sleeves. Like I said, it's not really a professional-looking cut, but it gets the job done. I was a little pressed for time and didn't have time to make everything perfect.
2. Now for the hat. It's really a lot easier than I thought it would be. If you have sewing skills and can power sew in a pinch, kudos. But I chose the no-sew route, so my hot glue gun was my best friend. I found a Peter Pan hat pattern online and traced it on my pieces of felt. I taped the two pieces of felt together during this part so I wouldn't have to worry about ending up with two uneven patterns.
* Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures as I was making the hat, so I don't have any process pictures to share for this part*
3. Once I was done tracing the pattern on the felt, I cut the shapes out and hot glued the two top edges together. Make sure you don't glue the longest side together; that's the part that will go on your head. I chose to not glue the flat back part during this step; it made the next step much easier to do.
4. Once the two top sides were glued and dried, I folded the brim up and hot glued it to the body of the hat. It was almost like making those paper boats when I was a kid. When I glued the brim up, the front was too pointy for my liking, so I just folded it down and glued it in place.
5. Now for the feather. I couldn't find a black feather, so I used a purple one and painted it black with plain old acrylic paint. Once that dried, I glued the feather to the hat, tucking the "stick" end of it into the brim.
Wait for the hat to dry and you're done! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
I wore my t shirt over a pair of fleece-lined leggings (which were seriously the most comfortable things I have ever worn). Because it's getting a little chilly out, I wore a long sleeve black shirt under my t shirt. The hat didn't fit in a way that would stay on my head without me constantly holding onto it, so I bobby pinned it on the sides and I was good to go. I also added a dagger to my costume by cutting it out of a cardboard and painting it black.
And there you have it! An easy, cheap, and totally comfortable way to go out for Halloween this year!
With Halloween creeping up so close and me being the world's biggest procrastinator, you can imagine how stressful it was for me to come up with a costume. Since I'm a teacher, I figured it's an unwritten requirement for me to dress up for my kiddos. I wanted something easy to put together, cost me as little as possible, and comfortable to wear (New Jersey is getting cold around this time of year, y'all). I came up with Peter Pan's escaped shadow.
I looked online for some ideas, but everything I looked for involved a morph suit, and as much fun as that would be, I feel like it's pretty important for my students to be able to see my face. So I tweaked it as I went, and I have to say, I am very happy with the final product. So here's a super easy, no sew DIY Peter Pan's shadow costume. It took me all of an hour to make, and that was at a pretty leisurely pace.
What you'll need:
- Black XL t shirt
- Black tights or leggings
- Black belt or rope (to cinch the waist)
- Black feather (or a colored feather that you'll have to paint black)
- Two sheets of black felt
- Hot glue gun (plus the glue sticks, of course)
- Scissors
Since I already had most of the materials, all I really needed to get were the pieces of felt and the feathers, which cost me a whopping $5 from Walmart. I guess my thrifty broke-college-student ways haven't quite left me yet.
Here's how to put your costume together:
1. Take your pair of scissors and cut triangle shapes on the bottom of your XL t shirt and sleeves. It's okay if the cuts aren't perfect. I think that actually gives it a more authentic feel. There's no set amount of triangles for you to cut. Cut out however many you want, but make sure the sizes of the triangles aren't too big or too small; we're trying to recreate the look of Peter Pan's tunic.
That's the bottom hem of my shirt. As you can see, my triangles were very rough and jagged, but ultimately, it gave my costume a good look.
That's one of my sleeves. Like I said, it's not really a professional-looking cut, but it gets the job done. I was a little pressed for time and didn't have time to make everything perfect.
2. Now for the hat. It's really a lot easier than I thought it would be. If you have sewing skills and can power sew in a pinch, kudos. But I chose the no-sew route, so my hot glue gun was my best friend. I found a Peter Pan hat pattern online and traced it on my pieces of felt. I taped the two pieces of felt together during this part so I wouldn't have to worry about ending up with two uneven patterns.
* Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures as I was making the hat, so I don't have any process pictures to share for this part*
3. Once I was done tracing the pattern on the felt, I cut the shapes out and hot glued the two top edges together. Make sure you don't glue the longest side together; that's the part that will go on your head. I chose to not glue the flat back part during this step; it made the next step much easier to do.
4. Once the two top sides were glued and dried, I folded the brim up and hot glued it to the body of the hat. It was almost like making those paper boats when I was a kid. When I glued the brim up, the front was too pointy for my liking, so I just folded it down and glued it in place.
5. Now for the feather. I couldn't find a black feather, so I used a purple one and painted it black with plain old acrylic paint. Once that dried, I glued the feather to the hat, tucking the "stick" end of it into the brim.
Wait for the hat to dry and you're done! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
I wore my t shirt over a pair of fleece-lined leggings (which were seriously the most comfortable things I have ever worn). Because it's getting a little chilly out, I wore a long sleeve black shirt under my t shirt. The hat didn't fit in a way that would stay on my head without me constantly holding onto it, so I bobby pinned it on the sides and I was good to go. I also added a dagger to my costume by cutting it out of a cardboard and painting it black.
And there you have it! An easy, cheap, and totally comfortable way to go out for Halloween this year!
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