IKEA update

And first place goes tooooo *drumroll*
.
.
.
not me.

BUT

The second place goes tooooo *drumroll*
ME!!! :D

Both my whale lamp and Timelord placed second, which means I am now 1000€ (1375$) richer!
Definitely happy with that.

I'll be making a Halloween post soon (probably after Halloween, because there's still so much to do!) and show off my Witch Doctor and hopefully my costume...maybe...

It's Halloween-lo-ween, everybody!

Well...not quite yet.
But I'm currently working on our Halloween props!

My sister wants to be a vampire on the beach for this year's Halloween (I will hopefully be a pumpkin person in a vintage bathing suit), so we decided to adapt our props to a beach theme.
I'm working on a witch doctor, who will be dancing on a sand grave, and thought I'd show you how I made the Tiki mask.
Hopefully someone will find this little tutorial useful and make lots and lots of masks 8D

You will need:
a (thin) insulation foam sheet
a Stanley knife (or any other knife that will cut through foam)
a pencil
(wood/white) glue
acrylic paints
a brush

Start by cutting out the shape you want the mask to have. It doesn't need to be perfect, since you will be cutting into the edges anyway.
Take your pencil, and draw 3, or more, straight lines. This will make the mask look like it's made of boards of wood instead of one whole piece. Remember to press down with your pencil, so it will leave an impression. Make these lines especially thick.
Now draw lines and squiggles all over the mask, but remember to always stop at the straight lines, since that's where the 'board' would end.
Decide where you want the eyes to be, and cut them out. Then cut out eyebrows, a nose, lips and teeth, if you want.
Distress your 'wood' a bit, by cutting into the edges, especially where your 'boards' meet. You can also take any object (I used the blunt side of a knife) and hit your foam with it. Yes, you will be a foam abuser, but it will be worth it.
Before you glue the features on, try the glue on a piece of scrap foam, to see if the glue melts the foam. I used wood glue, which takes ages to dry, but keeps the foam intact.

After the glue has dried, take your acrylic paint and give your mask a base coat. It doesn't matter if the surface doesn't look perfect, just try to get the paint into all those grooves.

 After the paint has dried, take a light brown acrylic, and paint the mask. Try painting big spaces with only a little colour, and try not to get all the paint into the lines. Also, when you paint, use long brush strokes, starting from the top, going down (or vice versa).

You can stop at the previous step, or you can add some colour, like I did. Just do it like you did with the brown paint, a tiny bit of colour for a big space.

And that would be my first tutorial! Yay!
Hoped it helped!

My teeny tiny fall harvest

We had 4°C (39°F) this morning, so I decided to pick all my remaining vegetables before it drops below freezing.
Nothing very special about this post, but here, have some pictures.

 I'm not a fan of eggplants (actually, I don't like most of the things I plant, I'm weird like that), but isn't it gorgeous?

 Not quite ready tomatoes.

 

I am so proud of this butternut! /motherly tears of joy

This is the first time one of my pumpkins actually survived! I had planned to make at least five pumpkin cookies out of it, but now I don't want to eat it >-<

UPDATE for the previous post:

This is what the Timelord looks like with bow tie and hearts.

EDIT: and I just realized that in the picture, it looks like I drew nipples on the door...I give up.

How anyone could be that unorganised

No, I'm not talking about me in that title, but about IKEA.
Remember about that contest, and how I already said that they didn't think everything through? Well, I asked them in an email where I should bring my finished furniture, and got the reply that sorry, but they're no longer allowed to display the entries.
Insert eyebrow raise.
At least I'm supposed to send them pictures, so I'm still taking part in the contest.
It's actually a small blessing in disguise, because I'm not really happy with how everything turned out, so now I won't have the judges taking closer looks.

And...I just realised that I forgot to put on his bow tie (the only thing I actually liked about the whole thing). Oh well. When I'm bored and have money to spare, I'll add a few more layers of paint (you can see the streaks on the door, and the back of the arms aren't actually painted).
EDIT: And my sister just told me that I also forgot the hearts! Of course I did! Looks like I not only have a fail!whale, but also a fail!clock/shelf.

 I wanted a smooth finish, which sadly didn't work out, because that whale hates me. But he doesn't look as bad as I thought he would.

 Still thinking about making a new whale though. Don't take it personally, FrankenFailWhale.
EDIT #2: My sister also just told me that my whale looks like he has dreadlocks. Seriously, FrankenFailWhale, could you be any more of a fail?