Change...

Here's some background music for this post. ;)

I've noticed a theme in the posts written on the blogs I follow recently.

Change.

I've currently been experiencing this - change - the most I've experienced it, well, ever. While in the past I've moved several times to very different locations, they occurred when I was younger and less effected by such things.

But, now, I'm 16 and have been living in the same place for the past 6 years, and those years have been more influential on my life than any of those before. I've had so many wonderful memories with the amazing friends I made in those 6 years.

Then, suddenly, I realize that those friends and their lives are changing, including me and mine.

None of us have much free time any more to just hang out. Some of them have begun drifting out of my life. And as for the people who have gone away to college, well, I'll only have the opportunity to see them when they come home on breaks. Which I definitely look forward to, but it's not nearly as satisfying as knowing I'll at least see them every week at church.

And then there's the result of these changes. Like I've already experienced, people end up fading out of your life and, somehow, you two turn back into acquaintances, with not so much as "goodbye."

My personal change is hard, and scary, as well. I'm approaching my senior year of highschool. In just over a year, I'll be heading to college... and so many questions and fears arise from this fact.

Will I be able to keep up with all the [difficult] school work? And amidst that work, will I still have time for the things I enjoy? Will I be able to make any new friends? Will I meet *that* special someone?

All this... yeah. It's hard. Change is hard. And scary. And is when we need to trust God the most.

However - we have to remember that change can also be good. For us, for others... and with this, somehow it will all turn out perfectly in the end.

Updates and ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

You must forgive me for my absent from the blogging scene lately... it hasn't been intentional! ;) I've got a few half-finished posts ready to be completed, but I just haven't gotten around to them... so, here's a quick update with randomness. :)

Firstly... I'm back in the South. (yay!) My northern vacation was great, but still. There's no place like home. ^_^ Though now I get to readjust to the heat... :P

Can anyone else not believe the summer is almost over? (for me, anyway -- your's might already be over! :p) I keep asking myself, where did it even go???? O_O

Oh and -- heh -- speaking of time and stuff, uh, just thought I'd mentioned I'm obsessed with Doctor Who now. Namely, 10. David Tennant. (ermergersh he's just so seriously awesome... ^_^ ;D)  Maybe that's where all my time went... spent watching Doctor Who... xD

I start school again on Wednesday. And I'll be a senior. I mean seriously, where did you go, time? *sigh*

And now, my final update. Le ALS Ice Bucket Challenge! Enjoy. xD

1. If you're reading this, consider this my nomination for you! You've got 24 hours! :D
2. This is the reason I'm not an actress... xD
3. I deleted the part with my facebook nominee names for privacy's sake. ;)

Talk to ya'll soon!! ^_^

[Battle] Tauriel Cosplay - Mock-up and Chainmail

It seriously felt so good to write that title. Why? Really just 'cause I finally know what my costume is for The Battle of the Five Armies. Hehe. Anyways... let's get to the updates! :D

Firstly, I made a mock-up of the skirt yesterday:

It's nothing fancy, but I did spend a fairly good while on it. ;) Most of that time was spent playing around with drape and length and such.

It's made out of some old flannel-type fabric I had lying around. (Which had a surprisingly nice drape..? I don't even know. xD)  As you can see in le pics, it's split down the front and the back. I was trying to figure out whether to do 4 splits or just 2, and this has made me decide on just the two, so it'll almost be like a riding dress. This also makes it easier to decapitate orcs and goblins and such. ;)  And the train... is it practical? Not completely. Does it look cool? Uhm, yesssss. :D So, I'm gonna compromise and do a short-ish train; probably about 6-8 inches.

I'm also working on figuring out the shape of the skirt panels... like I said in my previous post, I'm considering buying a pattern to help with that and the rest of the construction of the dress.

So - that's that. Now the part I'm really excited to show ya'll... the beginnings of some pretty epic chainmail armor (if I say so myself;), made from soda pop tabs!

(the heart-shape was not intentional... ;D)

In case you missed my last post, what I'm making is shoulder armor (whose technical name is "spaulders").

This piece is only about half finished, 'cause I didn't have enough tabs... however, I'm heading home this Tuesday (yayy!) where I've got a whole bunch more tabs (all saved up in a little jar hehe). So you'll be seeing the finished product soon (hopefully - hah)! ;)

About the process of making the chainmail... it was surprisingly simple! It took a couple minutes to learn how and to get into the rhythm of it (bend, cut, connect), but after that it was quite easy -- though it is a bit time consuming. This piece took about an hour and a half total. In the future, now that I know how to do it, it should be a bit faster. :)

Oh and, yeah, my fingers were hurting after all that. xD

In case you wanted to try your hand at makin' some chainmail, this tutorial by kirilee on deviantart is quite helpful. :D

Well, I suppose that's about it for my Battle Tauriel costume updates!  Next up on my to-do list: Finish the chainmail armor and start fabric shopping!

My BOTFA Cosplay Announcement!!!

YES.  YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY.  I HAVE FINALLY DECIDED.

First things first, though. ;)

I was seriously soooo disappointed when no new [female/simple] costumes popped up in the Battle of the Five Armies teaser. (Except for that teensy peek of Galadriel's new costume, which a picture was already released of.) Yeah, as much as I like Thrandy's and the dwarves' new armor, uh, yeah, not gonna happen. xD

HOWEVER -- I do adore the idea of armor...

So, I started thinking... what if I just completely made up a costume inspired by Tauriel? And then I remembered all that GORGEOUS concept art for her costumes that they ended up not using. And then the idea just kept growing and growing until I finally decided on the idea of...

Battle Tauriel. :D

Like I said, it'll be based on the concept art designs, and embellished with my own imagination. It'll be, basically, what I think Tauriel would wear into battle. The main things I want to include in the costume are some sort of elvish armor, and a floor length, split skirt (unlike the calf-length of her dresses in Desolation of Smaug).

I started sketching some ideas over the past week... Now, keep in mind, none of the designs are perfect. I'm really just messing around with my ideas. The more I think about it, and the more designs I make, the closer I'll get to what I actually want the finished costume to look like. :)

So, that's what I'm working with currently. My favorite idea so far is the chainmail shoulder pauldrons, which I got from this concept drawing. (And if I did that, I'd most likely make it out of soda pop tabs. Yes. Those tabs you open aluminum cans with, which I've been collecting for the past several months, actually. xD Sound weird? Check this out.) I'm thinking of adding another chainmail aspect to the costume, though I'm not exactly sure what.

Also with the chainmail idea, I'm not sure whether it should even be chainmail, or maybe just leather armor... or perhaps I could try my hand at craft foam armor, and give it a metal look...

Another thing I'm debating is the cape. I don't want it to be a full cloak (which would hide too much of the costume underneath), but rather one that just goes down the back, like the first design, or one where the arms are exposed, like designs 2 and 3.

The final thing I'm debating is the base dress -- basically, how I want the skirt, sleeves, and collar to be. I'm looking at a few sewing patterns for that, however, which would definitely make creating the dress easier. ;)

So, yeah! That's what costume I'll be making for The Hobbi: The Battle of the Five Armies. :D

In conclusion, may I just say... I am so pumped for this cosplay. It's going to be so incredibly fun to make. And wear. And it's already been fun to plan. :D

I'll update with more news concerning this soon! 4 months to go, guys!!! :D :D

Oh! And I've made a Pinterest board just for this costume -- as usual. xD

Follow Beth's board Cosplay - Battle Tauriel on Pinterest.

My Trailer for The Battle of the Five Armies

So, last year I made a trailer for The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug about a month after the teaser trailer for that released (which ended up going on to get over 10,000 views on YouTube!!)

And because I absolutely adore doing things like that (making movies, digital editing, and such) I decided to do it again this year. But for The Hobbit: the Battle of the Five Armies. :D
While I absolutely adore the official trailer, I had several ideas of my own for a trailer for BOFTA... which I then made a reality over the course of about a week. The process included finding, downloading, and editing video clips, finding just the right music, and then, of course, editing it all together.

The music I used is called "An Unfinished Life" by Audiomachine, from their album "Tree of Life," and I edited the trailer using Windows Movie Maker (very high tech, I know. ;D)

(Microsoft recently updated Windows Movie Maker, and it works 900% better after the update. I couldn't used it last year for the DOS trailer I made, as it had a ton of glitches that kept ruining the video as I worked on it, but I decided to give it another try, and it worked like a dream! Super simple, but gets the job done quite well.)

With all that said, here's my trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Hope you like it. I really liked making it. (:

My Life Lately [Through a Camera Lens]

Also... THIS. Which made me almost die from hyperventilation and feels, so... prepare yourself if you have yet to see it. :D

À la prochaine! (until next time!)

Captain America Cosplay - Boots!

Okay, I don't know about ya'll, but I'm getting bored with the stuff I've been posting on here lately. "Personal" posts are great, but I want to get some cosplay action going here. ;D

As we don't have the BOTFA trailer, (though all signs are pointing to it being premiered at the Hobbit panel at San Diego Comic Con this Saturday!!!) and I'm STILL not decided on what costume I'm going to make for the premiere of that, I'll go ahead and share some of my Age of Ultron plans with ya'll. :D

If you follow me on Pinterest, you've probably seen that I've been pinning boots lately. Specifically, boots for my Cap cosplay. Seeing as I'm obsessed with boots, I've been having waaaay too much fun scouring Amazon, eBay, etc. for the perfect pair. ;D

Oh, yeah - did I mention boot shopping online is one of my favorite things? Mmhmmm. I could - and do - spend hours doing it. xD

So - about the boots.

I'm just gonna be frank here - I'm not trying to be screen accurate. xD His First Avenger boots are too masculine, I really really really don't like his Avengers boots, the boots in Winter Soldier are extremely similar to his TFA boots, and his Age of Ultron boots are just boring.

Soooooo I'm gonna be taking some creative license here - because my fem!Cap boots must be fabulous. B)

For color, I've decided to stick with brown, like his new AoU costume, because I really don't like how the bright red looks. Brown is much cooler. ;)

But the big thing I'm trying to decide about le boots is whether I want them to be laced, combat style, like Cap's costume from TFA, or just with buckles and such, which is more Avengers and AoU esque.

I was originally completely set on laced boots, but now I'm leaning more towards the plain-and-buckled look. I think it just gives a bit more of a "super hero" look than the lacing. However, I'm still open to the laced possibility. :)

And now that you know all the details, I give to you my top 5 options! :D

(Prices are for the color and size I'd get, and include shipping - also, each picture is embedded with the link to the listing, in case you guys want a pair. ;D)

Option 1:

Brinley Co.

$45.94

This is the only non-high-heel pair in my top 5 list. While I prefer the heeled look for the femininity it lends to the costume, the buckles and the cool look of the shaft opening caught my eye on these.

Option 2:

Ursela by Mia

$39.99

While I really like these, they're actually currently not available (in brown). I had found them a few weeks back, but they went out of stock and I couldn't find them anywhere else, so I e-mailed the seller to ask when they'd be back in stock, and they said they didn't know. Soooooo this one is dependent on whether they actually do come back in stock.

Option 3:

Darleen by BareTraps

$17.98

Not only are they cute, but they also have an extremely tantalizing price tag. ;D (note: the listing name on Amazon is wrong.)

Option 4:

Arizona (used)

$38.47

These ones are a vintage pair, but they're in really nice condition, and are pretty cute. They might be a little bit too "Victorian" for Cap, but I think they're still a possibility. Another thing, was the size of the shaft; there's a possibility it'd be too big for my calf.

Option 5:

N/A

$33.74

These are my personal favorite. :D The heel, the buckles, the price... pretty much perfect - IF I am, indeed, going with the non-laced look.

Welp - that's the lowdown on my Captain America cosplay boot situation! Vote in the commentsssss on your favorite pair, because, as always, I'd love to hear ya'lls opinion! :)

Beautimous

I have a problem.

No, actually had a problem.

Concerning... me.

It was a problem of looks. I didn't even know it was a problem, for a while. But eventually, over time, I began to realize it.

I refused to leave the house without my full makeup regime meticulously applied to my face.

I didn't/don't wear many products. Just eyeliner, mascara, concealer, and light lip stick. But even though they are few, I came to rely on those items alot. Too much, as I came to realize.

My makeup didn't become a "protective wall," as I've heard many girls say. No, for me it was rather a secret weapon I used with the wrong mindset and motives.

I was using it to get every one to like me. To want to be me. To admire me. Isn't that awful?

Of course, I hadn't ever spelled out these reasons in so many words. But, subconsciously, I believe those reasons were there.

Then, one day, after I had fully realized my own weakness, I decided to beat it. With God's help.

The first step was surprisingly simple... I went to French class without the eyeliner.

And ya know what? It felt good. Light. Fresh. Simple.

The thing is... when I got there, I was treated exactly the same as when I wore my full regime. And I remember feeling actual surprise at this. Is that messed up, or what?

By the way... this doesn't mean I'm going to stop wearing makeup. In our culture, it's kind of become a part of looking put together. And I enjoy wearing it. And, of course, I like to look my best. (Who doesn't?)

What I am going to do, however, is not wear it all the time.

Like, when I go horse back riding, no way do I need to be wearing a face full of makeup. (Dirt, sweat, and horse hair end up ruining it anyway! ;) Or, when I have to grab some eggs at Walmart. Or if I'm just hanging with mah besties.

And now that I have a healthy mindset about wearing it, I can feel better about wearing it - and not wearing it.

All the above is why have presented to you, my friends, followers, and the whole world (heh), the picture above. Me without makeup. Not a speck. (And no photoshop either. ;))

Just... me.

I'm not trying to get compliments. I'm just proving to myself that I have the confidence, self esteem, and self respect to be cool with people seeing me sans makeup.

Because, in God's eyes, I'm beautiful no matter what I look like. :)

Liebster Award!

In case you didn't know, I've never done any "blog award" posts before... I've been nominated a few times prior to this, but I never took the time to write up a post, 'cause I 1) am lazy and 2) didn't want to clutter my blog. Does that sound weird? Yeah, kinda. Oh well. You OCD peeps out there will understand. ;)

However, I decided to break my rule this time. I've seen the Liebster Award floating around quite a bit, so I was rather honored when I was nominated. ;) Also, the objectives behind the award are actually very near and dear to my own heart... getting unknown bloggers known! :D

So, with that intro, let's get into the rules...

1. Thank and Link

Thanks so much to the super awesome Ely who so graciously nominated me for the Liebster Award in the first place! You should go visit her at What Can I Say?. Yeah, like, right now. Leave a comment, say hi. All that good shtuff. ;)

2. 11 Facts About Moi

1. Boots are my weakness.
2. Movie trailer music by Audiomachine is my go-to music. Not kidding.
3. (Lord willing) I'll be in New Zealand next January. Call that a "spoiler" for my life. ;)
4. I'm obsessive when it comes to underlining in my Bible.
5. I just recently watched Doctor Who for the first time. And surprised myself by actually liking it.
6. I'm rather proficient at hula-hoop-ing.
7. I hate flimsy handshakes. If you're gonna shake my hand, give me a firm grip.
8. Car racing games are da best.
9. I've never drank a Coke in my life. Or a Pepsi, for that matter.
10. I hate Monopoly. So much. Perhaps because I always lose...
11. Some of my first memories of the internet are playing on Webkinz. Oh yes.

3. Questions from Ely

1. winter or summer? Erhmm... both. I love summer, but you can't wear boots in summer. Or cuddle up with hot tea and a book. Or...

2. Your opinion on mayonnaise and bananas (not necessarily together, tho if that's your cup of tea...) Mayonnaise is gross, unless used in a recipe. And bananas are good -- but don't you dare try to give me a strawberry-banana milkshake. *gag*

3. how many books do you have checked out from the library right now? *Mentally counts.* Six!

4. do you prefer to be in front of the camera or behind it? Ahhhh both! I love taking pictures, but also having pictures taken...

5. If you had to permanently paint your fingernails one color for the rest of your life, what color would it be? This color.

6. do you like your days to be busy or lazy? Busy! Well, with activities that I want to do, anyway...

7. most played song on your iPod (or music collection). I honestly haven't the slightest idea... xD

8. would you say that the word 'adorkable' is the thing that sums up these two dorks? Sure. Or maybe just 'dork.' xD

9. where is the first place you want to travel to? New Zealandddddd

10. funniest childhood story? Way too many. That one time I zipped around the house on my new scooter... or climbed all the way to the top of a ginormous apple tree... or changed into a new outfit in the check out line (I was 2 xD)...

11. mountains or beach? Mountains, probably. Though I could never say no to a nice, warm, sandy beach.

4. My Nominees

1. Madison @ A Wanderer's Journey

2. Hannah @ Life of a Nerdy Girl

3. Kayla @ Miss Kay's Corner

4. Morgan @ Gardener of the Hill

5. Karis @ The Horse Nextdoor

6 Maggie @ Ladies of the Press

7. Grace @ Eruanna of Edoras

8. Laura @ Gazing Wonders

9. Rebekah @ Running His Road

5. My Questions for My Nominees

1. What was your very first fandom?

2. Makeup or no?

3. Could you survive on an uninhabited tropical island for a week with nothing but the clothes on your back? 

4. 3 websites you visit daily? 

5. Do you have any secret boards on Pinterest? 

6. Favorite book/series as a kid? 

7. Tea or coffee? 

8. Are your ears pierced? 

9. How many pairs of shoes do you have? 

10. What's your go-to breakfast food? 

11. In your opinion, what is the best blog post you've written so far? (Link, please!)

Now go forth, my friends, and write your own posts! ;)

Summer Life in Washington

So much has been going on while I've been up here in Washington.

For the first time I...

...baked with coconut flour.

I've worked alot with almond flour, but coconut flour was completely new to me, so I wasn't sure what to expect. They turned out perfect! To me, they tasted just like cupcakes made with normal flour. And they looked so pretty too! White and fluffy. ;) Btw, coconut flour smells absolutely divine. ;D

The first thing I made was vanilla cupcakes (from this recipe). They were so good, I couldn't believe it. I then made a batch of banana muffins with this recipe, as we had obtained a nice collection of too-ripe bananas. ;)

...jumped an Icelandic pony.

I've ridden Icelandics. I've jumped. But never together... so this was a fun new experience!! Sure, the jumps were fairly low, but it was still fun. I hadn't jumped in ages, and I didn't realize how much I missed jumping until I, well, jumped. xD

Aside from jumping, my little sister Danielle and I have had so much fun at a friend's Icelandic pony farm, riding, grooming, feeding, etc. ;)

There's 6 ponies at the farm we go to help out at: Stjarni, Karl, Aegir, Skila, Scoogi, and Thunder. (They're all icelandic names - except for Karl and Thunder - so that's why they're a bit odd.)

Photos of a day at le pony farm...

This seriously precious pony is Aegir (his Icelandic name). I secretly call him Mango, tho (because of his coloring). xD

Meet Karl. B)

Sweet Stjarni.

Tacking up Skila for a ride.

Boots. ;)

A late-afternoon ride on Karl. (:

Danielle trots a jump on Skila. Are they not adorable???

...drove a 4-wheeler.

Sadly, I don't have photo-proof of this. xD It was actually pretty fun -- a bit tricky at first, but quite thrilling once I got the hang of it. ;D

Welp, my time grows short. I must fly. Until later, my friends. :)

P.S. THE HOBBIT TRAILER IS COMING.

Concerning My "Hobbit 3" Cosplay Plans

I know many of you have been asking about my cosplay plans for the final Hobbit movie, The Battle of the Five Armies, and now I want to let ya'll know what was going on with that. So here goes. :D

As some of you know, I decided to keep the details of my Hobbit 3 cosplay plans a secret until the release of the trailer for le movie. But concerning that, well, we still haven't heard anything official about it or anything about when it will release.

Which means...

I'm going to scrap my original plan. I'm laying everything on the line for ya'll, right here and now. Whatever that the trailer isn't here - I'm so done with waiting, and keeping you waiting, if you have been waiting. Hah. xD

Oh - did I mention I need your help? Yes, yes I do. So please stick around and I would be ever so grateful if you left a comment afterwards. :D

Soooooooooo...

The truth of the matter - my costume for The Battle of the Five Armies - is that...

I've got several options. Yep, that's what it all boils down to. :P

I honestly just can't decide between them, which is why I need help. I think it'll be so neat to get some input, especially since nothing is really sticking out as the obvious choice right now. So, browse my options, (or, hey, even if there's a completely different idea you have for me, I'd love to hear that, too!) then give your opinion. Got it? Got it. Let's do this thing. B|

Option #1 - Arwen's Coronation Gown (RotK)

(While I would really prefer to dress up as a character from The Hobbit movies, Arwen is still from Middle-earth, so it's justifiable, right? Sure. ;))

Firstly, this was actually the original dress I wanted to make when I first got the idea of cosplaying for the premiere of An Unexpected Journey. I scrapped the idea, however, when I realized how hard it would be to find fabric that color, in a nice material, for not extremely expensive - and, to my untrained eye, it looked like a really complicated dress to make. However, the idea stuck with me, and resurfaced about a month ago when...

(Secondly) I've already found the perfect fabric for it! :D

I was at Walmart (because I'm a cheap-o cosplayer - hah xD), just browsing through their fabrics, not looking for anything in particular... when I came across this fabric:

Pale lime-green, crepe-back satin - I'll have the crepe (non-shiney) side showing for the dress.

I'd been drooling over this stuff for ages -- and it's on clearance for 3 bucks a yard. Compared to 7. Say whaaaaat!? And that's when I about died from happiness... xD While, no, it's not silk velvet, it is absolutely gorgeoussssss... the color is extremely accurate and it has an incredible drape that's still very "elven princess," I think. ;D

So, needless to say, yes, I bought it -- all 6 yards left. :D

So. That's that. Since I've got the main fabric for it already, I'll still make it sometime. even if I don't end up making the dress for the BOFA premiere - though, for what purpose, I'm quite not sure yet. ;)

Option #2 - Galadriel's White Council Dress (AUJ)

So, Galadriel's dress would be super easy to make, considering Simplicity has a pattern for it that's actually pretty accurate, and white fabric is crazy easy to find. Even if I made the silver cloak as well, that'd be fairly easy to find fabric for as well.

Now... this is gonna sound strange, but its simplicity is almost a con for me. xD I kinda want a challenge, ya know? I actually really enjoy stretching my abilities.

But still -- this dress would be super pretty, though maybe a little bit wedding-dress-ish... Okay, yeah, I must say I'm not too extremely keen to make this one, but it's still an option. ;)

Option #3 - Fem Thranduil

*Bursts into giggles.*

Okay, no, seriously, guys. Would this just be great, or what. xD

This is my most off-the-wall idea, but I think it'd be 1) hilarious, 2) way too much fun to make/wear, and 3) most definitely be a challenge!

Okay, even I can admit it might be a little bit odd -- but still. Yeah. Definitely an option.

Option 4 - Tauriel 2.0

Probably the option I'm leaning away from the most, making another Tauriel costume (or simply wearing my old one again) is basically my fail-safe. If nothing else works, this is what I'll do. :)

If I made a new one, I'd probably make her "spider dress" (the one in the picture), which is my second favorite outfit of hers. It'd be challenging for sure; a bit tricky to find fabric that would work, but I'm sure I could find something, if I searched hard and long enough. And, like I said, it's my second favorite dress of hers, so it'd be fun to wear, too.

Or, I could just wear my old "archer dress"... which works, but c'mon -- I want to make a new costume! I have to have something to keep me busy during the time between now and December, right? ;D

Option 5 - A Costume from BOFA

So, when (if xD) the trailer releases, there will probably be some glimpses of new costumes, and maybe I'll end up falling in love with one and end up making that. ;) But, until the trailer releases, this is still a big question mark with not a whole lot of significance. So for now, I'll go ahead with the planning of my costume, and just see what happens concerning the trailer when I come to it.

Speaking of the trailer... you'll hear my official "announcement" of my Battle of the Five Armies cosplay after it releases -- which better be soon, or I might burst. XD

Welp, that's that, guys! Thanks for sticking with me and my craziness. ;)

And yeah... don't forget to comment with your opinions on le costume... ;D I look forward to hearing ya'lls ideas!!! :D

A Guide to Making Your Own Tauriel Costume

I've been wanting to make a tutorial for those wanting to cosplay Tauriel for a very long time now, and yesterday I got the final push to do so when Simplicity *finally* released an actual pattern for one of Tauriel's costumes! (More on that later...)

Any and all questions are welcome (and encouraged!) in the comments, and I promise to answer them to the best of my ability! :)

So, without further ado, here's A Guide to Making Your Own Tauriel Cosplay! :D

Step 1: Choose Your Dress

Which of Tauriel's dresses do you want to make? I'm only going to feature the two main dresses (with their variations) in Desolation of Smaug here.

Costume 1 (Variation 1) - Spider Dress

This is the dress that Simplicity has a sewing pattern for.

Costume 1 (Variation 2) - Spider Dress

This simply has a different leather bodice than the first (and she threw on a scarf).

Costume 2 (Variation 1) - Archer Dress

I can give the most help on this one, as this is the dress of hers that I made.

Costume 2 (Variation 2) - Archer Dress

This is just the first dress, with the addition of a green "hoodie" type thing.

Step 2: Buy the Pattern OR Make a Mock-up

This is where it starts getting tricky, depending which route you want to go.

If you're looking for an easy out, I advise you to buy the pattern for the first variation of her "spider dress" and make that.

The pattern is Simplicity 1347:

From what I've seen of it, the pattern isn't half bad. I would advise you to keep the edge of the skirt straight instead of ripped up (what's with that, anyway? o_O), but otherwise it's quite nice, really. It also comes with patterns for the arm bracers and corset/belt.

Now, if you want to do a different dress, or simply don't like this pattern, I'd advise making a mock-up of the costume you want to make.
You can use a pattern to help you figure out sizing, sleeves, that sort of thing, as a basis -- elaborating and deviating in the places you want to change. Just keep messing around with it until you like what you see. Then you can use this mock-up as your pattern for the real costume!

Here's a couple drawings I made to help me with making my mock-up for Tauriel's archer dress (costume 2 - variation 1).

Variation 1 - Princess seam bodice.

Variation 2 - Two-piece bodice.

Split Skirt Diagram

Step 3: Buy Fabric

This can be hard. You'll probably need to do some research before finding *the* fabric. Don't be afraid to look in odd places to find it, too -- the leather I used for my bodice is upholstery (used for furniture, etc.) vinyl, and I got the material for my dress at a thrift store!

If you can't find what you're looking for in any stores near you, I recommend trying Fabric.com or Amazon.com. Both have great prices and a huge selection of fabrics! And from Fabric.com, you can even order a swatch of the material before you commit to buying several yards, in case you don't end up liking it.

Types of Fabric:

The spider dress fabric is crinkle taffeta, or something similar, with a bit of a satin finish.

After much debate from only seeing the online pictures of the archer dress, I had the opportunity to see the dress in person in New Zealand, and I discovered it actually is made of emerald suade! The second variation of the dress is hunter green, burlap-style hoodie, which extends into a split skirt. The top of the first variation is used underneath this.

For my archer dress, I used polyester, which looked nice and worked well, but isn't extremely screen-accurate. Simple cotton broadcloth would work as well, but it isn't very drape-y.

Basically, if you're going for Variation 1 of the archer dress, go with suede for the dress. If you're making Variation 2, use a thick, burlap-y material for the overdress (hoodie + skirt), then suede for the shirt underneath the leather bodice.

Amounts to Buy:

For both styles of Tauriel's dress, you'll need about 3 yards of 60 inch wide fabric, OR about 5 yards of 45 inch wide fabric. (I used 60" so I can't be sure about how much you'll need exactly of 45" fabric, but I'm sure you'd be safe with 5-6 yards.) If you're planning on putting in a lining, you'll be needing more than this, though. I skipped having a lining in my dress though, because, frankly, I hate them. xD

The bodice and bracers will require 1 yard of 60 inch wide fabric. If you go with 45 inch wide fabric, you might want to get 1.5 yards, just to be safe. I bought 2 yards of 60", and it was wayyyyy more than necessary -- but the material is really neat, so I've enjoyed using the leftovers for other projects. :)

Some quick tips about leather for the bracers and bodice:

Like I said, I used upholstery vinyl that I ordered from Amazon. (It was this stuff in case you were wondering, which I ended up darkening with black shoe polish.) I highly recommend upholstery leather for armor -- it has the same thickness as real leather at a fraction of the cost, and is 900% easier to work with.

If you don't want to go the upholstery leather route, you can also get apparel-grade vinyl/leather instead. If you want it to be thicker, just attach it to craft foam. I've never done this, personally, but there are tons of tutorials for it all over the internet -- a quick Google search will bring up exactly what you're looking for. :)

And then, of course, if you're really ambitious, you can go with real leather, of course. While I'm sure this would look fabulous, don't count on me for help... ;)

(sorry, couldn't resist xD)

Back to business.

Step 4: Accessorize!

Okay, yeah, not gonna lie, this is one of my favorite parts about cosplaying -- adding all the fun details that make the costume awesome. :D

Boots:

Again, time to do some shopping and Googling. It might take you some time to find the perfect shoes to compliment your Tauriel costume. Here's Tauriel's actual boots:

Two things that are a must to keep the costume as accurate as possible (without going crazy): Knee high, heel less than 1 inch, dark brown, and no prominent buckles or zippers or studs or anything like that that elves just wouldn't have on their footwear. ;)

As for where to find boots such as this, I recommend Amazon. They've got a huge boot selection, and you can find a good pair for a pretty decent price (Be prepared to pay bout $30-$35).

Here's a few possible options I found with a quick search...

Brinley Co. Women's Knee-High Stretch Riding Boots

Top Moda Women Land-57 Boots

Brinley Co. Knee High Double-buckle Riding Boots

And, in case you wondered, these are the boots I bought for my costume. They're not totally screen accurate, but I love them anyway. ;)

Necklace:

You might have missed this aspect of Tauriel's costume, but yes -- Tauriel has a gorgeous, silver necklace that you can see quite clearly in the scene in Desolation of her reporting to Thranduil.

Gorgeous, right???

You can buy the official version from WETA Workshop for $179 here.

But if you're wanting a cheaper option, you can find several versions on eBay for much cheaper. These are a few of my favorite reproductions...

By lindong2014

By Studio Seventeen

By EternalLove90

Elf Ears:

The most fun addition to this costume, in my opinion, is the pointy ears!

I HIGHLY recommend Aradani Studio's latex ear tips. Their prosthetics are high quality, durable, lightweight, and inexpensive! They even have a set now that are modeled after Tauriel's ears!

(These are the kind I bought.)

<<< Small Elf Ears

Wood Elf Ears >>>

Hairstyle:

Firstly, I have found SO many awesome tutorials for Tauriel's gorgeous braided hairstyle! I'll link some of the best YouTube tutorials here.

Braids Inspired by "The Hobbit's" Tauriel by LaDollyVita33

The Hobbit Hair - Tauriel by Silvousplaits

Tauriel Hair Tutorial | The Hobbit by Loepsie

Now, the question of a wig. Whether you want to buy one and deal with all the craziness that comes with wigs is 100% up to you. I, personally, am not a fan of wigs, mostly because I haven't the patience or the resources to afford them.

If you want to go this route, you'll want to get a high quality, lace front wig so that it will look the best it can. A wig like this will run at about $50-$90, so definitely not cheap. If you don't want to fork over that much money, just go with no wig. I promise you, this is the best way to go if you're low on cash. Don't try to get a cheap-o, non-lace front wig from China. It will look so much better to just use your own hair, and style it accordingly. :)

Bracers:

Use the same material that you made your leather bodice from, and if you're using Simplicity's pattern, then you're all set to go, as that as a pattern for the bracers. But if you're free-handing everything, this tutorial on eHow will you get you started in making your bracers... "How to Make Leather Arm Bracers."

Bow/Daggers:

If you're planning on wearing your costume to the midnight premiere of The Battle of the Five Armies, you'll probably want to skip Tauriel's weapons. With that said, if you want to make her bow, this guy on YouTube has an excellent tutorial for making her bow out of PVC pipe. (Which you can buy at Lowe's, etc, for about 5 bucks!) I actually started doing this, but never finished it. Finishing it is on my to-do list currently. ;)

If you want to buy her bow, WETA Workshop has the official licensed prop available to buy -- for $300 bucks. :P

Now her daggers.

You can buy officially licensed versions of these also from WETA, for $179.

Or the officially licensed pair made by United Cutlery from BUDK.com for $219.

And then, of course, there's always the option of making these. I, unfortunately, haven't found any good tutorials for this, but if you do, let me know in the comments so I can link it here! :)

A Bit More Help...

I hope I was able to help you out in your journey of making a Tauriel costume! Again, any and all questions are more than welcome in the comments, and I will answer them to the best of my ability.

You can check out my Tauriel Cosplay Pinterest board which has loads of helpful reference pictures, tips, and inspiration!

Follow Beth P.'s board To Be An Elf - Tauriel Cosplay on Pinterest.

You can also get some inspiration from my journal of making my Tauriel cosplay, where I've ordered everything in chronological order for your viewing convenience. :D

Welp -- I suppose this is the end. I hope I could be of help, and best of luck to you in making your costume!

Namárië!

Beth - An Elven Princess