Happy Valentines from Yes You Can Costumes! I hope you’ve had a day of warmth and love with those you hold dear! So, I decided to go all out, like a Victorian romantic, and create some costumes inspired by our winter wonderland. Here are some images that helped fuel my vision! The identities of the girls in the photographs have been lost to time, but the painting is “Take the Fair Face of Woman, and Gently Suspending, With Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending, Thus Your Fairy is Made of Most Beautiful Things” by Sophie Anderson, 1869. Apparently, this painting has the LONGEST title in the history of the world.
In case you’re not from Washington State, we have been experiencing a “snopocalypse”. Some people hate it, but I am LOVING all the beautiful, white, powdery goodness that’s been falling from the heavens! Anyway, over the last couple weeks, I have found excuses to detour on the way home from errands and slowly drive by a prospective photo location: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. I felt a bit awkward; pulling over, rolling down the window, and taking pictures of the church’s exterior. But what an exterior!
Isn’t that beautiful? This gorgeous building inspired me to bite the bullet and commit to see my vision through! I called St. Luke’s Episcopal Church to ask their permission to use their exterior as the location for this photo shoot, and Reverend Frances Twiggs graciously gave me her permission.
It took us a couple of hours to get ready. It was super cold, so Jeff and I layered the kids in about 5 layers of clothing, each. Even so, it was literally freezing, outside. I knew that our models wouldn’t last for long, so I had to work quickly.
Naturally, Annika had no interest in being photographed whatsoever. You can see the older four, lined up and ready to go, and she is taking off!
Forget this, Mom. I’m eating snow!
Brrr!
Catch me if you can! I wanted to get some pictures of her costume, from the back, but not THIS many.
So, I decided to turn my attention to the members of the royal fairy court who were interested in being photographed.
Prince Oliver. (Even royalty struggle with keeping their shirttails tucked in.)
The Heir and the Spare: Two princes for the House of Heminger! These little men make my heart burst at the seams!
Prince Elliott.
Want to feel extra swashbuckling? Wear your cape over one shoulder!
Their royal highnesses, the Crown Prince and Princess.
Best friends.
The sisters who dance together, stay together.
I love being able to count on my big kids to cooperate for the camera!
The girls’ wings were purchased, and then I added detachable feather pieces to the center backs and embellished ribbon covers for the elastic arm straps. (I will write more about this in future posts.)
I warned the kiddos that the tramping in the deep snow and the eating of the snow would make them colder, faster. But, I’m only a mom. What do I know?
This is it! This is my best picture of all five kiddos together. Princess Annika was NOT on board with the program!
This is my best shot of Annika.
Prince Oliver was also starting to edge away, hoping that I wouldn’t notice…
Emma and Eliza were so sweet together.
Princess Eliza’s favorite color is red.
I love seeing Emma get into character. She was really “feeling”the bling! Do you know what her cape is made out of? It’s a women’s shirt! (More on that in a future post.)
I loved altering clothing and costume pieces that we already had to make the boys’ prince costumes. Stay tuned, and I will show you how I did it in upcoming posts!
If you’re still reading, thank you SO much for following my blog! You are such an important part of my artistic journey, and your support means the world to me. Happy Valentine’s Day!
