Little Artist Costume

There’s something so adorable about kids dressed up in costumes. When I first learned that the Michael’s Makers Challenge for the month of October was to make your own costume, I had too many ideas. Especially as a blogger it’s easy to start worrying about coming up with something totally unique or original. However, I’ve been wanting to make a little artist costume for Lyla for such a long time now (since she is my little artist after all) so I did. What I love about this costume is that it’s super simple. You just make a few accessories that you could layer over your regular clothes. It would make a great costume to wear to school on Halloween, or for an adult it would be a perfect costume for work. (Check out more Halloween DIY ideas here)

I also made a palette trick or treat basket out of cardboard. It was very easy to make and was Lyla’s favorite part of the costume. Originally I had planned for her to carry around a paintbrush and a real palette, but then I realized she wouldn’t have a free hand to carry her basket. Plus it’s a great place to store her paintbrush when she’s not using it.

What you need:

1. Apron (I got a child sized one at Michael’s)

2. Paint

3. Large paint brush

4. Face paint (DO NOT use acrylic paint on skin!!!)

5. Cardboard

6. Scissors

7. Hot glue gun

8. White spray paint

9. Felt

10. Ribbon

What you do:

1. Lay out your apron. I would recommend ironing it first. Start splattering paint onto the apron. If you want to get a really good splatter effect you need to drip the paint from high above. You may also want to add a little bit of water to your paint to thin it out. You can also add some brushstrokes to the apron. This is the fun part. Make a mess! Let your kids help!

2. Set the apron somewhere safe to dry. It will probably take a long time.

3. To make the palette trick or treat bucket, start by tracing and cutting two large cardboard circles. You will also need a long rectangular piece of cardboard. Mine was about 4 inches wide.

4. Trim the rectangular piece of cardboard so that it’s just long enough to go around about 2/3 of your circle.

5. Use your hot glue gun to attach the long piece of cardboard along the outer edge of one of your circles. I also added a second layer of hot glue along the inner corner for extra support.

6. Attach the second circle to the front.

7. Paint your whole bucket white. I used spray paint which worked well.

8. Once this has dried, trace circles on the front of the palette and then paint them different colors. They don’t need to be perfect.

9. Since you’re going to be putting candy inside of your bucket, it’s probably a good idea to add some felt to the inside. I used my hot glue gun to line the inside of the bucket with turquoise felt.

10. Use your hot glue gun to attach ribbon handles and you’re done.

11. I also used face paint (NOT ACRYLIC PAINT!) to draw paint splatters on Lyla’s face and hands. It was her idea to paint her hands too and it was a great touch.

Lyla and I had so much fun putting this simple costume together. We used the sock bun to give her a perfect bun, but it would also be cute to make or buy a little beret to go along with the costume. She also kept acting like the palette was real and she pretended to paint everything in sight.

 

Looking for more Halloween costume ideas? Check out these other wonderful posts by the Michael’s Makers: