Ok, maybe not — I’m not that good. Although, I’ll be going to Washington DC to witness Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration, and experience some history in person. There’s a lot of reasons why I could have just enjoyed it here in Seattle, but I always said to myself if Obama won the election — I would head to DC no matter what. Do I have any tickets for the festivities? Nope. I may get lucky though.
Now, I’ve bought my plane ticket to Washington DC, and luckily I’ll be bumming off my buddy VaLiesha at Howard University — so it’s going to be exciting. Also, hopefully I’ll be connecting with my long lost buddy from Disney, Steph. I’ll be there from 1/17-1/21, so I’m hoping to experience DC before all the hoopla is there and catch the sites and scenery. A lot of drawing and photos will be had there, as well as other things.
![barack obama @ benaroya hall [01]](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3253/3076972704_948032fc44.jpg)
Obama signing my book in October 2006. I'm the big black head in bottom left corner about to shake his hand. Who would have thought?
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“Buying your costume is one thing, but actually making it from scratch and having it look pretty good — that’s pretty kick ass!”

Kung Fu Panda and the Joker
How I did it:
Basically you have to have an idea from the start from where you can make your plan to create your costume. I came up with
Kung Fu Panda.
Basic Tips on Creating a Halloween Costume:
- Find a photo of what you’re trying to emulate.
- Brainstorm ways you can use regular things to create the costume.
- Go to the appropriate stores that are awesome for costume creation (i.e. Goodwill, JoAnn, etc.)
- Learn how to sew or have a really good friend who who knows how to do that.
- Construct the costume and bask in your glory.
Creating the Kung Fu Panda Costume:
- Visited the Goodwill and bought, sweaters (black and white), khaki shorts, and black gloves.
- Visited the JoAnn and bought red and yellow belts, glue gun, and black felt.
- Visited the local Halloween shop and bought makeup (black and white) and nunchucks.
- Visited my friend, Cheetos, to help with my sewing needs.
- I cut the top half of the black sweater and the bottom have of the white hoodie. Also cut off the actual white hoodie.
- Cheetos sewed the bottom bottom white sweater to the top black sweater to the white hoodie.
- Cheetos also created panda ears by sewing felt over pieces of cardboard and sewing the creations to the white hoodie.
- Super glued the red and yellow belts together they alternated.
- Put the make up on and wore the clothing and I was good to go!
Lessons & tips:
Always prepare before you start buying and think cheap. If you do a bit of preparation, it’ll definitely save you a lot of money and time in the long run. Also, always have a vision and never try to veer away from that.
With a little effort, and some time — anyone can make a pretty sweet
costume and for pretty cheap too. My costume was under $30.
Resources:
There are a ton of great resources out there from regular thrift shops to craft stores. Here are some of the resources I used during this process:
It took me 14 days. It made me proud and satisfied 