Nutcracker Masks

 

I have decided that the holiday between Halloween and Christmas is, in our family, The Nutcracker. 

I mean, it's got all the holiday trademarks. It's time-consuming! It's expensive! Out-of-town family comes to visit! There are decorations! Children are delighted! There is MUSIC!!!

Last year, the absence of The Nutcracker put a pall over the entire season for me. This year Nutcracker is back, and I am determined to treasure every second of it.

Syd is reprising her role as a little lad in the party scenes of the ballet, and I wanted something extra festive to send her off to rehearsals in. I found this awesome Nutcracker print at Spoonflower, reworked Syd's favorite mask design to have a single front piece, and fussy cut the Nutcracker Prince battling the Mouse King to fit:

I LOVE it! It's the perfect size for this mask.

These cord locks and nose strips have been working great, although the cord locks definitely have the potential to wander away. The nose strips have a sticky back, which helps them stay in place while I sew them.

I made Syd two identical masks so that she can trade them out when she gets sweaty. The costumers will have custom masks for the children to perform in, and I'm excited to see if they'll be cute, but they're definitely not going to be as cute as this:

The boring black mask is MY Nutcracker mask, because I have to dress like a bandit when I volunteer backstage, and the costumers certainly won't be making ME anything cute!

P.S. I'm working on a Nutcracker Pinboard, because obviously it's not a real holiday if it doesn't have a Pinboard, so hit me up with any ideas you find!