Phone dead!

I am quite behind. I have not kept up with the posts I've been meaning to make. So my phone dying is an excuse to clean out my phone, post an update, and post the pictures that have been accumulating. >.>

I might split it up into a couple posts, just to keep things happy and orgnanized. Heh. :P

First, some pictures of a pretty sunset I took forever ago, just because.

 

Also, a bunch of baking I did a while ago, which I was proud of... I didn't technically make the pumpkin pie (my mum did) but I like the picture. It makes me think of pacman, and the candle frog makes me smile. I got him at King Richard's Fair. :) 

 

And this is face makeup that a friend, Magpie, did for a Halloween party. It was pretty and shiny and quite fun.

 

This picture has nothing to do with anything. I just think it's cool. A friend salvaged a dying candle and made this, the Alchemy Candle. I just wanted to stick the picture somewhere so that I would randomly come across it again, so that it could inspire me to do something with the idea.

That is it for now!! >.>

Tea!

I've been drinking a lot of tea lately. It has replaced my desire for coffee. I have some delicious chai, some raspberry that I enjoy, and GREEN TEA! I'm still living off of bagged teas, but I'm thinking about getting some loose leaf teas. They seem well worth giving a try. I think my next step after that will be finding a nice little tea pot. :) Does anyone have any recommendations?

P.S. The tea strainer is from my Nana. She gave it me a couple years ago in a box of random kitchen stuff she was getting rid of. It makes me smile when I use it, now that I know what it is.

Block Paaartayy!

Holy shit, October is finally over! What a crazy month. Between living in the town of Halloween (meaning all travel took extra long) and the month-long rush to prep for our Rocky Horror show, I really didn't have much time to sleep, let alone breath. There was one day where I think I sewed for an almost solid sixteen hours. Or maybe it was eighteen. I don't know how productive I was for all of those hours, because I don't remember it very clearly, but I do know it happened.

And now it is November and my brain can function again! I've already cut off all my hair (since the show is over and I don't have to keep the big hair to look like Magenta anymore). I'm happy with the cut, though it does mean that I will have to get a wig if I play the part again (fingers crossed).

I have a ton of projects to post about and catch up on, October related and pre-October. I'm sure I'll be posting a ton about various costume pieces that I made last month, for me and other people, including finished boas, a spacesuit, and a floorshow corset. I'm pretty satisfied with all of them, and quite glad that they are now out of the way. :)

A decision for the new month also included trying to manage my depression naturally. I had been trying the medication thing, but me and medication don't usually get along schedule-wise, so since I've been more aware of my problems and twitches anyway, I'm going to try to deal with them legitimately. I don't necessarily think it will be a smooth road, but medication isn't either.

Anyway.... One of my few non-Rocky October projects happened while I was stuck in Western Mass for a few days, due to some unexpected and expensive car fixes that needed to happen.

I've been terrified of blocking, even though I intellectually knew it was really easy, so I finally said "fuck it" and just did it. Here's my first attempt at blocking! Maybe I'll even eventually completely finish these two projects, which have been kicking around since early this year. :P These are phone photos, so they aren't the greatest, but they exist.

Keep Me Safe From My Trouble and Pain

This one is a project of great importance, because it is not something that is just for me. We have a huge October Halloween show, and I'm making screen accurate floor show boas for the cast!

These are my preliminary drawings/notes/schematics.

All it takes is three colors of organza, some chiffon, a serger, twill tape to reinforce the seams, and tassels. I did my research over at the Anal Retentive Rocky site.

Pretty nifty, ne?

Also, all of my supplies arrived in the mail today! I ordered the fabric from OnlineFabricStore (much cheaper than Joanne's!) the the tassels from eBay vendor, sori5b7tdy.

Here is my happy serger, waiting to be unpacked and put to work. I bribed my mum with dinner to convince her to bring it to me. Urgent urgent needs. Also, a few pics of the lovely loot that is waiting to become poofy. From left to right.... All the goodies in their battered post office clothing, all the goodies piled to show that they are here, a shot to show the colors of the black chiffon and red organza, and the same for the black and gold organza. 

 And now, away I go to turn these into magical items!

If you like the looks of these (though they aren't much yet) come check us out here, to see when Doctor X's Creatures will be parading these babies around the stage! :)

Victorious, I emerge from the Great Northern Hinterland.

Happy find, happy find!

I've just gotten back from a lovely mini-vacation, the majority of which I spent visiting family in beautiful Maine. Food, sleep, board games, more food. And a craft fair!

I've been meaning to go look for some wooden pegs to add to my bathroom wall, so that I could organize my necklaces and bracelets. They've been feeling woefully confused since my earrings found redemption (see my post about fantastic earring rack! :) :) :) ).

Anyways. The plan. It was going to be wooden pegs, or a mini coat rack. And then my father and brother noticed this doozy.

Hand-cast iron made locally (to my dad) for $12. Its gorgeous, and perfect. I can hang my bracelets from the top row and necklaces from the bottom row. I will have to post a picture once it is up and loaded. :) The booth was run by a husband/wife duo. The hanger came with screws, and the couple pointed out that they had placed the mounting holes 16" apart so that it was easy to screw it into the wall studs. 

Yay, Kennedy Wrought Iron!

I also almost bought some fantastic handmade, clay buttons from another booth, but decided to hold off since I wasn't sure what exactly I would use them on. I got her etsy shop information, though! She said she doesn't have anything listed on it right now (too busy with craft fairs), but that she'll be putting some stuff up again in a couple of weeks. Mmm, buttons with winter birch trees on them. Yum. :)

Earring Rack

This one is all the fantastic boyfriend. The "r" on my keyboard is broken, so I typed that "boyfiend" the first time, but that isn't so far from the truth, either. :P

We're gonna count a stapler as a pointy object. It can do some serious damage after all. >.>

Fantastic, right? And super simple. All you need is a used picture frame, a piece of cross stitch fabric, glue, cotton batting, a stapler, and ribbon.

First, remove the glass, picture, and cardboard backing from the frame. Lightly glue two layers of the cotton batting to the cardboard backing (you no longer need the picture or the glass), cover the batting with the cross stitch fabric, and staple around the edges. Staple the ribbon around the cardboard from the back, fold over the front to hide the staples, and put the whole thing back in the frame. Secure the fasteners on the back of the frame, add your earrings, and viola! Fini! This was a super duper (inventive and cheap) surprise gift! :)

In other news, here's my loot from the past few days of costume/supply questing. Much success. :)

I see all.....

Upcoming shows are finally kicking my costume needs into full gear, even if I have been ignoring my knitting. Also, sewing uses needles, too, so it is okay for my sewing escapades to grace this blog. :)

My Magenta dress is essentially done. It's a modified Savers dress that required me to take in inches of fabric in order to make it fit right. I still need to tweak it a little bit, but the collar and cuffs came out fantastic. I'll post pics of that once I have them.

Below, however, is the apron, which I am especially proud of. It's also gracing the lovely dress form that the fantastic Kyri gave me. She is a wonderful, kind woman (whose need to clean out her basement often helps me out tremendously). :)

The reason I am so proud of it is that I was inventive and made it out of a two dollar used window curtain. I did not want to take the time to sew the annoying pleated edge (because I am lazy >.>) so I used the ruffled edge of the curtain (which, in my laziness, I attached to the body of the apron by using fabric glue). The rest of the apron follows the lovely tutorials from the blog, Columbia's Closet.

My inventiveness makes me proud. :) Though the straps did come out a little narrower than I was hoping due to the fact that I ran short on fabric.

All that is left to do is hand stitch closed the opening on the back of the strap where the apron body is attached. Woot. :)

Here's a reference photo for comparison.

I've also been trying to style a wig, but it's not going very well. I wish it would, so that I could go ahead and cut my hair, though I get the feeling that it's not going to happen. :(

Here's the pictures of the wig before i started messing with it, just because.

Oh, and because I haven't posted it before, a pic of friend Nikki wearing my Columbia shorts and bustier(the other pieces are either hers or borrowed from other mutual friends). Since then I've helped her make her own shorts, and a screen accurate corset (sequined fabric and all).  Still, these are another set of costume pieces that I am proud of, even if I've barely gotten to use them.