DIY: Birdhouses... With a Twist

This year I made about 78% of my gifts. This particular one was one of the most involved and most fun to make. My sister, Amy and her family live near a pond and her kids like watching the birds that come there. I felt a bird house/ feeder would be a relatively practical gift but let's be honest, they aren't that cool. Naturally, I decided to put my own spin on the classics.

This is the birdhouse. I went ahead and painted it with silver paint. I made a disco birdhouse, but you could paint it anyway you'd like. Make sure the paint is non-toxic as you don't want to harm any birds.

I used some of my leftover Gaga fabric and covered the roof with it. I glued it with some rubber cement I believe and it seemed to work well enough. I suppose I forgot to get the final shot but my sister seemed to like it well enough.

Next is the bird feeder. I bought a basic one from Gary for $16 and decided not to paint the wood on this one, instead I painted the plastic that holds the seed in. For the feeder I wanted to paint one side like a diner and the other as a landscape. This is one type of paint you can use.

I also used some flaka paint. I think that's what it was called..

This was the finished scene side. The blending was very hard to do because it was plastic...

And below is the diner side... it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. but oh well..

DIY: Turn Tights into Thigh Highs

 This past November I bought some lovely Chinese Laundry sweater tights from TJ Maxx. There was a slight problem that came about after the first wash- they shrunk. Being the frugal person I am, I thought that instead of throwing them out I would just make them into thigh highs! After sitting in my sewing corner for a month I finally got around to it and was thrilled with the result!

 What you need:

1. pair of tights, the thicker the better. This might work with regular opaque ones but I doubt it would be very durable.

2. Sewing machine with a stretch stitch

3. Elastic and safety pin

Step One:  Cut the tights as close to the crotch as possible, while still keeping the cut straight across.

Step Two: Turn the legs inside out, flip about 1/2 inch over the top, forming a casing. Then use the stretch stitch and pull the tight taut and sew around the casing.

 Step Three: Measure around your thigh using elastic. You want to make it tight enough so the tight will stay up without cutting off circulation. Cut two pieces. 

Step Three: Turn the tights inside out. Cut a small slit on the inside of the casing.

 Step Four: As the picture shows, thread a safety pin through the elastic. Next, thread the pin through the slit until it goes all the way around the tight. Then pin the two ends of elastic together and use a zigzag stitch to sew.

Finished product! I'm going to Chitown in a couple of days and I'll let you know how they hold up!

Meet Me In St. Louis

Source: Wikimedia

Woah. Let me start off by saying that I wasn't really expecting much from this film. A lot of times I don't like movies made before the fifties (with some obvious exceptions) as I believe them to be a little dry and boring. However, I felt obligated to see this film as it is playing in the background in nearly every contemporary Christmas movie. I can honestly say that I was blown away. This film made me crack up and it also made me tear up. I could relate to the plot (moving to New York), as college is just around the corner and I may have to move away from friends, family, and everything I've known my whole life. The thing that really got me was the humor. I really didn't expect a film made in the forties to crack me up, but it did. The Grandpa is hilarious! If you haven't seen Meet Me in St. Louis, you really need to. I regret how long I put off watching it and it is truly one of my new favorite Christmas movies. Watch!

P.S. You know it has to be good if it was the first movie review I've written in months. I didn't even do that for Harry Potter!

Home. (part 2:my room)

I have been wanting to do a room tour for quite some time now, and as I was taking pictures of my house for my "Home" post, I just went for it. Let's be honest: your bedroom is totally the place where you feel most at home anyway. It's completely decorated by you and it totally represents you. No ugly flower couches here!

My dual Christmas trees! I am actually really lazy so I just put these trees o my closet shelf as soon as Christmas is over without putting the ornaments away. The pink tree has so many more ornaments because after I got the black tree I was too lazy to even it out. I sense a trend here.. Ooh and you can see my Degas cover in the background. It's one of my favorite pieces.

This is my "shelf of wonders!" Or random crap my mom gave me. or I bought. And then there is the James Dean poster, two of my hats (fedora and thirties style. not sure what it's called) with a felt owl in the middle complete with a feather clip my friend made me.

Then I have the "starry night" print with "DREAM" above it and the "Chairman Mao" print with "PEACE" above. Sometimes my cleverness astounds even myself.

one of my favorite spots. This is all of my makeup!

My dresser. My sister sold it to me and my mom touched up the original print and changed the colour from a nasty pink to this green. I love you mom!

There's a Monet print, I think it's "Field of Tulips." And then there is my other shelf, filled mostly with junk, ticket stubs, and Christmas cards. And there is my favorite recent purchase, a pink glitter skeleton!

This is the unnamed wall of art. there's the "Ballooning over Paris" print, a yarn owl, some of my own artwork, James Dean calendar, two vintage glamour shots, and some photo booth strips. The light pink painting is a self portrait actually, another one of my favorites.

This is my most favorite thing I own. It's a peacock and has small sequins throughout and it is the most random gorgeous gaudy amazing things. Have you ever seen anything like it? Thanks again April!

My Andy Warhol shower curtain/ bedroom curtain.

My closet! Might not be as big as you would expect but this makes me realize I have A LOT of shoes..

I'm thinking I might change my room around over winter break as I have had it like this for over a year and I need a change. I've probably spent $200 or less on everything (not including makeup, clothes, or shoes), because I mostly go to yard sales or make things. It's taken me awhile to acquire it but that's what makes it so much fun. There's a story behind everything in my room and I love that.

Home. (part 1)

Home. What a word. It can be defined as so many different things. It's almost an abstract word as it means different things to literally everyone that is asked. For me I think of safety, a place where you can be yourself, a place to relax, a place where you cannot be judged for your actions. I went around the house and took some pictures of things that represent my home, and then I have a second blog post that is focused specifically on my room. Here goes!

To me, a home never seens more homey than at Christmastime. We got our tree last Saturday and finally finished decorating on Mmnday.. it's a long process (aka we get halfway through and then get lazy.). This is probably one of my favorite trees even though in past years it has been more decked out. By a lot. And then there's the fireplace. Complete with the family portraits up top, gaudy stockings galore, tacky seventies architecture, and a nativity scene!

My mothers oriental collection. As tis the season, she put up her rather large Santa/ angel collection. Nothing goes together better than Asians and santas! And on the left you can see my genius demonstrated by the wreath over a clock. Wow what an invention!

My mother has been wrapping the presents.

Although I hate them (look at their beady eyes- piercing your soul in thew worst kind of way), Christmas would be incomplete without the elves. all 45 of them.

Now onto the more "home" things. This ugly couch. as much as I absolutely hate it it kind of fits into the house of hodge podge that I call my own. It might have promise deeper in, but on the surface it is quite gaudy and odd.

What are your basements filled with? Ahh entertainment centers and mini kitchens or storage? Well, it's not a real home unless it's filled with books books and books!

I absolutely love our extensive VHS collection. We probably have over 150 tapes, and even though they are horrible compared to DVD's I wonder if we will ever get rid of them.. Do you guys still have VHS tapes? Am I the only one left?

Anyway, this is my home. These are some of my favorite pieces, mostly because they just stick out on their own but if you come inside you see everything is so out of place it fits in. Sort of like my family, we're all strange in our own ways but when we come together you can see how we're a family. I think that family is the deciding factor in whether or not you live in a house or a home. There are some things I absolutely despise about my home (stained carpet anyone?), but all in all it's a place I can come home to at the end of the day and just be whomever I want to be. It's good to be home.

Xmas Tip: DIY

As you may have guessed, I enjoy making presents more than purchasing them. I thoroughly recommend you try and make most of your gifts this year if you have the time. I started thinking of ideas in October and I'm almost finished with most. Making your own gifts saves a lot of money (trust me!), and I would so rather receive handmade gift rather than store bought because even if you don't like it, you know that person spent time making it specifically for you (at least I would hope so). I will be sure to post the tutorials on her as soon as Xmas is past for obvious reasons.. Anyway, just wanted to share yet another holiday tip!

P.S. If you don't have time to make anything but would still like to give a handmade gift, check out Etsy.com. They have really cute stuff and you can always find really good deals. And they carry vintage!

Quick Tip: Buying Gifts

Christmas is barely over a month away which means most are beginning to think about gifts. Around the holiday season companies will often release gift sets that are a better value than buying the products individually. A really good way to save money is to buy one of those sets and distribute the individual products to different people as stocking stuffers or otherwise. This way you save money and multitask by getting more than one gift at once.

That's What Christmas Means to Me My Love

Ahh the sounds of Christmas music. For me, Christmas songs make me feel so many different things. When I hear "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth," I think about my younger years when I would call Santa and tell him what I wanted. Those were the days when I would listen to the Santa Watch on the radio. Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year, though the weeks leading up to it usually are better for me. I love giving gifts. I love getting them too, but giving them is so much better, especially when you know you got them something they will love. Or make it. That's what I try to do. AND I WISH I COULD SHOW YOU WHAT I'M MAKING BUT MOST OF THE PRESENTS I'M MAKING ARE FOR THE READERS OF THE BLOG. So that's that. I just changed my caramel apple wallflower to fresh balsam. And I'm listening to the Xmas station.

The only bad thing is it kind of makes you miss people. I have not spent a Christmas with my brother, Eric for 3 years. and a clean Christmas would be even longer than that. My other siblings will come down for a gathering which is always fun, but still I feel like there's never enough time. It's true. You don't know what you've got till it's gone. When we lived in the same house i mostly fought with my siblings but now I do miss them quite a bit. It's not the same sitting around the tree with just my sister and parents. I love them, but still...

Anyway. Just felt the need to update. And I'm feeling so damn sentimental because of Christmas and also I was reading an article about Harry Potter and how it's the beginning of the end and holy shit. I'm going to cry my eyes out.

Comfort

I was sitting in church today and I realized how nice it is to have a community of believers surrounding you. I think sometimes I take that for granted, but today especially I could just feel the warmth enveloping me and it felt amazing. I recently became a member (finally), and I am so happy that I go here. Sometimes the church's and my views do not always match up, but I think on the whole that ECC is pretty accepting, probably mostly because there are so many college students that attend. Regardless though, It is the best feeling in the world to be walking down the halls and have people say hi to you, and they actually care about how you're doing, unlike a lot of the generic fake people in high school. It's refreshing.

Gaga DIY: part two (Mask and triangle.)

Secondly, You need the mask.

Supplies:
one 5x10 mirror. (I made that up, but you need like a medium ish. not as small as a hand mirror but not as large as a wall mirror)

One durable face mask. (I got mine at Hbby Lobby)

super glue. DON'T use cement.


Ok So you put your mirror into a bag, a sturdier one NOT plastic. Bring the bag outside and just break it. You can totally go crazy. I have a rocky driveway and that helped a lot. Then you dump the pieces out at your crafting area and start gluing on. Try not to put too many near the eye for obvious reasons. Just keep gluing until you have the desired effect. You can always go back out and break the glass further if you need to. Sadly my mirror mask fell apart before the concert because I used cement. Worst idea ever.





Next and last is the Triangle. It was pretty easy to do. Just cut out a triangle out of a cardboard box. I originally wrapped mine in aluminum foil but later covered it in fabric. I would recommend fabric for durability. You should also make sure the fabric/ aluminum is glued on there. And then I glued two pins so I could attach it to my costume. Once again this was something that didn't make it fas as I had attached the pin to the foil which ripped and yeah. Good ideas but I didn't carry them out that well...




This is with my friend maria (http://ace89cookies.blogspot.com/). maybe she will do a cig glasses tutorial? Anyway. Yeah so I'm wearing my blonde wig and silver docs.




This is the original. Without the mirrored glasses but she did have those. (I don't own this image)

Gaga DIY: part one (Bodysuit and skirt)

This was probably my most inolved DIY project. I knew I was going to the gaga concert so I had to make a costume. Anyway. I got the bodysuit pattern I hink mccalls and it was just with some intimates.

What you need:

Wire, as thick as possible with it still being bendable.

Fabric, I went to fabric.com and go some awesome disco print, you definitely want something a little thicker and maybe unique looking and comfortable.

Bodysuit pattern, like I said it was mccalls, but any bodysuit pattern will work.

So you pretty much just sew up the bodysuit, I altered the top part, but you can make yours with straps as well. Then you will cut out a piece of fabric for the skirt. I just cut out one piece and cut out the middle because I was lazy. Next, make some casings for the wire to go through in order to hold the shape. Then you put some duct tape around the tip of the wire to make it go in smoother, and push it all the way around and twist it together so it doesn't come apart. That's all for the main part.

DIY: painted dr. martens

If you know me, you already know about these boots. I made these I think about a year ago, and have since added quite a bit more. I found the faux docs at target for about 30, and then I decided to add a little I would use paint markers to decorate them. My friend alex, (Check out her awesome blog http://aessea.blogspot.com/), painted one and I painted the other. It's really easy to do and I totally recommend it!

DIY: studded shoes

So this is my latest DIY project. It's pretty easy to do but it just takes a little bit of time.. about 2 1/2 hours.

What you need:

-For the studs
1.one pack of studs. I got mine from studsandspikes.com for only 3 dollars for a pack of 100. I got the tall english 77 cone studs.

2. one pair of jewelry pliers and/or a flat edge screwdriver (preferably a shorter one)

3. An exacto knife

4. A shoe to stud! Patent leather works the best, but most will work.

-For the lining
1. Felt to line the shoe.

2. A household cement to make the felt stick.

So it's really easy. First press the studs onto the shoe, they should have prongs on there, this should make an indent so you know where to cut.
Then make two slits with the exacto knife. Press the stud in, it should go easily but sometimes you may have to make the slit bigger.
Either use your pliers or screwdriver to press the prongs as flat as possible. And then just repeat until the desired amount of shoe is studded!

As soon as you're done with that, go ahead and cut out some felt, I just cut out smaller pieces and put them onto the shoe measuring by my eye (aka, too lazy to measure), but you can also take exact measurements. Then put the cement either directly on the shoe or felt and press firmly. Repeat until the whole studded area is covered. Let it dry and then you're finished!

Gamer Night and No More School

Firstly, I have to tell you the good news. School is out for summer! And I'm now a SENIOR this is so exciting. And now the greatest news, I got STRAIGHT A'S. YEP, FOUR IN A ROW. My GPA is going to be like 5.3 or something. I worked my ass off and even did some extra credit in one of my classes for this (which, trust me I don't normally do. It's not that important to me usually in getting the grade I want.) I might even go for straight A's my senior year... I don't know if I would be up for it but my Dad said he may buy me an iPad if I do. We'll see. More on the subject later.
Secondly, last night was gamer night with Alex. Her brother Jake, godless him, let her borrow his Game Cube, complete with Mario Kart and an array of other games. Well we got all the junk food we could find together, energy drinks, Kool-Aid, the whole chabang and went crazy. Not actually, we only stayed up until 1 ish but then got the best sleep of our lives. We covered her window with a dark sheet and didn't get up until 1:30. It was amazing. I thoroughly recommend it. Well after we got up we continued the party by playing video games for another couple of hours and then worked out for a good hour. It was a well spent day I think.
Well, tomorrow my sister and I are babysitting our niece and possibly taking her to the pool which should be a blast. And I'm watching Batman right now (Tim Burton), so this is the end.

Peace.

Let's Go Dancing Tonight

YEAH FOR UPDATES!

Well, this post is going to be disjointed and probably have many grammatical errors due to my ranting on SATC 2 on my last blog...

okay. I made it onto Newspaper, found out that a lot of it will be on the internet, so I'm hoping to start a weekly fashion blog next year but with the school newspaper. So I might actually update it periodically. Anyway, I need a catchy name so if you can think of anything... Let me know!

One more day of school, and I may be getting straight A's. I have A's in all of my classes currently, but I have one more APUSH test and my math final. So cross your fingers!

Kent State is pretty much out. But Purdue is in. So I'll be doing some college visiting soon. I think I'll go to college. If i can go to state college within state it's much cheaper and I could work my way through it.

I think I'm going to try to make some of my designs this summer. As well as get my permit/ license, write more, and eat healthier. Yeah... once again wish me luck.

I don't even know what else to write. I'm really tired. And I still have to study. and then I have to sleep........... So good night!

Movie Reviews: SATC 2 & Fantastic Mr. Fox & Paul Blart: Mall Cop

Yeah, I know how crazy it is for me to be posting, let alone posting something other than "Updates" (but not to worry, another will be coming). I've just decided that I should probably start writing again since I got on the newspaper. But more of that my next blog. ONTO THE REVIEWS!





Photo Credit: filmofilia.com


Sex and the City 2: I saw this opening weekend, and I really wish I had waited for it. Like, until it was in Red Box. The plot was alright at first, Samantha gets offered an all expense paid trip to Abu Dhabi and brings the girls, but then takes some ugly twists. Firstly, even before the trip, Carrie is being a total whiny bitch, Charlotte is freaking out about her husband's possible future infidelity with the bra-less nanny (just picture lots of close up slow motion shots- completely overboard!) as well as her kid who will never stop crying, Samantha's struggles with menopause, and Miranda's trouble with her lawfirm partner. Now, this may not sound too bad, but you only see this for about 30 minutes before the unbelievable starts happening. After the girls arrive in Abu Dhabi, everything is totally great until Samantha's menopause medication is taken away, Carrie runs into an old flame, Aiden, (and big surprise, they kiss, Carrie tells Big, Big is eventually forgiving, all is fine), and Miranda and Charlotte drink way too much whilst talking about how hard motherhood is, and that's the most believable. Also, Samantha gets arrested for kissing a guy, and then gets kicked out of the hotel and pretty much Abu Dhabi. When you're thinking, "wow I'm so glad this is almost over, it can't get much worse," it does. Carrie remembers she forgot her passport in the marketplace when she saw Aiden (even I realized that she left it), on the way to get it Charlotte decides to buy a black market watch (she deosn't know it's illegal), the vendors think Samantha's bag is one of theirs and that she stole it. Well the contents of her purse, mostly condoms, end up spilling out Samantha goes a little crazy and ends up with a mob of angry conservatives following her. Well, here comes the girl power, the girls are ushered into a hut where five or six girls admit they love new york fashion, they strip off their robes to reveal the most outrageous outfits. Yeah, right. The girls eventually arrive home safe and sound with everything perfect again.

Thanks to an awful version of "Single Ladies" by Liza Minelli, over the top plot lines, and truly lackluster fashion, this gets a D from me. If you must see this wait until it comes out on DVD. Really.



Photo Credit: wordpress.com/ Google

Fantastic Mr. Fox: This was truly an amazing, "fantastic," film. I had my doubts before I saw it, but they were all shot down. The stop motion was absolutely flawless, very fun and a treat to see. The story was cute and I think it was pretty close to the book. I think this could be enjoyed as both kids and adults, but more for adults. All the voice acting was really great, the characters were great, and this kind of made me realize how much I love Wes Anderson. I just can't believe what a great, funny, enchanting film this was. That's why this isn't really much of a review. It's more like me rambling about how much I loved it.

It gets an A and a definitely go see it.









Photo Credit: alltrailers.net


Paul Blart: Mall Cop: This wasn't as bad as I expected. I had really wanted to see it when it was in theatres but I never got around to it, but I'm glad I finally saw it. It was relatively funny, definitely more of a kid movie but still enjoyable for the older crowd. There was definitely some cheese but not as much as I had expected. The only really obnoxious thing was how they tried to make the bad guys super cool (they ride either the little bikes, skateboards or just flip around), but they ended up being stupid and overacting. Pretty good acting all around, and a semi twist at the end and middle.

I give it a B and would recommend if you like Kevin James. It's definitely a Kevin James film.