Prints

I saw this method of making prints on Pinterest, and thought maybe I could do it! Wishful thinking.

I cut up a polystyrene plate into a rectangle shape. Well, in the picture it looks more like an oval, and you probably can tell. But it was a rectangle when I finished cutting it.

I used my computer tracing method to trace a map of Michigan backwards. See, you have to do this backwards, because otherwise, your PRINT would be backwards.

So I didn’t have any sharp objects to trace this out the way I wanted to, so instead I sharpened one of my paintbrushes and used that to trace it. Yeah, my paintbrush is super sharp now.

I cut up some packaging paper for printing on…

Here it is with blue! I placed the polystyrene stamp on the paper, after I had smeared paint all over it (with the aforementioned paintbrush), then used a rolling pin to smash the paint onto the paper.

And maize!

<3

Lace Top

I’ve been drooling over this top on net-a-porter.com for days. $395 :( :(

Since the lacy part of the dress I partially reconstructed yesterday was entirely too short for the dress I wanted to make (D:), I decided to use it to make a top like this with the remainder. It fits so interestingly! It hugs my curves like an XXL shirt fits a baby.

 

I removed the shoulder pads. Omg I almost referred to them as armpit pads. That doesn’t really make sense, unless they were like sweat absorbers or something.

I cut the sleeves off, then I sewed up the sides to make it a little more body hugging. Then, I attached the sleeves. Sleeves are the most difficult thing ever!! Ugh. I was dreading this the entire time. The stupid sleeves. So finicky. It’s like, the worst.

I CONQUERED the stupid sleeves…in case you were wondering. Then I cut off the bottom to an acceptable length, not some stupid length between an unacceptably short dress and an unacceptably long top.

  

After cutting off the bottom, I sewed a strip of blue fabric to “finish” it. The sleeves I’m leaving unfinished, since I sewed fabric to them and it didn’t look as good; or, the more likely story, I just got really lazy and didn’t feel like sewing them.

I also discovered that I can wear it with the skirt that I made yesterday for a complete redesign of this dress!! Looks amazing. I love lace. Sexy sexy.

You totally can’t tell in any of the pictures, but I also have a tiny pocket on the right side of the top. You can almost see it in this picture.

#twss.

A slightly swishy skirt

Disclaimer: I don’t know what’s going on with me. I think I’m having writer’s block and don’t want to write these elaborately hilarious blogposts like I normally do. I’m in a funk! I feel like I’m having a ton of anxiety for no reason whatsoever. Tomorrow is a new day. Also my camera is making everything blue so that’s not helping my mood.

I started with a thriftstore find when I was obsessed with lace (I still am obsessed). This dress had an interesting dynamic: sexy lace on top with a fun, flirty pleated skirt on bottom. They say opposites attract, so I did what any meddling lady would do: I broke up the band.

For today, we’re only focusing on the skirt portion of the dress (much like the camera).

I’d been wanting a high-waisted mini like this one, but shorter. (From net-a-porter.com, the most expensive clothing website ever. $880, really? Ready to wear, my ass. More like ready to tear up my credit.)

 

The blue fabric cut from the dress ended up being far too wide for what I wanted, so I chopped it approximately in half, then sewed it together in a tube shape.

I used some matching cobalt blue stretchy fabric for the waistband. This was all done very sketchily. Actually, there were no sketches involved, so it was done the opposite of sketchily. I figured the sizing of this by measuring where I wanted it to hit on my waist. To make a stretch waistband, I fold the stretchy fabric over, stretch it out completely and sew it to the bottom portion of the skirt (while the waistband is stretched out). It’s super simple, but I probably did a horrible job in explaining how I did it.

And this is what it looks like, completed. I’m a fan of the cobalt blue/black that I’ve been seeing everywhere recently, though black and blue may  be considered bruise-y.  Bleh. I’m still learning how to take pictures of myself. This blogging thing would be so much easier if I had a roommate who was a photographer.

 

Ohmygah! I am in such a funk. Here’s hoping that this week returns my mojo (because, you know, I lost it).

Come home with me

If you’re from Michigan and don’t live there, you probably miss it like cray-cray all the time. I made a card for a friend who has been missing it super-hard. This is a mostly wordless post since I’m slightly hungover and don’t feel like thinking too much.

<3

Business Card Pinspiration

I told my friend Ish that I would make art for her like 3 years ago, even though I only met her 1.5 years ago. She found this on Pinterest and had the thought that I could make it from business cards! YES. After scrounging around for about half an hour in my living room for my old business cards,  I painted each one with a ombre of a color.

Then, I sorted the cards and painted a tree on them.

I used a hole punch to punch out similarly colored pieces of magazine to use as the “leaves” and glued them to the cards.

Yeah. They look just as stupid in person. Oh well. I’ll get ‘em next time, Tiger. Remember how MJ randomly started calling Peter Parker ‘Tiger’ in Spider-Man 3: Spidey Goes Emo? I think it’s from the comic, but it’s bizarre since he’s Spider-Man! Shouldn’t she call him sometime more appropriate, like ‘Brown Recluse’? (Unrelatedly, I had Googled ‘spider types’ and forgot that Google likes give me images sometimes. Blerg.)

Hmm. I guess I didn’t feel like being that funny today. Probably residual stomach flu from the weekend. I hear not only does it make you throw up a bunch, it also affects your funny bone. Also, apparently the humerus is NOT the funny bone, as I thought until about 30 seconds ago. According to Wikipedia, it’s called the “Ulnar Nerve”, which is odd, since when are nerves bones? #TheMoreYouKnow

Cleveland c. 1954

As you may know, I do crafts on encyclopedia paper.

I have the encyclopedia that contains Cleveland, and I stumbled upon this aerial view of Downtown.

This Encyclopedia Britannica was published in 1954.

Headbangin’ Headband

At craft night last week, the theme was “Headbands”, since Emily’s boyfriend apparently really likes headbands. So I looked up a bunch of headbands on Nordstrom for inspiration and found this one. So cute.

I started with this store-bought headband and fabric that I bought from that place up North known as Canada.

I bought this fabric when I was in 3rd grade, I think. My mom made me a pillow with a similar blue fabric when I was at a sleepover, and left it in my room with a note that said “made with TLC” on it. Unfortunately, this was right at the time that the band TLC was incredibly popular so I had no idea that she meant “tender loving care” and not “T-boz LeftEye Chilli”.

This amazingly clear tutorial is something I made up after a fabric tutorial on the internet wanted me to pay to download it. And the spirit of this blog is “I make stuff up.” so I made stuff up. (Really! It says that on the “about me” section.)

1. Cut three strips of your fabric into 3x1” rectangles.

2. Fold the strip in half. On the long open edge, sew a loose stitch.

3. Pull the stitch all the way through to form a flowery looking thing.

4. Sew the last open edges together to form a flower circle shape. Do this three times.

5. Sew these flowers in a row onto your headband.

So beautiful, right? My hair doesn’t look like the hot water heater in my apartment was broken all weekend.

Ok, so the girl in the first picture’s hair looks way cuter. But I can’t really compete since my water is broken (and also because she’s a model and gets fancy styling).