Crepe Paper Adventure

Long Overdue

This is a very long overdue post.

School has been hectic, but things are going well for me.

I thought I would just do a quick update, and leave you with a photo of a project I've been working on for a while. I've got a whole pile of silk and crystals and bead and vintage lace ready to become hair accessories. Now I just have to find the time to make them.

My Christmas Wreath

I've been wanting to put up a wreath since the day after Halloween, and I had already bought some supplies to make one when I ran across a very cute yarn wreath online. I already had everything I needed, so I got to work! This cost about $3 to make. The foam wreath, foam balls, and jingle bells all came from Dollar Tree. The yarn I already had. It's all Lion Brand. There's Lion Brand Homespun in Apple Green and Chili (I think), Jiffy in True Red and either Chili or Paprika (it was scrap yarn, so I don't remember, exactly), and Wool Ease Thick and Quick in Cilantro (the dark stripes).

I need to blog more often....

Hello, there! This blog is in desperate need of a post, so I'm here to give it to you!

So, Halloween is coming up, fast. As such, my best friend has enlisted me to help her with her costume. She and her boyfriend are going as a flapper and zoot suit man (respectively). Unfortunately, we're all poor college students, and the cheapo flapper costumes won't cut it for my friend, as she has.... you know.... curves. A womanly shape. Hence the issue.

She decided that the fringe on the typical costumes wouldn't cut it because of her chest, and I agreed. It just doesn't look right. So, we got some inspiration from Craftster, costume websites, and even a beautiful wedding (via 100 Layer Cake).

Here are our initial inspiration photos.

One of our initial inspirations came from a post I had seen on Craftster a very long time ago. In fact, most of the photos from the post have been deleted, but luckily there was enough for my friend to get the idea. Very flapper-esque, without having to be your typical fringe dress.

The next two came from flappercostumes.com. Yes, this website actually exists. The cream is one that I found that has a similar silhouette to the dress from Craftster, and the black dress is the one my friend sent me that she really liked.

And finally, the most amazing wedding. This is the main inspiration photo from this wedding on the 100 Layer Cake blog. The whole wedding had a very 20's feel, and this photo of the dresses was great to get detail ideas.

As of right now, we've decided that we're going to try to go for black, and we're likely going to try to use a slip as a base and embellish it with fun details. I'll be sure to post photos as she and I begin to work on it.

<3,>

Gorgeous clothing I would very much like to have.

So, it's no shocker that I like clothing. I want to go into fashion design.

I. Love. Cloths.

Problem? I'm poor. I'm a really poor college student who shops at the local Goodwill/Missions. Nothing against that. I have pretty cool stuff.

But, that being said, there are moments where I see items that I really love, and thrift stores just don't have those items most of the time. Sometimes. Just not often.

So, here is a little compilation of things that I would very much like to have. Perhaps I'll use said compilation to gain inspiration for projects I would like to complete myself.

Only Shallow

Oh, to live in this wonderful land of orange boots and tent dresses and hats. Go to her blog. 99% of it is beautiful and lovely and wonderful. If only my legs were thin enough to fit into boots like that! (Do you have any idea how hard it is to find boots when you have small feet and large calves? Nearly impossible, unless you're willing to settle for ugly ones that cost nearly double what similar boots in normal sizes cost. Ugh.)

I digress. Her blog is lovely.

These Coats from Forever 21

Forever 21 has a lot of cute coats right now. I don't care for 99% of what they normally carry. But these two coats in particular are lovely. Unfortunately, they don't carry my size (I'm sorry I have a large chest, Forever 21. Why do you have to hate on the well endowed girl?)

Basically everything from Anthropologie.

Holy. Crap. Anthro. Where do you start? I love them so much! I tend to prefer their fall stuff best, but their spring/summer dresses are SO precious. I would KILL to work for them. Ok. Maybe not kill. Just work really hard. But yes. I love them, and I can't even afford to buy a scarf there. (My boyfriend actually looked at a scarf there and considered it for me as a Christmas gift, until he saw the $60 price tag and said "She could make this".)

So, thus will conclude this edition of clothing envy. Hopefully I will find a way to satisfy my clothing cravings in the upcoming spring months, as I find that most of my old cloths no longer fit me properly. I do not want to spend another spring in hoodies. Ugh.

Love,
Shila

I was a part of history

So, in case anybody was wondering, I did vote, and I voted for Obama. I have no ill will against McCain or the Republican party, though I do have ill will towards those people who bad mouth Obama and call him a terrorist or a baby killer or saying that he's not a Christian. That's not voting for the issues, that votings based on propaganda that rears it's ugly head every election.

It annoys me. So. So. So. much.

But, despite what those people who say such ugly things would have you believe, our country WANTS Obama. Obviously, since he won.

And damnit, the man can give one hell of an acceptance speech!

At any rate, I am also super excited to be working on a group project (which presents Monday 11/10) that is a Bread and Puppet-esque performance that has to do with issues in the election. Just so you know, I'll be posting photos of our Obama puppet after our project is over.

However, if my group agrees w/ my sentiments to change one of our skits, we might be assassinating him. Hopefully not the actual puppet part.

The original skit we were basing it off of was "Who is a Terrorist" (Youtube it) that was about the Patriot Act. We were going to change it where the cheerleaders were all Sarah Palin, and we were going to call Obama a terrorist. Then we were going to go on and on about what is a real American, etc. and finally end by calling our prof a terrorist (which is a punch line I never REALLY bought into). However, if they listen to my idea, I think it will be 1000 times better.

My idea is to focus on the fear I know most of the Obama supporters probably had last night. I was literally scared that Obama would get attacked during his acceptance speech. My idea now is to show how those negative comments/lies play into that, and how it's that kind of propaganda and lies that causes our great leaders to get killed.

So, my idea now is for our Sarah Palin cheerleaders to call Obama a terrorist, baby killer, say he hates Jesus, etc. etc., and then have "Joe the Plumber" come in and assasinate him. I think that will get the point across.

Comments?

Liquor Tag necklaces

It's no surprise that liquor tag necklaces are popular. They're fun and edgy, but yet somehow wonderfully antiquated and beautiful.

My most recent ones that I've made for my shop are from a set of 3 German enamel liquor tags. They say Whiskey, Gin, and Rhum (Rum, obviously) and they are so beautiful.

I've listed both Gin and Whiskey thus far, and Gin has already sold. I just thought I would show you all here.

Spoonflower- Oh, the possibilities!

I now have the opportunity to print any type of fabric I want. Problem is, where to begin??

I've been purusing differant spoonflower designs that others have done, and the possibilities are SO ENDLESS!

I've seen tree themes, bird themes, pears, apples, neat seed pods, abstract, minimalist, some neat little scribbley designs, a cute little bird design done in paint, and so many other things!

I just can't decide where to begin. The last thing I want is to be a copy cat. However, I see so many pretty fabrics and it's SO TEMPTING! I just look at these and think I WANT THAT FABRIC!

But, I know that's not the point. I want to create a name for myself as an artist/designer and make completely unique items to my line. As hard as that is to deal with, I need to get gutsy for once and take a risk or two or three or 20.

I'm forcing myself to doodle more.

Autumnal Adventure: Mounds State Park

I had my Fall Break this weekend (and by that I mean I had Friday off. Nothing fancy) so I told Matthew that I wanted to do something fun to help me get out of my funk (I've really been dragging w/ school and work lately).

Anywho, he suggested we go to Mounds State Park, which we went to over the summer. It's only about 30-45 mintues away, so it's a nice place to go for an outdoorsy day without having to drive forever.

At any rate, we had a ton of fun. It was beautiful outside, and it was really pretty w/ all the leaves turning.

I made sure we got tons of photos also, b/c the last photos of us that we took (that weren't taken by friends) were taken Summer '07 when we went on vacation w/ his dad's family.

Goals: a to-do list

I am in a mood today. That mood is somewhere between frustration, nervousness, and impatience. It is largely caused by the fact that I have a horrid midterm test to take in a little over an hour, and then I get to start my Fall Break.

So, with that in mind, I'm going to give myself a little to-do list, which will help me set some goals for things I would like to get done, if not over my fall break, then in the near future. Hopefully it will help me spark some inspiration.

To Do:

• Use the expensive linen fabric you bought to make the skirt that you intended to use it for. Don't be afraid to cut it.
  
• Design and make a dress out of the red fabric you bought. Don't worry if it isn't exactly as you planned.
• Post the clothing you took photos of over the weekend on etsy.
  
• get photos of the necklace you made, as well as others you will make this weekend.
• Make at least 2 more necklaces to sell on etsy.
• Draw in your spiffy sketchbook that you bought and have been too afraid to draw in b/c you don't want to draw something stupid.
• Take risks
• Be as gutsy as you were when you first learned how to sew.
• Take photos of the leaves before they've all fallen off. Make a dress inspired by them.
• Use up your jersey fabric. It may be hard to work with, but it will make some cool stuff.
• Attempt to curl your hair again. It's getting long enough that it might look ok now.
• Go play somewhere w/ Matthew. Make sure to get pictures.

Me and the Boy

Sometimes you meet someone, and you just sort of know that you like them. That's how Matthew is for me. I'm not saying that he's perfect (far from it) but he makes me smile and all that jazz. Plus, he still thinks I'm hot stuff, even though I've gained about 40 lbs since this photo was taken (this was within the first month of us dating.)




Yeah, I think I'll keep him.

I like to take photos

My photography is not mind blowing. 

But, I do enjoy doing it. 

I also like playing around with picnik.com. It's a fun little website for editing your photos when you're not at a computer with photoshop (as I often am not at work when they banish me to the downstairs table with only a little laptop to keep me company). 

So, I thought I would share a few of my edits. I rather enjoy them.

PS. Feel free to print these out for your home if you like them and want to display them for whatever reason. But don't sell them. Not that you would want to. Just saying.

All Roads Lead Somewhere

I grew up in the country. This is not my house, or even my road, but it looks a lot like it. I love Indiana now, even if I didn't always. 

The Fire was Warm While it Lasted

My boyfriend convinced me to go camping on my 20th birthday. My birthday is May 7th. The fire didn't really like to go for very long, and so we got really cold at night. But we had fun, so it's ok.

The Power of Pen

People like to spray stencil things around our campus. They're usually creepy George Bush heads that annoy me. But I like this one.

I never knew why these were here

This was next to my old apartment. I assume that there was once a parking lot there, but now it's just a big vacant grass lot. With parking blocks. I don't know why either.

Things to Make and Do

From the time I was a little kid, I loved to make things. It's a pretty awesome hobby. 

Now that I'm older, I still like to make things. It's my favorite thing to do.

I also like to sell things that I make. My items are available online on my etsy,  tinylittlebird.etsy.com. 

So, here are some of the things that I make and do!

I Recycle Fabric:

I make bits and bobbles:

I show people that I care: