New Specs

When Ryan was home I had the pleasure of accompanying him to Costco for an eye exam. When I got tired of elbowing through old ladies for samples of mozzarella sticks and waffles (both very good, though I don't need 12 lbs of either), I started poking around in the eyeglasses and of course something sparkly caught my eye...



I haven't made good use of my flex plan this year, so I decided (rather on the spur of the moment) that these should be mine! I like them lots. I think wearing something sparkly every day makes you a better person. :) I also love my super colorful scarf that looks killer with the green jacket. Of course, after the wet snowy morning, I'm currently wearing neither :(

Custom Mermaid Inspired Sundress

Here is yet another bucket list item I crossed off recently:
#43 Have a garment custom made

When I wrote this list I was thinking the "garment" in question would be a suit or ball gown or something decadent, but as fate would have it, I stumbled into a situation and ended up custom ordering an adorable sundress on Etsy!

If you don't know about Etsy, I'm sorry to fill you in - because you will probably become addicted and spend both hours and fortunes lost in all the treasures. Etsy is an online marketplace for crafters and artisans, where anyone can set up their own shop and sell their handmade, vintage, or craft supplies. It's sort of like Ebay but with set prices instead of auctions, and instead of used crap it's all either new or vintage. So far there's a lot less fraud and crap to get in the way, so it feels much more secure, though I suppose it only takes a few bad apples...

I love etsy.

They also have a special section called "alchemy" where you can essentially post a "want ad" and anyone with a shop can respond to your request with a bid to complete the project. I originally posted an ad looking for a mermaid COSTUME (back way before the Coney Island Mermaid Parade), then in talking with one of the shop owners who responded, came up with the idea of doing a less literal adaptation in sun dress form.

Custom made just for me!

I accepted NancyNeedlesandPens bid, because she had an established shop with a good history, and her clothes looked high quality and cute. She had mostly done kids stuff, but I figured that worked in my favor as far as durability :) It was actually a child's sundress that inspired my design, I liked the tiered ruffles idea. We emailed and I sent her my measurements, design, and fabrics.

I did a drawing of what I was hoping for - tiered skirt, halter top, appliques on the bust, and a low back to show off my tattoo. She found a pattern that accomplished most of that, and we agreed on changes to the back & skirt (less wide). She was fantastic and I LOVE the final product! We made a few adjustments as the process unfolded, and I was very pleased with the final product - the photo above is what she sent me to approve just before she sent it across the country to me (I believe she's in Oregon or Washington - looks like maybe on the water!).

I didn't end up wearing it to the Mermaid Parade, the pull of spectacle and sequins was too great and I decided to go much bigger for the actual festival (and then scrapped that and went in a 3rd direction once I actually got to New York), but I do think this dress is fantastic and I will make good summer use of it. It definitely suits my personality :) and it's all cotton, so completely washable and easy to care for!

A few more mermaids

Now that I've got this handy-dandy external drive, I'm just a posting fool. I see I'm still getting some traffic from the Coney Island Mermaid Parade boards, so I thought I'd throw up a few more pics - too see them all, click on the "mermaid" label at the bottom of this post and you'll get all of my posts related to mermaids.

The rain couldn't dampen our creative impulses yesterday, my first full day in NYC. Ry & I hit the fashion district and it was nothing like I had ever seen before - there were at least five stores that had nothing but TRIM! It was amazing. I've never seen so many sparkles and spangles in my life.

We also hit fabric stores, including the infamous "MOOD" of Project Runway fame, where we took the photo above. While there, I'm pretty sure we saw Korto Momolu of last season's final 3 shopping for fabric! Don't let the show fool you, Mood looks like a little hole in the wall where they all buy everything they need for pennies...not so much! The one fabric I looked at was $40 a yard - nope!

The forecast for tomorrow calls for storms, which is disheartening but I'm not giving up - the parade goes on rain or shine, and a little water never hurt a mermaid (though I'm a little concerned for those who come in only body paint...) It did, however, spur a change in costume decisions, and last night over Chinese take out Ry made me a new tail! It's a pearly blue with a long train and flesh colored bustier - you know pics will follow when we're done :) Today is more crafting, shopping, and local flavor. So far my feet are holding up well, knock on wood!

One week! One Week! ONE WEEK!!!!

I'm pretty excited. In a week, I'm heading off to NYC to visit two of my favorite people in the world, and cross one big-ass item off my bucket list: we're going to the Coney Island Mermaid Parade.

It's a community festival of sorts that celebrates the official beginning of summer, mermaids (and other folk) from all across the globe parade down to ceremonially open the beach for the summer season. Pull up Flickr.com and google Mermaid Parade and you'll see all manners of merriment - mermaids, of course, and drag queens, burlesque acts, a dance troupe called the "MARINE Antoinettes", and a healthy serving of pasties, body paint, hair color, and other sparkly fun. I plan to revel in it, and I'll be sure to take MANY photos.

The actual parade is Saturday the 20th, and I'm far behind in preparing my costume (when in Rome...and how could I miss a chance to dress up like a mermaid?!?!)with all the busy crap going on this week and last, but I plan to buckle down over the weekend and hopefully come up with something fabulous. As of now, I haven't done anything past the skirt panels and boning. Better get on it!

My first apron

This was the first apron I ever attempted, a child-sized full apron from a modern pattern, which I later gave to Hub's niece. I was in love with this fabric so it was hard to cut into, but a shame to leave it on the shelf.

Aprons are a good start for someone who wants to improve their sewing skills, they are mostly straight lines and the patterns are easy to read, there's a lot of give as far as sizes so you can't really mess it up too badly, and you can use any fabric including recycled or re-purposed, since they usually require small amounts.

After this picture was taken I decided it needed something more, so I added some lime green ribbon trim on the waistband, just to make it pop.

The F-Bombs

Since I just can't get enough of Halloween, I decided we needed to do something in ADDITION to hosting a party last year, and came across the "Big Lebowski Bowl-a-thon" at Bryant Lake Bowl. SCORE!

It was an evening of bowling, costume contests, white russians, a dj spinning tunes from the soundtrack, and a lot of random movie quoting. Bryant Lake Bowl is adorable, and though I'm a terrible bowler, we had a blast.

To register, you had to declare a team name, and since my teammates didn't quite have the same zeal for costumes as I did (plus they were already gathering costumes for the party Saturday) I took it upon myself to come up with something for all of us. We took a different approach than most - instead of dressing up as CHARACTERS from the film (there were a ton of Dudes, Jesuses, Maudes in their viking costumes, and peed-on rugs. If you don't understand this, you've never seen the movie) we dressed up as another element which plays about as important of a role - The F Bomb :)

Legend says that there are 398 F-bombs and variants of said bomb voiced during the course of the movie, that has to be more screen time than the rug got for sure.

So I scooped up cheap white T-shirts on sale at Michaels (I think 2/$5 or so) and some red & black cotton (short quarters from Joann), along with my new favorite costume tool: fusible webbing. WHAT A TIME SAVER! Especially for things you won't be washing and wearing over and over, it's the perfect solution.

I came up with a template and cut out all of my pieces first - the "F" was from the font "cooper" but I don't remember what size, I printed out a few till I found what I wanted and just turned it into a stencil. The "bomb" is just a circle with a little cap and curvy tail, and the "sparks" were an afterthought with leftover triangles of the red (love the effect through!)

First I fused the bomb to the shirt, then the F to the bomb - just follow the directions on the package. SO MUCH QUICKER THAN SEWING!

I also picked up a package of printable t-shirt transfers, and typed out some of the better quotes from the movies which included said F-bomb. A couple were(again, this is a huge cult hit, so if you haven't seen it - you're not going to get any of this):

"Nobody f---- with the Jesus."
and
"I hate the f------ Eagles, man."

I think this might have been the biggest hit, people loved reading our backs and quoting the movie all night long, we got a lot of compliments. Though we didn't win anything with our bowling, we did get some bumper stickers (again with movie quotes - i.e. "Nice Marmot" :) and a couple gift cards to Uptown attractions. It was fun, I'd do it again, and actually the food at BLB was great - I had a grilled cheese that knocked my socks off, and they had special drink concoctions just for the theme party.

Somehow I FORGOT MY CAMERA (sacrilege! I know!) this evening, and Jen has yet to find her cord to upload the pics she got, so the memories will have to be enough. I do still have the t-shirts if anyone is attending Lebowskifest.

My not-so-little mermaid

I've had a completely crap day (week) comprised of unlucky breaks and compounded by lousy customer service, so in an attempt to cheer myself up before I dream of murder and mayhem, I'm posting this picture - this, ladies and gentlemen, is my back.

She may look familiar as she is based on the painting in my header by Pixie's Whimsy, and she was done in about 10 hours (3 separate sessions) by Megan Hoogland at Steady Tattoo. Clearly we changed and adapted a few things, i.e. I dislike extraneous fins on my mermaids, and I wanted the tail to be much more prominent, and I think the end product is pretty impressive. Megan was excellent, had great ideas when I was at a loss, and was FAST, which I put right up near sainthood after this experience. I would highly recommend her if you are crazy enough to follow this path (Q: did it hurt? A: why yes, I'd say it was pretty darned near unbearable, especially the last session where she colored in all that lovely tail curling down my SPINE). Megan currently splits her time between Steady (on the U of MN Campus) and Cactus (in Mankato) and she seems to do a ton of shows and conventions all over the world too. If you google her, you'll find her in the leagues of Kim Saigh and Hannah Atchinson (formerly of LA Ink!), and she seems pretty universally regarded.

Looking at it makes me feel pretty darned tough, and puts all the other pain and upset in my life in perspective - once you've endured this, you can take about anything the world throws at you :)

Snaptotes

Here's another "favorite" source: snaptotes! This is one side of the bucket purse I designed after my mom gave me a gift card a few years ago. I LOVE IT!

I chose photos of my favorite boys, the hubs & the dog on one side, just the dog on the other (hubs wasn't too keen on being in the picture in the first place). These are again by the amazing Olivia Wagner, who we had a mini session with right around our 1st anniversary in 2007. It was a gorgeous day and the grass at Lake Harriet was a beautiful lime green - Normy really "popped" in comparison. She did an amazing job capturing hundreds of images as we just rolled around playing with the dog. Normy was naughty of COURSE and right away slipped his collar and bolted across the packed park when we walked away (his grandma was supposed to be wrangling him) and as a result he has his harness on in all the photos. C'est la vie, at least we kept hold of him then.

Anyways, I chose the bucket bag style with is perfect - big enough for all the junk I carry around but not overwhelming or tote bag-ish. It has black trim and a black bottom with little feet, which really help keep it clean, and the images are just amazing and bright. I chose a lime green lining to match the grass in the photos, and I love it. There is a zippered pocket inside and two open pockets perfect for a cell phone and wallet.

Costco used to sell a gift card that was good for one bucket bag at a really great savings, but I don't see it on their site anymore. Even at regular price they're a pretty good deal, and they have other things like messenger bags, diaper bags, wallets, you name it.

I'll eventually get another one, when I come up with a photo I like enough. Maybe when I'm in NYC in a couple weeks I'll take something smashing? :)

Alice charm bracelet

My dad surprised me with this bracelet after I admired it in a store on our recent San Francisco trip. I lost him in the sea of tourists down at Fisherman's Wharf and when I found him again, he handed me a tiny purple bag. This was inside!

I've always loved charm bracelets, ever since my mom wouldn't let me wear hers as a child (I'll get that in the will, I've declared it - us kids divied up our claims all the good stuff years ago). In the meantime, however, I have started to collect charms from my travels though I haven't kept them in a consistent spot and the Statue of Liberty has gone missing. I believe I do have Texas (from way back in my high school science fair days), the Golden Gate Bridge from this most recent trip, a Mickey from Disneyworld, and the Duluth bridge as well. I want to say I had something from DC, but that might be lost along with Lady Liberty. I've had visions of building it on my Tiffany bracelet, but never quite got around to getting the sterling silver findings and setting down to it.

Anyways, since I love both charm bracelets AND Alice in Wonderland, you'll see why this one caught my eye. In fact, on this very trip I had picked up a copy of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass for my book club (which disbanded before we discussed it, but it was still interesting). The charms are taken straight from Tenniel's original woodcut illustrations of the stories and they are ADORABLE!

Al's Apron

I think I was about 3 years late on delivering this apron I promised to Al...but I finally came through! I told her it was just as well, as my skills have greatly improved from the time I first launched into my "business" selling aprons at craft fairs. This one was a little improvised - I took the elements of a retro-styled pattern I liked but gave the top a little more coverage so it would actually be useful for washing dishes and the like. This was the first apron I'd actually bought special fabric for - before that I'd only used cast offs from an interior design company, beautiful designer fabrics but not all that hip and young. I fell in love with this cherry print for it's pin up/rock and roll attitude, and the colors are actually great as far as not staining and being able to really get it dirty. It's cotton, so that should wash decent, and it'd look cute hanging on a hook in a pantry :) Who knows, you might just see this pattern come up again in another project...

Previous mermaid costume - about 1998

I don't exactly remember when this was taken, but it's in my Bailey Hall dorm room, so 98 or 99. I have no memory of where I was going or even making this mermaid costume, though I do remember the fabric. Maybe I wore it to a debate tournament? Ahh, the ignorance of youth :) I remember feeling back then like I was overweight and unattractive - what I wouldn't do to have that body back now!

Mermaid Tail, the Fabric

This is a close up of the fabric I'm using for the mermaid costume - I couldn't resist it. Jewels, silver studs, and that swirly pattern of blues and greens - LOVE!

Rainbow Hair

I consider this an art project of sorts, it just happened to be wearable :) I'd been itching for a change for a long time but my traditional salon just didn't offer a lot of options for fun colors. I came across this photo on a flickr search and fell in love - RAINBOW HAIR?!?! WHO WOULDN'T BE HAPPY?!?! I've never been much for home dyed hair - I did Ryan's pink muppet 'do for a while and some bad bleach jobs in college, but even though I was going a little outside the box I still wanted it done well and professionally. So I sought out Moxie in St. Paul, and I was way happy with the results.

Nancy was my stylist (I since found out she's no longer there...of course, just when I get comfortable with a new person!) But I'm sure the rest of the staff is capable. They use Paul Mitchell inks, and the process is called "ink burning" - they bleached the hair first, then Nancy mixed up all my custom colors (she was SO NICE about it!) and painted them in, sealing with a flat iron. She then added some subtle layers so the color peeked out the back all around. I LOVED IT! The colors were so bright, I thought it looked like feathers. When I had it down the color was unobtrusive but unique, and if I really wanted to make a more drastic statement, I could pull the top back and the pink & red were very bright.

Though it's technically "permanent", it doesn't last very long. Water is the enemy, so with dyes you want to wash as little as possible and when you do, with as cold of water as possible. This was fine the first couple weeks - every other day I'd strap on my chic shower cap and warm up under a hot shower, flip it to cold to wash my hair as fast as possible, and then man was I awake! But as soon as I started my tattoo I needed to wash my back in hot water and it all fell apart...3-4 weeks it started to look pretty faded, I did have it re-done once (which wasn't that much - only $30 for the ink burn, cheaper to maintain than blond for sure) but now it's pretty much all gone. I was thinking of keeping it through the summer but who am I kidding - I'm lazy and cheap :) It was fun while it lasted though!