Regretsy.com

Due to some personal matters, I haven't been able to do much in the way of crafting in the last month. My belongings are in storage and I'm living with my folks for a little while. So in the meantime, I'll be posting inspiration that I find, starting with regretsy.com.

Hey, I didn't say it was good inspiration!

Blurb

I had two ideas for books to enter in Blurb's book contest, and I finished my second one today!

Take a look at my books and please make sure to vote on October 23!

The Golden Afternoon

Polaroad Trip

I lost my job and could use some extra cash right about now.

Pass one or both of them along and spread the word. And, just to point out, my books cost $20 and $30 for me to make my own personal copies, which is very cheap for fantastic quality books. The holidays are coming, so make one for your friends and family!

Awww, shucks!

I've been tagged by Amy at British Style Bloggers for the Honest Scrap. Thanks! The rules are:

1. Say Thank You and give a link to the presenter of the award
2. Share "10 Honest Things" about myself
3. Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
4. Tell those 7 people that they have been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines.


Ten honest things, hmmmm...

1. I don't tolerate lactose.
2. I just had a birthday on Wednesday.
3. I love a great mojito.
4. I am not athletic in the slightest.
5. I have 4 younger sisters and an older brother.
6. I love the idea of candy and sweets, but I don't like eating them.
7. On those days when I feel like I can't function, a cola-flavored Slurpee always does the trick.
8. Coffee doesn't keep me awake; nor does it make me jittery.
9. I want to write a novel. I just signed up for nanowrimo.org
10. It's tough for me to focus on one thing at a time- I want to do too many things. I have to tell myself to be a TORTOISE, not a HARE.

Now for 7 other online people I admire and pass along this Honest Scrap:

1. Kathy, the Crafty Chica
2. Jennifer at Naughty Secretary's Club
3. Jamie from Jammerdesignz
4. Magda at Mookychick
5. Emily from The Black Apple
6. Alisa Burke
7. Heather at Dollar Store Crafts

I know it's possible that some of these people don't know me, but I'm big glassy-eyed fan of each of them!

UK Style!

I've been invited to participate in a community of UK Style bloggers. Check out the new site and read what some really awesome crafty bloggers have to say!

Slightly Obscure Halloween Costume

I don't like pre-packaged costumes like "sexy ladybug" or "gothic witch." Not only are they unimaginative and silly to explain when answering the question, "what are you supposed to be?" but they are super expensive. I'm not paying $50 for a crushed velvet Tshirt that laces up the front! Fuck that!

Here's my costume from a few years ago, and it is one of my favorites to date.

I've always been a fan of Janeane Garofalo, and loved the movie Mystery Men. All I needed was a large Tshirt (with duct tape across it), a thrift store jacket (painted with the skull and cross-pins), black pants, black shoes, a toy bowling ball (painted with "Dad's" skull), some eyeliner and green hair spray.

If you don't have time, improvise like we did here:

A little  make-up, a pillow, our own clothes, and a little attitude and we became Wednesday and Pugsley Addams.

Last year I found a dress on the cheap and shredded the top layer to make the same effect that the  pre-packaged dresses have. Add a little make-up in the right places, and find a wig (Target has some really awesome ones this year, including this very same one!). Some buttons were glued to this simple lab coat, goggles came from the hardware store, medical masks are very easy to find, and so are rubber gloves. When it's all put together, it translates really well.

Hosting a par-tay? Take the easy road with brownies and frosting. Make them go farther by cutting them into tiny squares. They'll never know!

Baby Lou Tattoo Tshirt Dress

Once upon a time, there lived a girl who had an idea. She cut her favorite Horrorpops Tshirt, thinking she will one day reconstruct it. Sadly, the girl broke the needle on her sewing machine and was too lazy to fix it and the shirt lay buried underneath a pile of fabric remnants. But this story does have a happy ending, as she  (ok I) made into a dress.

Materials
• Tshirt with design
• strip of jersey fabric in any thickness or pattern
• Tshirt which is way too big for you to wear as a shirt
• sewing machine (and a serger if you got one)
• thread, duh

I started with my cropped Tshirt, a 3X red Tshirt, and a pillowcase made from jersey cotton. I chose the large red Tshirt because it's already hemmed at the bottom and along the sides. Who doesn't love shortcuts?

Cut the red shirt into a skirt. This one had a bit of gathering on the front, which I thought it would look cute on the back of the sk/hirt.

Cut the striped fabric into a strip and pin to the black shirt, right sides together. Sew all the way around, and sew the striped strip closed in the back.

Thoroughly pin the skirt to the striped fabric, right sides together. Remember, pins are your friends!

Sew all the way around, attaching the skirt to the shirt. In mine, I created gathers to give the skirt movement. I don't claim to be an expert seamstress (in fact, I had to go back and fix my seams which is why I'm so thankful that God created seam rippers) but you know what looks good. For a more tight-fitting skirt, or A-line skirt, cut the fabric to the correct shape. You may want to use a real life pattern.

When I put my new dress on for the first time, the waistband was a bit too low. Good thing I had room in the sleeves to take it up. I stitched along the dotted lines (above) to remove some of that large man sleeve to make it more flattering both in the sleeves and the waist. I also trimmed the neckline some more.

Tips:
• pins are your friends!
• when pinning the skirt, start with 4 pins in the front, back, and each side and then fill in the spaces with more pins to make it even
• add other embellishments like a zipper, lace, bows, wear with a tulle skirt, etc.

You Must Check Out Jammerdesignz!

If you love browsing etsy shops, you HAVE to check out Jammerdesignz!