Happy Halloween!

I hope you all have a wonderful day and evening whatever you do :). This is the first year I haven't had plans to go out somewhere (normally to a band show/concert), and it makes me a bit sad, but I've been watching horror movies with my boyfriend for the past few days and that's enough for me this year. Snugs, movies, great company and great movies. Tonight we'll watch the latest episode of 'The Walking Dead'.


If you end up having an evening in like me, grab some snacks, a movie, some blankets and even get dressed up to sit on your butt.

Whatever you do and whoever you're with, make the best of it!

Photo credit.

And if youre looking for a great movie to watch tonight, let me suggest..:
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Triangle
Repo: The Genetic Opera

Happy hauntings!

More Halloween Nails

Just in case you haven't gotten your fill, here's some more Halloween nail art and a mini tute for the stitched up/franken-nails I said I would do. (Again, I get most of these off of Pinterest, some from searching on Google.. if you want photo credit just let me know :))

Easy peasy.

How to:
Paint your bass coat (these are painted on fake nails, a set I have yet to finish to put up online).
Draw red stripes wherever and however you choose.
Trace/outline them in either darker red or black, and draw your stitches on. Top coat and you are done!

Easy Jack Skellington nails! White polish and a black marker/nail pen.

Look at their little brains!!!

Another version of the sliced up design.

Fall Fashion Loves

This fall I am head over heals with browns (especially in shoes & boots), slouchy hats and scarves (as always), layers with stripes, and cardigans. I mean, how can you not love these things?

This is perfection.

I want to make a fall jacket and I think it might look like this.

I WILL make this! 

Looks like I've got my sewing cut out for me before it gets too cold, or my plans might turn from fall wear to winter wear.. I'm also working on a necklace this evening, I will have a tutorial up for you all soon! It's going to be fun. :) Stay tuned.

Goodbye Nails!

Today I finally got a new job in the city, for which I am thankful, but on the downside, no lip ring, no jewelry, no nail polish, and worst of all, no nails. I've had to cut them all of yesterday.

I'd be lying if I said it didn't greatly upset me. But, onward and upward. I'll bring you all some great DIY fashion inspiration and Halloween goodness later today hopefully.

Costume Inspiration: Children, Adults and Pets

I don't have kids and I don't have pets, but I still find it absolutely hilarious to see them in halloween costumes. (Enough so that I save them on pinterest when I see them.) I thought I would share some of my favorites with you for inspiration, or at least a good chuckle, along with some amazing adult costumes as well.

I think the best part of this is how stoked the baby is.

That is a great easy costume.

DIY: Notice the antlers are just stuffed gloves?

How amazing is she???? Next year.. There's always next year. 

What are you going to be for Halloween? Feel free to share any pictures of yourself, your inspiration, or costumes you've made.. :)

Black and White: New Items in the Store

Hi guys, just wanted to share some items that are new(ish) to the shop. You can get there by the link up top or here. I also am selling a couple grab bags during the holiday season, to try and clear away some older items. I promise you they're a sweet deal.

Vintage black and white button necklace.

Vintage black and white button earrings, all the dangle is in the back :)

Skeleton cameo hair bow.

In other news, a website that I frequent (craftster) has a secret santa craft swap that I signed up for, and I am so freaking excited for it. I got my sendee the other day, and I've already figured out the items I'm going to make for them. Now I just need to get all the materials for it. I can't wait for sendouts, I really hope they like what I make for them!

Nails!

So I've finally got around to taking pictures of the fake nails I've done, 3 sets so far.

They're all for sale here you are interested.

Also, here are my nails of the now :)

How to:

Paint your base coat. Normally this is the middle shade, and you lighten and darken with white/black polish, but since this is a gradient from mint green towards blue, I painted 3 nails mint and 2 blue.

For the second coat, put the main color on the pinkie finger. Then as you paint the rest of the nails, mix drops of polish first on something (paper plate, etc). 3 drops mint-1 drop blue, 2 drops-2, etc. Add a top coat and you're done!

Halloween Makeup Tutorial: Sugar Skull (Day of the Dead)

I plan on being a sugar skull for Halloween, this or something close to it. So I figured I would do a test run and while I was at it do a tutorial for you all.

How to:

1: Cover your face in white facepaint.

2: Draw circles around your eyes for the sockets. I chose to go just above my eyebrows as it would be easier, but you could also cover your eyebrows first (many tutorials on youtube, look up 'how to cover eyebrows with a gluestick') for a sleeker look.

3: Color the sockets in! I started with a bright pink (mixed with mixing medium), then on the outter areas a darker pink, and then black.

 

4: Draw a spade shape on the nose.

5: Draw lines out from the corner of the mouth, curving upwards into a spiral. Then add vertical lines for the teeth.

6: I then drew a spiderweb design on my forehead. I've seen different styles including roses, swirls, etc..
These best designs are done with a liquid eyeliner, though I used a pencil since I don't have that.

7: Add some petal designs around the eyes and color them in. Either part way or all way around.

8: Add any other designs you want and you are good to go!
As always, if you try this, I would love to see your version :)

Sewing extravaganza!

I'm trying to go through the majority of my fabrics before I buy any more, and to start I'm trying to finish all my half done craft items.
Two days ago I finished this hoodie for myself that I started before the move.

Me looking oh so awkward..

I realized that I had cut the front too narrow so I put in a panel of some fun fabric was once a skirt I bought years ago for the very purpose of making something out of. I also kept the skirt pockets the same for the hoodie.

After finishing that, the boyfriend and I drew up the designs for his. I promised him a hoodie in the summer, and now that its colder out it was the perfect time to make it. This pattern was a bit more complex (doubled side panels and the white stripes, that looks like a black capped chickadee apparently..) but it came out fitting pretty well. I ended up taking apart an old hoodie of his that fit well for the pattern and adjusted as needed.

I'm super happy with how this one came out, the first piece of clothing I've made for a guy. And I'm happy to be back in the zone of sewing, and plan to more after I clean up.

I have some really fun ideas that I hope to sew up and put in the store sooner than later! They came to me in a dream I had..

T-shirt Quilt (and mini text tutorial)

So I spent a good chunk of time yesterday finishing a quilt for Mark, since I promised him one months ago (in my defence, they are really hard to make because you have to find enough tshirts..) but I'm happy its done since it was so long overdue.

Its the same size as one I had made for myself, and eventually I might stitch them together into one giant blanket, but for now, they're staying seperate.

I've seen other tshirt quilts online and I've made some others that were more squared and proper looking, but I much rather the patchwork, all over the place shapes and designs that these ones have.

If you are interested to know how I made it, just keep reading!

What you need:
A flanelette sheet of whatever size you want
Fleece (the same size as the sheet)
A million t-shirts. Or approx 25.

Instructions:
Lay your sheet out flat. Cut the fleece to fit on top of the sheet, but leave an inch around the whole edge. Fold the sheet edges overtop and sew them down.

Amazingly photo-realistic..

Next, cut the fronts off of all the tshirts, and sew them together. You can measure them and make them all even squares (12"x12", or whatever measurement you want..) or sew a bunch of columns together, then attach them. What I did was lay out all the tshirt pieces on top to make sure I had enough, then sewed pieces together randomly until they were all attached.

Once you get to this point, fold the tshirts edges so that they're equal with the bottom piece (the raw edge is sandwiched in between) and sew around again.

Thats it!

If anyone is confused with the instructions (I know, I should have taken pictures but I started this quilt before I started the blog..) leave a comment and let me know, I'll try to clear things up!

~

In other news, I finally got the materials to do fake nails! I have one set done (of 20 nails, 2 of each size), and once I have a few other sets finished I'll put them online and show some pictures.

Strawberry Sorbet 'Recipe' (without an ice-cream maker)

Its been hot in Ottawa, to a couple of Cape Bretoners. Especially for this time of year. And I've been wanting to try my hand at making ice creams and sorbets for a while but I don't have an ice cream maker.
That's okay though! Totally not necessary. See?

I looked at a couple recipes online and came up with my own. Most of my recipes I make up as I go (I prefer to do things that way) but if you know the process and a general idea it should be easy for you to do the same.

I used my Magic Bullet for blending, and used 2 of their mixing containers. You could use one for less, a full sized blender for more, its completely up to you! The recipe is based off the size of the container and your taste buds. There is no wrong way to do this!!

Instructions:
Using a bag of frozen strawberries, I filled 2 magic bullet 'cups' to the top with strawberries, added the juice of half a lime, filled 1 half and half with orange juice and water, the other with just water, and I blended the heck out of it. (The OJ/no OJ was just to see the taste difference, and you can mix it however you'd like for your tastes.)

I added a bit more water to each (about another 1/3, enough so that it blends easily but doesn't get too watery) and a few table spoons of sugar. Blend some more.

This is the part where you do a little taste test. If it needs more sugar, add it in. I read on a few pages to make it a bit sweeter than normal since the freezing will tone down the sweetness, and I did find that to be true so feel free to make it a bit sweeter.

Meanwhile, a metal bowl was chilling in the freezer. Dump the contents into the bowl and put it back in.

From this point on, every half hour/hour, take the mixture out and whisk it really good until its smooth.

After a few hours (essentially until it looks like a good texture to you, and its properly chilled/frozen) its ready to serve! I ate some early and it was fine, just a bit thinner, but delicious.

This 'recipe' is completely customizable. Use pineapple juice instead of orange. Honey instead of sugar. Add coconut, add a couple spoonfuls of vodka (they say its good to keep a smooth texture). Just get in the kitchen and please those tastebuds!