Going Red

Well, after much humming and hawing about what color to choose, I've finally gone back to red hair (although much more subtle that last time). I'm quite happy with it, that's for sure! 

Before: No conditioner + air drying + natural curls = Oh my!

Waiting...

Afterwards! With my messy makeup/sewing/crafting desk in the background :P

And, the 'last time' I spoke of...

This was fun too, but I couldn't stand the maintenance. 

Hope you're all having a good week. Sadly, this is the last day for my car as the plate expires. I'm going to be using the bus from now on, which isn't too far off from what I do now, but that seriously cuts down on the amount of adventures we'll be going on. :(. Laaaame. 

Me Made May Challenge

Well hello my lovelies! I recently discovered Me Made May, a fun challenge that I am going to participate in with many other bloggers, DIYers, sewers and the like. Here is my pledge.

'I, Kristina of Tamed Raven, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '12. I endeavour to wear (at least) one handmade item each day for the duration of May 2012'

I plan on documenting this, most probably through a weekly post of photos. I've been thinking of doing something like this for a while now, why not just join the fun with everybody else?

Who else is doing this?

Business in the Front, Party in the Back

No, I'm not talking about mullets ;). I'm talking all the great shirts and dresses coming out now that look normal in the front, and for the back there's mesh, lace, bows and cut outs galore. This look seems to be popping up a lot in stores and fashion lately, and once I get some time to sew I plan on making quite a few shirts like this for summer. Until then, my inspiration! The best part of these shirts is how easy some of them are to make with only a little bit of time and effort. Trust me, once I make them I'll show you what I mean.

From nastygal.com

From charlotterusse.com

From Cupcakes and Cashmere, one of the first blogs I started following :)

Sorry I can't source a lot of these. I'm trying to track them down but unfortunately I used to save lots of inspirational pictures on my computer without any info on where they came from.. I never planned on having a blog ;).

Nail Fun

I realized that since I'm not allowed to paint my own nails much anymore, I also haven't been sharing with you all the amazing nail art that I've been coming across lately!

Genius idea to making your own nail art stickers by painting onto tape. Source. 

Burn and dodge, tutorial here.

If you like nail art you should check out the above blogs, they're great! Also, check out some Nightmare Before Christmas nails I just finished for commission. I really hope she likes them.

On a final note, I just got an instagram account, if anyone is interested in following me and seeing random pictures of adventures to drawings of raccoons on bicycles. @tamedraven :).

Cadbury Nails

I absolutely love Cadbury Cream Eggs, they're my favourite Easter snack. I love even more when the holiday has passed and they go on sale! Haha. I've always noticed that the tinfoil packaging on all these holiday candies are so pretty but what can you do with them...

How about a fun mani? I just finished this and had to share it with you.

What you need:
Scissors
Nail file
Clear nail polish
Candy wrappers

How to:
First, flatten out the tinfoil as best you can. It doesn't have to be perfect, but get all the big wrinkles out.

Lay the tinfoil on your nail and press down to make an imprint of it, and then following the lines, cut out the shape.

Put a layer of clear nail polish on your nail, and press the tinfoil down, making sure to press it around the edges.

If the tinfoil is too long, use the nail file to trim off the edges/shape it to your nail better. Repeat for the rest of the nails and you're done!

If you're using uncolored foil or one without a pattern you could add a very quick topcoat but take note that the colors will melt if you go over it too much. That might make it look cool too, though! When you're done, just peel the tinfoil off and use nail polish remover for the clear polish. If you want this to hold better, I would suggest trying nail glue, but I have none to see if it would work.

If you do this I would love to see your version!

Display Ideas

Even though I have no shows lined up in the near (or distant) future, I like looking at different ways to display clothing, jewellery and the like. To dream of owning a store to call my own and imagining what it'll look like. There's some great websites full of ideas, not to mention things like forums, Pinterest, and DIY sites.

Portraits of celebrities for jewelry holders. Source.

Or bigger photos used for hangers. 

Jewelry tree from recycled utencils.. I'd love to make something like this. Source.

A recycled box turned earring display with a mirror! Genius. Source. 

Make a mini clothes rack for mini hanger paper clips to display earrings? (Also, perfect for doll clothes).

Providence and Grace Makeup Review

I bought a few eyeshadows from P&G back when they were under another name on etsy. I don't have all the eyeshadows anymore but I will show you the swatches that I have. The samples came in clamshells in a bubble envelope.

First set: Coven, Gypsy, Black Gold and Dark Seas.

Their photo for example.

These looked beautiful in the containers (blacks with various colors of glitter in each) but I found the black was very weak with very little payoff. I had to layer it over another black eyeshadow and the glitter didn't pop. If I had owned a primer or a Nyx pencil when I had these, I might have liked them a lot more, but I got rid of them because they were taking up space. I kind of wish I didn't so I could try them again because seriously, the sparkle when you looked in the jar was so pretty.

Color Shower, Starlet, Mint, Emerald, Midnight Sky, on bare skin (top) and over primer (bottom).

Even though it doesn't show up well in the photos, color shower is the finest, prettiest rainbow glitter ever. I don't use it with makeup often, but I've been known to mix it into epoxy because of how light it is, so it doesn't settle.

Starlet is an almost bluish toned pink, but is more of a glitter texture than a shadow texture so there isn't much color payoff.

Mint and Emerald are two great greens that I think go very nicely together, and I do wear these on occasion. They're very frosty though, and I'm not a big fan so they don't get much use anymore. I did wear them a lot when I first bought these shadows though.

Midnight Sky is a very dark blue shadow that's almost black, and highly pigmented. Exactly as described. It's a great eyeshadow, but I've come to realize I do not like dark blues of this tone.

Would I buy from them again? A full sized 'Color Shower' is something that I need to own, but other than that, no. Some of their shadows are of good quality but the colors and color payoff aren't enough for me to want a second order.

Pieces to the Puzzle

Puzzle piece resin necklaces that I finished the other day.. I'm having so much fun making these. I haven't put them all on chains yet but I think they look amazing! They're all so different, I don't know which one I like the most.. What do you think?

Find them listed here. If one you want isn't up, send me a message. I'm working on getting them up there.

Spring Cleaning

Whenever I make something that doesn't turn out how I want it to, it generally sits on my desk for a bit while I think of what to do with it, and what I normally do with it is put it away with everything else that I'm not completely stoked on.

What I've decided to do now is some spring cleaning. In the coming days I'm going to list them on etsy for others to enjoy, even if they're not perfect

Also, if you ever see anything on my blog that's not in the store that you're interested in, just send me a message. I might just have never gotten around to listing it but it may be still available.