The Arrival of Multiple Online Orders or Buying yrself Christmas Presents is the Best

So Much for My Blog!

 

 

Since I've become bored with sharing the minutia of my personal life on here- I'll be switching this over to my business blog.

Get ready for the minutia of my crafting life!

 

 

 

Regretsy or When Thinking Too Highly of your own Opinion Turns you into a Bitch

Oh Regretsy. For some reason, every couple of months, I run back across this online embodiment of misplaced grammar-schoolesque self-esteem issues and petty puffery.

I wish I didn't have the words to describe my feelings about this blog but unfortunately, I have so many words that I'm having trouble forming them into coherent dialogue.

If you're not familiar with Regretsy.com, it's a blog run by a gal named Helen whose sole purpose is to poke fun at Etsy listings. Only poke fun might be too soft- it's really more like watching snotty popular junior high girls trash their nerdy classmate.
Regretsy scours through Etsy's listings, finds a few that they think are appropriately "lame" and then posts the listings to their blog accompanied by thinly disguised bitterness posing as clever wit.

Now, maybe this is just me being a boring old adult with human emotions like empathy and shame but I read a few posts and think to myself....
Really? You are a grown ass woman and this is how you choose to spend your free time?
I can't help but wonder who hurt this girl so....
Was it some cold-hearted art teacher that overlooked 16 year old Helen's submission to her school's art faire?
Those stuck up Grammas who would let her join their quilting bee?
Did her Mom laugh at her macaroni and glitter collage?
Just what happened to make her so hateful and angry?

I don't understand this level of unnecessary negativity. You don't like the crotchet socks or print of sunflowers or feathered hairband?
No problem, you don't have to buy them.
But to go out of your way to hunt them down and them blast them (and with such seeming glee) comes across kind of sociopathic.

It's sad really- behavior that used to be reserved for children and pre-teens is now shifted over to the middle aged. It takes a special kind of pitiful to ridicule someones creations, unprovoked and in such a public manner. And I realize it's much safer to do so while posted up behind a keyboard. I seriously doubt these people would have the balls to go to a craft faire or farmers market and be so snarkey to the sellers face.

So, well done Regretsy, you've managed to turn me to the darkside of passive aggressive rants about others via the internet. But before you go off patting yourselves on the back and reviling in your cleverness, here's a few bullet points from the rest of humanity.

*Snarkyness is never flattering. On anyone.

*If you are going to pass out judgment, hiding behind a computer to do so makes you seem cowardly.

*As much as you dislike the end product, these people you ridicule are making something, trying to do something positive. All your site does is tear things down. And your type of destruction is useless.

* All the clever, funny taglines in the world don't change the simple fact that you're being a bitch.

I doubt Helen and the good folks at Regretsy will ever read any of this but if by some magic happenstance, it finds it's way to their nest of bitchery- I say this...

Helen, we live quite close to each other, a few hours drive at most. Maybe we can meet up someday for coffee and you can tell me all about how the world crushed your crafting dreams and I can give you that hug you so desperately need.

All my Love and Pity,
Erin

Brand Shining New Obsession

ML turned me onto Pintrest which appears to be a virtual pin board for all your lovely to do/ to have/ to remember photos and images. You can upload and share those inspirations and find brand new ones to steal your hard earned money. 


My apologies if this site ruins your life like it has mine...


Please accept some nifty music as reparation

Hollow Even

Last night, we celebrated Halloween in the tradition ways- beer, fake blood, friends and bad dance contests. I went as Edgar Allen Poe's The Red Death. Unfortunately, no one got it. I really gotta stop doing cerebral costumes.

  Blaine was Ash from The Evil Dead movies. Note the actual chainsaw attached to his hand there. CJ replayed her cowboy outfit from last year after some mishaps with her original costume.

Fun party with some great people but the fun didn't continue. I woke up this morning surprisingly unhungover and proceeded to drop a ladder on my foot. Yup, ladder. On my foot. So now, I'm stuck on the couch with a seriously swollen, bruised foot. Happy Halloween indeed.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Oh, yes! Last night myself and the GTGs dressed up in our Coruscantian finest and hit a very fun Star Wars themed birthday party.

 We all had to come up with our Star Wars names.

 My last minute costume pulled entirely from my War garb.

 Edible Millennium Falcon...

 Rebro Dechu, the birthday Jedi.

 What a rebel!

These are not the girls you're looking for....

I went for a sort of Padme inspired vibe. Even though the makeup came off a little too clownish for my taste, I was still  rather fond of my outfit- and it finally gave me a chance to wear my new moresca gown.

 

And the headdress I make earlier this year.

Plus an extra 2 lbs of fake hair!

And a little extra weekend for ya-

Photos from the North Park Arts Festival last weekend- oddly enough, very little art evident in them.

 

Some goofy metal kids were screwing up the courage to jump off the transformer. I told CJ to go show them how it's done.

Dogs galore- including this adorable little cottonball.

 

 

Ow- check out that leg twist :/

 CJ just being the badass that she is...

Don't you spend Wednesdays photographing your room?

I went out of my way this past weekend to clean up my room and decided to get some photos of it in this unnatural state. I have a small room as it is and a lot of stuff to fit in it. So, it pays to be creative when organizing out my space.

 

 My vanity which really is- I love it and think it's very beautiful. I started stripping it over a year ago but was taking too long on it. I couldn't stand doing my make-up in the bathroom so I moved it back in unfinished. And discovered I love the ragged look of it. I may or may not finish this in the future but for now, I'm happy with it.

 Shoes on parade- many of which need a good cleaning and repairs.

I'm trying out a new system for my closet- ordered by color rather then style. Since I tend to create outfits by color matching more then anything else, I figured this way would make that a bit easier.

 My poor multitude of books currently crammed on my sad 5 shelve case. And my attempt at storage next to it. The suitcases are filled with handbags and the hat boxes are filled with......hats obviously.  It keeps the clutter down and I really love the look of stacked cases.

Thought I'd throw in a project I'm almost done with- it's a head dress for War modeled by the lovely bald Marie.

And I know it's not the weekend but it's still a Good Morning so let's have a little S. Stevens to celebrate.

I never claimed to be honest all the time

Yeah so remember how weeks ago, I said I would be posting this wonderful fab overload of DIY greatness?'

Well, you can see how well that turned out.

In my defense, all those DIY projects were for my new apartment and since posting, that apartment has fallen through. And with it, all my motivation for home decor. For a while at least.

But I have been busy burning the craft candle- for War!

Yes, this year I've made a decisive and conscious effort to get the camp together and make it to War this year. So far so good. But I have to say, trying to plan our own camp without The Ex is a bit intimidating. There is a lot to get together and I've got a million packing lists, shopping lists, garb lists and project lists.

Lucky for me, My Love stepped up as my planning cohort.

Photos why not?

 

The garb boxes come out and with them, my unending list of things I want this year. And we know I have a hard time denying myself what I want.

So, I'm making myself a fancy new cloak outta faux fur and the most gorgeous hand stitched wrap I found on Etsy.

 

I'm also making some little favors for the campers this year.

And a mess of jewelry for me.

And my final project- Apple Pie Loki. It's at about two weeks here and should be quite satisfactory by the end of May. In case you're not a huge Renn nerd, let me explain. Loki is a ridiculously alcoholic drink made from everclear, sugar and flavourings. Essentially, you let the booze and flavouring (in my case chopped apple) sit for a month, then you strain out the solids and add the boiled down sugar and let that sit for another few months. End result? Amazing tasting drink that causes all better judgment to fly out the window.
My Love and I originally had a desire to try making Mead but we had nowhere near enough time for it to ferment. Maybe in the future.

And since this is a Good Morning, here is a song that has been on constant rotation in my crafting soundtrack.

My God, so sexy!

ReVamp; The Art of Changing

Ok, so since my vacation started, I've been lagging on preparing for the trip. Been too preoccupied with drinks and parties and days spent recovering from drinks and parties.

But now it's countdown: 3 days and I gotta get on this shit. Washed all my laundry last night and set out the clothes I'm planning to take. Got a hair trim and found another silver hiding within my coif. Which is good for two reasons.

1. I love silver hair.

2. Loving silver hair means not dying since it will cover up lovely sliver hair.

So, the dye job I was planning to do is off which means one less item to tick off my list. And now I am currently killing time (and dealing with a flooded back room!) until the shops open so I can buy things. Suitcase and books for the plane and maybe some new makeup.

Ah, segway. Another little thing I needed to do was figure out how I was going to take along my Airspun loose powder, that time tested holy grail for vintage ladies. The best face powder on earth (and also maybe the cheapest) doesn't travel well so I decided to press it. With a little help from some makeup blogs and The Fedora Lounge, I was surprisingly easy.

 You need cosmetic powder, mixing bowl, something to press your powder into and alcohol (I used rubbing alcohol or surgical spirit) I've read use of vodkah and other drinking alcohol but why waste good liquor?

 Throw your powder in a bowl. I ended up using about half the powder in the container because once you add the alcohol, you lose a lot of volume.

 Add the alcohol a bit at a time and mix until its at a pasty consistency. At this point, I got a little nervous because the color changed so darkly. No worries, it dries back to it's original color.

 Scoop the paste into your pressing pan. I'm using my Stratton compact (with a broken mirror!) Goop it in, then wet your finger with the alcohol and use it to smooth the paste into the corners and even out the top.

It took mine overnight to dry. Halfway through, I took some scrap fabric and pressed it into the pan and applied pressure to help even out the surface. I added a little stamp of a Fleur de lis cause I'm corny.

Voila! Instant pressed compact. This works for any powder make-up and is especially helpful for eyeshadow or blushes that have busted and crumbled to dust.

Edit!

I don't know how I missed this post by Vixen Vintage but she has a tutorial for pressed powder that rocks. It looks like I just copied hers photo for photo (promise I didn't!) but her post is much prettier and more detailed then mine. Check it out!

Just Frames

The Picture Project in various stages.