Glittery Top Hats

thank you so much for the expressions of sympathy on my last post, and the sweet messages and phone calls. both of my parents read that post, and that means they read the comments as well, so thank you from them too. yesterday we spent some time looking through photos and remembering the stupid things that Hemi used to do. tears are a bit easier to take when they're interspersed with laughter.



i thought i'd post something a little more upbeat and festive today. and what's more upbeat and festive than RED GLITTER?!!??!!


i posted my skeleton stuffie last week, and you all got to see his dapper little hat, but what you didn't know is that his was a mini version of my mini hat.


(this lovely photo was taken by Holly at the guild meeting. i was purposely keeping my mouth shut!)

i found this awesome tutorial on sheblogssheblogs and thought WHY did i never think of that? it's so easy and cute! totally a project that you can whip up quickly, if you've left things to the last minute. (who me?) i was only going to make a hat for myself, to wear to our october guild meeting, but then Krista was rather upset that my skeleton was going to be naked, so i decided that he needed a hat too. so we matched.


his


mine!

so, we don't have Hobby Lobby or Jo-anns here, and the prices at canadian Michaels stores are a good 2-3 times higher than they are across the border, minimum, which annoys me to no end, and means that i avoid going to Michaels unless it's totally necessary.

for this project, it was totally necessary! i found a whole pack of glitter foam at Dollarama for $2, enough that you could probably make 10 hats in all different colours. but i really really wanted bright red glitter! so to Michaels i went, and i used my 40% off coupon for a $2 or $3 sheet of foam, which seems kind of ridiculous, in retrospect... but hey, 40% of $3 covered the little glitter spider that i used to decorate it, so don't knock it!



i couldn't find glitter foam that wasn't self adhesive, and that, frankly, felt like a curly haired nightmare, so i carefully stuck the foam to very lightweight black lining material before i cut out the pattern pieces. i thought about felt, because i had some in my stash, but it seemed like it would be too thick, and i was worried that quilting cotton would fray, but the lining was perfect. if you had lining that matched the foam, you could use that instead of black, it just seemed easier to use a colour that wouldn't show up against my hair, rather than trying to match the exact shade of red.

the tutorial calls for hair clips, and i actually went to multiple dollar stores searching for clips like the ones shown, and then i got home and thought "why don't i just attach it to a headband like that fascinator thingy i made awhile ago?" duh amy. so i cut a piece of black grosgrain ribbon, singed the ends, and glued the edges onto the bottom of the hat. i can slide a thin headband through it, and it fits perfectly on my head.


it's not too pretty, but it worked.

i dug through my stash and found some halloween ribbon (from michaels maybe, or fabricland? can't remember), a couple different kinds of feathers that i ordered a million years ago when i was doing burlesque costuming (from here, i think), black sequins on a string, and one of 6 glittery spiders that i picked up at a dollar store. i swore at my glue gun quite a few times, but things finally did what i wanted, and i'm pretty happy with the outcome!



and for good measure, here's another action shot taken by Holly. thank you so much for your awesome pictures Holly!

halloween trees - spooky and sparkly

first off, this weekend was AMAZING. i'll post more about it once i have time to edit photos and write everything up, but Trish was a wonderful teacher, and there are so many incredible things that you can do with encaustics. i have a million ideas running around in my head, of course, the day before i go to pick up my new embroidery machine and software! too much inspiration at the same time. it's too bad it can't be bottled and kept in reserve.

in the meantime, halloween is getting closer and closer, so i thought i'd post another halloween project.

trees!

i saw a variation on these in a christmas magazine, and immediately thought "white?! they'd look even better in black!"




i did mine a little bit differently. i used 3/4" dowels, because that's what i had, and i painted them after i drilled them. i can't imagine painting them first, as they chipped/splintered a bit when they were drilled, and i had to sand them smooth. you'd just have to repaint them anyway. i also didn't make my trees as tall, i cut the dowels at random lengths.





and instead of the foam in an urn base, i used blocks and triangles that were leftovers from a recent project. i drilled a hole in each block with a 3/4" drill bit, and the dowels fit in nicely. after i painted them, i used white glue to coat each edge lightly, and pressed them into black glitter.



i used a spray adhesive to apply the glitter, and that made them look a little more matte than i'd like. i think i'm going to spray them again with a gloss, to bring out the glitter, and to help it stay on. but i like them.



and i can't wait to make a tall silver one for xmas!

the coolest safety glasses in the world!

i would just like y'all to know that i now own the awesomest pair of safety glasses EVER in the history of the world. no shit.

they are completely ridiculous, and so totally me. i adore them.



i started working on them back in march, drilling holes along the edges to embroider into. a few weeks later i started on the embroidery, using dmc metallic floss and a chain stitch, and that went fairly quickly. and then they sat on my table for a month.

i finally got my butt in gear to haul out my crazy glue to glue down the ends of the floss. it turned out that crazy glue wasn't the best option, since it turned the previously clear plastic opaque wherever it was applied.

i'd thought about adding a few rhinestones, in a tasteful sort of way.... and maybe those rhinestones could help camouflage the crazy glue mistake...

but the urge for glitz quickly overcame the idea of tastefullness!



there's actually some embroidery with silver metallic floss as well, along the sides of the glasses, but it's hidden by the rhinestones.







i switched over to glossy accents instead of the crazy glue, and it worked fabulously. even where there's extra glue between the rhinestones, the area is still clear. (i love that shit, i use it for EVERYTHING)

i'm still contemplating more rhinestones... the area above the lenses across the front seems a little bare with just the embroidery... i've been to three different dollar stores clearing out their stock of silver rhinestones, so now i've got a ton to glue onto other things as well!



the other day i decided that they needed the perfect glasses chain so that i could wear them around my neck. in the interest of safety, i wanted the chain to "break" easily if i ever got it caught on something. i contemplated buying a cheap cat's collar for the plastic breakaway clasp, but decided that a magnetic jewelery clasp would be comfier, not to mention more attractive.

so yesterday i went to the Upstart Crow and picked up some magnetic clasps, and this morning i hauled out all of my red and white/silver beads to start stringing the necklace. i added a few charms as well, a wonderful virgin mary, multiple types of stars, and a red glass skull bead.



so now they're done. for the moment, at least! and they're completely ridiculous, and incredibly wonderful.




and it's perfect timing, because yesterday i went to a garage sale and walked away with a DRILL PRESS!!! and a whole bunch of cutting wheels, sanding wheels and polishing wheels for my dremel! what should i drill/cut/sand and polish first??

christmas part 3 - the little trees!

i actually intended on 3 extra trees, two in the living room/studio, and one in the kitchen. i ran out of time for the kitchen one, but i loved the two i did manage to put up!

the first one is actually a vintage tinsel tree, the came in the coolest box, and the base almost looks handmade.



this tree sits above my sewing machine table, right on top of the drawers that hold all of my embroidery threads.


it had all my favourite smaller ornaments on it, including a set of 12, and several acorn shaped ones.


the ornament at the very top is one of my favourites - it has a stylized poppy painted on it.


so pretty!


the second little tree that i put up was a white tree, again from daiso, though it was $8 because it's bigger than the pink tree in the bathroom.


i used all of my bright pink vintage ornaments on it, and they looked fabulous. i hung crocheted pink snowflakes on the lamp shade,


and strung beaded garland around my pictures.

i also dyed some bottle brush trees with dylon hot pink, and they turned out FABULOUS! the colour is super rich and vibrant.


i was really tempted to leave the pink display up for longer, but decided that they should all come down at the same time so that everything could be stored together. i'm at least 2/3s of the way done undoing everything. i know it's the 22nd of january! i'm trying to organize it all, okay?!

anyway, that's the last of the christmas decorating. i didn't do handmade cards this year, which was so sad, but i did do some handmade gifts, so i'll be posting those soon.

and then we can move onto another holiday that i love - valentine's day!

christmas, part 1 - the bathroom!

i loooove christmas. i hate the crowds, the shopping malls, the stress, the rampant christianity, etc, but i love the glitter and glam, the memories and traditions, and spending time with loved ones. and turkey and stuffing, of course!

i haven't been able to decorate much the last few years because i didn't have the space, so i decorated A LOT this year.

since i went just a teensy bit overboard with xmas decorating, i'm going to split the pics up into a few posts.

the first place i decorated was my bedroom, and i posted pics of that tree back in december.

next up was my bathroom, all in shades of purple

i found some ribbon at the $ store and used it as garlands over my jewelery storage.


i used tinsel garland on the mirror, the only place where it wouldn't touch the painted walls - i learned the hard way years ago that garlands sometimes bleed when exposed to the steamy heat of a bathroom!


i used the same ribbon again over the toilet, with a glittery lavender bow in the centre.


the frame is a vintage one that i painted with krylon (the purple frames were what inspired the bathroom colour scheme in the first place), and the mirrored purple candleholders are from the $store.


across from the toilet wall, i hung a lavender glittered snowflake, and a small lavender crocheted snowflake, on the medicine cabinet. i dyed bottlebrush trees to sit beside a small purple chest that holds q-tips.


close up of the trees


and below the medicine cabinet, there was the tree


the pink tree came from daiso, it was $5.50 (i <3 daiso!) i searched for a purple tree for a while before finding this pink one. i did find a purple tinsel tree later for $15.00, but it was too bright anyway....



i used some of the same ribbon as garland again, and added a few glittery purple balls that my ex left behind, a few regular sized purple glass balls, and then a package of matte and shiny little lavender balls that i bought at zellers (kinda like a cross between target and kmart). they're "alfred sung", ohh la la!


and of course, a tree topper. a fabulous glittery be-feathered bird clip.


i added a bit of glittery goodness to the closet as well -


the glittery picks came from micheals, and matched perfectly!

and the finishing touch was the doily wreath i made. i dyed the doilies using the same dye as the bottle brush trees, and then molded them into a wreath shape.


i took pictures as i went along, so i'll post them soon!


and that was the bathroom!