Thursday, November 29, 2012

Unpublished Instagram Photos.....


 I am in an art show this weekend and the theme is Migration. One idea I was thinking of was to have photos that I took while in motion, using instagram. I immediately deleted each one after using the filters and saving, so the surprise would not be ruined. I since changed my idea for the show so am posting these shots I took on my walk around downtown LA and hike around Hollywood's Griffith Park here:











Sunday, November 11, 2012

Siouxsie Sioux & Robert Smith DIY Halloween Costumes




This halloween, David and I decided to be two of our favorite singers - Siouxsie Sioux (of SIouxsie and the Banshees) and Robert Smith (of The Cure). 


The clothing part was easy - we wore black clothing that we already had (I already had the fishnet shirt and got it at www.WeLoveColors.com). I also threw on my spiky bracelet and a few more snake bracelets for good measure. I used the same black crinoline from my "Black Swan" costume from last year (blog post here.) David had a black velvet blazer and a polka-dot shirt. He has found a $16 cardboard "paper jams" guitar that actually plays and also holds 3 mp3s. He put the CURE and Siouxsie songs onto the guitar.

For the makeup, I watched a few youtube videos but then decided the best way was to try myself. I tried the eyebrows with eyeliner as the videos suggested but they did not look right and it was harder to get them even or get the right texture. Using an angled mac brush and mac matte black eyeshadow, I made the eyebrows much easier and then did the lighter Siouxsie eye, blending white iridescent shadow with some lightly applied black. I put on a little more black eyeliner that usual, some deep lipstick and was good to go.







 



The tricky part was the hair. We originally wanted to be this last year, but the wig we ordered online from amazon for Robert Smith was cheap and looked it and also the hair was impossible to ratt or make it stick up. We threw it in the costume box and forgot about it. After a year of being in the box, smashed into a corner, it was perfect this year when we took it out of the box. 

However I needed a Siouxsie wig and didn't have a year to make it. I bought a very cheap wig on amazon here(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NVKG44/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&redirect=true). When it arrived I used hairspray, brushes and combs and even hung it upside down wet. Nothing worked since it is cheap but slippery hair. I realized it was longer than the quintessential Siouxsie so I decided to give it a trim but worried about the hair being too thin. I then decided that instead of throwing away the hair clumps from the trim, I could use them to fill out the wig and make them look ratty. After putting the wig on a mannequin head, I took each clump and put a bunch of glue on the edge to hold each one together and then place them each in the middle of the seam of the wig. The glue worked great to make it stay and give it a boost to make it stick up. If I want to use it again, it is smashed in the costume box so it will look even better next year I suspect! :o) Until next halloween.... jennifer









Thursday, September 27, 2012

My Chandelier Obsession Continues…

 I went to an etsy craft meet-up and we made tiny paper lanterns as gift toppers which was super fun. They also discussed that it was from one of Mark Montano's craft books. The one that intrigued me was taking lucite plate holders and turning them into a chandelier. His chandelier used clear lucite plate stands and looks cool and modern but was a bit more tricky, requiring careful use of a Dremel saw (which I don't have.) I tried my own more gothic version that was easier to make and wanted to post it here.

First I went to Daiso (the super cool Japanese dollar store that is in LA and SF and maybe elsewhere) and got 6 lucite plate holders in black (as I love black better!).  After I opened the packs, I realized my stands didn't have legs as long as the ones in Mark's photo so even with a Dremel, it wouldn't worked and still have enough room for the bulb. I decided instead to have the bulb at the very bottom of the chandelier. Because of this, I had to get a cord and socket set without the on/off switch because the ones with a switch didn't have a long enough space for the plate stands to adhere. (I found one on ebay since my home depot only had the ones with switches that were too close to the socket).

I went ahead and took the cord and placed it in the middle of 3 of the plate stands and used E-600 glue to hold it together. (This stuff works great but smells so use it outside! )


I waited a an hour for it to dry, then I glued the bottom three on, one at a time, using the "feet" from the top one to line it up, keeping the cord in the middle. 

It was ready in only a few minutes! Much shorter time than the other chandelier on my blog here!

Here are the supplies:



The original design I modified is shown above with the blue background and you can find it here: http://markmontanoblogs.blogspot.com/2011/11/lucite-plate-holder-chandelier.html

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

I FINALLY MET MY FASHION IDOL - BETSEY JOHNSON!!!


When I was in high school, my friend Queena took me to Melrose for the first time and introduced me to this amazing store - Betsey Johnson! As soon as I saw the hot pink shop and beautiful dresses, I was in LOVE! Back then (in 1990), they had a bargain box in the back where things were only $10-$40 dollars and since I was a sophomore in high school, that was the only spot I could afford to shop in for now. My first dress I bought was a hot pink crushed velvet dress. Here is a photo with me and two of my high school friends off for a night of dancing at the Palace for Richard Blade's KROQ night ( I am the blond on the right). 


Since then, I have been obsessed with Betsey Johnson! She makes the most uniquely creative, beautiful, design-inspired dresses that are perfect! Part goth, part girly, while understanding of a girl whose waist goes in but hips go out! :o) Her dresses fit me perfectly and I love that I can always buy the same size and expect the same great fit. She also uses my favorite colors a lot - black, red and hot pink (inspired my wedding colors)! Most things in my closet are now Betsey Johnson. I love her shoes (she now has comfortable boots and heels with quality leather and materials), I LOVE her jewelry, clothing, socks, tights, pajamas, and especially her dresses!! I get so many compliments on my clothes and now when friends say they like something, they don't  ask where I got it - they just say "Cute - It's Betsey?"  


 August 18, 2012....So I got to the Nordstrom at the Grove Mall in Los Angeles about 3.5 hours early. I didn't want to risk not getting to meet her. I met other fans, and since I had purchased the limited edition shoes the day before, I got into the VIP line. I was third in line. When she came out, I actually cried~! I was so happy and excited. I got to take a picture with her and she was sooooo nice. She actually talked to me for about a minute or two, even though soooo many people were waiting and there were a million people there. She thanked me three times for how dressed up I was (I was head to toe in Betsey Johnson from my cat ring to my socks and heels!). I told her I was so thankful to her and I love everything she does and I also thanked her for inspiring me to be myself. She was so gracious and kind and super cute! She looks great! She is so tiny - like 5 feet tall and I am tall so I had to crunch down for our photo! She was really sweet and I am so glad I got to go to this event. It is now crossed off my bucket list!




Micah Jesse revved up the crowd in his super cute hot pink blazer!









 Met Alicia Fox from the WWE, another fan!


One of Betsey's gorgeous models posed with me!



When I had heard her stores were all going out of business, I was so sad. I immediately went to one and bought out the store, well a portion of it. They ran out of bags so I had to just carry armloads of clothes. I never spent that much at once in a shop and felt a little guilty but I knew this was my last chance to stock up on clothes for the rest of my life! Here is a photo of that!



Over the next few weeks I went to several of the stores and bought some pieces I missed. I wanted a piece of furniture too but they were all sold out in every store. Luckily my husband diligently looked on craigslist until he happened upon the Betsey Johnson stylist selling not only the couch but also 5 chairs!!! He got it for me!! I was so surprised and excited!