8/31/2013

Fascinators for my two favorite girls!



Last month I posted about making felt bead necklaces with Johnny's nieces. I also mentioned that they picked out pieces from my stash of vintage goodies (shown above) so I could make fascinators for them, and I thought I'd show off their designs!


 This one is for the youngest sister. She knew for sure she had to have the hat and the sparkly ball piece, but she left the other options pretty open for me by choosing lots of little charms and feathers. That little top hat was an interesting thing to try to attach to a feather pad and headband so it would be sturdy enough for a kid to wear, but I did it! It involved sewing through the hat and feathers, under the headband, and around the brim. I'm quite pleased!


 And this one's for the older sister. She had some very specific pieces and I had to work some artistic license into this one. But it came out great!

 They both liked them so much that they tried to kidnap me after lunch! But that kinda always happens when we have to part ways. Guess I have a fan club now lol!

I'm planning on doing the RAC Holiday Arts Festival again this year, which is where I sell most of my fascinators, but I promise this year I will list some on my etsy shop too, so keep a look out!

8/30/2013

Fancy Friday #12 - Vive La France

Happy Fancy Friday! This week I'm sporting a new dress I got for my birthday from my dear boyfriend! It's from Pepperberry, which I talked about/ showed off in this post too. I paired it with some vintage accessories for a lovely 1940's Parisienne look.

I love love love this dress! It fits like a glove and has the prettiest seaming and pleating on the hips. But enough about that, because the crowning glory of this outfit is the hat! ^_~

I picked up this little beauty in a local antique store and it's in really good shape. For my hair, I did the pouf bangs like last week (I've been doing this almost every day because my bangs are so long), and then I did 2 braided pigtails and clipped them up with butterfly clips. Since my hair is layered and choppy I had to use some bobby pins to tuck in pointy little ends that stuck out of the braids.

For the makeup, I kept it super simple, with just a touch of pencil liner on my lash line and a little red lip stain under my Revlon Rich Girl Red lipstick. My mom gave me the vintage rhinestone bracelet for my birthday and the necklace is the little enamel piece my sister brought back from France for me, also seen in Fancy Friday #4.

Thrift store shoes, my favorite! Not sure how old they are but they sure are comfy!


 The light was really nice when we shot this so Johnny and I had some fun taking extra photos. This is possibly one of my favorite Fancy Fridays to date! Until next week, stay fancy!

8/29/2013

A lovely antique jeweler's bench is finally in the craft room!

If you remember in my big craft room reveal post I mentioned that there was one piece of furniture missing. It's finally here and all set up, and I've used it quite a bit. It's an antique jeweler's bench that my dad had in his office for his watch repair business. He's been able to retire from that recently and I snatched it up! It's got amazing storage capacity and is so awesome. I'd like to clean it up and paint it one of these days, and possibly put a new top on it, but for now it's working just fine. Check it out:

Plenty of storage, and the pad that pulls out is to catch things when you drop them! Changed my life.

 Oodles of graduated drawers on the side keep all my jewelry and steampunk supplies in order.

One of my favorite features is that not only does it have a few shelves inside the leg for more storage, but it has this built in outlet at the front. This makes it so much easier for me to work with my hot glue gun, dremel, or soldering iron!

Sitting on top I have my time clock (haha), a jar of bottle caps, a rack full of earrings I've made, my vintage Turtles tin that houses some owl weights, and a great porcelain egg tray from Anthropologie that I use to keep separate piles of beads in as I'm working. Nifty!

There was just enough room for my dressmaker's dummy at the end (She's wearing a vintage frock Johnny and I picked up while visiting my parents. It needs a few repairs and then I'll be wearing it around town!)
Many thanks to my dad and mom for letting me have this workbench and chair set, it was just the right thing to complete my creative space!

8/28/2013

Happy Birthday to Me!


Today I'm another year older, another year wiser (or so they say). Two weeks ago we had our housewarming party and celebrated my birthday with all my friends. It was such a sweet low-key party and we had such a lovely time. And look at that slice of birthday cake! It was exactly what I wanted. There's more photos on my flickr if you want to see everyone, but here's a few highlights:

 We projected Buster Keaton & Fatty Arbuckle's silent films on the wall in the living/dining room. It was really fun with the party music in the background. And at the end of the night we watched Looney Toons with the remaining guests.

 We had so much yummy food to eat and lovely drinks to sip! (No, those apples aren't real lol.)

 Apparently I'm three, not only shown by the number of candles but by the style of cake, which I specifically requested after seeing a smaller version in the case at Baskin Robin's. Jamoca Almond Fudge om nom nom.

We got Johnny's Adams Family slot machine out of moth balls and set it up in the movie room upstairs. Tokens flowed forth!

At the end of the night, my two favorite boys were completely pooped! What a great party, and I can't wait to see what Johnny has in store for me today! I know we're going to Shabu-Shabu for dinner, but there's a surprise coming and I'm so excited! <3 p="">

8/27/2013

How-Tuesday #43: Sushi, Buttons, and Backpacks!

This week I've found some lovely tutorials for how to make candy sushi, a sweet little backpack, and button pendants!


This candy sushi from Mommy Knows is too cute! Check out the great photo tutorial here.


This sweet little backpack is a free sewing pattern from All About You. Go download it and make on here.

These neat necklaces form Craftypod are a great way to show off your favorite vintage buttons from your collection. Learn how to make on here.

8/26/2013

Owl Plushie Sewing Pattern Giveaway!

Hey everyone! I just got my 200th follower on Facebook and my 900th follower on Pinterest and I thought I'd celebrate by giving away a printed copy of my Owl Sewing Plushie Pattern! 

You get the whole pattern and photo tutorial printed on quality cardstock, as well as pre-cut body and belly pieces mailed to you for the making!

To enter the giveaway you must do one of the following, and if you do more than one you'll get an extra entry for each thing. And be sure you leave me a way to contact you in case you win! Here's what you do:

1. Go ahead and leave me a comment on this post for an entry.
2. If you can, follow me on here via Google Friend Connect in my sidebar for an entry!
3. If you haven't yet, go like my Facebook page for an entry!
4. Share this post on Facebook for an entry!
5. Follow me on Pinterest if you haven't yet for an entry!
6. Pin this post and tag it #giveaway for an entry!
7. Follow me on Twitter for one entry!
8. Follow me on Google Plus for an entry!
9. Follow me on Instagram (@ohthecuteness) for an entry!

The contest will run for one week and I will post the winner at 12:00 p.m. on Monday Sept. 2nd. 
Good Luck!

8/24/2013

I'll be selling at Art Beat Bazaar on Sept. 8th in Berkeley!


One of my all-time favorite little events to sell at, Art Beat Bazaar, will be back at the Starry Plough Pub in Berkeley on Sept. 8th and I'll be there selling all my adorable wares! I've blogged about their monthly event before and I'm so pleased to be doing it again! Please come by and say hello if you can to support this wonderful art & music fostering organization. And remember, blog readers get 20% off!

8/23/2013

Fancy Friday #11 - Rosie the Riveter

Happy Fancy Friday everyone! And bonus, FF now includes pants! Who says you have to wear dresses to be fancy? This look was 100% inspired by Rosie the Riveter.

Red skinny jeans are from Wal-Mart of all places, don't ask me why I was there (11 bucks though!), which I rolled up for that retro look, and the shirt is from Target.

I started with the hair for this look and built around it. My bangs are getting so long I can do my mini pompadour now! Just brush your bangs upward, gather, give a little twist, then fold back and push forward to make the poof as big as you want and secure with a couple clips. I find this style's easier to do while my bangs are still wet. I spray some hair spray on it and brush my hand up gently to tame any fly-aways. And I used a rolled-up vintage triangular head scarf tied in a knot to finish. The ends are tucked under behind my ears with bobby pins.

I used the usual powder finish on my face with some rosy blush. I used a red lip stain from Revlon instead of a heavier red lip, and a classic cat eye liner shape was drawn on with my black Sephora liquid liner. I'm getting really fast at putting the liner on now too! Before it seriously took me an hour or so of wiping off and starting over, but now I can do it in a few minutes without too much trouble. Success!

 To go with the flirty reds I went for a cupid-inspired jewelry set, including a gold heart necklace from a yard sale, a hearts ring from Therapy, and an arrow bangle form Cost Plus World Market.

 I know Rosie most likely wouldn't be wearing wedges to work in the factory, but I can't get enough of these Ralph Lauren Shoes, also seen in last week's post. I'm afraid I'm going to wear them to death!
More next time, stay fancy!

8/20/2013

How-Tuesday #42: Bubbles, Pom-Poms, and Red Velvet!

Opulence is the name of the game this week! Iv'e got a delicious Red Velvet Cookie recipe, as well as a bubble chandelier DIY and a quick and easy pom-pom magnet tutorial.

These red velvet cookies with white chocolate chunks sound so delicious! Get the recipe here.

The Fossil clothing company's blog has some really cute DIY's, who knew?! Get the tutorial for these sweet little pom-pom magnets (among other things) here.

And lastly, I'm sure we've all seen those great glass ball centerpieces hanging from the ceilings of many a coveted party on Pinterest, so I found a lady who made a tutorial for us all, here.

8/16/2013

Organic Cotton Sturdy Tote Bags Are For Sale Now!

All these lovely tote bags are available to purchase in my Etsy shop! I hope you enjoy them!
Read all about them in my detailed post, here.

Fancy Friday #10, Plus a Great Makeup Tip!

Happy Fancy Friday! This week my style is nature-inspired, but this time it's the darker side of the forest. I spent my Fancy Friday in Temescal Alley in Oakland where all the shops are super-hipstery and amazingly curated. My favorite of all of them is Crimson, which sells horticultural rarities and terrarium supplies. Do go see this place if you have the chance, it's amazing! Anywho, on to the fashion!

Both the skirt and the top are pieces I snagged from my ever-stylish friend Alex at a clothing swap. I have mentioned her in posts time and time again on here, and you might be seeing much more of her in the near future (Ooooh secrets!).

My Zooey bangs are already getting so long that I have to push them to the side most days, and I was in a bit of a rush so I just let my hair dry and put this great Vintage Rose Wrap headband I got at the Mid-State Fair last month. They're all handmade and they have belts too, go check out their website if you want one!

I went a lot darker on the eye makeup than I normally do this time, and I'm relatively happy with the way it came out. I was inspired by a pink smoky eye I saw on Pinterest. It was a lot of putting too much on then taking it off to get what I wanted lol. I still have a lot to learn... Anywho, for the lips I just did a pink lip stain and sheer gloss over it, very light and nice for wearing out.

 Besides the flowers, my jewelry really brought out the dark forest vibe. I got the amazing bird skull necklace at a boutique in my home town called Firefly. It's a great shop and sells only handmade goods, so it feels like Etsy in real life! I paired that with a tiny gold fox head necklace from Forever 21, and an antique bone bracelet and horn bangle. The scarf is a black infinity piece with tassels from Kohl's.

Oh man do I love these shoes! Got them on sale at Macy's to wear with my dress for my upcoming housewarming party, and they're Ralph Lauren. The sweater tights are from Urban Outfitters, and incredibly warm and comfy!

One more thing before I go. Remember the eyeliner I did last week? Well, the color I used was from this huuuuge palette of shadows I got recently, and we all know those are impossible to carry around for touch-ups, so I came up with this nifty little solution:

 
 Since I used a wet angle brush to apply the shadow as a liner, I took that same brush, moistened it, and loaded it up with the color. Then I snagged a cap from one of my pencil liners that fit snugly around the brush.

This way, if you need to do a touch up, you simply add a couple drops of water to the edge of the brush and reapply the shadow/liner the same way you did at home! Luckily this stuff stayed on really well but I had great peace of mind knowing I could fix a flick if I accidentally rubbed it off! Hope this helps someone out there! Until next week, stay fancy!

8/14/2013

The Only Organic Cotton Tote Bag You Will Ever Need: Sturdy, Adorable, and Lightweight!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the world's greatest organic cotton tote bag. They'll be available for sale in my Etsy shop before the week is out!

I posted a photo of these totes in progress on Instagram a while back (though I'd had the fabric set aside for them for about three years lol), and they were delayed by the move south. But here they are, in all their glory! I'm so happy with the way they turned out. I drafted the pattern myself and it was a lot of work! 

 I modeled their construction after a tote bag I've had for years and years, and it's always my favorite one to bring with me out of the huge pile I own. The main bodies of these bags are made from organic cotton canvas (Check out my cute little tag!). The outer shell is quilting fabric, double-stitched and independently seamed from the body for maximum strength. This makes it so the bag doesn't need a lining so it can be folded up and tucked in your purse:


 My new sewing machine has tons of cute decorative stitches and I couldn't resist using them on the tops of the bags! Each one is different to coordinate with the quilting fabrics. Also, the handles are very important: They stand 6 inches tall and are about an inch wide, making them incredibly comfortable no matter how much heavy stuff is in the bag. No more handles cutting into your hands! And speaking of heavy stuff, you'll never have a broken handle again because I double-stitched them down and reinforced the back side with rip-stop vinyl:


 The seams inside are all bound off to prevent fraying and there's a nice gusset at the bottom so the bag can sit flat:

 I'm in love with them! In the one pictured above was a huge heavy magazine, a bottle of wine, a can of tomatoes, a jar of pesto, a tin of tea, and a bunch of lavender. These hold a lot, and they're smaller than traditional grocery bags. The first one pictured with the cream canvas and dots has already been snatched up by a visitor to my studio space (That was my favorite one too!), but look at all these lovelies I will be listing:

If you'd like more info or to pre-order them please email me at ohthecuteness@hotmail.com! I'll post an alert when they go live in the shop on here as well as my Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter so be sure to follow me for updates!