Sunday, May 31, 2009

bye bye may


Spring is basically at the it's end. The North Carolina weather is leaning toward hot. Very hot.

I wore tights today and I regretted the decision. Far too hot already.(I even shredded them)

This is my least favorite time of year. The heat in Charlotte become nearly unbearable, my allergies make me crazy, and nothing really exiting in my near future. The only really exciting thing is my sister is home from school for the summer. She is a sequential artist at SCAD. Basically she is in getting her degree in comic books. I am so proud of her!
Anyway, back to the heat.
I really hate shorts, I'm not built for midriff tops (i.e I'm too pudgy). Plain tanks hang too big and t-shirts just seem too warm. So I am currently obsessed with the concept of shredding t-shirts (and tanks). I have been collecting DIY shirt ideas for years now, and never really successfully created anything. I always screwed them up some how.

But this trend of literally shredding cloth so i't hangs like mesh (but somehow more flattering and way more high fashion) has really grabbed my attention. I wanna. So I'm gonna.

So i did this search online to find the best tutorial. I went though some crappy ones. Seriously. But two You Tube vids has what I needed. I could figure out how to shread the thing. I have been ripping holes in stuff long enough. I just wanted to make sure I knew how to start it without screwing it.

So I found this girl's blog who also had a wonderful you tube video. These gave me a great idea of what I already knew. But would be really useful for someone unfamiliar with fabric.

THIS VIDEO WAS GREAT! Short, to the point, no annoying girl going "er, um, and, um, yeah."

So i'm going to give this a try, and we shall see how it goes.

Wish me luck!
-Vanessa*


Thursday, May 28, 2009

Animazement 2009 (get ready for pictures!)

So, I'm sorry that posting has been inconsistent (at best) thus far, but the biggest drain on my life and energy has come to an end. Each year I hit The Raliegh, NC Anime con, Animazement. I have watched it grow from a baby to a cranky teen with a serious attitude problem. Each year that I attend I have run a table in Artist's Alley. This has involved all types of trials to overcome. Weather it be the years where the alley was 24 hours and you didn't own the table (i slept less than 8 hours all weekend), or the year I was placed behind a door, or this year where the rules changed and I had to argue and stress heavily because they decided my jewelry was "not Japanese enough". I take a great deal of my inspiration from Tokyo street fashion so I was kinda pissed. But everything ended as well as it could so I was happy. Tired but happy. This was the outside of the convention center. I managed to get a lovely shot of both the fountian and Sir Walt without any nerd hanging off anything. Thrilling.
This was my table. I swear it looked better in person. I could have sold this necklace 5 times over. I guess I need a to make a few variations on it. My clockwork heart. I should have made several of these. Next year, Art auction. These gent were happy to pose for a shot. I loved the green lizard's mohawk. This girl's color choices were top notch!This lovely lady had the best Lolita out fit there (imo) She was the bee's knees. Nice too. I liked this girls ability to make Sweet Loli Look so Rock & Roll. This guy's shirt was the most amazing thig I saw all weekend. AMAZING. Let's call this guy A-RAD-in. I don't know what the best part was. The tats, the sweats, or the purple t-shirt sliced to make a vest. This fails so hard it wins. So I'm talking to my friend Bob (who I was so glad to see and can't wait to see again. He's a really super talented artist and graphic designer) when he suddenly trailed off and looked over my shoulder. I turned to see this.Yeah she was pretty hot. So i let him take a picture. Now I get to hold it ransom. :) THIS.This was what my BFF (OMG!) spent the past 3 months making. Non stop. OMG.They are Steel Samaraui and Pink Princess from Pheonix Wright. Spot on too. My sister as young Pheonix. One of the highlights of my weekend was to meet Michael Sinterniklass of the Venture Brothers fame. He plays Dean Venture (one of my favorite characters) I was overwhelmed by how f-ing cute he was. And nice. And funny. I'm in luv. And yes. I'm dressed as The Bat. I'm amazing, I know. Shoes. Oh my god. Shoes. All in all. Not a bad show. We won a judges award in the cosplay competion, I made a great lump of cash, I got to sleep (some) and actually enjoy the convention, and I got to make new friends, and see the old. I'm gonna go take a nap now. Luv, Vanessa*

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Le Tired


After an exhausting couple of days, I can't wait to go to Raliegh for my boy's sister's graduation. I only have to endure another... 14 or so more hours of work. Oh boy. At least the crazy day that this was has come to an end. I don't even want to talk about it. I'm glad its over. I need to get my rear in gear. I have a but load of work to cram into an extremely small amount of time. So what do I do as a substitute for work? Join Chictopia. Super addictive.

Wore this the other day. Thought I would post it.
(Target cardigan, Threads hoodie t-shirt, Thrifted Skirt, SkwrrL* Collective Necklaces)

This color combo is one of my favorites. I really love the way black and teal look together when cut by white. Or silver in the case of the necklaces. I almost always wear them together.

I am going to work on jewelry until I pass outin the wire. Let's hope I don't have any nightmares tonight.
<3 Vanessa*

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Whew, what a day!



So, after my boyfriend heard that I was working so hard to not spend any money, he offered to buy me an outfit for his sister's graduation. I got so excited! I told you I was experiencing shopping withdrawal. I don't consider myself the type of girl that can't live without new clothes, but any girl that claims to not to get excited, even just a bit, from a new pair of shoes is lying. I think it all goes back to elementary school and picking out your new outfit for the first day back. I loved getting that new pair of shoes and my new dress to impress my teachers and classmates. So to this day a whole new outfit just sends chills of excitement up my spine. So I spend a good hour and a half trying crazy new ways to wear what I have so that I would feel awesome when I hit the town to shop. Let me just say that I really should experiment more, but when it comes to leaving the house, I should listen to Coco Chanel. She said that you should always remove the last thing you put on. In my case, I should remove it and replace it with something more sane. But you be the Judge.

My first outfit. Not a total failure, but I knew I couldn't walk in those shoes. But, MAN,
(Walmart stretch pants, vintage Empire acrylic cardigan, eyeshadow lace top)do I love those shoes. <3 (Issac Mizzarahi for Target)

My second outfit.This one will most likely be used in the future, but it needs a good bit of tweaking first. Those pants are not the worlds most flattering. And this was not the worst picture. As for me being headless? That is the result of my craptacular photography skills. I hope to get better as this goes on. (Target Shoes, Old Navy pants, Calvin Klein reversible men's belt, same Eyeshadow shirt from above)

My third and final. I went with this one. Seems ok right? Cute dress, tights that are a bizarre but effective choice, great jewelry.
(Thrifted vintage dress, Morbid Designs Tights)

But wait... What the F*ck is on your feet?!? (Steve Madden) I could have chosen something basic to counter act the two crazy pieces, but nooooo. I had to go over board. Coco is rolling in her grave.

On the upside check out my sweet jewelry. My ring is vintage. Completely awesome and unique. It's one of my favorite pieces right now.

The earrings are made entirely by me. I shaped, soldered, patina ed, hammered, and wrapped the pair together. The stone is a AAA grade Labradorite. One of my favorite stones and some of the best I've ever seen. The fire is incredible, flashing more blues and greens than most. I will eventually be selling them on my ETSY page. SkwrrL* Collective If you would like a pair now, just e-mail me, pirate-skwrrl@hotmail.com , and I will get them started for you.

My day of shopping went quite well, and I am the proud oner of a new pair of beautiful shoes, basic denim skirt, and tommorow I will pick up my new Vera Wang shirt (don't get too excited, it's from Kholes. On the whole I haven't been overly thrilled by her line there. I kinda Feel like she's phoning it in, but I fell hard for a couple of pieces from this most reacent realise.) I will post pictures tommorrow.

The final bit of excitement for the day came when I logged into my ETSY page. I found out that I was featured in a Treasury! My very first one! Luckly it's a beautiful one. Seriously. Check it out.
Ok, I am out for the night. Have a pleasent evening.

<3 Vanessa*

Monday, May 4, 2009

Shopping In My Closet

I have been dying to go shopping lately. With the changing of the weather my winter layering has simply become far too warm. Not only can I not afford the shopping spree of my dreams, I really can't a afford to hit Goodwill. All my (kinda) extra money is being applied to the making of jewelry for my show. So I decided to go rummaging through my closet for forgotten gems. The result was actually fairly good, with one minor hitch. All of it needs to be re sized before I can wear them. I have a huge collection of vintage finds, and make frequent trips to all the local thrift shops. I have amassed quite a pile of clothes I love, but look ridiculous on me due to my diminutive stature. To put it nicely, I'm petite. To be realistic, I am really short, have no shoulders, and size 5 feet. I have been known to wear kids clothing and had quite a collection of little boys t-shirts. So I guess I really need to pack up my goodies and take them to a tailor, because I really am bored with my current wardrobe. These dresses are so versatile, particularly the navy blue tube dress. It's an Express and really is lovely in person. It fits like a dream up top, but has about 4inches too much length at the bottom.
Both of these look vintage but sadly only the multi color one has any real age to it. The black on is actully a beautiful Libertine dress from when Target ran their budget line. Both are too long for me. : (


No one can ever have enough Nautical inspired clothing. I love both of these vintage dresses with a passion, though neither have ever left the house on my body. (both waaay too long)
The Blue one was used in a photo shoot I was in about a year ago. These dresses are too cute to hide any longer. I am too cute. The black skirt here is really really cute, but looks ridiculous due to the excessive length. The gray one doesn't look ridiculous, it would just flatter me sooo much more if it fit. These last skirts are simple black pencil skirts that I have a great deal of love for. The black with pink lineing is Issac Mizzarahi for target, and has always been 2 sizes too big for me and way too long. The black with pink petals is simplty to die for (and too long). A beautiful silk blend with appliqued rose petals, it was a vintage find made only better by the jacket that came with it. They will never be worn as a set again, but oh, they will be worn. Check out the beautiful colors! I'm in love!

Hopefully I can get all this fixed up proper like so I can wear all these loverly pieces.



Final note of the post. Sugar. Horray for sugar. For real. Thank-you to Snapple and Pepsi for making your lovely drinks without the nasty fake taste of Corn Syrup. I can give diet Coke a rest for a while. And would someone PLEASE tell Dr. Pepper to jump on this delicious bandwagon! Now I'm off to savor my Pepsi to the fine sounds of The Velvet Underground.

-Vanessa*

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Creating a blog while drinking.


I have reached the point where I know I need to be making a blog happen in order to get my name out there. I have been reading a great deal of beautiful art blogs and Fashionista blogs for quite some time, and I thought, "Why not?". I Have not always been the very best at this sort of thing but I would like somewhere to post my bizarre collection of interests in hopes of someone else finding them interesting. Why not have a jewelry/craft/ fashion/comic/art/ cosplay/ general opinion on the surrounding world & my day blog. At this current moment I thing this endevour is a fabulous idea. I am also on my third glass of super cheap champagne. So for anyone who could posibly be interested, welcome to the daily(ish) update on my life.