Friday, December 6, 2013

Corvidae Holiday Sale


A very rare Corvidae sale! I don't do them often, and this is 30% people! Get your hands on gorgeous gifts for someone special (especially you)!
Runs only until this Sunday! Enter SHOPSMALL30 at checkout. 

Happy Shopping,
Vanessa*

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Tea for 2sday (I mean Wednesday)


I worked the second half of the day today, and man was it tough to convince my body that leaving the house was a good idea. It was about 40 degrees and viciously pouring rain all day. The kind of day where you just don't want to get from under your covers, but pile on more blankets and catch up on some reading. Although my evil enchanted bed soothingly sang her siren song I pulled apart the sheets and managed some productivity. But not until after a large mug of vanilla tea with honey and almond milk.Or two. :)
I managed a few prototype pieces that will be making their debut at Beadlush this weekend, though I think there are a few things I would like to change about the ones that will inevitably end up on my Corvidae Page. I think I'm going to do a more flexible chain for the little galaxy necklaces. I just feel like the stiffer chain looks much better on longer pieces. I may end up with different lockets because I can get get them more consistently, but overall I'm pretty pleased. 





I'm actually kind of in love with my little galaxy pendants. They are hand water-colored (each is unique) and sealed in resin with a Hematite star. I am aiming to have these guys on line for sale by Dec 3rd. Ish. You guys know how I work though, so god only knows. But these go in Beadlush TODAY! Come and get 'em! Only $29 ea!
Luv,
Vanessa*



Wednesday, November 6, 2013

The're All Gonna Laugh At You


With the Carrie remake being released just in time for Halloween (and me having all the necessities on hand) I decided it would be kinda fun. Since Halloween fell on a work day this year I opted against an accurate costume (you know the really easy one wear you just wear a long beige slip and dump blood all over you) and decided to go for a more stylized or glam Carrie. I still wanted copious amounts of blood, but I just didn't feel like being cold and sticky all damn day. 

After the dress, I decided the most important thing for a glamorous Carrie costume would be a dripping blood necklace. It's comprised of basically every red bead I had on hand. I used Czech glass for the bulk of it but there is a significant amount of crystal, pearls, and some vintage German drops. 
The make up was super easy to put on and a bitch to get off.  The base is a clown pink with cheap bright red over the top. I filled in the darker color from a wound fx set and lightened my eyebrows. For a subtle finishing touch I used red polish to create a drippy mani that I liked so much I may do it more often. And for the dress I took an entirely unworn (possible) bridesmaid dress out of my "to sell" pile and went to town on it. I used a blend of acrylic paint and water to alternately paint and dribble color down the front. I could have stopped there but I felt like I need some sparkle. I traced all the major dribble lines down with red glitter glue, and with my trusty E600 affixed every sparkly red drop or rhinestone I had on hand. I'm rather pleased with the result though I may add more in the future because let's face it, when it comes to sparkly blood, more is more. I love that this dress is something I'm sure to break back out for upcoming events. If I don't finish everything for Dragon Con then Carrie may make an appearance there, and I for see this dress being worn with full Zombie makeup because I have needed an undead prom queen costume in my life for far too long. Poor dress. You are going to get so much more wear now that I've destroyed you.







Year two for this tradition, Jennifer, myself, and our two Johns went out for Halloween Chinese food, and screwed around in the parking lot afterword. She is dressed as Harley Quinn, and I was having major wig jealousy. That thing was lovely. Isn't she just the cutest? So we fooled around for as long as the boys would put up with, and headed home. Both of us had work in the morning, and lots of makeup to scrub off. My bathtub is still full of red glitter. 
How was your Halloween?
Luv,
Vanessa*

Monday, November 4, 2013

Grim Grinning Ghosts


Even though this year was a pretty light one (for me anyway) costume wise, I still had a great deal of fun just screwing around with my friends. For the first time in 2 years I went out on the Saturday before halloween. The night all the drunk 20-something's celebrate. Brittany (who rarely ends up on my blog costume-less), my sister, I decided this year we were going out with the masses. We ended up at the Music Factory for a rather large, loud event. It was so loud and distracting that I failed to take even one single photo. Ah, well. We crowd watched, took in the costumes, and had 1 beer. We are party animals. A bit after midnight the decision was made to head uptown and grab a bite to eat. Fed and watered exhaustion was settling in, bit we couldn't go home without some photos! This church front was nicely lit, so the three of us goofed around and snapped some lousy photos.  












I was going to dress as an alien as my real costume wasn't finished yet, but I screwed around so long I ended up getting ready in 5 minuets flat. I was a bit disappointed i wasn't dressed a bit more costume-y but in the end I was just glad to be dressed (and warm-ish).
Purple blouse- Anthro I think (via Buffalo Exchange)
Blouse as vest- Forever 21
Skirt- No tag (via clothing swap)
Crinoline- Hot Topic
Tights and Hat-Walmart
Gloves- Urban Outfitters
Boots- Vince Camuto (gift from Britt)
Necklace- Corvidae 


Overall, we had a really good time. It had been a while since the three of us had really been able to hang out and mess around. It just reminded me of how much I need to put in more effort to spend time with the people I love, instead of Netflix and Tumblr. 
Party On,
Vanessa*

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Fall Flowers



The leaves are just starting to really get their Fall on around these parts. I visited Asheville, NC just a few weeks ago and it was weeks ahead of us. The tops of the trees there were ablaze with the seasonal changes, and I found myself really wanting our trees to get with the program. When we snapped these photos some of the summers last flowers we just blooming, and I couldn't resist posing in front of all that pretty purple. I hoped it would accentuate the burgundy hue Tony had added to my hair that morning (along with temporary cute crimps). I love showing off his handiwork whenever I get a chance.




Top- Forever 21 (Thanks Jennifer)
Skirt- No Brand (reversible. Picked up at a swap)
Tights- Forever 21
Shoes- Seychelles Blimey
Necklace- Corvidae


Hope Everyone has a safe and happy Halloween! I am putting the finishing touches on my bloody costume right now. We'll see how it turns out.
Falling for you,
Vanessa*

Friday, October 25, 2013

Parasitic (or I Want My 79 Min Back)



I don't really do movie reviews here, but with Halloween around the corner I thought it might be a fun filler post that doesn't require any real work  change of pace. As I mentioned in my last post, I've been having sort of a rough time right now. As a well adjusted adult, I tend to bury my problems in a deep hole of denial and movies. Some of my very favorite are horror flicks. I adore slimy creatures, zombies, gore, violence, and the frequent ridiculous situations that arise in some of the less serious fare. Now don't get me wrong, I really get excited by a true, unique (well as unique as horror gets) movie that has a great deal of care and effort put in, but that doesn't mean I don't crave some terrible brain candy from time to time. For that reason, I will occasionally watch something with terrifically bad reviews, just to see if everyone missed the point, or at least missed the chance to laugh. "Parasitic" was one such a movie. It boasts a whopping 2.1 on IMDB, a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, and some of the worst reviews I had come across in some time. The premise however seemed terribly intriguing, or at least terrible and intriguing. As it turns out, the majority was absolutely right on with this one. This movie was such a perfect storm of bad acting, terrible writing, and the director knowing just enough to get himself in trouble. If he (Tim Martin) hadn't been trying so hard to control everything here,(written,directed, and effects by) perhaps he could have stepped back and turned a critical eye on his masterpiece. From what I can tell Tim made this as a way to showcase his fairly impressive practical effect skills. However, this could have been achieved better by almost any other means rather than to release THIS.
I really try to find the positive in stuff but there was slim pickins here. Let's break down the problems. 
Terrible sound quality, no lighting, and bad directing. Abysmal acting. Some of the worst I've ever seen. One reviewer I read said that they made him appreciate regular bad acting and I couldn't agree more. That being said, they could have had Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Helen Miran, and Don Cheadle, acting their asses off, and this script would have made them look awful. The premise was weak, even for a virus, parasite, zombie, stripper movie. SPOILER ALERT. I'm just going to spoil the whole damn flick here. You'll thank me. Bitchy goth stripper stereotype orders sushi. Sushi (which is green) is full of parasite. Bitch eats parasite. She gets sick and removes her bra (which I wouldn't think was that unreasonable if it weren't for the rampant misogyny throughout. I mean barfing in an underwire can be awful)  Things grow out of her. She turns Zombie and begins to share her affliction with her equally quality human coworkers that she has trapped in the night club with her. For stupid reasons. She has that only key. She locks in her coworkers and none of them have friggin cell phones. Also the windows are barred in case the idea to bust one out crossed your mind. Useless crap happens, people die, people turn, guy commits suicide with a bic lighter, and then these absolutely beautiful practical creatures grace the screen for maybe a combined 1min, 30 seconds. The main monster at the end is huge, scary, and beautifully crafted, but only on screen for the last ,poorly lit, 30 seconds. Watch the movie on Netfilx, but ONLY the last 30 seconds. It will (almost ) spare you the experience of the rest of the movie, but you will get to see Tim's do what he does best. And in all fairness, he does it well. Just don't quit your day job Timmy.



















In conclusion, you would feel more fulfilled staring at the wall for 79 min then watching this. And that's honestly being nice.
So has anyone else seen this, and should I do any more of these? 
What say you?
Vanessa*

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Lost in the Fog

Photo of me and John by John D. Simmons. 

I'm sorry to have been away for so long, as well as so sporadic in my posts over that past year or so. I desperately wish to make more of this blog and to become more committed here, but I've been having a seriously rough time in the recent past. I do what I can to keep things light and professional in the blogosphere, but sometimes shit gets kinda tough and makes it hard to want to pretend. I work in customer service all day so it's exhausting when the day has ground me down to nothing to come home and write a perky story to please readers. I feel like I have to always deliver a wittily written, beautifully photographed post or no one will care. Perhaps need to learn just to be a bit more honest. Perhaps this can be a place for me to unload some of the weight I carry around, even if I don't get too specific. Sometimes you just need to spend a few days (at a time) watching horror movies on Netflix. I think you guys can probably understand that.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

GISHWHES

 Have you herd of Gishwhes? That stands for the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the Worrld Has Ever Seen.Started by Misha Collins (of Supernatural fame) it has run for two years. Last year it shattered two Guinness World Records: one for the largest scavenger hunt ever, with more than 14,000 participants from 69 countries and the second, for the most pledges to commit a Random Act of Kindness (over 93,000 in 94 countries!).
People register are assigned to teams of 15 (they can also assemble their own teams). They then wait patiently for the hunt to begin.Once the "List" is posted the event commences and there is one week to complete as many tasks as the team can. We had a two part team consisting of the (east coast) Aataleptics (us) and the mid west folk, the Hufflepuffs. We split as much of the list as possible (which is hundreds of items long BTW) and frankly, pulled off quite a number of them. This post shares some of the items that we managed last year.

Lovers kiss with at least 11 types of food between you. This smelled AWFUL.

Do battle wearing only armor made of items found in the kitchen. Yes, we are naked an wrapped in tinfoil. I'm a cyborg pirate, and Jennifer is a samurai.
Stormtrooper cleaning the pool next to a sunbather in a bikini. (all we could find was a clone trooper costume, and it was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too small)

Commodor 64 photographed by an old time-y camera.

Mounted head with a mounted moose.

Cheese dress. Yes. A dress made entirely out of cheese.

Absorbasurus rex.

Shopping for diamonds in a wig made of popcorn.

 Get Gishwhes unionized.

Secret storage room in Area 51

 Full ski gear in a yoga class of 10 people. P.S. the only class i could get into was heated. As in 95+ degrees.

  A life size taco and burrito eating a a taco. Bonus, it was photographed in a taco bell.

My absolute favorite one: Tea party in a junkyard with a string quartet.

We had a positively MAD experience. It was a completely unforgettable experience, and one that I have signed myself up for yet again. In 2 days and 19 hours, the shenanigans begin. Keep us in your thoughts as we dedicate all of our spare time to making complete fools of ourselves in public.

Wish us luck,
Vanessa*