DIY - Fractal Painting

We rearranged some (extremely large) furniture in our bedroom recently and found that we have 2 GIANT blank walls facing our bed. We were on a mission to fill them with photos but somehow the print order didn't go through. Luckily a few days later I came across this post on Young House Love.

This is their version:

It's perfect, even nerdy boyfriend approved. We had a coupon for Michael's (40% off yey!) and I bought the biggest canvas I could carry (24x48 - $15) and 3 bottles of green paint. I threw in a few used bottles of tan and teal but ultimately we made probably 40 different colors with just these 5 + white. that part was a lot of fun.

This was a LOOONNGGGG project. Here's day 1 after drawing all the lines and what boyfriend tells me are called factals (a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts). Sorry these first few are boring, they were taken on my phone.

Day 2:

(we were both standing on chairs to get a good shot, here's boyfriend showing me how his phone is better than mine...)

And finally, after many backaches and finger cramps, here is the final product on our wall. It looks so small up there but that's only because this wall is mammoth-sized.

(from the bed)

(close-up)

(side shot)

LOVE!

Now we just need a billion things around it and probably another painting to fill the next wall.

Book Club - The Ellements of Personal Style / Elle editors

This is a great photo-montage of 25 fashion icons, including their past and present style, closets, jewelry boxes and general lives. I had a hard time getting through the interviews of the women I didn't actually know about but I enjoyed the saturated photos and collages on every page.

Here are my notes:

1. Lea Michele - I totally didn't recognized her as the Glee star I'm obsessed with in this great gown. However, she mentions her stylist a few times in the interview which lends me to believe she is given more credit than she deserves in the fashion world at the moment.

2. Erin Wasson - She is way too messy and somewhat lazy for me to relate to. She also loves to display real art next to crap and I can't really respect that. I moved through her article quickly.

3. Padma Lakshmi - Love her! I would kill for her jewelry collection. I also love that she "commemorates everything with jewelry and food" as these are my two favorite things.

4. Fergie - She is very eclectic but no matter what look she's wearing it always seems 'rich'.

5. Anjelica Huston - She's so evil and I love her in every movie, ever. She sticks to a simple and crisp look that I can respect even though I think it is a little boring.

6. Ashley Greene - She doesn't look a thing like her Twilight character! She's still figuring her style out but I love the looks they did talk about in the book.

7. Tracee Ellis Ross - She is very colorful in a great 70's way and definitely has her own style.

8. Christina Hendricks - BOOBS. That's all I have to say. But really, she tells it like it is: they're there and you can't hide them. She sticks with figure flattering, classic and simple. she definitely dresses like Joan but more updated. God she is beautiful.

9. Diane Von Furstenberg - Love her saturated prints. I also love that she designs dresses that "Showcase the woman." She is so confident in her style and career and I an very enviable of her.

10. Olivia Wilde - Very chic/hippie style. I love most of her pieces but it's just not sparkly enough for me.

11. Estelle - I don't agree with any of her choices with she definitely has a point of view - architectural shapes and glitter on everything.

12. Yvonne Force Villareal - I was really bored by this article. The only interesting thing is that she wears lycra cat suits under everything, which is how I feel about leggings. I love in those (in my house, not outside so much). Don't get me started on her weird art collection.

13. Margherita Missoni - It's great that she wears Missoni about 90% of the time. I know I only want to be photographed in my own designs so I don't really understand why a designer would wear any other name.

14. Katherine Pope - Good for her for being so powerful and all that but her clothes really bored me! It's all about chic office wear, day and night, office and red carpet. Too cookie cutter.

15. Dita Von Teese - She doesn't usually keep her clothes on but god she is beautiful so who cares. It seems her 'accessory' is make up. Her face is perfect! However, I would be so incredibly bored only wearing clothes from one era with all her strict rules. I need more freedom than that to be inspired.

16. Kate mara - Yey redheads! However, her pretty-preppy-pink style bores and sometimes grosses me out. Maybe it's just her culture up north but I feel like preps are just trying too hard and I want them to stop.

17. Alicia Keys - All I could think about was "man she has amazing hair." If I had to have dark curly hair I could only dream it would be as perfect as hers. I loved how Elle made sure Alicia knew her earlier style was just too-damn-much. Lately however, she has made considerable strides transforming herself into someone seen as uber-chic.

18. Becky Newton - Boring article but I loved this: Every girl needs a shoe that goes with nothing and therefore goes with everything. That's how I shop for shoes and bags. Otherwise I'd be buying a new pair of shoes for every outfit and I'd be wicked broke.

19. Candice Bushnell - I love that she is "obsessed with the image of a woman going somewhere" because this is how I pose in dressing rooms. I want to know how people are going to see me walking, standing, sitting, dancing, generally moving around. (even though I just sit at a desk all day and rarely go out).

20. Janie Bryant - Like Dita, she uses certain eras to inspire her (which makes sense since she's a costume designer) but, thankfully, she moves through several eras. She also enjoys some restyling of her own, shopping vintage and changing silhouettes and styles of not-so-flattering pieces. Love that. Look at her closet!

21. Charlotte Gainsbourg - All I got out of this is that she is very laid back and becomes obsessed with one piece at a time. At the time of this interview she had several pairs of flat boots made to copy a pair her mother used to wear. She wears these EVERYDAY, boring.

22. Fatima Robinson - I've loved her for a long time, not so much her clothes until recently. She was into the hip hop baggy look but I was happy to read that she never actually embraced that and only wore it as part of the job. She's very girlie and loves her accessories.

23. Minnie Mortimer - I like that she designed a capsule collection showcasing dressshirts and named each look after her famous friends. Also I want to steal her shoe closet!!!

24. Charlotte Rampling - I've never heard of her but I now want to watch all her super-old movies. She's very feminine and balances that with very masculine clothes.

25. Milla Jovovich - She is perfect. It's a proven fact. We have similar styles, at least logistically, in that she wears basics but likes to dress up the look with one "whimsical" piece to make people smile. I like to wear atleast 3 pieces at all times (a top, a bottom, and something to make the outfit unique like a scarf, statement necklace, hairpiece, etc). Hers is definitely the closet I'd like to sneak into and stuff my favorite pieces into a large handbag hoping she didn't notice...

I know this is a super long read. It probably took me longer to type this all out than it did to actually read the book. I love this book and it did help me figure out how to begin figuring out my own style and ambition. This was published in 2010 but I feel like it's still pretty relevant give or take a few icons. Check this one out asap.

Sharing - New Do

Last night I couldn't take my hair anymore. It got to the point where my bangs weren't the same color and my hair because my roots are just that grown out. Some were even calling me.....BLONDE...

BEFORE

DURING :P

*****TA-DA*****

I absolutely love it! I hope it doesn't wash out too fast. FYI this is the color that I always use...and it apparently fades to blonde haha. My hair's gotten so long I had to resort to brushing the dye through it all and almost ran out. This is why I go so long between dying. It's so frustrating to do myself but I'm not going to pay someone else 4x what the box of dye costs. If you're wondering this is the shade I used: Garnier Nutrisse Haircolor, 66 True Red Pomegranate

DIY - Beaded Necklace Knockoff-Knockoff

Inspired by Flamingo Toes' Necklace Knockoff -

I wanted to give the multi-strand beaded necklace another try. I came across Flamingo Toes' version with a ribbon woven through a chain to add an extra texture to all the strands. I added 7 strands of varying green glass beads with the antique style chain and clipped on a vintage fish broach for extra charm.

I made this one extra long because I am really into the over-sized, stand-out jewelry out now. I want pieces that will dress up a plain T-shirt (that I wear pretty often to work) and also add some glam to my 'dressy' blouses.

I love the shades are green in the beads and how the fish broach doesn't match but still goes with the design. Matchy-matchy is not my style.

Love it.

DIY - Vintage Bracelet Re-Do

I'm finally getting around to using all those great vintage jewelry pieces from my several trips to the flea market. See more like this in the near future...I'm still brainstorming. These will also all be available in my Etsy store eventually.

DIY Tutorial - Multi-strand Necklace

While shopping online illegally at work I came across a set of awesome beaded necklaces at Old Navy. The prices are great but I'm only "window shopping" due to an upcoming vacation so I figured I'd try my hand at some beading. Walmart had a pack of 18 strands of black and gray glass beads for $4 and the cone spacers 4 for $2. This ended up making 2 necklaces. I might go back and get some packs of different colors and try for a longer version.

Materials:
10 strands of glass beads
Beading wire or string
Cone spacers
Jump rings
Chain
Beading pliers
Scissors

Tip:
To make the cone spacers' top hole larger, use the round nose pliers to gauge it.

1. Leaving the beads on the original strings, thread the beading wire through the strand. This is much easier than picking them up one by one. Cut the original string and pull it out so the beads are only on the wire.

2. Thread 4 strands at time. This will reduce the amount of ugly knots you'll have to hide. At the end add 1" for every strand. This will be the string hidden under the cones. 4 strands of beads = 4" at each end of the wire. Cut and knot. I used the pliers to pull the knots as tight as possible.

3 and 4. Layout your beads flat and at every bend between bead strands, use the pliers to crimp the bend. This is helpful if you're using wire as it holds its shape and the strands get trickier when you're using 10 of them.

5. Thread another short piece of wire through the crimped ends. Thread this short wire through the cone.

6. Use the pliers to pull the loops through the cone top.

7. Hook a jump ring through the loops and through your chain. Pull the wires tight so they are barely visible above the cone.

REPEAT STEPS 5-7 FOR OTHER END. My chain is 18" long but you can easily make yours shorter (don't forget to add a clasp) or longer to better match the inspiration necklace.

Sharing - Spring Cleaning

Next on the season finale of Hoarding: Buried Alive...

Yeah that's my office...and yeah I've been watching the marathon of hoarders all day and still haven't started cleaning! Hopefully showing you will embarrass me to the point where I need to clean some corner of the room up...maybe. I also picked the grainy, no-flash photo to scare you a little. Maybe tomorrow there will be a neat little post!

Summer Scarves!

This is what I've been working on this evening...I've gotten about 4 together so far. These are a great quick project and I LOVE how fluttery they are when you walk! More photos later :)