So I am totally in love with the QuellyRue Designs Afro Woman sweatshirt (pictured above). Because everyone is on how fly they are and they are hand crafted by Raquel herself, only a limited number go up and when they do, I’m never fast enough to buy one before they are sold out again. I work and don’t live by the computer so I decided to make my own sweatshirt inspired by this Quelly Rue one. Step One: purchase a sweatshirt. I’ve purchased a sweatshirt. For step two, I have chosen to base my graphic off one I created for my natural hair blog, AGrlCanMac, pictured below. Step three, I will determine what types of media I want to use to create it: fabric, fabric paint a design on, or felt.
Because I’m working on a million projects at once (I really need to get with doing one project at a time), I will provide updates as I make progress with this. What projects are you working on?
This DIY Gladiator Sandals tutorial I saw recently is ingenious. Why didn’t I see this tutorial earlier?! It is super easy and is making me want to dig out my sandals (we do have an Indian summer goin here in the big apple- was 70 something degrees today!) and do this and wear them out somewhere. For those in climates where it will still be warm for a few more months, you definitely can do this now. I must remember this for next summer.
This tutorial above was guest featured by GlitterNGlue. I checked out her site and love it, I followed instantly (she’s a fellow “WordPresser”). She has so many cool crafts to do and I love that so many of them involve accessories.
I love Erin Bailey of Scandalous Beauty. I fell in love with her beauty channel on Youtube years ago, she doesn’t really update it now but she still has her site and is still a huge beauty enthusiast. I follow her on Instagram and just found out that she has a food Instagram account AND a food blog. As lover of cooking and an emerging foodie, I am loving her food blog, Bread Butter Wine. It has totally been added to my Reader on here.
So those are my link picks. What links are you all diggin?
This will be the start of many phone posts when my days are packed with productivity and adventure outside of the home. I got around to doing the Sharpie mug craft last weekend. I first saw it on A Beautiful Mess and then kept seeing it all over Pinterest and finally said let’s give it a go.
I bought the mug on sale at Target for the low and I already had Sharpie markers laying around. On a clean and plain porcelain mug, write whatever you would like on it with a permanent marker, set your oven to 350 degrees and let the mug bake in there for 30 minutes. Take it out and let cool completely before use. That’s it. Elsie from A Beautiful Mess advised they hold up better when you hand wash them. They make great gifts. This was just a trial run for me. I want to make some more w various designs on them.
Ever have a gorgeous pair of shoes that you can’t bring yourself to wear because they are too tight? I learned how to stretch my shoes from this cool tutorialfrom Youtuber, KocicBeauty.
I wanted to learn how to make my own custom baseball caps (I want to make one with Ankara fabric!) and stumbled on this tutorial on how to make a paper baseball cap. This would be a fabulous craft for kids and they would have fun customizing their own. Shoot, I want to make one to embellish myself. They’re so easy and cheap to make. I’m thinking a paper mache newspaper baseball cap could be an idea too. I’ll have to try out both.
Hey guys. How have you been? I’ve been at it again, out living life to the absolute fullest with a barely a moment to finish composing any posts. Even now I’m squeezing a post in because I really should be cleaning (and out grocery shopping), I have guests coming over later. My 9-5 work and my independent work has been extra busy lately so I’ve been holding down that fort all while giving thanks for so many positive things to be involved in and being able to keep roof over my head, food in my stomach and yadda yadda.
Last Friday I went to art and subculture magazine, Hycide Magazine’s, one year anniversary party at MOCADA Museum for a bit and then had some AMAZING paella with one of my good friends at [The Brooklyn] Cornerstone restaurant. That paella, now that was LIVING; it was so flavorful and delicious. That Saturday I helped one of my favorite cousins with her birthday party AND did her hair and makeup. #werk #creativebeast Last Saturday was so hectic so I didn’ get any good pics of her face but I beat that face so pretty, I was very happy with my work. Which, crazily, is a rarity for me because I can be really hard on myself and my skills most of the time. I’m getting better at not being too hard on myself. I just love doing makeup and want to be freakishly good at it. But anyway….
This weekend I went to Cornerstone on Friday night and last night. Lol. Can’t get enough of the place; I just love the food (everything tastes so fresh), service and ambiance, it’s dope there. if you live in NYC or Brooklyn/Queens area, check them out. Yesterday I also did makeup for the wonderfully talented designer, Selly-Rabi Kane’s, SP’13 Lookbook. After the shoot wrapped, I jetted home to change so I could attend Oyato‘s SP’13 Collection Showcase (my magazine, EXUDE magazine was one of the sponsors). The showcase was beautiful. Her pieces have amazing detail and sophistication and the models were stunning.
I made a pair of earrings recently, hadn’t made any pair in months. I used paper beads and fabric to create them. If you follow me on Instagram then you saw them already. A picture of them is in the gallery above. I like how they turned out.
So I’ve been doing all that and of course grabbing inspiration from everywhere. I just recently started getting into music artist, Azealia Banks‘s, sound. She raps and sings and I like her style and creativity. She’s quirky and not everyone will like her sound/style but I love all kinds of art, including the sometimes weird and quirky so I dig it. Her music production likens electro beat, dance, 1990′s house music. You all don’t even know, I loooove house music (soulful house, deep house- I love it all) and listening to her stuff is giving me hella ideas. I am loving 1991 off of her latest EP, 1991. So takes me back to the days of Zhane, Cece Peniston and Montell Jordan.
I’m diggin the DIY Macbook case tutorial that AnneOrShine shared on her Youtube channel recently. So cute and they look fun to make. I should make one to further claim that I will soon be a proud owner of a Macbook (Pro). They also make great clutches or stylish holders for your things if you don’t have a slim laptop computer.
Pillows a-la-Mode recently shared some fly Scrabble letter pillows she made for her home decor and instructions on how to make your own. When I am home longer than a few scant hours, I will settle down and make some for my new couch.
I can’t wear aerosol perfumes and colognes anymore so a few years ago, I took a liking to perfume oils. I think it’d be fun to play around with creating my own scents so I found a video on eHow on how to make your own perfume oil. It’s not an instant gratification type of project but still one that I want to try none the less.
Jazz up your plain binders by covering them with fabric for functional use or to incorporate into your home decor and add penash to your bookshelves and/or coffee tables. I saw this tutorial from The Uncluttered Lifestyle pinned on Pinterest and gave it a try. They were super easy to make. I used some vibrant Ankara (African wax print) fabric for mine and am already plotting fabrics to use to make some more.
This is also a great Back-to-School project to have fun, customized binders for kids’ subjects/classes. Wish I would have thought of this in my grade school years, I would have done this to all of mine!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
Fabric of choice- I like cotton fabrics for this kind of craft
Scissors
Spray glue
Binder
Ribbon (optional)
That’s it. It’s so simple and easy and the customization possibilities are endless. Please check out the tutorial over at The Uncluttered Lifestyleand start making some of your own.
I wanted to share some cool DIY projects that I come across and think you may enjoy too.
All summer I’ve been rockin maxi skirts and dresses so I’m loving the DIY’s I’ve come across. Many of them are super easy to do. Tglashen has a great Youtube channel filled with easy clothing tutorials. I really like her “5 min” maxi skirt tutorial, this is a great project for newbie sewers. Veteran sewers will like the ease and almost instant gratification of her projects.
Remember the Isabella necklace by Noquvy that I’ve been lusting after? Well, Shirley of Meek-n-Mild has a tutorial up to make a straight knot necklace that reminds me of the Isabella.
Speaking of necklaces, I am loving the fall trend of collar necklaces and it’s on my list of fall accessories to make. I saw a great tutorial on AlisonIsCrafty‘s YouTube channel on how to make a cute Peter Pan, studded collar [necklace].
Lastly for this week, I stumbled on a site called Apartment Therapy from Pinterest. This site is chock full of inspiration, tips and tutorials for you to add style and character to your apartment. I just moved to a new place back in March and am still getting things better organized and decorating. I’m obsessed with this site at the moment.
I had fun taking basic, wood earrings to the next level by embellishing them using various media and Modge Podge. I used fabric, yarn and acrylic (gold) paint to embellish one pair pictured. I had fun covering the other pair in magazine paper pieces and acrylic paint to decorate the top. I got these earrings at a cheap jewelry shop for about $2/pair. This is a fun, easy and inexpensive craft to do. I want to make some more using some other media like ribbon, poms and more!
This also would make for a great crafting activity for a tween girls’ birthday or slumber party. I think teen girls would enjoy this as well.
This handcrafted Isabella necklace from Etsy shop, Noquvy, is everything beautiful! I first learned of this necklace recently perusing a style blog, Addicted 2 Etsy, that I was new to. I want it so bad. Until I finish zeroing the last of my credit card debt (home free by September!), I cannot justify handing over $102 for it just yet. So until I can buy the real thing, I want to make my own version of it to tide me over until that glorious day.
The rope part, I’m going to try my hand at braiding either friendship bracelet kind of thread, fabric or braid bulky yarn. The other part, I’m going to try my hand at wrapping thread or fabric around thick shoe laces to achieve a bulky chord.
How would you try to recreate this? If you’re not crafty like that, and have the money to invest in this awesome craftsmanship, you can always just buy the necklace and support the artist. I plan to buy a piece when I have more accessories, “play play” money at my disposal.
. So takes me back to the days of Zhane, Cece Peniston and Montell Jordan.
They also make great clutches or stylish holders for your things if you don’t have a slim laptop computer.
