DIY'S and Vacation

Hello Darlings,

I'm trying not to jump up at this moment and send my computer flying, the Time Warp just popped up on my pandora. I really love the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Actually, I missed going to the live performance that was a half hour away from me because of work. I was and still am beyond bummed.

Oh Tim Curry how I love you. x)

Anyways, I plan to post photos of two skirts I dyed and then make that Portland Black Lipstick Co. makeup review I promised in the beginning. No, I haven't forgotten. I swear I haven't. Not to mention I have to finish painting those sandals. I guess I won't have them to wear down south on my upcoming trip, 2-3 days away mind you. It's beyond chaotic. I still have to pack! At least I cleaned my room and did all my laundry. When I was a kid my mom would pack half clean/half dirty clothes because and I quote, "Your "insert family member" has a laundry machine, so why not use it?" We all know that means by the time you roll up to your relative's house you have a bag of 100% dirty clothes. Ugh.

Actually I'm going to stop there because I'm getting grossed out. I hate wearing dirty clothes. I'm not vain, I just don't like the feeling and not to mention the potential smells dirty clothes carry. It's not like I won't touch them or get squeamish, that would be rather ridiculous. I just like to take care of myself and that extends to the things I own.

So... I don't know if there will be a post in the next two days, but I will stock up on photos so while I'm on vacation I won't totally neglect my blog. Actually I doubt it'll be neglected at all. I'll be going down south; good old Tennessee, and my grandparents share my love of the later hours so that means I'm free to write in the day and then party the night away.

 

However it's going to be weird changing from cold weather here to warm there. So I'll have to break out my summer clothes to keep from melting and buy a bottle of sun screen. That's doable. Having to wear less makeup and deal with frizzy hair? Grudgingly doable. Finding out the I'll be an hour or two away from a Coheed and Cambria Concert with the 80% possibility of not being able to go? Just plain torture.

Back to the main idea. Here's what I was thinking about the line of posts.
1.) Those skirts and a mini diy
2.) diy sandal post / outfit
3.) hair / vacation post(s)
4.) baking and whatever artsy things my big sister figure and I do
5.) Concert?!?!
6.) outfit / makeup review
7.) probably will start the goth challenge when I get back. It looks interesting to me.

Good night darlings,
"TGIF," Lady

 

Shirt part II & a angry lady

Hello Darlings.

How are all of you? As promised this is part two of my shirt diy followed by a few personal thoughts on a new experience of mine. Or what I call "You have no right to be rude because I am not your ideal customer." followed by, "You close minded jerk I would tear your fingernails out and boil you alive in motor oil if I wasn't such a nice person." Care to continue reading? I swear it is an actual story followed by a few thoughts and comments and not a dramatic venting rant by me. I promise.

Here is my finished shirt. It has two coats of bleach on it. This is before it was hand washed and left to dry.

Like I said. My camera is bad. This is looking down on the shirt with my bathroom lights. I live in an old farmhouse which explains the lack of lamps and the poor lighting whenever I try and take a picture. Weird huh? Plus I didn't have the patience to wait until the morning and take a photo outside. Chide me as you will, what's done is done.

Now this second photo is after the wash and dry. I like how it dries, but personally I hate my drawing. I plan to re-do this shirt. I might try to throw it in a black fabric dye bath and start over. If the dye will cover up the bleach. I need to do some research first. As far as a first time goes though I think I did O.K. Thoughts or suggestions?

Alright, on to what I would like to talk about today. Now I'm not new to choice words and bullying when it comes to my wardrobe. I'm used to the stares and mistrust. I'm used to the "You could be a pretty girl ifs" and those"that outfit does nothing for you" comments. BUT. I have never been refused service before. So for those of you who have, bear with me while I act exasperated for a moment.

 

My grandmother and I were in Hobby Lobby when we encountered this rude woman working there. I was wearing the shirt above, an ankle length black skirt with my black combat boots. A rather tame outfit in my eyes. Now that is my lone opinion and I recognize that. However this woman gave me the biggest evil eye and barked out an answer to grandma's question before practically running away from us. I don't care what she thinks of me, but no-one is allowed to be rude to my nana!

[That's another story.] However I saw this woman again later while I was looking for black fabric dye. It's a big store and I was lost. She was within 3 feet of me and we made eye contact. I smiled and called loud enough for a few other women to hear, I'm not a whisperer. It was the basic, "Excuse me Ma'am but could you help me find X?"

She looked me up and down slowly once again and with this look that said she smelt something rotten  she clearly turned on her heel and headed in the opposite direction. Now I'm not exaggerating and I didn't imagine this. Other customers saw this interaction and so did two other employees. Actually the older woman employee who complimented me on my shirt came over for damage control in the form of helping me find what I was looking for. But still!

yessss!!

 I suppose I'm just surprised and upset. I know that even if I did report her attitude it wouldn't matter and this won't be the last time something like this happens.I'm just going to have to channel this, then mentally file it and carry on. But I'm so angry. It's acceptable behavior to judge and discriminate against the girl in black while the woman with noticeable B.O and still in last week's pajamas who didn't take a bath or brush her teeth this morning is treated better than me.  [[I swear on my future grave I really do run into girls like this and I have to hold my breath and run away!]]

I feel like those who dress alternatively are the only sane ones roaming a world full of let out crazies. Anyone else share that fantasy?

Lady over and out.

http://mitakashika.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48

Bikes and Shirt DIY

Hey Darlings!

I don't know about you but I'm glad to jump on the sofa with a big glass of water while I write this post. I just got back from a 30 minute bike ride. I love my old blue Schwinn. I just need a little black basket or something. It was a little early today, I usually ride around sunset. It's such a peaceful feeling to have the wind whip around your ears and through your hair as you ride towards the dying sun while it bleeds out into the growing night sky.  It was so beautiful yesterday! We ended up setting out a little late but being on a lonely dirt road with a rising full moon as the only thing to light your ride back home was a really fun experience. I might have to go out and do that again tonight!

Oops! You shouldn't let me yak on and on like that darlings. I know you aren't interesting in my bike escapades.

Anyways, as promised I went out and got a black t-shirt to attempt that "bleached skeleton t-shirt DIY" I mentioned in an earlier post. Like before, I plan to make this post a part I and then I'll post finished photos during part II. Now on to the fun. :)

Simply look for the photo you want to copy on google. Here's mine.

When thinking about what to use to draw the photo on with, I figured a pastel pencil would be the best, and in white of course. You'll need that and a little bowl of water because you'll need to keep the pencil wet to leave a mark. Of course you don't have to do any of this. you can simply get your paint brush and draw the skeleton straight on. However; for me, the queen of meticulous, I wanted to sketch it on first and then paint the design in. It's your call darling.

I bought a cotton black t-shirt from Target. It was $6. This photo is just to show how well the pastel pencil works. It was a little smudgy from time to time but overall It worked very well and I was happy with it. Although I was annoyed at my drawing from time to time. You'll laugh when you see the final picture. I draw slanted so it looks like I have scoliosis, not that scoliosis is something to laugh about.

Here's the left ribcage done. I didn't feel the need to take pictures of the spine or right ribcage. You'll see it clear enough when I get the second coat of bleach on. Actually it's 100% done now. I simply want another coat of bleach on it, and I might try and shade a few spots. Well I hope this inspires someone else to go out and get their own artistic fingers going. It was a really fun project and now I have an awesome shirt to wear around town. Win-Win in my book. I'm easy to please. Actually that's not true. But who cares, I hope you enjoyed part I. Keep your eyes open to part II, and I'll probably due an outfit post with it too.

Night Darlings

http://mitakashika.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=48

Craft Update

Hello Darlings!

I finally got the finished photos of my lamp. The only camera I have is the one on my itouch so I apologize in advance for some less than quality photos. I had a nice camera once and then I had to replace the battery and the rest is history. My room is like a black hole. Want to lose something? Open my bedroom door and you will never have to see it again. It's sad...

Anyways! Here is my finished product:

I think it turned out nicely. It's cute enough for every day in a whimsical way and yet fulfills my need to have spooky decorations in my room. I was also thinking that you could always substitute light bulbs with this lamp too. Perhaps a red or purple one?

Since I've completed this lil' craft I'm off to begin my next one. I think I have some shopping to do tomorrow which means I'll buy a few more black t-shirts so I can begin that bleached skull shirt tutorial. I really wanted to make my own after I saw the one http://darklingxxdreams.blogspot.com/ had.

Have a nice week darlings

photo by: http://mitakashika.deviantart.com/art/sunako-116509315

Skeletal Sunday

Hello Darlings!

I feel like I've finally eased up a bit when it comes to the idea of blogging in my mind. Does that sound odd? Let me explain. It's as if I'm receptive now. I was stiff and nervous about what to write almost, now I just let it flow.

Anyways! I had a rather eventful weekend and I'm already thinking about my next DIY. I saw this AWESOME "DIY bleach skeleton shirt" from Darkly Dreams blog. Instant desire. I will not rest until I do this! Feast your eyes on it:
  http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/bleach-print-skeleton-shirt

I also had the joy of seeing family this weekend. When I'm with family I feel like a re-charged battery.I just soak up all the love and acceptance and it really electrifies my week. My grandma loves my ear plugs, my little cousin loves my red hair and my black nails. It just one of those times when there was no bullshit or drama, just peace. It was nice to tell you the truth. [Who are those people and what did they do to my real family??]

I also found out that my boots have finally shipped and I should get them in 14-17 days. I'm beyond excited! Here's what they look like. Yes... they're nothing special. I know. I just need a fresh pair of boots, my old ones were worn to the nubs.  I'm really upset though. I found a cute pair of halloween earrings at Kohls. They have cute Halloween jewelry out, shock! I found bat and tombstone earrings. But I have stretched ears. Boo! Then bodyartforms.com was my savior!! They have a bat cartilage piece so I'm much better.I know that doesn't really solve my 'earring dilemma' but it made me feel better because they had something I liked for a cheap price. Under $5! Have you figured out that Lady loves bats yet Darlings? It's true. They're so cute.  I know this post isn't exactly relevant but it lends to my next DIY.
However this isn't going to turn into a diy blog. That would be too tedious. I have craft ADD. I would never get anything done and everyone would get mad at me from impatience, haha.

Well have a ooky-spooky night Darlings. I'm off to paint and listen to Kittie.

September 14th

Hello Darlings!
How was your Friday?
As we all know life is a chaotic thing and things never go as we plan them. I've decided to make this post a "before post" on my lamp and list what I used and the step-by-step process of my batty little lamp. Ah! I spoiled the surprise. However, yes, it's true. I decided on a bat print for my lamp. But I'll get to that in a moment. So. I had a very boring lamp. Something that looked like this...

 You can see why something had to be done with this bland lamp!! I decided on a basic but adorable bat outline. See! I instantly fell in love. :)

I cut out the bats so I could trace them onto the lampshade. I'm using dermacoat acrylic paint for this project as well as a sharpie. For those of you who don't have a steady hand, or are to worried about making a mistake I suggest a pencil. I simply chose a sharpie because a pencil wasn't leaving a dark enough outline for me to see it, plus I have a "heavy drawing hand" which means I tend to rest my hand on my work and smudge everything to high heaven. Ugh.

 

 

See? I personally think it was a fine idea. It leaves the area open to decide where to place your bats and then you aren't worried about crinkling the bat or having to move tape to copy the design etc. etc.

So after what seemed an eternity (Trust me if you trace and paint it will feel like that!) I had a finished base to begin painting.

In the beginning I had spray-painted those two thick black lines. You can see the spillage lines where my tape didn't hold. No problem! I decided to balance the design with white. Which cleans up the run-on and will give the lampshade a nice proportional feeling. Truth be told I love symmetry so I'm more than happy right now.
Right now I plan to go back to painting. I think this will need two coats for everything; white, bats, the thin black lines.. no worries. I will post a finished photo soon! I wanted to post something to show that it's a tedious craft and I'm not slacking off.

Night Darlings!

Lady.

photo credit to: http://uminga.deviantart.com

What's to Follow

Hello Darlings.

I mentioned in my last post that I had a GIY in the works, a lamp to be exact, and that is more than true. You'll probably laugh at me but I was so excited to get started I didn't get a before photo. Ah well. With my perfectionist tendencies (tracing every part of my design out by hand before painting)
I have yet to finish said lamp. It's 80% done. But! I promise I'll post my how-to and finished photos tomorrow or Saturday morning at the latest.

However darlings, I am more than excited this week. I recently got my order from "A Little Touch of Magick!" and I would like to do a Portland Black Lipstick Co. review on three items.
I bought undead red lipstick, corpse paint and the complexion powder. It was a little pricey but quality is quality. Besides a one time splurge has never killed a lady.

Keep your eyes peeled for my lamp post ( I made a pun!) and have a lovely evening darlings.

~ Lady Levana.

photo credit to: Arehandora.deviantart.com