Craft Along with GIY!!

Awwww YEAHHHHH I finally get to do a craft along with GIY!!

I have been crafting many things in recent months after a long period of not making anything at all. Many things were made for birthday or holiday gifts. Since the theme was "anything goes" I am going to post a bunch of different stuff!

SILVERSMITHING

Earlier this year, I participated in my second silversmithing class. We learned how to make different hammered textures, ring making, chain soldering, stone setting, tube setting, how to make ear wires and jump rings, and reticulation. It was a lot more organized and informative than my last class! 

Reticulation is my favourite. You just go hard on the silver with an acetylene torch until you get a cool texture (there is more technique involved if you are a more discerning silversmith than I, LOL).  We also learned to hammer little cups that make cute details. 

"ART"

I also got to some drawing and painting. I used to hand draw birthday cards for people when I had more time on my hands, I thought I'd crack one out for my younger sister's birthday this year (she likes hippos).

I also painted some mini-canvases to match her whale-themed bathroom decor. You can get these at craft stores and it's fairly easy to paint something abstract or basic to match your decor. 

SEWING

If you need to practice your basic sewmanship and zipper installation skills, try starting with some couch cushions. They are fairly easy to make (I did f*** one of them up and then had to re-do it, full disclosure) and one can quite easily find materials at the fabric or craft store. These were made from outdoor fabric so you can use them on the patio as well. 

I made the infinity scarf below for my sister. You can wear it in several different ways. Because I failed to use a pattern, I had to rip this apart and re-do it.....it seemed so simple in my head ARGH!!!

ICE DYEING

I have seen many online tutorials that say you can't screw up ice dyeing and thus I decided to try it out. I found a nice piece of textured white linen with which to make a cowl neck scarf for my friend. Since linen is a natural fabric, it takes dye well or something like that. First, I dyed the scarf blue as I didn't want any white showing through. Then, I did the ice-dyeing on top of the blue colour. You basically put some drying racks in a bucket or container, scrunch up the fabric, put ice cubes (or snow) on top of the fabric, and then sprinkle powdered fabric dye on top. It is then left over night and as the ice melts it deposits dye onto the fabric. I used black and navy blue dye for this part.

I got a pretty nice pattern out of it for not knowing what the hell I was doing.

Here is the finished scarf. I will have to make one for myself one of these days!

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone made this month!

Unique Knits

Well, it's that time of the year again.....the holidays.....whatever you want to call it. Many people look forward to this time; I personally think it's a huge gong show.  My work is super busy and not particularly flexible about time off, I am not religious, and I don't have kids (by choice) so for me it's like ARE WE DONE YET???  Soon it shall be over and I won't have to listen to painful Xmas music blaring on and on at me everywhere I go.  I do get to visit my family for a couple of days this year so that is one good thing!

I will also get to see my best friend from back home whom I have known forever. In this post I shall share with you the lovely hand-knit pieces she has made for me. Since I wear a black wool coat most of the winter, I enjoy wearing different scarves to change things up.

 This infinity scarf can be worn long or wrapped around 2 to 3 times. It is made of a beautiful black chunky yarn with a hint of silver glitter in it (which of course you can't see in my sh*tty photos).

I love the colour of this scarf; it has buttons on it so you can wear it in many different ways. On the right I buttoned it asymmetrically and wore it over a tunic and poncho in the fall. 

This piece is my favourite because it makes a statement! It is a lovely cowl neck with long tassels......it must be kept FAR away from my cats lest they eat said tassels. 

I hope you have a great holiday season regardless of what you do (or don't!) celebrate!

FW Trends 2017/2018

I recently read a post from The Mutant Stomp Friends about the style elements that she will be working in to her wardrobe for fall. I thought that was a great idea so I am going to do a post about it as well!

I do not really consider myself a slave to fashion who must obey and follow the trends every year; however, I DO enjoy trends because they give me new ideas for ways to use the clothing that lurks deep within my closet! Sometimes, I have items stashed away that I couldn't figure out how to style and trends give me new ideas on how to use these pieces. I also like buying trendy stuff when things I like are "in". For example, if leopard print is in style I don't mind adding some more to my wardrobe because I LOVE it enough that I don't care if I look dated as all hell wearing it when it hasn't been cool since two-thousand-and-late. You've got to stock up on things while you can, some years the clothing that's available won't be to your taste. 

I bought a couple of fashion magazines at the beginning of fall to see what the powers that be are telling us we should wear this season.  These are the trends that I am currently loving:

BOLD RED

I would LOVE to get my hands on a pair of red boots so I could pair them with EVERYTHING!! In my closet, I have various items that I am going to work with such as red earrings, a red faux leather jacket, and red lipstick.

PLAID

Oh, how I have always loved plaid. In high school, I had plaid pants and plaid skirts in a variety of colours and they will always be my favourite clothing items that I have ever had. I would love to find a nice red plaid knee-length or maxi skirt as well as a plaid scarf.

FISHNETS

Fishnets are in style? HELLS YEAH, I have a whole drawer full of them. I have and will be bringing them out, they are easy to add to many of my already put together outfits. 

VELVET

In recent years, I have gravitated towards modern, geometric, and oversized styles. I almost forgot how much fun it was to wear luxuriant fabrics like velvet and lace. I will definitely be trying out some more romantic and Victorian goth inspired style elements this winter. I already have a lot of accessories that fit the bill as well as velvet pieces that I have acquired over the last few seasons. 

LEATHER

Leather is in? Super. I have lots of faux and real leather pieces that I can crack out. This will be an easy one to pair with other trends such as fishnets and pops of red.

Disco Metallics

I am loving the disco-inspired metallic looks in the magazines but I am not quite sure how to pull this off myself. I do have some metallic shoes and clothing pieces so I will be cracking those out for sure. Metallic makeup and lips also sound like fun!

LEOPARD PRINT

Is it cool to wear leopard print again??? F*** YES! I have been looking for a nice leopard print skirt for quite some time but haven't found anything that I like. I have decided to sew one out of scuba knit fabric......I'm sure the results of this undertaking will be quite marginal. The magazine also suggested pairing leopard print with a bright accent......since red is in this year, I want to try combine these two things in an outfit.

MAXIMALIST

I am a recovering maximalist so I ADORE this trend! I have seen so many neat runway photos with crazy print-mixing and over-accessorizing, it looks like so much FUN! To take this from runway to everyday, I may try some pairing some clashing prints or piling on the accessories. This one is pretty hard to pull off without looking like a nutcase (note that I do not really care if people think I look like a nutcase in my outfits so maybe this is a good one for me to try).

RETRO SPORT
I am kind of loving the retro-sport casual athletic wear thing for some reason. I don't think I am going to try it out in my wardrobe; being that I am the farthest thing from athletic and LOATHE my begrudging workouts, I would feel like a fraud wearing such things. However, I saw a photo of a beautiful famous person like Rihanna or something wearing tear-aways over fishnets and I WANT TO DO THAT TOO! It brought back memories of grade 5 when you weren't cool unless you had a pair of Adidas tear-away track pants. 

I saw these glorious T by Alexander Wang tear-aways online recently. Thank goodness that these were way to expensive to justify purchasing them (also the Canadian dollar sucks), otherwise I would be sashaying about in them with aplomb and looking like a grand dingus whilst doing so. 

 SOMEBODY STOP ME from buying track pants and wearing them over fishnets, PLEASE. Thankfully I haven't been able to find any that are suitable on me. 

What will YOU be wearing this season?? I would love to see some outfit posts this winter!