It's fun to DIY!

If you know me personally, you know that I like to make things.  Whether it's videos, photos, characters, accessories, you name it - I LOVE making things.  Lately I've been on a DIY kick and I'm really happy with what I've been turning out.
It all started with my Killjoy outfit. I also got inspiration from other places/people like Doe Deere Blogazine/Lime Crime, Kelly Eden and Raquel Reed. They are super fearless with their fashion choices and I have decided that I, too, would be a little more fearless. Well, I kinda let that happen when I dyed my hair pink.  But sadly, it's not pink anymore and I am deeply hurt by this every single time I look into the damn mirror.

My hair is back to black. It's a long, sad story but I'll spare you the details...

Long story short: my friend (who I used to trust with my hair) basically fucked it up. We spent ALL day bleaching and dyeing. Mind you, I'm not an expert in that field so I let him totally take over since he's the professional. 6 hours later, my hair was pinkish purpley black. The way he styled it was fine but there was a little too much black for my taste - especially since I had been rinsing the colour out for 2 weeks prior to more vibrant colour. ANYWAYS - the way he styled it involved LOTS of hairspray so when I washed the hairspray out the next morning, MOST of the colour went with it (except the black). I was devastated! I had a mini breakdown in the bathroom, sobbing and clutching some black hair dye I had bought a few months back.  I didn't want to go back to black but I had no choice.  I haven't told my friend that I went back to black because I'm afraid I will get angry at him for fucking my hair up to that point.  I'll let it go.

Whew.  Now that that is off my chest, I can come back down to the original topic: DIY.  I've been in love with the idea of tiny top hats and I finally purchased a black one at Wet Seal (of all places!).  After that, I was hooked on making them out of tube boxes.  I made a blue one for my oldest niece and a red one for my step-sister - both made out of cardboard cylinder boxes.  The one I made for my youngest niece, I made from scratch with purple glitter foam.  It kind of looked like a pilgrim hat but I put some pyramid studs on it and it was fine.  The tutorial that started that making frenzy was this one. I forget how I stumbled on to this blog because I'm not that big of an Audrey fan-but after seeing this tutorial, I was a big time Audrey DIY fan. She has some pretty clever ideas for sprucing stuff up. This project called for a heart box lid. I had the lid painted and finished but what about the rest of the box?  Sure, it was a little tall but what did that matter? I made another heart piece with the bottom part of the container but I used more colours and added some lace.
Then I went totally crazy! I bought wooden stars and hearts, more boxes, different shapes, an insane amount of rhinestones and even a tea set. Why a tea set? So I could recreate this!!! How cute!!
I was also insanely inspired by the piece Kelly Eden is wearing here. I LOVE IT!!! Of course, I have to do my own version of it because what good is a direct copy? And there's always a sense of accomplishment when you do things for yourself.
I hear some girls say things like, "Oh, I need a man to (blank)" and that really hurts my heart. Sure, I've been guilty of that many times but growing up with two Moms has taught me a lot of things - including: it's better when you do it yourself! There's no shame in making something if you know the cost of materials will be cheaper than actually buying the thing.
Example: the tea party headband.

The tea set is a set of 4 plus a tea pot and other containers and the rhinestones come in large groups, so I divided the $15 for the tea set by 4 and I only used a fraction of these particular rhinestones. That's how the $4.50 came about.  I know it's not exactly the same but that's the point.  I saw the tea cup headband, wanted it and now, I have it.  Done and done.  And I can make 3 more!  It's so much better when you DIY!

Do you have any special or favorite DIY projects you've been working on?  I'd love to see them!

Love and kisses,
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

Katzi's Pink Hair Journey

Anyone who knows me in person knows that I've been trying to get my hair pink.

It all started with The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

Yes, it sounds crazy but it's true. My favourite housewife Kandi had this really pretty reddish colour on the top of her head and I said to myself, "I want that", so I went to the nearest Sally's, got some 40VOL bleach and Manic Panic's Pillarbox Red - thinking it was the least offensive colour I could put in. But I started in the wrong place: my bangs.

I called these my "Rogue Stripes"

After I was all bleached and dyed, I was taken back to the 90's when EVERYONE was dyeing their bangs. Ugh. It looked cute but...it's not the freakin' 90's anymore! So I went back to the lab (aka the bathroom) and bleached out the rest of the top of my head. Boy did that come out strange. My hair bleaches funky, too. It never really bleaches out yellow-blond, it always comes out orange. What's a girl to do?! Cover it with more dye! This time, I bit the bullet and bought Manic Panic's Hot Hot Pink. But for some reason, my mind kept telling me not to buy it but I couldn't remember why...until I watched a majority of the colour I had just put in my hair wash down the drain - my hair and Manic Panic DO NOT get along.


So I was stuck. Stuck with having to dye my hair every week or so with runny Manic Panic.

Then, a lovely pink-haired goddess appeared on my Tumblr dash. Model/tattoo artist/ painter/makeup artist and all-around sweetheart Kelly Eden.


Her hair was THE glorious pink that had been eluding me since I was 15 years old. How? How did she do it?

Not only is she super talented but she's a sweetheart! Ask her any question and she'll help you out as best as she can. She ended up as my main inspiration for my hair colour.

Through the loved and hated "Ask" feature on Tumblr, Kelly is sweet enough to answer tons of questions about her art, hair and lifestyle. I keep a tight watch on her "Asks" because that's where I get most of my information about how to maintain and manage this kind of hair. I know that makes me sound creepy but don't judge me! If I had been left to my own searches, I wouldn't be as productive. Thankfully, Kelly is kind enough to share her wonderful hair secrets - which not a lot of people are happy to do, surprisingly enough - and because of her, I know what to look for, how to keep it pretty and what to ask when I pop into my local Sally's.

So the task became: what do I do to get my colour evened out? I stupidly went and bleached more of my hair and all it did was damage it so I buckled down and made an appointment at the Paul Mitchell School in Atlanta.

Why a hair school? A few reasons:
1. The girl who used to cut my hair at Toni & Guy graduated from PM
2. Onisha suggested Vidal Sassoon hair school but PM kept popping up in all my searches
3. Why not a hair school? They'll be supervised by teachers
4. It's cheap!

So I made the appointment and made sure I said, "My hair is really damaged and it's a really uneven reddish orange brownish mess". Unphased, the girl on the other end made my appointment and that was that.

When I showed up on Saturday, I got a weird look from unsuspecting Emily. She seemed okay with it until I said I wanted to try solid pink again but if not, we could go black. Dallas, her Learning Leader, convinced me to go pink. "By the end of the day, we'll have you walking out of here looking like Nicki Minaj!" So I said go for it! The only bleach that was happening was my roots - under the advice of another Learning Leader (I'm sorry I forgot her name), she didn't try to even out my poorly done bleach job. She said the dye would cover it all - which was fine by me.

While I sat at Emily's station letting the bleach lift the colour off my roots, I felt like I was getting weird looks from students walking by. I mean, my hair did look like it was on fire with all the reds and oranges but Dallas kept checking in and reassuring me by announcing that Nicki Minaj would be arriving soon!

As it got closer and closer to washing the bleach out, Dallas walked by and placed a bottle of Ink Works Hot Pink on the corner of the counter. Emily and I were excited. It was pretty saturated. It reminded me of Manic Panic's Hot Hot Pink - which I knew I already loved.

Then it was application time. During this process, I realized I was undergoing a transformation I hadn't thought about since my teenage years - I was going to have hair like my most favourite Anime character: Washu from a show called Tenchi Muyo!

I have been infatuated with little Washu FOREVER and I can't believe that I totally forgot about her until Emily was painting my hair. Then we started talking about Anime characters and how maybe that's what I should do on the weekend - Cosplay Washu, Jesse (from Pokemon) and another character from Pokemon that I already dressed up as before: Nurse Joy!


Perfect!

At that point, people were gawking. The most popular question was: "Where do you work? Are they okay with your hair that bright?!" And as soon as I said "Video editor" it was pretty clear that I was in the same artistic vein as them - which was great. Everyone was wonderful and super supportive. Apparently not a lot of people come to the school with crazy requests. Except for this one girl who requested an Anime-inspired hairdo for Dragon*Con last year...

Nicki had almost arrived - and everyone was excited to see the result. After a nice warm 15 minutes under the dryer and an extra 10 to cool down, it was time to rinse out the dye.


People at the sinks were "oooh-ing" and "aaah-ing". "It's so bright!" "It's so pretty!" "Great job Emily!" was all I could hear from under the freezing cold water. I couldn't wait to sit back at her station!! The moment of truth...ta-da! It was beautiful! The colour totally reminded me of MP's Hot Hot Pink but better and brighter! I couldn't wait for her to blow dry my hair! Emily kept saying it reminded her of Barbie hair and I could totally see it - it was super girly and super pink! Success!

After many years of trying (and ruining my hair), I finally learned how to maintain healthy pink hair and I gave in to going somewhere and having it done! And it looks amazing! Emily did a fantastic job and was a total doll throughout the entire 5 hour process! That plus the help of Kelly Eden will help me maintain this glorious hair! And because I've learned my lesson, I'll be going to the Paul Mitchell School to touch up my roots.

I try to be self-sufficient and try to keep my costs down but I learned the hard way that if I want pretty pink hair, I'm going to have to spend some money - and that's okay. So keep that in mind if you're going to change your look drastically. Do your research, ask around and don't be afraid to spend a little bit of money - it will all be worth it!


I think that after a few washes, it will be a light and pretty pink. Right now, it's a heavily saturated (and beautiful) magenta. No complaints here! I LOVE IT!!

Love and kisses,
Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.


Inspiration sites:
Kelly Eden
Raquel Reed
FY Crayon Hair
More Pink Please
Mrs. Donut