Hey there, stud

It wasn't all just fun and games when I put on The Neverending Story yesterday. I was on a mission.


When I ordered the stars for my Rodarte project, I ordered a batch of 100 silver 1/2" studs. For what? I don't know. I think I had my Killjoys vest in mind but I wanted to spruce some other stuff up too. Like, maybe some shorts like the ones I've been seeing on Instagram via the #Coachella tag or some accessories like some purses, shoes or bracelets and belts.

I liked the purse route so we hit up the mall. I found this cute small one at H&M for around $12.

Not bad, not bad. Once we returned home, the old man disappeared upstairs, I put on my favourite movie and got to work.


After some light-hearted Instagramming of the movie, I focused back on my purse and here's how it turned out!


I love it! I took it out today and it's the perfect small bag! Now I'm looking at other bags (at other stores and in my own closet) to see what I can put studs on next!

Sunday Funday: Decorating Woes

My old man and I have been together a long time.  Like, a really REALLY long time and one thing we haven't really done is settle anywhere.
By "settle" I mean decorate.  With the assistance of my Dad, we've been homeowners for a few years now and we still haven't settled in.  I've got photos in frames, he's got artwork printed and I keep buying Missoni for Target house-related items (I can't help myself).  Okay, not just Missoni stuff but I do keep buying housewares.  Whether it's a shower curtain (*cough*Missoni*cough*) or a Klimt print from Ikea or random blind box items from Kidrobot, we have a lot of stuff but it's not any where in the house - except just taking up space.
While I was visiting with my Mom, we watched a few HGTV decorating shows which got me thinking about how we need to do stuff with our stuff.  Then I remembered those really awesome Jonathan Adler pillows that I lusted after forever but never got...


What if I could design my own set of silhouettes and combination freezer paper stencil plus screen print them on these boring ass Ikea curtains we got forever ago?  Hmmm...
I tired to explain it to the old man but he wasn't getting it.  I Googled different items (which probably made me look like a monster) and got to Photoshoppin'.  The old man still didn't see it.  Ugh.  I told him I'd print it out at a larger scale to see it big picture and to see if he'd like it.

I printed it this morning and BAM - sweet ass art piece!




Obligatory photo of me holding my print - shot on my iPad with the Incredibooth app

Personally, I think that might be a little too much for the curtains BUT I think I can frame this and it would make a nice art piece for the space!

I have to admit - I was pretty inspired from walking around Castleberry Hill during Flux on Friday night so this weekend was a great motivator to finally get our house organized and decorated.

Now if we could only stop arguing over everything, I think we'd be fine.  Aaaahhh...the joys of relationships and homeownership.  Gotta love it

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

DIY: Bokeh Kit

Since I've been spending most of my time uploading videos today, I decided to take a gander over at Photojojo for some new goodies (like this time lapse camera I'm checking out).  The one item I kept going back to was the Bokeh Kit. I've been keeping a close watch on it and I finally declared: "I can do that!"

So, with videos running in the background, I got a paper cup that fit perfectly over my lens and cut it to a decent size.



Next, I grabbed some scrap paper from our plotting printer, cut the circle the same size as the bottom of the cup and cut a shape on the paper.



Luckily the scrap paper was already a dark colour on one side!

Next, I cut the bottom out of the paper cup and inserted one of my sweet cutouts




(This doesn't look quite as cute as the Photojojo kit but it works!)

I had to experiment A LOT to get a good idea of what it was supposed to look like and an office setting isn't quite the best for this...



I kept wondering if there was some sort of light source I could shoot that would give me the desired bokeh effect and it turns out - it was right in front of me (as always). I have a glitter lamp at my desk that I love to shoot all the time. I turned my lens towards it, messed with the settings and behold - little stars were appearing!



Then I messed with the flash!



Then I tired my Space Invaders cut out!


FAIL. So I went back to the stars!



I have no problem entertaining myself when I have to stare at progress bars all day!  Don't get me wrong - I'm totally working but I'm multitasking :)

AND - I'm not saying to not get the bokeh kit, I just wanted to see if I could do it.  I still might end up buying the kit (or asking for it for Christmas) but at least I know I can make them too!

EDIT:
I made a heart template!




I could do this forever...

Katzi
S.L.Y.A.S.D.I.

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.