Sara says: LEAPIN LEOPARDS

Source: tragedyseries.tumblr.com via Sara on Pinterest

Nothing wrong with a little sadness reprieve, right? I have some makeup geekery that I hope you will enjoy. It's a pretty amazing look I have never done before!

Check out my practice spots!

Wait, what... are those 5 little leopard spots on my eye?!

Why yes indeed! I drew them on with pencils, so they aren't super crisp, but I still think the intended effect comes through. In the future, I think I'll try to use a brush and gel liners.

The base look is a light smokey purple, so the overall color scheme was black/gold/purple. Super fun!

Fierce jungle cat face!

You can probably also see that my hairline is a bit stained. That's because I found my holy grail of unbleached hair manic panic combinations! Which means, Hot Hot Pink and Purple Haze look badass together on my unbleached hair - though the pink stains pretty intensely. More on that later though!


What about you, lovelies? You got a fun, haute couture fantasy look you're dying to try? Tell Sara all about it!

Sara says: PUT A BIRD ON IT (part 1)

(photo credit here, this bird house and other lovely ones are for sale, HOORAY!)

Anywhooooooo, welcome to The Aviary, where we're gonna fly like an eagle into the future.

Now, this collection is a bit more nonspecific as I already have birds all over my damn house. However, I think a bird-themed library or office space would be aces, don't you?

Cardinals are like my Granny's spirit-animal or something, so I love them. I found this sweet little picture at an estate sale for like $1.


Below is a later-era Enid Collins box bag (from when the company was owned by Tandy Leather). Don't ya love EC bags?

Golden mosaic-by-number peacock, hanging next to my retro He-Man sheet curtain, in case you're wondering.

 Close-up!

I love these so much it makes my heart hurt. Ginormous peacocks made out of a thin metal, painted gold and green. These about span the width of my couch over which they hang.

 Lookit him! *sigh*

Daher tin tray motif. Above are a pair of regal looking chalkware fighting cocks. Teehee.

 ISN'T SHE THE SWEETEST THING OMG?! Mama chicken cookie jar.

Chicken mugs! This is a piece of a larger set, which I unfortunately could not get the rest of, that was sold out of ye olde Sears catalog back in the day. Lucky for me, I have seen some more of this set at a local antique mall!

Ahhh, I love my birdies. I imagine birds everywhere could be a bit off-putting, but OH WELL! Ya know, once I started photographing my collection, it didn't seem quite so bad... 

Do you have a favorite animal or birdie friend that makes you go ape when you find an amazing decorative piece? Retro owls, maybe?

Stay tuned for part 2 and have a great week!

And don't forget you can clicky on the yellow bird house at the top of this post to see the other rooms in my dream house!

Sara says: WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN?!

This week's edition of Creepy Thrifted Clowns features the inexplicable relationship and mutual fascination betwixt the kinders and the clowns. And if that sentence doesn't at least slightly creep you out, then I don't know what will!

Observe!

60's big-eyed, Blythe-esque children are creepy at the best of times

Seriously

Mr. Clown tutoring the delicate art of ... accordion playing.

Did you love, hate, or otherwise feel indifferent towards clowns as a child. I think I'd categorize myself as indifferent. One of those kids who just wouldn't laugh - a tough nut to crack if you will.

And I'm not ticklish either!

Sara says: YUM!

So, I mentioned in a previous crochet frenzy post that I've started on some new projects for springtime.

One such project I am calling "Cupcake-a-Day".



I'm working up a different cupcake everyday with different fun yarns I've had sitting around for awhile. Some are bulky, some are wispy, and some are just plain damn difficult. The goal is to make enough to make a goodly-sized cupcake scarf a-la Twinkie Chan.

Source: allthingscupcake.com via Sara on Pinterest

I won't flood your newsfeeds with cupcakes! This is just a progress report. I've finished 9 and I'm thinking 14 should be long enough.

Grab a glass of milk and take a looksee.

Here's all of 'em lined up scarfy-style.

The bottom one looks more like a mushroom, teehee. I like how they're all different looking; it gives me something to think about everyday! They're in order of when they were made.

My version is a bit different than Twinkie Chan's - the cupcakes aren't one solid piece, but I think it still works. It's fun anyways!

The next project is a matching hat! Also a-la Twinkie Chan.

Source: twinkiechan.tumblr.com via Sara on Pinterest

Yummy. I swear I don't just sit around and play with string all day... :P

Says says: OMG!

OMG, you guys! I need to organize my jewelry. No seriously, look.

Hot mess.

I'm thinking I need something that lays flat because a lot of my pieces are big and heavy. Having them hang damages the closure hardware over time (i.e. makes it all loosey and that's no good). But, ya know, style and functionality would be nice too.

Let's see what we can see, shall we?

Source: ikeahackers.net via Hilary on Pinterest

Here we have a basic drawer organizer *snore*. But I LOVE the idea of using a little silicone ice-cube or baking thingie to hold earrings and other tiny things.

Source: marthastewart.com via Sara on Pinterest

This is a bit more my style and would give me something to hunt for when I'm junkin! Mixed and matched saucers, cups, and bowls.

Source: bhg.com via Sara on Pinterest

Could do this with an old pastry stand. I like it, I like it!

Source: marthastewart.com via Anni on Pinterest

Now this one is hangy, but I love this idea too! You could take an old drawer from a piece of junky furniture, paint it, put some pretty scrapbook paper in the back and VOILA!



I think I like the pastry stand option the best! As a bonus, I'll repurpose my necklace holder into a scarf/hankie holder! They're too pretty to keep in a drawer.

How do you organize your pretties to keep them from being a tangled mess?

Or how do you WISH you organized your tangled mess?

Sara says: HAPPY CROCHETEMBER

 

Source: sara-sayswhat.blogspot.com via Sara on Pinterest

Hello fellow string-lovers! I told you I've been crocheting like fiery hell and I wasn't joking! Take a gander at my crazy-fun gifts I worked up for Christmas. (The pattern for Mr. Cardinal can be found here!)

Matt's step-mum, Laura, looking contemplative in a custom crochet necklace I made. The colors are crazy vibrant, acid green and jeweled turquoise. I also made the button earrings previously and really had no idea how well the necklace would match!

Bunny in a carrot that I made for Matt's grandmother, who kind of collects bunnies. He's huge, because I used a 6mm hook. The pattern can be found here, in the adorable book Amigurumi Toy Box. I did change the look of Mr. Bunny a bit, as well as the top of the carrot (custom leaves FTW!)

Now for Matt's siblings, I made berets and caps. The pattern is AMAZING and can be found here (for free!) This is Bianca, in a green/yellow/bluey number. She has a little amiguruimi corn (yes, like an ear of corn, like the vegetable) on the side - kind of an inside joke. The colors go well with her lovely hair!

The corn is custom, but you can find a 3-dimensional ami corn here.

This is Cameron, in a red/turquoise hat. This is the best picture I could get as he immediately retired to video game land after opening presents, LOL. He has a Mexican skull bead atop his hat.

This is Marie, in a turquoise/sky blue, gray beret. Sorry the pictures are fuzzy, they have a huge front window and the sun was bright! But I am in love with Debbie Stoller's Bamboo Ewe yarn!

Stitching detail on Marie's hat. I happened to use the same colors a friend used to make a lovely skirt. Check out K's boardwalk skirt here! I may try to make one myself this spring! :D

Matt's brother Zeke in his skully cap. His has a color wheel theme with matching stone skulls on top.

Teehee!















 

This is the lovely India wearing the same beret pattern. Love it! And that's one of my favorite colors! She's totally rocking her beret in the coffee shop!

This is my friend Zach. This is my friend Zach's nut sack. No really. Don't be dirty! Or be dirty, I don't care. I borrowed the idea from Gleeful Things and worked the acorns up from Planet June. I made the sack myself. Teehee!

This is a hat pattern I really dig that I made for some friends! It takes one ball of super bulky yarn and is really comfy. Here's Matt modeling a bright kelly green version with a his cube cow!

Cube cow is completely custom (GO ME!) and I think she has the sweetest little face.

The hat pattern can be found here! Just 13 rounds! My hero!















 

Last, but not least is a Kindle-cozy for Mum. I <3 the button on the front so hard- it has a faint faux bois pattern! This is also a custom pattern. Now I have to make another one since Santa brought me a Kindle Fire!












Sorry that long blog post is long, but I am kinda proud of my significantly leveled up crochet skills. Looking at everything I made (in the course of about a month) makes me feel like I did something productive! Or close to it!

And now I'm gearing up to start on spring projects. Already got a Twinkie Chan cupcake scarf half-way done!

What's your 2012 crafty goals? Did you hand-make epic Christmas gifts? I wanna see!

Sara says: THEEEYYY'RE BAACCCKKK

Hide yo wives, hide yo kids! The clowns have returned from Christmas vacation. And boy, have I found some doozies... and they're all different in their own ermmm... special way.

Want a human stomach... I mean balloon?

All of them do, but this one REALLY makes me think of Stephen King's IT.

That's a teapot and I believe he has confetti raining from his crotch.

Sadly, I think I kind of missed them! Creepy clowns, I mean. There is a surprisingly severe shortage of creepy santas in my area. Oh well, I'll do better and keep my eyes peeled year-round.

New Year's Resolution #32: Start buying these suckers to go into future creepy clown closet. BWAHAHAHA!

Happy 2012!