Last weekend me and my crew attended the King Richard’s Faire. What a beautiful October day to travel through time, wear flowers on my head, and shop for weaponry. We saw some big cats to whatever they wanted on stage, ate stew from a bowl made of bread, and Kelley… Read More »King Richards Faire
Granite Con was a blast once again! As always, the variety of vendors, good programming, and unrivaled access to guests of honor made this another memorable year of convention-going in Manchester. This year’s convention had an unofficial Star Wars theme, and so, on fairly short notice, my friends and I… Read More »Star Wars, Belly Dance, and Granite State Comic Con
Every costumer has wrestled with the issue of where to put their cell phone while in costume. Some costumes can’t have pockets, and often times carrying a purse clashes with your look. But in order to move through society we need to have some money and an ID on us,… Read More »Quick Underskirts Phone Pouch
After seeing them all over Pinterest, I decided to make myself a trendy, convertible “infinity dress” to wear to a friend’s wedding. This style of dress is appealing to me because it can supposedly be worn an “infinite” number of ways, hence the name. Well, I’ll tell you right now that… Read More »Formal Infinity Dress
I have recently completed the largest sewing commission I’ve ever accepted. Very rarely do I accept commission work when it comes to garment construction; it is very time consuming, mistakes are costly, fitting another person is challenging, and the price tag is often prohibitive to most of my would-be clients. But for… Read More »Large Evening Wear Commission Complete!
This weekend my friends and I attended the New Hampshire Renaissance Faire. It was a gorgeous 82 degrees in May, and I needed a crown of flowers for the occasion. With the forecast calling for a such a warm day, my garb needed to be kept simple; no layers of skirts… Read More »Crown of Flowers
My latest little sewing project is this pair of flowing palazzo pants! They took me an afternoon to make and are sooo comfortable and breezy. I am in love with this fabric, which I got at Joann Fabrics during their black Friday sale. It is lightweight, soft, and drapes beautifully.… Read More »Palazzo pants
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend celebrating the arrival of Spring, the vernal equinox, and whatever else you honor. I spent Easter with my family, and like many families, we had a light feast. Here are the things I made this weekend. Eggs! Hard-boiled and colored. Coloring eggs isn’t just for… Read More »Happy Ostara! Celebrating the Vernal Equinox, or Easter.
It’s Spring! Happy Ostara, everyone! The Vernal equinox. Winter is over. Spring is the season of creation, and to kick things off, I have made a quick and easy medieval loop belt. I sewed a long tube of hunter green poplin left over from the dress the belt is featured on,… Read More »Medieval Belt
Apparently March is National Craft Month. My boyfriend Jake and I got a head start this past weekend by building our own custom plant shelves on a whim. With spring right around the corner it’s time to start some of our seeds indoors. This year we hope to grow sweet… Read More »Custom Shelves
I have finished sewing an iron-age-inspired tunic dress, a new staple of my costuming closet. The desire to sew this gown came to me after looking at all of the warm costuming options that the Vikings wore. After attending an unseasonably cold Connecticut Renaissance fair in October in my… Read More »Iron age tunic dress
Want to see all the sweet patterns I scored at Joann’s annual $1 Simplicity pattern sale? I know you do. What am I going to do with all these patterns? I am going to sew so many things! At $1 per pattern, when they normally retail for $15-$20, how could… Read More »Pattern Haul
How was your Valentine’s weekend? Mine was amazing. It was freezing cold here in the northeast, with wind-chill temperatures reaching as low as -30 degrees Fahrenheit. Not a weekend for putting on a dress and going to dinner after dark. Instead of going out, my boyfriend Jake and I opted… Read More »Painting Zombicide Figurines
The skin absorbs 60-80% of what’s applied to it. In an effort to be more picky about what I put on my skin, and after much research and experimentation, I started making my own anti-aging beauty potion. This custom blend is a 100% Pure, therapeutic, food grade quality essential oil beauty blend… Read More »Homemade Anti-aging Beauty Potion
Another small sewing project complete! In about two hours time I whipped up these funky harem pants for dance using Simplicity sewing pattern 5359, and this wild cotton print I got at Joann’s Black Friday Sale. This pattern was ridiculously easy. It consists of 1 pant leg cut twice, and a… Read More »Harem Pants for Dance
Renaissance Fair Season is upon us! I love spending a day out in the woods with the fairies and jesters, celebrating the late summertime magic. The first Fair on my list is King Richard’s in Carver Mass, and to make sure I make the most of my Fair day, I… Read More »Preparing for King Richards Faire
Easter has never been a huge affair in my house, but I love Holidays of any shape or size. Therefore this year I decided to get a little festive with my table settings and make bunnies out of dinner napkins! I got the idea while ironing a table-cloth for the… Read More »Bunny Dinner Napkins
This weekend was awesome. Besides a wonderful annual caricature gig on Saturday afternoon (I love being paid to draw children), my best friend Kelley came up to my studio in Lowell for the weekend to have a super craft marathon. In a day and a half we got a solid… Read More »Super Craft Weekend Recap
I recently finished making two cute and cozy holiday ornaments out of vegetable tanned leather. They were hand cut, carved, and painted using a waterproof acrylic ink. I modeled the ornaments after cliche vintage christmas sweaters, to give them an extra warm an cozy visual appeal. The ornaments are… Read More »Holiday Ornaments
If you were unaware, I teach a manga class for children every Wednesday night in Medford, MA. Last week we were creating some characters for Halloween, and while the kids were concentrating on their task, I whipped up these little doodles. They seem to like it when I draw with… Read More »Manga Doodles for Halloween
Yesterday I attended a pointe class at ‘The Studio, A Dance Center for Adults’ in Brookline, MA. A friend of mine takes classes there, and she was able to arrange for me to come into a class with my camera to get some reference for a possible future body of… Read More »A Fly on the Wall: The Ballet Edition
My first sewing project of winter break was this adventure pouch iPad sleeve. I bought myself an iPad for my birthday, and though it was no problem finding a protective flip-cover thing, I was having a really hard time finding a sleeve for my iPad that I liked, could afford,… Read More »Adventure Pouch ipad sleeve & device organizer
Here at school I don’t have access to stock piles of gift wrap, ribbon, and tags like I do at home. Instead, I had to get creative for a pre-holiday gift or two. I did some research online to see how others mad unique, but totally on-the-spot gift wrap before… Read More »Resourceful Gift Wrap
I haven’t gotten to carve a jack-o-lantern in years! Being in College for Halloween every year makes it tough to find the time, the space, the supplies, and a place that allows candles to even show off the pumpkin. But because of the power outages in CT, I got to… Read More »My Jack-o-lantern
Today I was a figure model for a freshman foundation drawing class here at the Hartford Art School. I was asked by one of my professors, who also teaches this drawing class, if I would be willing to model one of my more frilly costumes for her students to delineate… Read More »I was a figure model today
Yesterday I dressed up for a “Zombie Prom” on campus. It is essentially a Zombie themed dance. There are lots of Zombie-themed events these days, and with Halloween only a week away we all have yet another reason to look like a Zombie! In this post, I am going to… Read More »Quick & Easy Zombie Costume
Today I went on a field trip to the Norman Rockwell Museum out in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. I really love how beautiful everything out there is. The landscape is filled with mountains, farms, and beautiful colored leaves. Fall is my favorite season, and I thought that I would post a few… Read More »A little bit of Fall in Stockbridge, MA
This week in makeup class I learned how to make safe-to-eat wounds using Gelatin and a few other house-hold items! Below I’ve provided a tutorial so that you can make these disgusting edible make-up props as well! Just in time for Halloween, too. What you’ll need: One box of clear,… Read More »Edible Gelatin Wounds! Just in time for Halloween.
I am happy to announce that I am a newly accepted member of the EtsyBloggers team! They are a group of nice people who both sell things on Etsy, and love to blog about their craft. In celebration of my acceptant to this group, I will be writing a little… Read More »I am an EtsyBlogger
This week in makeup class I was assigned the task of designing makeup for a real character. I choose Mrs Meers from the play Thoroughly Modern Millie because she is over the top, and makes for interesting makeup choices. Her character is a retired actress who is white, but is now… Read More »Character makeup: Mrs Meers of ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’
Today was my second day in Stage-makeup class where I applied makeup to my face. Today’s goal was to play with my features and make myself look like someone else. This makeup may look strange in a photograph, but from far away (like you would be if you were in… Read More »Stage Makeup: Altering the Face (as in I don’t normally look like this)
Decorated confectionaries with confectionary sugar.
The Heritage Farm Pancake House is a beautiful, working farm and pancake house. Homemade pancakes came in several flavors, and are topped with real NH maple syrup. Yum! We chilled with the animals while we ate. They wandered free, but never once begged for our food. Real country charm, that… Read More »A Really Great (and Photogenic) Pancake House
So not too long ago I met the friendliest cow. She and her calf were hanging out by the edge of a fence at a farm near lake Winnisquam. I took the opportunity to get some great close ups. She really loved the camera; look at her pose! What a… Read More »A Very Friendly Cow
I love this picture so much, and am very proud of it. So I would like to revisit its beauty.
I took these photos while in the mountains of NH on Vacation.
Look! There’s a ghost in this one
My family and I spent a few days just South of Laconia, at a resort on a hill. Since I just got a new camera, I took lots of nice pictures. You can watch the slideshow, with bigger pictures here. If anyone wants one of the above photos for a… Read More »Vacation in the Mountains, Pictures Part One: Landscapes & Clouds
I just bought a new camera! It is a Nikon D3100, and it is absolutely wonderful. So far I have been nothing but impressed. Though DSLRs can be expensive, there is really no comparison between a camera like this, and even the best of point and shoots. I decided that… Read More »My Shiny New Nikon D3100 <3
The other day I pretty much taught myself how make stuff out of real leather. Or at least, I began to teach myself. I’m sure there is a lot more to learn in order to master the materials, but the basics are pretty simple! So, I bought a very small… Read More »Leather Working at Home: Simpler Than It Sounds
Last week was my first time ever at “Look What I made,” the functional, dishwasher safe version of “Plaster Fun Time.” At “Look What I Made” children and their guardians (or babysitters) can walk in anytime, select a ceramic piece to paint by hand, and a week later, pick it… Read More »Look what I made! No, really.
Nature produces all the most beautiful shapes and colors. I believe nothing that man can make will ever be as effortlessly beautiful as nature; therefore, why not use organic materials when decorating your living quarters? In this post, I am going to show you a few really, really easy ways… Read More »Using Nature to Decorate your Home
The long awaited X-men Photoshoot from Connecticon 2011 has been posted to the cosplay blog, here. Along with the photoshoot, I have completed and published the new X-23 costume page, which details how I made my costume, and showcases the best pictures taken of my creation… Read More »X-men Photoshoot and X-23 costume page are up!
The photographer that shot our X-men photoshoot at Connecticon 2011 said that the pictures should be ready to post in a day or two!! I am very excited to see how the shoot turned out, and will post them on my cosplay blog as soon as I have them. I… Read More »Update on Connecticon pictures and Videos yet to come.