i just got the internet!

so you'll be hearing from me finally!

i'll be posting about my crafty adventures and some friends and family stuff too!

thanks for watching!

-crystal

Mrs. Lovett's Hair Tutorial

For the full tutorial and other Tim Burton tutorials visit Paper Sparrow's Tim Burton Blog Party on October 5th!

hey, i'm still here

I created a domain name today! http://www.oliviafrankenstein.com. Right now its just a link to my etsy shop, but I'm slowly but surely trying to build this "business" thing up. I'm thinking about getting the internet soon too...thats one of the main reasons i haven't updated in a while. Soooo I've got my line in a shop now! The shop is called "Boa" and its on Charlotte Avenue in West Nashville. I love everything in there soooo much that its difficult for me to not spend all of the money I make in there. Sam sell's all different kinds of monster/horror-themed items, as well as vintage dresses, band shirts, boots, local artist stuff, wallets...everything. She makes clothes too, and I can't believe how fairly priced everything is. That's another reason why its so easy to spend money in there. I can't believe I don't have a picture of the store front. I'll take one next time I go see her. It...is...cute.

i finished this wallet today! i've been working on the whole idea for a while. i got the monster image out of an old halloween activity book that i got out of a free book box once. it reminds me of tim burton. i love using old vintage halloween stuff. i have a few more designs that i've printed, but i haven't sewn together yet. that's all i guess.

"fun ready"

i dont know what to say.  except that i love target.

i altered a dress!

Welcome to a typical day at my house. You would be amazed at how much time i waste trying on different outfits and makeups, just because I can. I decided to take pictures of it for added fun! I woke up late and decided to get "fun ready". That means i dress up crazy just to stomp around the house in a fun outfit for no one elses pleasure but mine own.  It usually involves lots of eye shadow and over the top shirt/skirt combinations.

here i am straight out of bed. 

i need a LOT of color.

since i got a phone with internet i've been downloading various pictures i like (during the boring parts of my day) and then i come back to them later to use. here is a picture of some make up i've been wanting to try out. Well guess what? Today is the day.

Despite my efforts to look insane, I end up looking pretty much the way I look every other day. Oh well. 

Oooh I should trim my bangs. That would be fun. This is how short I want them but so far i haven't been able to let myself go that far:

Yep. I still look the same.  I walk in the living room to find Marc playing with my toys. I'm so glad we get to spend the day together!

So here is the story. i got a dress a couple weeks ago at an awesome place called "Unclaimed Baggage". It was too big for me but it was really cute and somehow seemed to fit better at the time of original try-on... so it's been sitting in my closet waiting for someone to pay attention to it. Lucky for my dress I unexpectedly had the day off today! Since I had the day off and Marc has built up so much comp time at work, he decided to take the day off too. Yay! Someone to help me pin it!

I didn't take a before picture because the dress looked so ugly on me but I found a similar one for you compare the finished product to:

(well, minus the scarlett johanson.)  see how she has boobs and the dress looks good on her? that was the problem area for me. i had to make it fit my weirdo shape.

Here is the dress pinned up the way I want it. You can't tell because of the way i took the picture but its a size or two too big and it had huge straps on the front that ruined my shape. The straps are all pinned down here too.

Marc stayed on top of my hunger all day (as usual). He served me leftover chicken pot pie that he had made for dinner a couple nights ago. (IT WAS SO GOOD.)

My sewing area has gotten very very messy lately. It always happens when I work on a ton of projects all at once. Dress is all pinned up and ready to be sewn.

For some reason it takes me about ten times longer to do something than it takes a normal person. By the time i pin and sew and pin and sew about five more times i get hungry again. Oreo ice cream. And it hits that spot.

Too lazy to find my seam ripper, I use my embroidery scissors to rip out a bad stitch. 

I had to cut the zipper down about 6 inches. Magically, I did it right and didn't ruin the dress!

Here it is. Finally finished.

(In a related note, I want to get a remote for my camera! I hear those things exist. Self timer is a little difficult when trying to pose from across the room.)

I think the doggies like it.

And so does Miss Pin Cushion. I made a bow out of some of the material i cut off of the dress so i will probably make a hair-thing out of it later on.

So it wasn't that big of an alteration but it was my first one! I took in the sides a couple inches and I added straps . I also had to do a lot of weird reshaping in the front/back. Now I just have to build up the courage to wear it out! 

i feel so lazy!

i'm at marc's work waiting for him finish a project and i THought i brought a lot of stuff to work on (resin necklaces, embroidery project) but as it turns out I forgot at least one piece of each project. So all i'm left with is the lazy stuff: My computer and the fifth season of Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I'm using this time to try and find some inspiring blogs to follow (and watch some 'sunny').

let me know if you have any suggestions.

Tattoo Convention!

So recently I went to meet my sister at a tattoo place to help her look at the sketch the artist had prepared for her. Every year this particular shop holds a tattoo and horror convention downtown. There is a tent full of artists tattooing all weekend and vendors selling monster merchandise everywhere! They also invite old horror film stars to do autographs and photos. Anyways, I love monster stuff.  I love incorporating it into the stuff that I make. So I asked the guys about renting a booth for this years convention and selling my stuff! A couple summers ago my friends and I had a "craft day" every week where we got together and made things. We did a few craft shows that year and it was so much fun! (Even if it was in elementary school gymnasiums filled with booth after booth of knitted water bottle holders and sports fabric throw pillows). I'm hoping that this crowd will understand my merchandise better and I can dress however I want to without worrying about scaring away all of the customers!

The show starts on May 13th so we've got two months to prepare!

Family Crafting!

I went to have craft day with my family in the country! I drove down to my great aunt's house in Thompson's Station in the morning where I met up with my mom, her sisters and some first and second cousins. Ever since I can remember my mom's side of the family has been into quilting, sewing, and other various adorable old lady crafts.

Mom was cross stitching, Alice was quilting, and Elsie was finding cute old vintage buttons for me to use! I was working on tiny felt things because it was the only transportable project I could think of.

The buttons came from her mom, my great grandma. We went through them finding ones that would make cute eyes for my felty animals.

skunk-a-doo!

Bed time! I haven't gotten excited about a book in while but I stumbled upon this gem in a gay bookstore that was sadly going out of business (RIP: OutLoud!). Anyone remember the movie "Party Monster" with Seth Green and Macauley Culkin? Same writer. Seth Green's character, actually. Well anyways it is one of my top two favorites of all time. Skrod-la-dah!

hello!

my name is Crystal and this is my first post. basically, i'm from east nashville and i've been crafting since birth.