Friday, December 19, 2008

Blog #2...

So, I've decided to start a second blog. I know you may think I'm crazy, as I hardly have the time to update this one, but I hope to be able to keep up with this one a bit more as it doesn't rely on me having time to craft. So I encourage you to check out my new fashion blog:

Freddie

The layout and such are still in progress but do let me know what you think! Meanwhile, it's winter break for me, and although it's a short one, I will hopefully have some crafts/DIY projects to show off to you soon!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Holidays

Well, I'm home from school for Thanksgiving, so as I wait for our wonderful meal to be ready, I thought I'd leave you all with a little mem I've been saving since, well, this summer... just like everything else non-school related in my life. haha



What you do:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker).

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name

I didn't really have definite answers to most of these questions, but it was still fun ;) ... I dare you to just try and guess what I typed in based on these photos- hah, I know I couldn't!

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I also realize I still have swatches I made for someone or others swatch swap this summer... I know I'm awful for never sending them :/ summer just ended so quickly, and I have them in a little tin (a rin tin tin tin... ironically enough, haha) up in my room in Ithaca... so if you sent me a swatch (I think I only got 4 or so, since I never did send mine) please let me know and I will send you one!!

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Anyway, hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and I will "see" you in December! ;)

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Eep!

My apologies for falling off the face of the blogosphere before summer even ended... I've gotten super busy, but at least I have been doing some crafting- for swaps, friends, etc. I promise I'll have some things to show off before I go back to school in two short weeks. For now, hope all is well! I'll try to blog soon.

<3

Sunday, June 29, 2008

These are... my favorite thrifted finds

So I'm sorry not to take new pictures for this week's this is... my favorite op shop find (though in the US we call them thrift stores- I think it's the same thing, yes? - theme thanks to lino forest) but this way I can actually post it on Sunday! Actually... it's 11:55, so I better hurry up! haha

One of my absolute favorite finds is my $12.50 Jessica McClintock/Gunny Sax dress which I almost wore to my prom last year. I found it at a flea market when I was visiting a friend up at Bowdoin, and it was just meant to be, especially at that price, which I am so proud of ;) I ended up finding a different dress for prom, but wore this to a formal this year instead.


I'm also in love with my $35 Marc Jacobs cardigan which I found at a Buffalo Exchange last year on our spring break trip to San Francisco.

old picture... my hair is so much shorter here :o but you get the idea ;)

And just for fun, a cute little mug I found a little while back at the housing works by my apartment.


Oh darn, it's 12:03. Well, I tried- right? ;)

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

On my desk... per se....

ok, so my desk is actually pretty empty now because it is still fairly clean from last week's revamp, yet my laptop has now migrated back to the couch- go figure. However, I wanted to share what was quite recently on that table my mom and I squeezed into the shower that I spoke of last week.


and the stamp - next to the sink actually, not on the table. Oh technicalities... ;)

Almost everything I used for this project was purchased in my shopping spree last week (which was more than paid for with the birthday money I got from my grandparents yesterday- hooray!), with the exception of my carving tools. The new speedy cut was such a pleasure to work with! (I used to cut all of my stamps from erasers) I was afraid it was a little crumbly during carving, but that did not seem to have a negative affect on my final outcome. I was also extremely pleased with my new brayer, which made inking so much easier, though I do sort of wish I had sprung the extra $6-$7 for the inking plate, which at the time of said shopping seemed so unnecessary. The fabric paint and fabric were also purchased on the same trip and I am really pleased with the colors.

The print is now hanging next to my desk waiting to be washed and cut up for jesse's swatch swap :)

see who else is playing on my desk here

Monday, June 23, 2008

This is...

my personal style. This week's theme thanks to kitty's kaboodle. And yes yes I know it's Monday, I'm a day late with the meme thing as usual, but what can you do?

I couldn't pick just one outfit to express my personal style because my style is so eclectic and variant, especially from summer to winter. But here are a few highlights of Natch's summer style: (My apologies for the cruddy bathroom photos... but that's what happens when I have to photograph myself)

Polished Summer Casual:

The Sandals that go with it:

This summer I've been rotating between these (from target, and quite comfy!) and my t-strap Birkenstocks

Lazy Summer Casual, mostly because this is my favorite t-shirt (from Threadless):


And then finally, Summer Classy/Dressy, which I wore to my little birthday celebration this weekend:

This dress was my biggest purchase at Renegade this year and I am head over heels in love with it... even if I did have to shorten the straps. The dress is by this lovely lady.
and the shoes:

which I got from ebay a few years ago and absolutely adore, though they are a tad small and therefore a tad pinchy in the back.

And speaking of Renegade, I know I've kept you waiting on the other photos I promised!
So, here we have my friend Helen and I posing for a photo outside of the Etsy booth:


and then 'the postcard machine' which very much cracked me up. She even said she was smiling for our picture ;)


Since the dress was a large purchase, the only other things I got at Renegade this year were a letter N typewriter key ring and three magnets- 2 for myself with my initials "NB" and pictures of a nest and a bird- how perfect! And an I for Ice Cream for my mother, Ivy, who certainly does love ice cream.

Anyway, sorry for the slightly rushed post, but I've got a surprising amount going on lately... I really meant to post this yesterday, or earlier today.

Until we meet again, check out more "this is..." on three buttons :)

Thursday, June 19, 2008

On my desk...

Nothing! :o

I know I promised to blog about Renegade (and I still will!) and I know it's a day late for the meme, but I am just so elated about my revamped desk area that I wanted to show it off. I wish wish wish I had a before picture so you could see how horrendously messy it was, but just imagine piles of papers and trinkets everywhere rendering the entire surface unusable. My sewing machine lived in a corner of the living room and my laptop on the couch, or on the floor next to it... never could I have dreamed of fitting either on my desk, let alone both! I am so excited that for the first time ever I actually have a usable craft workspace. Though, knowing me, I'll still do half of everything on the couch ;)

And the room revamp doesn't stop there. My mom and I squeezed a table (now trust me, that was interesting) into my shower (which is never used- I use the "guest" bathroom- mine was always filled with cat stuff, but I figure Casper should be able to share) so I can have an area for printing and cutting and things, instead of crouching in the bathtub, haha. I still need to do more physical cleaning of the shower area before I use it though, the dust that was caked on everything was pretty ridiculous... Well, hopefully I'll be inspired to keep cleaning and make even more room for crafty storage and etc now that I actually have a workspace. :D Yeah I know... still kind of can't get over that ;)

Anyway, here it is:

Probably still looks rather crowded to most of you, but to me this is practically empty ;) haha I'm also excited about how I hung my scissors, brand new rotary cutter (hiding behind the old computer), and voodoo pin cushion on my bulletin board/bed. (Yes, this whole shebang is underneath my loft bed).

And here's above the desk:

You can see the underside of my mattress ;P as well as the spool and bobbin storage I'm so proud of- I just stuck straight pins in to the bulletin board at an angle! Obviously I have some more to put up there, but I'm super happy with it for now :)

Other people's prettier desks can be found here. ;) And I suppose this also goes well, though rather late, with last week's this is... because this is the space in which I will create!

Finally, yesterday I also went to Dick Blick, Pearl Paint, and a few random fabric stores to stock up. I got:
A rotary cutter
A cutting mat
A smaller squeegee (preparing for my gocco already ;P)
2 more colors of fabric ink (dark purple and dark green)
A sheet of speedy cut
A rubber brayer
More stencil plastic
Tracing Paper
"Friskit Film" - something new for me to try :o
3 yards of interfacing
3 yards of muslin
3 yards of a plain grayish cotton

I don't think that's too shabby for under $100 in NYC. Oh, but another thing I'm bouncing out of my pants about: I also bid on and won this print gocco - I'm so unbelievably excited! It looks like it should be in full working order and oh I hope it is, because with shipping and many special extra fees to get it, it obviously comes to a lot more than the 3600 yen listed... but should still amount to about $50 less than getting a new one from printaddict or somewhere else... so, my fingers are crossed! I don't know how I'll be able to wait for it to get here, because it's also much slower than getting one from printaddict... could be a couple of weeks. Also, it looks like it might be missing a blue filter, and I might need to get some other inks, but I'm trying so hard to prevent myself from placing an order with thinkink or anywhere else until the gocco is in my hands and I can properly assess it.

Now, what I really need to do is stop spending my birthday money before I get it ;) ... less than a week until I'm 19, time really does fly.