Arm Candy!

How do you store your arm candy? I use to store all my bracelets and bangles in a drawer in a basket but recently a friend showed me a really neat way to store them. All you need is a clean empty bottle, like this!

 Once the bottle is empty, wash it and soak it in a soapy bath for about an hour or so, just until the label slides right off. When they're dry, you can start stacking!

Ta Da!

Happy blogging, till next time!

My Pastiche

So you're probably wondering what a pastiche is right? For those of you who do know what it is, you can just skip this part! But for those of you've never heard of it before, stay tuned. Basically a pastiche is a piece of art, literature, or even music that is done by borrowing or using the same techniques from a different source. I guess you can say its like copying. 

Copying other people's work that you admire can help you become better at what you do, just make sure to eventually find you're own techniques and motifs that reflects who you are as an artist. 

I did my pastiche on David Downton's painting of Twiggy. Mine is on the right. I'm still new when it comes to water color & Gauche; so I don't know very many techniques. However, doing this piece taught me the contrast of thick and thin lines. It showed me how to bleed my color on the paper better and definitely made me realize that painting with water color isn't easy!

Left: (David Downton) Right: (Mine)

Anyways, please give it a try. I guarantee that you will learn something new!

BMC Fashion Show, 2012

Hey everyone! I promised I would share with you my end of the year collection and portfolio. If you follow my illustration blog, I mention that my collection is based on Art Deco. If you're a little unsure of what Art Deco is think of The Great Gatsby, flapper girls, prohibition, and anything to do with the 1920s.

The cover of my portfolio

I used col-erase pencil crayon in lavender and several different prismacolor pencils.

These are the favorites from my portfolio. We were aloud to pick three looks to construct. I only had two looks in the fashion show and decided to pull my third one because I didn't like the way it turned out.

 The silver dress is made out of silk satin and was very hard to work with. I cut the fabric on the bias making it even more difficult to handle because not only was the fabric slippery but now I had to worry about the fabric stretching! I was literally working on this dress the day of the show and finished two hours before the show started! It was really intense. During the show, I was super nervous because I was afraid the chain would be all tangled, but it wasn't. The dresser who dressed my model in my dress did a great job! 

 This dress took me the longest. I had to bead every single bead by hand and tack them into the seams of the dress. The chain on both gowns were hand tacked as well. With all the chain and beads in tack this dress is actually fairly heavy. When I had to alter the dress to fit my model, I actually had to re-bead and redo nearly the entire back of the dress. Overall, I was really lucky to find my fabric and chain for my dress.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed my post! Please message me if you have any questions, I love feedback!

Product Addict?

Would you call yourself a product addict? If so, relax. Its OK, you're not alone. As a matter of fact there are a lot of people in this world who love to try and buy new products. I'll admit, I use to be pretty bad. But I've learned to control my inner urges to splurge on products that I really don't need. 

However, during Christmas there are too many great deals to pass up so I couldn't resist buying a few new products to try during the holidays.

 The body shop always has great deals, they have an awesome "spin the wheel" promotion which allows customers to get awesome deals. I was lucky enough to get 50% off on all my goods. So I picked up theses two lovelies. I haven't used the Body Shop's body butters in a long time since high school. But I'm glad I gave it a try, it isn't very oily and smells really nice; plus this body butter is paraben free!  The tea tree face mask works well too. I'm already quite familiar with their Tea Tree line so I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. When applied, the mask will begin to tingle your face, this might not be for everyone, but I really enjoy this facial mask.

Tea Tree Face Mask

Vineyard Peach Body Butter 

I decided to buy this one because I liked how it had SPF 30 and the smell was quite nice. It smells like oranges. Its a little sticky at first but that is pretty normal for most moisturizers with SPF. But overall, it is fairly good. I wear it under my make up it doesn't feel heavy. 

Vitamin C Daily Moisture Lotion SPF 30

 I'm sure everyone is familiar with D&G's fragrant, Light Blue. Its been very popular the last few years. I absolutely love this perfume. I've been using it since I was thirteen. I like the size of the spray bottle, makes it convenient enough to carry in my purse. 

 D&G Light Blue 0.25 oz Eau de Toilette Spray

Essie -:- Shop Till I Drop

I actually got this as a stocking stuffer and its actually not that big in real life. Its solid perfume and it smells AMAZING! I love it, I'm actually kind of obsessed. I've been rubbing it all over my neck, under my ears, over my wrist, everywhere!

 L'Occitane en Provence -:- Cherry Princess Solid Perfume

I hope you all enjoyed my post, I'll try to update again really soon. Until then, take care!