Drunk & Wordy...

Yep I just said wordy. I'm 99% sure this is not an actual word but hey it goes with the blog name right? Lack of employment means lack of crafty funds so I have turned to less costly creativity.

I'm writing again and most importantly feeling inspired to do so again. I have no idea if this is going to take me anywhere or if it will remain just another venue to express myself. Either way it feels damn good.
I don't have a solid idea of plot yet, more just a vague notion of emotions and situations my characters have to go through to get them where they need to be.

My biggest motivation really for all of this is that I am so tired of trying to find good books. I am a very picky reader. I read multiple reviews on different websites, browse goodread's recommendation and spend hours just picking out my next read. I go through all that work only to find myself disappointed again and again.

I love stories that are character driven. I want to see the transformation of a character and I want to FEEL as they struggle to over come and grow. I love stories that are dark and but beautiful and hopeful still. I want action, struggle, pain, blood, tears, but poignancy and moments of joy too. I know, it is a tall order.

Some of the authors and series that have accomplished this are Karen Marie Moning's Fever Series. I sort of want to be Mac when I grow up. Minus the fascination with pink though. ;) This story is about transformation and I love that there is no real villain or hero. This whole series is great at capturing moments of utter despair and giving up along side far more moments of joy and triumph. A book that makes me laugh, cry, and heart speed up in always a keeper.

I'm also a huge fan of Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series. There are a lot of books in the series and again it has that wonderful contrast that I love. Imagine bad ass women and some men capable of ruling the world if they so choose but instead are witty and funny and very tongue in cheek. I can't wait for Nucking Futs Nix to finally get her story.

I tried a light heart comedic romance for the first time recently called Wallbanger by Alice Clayton. Mostly when reading, I chuckle more in my head then out loud. With this one I actually giggle/snorted a few times. The lead is perfectly ridiculous and funny. During a few of her melt downs I thought to myself that if I were to ever just left my rage go, this is exactly what I would say in her situation too. Plus the need to give people nicknames is very much something I do too when I don't actually know someones name. Haha. Seeing Wallbanger and Pink Nightie Girl go head to head was great.

Now back to writing, I so rarely find gems like Wallbanger anymore. And I can only re-read and/or re-listen to a book so many times. I think it is time for me to step in. I'm going to write a book. It is finally going to happen from start to finish.

In the past I would be overcritical and just give up on a project. This time I'm just going for it. I don't care if no one sees it but my Mom and best friends or if I self publish. I am going to write THE book I've always wanted to read.

Here is all I have so far. It isn't much and I've expanded further since I wrote this late last night but this is just the beginning. I can't wait to see where these characters take me next. Please any feed back is always welcomed.

Once upon a time a girl fell in love with a monster…

When I was small and afraid I would lay awake at night and count my heart beats. It is a practice that I never left behind.

“I love you,” he said softly standing before me.

I could see the utter sincerity in his eyes. I could feel the complexity and endless depth of emotion within the deceivingly simple words. His voice ran over me, so familiar and I could feel my body leaning in towards him.

I knew this man. I knew how the hollows of his body felt against my own. I knew the way the skin on his neck smelled. I knew what if felt like when his lips curve into a smile as he kissed me. I knew that his hands, which had dealt so much death could also be gentle and warm and fit around mine perfectly. I knew that he could make me laugh until I hurt and he had a quiet intelligence that burned brightly. From the first moments his very being called to me. It was as if on a deep before unknown level, I was pulled towards him. 

I am imperfect person and despite everything I couldn’t fight myself anymore. I stepped towards him and let my body rest into his and just like I remembered, my head fit perfectly into the hollow between his collar bones. I could feel his heartbeat against my check and smell his clean scent and my mind was too full of memories.

I felt my shoulders start to tremble as I tried to hold back my tears and I let my arm snake around his back pulling him closer. My hand fisted against his worn shirt drinking in his warmth.  I finally looked up at him and took in his face. Dark unruly hair, unshaven firm jaw, soft full lips, his nose that never healed straight after too many fights, and his eyes. I knew his eyes the best. Drowning brown with a thick fringe of lashes.

He stared at me nervous and afraid when nothing but a breath separated us.  I could see that he had made the decision to trust me and finally his mouth met mine on an exhale. His warm beautiful hands grasped my face softly and I knew that I called out to him just as strongly. But I felt the trembling in my shoulders start to travel to the rest of my body, down into my hands and legs and knew I had ran out of time.

 “I have always and will always love you,” I finally whispered back against his lips. I couldn’t let him see the tears that were flowing free so I rested my forehead against his. I needed more time. Another second, another minute. A whole lifetime of moments. I wanted forever with his man. “Always.” I finished barely able to make myself say the words.

I opened my eyes and looked into his.  We were so close together that I could feel his long eyelashes flutter against my cheek. I watched his eyebrows raise in surprise as a plunged the dagger I had hid behind his back, into his side. And then I twisted it just like he taught me.

His weight fell into me as we both sank to the ground and I dropped the bloody dagger. His eyes never left mine and when he tried to speak, a bubble of blood was all that came out.

“Shhh,” I soothed. “Don’t try to talk. I love you so much and I am so sorry, please please forgive me. It wasn’t supposed to end this way! We were supposed to have more time!” I finished hysterically.

I wanted to scream, and I wanted to rip my hair out and wail out my fury and despair. All I could do though was hold the man I loved and look into the face I betrayed. He couldn’t speak but his eyes never accused, never condemned, he just started up at me.

I just stabbed the man I loved. I just killed him. I killed him. Oh god I killed him. My mind raced and I took a deep breath to calm myself. Focus and count his heart beats. Just count his heart beats you are not done yet. This isn't over yet. Just count his heart beats to get through this. Just like you did when you were little, I told myself silently.

“Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. Thirteen.” I stuttered out.

His blood pooled around us on the floor, warm while his body went cold and the light in his eyes died.

His eyes never left mine and I wanted to lie down next to him and die too. But I couldn't, I couldn't because I wasn't done yet. Oh God I wanted to be done. Hadn't I done enough? Hadn't I given enough, Hadn't we given enough. 

No. I had to go. I had to go now and finish this or all of this was for nothing. 

I closed my eyes and counted my heat beats until they slowed. I pushed my rage, my despair so deep inside me and let it light me up and burn. I stopped shaking. I stopped crying. The person I was before no longer existed. The last thing remaining human about me bled out on the floor along with him. . I gently moved him off me and forced myself to stand and to walk away.

This wasn't over yet. 

…and they did not live happily ever after. At least not yet…

Cha-Cha-Changes...

I wanted to do a real quick update to share just a few things. I will be posting a few real quick crafts I did this last month and also share a few personal items.

First off the month of March was a very crafty month indeed. I did cut off the tops of a few beer bottles to use in a future project. I made a Tardis Top Hat for a friends Doctor Who Tea Party Bridal Shower, I painted my shoes to match the dress and hat, did a wood photo collage transfer for my boyfriends Birthday/our 1st anniversary present and I made a Bride and Groom Survival kit. These are going to be quick posts showing the end results and the few I took in the process of. IF someone actual stumbles across this blog and wants more information, please just leave a comment and I would be more then happy to go further in depth.

First up is taking a large sized beer bottle and using a glass cutter to remove the top. I have a few projects in the near future that I will be using the bottles for.

Nifty labeled beer bottle provided by the lovely boyfriend.

After washing the bottle out well and drying it completely, follow the instructions for your glass cuter to etch a like around where you want the bottle to separate from the neck.

Here is a closer look at the etched bottle. 

I was too busy handling boiling water to capture the next part so I am just going to briefly explain. You can use your coffee pot of just boil a pan of water and transfer the boiling water into a large measuring cup or boil water in a tea kettle. Either way get very hot or boiling water into some kind of container that is easy to pour from. Put on safety glasses and turn on the water in your sink to the coldest temp in a steady trickle. Take the bottle in one hand and your container with boiling water in the other and while barely rotating the bottle, dribble a bit of the hot water right on top of the etching. You can actually see the glass fog when it heats up and then drip on ice cold water on it next. Keep doing this back and forth between hot and cold while slowly rotating the bottle. Eventually the glass will stress enough around the etching and break away cleanly. If you find it is cracking outside the etching then your water it too hot and you need to turn the temp down. When you are done, let the glass cool down and use fine grit sandpaper to sand away the sharp edges. These can be used for beer drinking glasses, candles, vases and a million other things.

Next up is my Tardis Top Hat. Again I was so caught up on crafting that I didn't get  chance to take that many photos. Start by taking a piece of string and cut it to the circumference you there you want the hat to rest on your head. Find a round object with a very similar circumference. I was a big head so I actually was able to use a pan for myself. I then traced a perfect circle onto some cardboard. Then found a slightly smaller bowl to trace a smaller circle inside the larger one.   

The bigger circle will be the brim and the smaller circle will be cut out and this is here your head should fit.

I don't have any picture for this next part you will then take more thick paper or card stock to make the top hat part. This is just my card stock pieces taped together to see if the proportions looked good on me. I ended up shortening the height of the hat by quite a bit.

I knew I wanted the very top of the hat to have a dip in it so I free handed a pattern where the bottom edge was perfectly straight and then made the top have peaks and valleys. I then traced big circle, small circle, and top hat pieces on to a yoga mat. I cut them all out with a exact o knife and then used contact cemement to glue the straight edged part of the top hat to the inside of the brim and then the smaller circle to make up the top. I let this dry for about a half hour.

Here it is after painting it blue, adding lace, feathers, pocket watch, and glass squares for the windows, and black ribbon for the Police Box sign.

There will be a better photo of the complete project since I had my boyfriend help me by painting the Police Box sign later.

And then I made a survival kit of my soon to be Bride and Goom friends. Just take a cheap dollar store bucket, paint it the color of your choice. I then made the labels and card inside using PicMonkey.com. I LOVE this site. It is free for the basic version and extremely user friendly. I then had my printables printed at Fed Ex Office and then bought a bunch of small items that I thought would be handy the day of the wedding.

I added write ribbon to the top and bottom after gluing on the label. I then added all the items and made it pretty and done! I did the same for the Bride's kit.

And then there were shoes! I needed blue shoes to match my blue dress but didn't want to buy shoes because I was poor. I swear acrylic paint solves everything. I just painted the shoes the color I needed. I didn't seal them or anything either and they have yet to run, even in water.

Here was wood photo transfer collage for my boyfriend. I was too impatient and removed the paper too early causing not everything to stick properly. This is the the only picture I have and it is before I gave the project some TLC.

I ended up sanding the edges further and then took distressed ink on a cotton ball to even out the color and give the whole project the "I meant it to look all vintage and wonderful.." look. I sealed it with some Mod Podge and I was done.


The collage was made on PicMonkey as well....I LOVE LOVE that website.

So yes, lots of crafty and fun times. I had some other plans in the works for more upcoming projects but was let go from my job last week unexpectedly. I have a lot of things in flux and my projects do require me buying materials, so those are put on hold for now.

Thank goodness for my friends, boyfriend, and family. Without them I would be loosing my ever loving mind at this point. I do plan on still posting here more regularly but future posts are probably going to be geared more to book reviews, writing and general musing.

It is almost 3am and this girl is tired so that is all for now.

Until next time...

-Candis

DIY Lace Ballet Flats

Another one of my beautiful friends will also be saying her I dos this year. She is a very creative and talented and like me, likes to look at something and see what its potential could be. Why settle for what you can find in a store when you can buy something and make it even better?

When she told me the other day she customized her wedding shoes and offered to let me share it here, I of course jumped at the chance and said HECK YEAH!

So without further ado, here is Rin's very own DIY lace ballet flats...

Ok, so these were pretty easy.  

I wanted my wedding shoes to be blue ballet flats, but I also wanted some lace incorporated to match the dress.  I couldn't find what I wanted in stores, so...I made my own!

Supplies:  Shoes (I used a blue faux suede ballet flat), Scissors, lace fabric, hot glue.

First get a general idea of how much of the lace you will use on one shoe and cut a rough amount. To be safe I suggest getting slightly more then you think you will need.

Then wrap the lace around the shoe and determine how you want it to lay on the shoe.

once you have your basic idea in your head, cut out the lace around the flower patterns so that the edges are the edges of the flowers.

 Time for hot glue!  On one shoe, I started with the top of the lace and worked around the shoe and did the bottom edge of the shoe last. On the other other shoe I started at the bottom and found that either way works.  

Once glued, trim the lace around the sole of the shoe and just like that you are done!

Easy easy!  And so pretty. :)

Her shoes turned out lovely! Thanks again to Rin for sharing some of her craftiness in my tiny corner of blog land!

March has definitely been a crafty month for me. In march alone I made a Doctor Who Tardis Top Hat from scratch, Tutu dresses which can be seen Here, an anniversary/birthday gift for the best boyfriend in the world, and a very special bridal shower gift for Rin and her future Mr. 

Now obviously the two gifts are very hush hush now since both Rin and said boyfriend are supportive and actually read what I post. I will be sharing with everyone else though as soon as the gifts are given. I'm beyond excited since I sincerely feel like these are my best works yet. 

Oh and I had every intention of posting about my beer bottles however the projects mentioned above were a lot more time sensitive and had to be completed first.

Until next time...

Candis 

No Sew Flower Girl Tutu Dress

I finally had the opportunity to document some beautiful craftiness! Yesterday my best friend Shenae and I spent the day buying tulle, cutting the tulle down into sections and putting together 2 of her 5 flower girl dresses. She is getting married this October and I feel so very special to be apart of her special day and getting to make these dresses with her.

Materials Need:
Tulle-I explain below how to figure out the amount needed.
1" no roll elastic band
Scissor- Do not try to use dull scissors! We learned this the hard way!
Fabric Measuring Tape
Ribbon of Choice
Any Accessories like flowers, bling, petals, ect.
And a crafty best friend to offer a helping hand! This is optional but made it more fun.


The first step is find out the measurements for the child who will be wearing the dress. Measure around the chest going under the armpits and measure from pits to where you want the dress to fall.  We decided to make two, the largest and smallest, to have a good idea of cost per dress. For the largest dress, we needed 27 inch chest and 34 inches long. The smallest dress would be 22 inches around the chest and 25 inches long.  Since you do double up the tulle, you will want to double the length of the tulle later.

Now this was my first time buying tulle in  a 54" inch by a yard for this project. We knew how much tulle was needed for the right length but not sure how much tulle we would need to go around. I originally thought maybe 2 knotted strips per inch so 27x2=54 strips. Now it is important to note that if your child will be wearing this dress very soon, to take away 2 inches from the chest measurements. This will make the elastic you are using fit snug. Since these dresses are for October, we wanted plenty of growing room and left the chests at 27 inches and 22 inches and also added quite a few inches to the length since we will be cutting off the excess about 1 or 2 months before the wedding. How much a child may grow between now and October is a huge mystery to me so Shenae and I wanted to be extra cautious. During our first visit we figured if 54 strips were needed for the larger dress and we get 9 6" strips out of our 54" bolt, 54/9=6. We would need then 6 lengths cut at 76.5" sections to make 54 strips at 6"x76.5". Now our length of 76.5 was including the growing room in length and in hind sight, we made this dress probably way too long but that is okay. If making this dress to be worn right away I would do  6 sections at 68" each since the length measure today was 34" from armpit to ankle.

Are your eyes glazing over yet? Bear with me because this is important experience gained when it comes to just how much tulle is needed. I could have just bought the 6" rolls but those are $5.99 a piece and whole lot more expensive in the long run.

After buying that much tulle and going home and making the dress, we did figure out we did not buy enough tulle. After another trip to Hobby Lobby,  I believe instead of 2 knots per inch, a better estimate is 3 to 4 knots per inch depending on how full you want the dress. Here is how the tulle should have been measure and cut the first time.

3.75 knots per 1" so 3.75x27=101 knots. Since you get 9 sections to knot out of 1 54" section of tulle 101/9= about 11 sections needed at 76.5 inch a piece. Now to break this down into yard. 11x76.5=841.5 inches needed over all. 841.5/36 inches=23.5 yards needed overall.

Shenae wanted to have ivory dresses with sections of gold so we decided to get a 1/3 of the needed tulle in gold so 23.5/3= 8 yards in gold and then 16 yards in ivory.

The 2nd dress I thought was 25" in the chest vs the 22" it really was so we bought more tulle then needed so I'll share the same calculations for a 25 inch bust dress with 60 inch length when doubled.

25"x3.75 knots=94 knots needed per inch. 94/9=10.5 sections 60" inch each. 10.5x60=630 inches in total. 630"/36"=17.5 yards.  We did a 3rd again of gold 6 yards of gold and 11.75 of ivory.

The math can be scary and some of you might opt to just buy the 6" tulle rolls but here is why you should not. The bigger dress at $1.29 for Ivory and $1.69 for gold cost just $35 and the smaller dress was $25. To get the same amount of tulle at 6"x 25 yards, you would need 8 rolls, 1 rolls is $5.99 making the total $54 when I paid $35 doing it with the bolt.

The most time consuming part was cutting all the tulle down. I suggest taping down your tape measure to a large table to help.

The tulle comes already folded in half, keep is folded in half and then fold it in half again the same direction to make it easier to cut. I had two bunches of tulle of each color for each dress and made sure that the piles were labeled at Hobby Lobby which went for which dress. Cut down the tulle bolt into the length you need for each dress. We did one at 76.5" and another 60".

You will now how large sections of your length x 54". Now this next part could be very difficult but I found a easy way to cut a large of tulle into 6" sections quickly. Unfold the tulle  so that is just folded in half once, the same way it came off the bolt. Then fold your tulle in half the the opposite way that it is folded on the bolt. Keep folding it this way being sure your side with the nice crease in it is matched up as closely as possible. Then measure it up against your table starting at the unfinished seam side and cut into 6" sections. the last section will be just 3 inch long but since this is the one with a folded seam, it will unfold to the right size. Repeat this process until all your tulle is cut into 6" strips.

Our first tulle roll. The first time we just rolled the whole darn section which is harder to keep in line. I got smarter by just making folded sections instead of rolling.

Shenae cutting the tulle into 6" strips while I took photos!

Here is the easier way we figured out later of folding vs rolling the entire section. 

Next is the easy part. Take 1" no roll elastic and measure out your sections and add 2 inches for gluing room. I did 29" which when glued left 27" and then 27" to make 25" chest band. And yes since this is no sew I did use hot glue to connect the elastic into a circle. Shenae was doubtful this would hold but if you pinch the glue sections together bending them slowly as is dries, it will leave the glued part flexible instead of hard. I also has Shenae yank on one end with me to test is the durability and it held wonderfully.

Take a chair back or something circular or even your leg to wrap the band around, pop in a movie and begin putting your tulle on the elastic.

We decided to do 3 white sections, 1 gold sections, 3 white sections, 2 gold sections and repeat this pattern to get the desired effect. Here is how to put the tulle on the elastic.

Take your strip and fold in half and find the very middle of the fabric where your loop is.

Pass the lopped section behind the elastic going downward.

Pull the tulle through your loop....

 ...making a slip knot....

.....and tighten.

It is important to make sure the knot rests on the bottom of the elastic and is tight but the elastic is not bunching. Continue adding tulle in whatever pattern you want until you run out of elastic.
You should have a ridiculously poofy tulle tutu at this point and it is going to look a little crazy but I promise this is okay.

As you can see this the poofy crazy mess. This is my bed  just FULL of tulle!

In a empty spray bottle mix up a bit of lotion of your choice and warm water and hang your dress somewhere you can maneuver. Start with your dress inside out first and begin spraying the dress and running your hands through it pulling down. Keep doing this all the way around until the top layer is all neater, flip the dress right side out and repeat. This will help with the static and tame the crazy layers going everywhere.  To make the dress easier to hang, you might want to tie some tulle strips for temporary straps around the band.

Take the ribbon of your choice and cut some to you preferred length with room to tie. Tie off the the waist section and straighten the bust area by pulling the tulle smooth under the ribbon. Add any flowers or bling to your hearts content and you are almost done!

I haven't done the permanent straps yet since I need to get the girls in the dress first but if you are adding straps now there are few options. You use tulle by making slip knots where you want the straps to start in front and then trying off around the elastic in the back or you can glue ribbon to the inside of the elastic or you can braid tulle and do the same thing.

This is a very lengthy post and if you made it all the way to the end, thank you! It sounds complicated but my bestie Shenae was even amazed at how easy this was once we got going and is very pleased with the results.

Please link back to me if you are going to share any of my photos or make your own and post about it or if you pin on Pinterest.

If you think this is awesome, wait until you see what I can do with beer bottles next week! ; )

Linking up to Homes A to Z Link Party.
Thanks!

Candis

Hello World Take 2

I have been a very bad blogger but in my defense I have been quite busy. I do have a day job, or in my case a 2nd shift night job, and I spent a lot of time and energy going to visit Chicago Land. I saw Phantom of the Opera, which I could write an entire post about, and spent time with my two favorite ladies and my boyfriend. I will probably sometime this week post about Phantom though because it seriously deserve some blogger love. It was just, wow!
Now as promised I will have many crafty things to post about very soon. I have lots of events coming up like making tutu dresses for my best friend's flower girls, putting together an outfit for my other good friends Doctor Who Tea Party Bridal Shower including dress, hat/facinator, and gloves, also a long over due 21st birthday gift and my boyfriends 1 year anniversary/birthday gift.
I would love to post my previous projects involving paper flowers, beer bottle drinking glasses, decoupaging frames, and masquerade masks but I never had the foresight to take pictures of my crafting process. What pictures I do have are dark and poor quality since I do most of my crafting in the wee hours of the night like all other true insomniacs.
I get paid in a few days and will be making a trip to Hobby Lobby and Good Will to gather materials.I can't wait to share!

Hello World

Here goes. *Big Breath* This is my very first post. I've been reading a lot about blogging lately. It seems that I,as a new unknown blogger, am supposed to pick a niche to blog about. My choice of niches could include home decor, makeup, DIY projects, writing, book reviewing, sharing my day to day life and a million and one other things. People blog about what inspires them and moves them. I don't know about the other millions of people out there but I am not inspired by one single thing. 

I am inspired by the shadows the sunlight makes on my walls in the mornings, by the color of the leaves in the fall, by the books I read, by the conversations I have, by the music that makes me want to sing, by looking through the home sections at stores, by the things I see, touch, taste and feel. There are just too many wonderful, bright, and shiny things that catch my attention.  Now I could just have inspiration ADD but I don't feel like I should have to limit myself to just one topic. 

My hope is to share with you the things that make me FEEL and that you feel something too. Life is this constantly changing, terrible mess and you really have to search out moments of joy and happiness. I will be sharing what I think are wondrous and rare things. It could be a review of a new book I devoured in a single sitting. It could be a tutorial of how to make flower girl tutu dresses, scrap paper flowers, or  how to decoupage cheap wooden frames. I'll share snippets of my life and experiences and adventures. I'll share my triumphs and aspirations and my failures. I'll be sharing most of all, myself.

For now the first thing of business will be naming this blog. My boyfriend joked around with me that I should name it Drunk & Crafty but I'm not sure if that is the best idea. On one of my visits to Chicago land, his mother requested I teach her to make paper snowflakes after I had a few beers. Many giggles later we had ill proportioned gigantic snowflakes and I was dubbed Drunk & Crafty. The name makes me laugh but I'm afraid  would give others the wrong impression.  Please share any thoughts or suggestions. Comments are adored!

Always,
Candis