Lost in wonderland

Lost in wonderland by supernovas-child featuring vintage umbrellas

Shot down.

I don't know whether or not you've heard of a website called Omegle. The concept of it is simple: enter your interests, or connect it to your Facebook page, and it will connect you to a random stranger, not even sharing your name with them, and the two of you can have a conversation.
Something happened to me a little while ago, and I've been debating whether or not I should say something about it. I finally decided that I should share the story with all of you.
Well, I was talking to someone that I had a lot in common with, and the more and more we talked, the more we had in common with each other. After two or so hours of a lively conversation, I had to go, and we proposed sharing Facebooks with each other. On my Facebook page, my relationship status is "married" to a friend of mine, who is also female. When the other person I was talking to saw this, they demanded more information about my sexual orientation, which I openly shared, that even though the Facebook relationship with my friend is a joke and she's straight, I myself am a bisexual.
As soon as my conversational partner discovered this information, I stopped being seen as a potential friend and became just a "fag". Somehow nothing that either of us had in common meant anything anymore, and it was just this one aspect of my personality that mattered.
I understand that politics, religion, and ways of life may differ, I just thought that it was interesting how quickly a person could change their tune. I would never turn you away for disliking homosexuality, as long as you didn't use it as an excuse to dislike me. This situation just got me to thinking, how funny. How funny that this person had so much in common with someone they just considered a "fag"! It hurt a bit at first, but now I just want to know how it affected them.
Who knows? Maybe they'll rethink things and come back to me and apologize.
Haha, yeah, I doubt it too.
Here's some vintage erotica for the road:

DIY-Seashell Earrings

During the summer, two of my friends and I went down to a local park and while we were there, we meandered down by the little creek that runs through the middle of our small town, and picked up little shells and minuscule pine cones to keep as treasures.
I ended up putting mine in one of my jewelry boxes, shutting them away for a few months.

 Meanwhile, exploring the internet, I found this website called BeadCrafty, based in Great Britain, that sells really cheap jewelry supplies. Needing earrings supplies for something unrelated, I found I had some left over, and so I decided to make use of these treasures that were doing nothing but gathering dust.
Here are the fruits of my labor, I hope that you like them!

 I made two pairs, one big and one small. For both, I tried to pick pairs of shells that looked somewhat alike, with similar hues of brown and taupe.

Closeup!

DIY inspiration

Most of these findings are from Shabby Apple, except for the comic envelopes, which came from an etsy store. 

I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves this time. 

The Fairies Dance

The Fairies Dance by supernovas-child featuring pointed shoes

Artprize 2012

Every year, about ten minutes from the small town where I live, a giant art festival is held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Art is literally spread all over the city, with larger exhibits in colleges and our local museums, even in eateries, clubs, and the lobbies of hotels. This year, even a level of a parking garage was converted into its own exhibition of art.  We get a few celebrities who attend (Kathy Lee Gifford comes every year) and artwork is submitted from all over the world. Attendees get to vote on what work of art is their favorite. I took pictures of all of my favorites. 

 One of the first ones I saw. I just really loved how their antlers were intertwined. It reminded me of the roots of trees.

 I wasn't able to get a great picture of this one. It's a moving sculpture that actually made it onto the official list of the top 10 on Artprize's website. What happens is, someone puts a quarter into this massive contraption, and traditional opera music plays, as the birds flap their wings and move in circular motion to the music. It was really quite an experience. Even my brother, who hates art in most forms, liked this one. It was just all around cool.

 This is part one of a work from a Norwegian artist. It's a massive field of flowers, made purely from porcelain.

 This is part 2 of the Norwegian work of art. This circle of ceramic flowers is much smaller and doesn't have nearly as much color.

 This one is kind of hard to see, but it was made up of millions upon millions of pieces of thread. How it appeared changed from what angle you were seeing it from. From one angle, it just looks like a bunch of lines without any perceivable color, and from another angle, it looked like a rainbow that started small and progressively got bigger. I tried to take a picture where you could kind of see both extremes. 

I liked this one, just because I felt as though it had a lot of movement and softness. 

 This one was my favorite out of all of them. I just loved the organic lines of the flowers growing through this person's body, and I loved the ambiguity of the form. For those who cannot tell, the person's form is neither female nor male. It has no hair or distinguishing features on its face. Thus, it could be any of us. All of us.

 A bunch of eggs entangled with black string. My personal favorite of all of these are the two separated halves, still attached by criss-crossing strings.

 This one was interactive, made of a bunch of turning blocks. Each block had a part of the big picture, a smaller picture of a child, the child's greatest fear, and one of the child's goals in life.

 This gigantic, Alice-in-Wonderland-esque mural was actually on the side of a bus that operated as a roaming art school. The man took his bus all over the country, offering his services to a variety of students. He called it "the future of learning."

 This actually isn't one of my favorites, it's just a picture of my mom in a giant tube-like sculpture that confused us. And before you ask, yes, there was a note encouraging passers-by to climb inside. Climbing inside didn't help us understand it.

 Created from cut-outs. I love the contrast of the black and white. I love that there is no color on it.

 I just loved the overall effect of this massive wall of debris.

 This is a giant sea-worm made from twigs that was made to appear as if it was crawling out of a sewer drain. I spotted and loved it from afar and actually ended up abandoning my mother for a few minutes just so I could get a picture of him.

 These are a bunch of horses crafted from driftwood that were placed in the river. They're 12 times as beautiful in person.

And last but not least, the penguins! How could I ever say no to penguins??? They're so adorable!!
For more information and the OFFICIAL list of the top 25, 10, etc, go to Artprize.org

DIY-bleaching/iron-on transferring

Alright, so I've had a black shirt and a neon pink shirt hanging in my closet for months. The black one, I've been saving for a DIY for ages, but kept changing my mind as to what I should use it for. The pink one, I didn't wear because I hate neon pink. So I grabbed a bottle of bleach and a book of iron-on transfers that my mom got me for my birthday...

I tied up the black shirt with embroidery floss and rolled it around a bit. The resulting pattern reminded me a bit of waves, so I used an iron-on that was an abstract representation of waves. 

The neon pink one I bleached entirely, so it took on a much lighter shade. Then I used iron-ons of houses to make it look adorable. 

I hope you enjoy! 

DIY-new take on a book cover

Do you remember back when you were in high school, and your teachers had you make those book covers out of paper bags? Well, mine always forced me to.
I got this new journal from Modcloth, it was a massive splurge at 20 dollars (including shipping). Instead of journal paper, each spread is a different skyscape.  This one is my favorite. :)

This is what the cover looks like.

I didn't like the cover, because I thought it was too self-explanatory. I mean, it's a journal that says journal on the front. It's like I put a huge sign on it that says "I HAVE SECRET THINGS INSIDE ME, SNATCH ME AND READ ME."
So I took a paper bag, spray painted it blue, and made myself an old school book cover.

Later, I might paint a hot air balloon on the cover, or something. If I make any more changes, I'll be sure to post pics!

The hiatus ends! playlist

Sorry I haven't been posting for the past couple weeks! I'm been crazy busy!
Be prepared for a tireless onslaught of posts in the next couple of minutes. I've got more than a couple DIYs, and pictures of my trip to Artprize to share with you.

1."All The Small Things" Blink 182

2. "Drones" Rise Against

3. "Never Love Again" Cherbourg

4. "Cherry Red" Ida Maria

5. "Anchor" Tu Fawning

6. "Fly Low Carrion Crow" Two Gallants

Wildfox Couture hoody

Wildfox Couture hoody (see more oversized hoodies)

Benchmarks III

I know I promised some DIYs, but the past couple days have been a roller coaster of domestic disputes between my mom and I, and now, to let the stress out.

 I could really use a break right now. I wish this was actually made of chocolate and sitting with me on my sofa. Scratch that, next to my sofa. Nigel's sleeping next to me and I wouldn't want to squish him!

 I think this isn't really a picture of a bench making a mark, as much as a tree root, but still, this picture would be nothing without the bench. Gotta admit. None of these pictures would be anything.

 Oh, well hello there. I like your hair. Stop staring at me.

 How could I turn down kitties?

Or a squirrel???

DIY-inspo/Male Style icons

Okay, so I found a picture of it. To relate back to my last post, I am in love with the tank top that Project Runway's Christopher Palu is wearing in this picture, and I strongly suspect that he made it himself, because a great deal of his wardrobe has bleachwork done to it.
I think it would be done by splattering bleach onto a shirt or tank, and then make a skull stencil and paint it in with white fabric paint.

This isn't the first time that I've drooled over something in Chris's wardrobe. Also notice Gunnar Deatherage in this picture, in the hat. He is another one of my male style icons. This outfit of his isn't spectacular, but if I try to find a better one....

The jacket, the scarf, the shorts--love love love! And there's another thing that he does a lot that I really like, where he ties a sweater over his shoulders. It's like a quirky take on old-school preppy...

Love the print of the shirt! Love the jacket trick! And I absolutely adore that man's glasses. The shirt's print reminds me of the wallpaper in 221B Baker street on the TV show Sherlock. NOT A BAD THING. I freaking love that wallpaper. 

While we're on the subject of the men of style, there's another that I love, another Project Runway diva....

Wait for it...

Wait for it.....waiiiiit....

MONDO GUERRA! 

How can anyone not look at his style and smile? I remember back when he was on the show, and every week he had his short shorts and a bow-tie, and to celebrate that it was Mondo night, I would dress exactly like him! I hope that some of you are getting some amazing mental images....here's a blast from the past to help you out...

Ha ha, I hope you weren't expecting a picture of ME! 

The design to the side is one of his from Project Runway's fashion week. I want it. From head to toe I want it!