Goodwill Finds

I have not been in a goodwill in about a year. Well, there was one in Georgia where I got my giant granny sweater...but it was the size of a closet with nothing but bed sheets. The one here in Seattle was HUGE! I have never been to this particular one, but it was a warehouse of stuff. It is always fun to have a look around and see what is there. I found a couple really cool things, but ended up only buying two. I found a lovely vintage pair of navy pumps, judging by the style I would say 80's. They have a plastic mesh detail on the side as well as a little mesh bow on top, they are very cute. A little small, but they seem to have only been worn once or twice, so I think the leather will stretch. The other find was among the scarves. I just thought this one was hilarious. Its an old blue scarf with pictures of the oldest computers on it! Haha, I just love how outdated it looks! Can anyone tell me what year this is probably from? I was guessing late 80's/early 90's, but I am no computer expert. Anyway, I thought I would sell it on Etsy, I think quite a few people would enjoy this scarf.

Home

Ahhh, I am finally home! I am so excited to be back in my own house with my family. I have already made brownies, soup, and mimosas. I love having a kitchen so much! I have also gotten to see my friends and boyfriend, which is great. Folklife has been going on in downtown Seattle this weekend. It is a celebration of folk arts, crafts, music, and food. There are people from every culture around the world selling delicious food and playing awesome music. All the weirdest and greatest people come out of their corners and descend upon the Space Needle. I went yesterday and it was really fun, but sadly the weather has been really terrible. This same time last year at the festival we were sunbathing and wearing shorts. This year it is 50 degrees, rainy and miserable. I guess thats what you can expect from Seattle, but it is a big shock to go from 80 degrees in Savannah to the coldness of the Pacific Northwest. I literally have not worn a pair of pants for two months until yesterday.
Anyway, life is busy, I still really need to unpack. My mother came down to Savannah to help me move out and was horrified by the amount of clothing I own. I have decided to try and sell a lot on ebay or donate it. However I do it, I need to clean out my closet. I have a lot of old clothes I bought my freshman/sophomore year of high school that I really enjoyed wearing then but just dont wear anymore. It is sometimes hard to let go of something you have had for so long, but I just have to do it if I want any room in my closet! I will have to be strong, haha. My eBay username is Rskell20 if you wanna check out what I am selling!

Anthropologie

I finally got a call back from Anthropologie! I applied for an internship as a window display maker. You guys may have sen Anthropologie stores with amazing window displays. They are all handmade by each store's own window display designer. I have an appointment at the local Bellevue Anthropologie in the swanky "Bravern" development. It is surrounded by Neiman Marcus, David Lawrence, DNA 2050, Hermes, Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton, and more! It seems like a really great place to work. I really hope I can get this internship, it would be a fantastic opportunity for me.

School is coming to an end. I am finishing up my Jacket project today, I am really excited to see how it turns out. I have also been packing up my dorm room, who know I had so much stuff! I have a storage unit, but I am still worried about getting all my clothes home! The shoes are a problem too, haha. My mom is coming down though, and she is bringing two suitcases to help out, so I should be alright. I am excited to be home and to focus on getting better and sewing and hopefully be working with Anthropologie. Anyway, I gotta run to my sewing class, I will update after I have my interview next Tuesday with Anthropologie

I Sold ART!!!!

I ran around the room screaming last night for about ten minutes. It may have been 1:14am, but I am soooooo excited! I read an article on Etsy.com about a lady who quite her job to sell her illustrations on Etsy and is making a lot of money. I thought to myself, hey there, you are an art student, you can do that! I have used Etsy before to buy a present for my boyfriend and to try and sell some jewelry I made, but nothing ever sold. I had never thought of selling prints of my illustrations. Anyway, so I threw up a couple drawings, hoping maybe in a few weeks someone would buy one. Then, what do you-know, BOOM! Ten minutes later I sold my first piece of art! I cannot tell you how happy I am or how much it boosted my confidence! The feeling of someone else in the world truly enjoying something you made enough to spend $10 on it is crazy awesome.

Some of you may not know about Etsy. It is an amazing site that deals with only handmade and vintage items. It is the eBay for crafty people. There, you can list any item for 20 cents and it will stay listed for a whole year. There is a large community of people selling handmade soaps, snacks, greeting cards, clothing, jewelry, art, and everything else you can imagine! My username is Aestuum, if you wanna check out my shop. Here is the print I sold. I will re-list it once I mail the first print:
PRINT

Anyway, I gotta run over to Kinkos and print this, then spend all day sewing! <3 I am in a great mood though, so I just wanna work all day!

Feathers and Thunderstorms

So I ordered a bunch of feathers off of ebay, just for fun! They arrived in the mail today and I got straight to crafting up some fun stuff. I bought a set of 12 slightly defective quail feathers for 65 cents. I curled up the sides of the feather with a sharp pair of scissors-light you might curl the end of a ribbon. That hid the ragged edges on the feather. Then I wrapped up a length of fabric to make a little rose. I attatched these both as well as some red dyed fluff feathers to a black felt backing which I stitched around the edges in white to give it some cute detail. I glued on a hair clip underneath, et voila, a cute hairpiece that is perfect for adding some wow to an outfit. While I wore it at the grocery store a man said I looked like a barbie doll. I am taking that as a creepy but nice compliment, haha. Here is the finished product:



I am going to see if I can sell it on Etsy. Maybe I can make some money of these feathers. Place like urban outfitters sell these kind of hair pieces for $25 and up, its insane! I am going to try and sell this one for $7.50, and if there is interest I will make more! It is fun to make these.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/47376258/guinea-feather-and-rosette-hair-clip

Today we had the first real summer thunderstorm in Savannah. It thundered and poured for ten minutes, flooding the streets, and then the sun came out and everything was calm again. It rained on and off all day following that...ruining my plans for sunbathing. I have two more weeks of southern sun to soak up some rays until I return to Seattle. It gets sunny and nice there, but the sun is so much weaker it is hard to get a tan! Anyway, I should get back to my feather crafts!

Diane Von Furstenburg and More

I just finished watching the streaming SCAD fashion show! It was really fun, to bad my internet connection made me miss some of the outfits! I was a little bored at first, almost everything was in black and white. There were a few collections with color, but most of them were so so so neutral. I would have liked to see more color. Diane Von Furstenberg spoke, that was a treat to see! She really deserved that lifetime acheivement award. After watching this show, it makes me want to work even harder so I can rock that show in three years! You can check out the show at http://www.scad.tv/fashion/

Today I also got a chance to meet with some execs from Kohls. I spoke to them about what they are looking for in designers and showed them some of my work. Of course I dont really have much to show them, just some drawings I did for myself. They said I had a lot of "moxy" for coming into see them because freshman usually do not go in. I really enjoyed talking to them, I like to put myself out there. Hopefully I will be seeing them in future, so getting to know the top people now puts me in a good position for internships down the road.

Anyway, apart from that, ITS FINALS TIME! I cannot believe that the year is almost over, but I am down to the last two weeks! I have started all my final projects, including my jacket for fashion. I have not even finished cutting out all the pieces! There are 16 pieces of fabric and 16 pieces of interfacing, that 32 pieces to cut out! But I will just have to go into the building tomorrow and work on it some more. Hopefully DVF will be hanging in the fashion building, I would love to see her in person!

I finished another fashion drawing. I have been getting a lot done recently! Most of my new designs are actually old sketches that I have been reworking and finishing. During the school year so much of my personal work gets shoved to the side and forgotten about. This one is my idea of a Neo Baroque dress. To much art history studying is making me go crazy! At least I got a cool design idea out of it though.

In other news, I completed my blouse in class yesterday! It turned out well, except I had to turn it in at the end of class so no pictures yet. I think I will have to move around the bottom buttons to get it to fit me well. I never had any idea that buttons were so hard to place! We are starting our jackets tomorrow. I am a little bit nervous because it has 32 pieces that we need to cut, that is a lot of fabric and little itty bitty pieces to keep track of! I bought a lovely dark navy blue fabric though so I am hoping it will turn out really well. I can't wait to start experimenting over the summer with some new projects. I am planning on making some summer dresses and starting a really awesome Halloween costume! I know its early for costumes, but I go to an art school. Halloween is the biggest holiday ever! Everyone loves to dress up. I am thinking of a Victorian ghost or something. Does anyone know of any famous people that died in interesting ways from that time period? I want to be a dead person's ghost, but have a cool story and a pretty dress! Anyway, short post for today! Wish me luck with cutting those patterns tomorrow!z

Cockroaches and Blouses

I have had enough of living in the dorms. Since its getting warm, all the cockroaches have been coming out to play. One just jumped out of my face cloth right as I was about to dry my face. EW! I am so grossed out. My roommate and I just laced our room with poison, so hopefully that will solve the problem.

In other news, I am nearly finished with my blouse! Our first project, the skirt, did not go so well for me. I am happy that this time I slowed down and paid a lot more attention so my blouse is looking good. It fits me perfectly too! We were given a standard pattern and not allowed to alter it, so I am glad it was made for my size. I still have to add the buttons and finish the bottom and sleeve hems, but it will be done on Tuesday.



Our next project is a jacket. I have chosen a really nice navy fabric with a really cool texture. It is almost like tweed, but less rough. I am looking forward to the project, I am going to make it a private school style blazer.

So while I was browsing around DeviantART, I found this amazing shoe designer! She is from Belgium and has been making these shoes, but has yet to get them manufactured anywhere large scale. Are they not the coolest things ever? I love the owl shoes, those are my favorite!

Owl Shoe by ~renurenu on deviantART
http://renurenu.deviantart.com/

Long Break!

Wow, so I got really busy, forgot I had this blog, then never had any time to update. Then today I saw my friend had started her own blog through the Blogger website, so I decided to come back!
Now the school year is almost over, I am really excited to be going home! This past quarter has been the best of the three though. I am finally making some good friends, mostly other fashion students I have met through my Fashion Technology class. It is the first class of the fashion curriculum, when I get to learn all the basic techniques of sewing and make my first garments. So far I have made a skirt and right now I am working on a blouse. The skirt went pretty well, except I ripped a hole in the side when I was serging. Serging is the zig-zag pattern finishing stitch on the inside of seams. The machines at the school are kinda old and tend to grab and eat the fabric a bit. I will post photos soon, its just to late to take them now!
I have been working on fashion drawings a lot recently. I am really pumped from learning how to sew properly and all I want to do all summer is sew! I don't know how far I will get on my own, since I am still a beginner, but I have bought some patterns so we shall see where it takes me!
In other news, the job at Starbucks did not work out. The staff seemed unfriendly and really stressed out all the time, which made me stressed out! Which I really dont need when I have schoolwork to worry about to. Plus, the place was infested with cockroaches, they were EVERYWHERE! And I am sorry, but I cant help but yelp every time a bug crawls over my hand while I am trying to make a drink. Yuck!
Anyway, here are some of my favorite fashion drawings so far, let me know what you think! You can see them bigger at my website on Coroflot.com/Rskelly

Herro

Wow, I havent posted in a while! Its been really busy on my side of things. I have been working four days a week at Starbucks which has been fun but soooo tiring. I have been making some money though, $60 in tips alone last week! Woo. This weekend my friend, Hannah, is coming to visit me from College of Charleston! I am really excited, but unfortuneatly she can only come for three days. But hopefully I will go visit her sometime soon. In terms of artsy stuff, I havent done too much. I finished my picture of my mirror mask!

I forgot to take a picture when I finished it, so this one is about 80% but I think it still looks good, you get the idea! Anyway, short post cause I have to go get my laundry. More later!

TIRED

Awww man I am tired!

Today I finished my second shift at Starbucks! It was pretty excited, since it is the busiest store I have ever worked at! Yesterday evening I worked and everyone was super nice and I had a good time. This time wasn't so great. I felt like my co-workers were kind of cold to me. Do you know that feeling when you are new to a group and they just don't talk to you very much or smile. It felt very awkward, which is weird for me cause I am a super friendly outgoing person. I felt like we were all just missing a connection, and they seemed really court and rude with the customers. It is hard adjusting from a store which went by all the rule books and was very courteous to customers to a store where everyone is rushing, the drinks are not made well, and no protocol is followed. I guess I am just a rule follower and it is hard when everything is so chaotic. I am very much a "gold" personality, from that Colors Personality test. Basically, I like rules, lists, being on time, order, and cleanliness. And this starbucks is kinda the opposite of that...


In other news, it is the weekend! Woo hoo! I can't go out this weekend since I am working, but thats okay. Its turned warmer here is Savannah which is really nice. You guys may have heard about the cold snap in Florida that messed up their crops, well we felt it here to! But I can't wait to go sit outside tomorrow and soak up some rays. I am opening the store at work tomorrow..which means waking up at 5am. I am kinda nervous, but I think it will work out.

Thats all for today, I got laundry to do and a rice cooker to clean out!

I Dyed My Sweater!

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So remember that ugly sweater I bought from Goodwill for $3? Well I invested another $3 into it and bought some navy colored dye. Now, the main problem with this sweater is that I did not know what it was made of. There are different dyes for synthetic or natural fibers. I looked up the brand name, "Tricot Express" and got nothing really. Tricot is apparently a type of knitting style. I did find a sweater from the same brand for sale on eBay which was a cotton blend with another natural fiber derived from an asian grass. So I assumed it was all natural fibers. I bought some dye from the local art store in Navy. Then I washed my sweater in the bath tub....(yes I am too cheap to pay $1 to pre-wash it in the washing machine). Then it was ready for the dye wash.


This is the original color and a close up of the texture


So I threw it in the washing machine with a cup of salt, which I had begged my hall mates for as I only had a half cup of salt myself. I left it in the washer for half an hour, pulled it out, and voila! I dried it and there I have a brand new sweater dress for $6! I am thinking about shortening the length of the sleeves. I will update if I do!

On another note, I start working at Starbucks tomorrow! Wooo!

Earthquake in Haiti

Okay...so you guys may of heard about the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. Its destroyed thousands of buildings, 3 million people are affected, etc etc.





So last night, I totally had two separate nightmares about earthquakes. I almost never remember my dreams, but these were two vivid dreams involving earthquakes. So weird right? Not saying I can tell the future or something. Probably a super weird coincidence. But still, it was crazy how I woke up this morning thinking about that dream then hop onto the weather website and there it is! Earthquake!

SHOES! And Other Things...

As it is the beginning of a new week, I have a new quote. I think this one is really motivational and reminds me that now is the only chance I get at making today worth something. Don't wait for life to happen. Make it happen.


Yesterday is ashes; tomorrow wood. Only today does the fire burn brightly
-Eskimo Proverb

Alright, so the weekend is over. Oh my god, I wasn't sure if I would survive. Of course it was the first week back to school so all us college kids wanna do is get crunk. By that, I mean I was intoxicated for three days straight. I also managed to eat a whole pizza by myself. Trust me, I paid for that later. My Gluten-Free diet was messed up completely and consequently I feel like I have a massive hangover, plus my insides are doing back flips. Not Fun....though the drunken revelry was absolutely hilarious. The reason why I went "all out" with partying this weekend is because I am starting work at Starbucks this coming Thursday, which means no more partying for me since I will be waking up at the crack of dawn on the weekends. I am excited to continue working with Starbucks, where I was working in Seattle for the past two years. It seems like a fun store with a lot of fun people in it!


On the Fashion side of things, I made a few very awesome purchases! At the consignment store I found a pair of turquoise cowboy boots with studs and leather fringe. They are absolutely amazing and I cannot wait to wear jeans and a cute top with these, or even a summery dress. I just loooovvvee them!


I also bought an adorable pair of gloves from U. O., since I left my other pair in a taxi. They are long gloves with a flip-over mitten top. So I can be bare fingered for texting or gripping stuff, but flip over the mitten part to have warm mitten hands! I love it! They were missing a button so I got them for 25% off retail. And they are bright red, super duper cute! I wandered into Goodwill and made another good find. I have wanted a sweater dress forever but I am too much of a cheap skate to buy one from retail. I found this oversized sweater, from the "Tricot Express" brand, which is long enough on me to be a dress. Unfortunately it is a horrible oatmeal color. I bought some dye and I will experiment with that. I might do it tomorrow morning, but I will document it for sure so you guys can see how it turns out! Another favorite I have are Cameos. They are antique carvings, usually in stone. Usually they feature a woman's profile. I absolutely love this vintage look. I bought a beautiful ring in Nordstrom Rack for only $20. I love it so much!




For my drawing class we have to make a mask and then draw it. Well, I got really into the whole mask making process. I used the plaster soaked cloth strips to make a base mask. Then I used the mirror my roommate broke and covered the mask with the pieces. I think it is way better than Lady Gaga's own mask.

The Good and Bad

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
Location: My Dorm


So this was the first week of classes. So far I have only been to two of my three class. My professors seem really nice, both of them are peppy and crack jokes, which makes class so much more fun. I think Art History will turn out to be one of my favorite classes since in covers my two favorite subjects, art and history. Color Theory will be interesting, because who doesnt love color? But I don't entirely understand the whole point of the class. I pretty much already know all the colors and mixes and hues and tints and other stuff. I did have Color Theory at 11am but ended up having to change it to 8am because the class moved buildings, from one end of town to the other, and I wouldn't have time to get from Color Theory to Drawing 2 if I remained in the 11am class. Its to bad, since I am not a morning person, but I can deal with it. I will leave in about an hour for my Drawing 2 class. I am a little nervous about this one because my teacher gives the impression of being a pretty intense person on the syllabus.

In other news, I think I have a gluten intolerance. Has anyone else dealt with a gluten intolerance, or just developing an allergy late in life? I am not 100% sure, but I have all the symptoms I could find listed and it is quite uncomfortable, especially when you share such a small dorm room with two other people. I will embark on a gluten free diet, starting right now, which will be a HUGE challenge for me, as all I eat is bread, cereal, and pasta. I am excited, because I might be able to relieve some symptoms, which include chronic fatigue, feeling sick whenever I eat, sleeplesness, and overall stress from feeling so bad all the time. I would love any advice and guidance on what to eat, what not to eat, and how to do this when I am stuck eating college food! I will hopefully be able to stick to this diet and give updates as I progress. I am just praying that I will get some more energy. I didn't notice my fatigue so much at home, but now that I am at college and have to run around buying supplies and going to class, it is a big problem.

My First Day Back

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
Location: My bed

So, I tried out my new philosophy on life today. It worked out pretty well today I think...Well I started off the day walking to CVS. While crossing a road on a complicated intersection of one way streets, I got yelled at. A lady sitting in a bright blue new mustang leaned out of her car and yelled "Get out of the fucking road," despite the fact that her light was red and remained red the whole time I crossed the road, so it was not like I blocked her or anything. Anyway, so that put me in a bad mood, but when I got to CVS I decided to turn it around. While checking out, the lady who was cashiering was very quite, not saying a word to me. So I decided to go out on a limb and say "Hey, how is your day going?" To my greatest surprise she looked up with a big smile on her face and said, "its going fantastically! How bout you?" She then proceeded to talk about how much she missed all the college students and how glad she was that we were all back. This made both of us smile. So I guess the message in the book really works! Maybe you guys should try it out. I am in a much better mood because of it.

Now I am pretty tired from all this moving in, unpacking, and walking around the city. I sat down for a few minutes and drew some fashion sketches. My favorite kind of sketch is done with a pen, when I can't erase or try to fix any "mess ups."I always come out with some interesting stuff. I will post it up here as soon as I get a chance to scan it.

It is unusually cold here in Savannah, only around 45 degrees. Its not so bad for me, since I have lived in Seattle for four years, but some people are really suffering. Its funny to see some of the girls running around in little dresses and Uggs, hoping those maddeningly ugly shoes will protect them from the cold. I do like the cold weather though, it always provides the best opportunity for layering up with cute scarves, socks, hats, gloves, and all that good stuff. I personally love wearing shorts and skirts from the summer over tights to instantly transform a summer look to winter. Anyway, for now I have to run back down to the computer lab and attempt to figure out their weird printers...

First Post of a New Year

Saturday, January 2nd
Location: Seat 9D, United Flight to Chicago

Its a new year, and a time for changes. For christmas this year my parents gave me a book called Better Because of You. The authors, Ginny Hutchinson and Cathy Haffner, wrote the book to inspire people to become happier, better people. It focused around three core beliefs: Life is what you think, Life Cycles, and Life is a gem. I read through this book on the plane on my way back to my dorm at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I found it to be truly inspiring, it made becoming a more powerful happy person seem so simple. I am eager to try it out.


As with every new year, I have a new years resolution. This time it is not to loose weight or make straight A’s. All I want is to make a concerted effort to smile and be kind- no matter what. To often we can get caught up in the negtive, in the details, and worry ourselves sick. This year, I want none of that. I want this to be a positive start to an adventure of a year, and hopefully an outlook on life which will become habit.

One of the reasons I decided to start this blog is because I want to have a voice among the thousands, to see if I can make a little impact on someone’s day. Right now I don’t really know where this blog will head. I was imagining it to be a collection of my everyday thoughts and ideas, mixed with my ideas about fashion and my favorite trends of the moment. Being a freshman at college, I am going through so many new experiences, and maybe sharing my problems and solutions can help others out there, or at least provide some entertainment for a while.

For my first entry, I am recommending this book, Better Because of You. It is a simple, fast read which can bring some light to your day. It has inspired me to choose a selection of quotes from the collection at the back of the book and feature one of my favorites every week. For this week, I have chosen something which I think echoes the feelings of a bittersweet departure from home:


The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.
-Native American Saying


The front cover of the book by Seattlite Cathy Haffner and her friend Ginny Hutchinson. Image courtesy of www.mynorthwest.com