Garden Goodies

Carrot and Rabbit Chibi Girl @ LiPeony

So summer is half gone and it's one of the hottest ones... phew... Besides that it's also middle of gardening season where people should be seeing the fruits of their labor springing to life! I'm not a gardener and besides the chili peppers outside my fire escape I've never grown any veggies or fruits. However my bf and his mom have been cultivating a rather nice garden in their backyard. Being a city girl I see how much work it does to maintain a garden from soil, making those wooden props/stakes to support the plants, watering, weeding etc. It's been about two or three months and lookie!

The tons of tomato plants are bearing little green tomatoes. I'm not a fan of tomatoes but everyone else I know love love tomatoes. I'm not sure how green tomatoes taste like but I remember reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder series The Little House Books that they once made a green tomato pie that tasted just like an apple pie and green tomato pickles. I haven't tried the two recipes yet but it seems intriguing. I do recommend the books... I read and have most of the whole series and definitely instilled in me a sense of adventure and survival.

Now here is the prize of my boyfriend. He's so extremely proud his little watermelon is growing. Those lines are from getting caught in the lattice that was supporting the plants. It's as big as his hand right there and hopefully it'll be big and sweet! They also grow chili peppers, chives and parsley. My mom and I are still waiting for our tiny fire escape chili peppers to grow some chilies =D

Until next time... how are you gardens coming along? =D

Finally Complete!

Phew! It's finally complete!!! WOOT! That is my cosplay (people don on costumes and act like a certain manga/comic/anime character) is done for Otakon. This year I'm doing Yomiko Readman from R.O.D (read or die) who is also a secret agent who is a bibliophile with the power of paper. In my previous post I had finished the vest which was a huge accomplishment for me. Today I got off my lazy butt and finished the coat. It took about 3 hours to finish.

It started out as a size 42 lab coat which was enormous on me and was discolored by the various staining one does in the lab. I bleached the whole thing for 10-15 minutes and to get the off tan color submerged the coat in a hot bath of water that had 10 packets of tea aka "Tea Dying". After an overnight dip it was a nice darkish tan color and I washed it so it became the perfect shade of light tan (this btw is a very simple and easy way to create that antique color look for fabric). I cut out the collar brown cuffs and pocket linings and sew those on. The sleeves were too long and it was way too wide so I slimmed it down and made the sleeves shorter. My cousin noted how it was too long so I cut about a foot off and hemmed it.

The above is the whole cosplay done! I'm very proud of how the whole thing came out. The hardest part would have to be the vest and sewing the sleeves back on. What makes me super excited is that the character designer, director and the producer of the R.O.D anime is also going to be attending. I'm hoping to get their signatures on a poster or DVD!

I have decided to make a briefcase as a prop but I'm not sure on whether I should make it elaborate. Since she can utilize paper as a weapon I was thinking of creating "floating cards" that seem to spill from the briefcase. I've thought of how to pull this off and I think some fishing string and thin wires and glue could be viable. Hmm ...

Total time: About 10-12 Hours
Total money spent: $18 ($16 worth of fabric, $2 for a fabric pencil)

Until next time... get the brain thinking and thinking!

Making a Vest

I've been writing on and off about my attendance to one of the biggest anime conventions Otakon this July 31 - August 2. I've planned to do two cosplays over the three days. So far I am done with Lei Fang (post of how that came along). The next one is Yomiko Readman from Read or Die (ROD) which is the above character. I love her because she's this introvert quirky bibliophile secret agent with the power of paper. My awesome friend introduced the OVA to me and suggested I cosplay her since I look similar to her down to the glasses >_> .

That was last year and this year I'm determined to finish this costume. Her outfit seems very everyday plain the fact that I'm so petite it makes it very hard to find clothes that doesn't look like a kid's. This is where I got to bust out the sewing machine and what not. I found an awesome and rather easy instructions for a Vest Tutorial on Threadbanger and it even comes with a Youtube video.

I used a T-shirt that fitted nicely on me and penciled a pattern using that on newspaper leaving about an inch for seam allowances. There was one back piece and one left/right piece which are exactly the same. I was happy to find the perfect shade of tan brown at an awesome fabric store P&S Fabrics on Broadway. They recently moved across the street but if you're in the area in NYC... they have a lot of fabric, buttons, yarn, thread, ribbons etc etc. One thing I love about the store is that they have knitted/crocheted swatches of the yarn they sell so you can feel and see if you like the results.

This is my family's sewing machine. It's one of the industrial version that either my mom or grandma got from a factory that was closing down. This baby is at least 20 years old and it still keeps on trucking! My mom and grandma takes very good care of it and knows the ins and outs. I'm still a novice but my mom was surprised on how quick I was picking this stuff up to the point in which she said I can easily surpass her skills. That I highly doubt because she makes all the samples that everyone else in the garment factory follows and the go-to girl for any questions. I realize I need a new pin cushion for the top so I think I'll browse around Etsy for a cute one.

After about two hours of sewing and mom teaching me how to sew buttonholes the vest comes to life. I love how it came out though it was a bit tighter then I wanted. Must do larger seam allowances. I washed it and waiting to iron it at my boyfriend's place. My mom was extremely proud =D

Here I am in my impromptu cosplay. My mom took the photo so it was kind of not good ... hehe... The shirt and dress are from my closet and the red tie was something a dear friend brought for me a while ago. The vest look pretty good. This week I'll be working on the coat which is a whole other headache...

I do hear and read a lot about family who don't support watching anime/cosplaying and the like. I'm very glad my family is not the same way. They're more amused and shrug it off as "kids will be kids" or it's a "generation thing". One great thing that came out is my mom and I bonding over making my costumes. She loves that I'm learning from her and though it's for costumes she's thrilled nonetheless.

Until next time... let loose the creativity ...

Otakon Cosplay Development =D

It's about a little more then a month till Otakon which is a huge anime convention. Besides meeting some of the creators, voices, writers, music and fan based panels and workshops they have... one of the biggest things is Cosplaying. That generally is making/buying costume and role playing as a character from an anime, game or w/e. I've been debating on who to cosplay as I'm still a beginner.. This year I'm planning to do two >_< (call me crazy!) . One is the girl above from the game series "Dead or Alive" named Lei Fang... though believe me I can't pull off that kind of pose in such a high slitted dress.

My sister is great at those kind of button mashing fighting game. The main reason why I wanted to cosplay her is that my bf had brought me several beautiful Qipaos and one was the one below:

The dress is similar to the one she wears except mine has flowers except of a phoenix and its less revealing and a tad shorter. Another reason is waiting on the long long long lines to get registration done. Unfortunately it can take hours standing outside in hot July/August weather. This costume would be good for that... just need to get some good sunscreen...

Also I remember these old shoes from my H.S prom that would be great for this and they're fairly comfortable. I can always add in some Dr. Scholls or something for extra comfort =D. The only thing I was missing are those tiny wrist cuffs. I had white cloth and miraculously a very similar shiny satiny purple cloth that matched the purple edging of the dress. I measured my wrist and cut two rough squares of white for two cuffs and a large purple square to make the borders. I used some pins to see about how big the width of the cuffs to be about 2 inches but always leave extra room for seam allowances. I then cut the big purple square into four strips. My first try the cuff was too wide so I trimmed it down. I used velcro to fasten them together so it'll be easier to take off and put on.

I think they came out rather nice though I think I'll iron them to get a crisper edge to the purple. I had originally planned to put a pocket somewhere so I can store money or something small so I don't need to carry a bag. I suppose a small bag won't be too bad =D

Not too tight... not too loose. I'm working on my second costume tomorrow... this one will be harder even though the clothes are more generic. Due to my petite size it's hard to find the articles of clothing I need. I have a vest pattern all cut out and stopped by the fabric store and got the right color fabric. This would be my first time making a vest and my mom is here to help if I have some questions =D

Until next time... all bushed from making stuffz!

A Little Weird Drawing

Lately I've had a bit artist block so I've been drawing random things and the lil above dude came up. I'm a very big sci-fi/fantasy/anime fan and it mixes cuteness with scifi and the ever popular cupcake. Anyways enjoy the funny lil art =D

Until next time... step out of the norm and into the weird!

Weekend Wrap-Up

This weekend was a busy one! I was vending at the Hester Street Fair and it was very fun! I shared the space with two other NewNew Teammates... Corey from Sansmap that makes these awesome bags and Angela that has her own WEBSITE in the making and Etsy shop EnchantraGirl also in progress =D. She mixes and makes all these beautiful jewelry that has a fresh simple taste to it. I've already ordered a ring XD. Can't wait to see it!

Today was slow and probably because the weather had that "threatening it might rain" outlook but the day was actually very beautiful and warm. I was also the day with the World Cup game between England and the U.S.A if I'm not mistaken.

Despite that there was a fair amount to traffic coming in and there was 50/50 amount of vendors and food vendors. The food is awesome... I tried out the chocolate baguettes from the bread stand across from me and it was so so so good! Angela raved about the omelet station and the summer rolls. There was also the interesting spice vendors that had just bowls and bowls of different spices above. They also made blends of spices on request and I thought that was pretty darn nifty. Thankfully the wind was minor and the spices weren't sent to our tent as I'm very sensitive to strong smells.

Here are the new cards I made with the new stamps and stamp pads. If you want to know more about the process and reviews on the new ink I brought you can refer to this POST. My sister was surprised they were stamped on because they look printed to her. The ink dries so smoothly on the paper. I was surprised at what sold which was this octopus tea card I made a while ago.

These are my prints. I've yet to find a nice 5 x 7 photo holder that can hold my photos both vertically and horizontally so I left them in small piles. One thing I do love is the 5 x 7 three photo frame where I put my animal trio in. That was how I had meant for the trio to be displayed. It would look awesome in a nursery or child's room. I might be making some new animal prints like that very soon. I've also been asked to make custom orders of the simpler designs like the animals with people's names on it. I haven't thought of that but that's a great gift for people.

Sunday my friends and I had a crafting party of sorts where we made different pocket invitations for the wedding. We followed these simple instructions on Wedding Bee. I don't have any pictures which I regret but it was fairly easy. If you do like pocket invites you can adjust these to fit your style. Once thing is I do love the Martha Stewart Score Board which is awesome for scoring =D.

Until next time how was ya weekend?

Sewing a Bag

I'm very proud today because I made the above little purse out of my bf's torn shirt. The shirt was torn beyond repair and I love the feel of the 100% cotton fabric and the nautical stripe pattern of it. So I was looking though different patterns and one of my favorite blogs full of fun things to DIY is How About Orange. Her website is clean and chock full of awesome ideas! I came on this Buttercup Bag Pattern from Made By Rae. My sewing skills aren't very advance and I'm lucky that my mom has a sewing machine at home and taught me the basics. My seams aren't super good I really like how it came out. The instructions were clear and I loved the various diagrams and pictures. It even has a little pocket on the inside. Note that I didn't use a metal clasp but instead got Velcro which was the only thing I had. I added the little bow from ribbon to add a girly detail to it =DAs you can see it's roomy enough to fit my huge wallet, green first aid kit, my phone and a pack of tissue. I had enough room to put small other things like maybe lipstick, chapstick, a pocket mirror etc. This is the best thing I've made from an old shirt and if you have some old shirts this is a great way to recycle/upcycle it!

Until next time... reuse, recycle and upcycle!