Displaying Your Pasties

My friend Crystal is hosting a burlesque art show at the bar she works at, and while others in the troupe have done actual paintings inspired by their performance art, I went a different route.

After a show, all my pasties tend to just get tossed into a ziploc and end up on the closet shelf. Very occasionally I'll reuse a pair for another act, but since I usually make a new pair for each act I do, I've ended up accumulating quite a collection. I think they're quite pretty, what with all the rhinestones and glitter, and it seems a shame to hide them away. Much better to put them on the walls!

To make my display, I first assembled the burlesque paraphernalia I wanted to show off. In this case, a stack of pasties and a novelty ticket from the last show.

 I bought four frames from the dollar store and used a matte black spray paint we already had to paint them.

 Next, I took some sticky-back foam, which I also already had, and cut it down to fit inside the three smaller frames.

 I peeled off the backing and stuck them to the cardboard backs of the frames.

 Then I played with the arrangement of the pasties inside the frames, making sure they would fit how I wanted them.

 I used hot glue to place them, removing one pasty at a time and using the remaining pasty as a gauge for placement. Once they were set, I popped the back into the frame and secured it with the little metal tabs built into the frame.

 The ticket I simply folded to fit the frame and popped it in. Easy peasy!

After the art show is taken down at the end of September, I'll be hanging these on my wall, along with a selection of other large props and photographs from the shows. Burlesque pride!

Day 29; Purchased. Plus, a sneak peak!

 I don't purchase things very often, I'm definitely a saver rather than a spender. When I do spend, it's usually on supplies to make my own, less-expensive version of something. Such is the case today.

 I purchased four picture frames at the dollar store for use in a top secret project that I will show to you tomorrow. We used a can of spray paint we already had to paint them all the same matte black.

Here's that sneak peek I promised:

I'm sure you've already figured it out, but I'm still not telling until tomorrow!

Day 28; Daily Routine

Sundays are our lazy day, where Mr. Bear and I enjoy watching movies together while we work on mindless projects. Today my project was attempting to untangle a skein of yarn that had gotten hopelessly knotted up. I managed to sort out a good half of it before I gave up.

Luckily for me Mr. Bear loves to untangle things. He sees it as a puzzle, and he loves puzzles. He actually asked if he could take a stab at the Gordion Knot of sock yarn! I love him.

He's so cute when he gets focused like that.

Day 27; After Dark

A lovely evening at BonBon with Spokane's best bartender, Crystal.

My Grandmother's Trunk

 I never thought I'd be into the "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" thing, but I actually find I am. Today I went to my grandmother's house and went through the trunk in which she keeps the old family belongings that have been saved over the years. We pulled out baby dresses her grandmother crocheted and sewed for her, pictures, letters, and her mother's wedding dress.

 This is my great-grandmother and great-grandfather on September 19th, 1930, their wedding day. They were 18.

I used to spend part of every summer taking the train with my grandmother to visit her mother. I spent weeks playing in her award-winning garden, marveling over all her fair ribbons. Playing with her costume jewelry.

Her dress is a gauzy, flowing, cream confection of a dress. I could never in a million years fit into it, she was tiny. I would wear it in a heartbeat if I could.

I love the lace on the built-in slip, and the flower.

And the ties on the puffy sleeves.

We looked at a bunch of other things, too. Like her high school diploma.

Citizenship papers belonging to some of my relatives who immigrated from Ukraine.

A land grant. It's not really the president's signature, but I love the penmanship.

My great-grandfathers hand-operated hair trimmer. In perfect working order.

His monogrammed pocket squares. He was rather dapper.

What I was really looking for was a handkerchief to wear on my wedding day as my something old. I had many to choose from. My grandmother keeps them all in a cigar box.

They all have lovely details. Hand-crocheted edges, lace yellowed with age, hand-embroidered flowers, cutwork embroidery.

This is the one I ultimately chose. It is very delicate and thin, but beautifully embellished.

It belonged to my grandmother's grandmother, and on my wedding day I will pin it to the inside of my dress. Someday I will display my great-grandmother's wedding dress in my home and take joy in the incredible works of art wrought by the hands of my foremothers. 

Beekeeper Progress

Slowly but surely, I'm making headway on my Beekeeper's Quilt. I traded some yarn with another knitter making the quilt. She had a 50g ball in a color she called "DayGlo Schoolbus" that she hated, but I loved! I think it balances out all the blue and green quite nicely. 

There are 28 puffs now, total. Look at 'em all! They're so puffy! This is going to be the squishiest blanket ever, I'm so excited.

I'll be on the lookout for more yellow in various shades.

Oh, Offbeat Home wants to post my Crafting Basket! I'm terribly flattered.

Days 23, 24, and 25

 Behind again, I see. How the days slip away...

Tuesday's assignment was A Sunset. There are too many trees where I am to get a good picture of a sunset, so Mr. Bear and I packed up the corgi and paid a visit to the local Rose Garden, at sunset, to photograph sunset-colored roses.

The Rose Garden smelled like heaven. We attended a wedding there a couple of months ago, before the roses were in bloom, but it was still gorgeous.

Wednesday's assignment was A Smile.
I've been rather ill and confined to the house, which is made more bearable by Ponyo's constant presence. Who could feel down when confronted with a corgi smile?

Today's assignment was A Sunflare.
I confess I didn't capture the light soon enough today to make a sunflare, so instead I'm using one of the many sunflare pictures I took on our trip to Friday Harbor this past spring.

Mr. Bear took me for a romantic trip in that rowboat when we were first dating. It is one of my dreams to collect enough driftwood from that shore to make a wedding arch.

Wedding Cake Inspiration Roundup

I've been to a lot of weddings this year, and had a lot of cake. Mr. Bear doesn't really care for cake, so any cake-related decisions about our June wedding next year are left up to me. I'm planning on making them myself, so I'm eschewing the traditional towering edifice of fondant and gum paste for something more simple.

We'll be having several cakes, all sitting at different heights on homemade cake stands. They will be iced mostly in white, so I've been looking for cakes that have interesting and textured icing to give it some visual interest. The greatest resource I have come across is i am baker. If you haven't seen her cakes, go check them all out, they're astounding, but here are my favorites.

She has amazing tutorials on frosting and decorating. Even so, I anticipate a lot of practice cakes in my future.

I've also been finding some inspiration via Pinterest.

 From Green Wedding Shoes.

 From oh, hello friend.

 Red Velvet Cheesecake from Sugar and Charm.

Anniversary Cake from The Faux Martha.

The hard part will be narrowing my favorites down to a manageable number. I really love the simple designs and homemade look they have. Our wedding will be neither formal nor fussy, and the cakes will reflect that. Also, I've decided there will be a cakewalk, so I'll be making an extra cake just for that!