Rhinestones, Sequins, and Pasties...Oh My!

It's been go go go here at Ft. McAwesome.

Cabaret Noir is tomorrow night, and I have been doing little else besides setting rhinestones, sewing sequins, and knitting pasties!

I tried out Brittany Wilson's Burlesque Fan Pasties:

S/M/L, I think the M size will fit me just fine.
Still need to add feathers.

I also took a plain red slip and added rhinestones and sequins until it became something special. You should see this baby under the stage lights, it dazzles!

I got to preview some of the other acts at rehearsal this week, and they are phenomenal!

I'm in a few acts, but my main act is an homage to American Horror Story: Asylum.

Specifically, a certain scene from the episode "The Name Game".

I am also the luckiest burlesque dancer alive, my amazing husband hand made me a pair of black ostrich feather fans! He even cut the glitter acrylic staves himself! I can't wait to take them out for a spin on Saturday!

Rainbow Bling

One of the side-effects of being in a burlesque troupe is having buckets and buckets of rhinestones laying about. I had wanted to have this necklace finished in time to give to Jewels before the Pride Parade, but sadly life got in the way and I'm only finishing it now. As you can see in my inspiration picture above, the necklace that inspired this one is also rainbow-themed, but I wanted to take it in an over-the-top direction more suited to Jewels' style.

[Edited 6/23 to add] Of course, if you'd prefer to just buy a pretty necklace like the inspiration necklace, you can find them at SparkleBeastDesigns on Etsy!(thanks to the Offbeat Home community for locating the source of the inspiration necklace!)

For this project, you will need:

Sheer fabric(I used .77/yard tulle from Hobby Lobby)
Rhinestones(also from Hobby Lobby)
Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
Ribbon

I also used a quilting hoop to stretch the tulle out on, but this isn't strictly necessary.
First, lay out your design. I began with the outline in large clear stones, and then filled it in with rainbow gems.

I began gluing my design by beginning with the center-line. I glued the bottom center jewels first, and worked my way up.

Then I began branching out on the upper edge.

If you accidentally glue something in the wrong spot, don't freak out! Just hold the hot tip of the glue gun against the back. This will reheat the glue and the jewel can be lifted and repositioned.

I completed the outline by adding the lower edge and the drop jewels on the bottom.

I then took my large rainbow jewels and placed them first, trying to space them more or less evenly.

I began filling in the smaller rainbow jewels. It's okay if they don't fit exactly like they did when you planned it out, just fill in where ever you can.

Add any accent jewels you like. Voila! Our design is now backed by sheer fabric.



Carefully cut the design out, giving it a wide margin on the fabric. Here you can just barely make out the outline of the tulle, like a halo around the rhinestones.

Go back and carefully trim close to the edge of the upper outline, leaving a tab of tulle on each corner, but just skim the bottom edge of the lower accent jewels since they're sort of floating.

Here is what the back of the piece looks like. You might think that looks awfully scratchy to wear. You'd be right. So we're going to cut out some small bits of felt to glue to the backs of the larger jewels.

Here's what it'll look like backed with felt. I have sensitive skin and found it to still be somewhat itchy. Next time I would use a sheer organza instead of tulle and back it with soft flannel instead of felt. But if you don't have sensitive skin, this may not be an issue for you.

The last step is to cut your ribbon and sew it to the ends of your necklace, where we left those tulle "tabs" when we were trimming.

It is now ready to wear. When worn on the skin, the tulle disappears into the background, making the necklace appear as though it is hovering on your skin, like an "illusion" necklace without the wire.

It can also be worn lower, as a decorative neckline on a tank or blouse, though light tulle will show up against darker fabric.

Some other things you can do with your new accessory:

Be the world's most bedazzled stage-coach robber!

Attend a costume party as a blingin' garden gnome!

Have the shiniest headscarf ever!

Give your pooch a Lady Gaga cape!

Wedding Daze

Wow, we're less than a month away from the wedding. So little to do, so much time. Wait...scratch that, reverse it.

I've been getting exciting packages in the mail all. the. time. Like these awesome flasks I had made for my bridesmaids and myself by Whimsy and Ink on etsy.




So much fun! Awesome photos await us.

And my reception dress(because I'm planning on only getting married once so I may as well have fun with it) by Betsey Johnson.


I heart the ruffles. I'm going to feel like Kaylee in "Shindig".

I've been making some progress on my bouquet, as well. I actually purchased the watercolors I need to paint my coffee filter roses, and I started putting the brooches on floral wire. This is going to be a blingtastic bouquet!

 Seriously, though, it's going to weigh like ten pounds.

The lace for my wedding dress arrived, as well, so fitting the dress and adding the lace overlay is next on my list. Thankfully the weekend before the wedding is a four-day weekend for both Mr. Bear and myself, so that'll be our crunch weekend to get everything done that still needs to be. Mr. bear impressed the hell out of me the other day by writing his own photobooth program for the reception. So...that's done, then.

I've been trying not to get too overwhelmed with everything, and take some time to enjoy the gorgeous spring while it's here. In that vein, here are some shots of our gorgeous blooming front yard, where I managed to not kill all the bulbs.

I'm doing a test run on cake this weekend for Mother's Day. I shall post my triumph(or failure) for you all to see next week.

Craftastic Thursdays

I know a very large number of very crafty people. For last couple of months, we've been getting together on Thursday's to craft and socialize, sometimes collaborating on large projects. The location shifts weekly, depending on who can host it at their house and who has a large project that isn't easily transportable.
This week, in addition to working on some things for the upcoming burlesque show, I brought along my craft basket and worked on the Beekeeper's Quilt. I have nearly 40 hexipuffs now, which puts me at about 5% completion. I'm estimating needing around 700 to make a quilt large enough for our large, large bed(Mr. Bear is over six feet tall, you know).

I'm completely obsessed with these squishy little knitted bonbons.

I want to be done already, and have a giant hexipuff quilt to under which to snuggle with Mr. Bear while it snows outside. And maybe there'll be room for Ponyo and Butters, too, though I suspect they would attempt to chew up all my hard work.

DIY Melted Crayon Artwork

 So, the most amazing pictures keep popping up on Pinterest of these richly colored melted crayon canvases. Mr. Bear and I, being rather handy, decided it looked like a fun project and we set about recreating it as a wedding gift for our lovely friends.

We bought a pack of canvases and a box of crayons from Michaels. After I removed the crayons I didn't want to use(all the browns, white, black, and gold), I organized them into more or less rainbow order and arranged them on the canvas to make sure I liked how they look.

I used my trusty glue gun to affix the crayons to the canvas, leaving a border around the edge to accommodate the eventual frame.

 The canvas, all glued up:

 We set the canvas up on some cardboard to protect the deck from the wax, and I used a heat gun of Mr. Bear's, but I've seen other tutorials where they had success using a basic hairdryer.

 You're welcome for the product plug, Steinel.

I set the gun to 4.5 and played with the distance until I found a spot that melted the crayon without burning it or splattering it everywhere.

 I worked back and forth along the crayons until I was pleased with the drips and the color saturation.

 And took a break to assure Ponyo that I didn't love the heat gun more than her.

 She's a very neurotic dog.

Pause for some beauty shots.

 Now we're getting somewhere.

Here's the finished canvas. Some of the ones I've seen took special care to make all the crayon melts stream straight down. As you can see, I took a more freewheeling approach. I like the way some of the colors mixed.

 Mr. Bear built the frame by getting a long piece of molding and some decorative accents at the hardware store, cutting the molding down, and spray painting them a flat matte black.

 He arranged the frame on the canvas and when he was pleased with how it was fitting, he attached it to the canvas with wood glue, then clamped it to dry.

 He's so handy.

The finished project turned out pretty gorgeous, all told. I want to make a super big one to hang in our living room. I'm happy to report that our friends liked their wedding gift, as I am constantly worried that I'm the only one who prefers gifts that are made rather than bought. I foolishly didn't take a pretty picture of it all finished, but maybe they'll be accommodating and let me take a picture once they've decided where they want to keep it.

We didn't keep track, but I estimate that all the materials cost us under $20(not that we were trying to be cheap, but, hey, recession) so this is a really affordable project for adding some drama and interest to your walls.