absurdly peculiar

The Black Keys - Mind Eraser  I was thinking of buying a mini Christmas Tree this year.. but from the 17th-24th I will be visiting family in Phoenix. I decided it wasn't worth it to buy one, but it was so hard to break tradition and not get a tree! So I opted to use a jewelry tree that a friend gave me last year. Here is my version of a Christmas Tree for this year: The only thing I bought this year was glitter gel; everything else I had at home! So it was an inexpensive tree (yay! to saving money). Here are more details on the what and how of this decorated tree: 1. I already had these ornaments, but I felt they looked so blah. I decided to buy glitter gel (less mess!) to add a little something to them. 2 . I made these out of string, glue, water, and glitter gel following this.  Some of them didn't turn out so well because a couple of them wouldn't harden, so I used extra strength hairspray that I found laying around the apartment; hopefully, I didn't harm t

Florence + The Machine - All This and Heaven Too I was gifted a framed shadow box my freshman year of college.  When I moved out of the dorms I left it in my parents' apartment and it has been collecting dust ever since.  (This is obviously a sign that I refuse to throw anything away...hopefully, you won't see me on Hoarders 30 years from now). But I decided rather than letting it sit there, I would give it to my friend that just moved into her new place. Ok, but let me make it clear I am not giving her the dusty frame with pictures from seven years ago. I dusted it and decided I would put new pictures in.  Here is evidence of what it used to look like (sans dust): It is not an atrocity of nature or anything of the sort, but I figured if I am going to re-gift it I can at least add something new. I thought of drawing characters from books we use to read when we were children. And the first thing that popped into my head was Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree. I

Lenka - All My Bells Are Ringing Hope everyone had a good Turkey weekend! I am just way too excited for December... I already have a Christmas present wrapped and ready to go! I bought this wrapping paper last year from IKEA and I love the pattern on it! I used gold jewelry wire and wrapped it up with a Christmas color-themed bow... I really like how the gold looks against the wrapping paper. The card was made out of an index card. All of these items were just laying around my apartment... I wonder what I shall find to decorate my next Christmas present. While I come up with more projects and wait for materials to be shipped to me. I came up with a list of some great holiday themed DIY projects that I found.

Kina Grannis - In Your Arms I was strolling around a craft store and noticed they sold pieces of 8.5"x11" leather for decent prices. I've been wanting to make a clutch for a while and I felt like this was the perfect material to work with. So I bought brown and black leather pieces as well as some leather cement glue. I also drew a sketch of what I kind of wanted it to look like... but in reality, it was just an excuse to use watercolor pencils. Things you'll need: -2 pieces of leather (size depends on how big or small you want to make it) -leather cement glue -scissors -binder clips -ruler -pencil/marker -scotch tape -paintbrush -something heavy, like a textbook or two

I was on GiltGroupe a couple days ago and was surprised... wrap bracelets by Chan Luu were selling for over $100 and were originally priced at over $200. Now I am not condoning people who choose to spend that much money on a wrap bracelet...seriously, if you have the money why not..but it's just that I don't happen to have that kind of cash to be spending $200 on one wrap bracelet! I was even more shocked at the pricing because a couple weeks ago, my friend sent me a DIY for wrap bracelets from HonestlyWTF . She actually made one recently for around $8. I know, Chan Luu probably used real gold and silver trinkets or what nots... but why pay $200 when you can get the same look for less? 

I have been on a DIY craze. Besides spending this weekend creating feather bracelets made out of polymer clay, I will be attending the 3rd Annual Renegade Craft Fair located at the Los Angeles Historic Park on Saturday/Sunday!! I am so excited to see other people's creative ideas and eat plenty from food trucks! Anyhow, I am very happy with the way these pieces turned out... simple yet elegant. With the tones I chose, I feel as though it can be worn with almost anything! This is definitely a piece I will carry through to Fall!