chimesblog

I’ve been realizing lately that I have undergone a lot of changes in the past year … and for once my outward appearance has reflected it.

Before January 2009, my hair was the same since 8th grade.  Between chin and shoulder length. Various shades of blonde ranging from golden to platinum, curly and thick.  The only change was whether or not I had bangs.  I didn’t dare do anything drastic (aside from the time I colored the underside pink and black — but the top was still blonde).

In January of 2009 I cut my hair super short.  I kept randomly cutting it shorter and more asymmetrical as the year progressed.

I went through a breakup last fall and I colored my hair super dark to remind myself that things were different and that more importantly that I was different.

Anyway, a while back I was talking with my boy and his roommate and they said they hardly remember the long-blonde-haired Calee, even though that’s what they knew for so long. I didn’t realize until then just how different I look now.  I mean, it’s probably partially the attitude that I have too — so much different. I feel like I can conquer the world.

I went out last weekend with my friend, Shelly, and we both looked pretty hot. So I took a few pix of myself for my “mugshots” album on facebook, especially since I looked like a total rocker chick.

So I started going through my facebook pictures and noticed just how much I changed. I found the album of “pinups” that I’d taken a couple years back. One photo in particular showed me with my “rocker” look.  I had my bass guitar and a killer look on my face. This used to be my go-to super-hot photo.

So, then or now? Ignore the camera quality … webcam vs. a nice cam.

I even got a new ID last week for work. I lost my old one, so I now have an ID that looks like me!

Are you ready for this awesomeness?

Every year Ames has a throwback prom to raise money for American Cancer Society and this year’s theme was Night of the Living Prom. Zombies. Prom. Zombies. Prom. Prombies?

Of course, I had to cram myself into this awesome black dress I bought for last year’s prom that isn’t made to actually fit a human being. It’s a size … ?? I don’t know. 28 inch waist with 24 inches for a chest? Hmm.. yeah. I turned the back into the corset and laced it up to fit me. Frankensteined a dress for zombie prom.

Mark and I decided to do 80s glam punk — Billy Idol style. I made Mark a shirt out of a PBR t-shirt and some fabric scraps. And of course, I made us a corsage and a boutonniere.

It was a good mix of zombies and prom goers. We had a fabulous time. The band showed up in Ghostbusters costumes (complete with proton packs) and played the ghostbusters song! Thriller was played halfway through the night and a group of us danced to it. I didn’t learn it, but I jumped in and improved anyway.

That’s about it. Free beer and punch. Lots of dancing. Lots of fun times. Undead. And alive.

Here are some pix!

Once again I’m attending the fabulous charity prom put on by Sigler Companies in Ames.  This year’s theme is Night of the Living Prom.  So, you can go as a zombie or as whatever you want. So really, the only difference from last year is the zombie part. Last year’s theme was Revenge of the Prom.

Anyway, Mark is going with me and I kind of fed his ideas for what he was going to wear and let them snowball into something really cool.  So originally he was wanting to wear an old-school tuxedo t-shirt with weight-lifting gloves and a jacket, but I suggested we go to the Atomic Garage in Valley Junction to see if they had any cool vintage attire.  There, we found an epic PBR t-shirt, which is perfect because him and all my guy friends are notorious for drinking PBR since it’s the cheapest pitcher you can get. But it was too small. I bought it anyway assuming I could craft it into something.

Today I tried on my black dress that I’d bought last year that has never quite fit (it tapers to the top — which makes no sense, but whatever).  I decided that it was too cute with the electric blue and black lace tights I had on and that I HAD to make it work.  Coincidentally, at the same time I tried the dress on, I got a text from Mark saying that he was going to tuck his jeans into his boots, old-school punk style.

*idea!*

So we’re going punk.

I’m going to add a hook and eye closure where the zipper stops zipping on the dress, and add loops so I can lace the rest of it up like a corset so it will fit.  There’s only about 6 inches where it won’t zip, but I figured it’d be an easy fix and I won’t have to take the zipper out to do it, so if by some miracle of God or if I lose some ribs then MAYBE it will fit someday and I can un-frankenstein it up.

The PBR shirt is getting cut up and patched onto a charcoal grey t-shirt along with some electric blue accent fabric.  Also — safety pins.  He’s wearing the gloves and jacket along with the tucked in jeans. It’s going to be awesome.

I already made the corsage and boutonniere for the event, including some awesome houndstooth fabric, sequins and of course, safety pins, with a little bit of electric blue ribbon. AWESOME.  I hope it’s not too girly for him to wear.

Check out my Cyber Monday sales on Etsy:

Birdies and Coffee Cup

Flower Fiesta Bowl (Gold)

Butterflies in Wonderland Baby or Lap Quilt

OBEY Andre the Giant Men’s Winter Set

Mention the code mrfidgets and receive FREE SHIPPING on any order until December 15.

I’m participating in Market Day this month (as usual) and a really cool show called Relish The Hellish — on THE SAME DAY!

What was I thinking?

Fortunately, I didn’t have to make a whole lot of new stuff for these shows, so I’m not quite at the level of insanity where I’m tearing my hair out yet. (I did chop it all off though!)

Anyway, here are the details of the two shows:

Once again, here comes another art show where the weird are most welcome. Quickly gaining an awesome customer base, these art shows reflect the talent of folks who you wouldn’t ordinarily see in a Gallery around town.

Butch Von Dreaux is making another trek all the way from Louisiana to be here and Spookshow Pinups has been added to the list of amazing artists as well!

D. Ryan Allen will be there again showing all of his amazing work from zombie sketches to kid’s coloring books for the macabre.

In addition to the fine arts folks, we will also have all kinds of goodies like hand-made leather wallets, re-structured clothing, creepy dolls, hand-bags, pillows and everything else in between.

SATANIMALS will also be unveiling a new line of horror inspired pillows.. the first being an amazing SATANIC RITES OF DRACULA pillow!

This is not just your average art show. Pretentious art snobs are discouraged from coming. Although, it is fun to see them stick their nose in the air and turn on their heels when they see Gregg Bensink’s table of amazing goodies.

Attendees can enter the raffle to win numerous prizes including: original artwork from each of the artists, gift certificates for tattoos up to $100 as well as gift certificates to some local businesses including: Best Place Ever, ZZZ Records, Cup O’ Kryptonite and The Beauty Parlor!

The Raffle is at 9PM and you MUST be present to win!!

——–

FINALLY I get to blog about this! 

I had a baby shower for my friend Lindsay today and I made her little man a few onsies and a couple for my niece. I couldn’t blog about it until now because I was afraid she might see.  I tweeted about it a while back because I figured she isn’t on twitter, so she wouldn’t see.

Without further ado, here are my onsies!

I’ve had a few requests for me to post a listing for these on my etsy store, but I had to hand stitch these and for now, it’s not really an option for me since I don’t have that kind of time (or won’t shortly since my co-worker will be leaving soon so I may have more to do at work). 

I might list the ones with the ties. Those I can machine stitch – but my machine is broken right now, so it doesn’t really even matter! I’ll have to wait to see when I get a new machine. Maybe the new machine will work better and do tighter curves so I may be able to machine stitch the whole thing.

my sewing machine died again last night. it had been resurrected (ironically) on Easter evening this year. Maybe it can be reborn on Christmas?

This puts me in a tough position. I can’t afford a new machine right now and I’ve got a LOT of projects that I need to get done. I’m doing a craft swap right now on craftster.org and have only gotten 2/4-6 things done and can’t really do much else without my sewing machine.  If I don’t complete the swap on time I get negative feedback and can’t participate in other swaps. Not to mention I’d be letting my swap partner down and I’d rather not do that.  I have things I was getting ready for next weekend in Chicago to give to my girlies.  I have a craft swap going on with a co-worker that was due on next Wednesday.  I have onsies I was making (fortunately I got the 3 for my friend done — the one left is for my niece). I was going to start making/selling bags.  I was in the middle of my sister’s quilt, then I was going to make my grandma one, Kasey’s mom one and Adria one and THEN start selling them (at $100 a pop, these would be my biggest money-makers).  Not to mention I had a few requests from friends and family for different things (my cousin Travis is wanting a t-shirt quilt… Kasey wants a t-shirt quilt… I had a few bag requests).  That and I just launched To DIY For and was planning to make a few more recon t-shirts to fill that store.

BOOOOOO.

I just offered up 50% off on Mary Kay since I am quitting selling that.  I should have offered 40% so I could make a little to go towards a new machine, but of course, the machine broke again AFTER I made the offer.  

Oh, and to top it off, my iPod touch (you know…what I spent my 2008 tax refund $ on) broke yesterday. The audio for music and movies quit working. It plays sounds still when you send/receive mail…but no audio on the music. It’s not just the headphones either. It’s the speaker/headphones. I downloaded the new software for it yesterday, so I’m sure that’s what did it. Sooo now I have to pay to send it in to get it fixed because their crappy software doesn’t work. Thanks, Apple.

Anyway, that’s my rant for the day. I’m going to be in a very long conference today ALL day then I’ll be driving home.  So, LONG day.

I’ve been browsing the web for the ideal sewing machine, and here’s what I want. It’s so dang expensive though.

I got this awesome clock from UrbanPosture today.  UrbanPosture is comprised of a couple of local creative people who I met recently through Market Day.  I follow one of the minds behind UrbanPosture, Leslie, on her blog.  Leslie hosts D.I.Y. Nights at the local coffee shop, Mars Cafe.  Their offerings are eco-friendly (which is a huge plus for me!) and absolutely adorable!

Without further ado, here is my new clock!  

It fits perfectly with the theme I’m trying to get going in my apartment.  I’m planning to go through a lot of my “decor” (which is mainly junk I’ve collected over the years) and take it to good will or sell off some of it (ie. my Care Bears!).  I’m going to focus on pinks/purples/grays/silvers/browns/neutrals and have more of a natural/organic feel. Hopefully.  Maybe.  Someday.  Either way, this awesome clock is a start.

Also — I love how it fits in so perfectly with my blog theme I’ve got going here.

EDIT: Here’s a photo of my new clock in its new home!
  

I’ve had this Korn t-shirt for a long time now, and I think it may have been a b-day present from somebody about 5 years ago. I used to wear it all the time, but I’ve grown out of nümetal and have been trying to recon my nümetal shirts into something cute so I’d be more likely to wear them.

I cut the bottom off the shirt, added a blue jersey knit panel to the bottom of it and sewed it to the top. I did a contrasting blue zigzag stitch for the entire shirt and added a zipper on the side since I had a matching zipper lying around.

(bad lighting…bad hair day.. pretty much no makeup… did I mention I’m not a photographer?)

Here’s the front (I cut my head off because it was just sad)

Back — I had thought about doing the blue all the way around, but I liked the way it looked with a plain black back better.

Side (zipper detal) GOOD LORD I’m pasty!

Here’s the original shirt.  I wore this the day I met Kasey for the first time! (I’m pretty sure this was the same day).  I tried out for Assault Company that day and I dressed “hardcore” for the occasion. Clearly, hardcore=pigtails and a sequin cuff.

I’m planning to post this baby on Etsy soon.  I’m planning a photoshoot sometime in July with my friend (aka ex-boyfriend) Matthew, even though Kasey’s not fond of the idea (Kasey doesn’t dislike Matthew because he’s my ex-bf…Kasey just thinks he’s a huge tool).  However… Matthew has some pretty awesome fashion photogs and some pretty cool portraits…. so in the end, that wins out over pissing off Kasey. Plus, I’ve always wanted to model, but my height and hip size have kept me out of the running… I do have the chest for it though! haha. AND he’ll do it for free aside from developing film (if he uses a film camera), which is kind of awesome.  So… win win situation for me and him both (as long as I look decent in the pictures!).

I’m SO excited!  I’m taking part in my first organized craft swap on craftster.org.

AND, it’s a metal swap!  Yay!  There are so many craftsters who are into metal — who knew?  AND good metal, not hair metal or nümetal!  I just got my partner yesterday and we are SO perfectly matched!  She’s into Iron Maiden, Slayer, Children of Bodom, EARLY Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, In Flames and Amon Amarth.  PERFECT.  The only 2 things we’re not matched on is her Maiden and my Dethklok, but otherwise, we’re a great pair.

The other thing is that neither one of us is a typical metal girl. You wouldn’t think I listened to heavy stuff by looking at me and by the way I dress and she’s like that too.  Just a girlie girl who happens to listen to cheesy music is how she put it.  So we’re thinking of doing very non-metal things and adding a metal twist to them — embroidered tea towels, reconned t-shirts with lots of ruffles and lace, no red and black combos… just super girlie stuff.  

I’m soooo excited for this!  I’m listening to Maiden right now to get pumped for it.