SoCal Social - Part 1

Last Saturday was the 2nd annual SoCal Social blogging event.  The event is put on by some fabulous ladies -- Beverly from Flamingo Toes and Vivienne from The V Spot.  I went last year and had so much fun and met some very cool bloggin ladies.  Two I have kept in touch with through out the year and we met up again this year.  Melody from Melody M. Nunez blog and Amanda from Kaleidoscope of Colors.  We spent the day, along with a new bloggin friend Oksana from Oksana + Hobbies, at the Orange Circle in Orange, California.  When we arrived we were given an empty swag bag and a list of stores to hit up for some awesome swag (and food!).  We ended the swag walk with dinner at Avila's El Ranchito where we received more swag and opportunities to win some cool prices (more on that in part 2).  

I dig the Orange Circle and bonus -- it's near my home!

Here are the many photos I took of our Swag Walk....

The Bruery...full of wine, beer, cheese, etc.,...all the goodness in the world!  We had our photo taken by one of their employees....from left to right -- Melody, me, Amanda & Oksana.  They were kind enough to provide cheese wrapped with something (can't recall but it was good) and we ended up ordering grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. So good!

On to Gallery at Glassell.  They had a cool beverage for us (or coffee if you so inclined) with either Meyer Lemon or Acai Black Currant simple syrup mixed in...

We moved on to my favorite Paris in a Cup Tea Salon.  Paris in a Cup = yummy macarons!  They were generous with their swag this year and included a croissant chicken sandwich...deliciousness!  We ended up going back and purchasing some more macarons.

Eikon Home -- this is such a nice little store and the owner is, well nice...super nice (yeah, I know I'm a wordsmith I tell ya!)

 And check out their cool napkins with inspirational sayings...you wipe your mouth and feel all inspired afterwards!  I like it!

A couple of stores down was Affaire de Coeur.  Oui! Oui!  I was obsessed with that necklace! I want it!!!

We had to reel Amanda back as she was going to sneak off to the crazy store...I don't know the name but it's packed full of stuff and you can't move for fear of bringing everything down!  

Don't go in there you'll get crushed!!!

On our way to Country Roads we met up with some fellow bloggers...

Hello ladies!  

Country Roads is HUGE!  Has tons of stuff...Amanda made herself at home in the antique tub...

Accross the street we went to Elsewhere Vintage.  It's such a lovely store full of lovely vintage clothes and accessories. 

Right next door is Lost & Found, which is another cool vintage store...check out the pink men's shoes...

Speaking of men...next up was the Joy Ride Vintage store for, well, men....I didn't take pics of the clothes but they had some rockin' cool suits, ties, shoes, etc.

And now we pause for a silly photo op...

And we're back...Down Home Antiques was shock full of interesting, um, antiques...from deer heads, to Indian heads, to doll heads....oh, and a fake cake!  Although they were nice enough to have coffee and yummy cupcakes and brownies for us.  

And then there was Julep's Home & Floral...so many beautiful things!  

That's it.  I hope I didn't miss any stores...I had so many photos!  Anyway, stay tuned for Part 2 of our SoCal Social adventures!

Until next time!

(Luna's photo usually goes here, but she was being a diva and wasn't in the mood for a photo.)

  

"Dia de Los Muertos" Skull Top

I really like skulls...not the human kind...you know the decorated kind.  "Dia de Los Muertos" (or "Day of the Dead" for you non-Spanish speaking type) is coming up so I thought I'd give it a shot and bling out a skull on a tank top.  Here it is….

Not bad if I should say so myself.  Unfortunately, I got so into it (and also trying to keep Luna out of the sequins) that I didn't take step by step photos. However, it's super easy!  Basically I printed out a skull, pinned it to the tank top, used my glue as a pen to draw around the shape and then glued sequins to the tank top. 

Ugh! I didn't realize this photo turned out so crummy. 

I like it! And best of all it was free, as I had all the stuff already.  

Until next time!

She looks so innocent! The sticker kept trying to lay on the sequins.   

Gold Lace...

I like to check out other blogs on the regular.  Sometimes I marvel at the ingenuity, creativity, and geniusosity (it's a word...OK, it's not but I like it) of the DIY blogs out there.  I mean to take on a designer's jewelry piece and make it yourself for tons less is fabulous!  So, I was checking out RunwayDIY.com's take on the gold lace cuff and thought, "dang, that's so easy!" so I attempted to do it myself or DIM...hmmm....not quite the same ring as DIY.....anyway, check out her post here and this is how mine turned out....

I basically followed everything she did...

I covered a roll of paper with plastic wrap...sealed the ends with tape to hold the paper in place...measured piece of lace around my wrist and left an inch in between...then with a sponge I added white glue to the lace and then wrapped the lace around the roll of paper and tied with dental floss to hold the lace in place.  Let it set for about 24 hours...OK it was more like a couple of months.  I meant to go back and finish it during the summer but I was busy with...well, OK fine, I forgot about it!  But, the important part here is that I did finish it! Look how nice it looks on Vivian's wrist...

The only thing I did different is that I used this paint...

instead of the spray painting it.  It's the same paint I used to stencil my downstairs bathroom...

Until next time...

Stuff...

I like going on craftgawker to check out other people's crafts and get inspired.  Yesterday I saw this super cute bracelet posted by high on diy (click here to see the bracelet and "how to"and to check out a cool blog).  It reminded me of another bracelet I had seen on someone and I always wanted to try and recreate.  I didn't have the items that she recommended to use, but since I was in the crafting mood I decided to use what I had and came up with this...

Yep, the beads I used are too big, but I like it!  I did have some problems with her directions in that my brain didn't want to accept the information and transmit it to my hands.  So, I changed it up a bit and connected the head pin to bracelet with a small jump ring like so...

I do plan on making a new one with smaller beads and maybe having the same type of chain throughout, but I do like the thicker chain and small chain combo.

Here are some other things I have made recently....

This is a colored hex nut bracelet.  

Until next time...

Luna slept while I made the bracelet.  

Clay Balls...

So, I decided to play with some clay and make beads.  I had seen a necklace with big round beads and also many tutorials on how to make them with clay.  They are super easy and quick to make so here are my three new necklaces...

Basically just took small portions of white clay and worked them into a ball.  I used a chopstick to make the bigger holes for the purple necklace (center) and a toothpick for the smaller holes for other two necklaces.  I then followed the baking instructions.  Once cooled I painted each one with nail polish and added to chains.

And done...

I'm super excited that I found a new photo editor!  It's called PicMonkey and I dig it!  Here are some photos I edited using PicMonkey...

Until next time...

I had to take this pic of Luna sleeping.  

I ended up moving her before all her blood rushed to her head....she does look a bit dazed and confused.

Nail Art

So, on top of having hand issues I've been fighting stomach issues as well.  Turns out I had Salmonella poison.  Good times!  I thought it only affected a person for a couple of days...kind of like regular food poisoning...but nope, it can really mess up your stomach.  So, this is the second month I'm still dealing with it.  Now it looks like I may be "gluten sensitive". What the?!? I guess I'll be posting some gluten free recipes soon.  All of this has made me tired and feeling way out of sorts so posting on blog hasn't been a priority.  However, I still check out other people's blogs and a couple of weeks ago I showed Vivian a blog post from someone (dang it but I can't find the post!) that had a nail tutorial I thought she would be into.  Basically you can modge podge  pics and/or words onto your nails...for the tutorial the person used words from a magazine.  Very creative!  Vivian thought so also and one night we decided to try it.  Vivian has a strong affection for the group One Direction and she just had to put their smiley faces on her nails.  Here's the how to...

What you need:

Magazine
Nail Polish
Modge Podge (MP)
Scissors
Thin Paint Brush
Top Coat

1.  Cut photos/words from magazines.

She added their faces on one hand and their names on the other.

2.  Paint your nails whatever color you choose...as you can see from her nails she painted hers red.

3.  Once nails are dry and you have cut the pics/words you want -- using a think brush add MP to the back of each pic/word and adhere to nail bed.  Do one at a time. 

4.  Then you will want to add MP to the top of each pic/word.

5.  After you have added MP to top let dry and then add top coat.  You will want to add several coats, but wait for each coat to dry before adding the next.

And done...

Until next time....

Luna wasn't in the mood for taking photos.

Bracelets...

I've neglected my blog all month, as I've been having hand problems of the painful kind.  I had surgery on my right wrist in 2010 and now my left hand is hurting.  So, I've been taking it easy on the computer.  Today is a good day so here I am.  I wasn't able to work on any projects, but the other night the itch to make something was way to strong and so I thought I would work on something easy.  I've been seeing online the combo of friendship bracelets with some bling, and thought I'd try it.  I decided to make it easy for me (and my hand) and braided the "friendship" part of the bracelet. I found a box full of fiber...I think from my scrapbooking days and used what I already had.

Here are the end results....

I like them.  Vivian already claimed the left one.  I used yarn for that one and for the right one I used chenille.  Here's how I made them...

Measure your wrist and cut three strands about 3-4 inches longer and then tie them together...

Now start braiding them.  After completed that tie the other end and then make another one.

You are then going to sew them together...

Make a loop on one end...

And a bigger knot (basically just make several knots until it can go through the loop without falling out) on the other end (sorry no photo for that!)

Time to connect the bling.  I used small jumprings and attached one bracelet to the other...

And done!

Until next time!

Luna got groomed last week...getting groomed makes her tired.