Red Lipstick

I love red lipstick.

No, that wasn't emphatic enough. I want to bring it home to meet my parents, but mostly I want to take it out, get it a little tipsy and feel it up at a bar, then take it home, marry it and live together forever.

It's like a push up bra for your face. With one swipe you go from being ho-hum to bam! You skin looks smoother, your eyes brighter, your teeth whiter. I'm certain it's a cure all, much like classic red nail polish and perfect pair of black pumps or a black pencil skirt. It's the answer to everything, I'm sure of it.

And people will treat you differently. You'll get winked at in the post office line, your coffee paid for by the mysterious fellow ahead of you at the coffee shop. Bus seats clear. The skies open. Your luck will change, I'm serious.

I'm currently in love with the color sensation from Maybelline. Red Revival. I like the packaging, I like the texture and color, and I like that it's only $5.50 for a tube. I bought a really pretty red from lancome for $22, but it's not as perfectly pinuppy retro as this one for a quarter the price. Try it, I dare you.

Ruffled Anthro/Urban Shower Curtain

Apartment Therapy has up a tutorial hacking the infamous ruffled Anthropologie/ Urban Outfitters shower curtain. At $118 and $68 dollars respectively, it goes to show how a little ingenuity will save you some bucks.

The Apartment Therapy tutorial uses a bedsheet and the ruffles from thrift store shams, but you could just as easily make your own ruffles of lace or fabric coordinating with your existing bathroom, and invest a little more time.

String Quilts

I'd never heard of paper piecing or string quilts before, and ran into those terms on the internet and found the quilt block that's haunting my dreams.

You see, my problems with quilting come from carefully coordinated and purchased quilt fabric. The origins of quilt making are making do with the odds and ends, the scraps. There's something so wanton to me to just buying it all matchy-matchy and cutting it all down into precise little squares and strips and spending fortunes on long-arm quilting machines....

The beauty for me is the imperfections. The idea that you can take a skinny strip of something and save it and piece it, one block at a time, into something warm and useable that'll last generations. I like that the traditional string quilt isn't carefully measured, that you use what what fits until it's gone.

Anyway, it's the first time I've ever considered quilting before.

Tacky Pack

I dropped by Joann's to pick up some fabric glue.

Ha. Twenty minutes later, crippled by the wall of options spread in front of me (even using the handy adhesives guide provided by Joann's) I just got an Aleene's tacky pack of fabric glues and called it a day. It was approx. .50 cents more expensive than most the bottles of glue I was eying, and it's a veritable sampler of glue options. Now when I go to buy a proper sized bottle of glue, I know exactly what I want, and I don't have a giant bottle of something I tried and hated lying around cockblocking my craft supplies.` Relief.

(you know those consumer studies where it's been proven that the more options you have, the more likely you're going to be dissapointed with the outcome since you'll be wondering if you made the right choice? Yeah. Is buying glue the proper time for this kind of reflection? Probably not.)

Capelets

This tutorial on Prudent Baby sent me off on a capelet bender. I don't wear them, just force them off on other people*.

(*person: my nephew. His turned out to be black velvet with maroon lining in time for halloween. Or spontaneous bouts of magic. Phantom of the Opera. Hobbit. Whatev.)

I'm still a little unsatisfied and am considering manufacturing wacky ones with vintage fabric and crazy buttons and military detailing and contrasting linings. For adult like peeps like myself, who maybe need a fall wardrobe pick me up.

Awesome examples of same from etsy: photos click through to their listings.

Queen Ann's Lace Scarf

Otherwise known as "what everyone is getting for christmas this year."

Working on my second queen anne's lace scarf. Found the pattern on Ravelry, then realized that there's about a million derivatives, much like knitting's feather and fan, and felt less like I'd discovered something magical. Well, it's still magical, but also more popular than I realized.

It goes really fast and I think showcases what crochet is really good for, super mobile lacy designs. In. Love.

Bloomers!

Had been reading along on Grosgrain for awhile and she posted a link to a pattern for a couple pairs of awesome bloomers she'd made to go with thrift store camis she'd picked up to sleep in. Adorable!

The pattern is from Collette Patterns, who do the most charming retro things (check them out), and their blog had this cute tutorial.

I, being the laziest seamstress ever, just picked up a 1970's pajama pattern at the thrift store for .25 cents and used the "panty" pattern from that. Once I'd taken two inches for the double elastic casing out of the unfortunately high waist, they turned out surprisingly similar. (with the added bonus of not having to print out and piece together the pdf. Lazy!)

They're super cute and comfy, with the added bonus of the elastic keeping the short where I want to, instead of unnecessarily exposing my flabby upper thigh. Wouldn't they be cute with extra ruffles on the bum? Or under a sassy little bo peep costume?

Yarn Storage

Yarn storage in empty wine racks. Genius! I love how neat and orderly it is, Seen here.

Felt Slippers

I've recently discovered dreamy wool felt verses the distinctly different crappy pill-y acrylic kind. Crafting may never be the same, and as such I've been on the lookout for chic felt crafts using my newfound favorite material and muse.

These slippers fit the bill, and would provide comfy toes in the upcoming cold winter months. I've already considered ways you could alter the template-extending the ankle line up and making scrunched felt booties, or making the toe a pointy elf shoe, or adding a felt flower. Template/pattern from martha.

Would You Ever?

Would you ever wear bottle cap earrings? I ask because there's a bowl above my sink chuck full of bottle caps from this summer's parties, and I've been trying to think of something cute to do with them. I'd considered gluing magnets to the back, but maybe I'll do this instead.

Seen here.

Dandelion Zip Tie Light

Someone with some spare time, please hack this. It's too cool. Seen here, from here.

Hacked Sun Jars

In love with these deceptively simple solar-powered jars, seen here via here. Would be too cute to take camping, or just have around your yard for a party. Eco friendly nightlight? I want to make about a dozen.