Life Is Beautiful

Las Vegas, October 24th - 26th Life Is Beautiful Festival Hippie Chic:

Trifecta:

Ink Cartridge:

Christmas Project

Asian Persuasian

A couple more ring projects...

Glitz Charming

After 6 hours in the making, only because it's my 3rd soldering project ever, turned out pretty juicy couture-ish. It was like picking flowers for a flower arrangement, but much harder. An upcycled multi-media of broken bits and pieces of old jewelry. Now it's a compilation of little treats on the finger!

My Prince Charming Ring is detailed with;
* a little ity bity frog (was an earring)
* heart with rhinestone (was a ring)
* a crown (was a pin)
* cubic zirconium stud (was an earring)
* flower with rhinestone (was a clasp)
* faux pearl (was an earring)
* faux sapphire & diamonds gold pendant (was a necklace)

Upcycling = Trash --> Treasure

New craft technique I'm practicing on; soldering. I finally am making use of all the broken earrings, necklaces and brooches I've collected over the years. 1st project was turning a brooch into a ring.

TRON GIRL

When the movie Tron: Legacy came out, I just about lost my head over the chicks dressed in White. Their called Sirens, programs who dress other programs for The Games. For a month before Halloween, I prepared my costume; unitard white body suit, silver fabric paint, reflective tape, electric light wiring and Tron disk.

For Halloween, me and the friends went to this awesome venue, Insert Coin(s) a Video/Arcade Bar. Flat screens wrap around the huge bar, where from your bar stool you grab a controller and play. DJ's playing, people dancing and VIP booths are available with bottle service in front of your private flat screens for video games.

In costume, people recognized the character instantly. With a lot of persuasion from my friends, I was asked to come on stage and show off my suit. And later was asked again to come up on stage for the sexiest costume contest. I made it to the top 3, up against a sexy Poison Ivy and a Kim Kardashian look-a-like.

Ironically, I was covered from head to toe, but I think with how unique my costume was and the fact that I was in a Video Arcade bar, I had a few fans. (And my friends were helpful in cheering).

I took 1st place in the sexiest costume contest, winning $1000 and a trophy at Insert Coin(s).

I made quite a profit on what I spent making the costume and even more rewarding, I got a taste for getting creative again. Something that's withered away the last year. Well, the sweat shop has been dusted and I'm back in there again. I missed it.

Dream Sewing Studio

It's been 2 months now living in Las Vegas. I know the strip will get old real quick, but it's still unbelievable to me that it's so close and accessible. I mean, it's like having Disney Land in your back yard almost. But I'm trying to manage my time there now, because I know I'll be there plenty this summer visiting friends who are in town.

Living with mom has its benefits; free rent, mom's creative input and free reign to change the whole garage into my new sewing studio! I've been working hard trying to put it all together. It's awesome to see my drawing plans become reality.

The walls are painted fuchsia and teal, Asian knick knacks and sewing books are on the shelving unit I installed. I turned mom's old dresser into a work table, drilled in Chinese drawer pulls for the storage closets and today I finished hanging various paper lanterns and umbrellas as my center piece lighting display. There are tall curtains to hide the water heater and laundry unit. And the couch, coffee table and TV in the room make it a real "woman's cave". I have yet to put up my inspiration board and I want to have a finished product area. I'm really excited about the new space and I could see myself spending hours in there!

Life is good!

Rok This Way event in Las Vegas

It's been over 7 months since I pulled out my Oribello stock while I did some amazing world travels. I shared a booth with www.Rhythmstylist.com at the "Rok This Way" event in Las Vegas April 24th 2010. It was Bailrok's 10th birthday, the youngest member of Rocksteady Crew. There was some amazing breakdancin' and poppin' competitions as well as some awesome performances by under 17 kids. Crazy Legs, Mr. Freeze, Smerk and the rest of the Rocksteady Crew also performed.

Christmas 2009

It's been 3 months of traveling and living out of a suitcase. We've spent the last couple of weeks relaxing in Belgium and the last couple of days I've been getting a little homesick. I miss my own belongings, my own bed, a bigger selection of clothes, my sewing machine and my dog Ruka.
The Christmas atmosphere has helped in making me feel back at home. The snow, Christmas trees and lights, great company, tons of food. I must have never had the opportunity because it was here that I went sledding for the first time, built a snowman for the first time and tried fondue for the first time! I also was able to get an embroidery lesson and boy was I missing sewing!! Oh I threw in a picture of me and my brother chatting through skype. I miss his comedy; he started "climbing" into the web cam like he was just being born and **angels sing** his shining face appears! Can you imagine? Love him!

Memory Lane of Tim Gunn in 2007

    Fashion has always been a major interest of mine, so when there was going to be a mock Project Runway at my works' next annual convention, I had to compete!
    5 people who were selected including myself from each of the dozen or so divisions. I was apart of the Women's Ready To Wear division who had a lot of pressure because the design had to be a women's dress.  We had an hour to create one dress pinned to a mannequin bodice using only materials provided and the whole process was filmed and edited to look like a reality show of Project Runway.
    Tim Gunn was actually a guest speaker at the event and was going to judge fashion designs by each divisional group. It was the most exciting convention our company has had. Clips of our "show" would play throughout the convention catching all the commotion behind the scenes. My favorite was of our team member Steve dressed as a transvestite wrapped up in yards of fabrics and a wig, giving an impromptu interview of how "she" designs for the World.
    Finally towards the end of the event, each group was interviewed by the panel of judges (CEO Robert Mettler, our Women's Fashion Director Tifani Wilt and of course Tim Gunn.) No doubt he was dealing with amatures and was going easy on us, but the competition was... quite fierce! Well, to the point I wouldn't be reminiscing on this exciting time in my life if we didn't win! The prize? A bobble head of Tim Gunn himself that I got signed!

Oribello design flashback

A shot of one of my fashion designs included at the 2005 Urbanology event held in the bay area.

Brought my sewing machine to Vegas!

While in Las Vegas visiting my mom and best gal pal Raquel, I'm proud to have gotten some sewing done! Since they fortunately still have their jobs, I kept myself busy during the days doing 4 projects; a customers' order for 2 dog kimonos and a hakama, a queen size quilt, a shift dress and a new bag design.

Beautiful Day at The Doggie Dash

It was a sunny day in the park in Stockton at the Doggie Dash and it was a success! They had a dog obstacle course, best kiss, best trick, best dressed, food, vendors and bands! What a fun time and our booth was beautiful and filled with goodies with jewelry, window charms, blown glass and my Oribello line. I worked hard up until late the night before sewing and prepping for my 1st time selling my new line at a public venue. I just finished uploading the rest of the items on www.oribello.etsy.com I feel myself growing with every new project!

My First Event, The Doggie Dash

The glorified shed we've been building is almost finished and I am impressed with the workmanship and quality that was put into it. Definitely something we all are very proud of and it's starting to shine on the side of our hill.
Living in the country is awesome! I don't think I'll ever tire of our view of the lake in the distant, rolling hills as far as the eyes can see and the storybook sunsets every evening. Also, the country zoo has been exciting on the property too; deer, baby rabbits, 1" frogs, horn toads, coyotes, spiders, lizards, hawks, vultures, quayls and all sorts of other birds. They also tell me scorpions sometimes make into the house and we have to shake out anything on the floor if we pick it up. Yes, I'm worried and will probably freak out the day I see one.
I've been squeezing sewing projects into the schedule as much as possible. My line of product will be on sell for the first time at an SPCA event in Stockton, the Doggie Dash, on June 6th... tomorrow! I've since created 4 quilted blankets with fabric origami appliques, 2 jewelry boxes made from vegetable steamers lined with fabric, 6 dog kimonos in all different color and print combinations, 4 sets of Koi fish earrings, 2 dog pads or floor pillows and today, hopefully I'll finish making dog collars and leashes that are trimmed in printed fabrics. I better get started, but here's some pictures I took.

A New Routine

It's been a week since being laid off and so far it feels like a long weekend. The last day of my job was also the last day of my lease in SF, so I was preoccupied with moving logistics rather than soaking up my last moments in cube-land and saying goodbyes to colleagues.
I now live on a couple of acres atop a beautiful big hill with breathtaking views about 2-3 hours east of SF. True to living the country life, I've been waking up around 7:00am every morning to start my days. I'm helping to build our storage shed and got my first experience grading land, framing and pouring concrete. Doing this kind of work made me so sore, I realized what sitting behind a desk has done to me physically. I feel stronger and I can't wait to see the end result of the shed.
And of course there's sewing going on... I've started working on sewing 4 blankets simultaneously. The fabric is cut and I've been sewing my oribello origami applique flowers on the corner of the blankets. A nice detail to look and feel when wrapped up under the blankets, while watching TV or reading a book.