Cold weather is creeping up on us. And I'm excited, but I'm not a big fan of my selection of scarves.
I never know how to wear scarves while looking good, which is why I've been all about infinity scarves lately. I've only obtained a few recently that my grandmother knitted for me.

I dug through all my scarves and grabbed two that I wanted to turn into infinities. These two are fabric scarves, not yarn knitted, so it would make it easy to sew them without a problem.

I took one scarf, my favorite one, and pinned them up evenly. After, I just sewed them together. Super easy.

I grabbed the second scarf and cut them straight because they didn't meet up perfectly. I pinned and then sewed them.

Can't really think of an easier DIY project than this, but it makes a whole lot of a difference. I now won't look so derpy wearing scarves. I promise I won't go out looking like this because then I'll be back to square one looking derpy.

It's crazy to look back at how much I progressed in the arts, especially comparing art supplies I used then and what I use now.
Once upon a time I used to draw on t-shirts. I had first started using fabric markers to do so. I collected a whole lot of colors. Eventually I eased off the markers and started using fabric paint, which is what I occasionally use now with screenprinting paint.
After buying plain white socks, I thought to pull out those old fabric markers and see if they still have juice.

Turns out I still have a whole bunch of colors that are still good.
I set up a work spot and folded up paper in the socks just in case the markers bled through.

I also am finding that I'm going through a tropical/Hawaiian art phase. I had luaus in the back of my mind when planning what to draw. So I projected that on top of both pairs.

They need some drying time. But when they're all ready, I'll be wearing them asap!

Here's an easy-peasy DIY with washi tape.
I've been obsessing over washi tape lately, just like the rest of the world. They're so fun.
I've also been trying to use clothespins more, for decorative purposes. I found a little batch of them in my basement and thought why not decorate them with my washi tape. I've seen this a few other places and I wanted to try it for myself.

All you need is the clothespins, washi tape, and scissors or an X-acto knife. A cutting mat is optional.

Just line up the tape on the clothespin and cut off the excess.

It's as simple as that.

Afterwards, what you do with them is all up to you. They look precious holding up art prints.

Bam.

I didn't realize how long it's been since my last post. Life has been a little hectic between full time work and preparing for Kawaiiland. I was able to find some time to sneak in a little project for myself in which I'd like to share.

Back in April I shared these shoes in a wishlist post. I think the design of these YES shoes is fab: the contrast of the two colors and it's just so simple. I wanted to experiment with line work similar to that.

I went shopping the other day (for the first time in MONTHS) and found this oversized pink shirt. I've been into larger shirts lately; baggy shirts makes me feel most comfortable in the summer. Whether I would have decorated it or not, I would have bought this shirt anyway. But as soon as I saw it, I thought of adding the line design to it.

I contemplated if I wanted to use a brush or use the paint straight out of the tube. I ended up using the tube. The lines are a little dense but it doesn't bother me.

I began experimenting with the lines and eventually got a nice flow. I didn't want to take over the entire shirt so I made some areas more spaced out than other spots.

I just kept going until it felt right. I drew some triangles and 'x's like on the shoes.
This will surely fix my craving until I cave and buy these shoes. I'm really liking how it came out, I'm contemplating making more of different color ways, and may even make some for the Kawaiiland event. I'll see how much free time I have!

The other day, I shared a post about screenprinting at home. I made my own little screen out of an embroidery hoop, synthetic woven material, and Mod Podge.
I made a shirt full of lips.

I got this design idea from a dress Tavi Gevinson wore. I have a bit of a fascination/obsession with Tavi and everything she does. At such a young age she's accomplished so much changing the lives of so many girls, and she does it with such a cool sense of style.
I just really wanted to recreate this.

I found a light colored t-shirt and laid it out on top of newspaper. A neat and clean workspace is important! As well as putting newspaper inside the shirt so the paint doesn't seep through to the back.

I used my screen to paint the red lips on the whole shirt using red screenprinting Speedball paint.

Afterwards I simply made the lines of the mouth with a small paintbrush and black Speedball screenprinting paint. I did a little bit of shading, but mostly kept it simple. I wanted each mouth to look different and unique.

I kept going, painted the lips throughout the entire shirt: the front, back, and sleeves.
Does take a little bit of time to paint along the whole shirt because the painted bits have to lay flat and dry. But it makes for a cool shirt indeed.

I've been super interested in screenprinting for a while. I always brushed it off because after taking a class, I realized it involved too much machinery for me to deal with. Here and there I experimented with easy methods of printing at home. Stencils -> been there, done that, over it. Then I found a simple way that involved an embroidery hoop, pantyhose, and Mod Podge. LIFE CHANGING.
But hold your horses. This isn't too glamorous of a post. Here's a lesson of something my professor called 'trial and learning'. Keep reading.

I for some reason found it hard to find decent tutorials when I first tried it. So I experimented on my own and gathered materials that sounded good.
First I made a little design and printed it out. Then found an embroidery hoop that fit the design perfectly, old pantyhose, Mod Podge, and screenprinting tape in which I still had leftover from my class. And of course pencils, a brush, and a scissor.

I put the pantyhose in the embroidery hoop and really secured and fastened it. Then I cut pieces of the tape and placed it around to make sure the screen stays in place.
I found I didn't like tracing the image onto the pantyhose because the material was too stretchy to make that work. So I elevated the embroidery hoop with the image lying underneath and kinda just eyed where to paint the glue. It was effective and I was able to successfully copy the image with the glue.

After it all dried, I found fabric to experiment on, and this is how it came out.
Ptthhh. Didn't work.

I researched more, and came to the conclusion that the pantyhose wasn't effective. It's too stretchy.
Screenprinting is also known as silkscreening - silk can be used for screens; it's a strong, woven material with big enough tiny holes to let paint print through. I rummaged through my house looking for fabric with those qualities and found some synthetic voile. Another alternative is sheer woven curtains in which you can easily find at a thrift store.

I went for round two bringing in less materials. I drew lips as an easy second experimentation attempt. Same as the first time around, I secured and fastened the new material, place the screen on top of the sketch and copied the image using the glue and brush.

This material is a little more tricky. Took a lot of attempts to cover the large areas. The glue gets pushed around more than being absorbed as it did with the pantyhose, so it's best to let the glue dry every so often before adding more + more layers.

I didn't want to use that tape again because it was pretty annoying, but I wanted to add something to make sure the screen doesnt slip out of the hoop. I used Gorilla Glue to do just that (that's what the white bubbly crap is in my screen. It dries pretty funky but it does the job.)
After all the glue dried, the screen just felt durable. I went ahead and placed it on my shirt and just painted with a sponge brush.

Annnnd the final conclusion: It totally worked. Hurray!

Tips:
• If you're working with an image with type or anything of the sort, depending on how you decide to work with the screen, make sure the image is mirrored so it will be painted the correct way onto your shirt.
• When inserting the fabric in the hoop, make sure you bring in the fabric tight but not tight enough to rip the fabric (I accidentally did that, oops).

And there you go.

Do you get bored with plain ole' t-shirts? Story of my life. To spice up my wardrobe, the first place I go to are my sleeves. Most of my shirts have designs on the front or back leaving my sleeves to be the only option to be changed. But who doesn't like fun sleeves anyway?

My coworker printed this shirt at work for me using his design. I brought it home with the intention of changing the sleeves. All white t-shirts are usually not my favorite.

I found the fabric I wanted to use. I took off the sleeves with my seam ripper, laid the sleeves down, pinned them to the fabric, and basically cut along the edges to make them exactly the same.

I pinned the patterned fabric to the shirt to replace the old sleeves and sewed it together.

Afterwards I flipped the exposed edges over and sewed it so the sleeves won't fray.

Viola. A super simple idea to fix up simple plain t-shirts. I love working with patterned fabric to make my wardrobe fun. You should too!

I realized I posted earlier this month about a photo album I made last year, but I wanted to share this new book I made. It's very different from the other photo album.
I learned how to make this book in the bookbinding class I'm taking this semester. We had a midterm assignment to make a book and fill it with content. When it was assigned, I immediately thought to fill it up with photos that I planned on taking during my Portland trip. I bought disposable cameras and got them developed.

I didn't want to make the book too large so I settled on 10 spreads/20 pages. I planned on inserting 20 photos, so I measured the pages to fit a little larger than standard printed photo proportion. After measuring and scoring the pages, I measured out the cover, which this book was made to wrap around a few times. I couldn't find a decorative piece of paper long enough, so I used my washi tape to connect the piece. This sort of binding has the pages sewn to the cover. So I used clip to keep the pages together while sewing.
It's a super easy book to make.

I ended up buying more washi tape while I was in Portland, so I picked twenty good photos from the batch I got developed, and taped in two opposing corners.

When I got back home, I sliced the pages behind the corners not taped and slipped in the loose corners to fully constrain them and to get the feel of a photo album.

Besides the two disposable cameras I got developed, I have 3 more disposables, 2 110 film rolls, and a half filled disposable camera and 110 roll. I brought my Lomo Diana Mini with me but had such problems getting the wheel to advance the film, so I gave up and bought disposable cameras.
My plan within the next few weeks is to get everything developed and make more photo albums like this. I really love how this book came out!

This is a little project I've been meaning to finish when I started it back around...sometime last year. My brother has saved mostly all of his bottle tops. He planned on using them for his own projects, but never seemed to do so. So I took a few with the intention of making fun little magnets.

I painted a few to play around. The only frustrating bit is that you need quite a number of coats of acrylic paint. After many coats, and a few months later, I sketched a few little designs on the tops.

I collected my paints and painted the little designs.

Some of the paint came on a little streaky and lumpy, and I was scared of chipping - so I thought the tops needed a good coating. I used my Krylon clear spray to take care of that.

A few days ago I took a trip to Michaels and bought magnets and E600 glue, which I heard is a good super glue. I needed good super glue.
Before gluing the magnets on, I didn't want the magnets to be level with the edges of the tops, so I glued down a small strip of cardboard to elevate the magnets.

I let the bottle tops sit around for a few hours to let the glue set before playing around with them.
They're so precious and bright. It was a success for sure, I plan on making so much more knowing how it works out in the end. I have so many ideas!
Start saving bottle tops and give it a go!