Mermaid Altered Art Book

Hey, check it out - a non Project Runway post!

Remember my current altered art book project? For those who have never heard of altered art, you take an item, usually a book, and you alter it with your own designs - paint, pictures, drawings etc. This is the second altered art round robin that I've been in. Each month the books rotate and you do a page in someone else's book. This project was a small group of only 7 gals and I got my finished book back this week. The theme for my book was 'Mermaids' and here is a look at the great work that was done in my book - (click images for larger views)

This layout included real seashells -





Sequins, glitter and pearls -



Very cool mermaid silhouettes -



This layout was a look at the dark side of the mermaid legend. I never imagined seeing skulls with my pretty mermaids, but I think the theme is really cool -


And lastly, pretty vintage ladies with sequins on their tails-

Project Runway - the judges obviously miss shopping at Merry-Go-Round

A quick PR recap this week because poor time management and other projects are making me very behind on my vintage work this week (again)
Last night's challenge was to take Levi's jeans and jean jackets and create a new garment with them.
Now denim is usually only good for jeans and jean jackets and skirts. Anything else has the tendency to look cheap or tacky in denim, unless done the right way.
*Victorya and Jillian both did jacket style dresses. Victorya's basically looked like a jean jacket with a skirt sewn onto it, not very innovative so she got the boot. Jillian's had a slight resemblance to the avant garde jacket that she did last week, but fell very, very short of the amazingness of the previous jacket. Thankfully Victorya sucked a little more than she did, so she was safe from the boot. But she did alot of whining and crying, and threw a few little fits while trying to work with the denim.

*Christian, the 1980s are over. Very over. There is no need to bring them back, so please stop with the harsh 80s looks every other week.
*Chris did a nicely fitted dress with corset top and nicely shaped detail trim. It was alright, kinda reminded me of something you would have bought at Merry-go-Round in the 1980s. But still better than the winner.
*Rami mesmerized the judges with his use of zippers as accents along the seams. Did the judges watch last season? Didn't they see Jeff do zippers along the seams in a few of his dresses? I don't get why they made such a fuss over those zippers on Rami's dress. Also a fairly nice outfit, but kind of tacky 80s looking too.
*Ricky won with a (yes, I said Ricky won) strapless mini dress with ruffled bottom. And there were tears of course. The buttons down the front were cute but I thought it was kinda cheap looking. By cheap I mean tacky, slightly on the trashy side, Merry-go-Round 1980s flashback again. He did a big bouffant hairstyle on his model. This allowed Michael Kors to show off how Hip & Cool he is by mentioning that he saw the Amy Whinehouse influence in the hair, and that he liked her too. Yeah, dirty ballet flats and (apparently) a crack pipe would have completed that look. Ricky's winning dress was offered for sale on the Levi's website and it's already sold out.

*SweetP started out making a denim wedding dress with different colors of denim. Yikes. It was looking kinda patchwork 70s hippie, so she very smartly changed her design. She came up with a dress (on the right above) that I thought should have been the winner. It was strapless (which I don't really like, especially on this model, who had no breasteses to fill it out) The shades of denim were cut on curves and pieced together so nicely that the colors just flowed from one to another, rather than looking like patchwork. My guess is that Ricky's dress won because Levi's saw it as more marketable and probably easier/cheaper to make than SweetP's dress.

That's twice SweetP should have won now. Unfair!

Over the river and through the woods . . . Project Runway Avant Garde

A really late PR recap because I went to visit both grandmoms today and drove home in a snow storm! They are both doing well. Grandmom #1 was in the hospital last week and grandmom #2 was in the hospital 2 months ago.
This week's challenge was to create an avant garde look inspired by dramatic model hairstyles. It was another team challenge, where predictabley no one wants to be the official team leader but they still want to have control of the design. Midway through, the designers were told that they also had to make a readywear version of their avant garde outfit. Panic, tears, vomitting.
Rami showed us a side that I didn't really like while teamed with Sweet P, who ended up in tears because of Rami riding her about how she did her work. Rami also got a little snippy with Tim, which I thought was out of line, show some respect to the Man, he's here to help you. Sweet P's dress was the readywear version and it was very sweet. Rami's dress was deemed 'not avant garde enough' by the judges (he should have done an outrageous bustle like Sweet P suggested)
Jillian & Victorya. Shudder at the idea of these two winers and complainers working together. They both talk in very low voices with barely moving their mouths or making any expressions. They had very restrained panic attacks through the whole episode while trying to get their outfits finished on time. They did a super sharp long jacket inspired by the equestrian-punk mohawk that their model had. Underneath was a blouse and riding pants that were cute, but weren't very avant garde, they probably could have passed for their ready-wear outfit. Instead the readywear outfit was a ruffled asymetric dress.
Christian & Chris. How many people cheered like I did when those two were teamed up?! Team Fierce. Actually, to be honest, Christ could have done that outfit himself and the credit for the fabulously over ruffled gown that they made really should have gone almost all to him. The avant garde outfit had a very striking appearance. The readywear outfit was a cute ruffled blouse but the skirt was very plain and could have used something else. The fabulousness of the avant garde dress won them this challenge which will get them a spread in Elle for TreSomme.

Kit & Ricky did a hoop skirt dress that the judges thought was Gone With the Wind. I actually liked the combination of fabrics on the hoop, but it just didn't 'wow'. And the readywear dress was just another little Ricky dress. Kit got the boot this week and I was really disappointed to see her go because I thought she was pretty cool. I still think Ricky (who I do think is a super nice guy) should have gone before Kit and Kevin too.

Boris' new ride

Boris got a new car this week!
Well, of course it's my Dad's 'new' car, but Boris got right in and took over. The passenger side is just low enough for him to jump up into the truck (usually he expects a boost to get up into my car) and the seat is very accessible for his short stature too. Plus there's plenty of room in the back. Perfect for a cool little dog.
Boris' birthday is Tuesday, he'll be 7 years old. Maybe he thought this was his Birthday present! He really thought it was a big deal.

Project Runway - The Most Important Day of Your Life

Thank you for waiting patiently for my Project Runway post. I went with my Dad this morning to buy carpet, and then helped him carry it up 2 flights of steps. I have to go back at 2:00 this afternoon to help him carry the 2nd roll of carpet up there too. Last week he had me carrying cinder blocks!

OK, I must really be out of touch with Prom dresses or else the Project Runway judges have lost their minds, because I did not get last night's win at all.
The challenge was to design a dress for the 'Most important day in a woman's life'. I know prom is a big deal, but come on. The most important? I didn't go to prom and I survived, my life hasn't been empty and meaningless without it.
The challenge was to design prom dresses for a group of Catholic school girls from New Jersey (hey Jersey girls!) The girls got to choose the designer based on the designer's portfolio, which made Chris laugh because his portfolio is full of photos of himself dressed in outrageous drag costumes. Being a Star Wars geek, I loved the Princess Leia costume and would love to get a closer look at that photo. When Victorya asked her gal why she chose her, the gal admitted that she was last to pick a designer, and just ended up with Victorya (he-he)
Christian remarked that he thought prom was 'Horrible, Tacky and Gross' even though he was the best dressed at his own prom (when was that, 2 months ago?) He ended up being paired with a girl who informed him that she was already studying to be a fashion designer and that she had her own ideas about the dress that she wanted. This girl really beat Christian down, and he was struggling with the dress which he described as being 'Tickity-tack'* At one point he said that he was 'Not feeling fierce' and then he was giving up and told Tim that he was going to be the one to go this week. But Tim rallied him, saying that he was too talented to give up. I think it's pretty safe to say at this point that Christian will be in the final 3. Tim might as well have said to Christian 'The producers have already decided that you will be the wild card in the final 3, so at least pull something together to make it look good'. There was a shot in the apartment of Christian shaving and I stopped and thought 'Christian shaves?' it just seemed odd.
Kevin, mentioned that he was from Jersey too (that explains some things) and he thought he was doing pretty good with his red dress.
Ricky cried when he talked about growing up poor, and watching his Mom make his sisters prom dresses. I thought that marked Ricky for the boot. But I guess being cheap looking and from Jersey was worse because Kevin ended up getting the boot. They thought his dress looked cheap and that it aged the girl. Plus they were bugged by the lack of hemming, which he had been warned about by Tim and Chris. Bye Kevin, straight guy, Jersey Guy.

When I think of prom dresses, I think of 1950s tulle gowns or 1970s satin polyester gowns with ruffles around the neck. So I guess that I am out of touch with what the Young Ones want for prom. I thought most of the dresses (Victorya, Jillian, Kevin, Kit, Ricky) were just 'casual party' dresses. Not just the shorter lengths, but they weren't very fancy or memorable. I liked Rami's draped dress, although it was kind of a variation of the first dress that he did this season. But it was more cocktail than prom. I loved Sweet P and Chris' bias glamour gowns, but those seemed the other extreme - too mature, too serious-glamour. I guess I was looking for fun, sparkle and lace. Fancy, dressy, and just a little flashy. Come on, it's Jersey.
I really think Sweet P deserved this win for her champagne charmeuse gown and Chris should have been 2nd with that chartreuse (you know I love the green) satin bias gown. But for some reason, Victorya won. She made an electric blue short dress with kind of a bubble hem with a T neck/faux halter, which she put tickity-tack* Rag Shop-looking cabochons on. Click the photo above and tell me which dress would you wear to prom?
Christian managed to pull his dress together, but nearly cut his own throat on the runway by blaming Miss-Sass for all the problems with the dress. It was down to him and Kevin, but Jersey guy got the boot and Christian is headed to the final 3 - watch me be wrong, he'll probably get the boot next week. But he gives the editors too many sound bites and funny moments, plus his designs are interesting, aren't you waiting to see what he'll do each week?

OK, off to move some carpet.


*Tickity-tack - (adj) - a term fierce people use as a fancy way to say tacky. Cheap, gaudy, grody to the max


Photo snagged from http://bloggingprojectrunway.blogspot.com/ - labels added by me.

Project Runway - We can make sh*t out of Candy

Yeah, Project Runway returned last night with a new episode! The challenge this week started with an early morning wake-up visit from Tim Gunn. Good morning Tim, I'm not wearing a bra and I haven't brushed my teeth yet! Kit answered the door right out of bed wearing a tank top, and she was using her arm to cover herself so that Tim couldn't see that she wasn't wearing a bra yet. I liked that. Alot of girls would just stand there like 'I'm not wearing a bra, who cares'. Kit is a cool girl. Over in the boy's room Chris asked Tim where his footie pajamas were. oh Chris, I'm so glad that you are back.
Tim took the designers down to the Hershey's Candy Store at Times Square. The challenge was to use whatever they could grab in the store to create an outfit. They had 5 minutes to grab. I probably would have stood there in a daze because all I saw in that store was silver, brown velour, orange plastic and bright colored faux fur. Everyone seemed excited about the challenge and Christian was the one who remarked 'We can make sh*t out of candy'

Rami won again (still my pick for final three) he used shiny wrappers and plastic bags to make a very structured halter bodice and pleated skirt, first outfit above. Very shiny and happy, very candy-like.
Jillian was the only who actually used candy in her design. She used Twizzlers to make a fitted bodice and fringed skirt, #2 above. She had a hard time getting the candy to stay on the fabric and wondered why no one else in the competion was using the candy on their garments. Jillian, did you see season 1? Don't you remember Austin's corn husk dress, or the gaudy mess that was Wendy's bathingsuit/thing? Jillian's outift did look really good and she said it smelled good too. She's still in my pick for final 3 too.
Kevin, you know, the straight guy, made a nice looking outfit, it didn't receive much attention but I liked it that's why I included it above, #3. Silver Kisses wrapper bodice and brown fabric from a chocolate pillow for a skirt and bolero.

Christian had tons of peanutbutter cups and he saved the brown cup wrapper and threw everything else out. There was a trash can FULL of peanut butter cups, what a waste! His dress was the last one above and he glued the brown wrappers all over the dress. It seemed kind of blah when he was making it, because you know how dull those brown wrappers are. But the dress looked really good on the runway, the wrappers gave off a subtle shimmer. It was one of my favorites even though you tend to think of brighter colors when you think of candy. #4 above.

SweetP started one dress, and then trashed it and made another. She had a white tissue circle skirt layed out on the floor and Tim said that it looked like a maxi pad! Tim Gunn said MAXI PAD! I think it's funny when anyone says maxi pad, but Tim Gunn? Hilarious. Yes my humour can be kind of dumbass sometimes.
The judges praised Chris on the runway for his Hershey wrapper corset and mini skirt. Victorya made her model walk down the runway with her hands sticking out weirdly, and the judges didn't like the walk or her dress. Kit made a very shiny punk looking outfit out of KitKat & Hershey's wrappers. Ricky, ahh, I barely remember him from this episode. He made a Hershey label bubble skirt with silver bodice.

It was obvious from early on in the challenge that Elisa was going to be the one to go. This was the week that she told the story about how she had been seriously injured after being hit by a car and now she wanted to really do something with her second chance at life. The editors are just so predictable now. Remember when Malan told us about how his mother was negative about his interest in design and that he had no friends as a child? He won us over, we loved him, and he got the boot in that episode. Unfortunatley before Elisa got the boot, we had to see the bottoms of her dirty feet while she was working on her dress. I could have done without the dirty feet. She made a brown dress with silver puffs on the arms and a little color trim. I thought she would have used more color in this challenge. I was expecting to see something way over the top, but this was, as the judges called it, a Sad Brown Dress. Bye-bye Elisa. You know, I felt really disappointed that she was the one to go. I had really grown to like her and her quirky ways.

See Blogging Project Runway for photos of all of the dresses.


OH! I almost forgot. There was quick scene of Chris sleeping in the lounge. His face was kind of scrunched up, his mouth was open and his tongue was sticking out a little and he snored. He reminded me so much of Boris, he sleeps the same way!