Hibou - The Sequel

I'm ALIVE!

So I've been gone far too long. There are many reasons for my absence but all that really matters is that I'm back and I've been a craftornado like never before. There's so much to say but I'll say it with Jazzercize Vampires, yum!

xoxo
Amarina

New Jams Comin-at-cha!

Lately I've been spending a boatload of time making jewellery and then taking my sweet, sweet time getting it up online. There are no excuses, but at least I've been having an awesome time in my absence! The guy and I spent too little time in Ottawa over Halloween checking out Strayotic, and you should check them out too! Click, click, click. We looked ridiculous in our sleazy 80's costumes (Ron ended up looking a little rape-y) and this was the only picture we managed to get:



When we got back from our mini road trip, I remembered that I make jewellery and it's not going to share itself!



I'm really not a skull person at all, despite my interest in dark things and taxidermy. These however, remind me of Day of the Dead celebrations and they really have a lot of character. I decided that they needed to be long, swingy and shoulder-sweeping, one of my favourite combinations. They would have been perfect in the time leading up to Halloween, but these are definitely all-season.



I've also been doing a serious amount of photographic experimentation, and I've been so happy with the results. After shelling out big bucks for a portable lighting studio and various plastic animal props, I've discovered that the best way to take pictures is first thing in the morning with natural light and some simple backdrops. It's funny, keeping things simple is never my first instinct, I always have to work backwards from completely overthinking everything to get there...but I'm finally happy with the quality!



This crystal wolf necklace is absolutely my new favourite thing. You can wear it double stranded or open it up and wear the necklace super long like so:



There's so much more on the way, so much!

xoxo
Amarina

Getting Crafty, Martha Stewart Styles

It's been such a rainy summer here in Toronto (absolutely not complaining at all, I love it!) I've been thinking about and actually doing crafty projects like transforming some of my clothes. I'm quite the hoarder when it comes to clothing in particular, letting it take up valuable space in my closet when I could be donating or re-purposing.

When I was 10 or so, my hippie parents enrolled me in summer camp at the local museum in my small town. I vividly remember thinking it was going to be awesome at the time, but knowing it wasn't going to be where the cool kids were and could possibly be lame. Lame it was not, and we did a ton of amazing crafts like making corn husk dolls and sculptures out of a salty flour mixture that I'm sure kids ate behind everyone's back.

One of my favourite projects was tie dying clothes with vegetable dyes that we made ourselves from tea & beets, and this was exactly the first project I did.

This re-usable shopping bag made from a shirt is genius and of course came from the Martha Stewart empire. To oversimplify this awesome project, you cut off the sleeves and collar and then sew up the bottom. For full instructions click on the picture above.

Now I know why I've been hanging onto my oversized forest green extreme lion face t-shirt! I'll post pictures of my project when I'm all done.

Happy crafting,
xoxo Amarina