making statements...

I have the opportunity to relax this weekend so I decided to make more jewelry. The first necklace (Black) was fun to make. I used a combination of different black beaded necklaces and combined them. I took a mother of pearl tiare flower and placed a very cute button over it and used the two as the statement piece for the necklace. The star necklace was simple and it's cute for dressing up or down. Below is the detail of the tiare and button.

The earrings below I made was a gift for a friend. They are jade lotus beads and coral beads for color.

Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas is one of my favorite artists. He's known to be one of the organizers of the Impressionist Movement. I could go on about Edgar Degas, but I'll just let you explore him on your own.

The reason for this blog is to just share something I've just recently discovered and I thought is was so cool! For an art class while I was in undergrad we had to recreate a famous art piece using pastels. Everyone went for Van Gogh pieces and I picked Degas because of the portrait like effect his pieces has - and I thought the ballet scenes were cute and girly.

Anyways - what I discovered is that the technique that helped me recreate his work is the technique he's known to use for all his pastel pieces. He would create colors using successive layers and this was how he created the soft, powdery effect in his pieces.

Of course, his work is way better than mine, but I got the gist of the look he was trying to create. Besides having to recreate the piece on an 8-1/2" x 11" sheet...the toughest part was trying to create the dark shadows while keeping the "soft" look of the scene. And...the trick was that whole successive layer thing. Instead of applying black directly to the area to create shadows...just use the colors already incorporated in the pictures and keep layering, layering, layering, and layering.

Okay, so below on the left is Edgar Degas' Ballet Class piece and on the right is my version - of course it's not the best, but I tried.

I'm going green...

I haven't gone shopping in a while because I'm trying to save $$. I was craving some new accessories, but they're just too pricy. So I decided that it was time to "go green". I rummaged through some of my old stuff, my mom's stuff, and my sisters stuff and got inventive and creative. It's just a start so check it out.


The necklace was fun to make. It took some time deciding on the chain. I took apart some old earrings, necklaces, and key chains. Necklace includes: mother of pearl hoop, jade fish pendant, jade lotus bead, and a gold chain


I also made some earrings. Nothing exciting, but I had some time before bed (I was on a roll). The mother of pearl pieces I took a part from necklace and I just made them into earrings.

Below is the charm bracelet I made for my sister. I used some old pendants as the charms of this bracelet. It's very blingy - like my sister =P

Sewing Project

Okay, so I'm not good at sewing. My first project was the aprons I made for my friends in the picture below. I wanted to have a patchy look and I guess my lack-of-sewing skills helped me accomplish that. I just had the idea in my head and worked with an apron my friend's grandma made for me.


The owl was the most difficult part. I couldn't hand sew it because of the different fabrics I was using. However, the buttons were hand sewn. Notice that the owls beak is a football button. =) Actually, you can't tell it is - but it is.

The happy couple and their aprons. Oh, and it's hard to tell - but Abe's apron has a Treble Clef patch (he's a musician - A FABULOUS ONE! maybe I'll post some of his works on here some how)

Metro North

New York Metro North train -
Early weekend morning, chocolate chip scones and yogurt from a Labanese bakery on 110th, Crosstown Harlem bus to train station, conversing about Wall Street, field work, Korean food...oh, and boys till we get off at White Plains, NY.

Animal Style

Westwood, Los Angeles:
College years driving down that ritzy Brentwood neighborhood for "animal style" cravings.