Sep 29, 2012 | DIY
So I visited the Mini-Maker Faire last week, and in the confusion of upgrading to an iPhone 5 (yes, I finally bit the bullet and switched from my beloved Blackberry!! Ugh, touchscreens…), I didn’t transfer my phone photos quickly enough. But here they finally are!
The Mini-Maker Faire is a smaller version of the yearly Maker Faire (sponsored by MAKE Magazine and Intel), a celebration of makers in all their forms. It’s also the first Faire hosted here in Portland! It’s a hotbed of creativity, a platform for geekiness, and an amazing source of inspiration for everything from crafts to home improvement to just plain wacky inventions.
This Klein Tools canvas bag, $80, available from Hand-Eye Supply in Portland, may be a storage bag for tools but I think it’s total industrial-chic. Imagine paired with a trenchcoat and dark corduroys and using it as your handbag! Awesome.
The trebuchets were quite popular, and hurled rotten pumpkins and foam balls (on the kiddie versions).
An 8-person bicycle-driven vehicle, which was steered by a guy wearing a pair of butt-less acid-wash jeans, displaying his bright red panties. I kid you not.
Steampunk-style custom goggles by Steambaby.net.
3D-printed objects. I believe that is Yoda’s head in the foreground.
Side tables made of welded copper pipe.
Lil Tot tested out an iPad drawing program for spaceships using geometric figures, pioneered by Make Space Ship.
Fiber arts using colorful wool spun into chunky yarns.
Lil Tot also made a chocolate penguin out of modeling chocolate.
And learned some archery with Trackers PDX, a group that he had Ninja Camp over the Summer with.
And he drove a robot using a Playstation controller.
It was a super-fun day for him, and we definitely saw some neat things, though I would have preferred to see more crafting and fashion-related items. I’m hoping that they expand into a full-fledged Maker Faire for next year! (And you just might see me there at a booth too!;-)
xoxox
Carly
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Sep 21, 2012 | DIY, Fashion
Dupe this look with some lacy applique applied to the collar of a button-down shirt, some fabric paint (or stencil paint!) for the daisies on the shorts, and some decorative buttons or colored gem nailheads for the flower centers.
The fashionable outfits seen around the globe during the various Fashion Weeks are always so inspirational. I just love seeing the boldness, the color, the next BIG THING! How about getting your craft on after seeing some of these ideas? I’m all for it!
Lasercutting can be totally a pain without a laser, but patience and perseverence (and a leather punch!) can help create a lacy look to a leather skirt. Create faux lace-ups to show off beautiful ankles and shapely legs.
Easiest DIY ever: just cut off the shoulders of a favorite top to give it a sexy makeover. Bonus points for folding down the raw edge and securing it for the ultimate wearability!
Make a funky blouse all your own by customizing with a contrasting placket and collar, cut from a different shirt (and subsequently, sew the placket/collar from this shirt onto that one = perfect gift for your bestie!). Sometimes the Frankenstein look can be so awesome.
Add a scattering of floral rhinestone appliques around the knees of your jeans for an upscale look to your denim.
How about adding a panel of sequined fabric to the front of a skirt? Day to night, all in one piece!
This looks so simple to DIY! Just use glitter fabric paint and a skull stencil to spice up a plain sweater.
Cut out the front of a black tee to up the goth-girl quotient.
Create your own anglophile bag with some leather paint, masking tape, and strategic studding.
Photos from Mr. Newton, posted at Harper’s Bazaar; Refinery29; Bridget Fleming, posted at The Fashion Spot
xoxox
Carly
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Sep 20, 2012 | DIY
With New York Fashion Week just barely over – and London Fashion Week drawing to a close – there has been creativity and Fashion with a capital F in the air.
To celebrate, Fiber One Bars and Brownies (the official snack of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week) has teamed up with Celebrity Style Expert Bobbie Thomas to encourage consumers to show their “great taste” through the first-ever Fiber One Snackcessory Challenge.
What is the Fiber One Snackcessory Challenge? you may ask…
A DIY Challenge to create your own stylish accessory case or pouch to hold snacks on-the-go…or even to use as a clutch on its own!
Fiber One sent me a kit with some supplies to get started…
But I went to town on the challenge and sourced my own materials to trick out that sunglasses case even more…and made a beautiful, chic case that can even accompany me to the most dressed-up events. (…like….Fashion Week….?!) Here’s how:
How to Make a DIY Flowered “Snackcessory” Clutch
(It’s basically the same principle as the DIY Jewelry Box Clutch I featured a little while back.)
(more…)
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Sep 15, 2012 | DIY, Fashion
So as the whirlwind week of fashion, creativity, and inspiration draws to a close in New York City, I wanted to create my bi-annual rundown of trends that are on their way – and what you can start DIY’ing now!
Add some flowered fabric, cut into letter shapes and fused onto a basic white tee with its arms cut off like at 3.1 Philip Lim.
Take a cue from Alexander Wang and buy a white sheath 3 sizes too small. Then cut apart and add clear plastic showing about 1″ through the cuts (so about 2″ wide plastic strips with 1/2″ wide underlap), and topstitch.
Mimic the pretty stripes in Alice + Olivia‘s coat with some free-handed fabric paint.
Add some ladylike lace or netting over a super-short sheath mini like at Calvin Klein Collection.
The jeweled collar trend is still going strong at Carolina Herrera; add decoration to your blouse’s collar with a ton of sew-on Swarovski stones and make a belt to match.
Bold printed shoes at Chris Benz are an easy DIY: just Mod Podge your favorite fabric over the toe-caps of a pair of brightly-colored T-strap heels. (Bonus points for sewing up a pair of matching shorts!)
Embellish the sleeves of a cropped neutral jacket with sunbursts of hot-fix jewels like at Creatures of the Wind.
Make a beach cover-up (or bold dress!) with a scrap of satin or lightweight fabric, suspended from a thin twisted rope at your middle. (Tuck under a matching sports bra or bralette for the full Cushnie et Ochs look!)
A simple dress with strategic cut-outs around the bust will make the perfect dupe of the piece at Diane von Furstenburg.
Make an elasticized bralette like at Edun by adding some bits of elastic and 2 metal rings to some fabric scraps (or cut up an old triangle bralette from your lingerie drawer!)
The sporty wedge sneakers from Jil Sander Navy are so easy to DIY: just paint a stripe across a plain pair of white sneaks!
The bow-pattern top and cardigan from Kate Spade New York are super-cute, and totally DIY’able with the sewn-on addition of little black bows. (Or fused applique!)
The opening piece at Kimberly Ovitz looked like a snipped-apart maxi-dress (just raw cuts at the neckline), accessorized with double steel bangles at the upper arms.
DIY a Marc Jacobs-style tee with the addition of some black Duck Tape in parallel stripes on the front.
Part 2 coming soon!
All photos from Style.com; composites by me.
xoxox
Carly
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Sep 8, 2012 | DIY
So it’s Back-to-School already – and for some it was last week, and others during the next couple weeks (my Fall semester starts Sept. 25). Now is a time when most of us – kids, teens, the collegiate crowd, and parents all – just don’t have a lot of time and are scrambling to try and get all the much-needed school supplies, textbooks, and other items all lined up and ready to go. (Plus it’s always hard to get back into the rhythm of things after a long Summer off.) 
Once you have a spare moment, though, this initial keychain charm is super-quick to pull together…and utterly adorable for your child’s (or your own!) bag or keyring. One part prep and the other part minimalist, this is also easy enough for even a DIY novice to accomplish. Here’s how to move your bag’s style straight to the head of the class:
You Need: (more…)
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Sep 5, 2012 | Blogging, DIY, Life
The art of DIY is something I believe, to be enjoyed for oneself, shared with others as means of inspiration and encouragement, but not something that should be applied to creating exact replicas or knockoffs to make a profit on sales of such items. Inspired by, but not replicated if there are sales involved. 
I get so many requests (even now!) for me to make a custom knockoff pair of those Christian Louboutin for Rodarte Super-Spiked Heels I DIY’d nearly 3 years ago, that sometimes I feel my intentions in sharing these how-tos and ideas on my blog are being misconstrued entirely.
Sometimes I wonder if I should only be sharing tutorials for items quite different from, but still inspired by, designer pieces. It’s a tough call.
But for all of us out there who craft, who create, and who produce art, there is always the question of inspiration vs. imitation. Though in her eloquent post designer Jessica Hische is writing about art in general, I believe her great analysis of the art of copying (and how to avoid straight-out mimicry) is a great read and utterly applicable to everything creative in life (including DIY!).
And especially DIY, and making your own projects for yourself, as well as to share with others. Ideas are everywhere, and what you choose to appropriate, re-appropriate, and re-mix becomes art the further away it gets from its original inspiration. I re-read this blog post all the time because it’s such a great one (and Ms. Hische is an amazing logotype and branding designer too!)
Just some food for thought on this late, late evening.:-)
xoxox
Carly
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