Durham Fair!

Long ago before school smacked me in the face, I went to the Durham fair with my friend Danisha! Neither of us have ever been but it's one of the biggest fairs in Connecticut so we had to check it out. Best decision! Tons of animals, vendors, and yummy things to try. OH YEAH and LOTS of pumpkins.

1st place for painted pumpkins!

1st place pumpkin!

1st place for watermelon! My brothers would have loved this.

 Danisha and I bonded with this particular llama in the petting zoo. He was pretty rad! We also made friends with a camel named Polly. At one point I had taken her picture to post on instagram (of course) and as I was adding the caption looking at my phone, Polly comes within inches of my face and my phone like "hey, whatcha doin' there?" It shocked me but it was pretty funny!

The pumpkins weren't the only compositions going on. They had needle work, paintings, knitting, and all sorts of arts and crafts to be judged. However, my favorite would have to be the tractor pull. These tractors were pimped out painted like monster trucks :O) The task was to pull a truck as far as they can. This one here is doing a pop-a-wheelie.

Of all the food we devoured, the one I absolutely must mention is the deep fried cheesecake. I cannot express how heavenly this was! probably terrible for me but with each bite, the calorie count mattered less and less. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was a bit like fried ice cream. The cheesecake was still cold and pretty solid, while the crust on the outside was light, warm, and delectable. The chocolate drizzle sent my taste buds over the top.

Lastly, I should probably mention how much I love llamas. I don't really have a reason other than I think they're awesome. At the fair, there was several buildings and one was dedicated to just llamas. Each farm had their own little section to show off their llamas. SO MANY LLAMAS

So glad I got the chance to go this year! There was so much there that I could do (and eat) it all, so I definitely can't wait till next year.

TTFN <3
-Avé

DIY: Ombre Canvas Shoes with Sharpies

I've been wanting to alter these plain Jane canvas shoes for quite some time, and I've finally found a fun and easy way to add some color. Just in time for summer!

You will need:

• Canvas shoes
• Rubbing alcohol
• A sponge, cotton pad, or dropper (something to drip the rubbing alcohol onto the shoe)
• Your choice of Sharpies
• Tester fabric (optional)
• Newspaper
• Bowl

Inspect your shoes if they're not new. Make sure they're relatively clean! I had to wash mine. They'll be fine in the washer machine with a couple of old towels. Remove the laces, get your stuff and head outside for this super fun craft! (if not outside, A well ventilated area is cool too)

What colors and fades do you want for your new kicks? I recommend a tester fabric because I found out later on that some colors don't spread at all, and some colors spread into other unexpected colors; although the surprise outcome is part of the fun.

To get colors to fade, color across the shoe with one or two colors, and immediately drip the rubbing alcohol over the color. To do this I poured some rubbing alcohol in a bowl, used the cotton pad to soak some up, and squeezed the pad over the color. The more rubbing alcohol, the more it spreads. You don't want to wait too long to drip the rubbing alcohol, because the sharpie ink could dry permanently. 

~ Color and drip, color and drip... ~

The teal in the middle didn't spread well, so I went back over with a blue that did

A few tips: 

• If you want to go back over a section, try to wait till it's a little dry at least. If you color on parts still really damp with rubbing alcohol, you'll dry out your marker.
• If you must and you're impatient like me, then go ahead. When the marker appears like there's no ink coming out, then grab a scrap sheet and color till it's revived.
• The ink spreads in all directions; experiment with other shapes and patterns if you'd like!
• Sharpie.com goes into greater depth about this technique.

Once you're all done, leave them out to dry over night. Once they're completely dry, the ink will stop spreading. Don't be afraid to go over a few spots if you feel like it! I did a OOTD post earlier with these shoes, if you want more pictures. I think they came out pretty great; I want more!

Let me know if you make these and how they turned out for ya! Hope you liked the tutorial; feel free to post any questions.

TTFN <3

DIY - Secret Compartment book!

You will need:

• A book
• an exacto knife
• a glue gun
• a glue stick
• felt or a thick fabric
• ruler
• marker

1. open the book about 20 pages in and decide your margins. An easy guide would be to reference your cuts around the text. (ie 1mm away from text)
2. using the exacto knife, carefully cut out pages a few at a time until the pocket is as deep as you'd like it. I applied heavy pressure until I got towards the end. If any of the pages rip (common with older books) use the glue stick to patch things up
3. hold the book as straight as you can and glue the inside with the glue gun. By gluing the inside rather than the outside edges, it looks more believable. Glue on the outside is a dead give away!
4. Measure and cut out a piece of felt using the template described in the video. Glue down the bottom first, then the edges.
5. Take the next four pages or so closest to the compartment and glue them together, and then to the edges of the compartment. 
6. Use the exacto knife to cut out a flap to enter the compartment. Voilá!

OOTD: Red Hot Chili Peppers!

The Red Hot Chili Peppers were absolutely positively utterly FANTASTIC last night. I'll get to that in my next post, after I go to the second show tonight...

Details

• Red flannel - Urban Outfitters
• Red Hot Chili Peppers Tee - 14th birthday gift from my big brother
• Black mini skirt - H&M
• Taupe leggings - NY&Co.
• Black canvas shoes - Target
• Black hoops - H&M
• Makeup - Urban Decay, Dangerous palette: Haight (blue) and Virgin (white)

This is my staple recipe for an outfit. Tee, skirt, leggings, cardigan. I switch things up every now and then, like this flannel, but you get the idea, right? I love this shirt because my big bro got it for me; we bond over the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In fact, we named the two cars we shared Dani (california) and (so much more than) Charlie ('s wakin' me). They've been my number one band ever since I sneaked a peek at the music video for "Scar Tissue" back when I wasn't allowed to watch Vh1 at the lovely age of 9. 

You can see in my sidebar all my tweets from last night. I will probably be doing that again. Fiancé and I got some amazing pictures, too! I can't wait to post them :3. UGH I cannot WAIT for tonight! 

TTFN! <3

Brooklyn Botanical Gardens | Brooklyn Museum - Field Trip!

Yesterday the SCSU Student Arts League went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and the Brooklyn Museum. For my first time in Brooklyn, this trip was perfect.

The botanical gardens was honestly the most relaxing and inspiring venture I've been on in quite some time. The conservatory included exotic plants from tropical, desert, and warmer climates; where I drew the most inspiration from. The textures and shapes in some of these plants were hard to ignore. I can't wait to incorporate it in my sculptures next semester! My favorite part was the Cherry Walk. There were two rows of the most beautiful cherry blossom trees I've ever seen. The weather was gorgeous--a slight breeze...toes between the grass...sun shining....ahh! So great. 

Between the garden and the Brooklyn Museum, my friend and I wanted to find a bite to eat. We walked a couple of blocks past the library to stumble across a farmer's market. I was NOT leaving the market till I had a cup of fresh apple cider :3. There were also a couple of venders selling tees, jewelry, and hand made totes. I fell in love with a pair of $65 earrings but sadly I couldn't afford to impulse buy, le sighh. 

The Brooklyn Museum was super great from what I saw. I only had enough time to wander on the fourth and fifth floor. I'm not the greatest museum buddy; I tend to wander around without a map and without a mission. However, I'm glad I saw two particular exhibits: The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago and Keith Haring: 1978 - 1982. Haring is one of my most favorite artists, so to see some of his early work was amazing.

The Matrix by Keith Haring in the Brooklyn Museum

Afterwards we had dinner at The Pour and caught the last couple of innings of the Yankee game (I'm not one for baseball, but it was a pretty good game!) I treated myself to a turkey burger complete with avocado slices and tatertots. Yes. Tatertots. Best tatertots I've ever had (Napoleon Dynomite would be proud). We made our final stop at The Strand. Our advisor described it as if "you were to open up your laptop, and walk into the book section of Amazon.com." It was a pretty accurate description. There's four floors, one of which is dedicated to just art books. Used, new, rare, cheap--all awesome. I will definitely make a trip back to The Strand with money and time to spend. It was a perfect ending to well overdue field trip. I've been a college student for four years a while and have yet to go on a field trip; I need to take advantage of what my tuition is going towards!