Friday, February 27, 2015

Summer Skirt in Winter



Winter is a beautiful time of year, but as much as I love it, I sometimes find the options for clothes limiting. And sometimes that means a silly, lacy, flowery, summer skirt is called for in the dead of winter. With wind-chills hovering around zero Fahrenheit, I make sure to double up my leggings underneath and wear my long, wool coat.


I have been told that my coat is a little out of date (ie, something people would have worn in the 90s), but I don't care. I tried with those synthetic poof-ball things and I don't get it. They make a funny noise when you move your arms, they don't cover your legs as well, and there's no way you could wear a silly skirt with one.  


Stay warm and have fun out there!

Friday, February 20, 2015

Furry Eyeball Hat


I got it into my head that I wanted a warm, weird hat. I look weird in hats anyway, so I figured if the hat is weird enough then people might not notice that I look strange. I came up with the idea to put eyeballs on a pink hat. 


I searched online until my fingers bled and ended up with this one image. The only image that I could use as a visual to make sure this idea wasn't too far on the crazy side. It make me want to add little horns to the sides of my hat, too.



I got a rabbit-fur hat from E4hats. The price is unbelievably good for real fur, which it is, but unfortunately the hat itself was a bit strange. It was way too tall for my head. I think it was made as a cone-head disguise.


I tore it apart and remade it. I found some wonky cardboard stuff in the lining. Maybe that's why it had such a strange shape. 


I threw out that lining and made a new lining with some trippy fabric I had. 


I made some eyeballs out of a white t-shirt and markers. If you want to make eyeballs, just cut out 4 of the bottom shape from the picture above. Paint an iris and pupil on one of them. Sew them up from pointy-end to pointy-end, and draw some red veins. And stuff. Don't forget the stuffing.


I made the one on the forehead with 2 circles, so it wouldn't stick out as much. I then sewed some snaps on to that eyeball and the forehead of my hat. This way I can remove it if I ever get too self-conscious. I sewed some ties on the bottom two eyeball and tied them on.


Is it just crazy? Or crazy awesome? 

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Tim Tams at Target with Cartwheel!! Plus cheap Windex for Spring Cleaning

Is it just me or are Tim Tams popular all of a sudden? I have been hearing all about Tim Tams for months, an Australian chocolate biscuit snack, but I haven't had a chance to try them. Until today, nom :).
Source: Target 

The first time I ever heard of Tim Tams was in the video below with Jenna Marbles. Beware, she swears a lot :P. The fact that she ate them all made me really curious. Kim Kardashian reportedly loves Tim Tams too. I figure that they must be good since she has enough money to eat just about any treat from anywhere around the world!




I am trying to avoid sugar for the most part but when the offer for 15% off of Tim Tam popped up in my Target Cartwheel feed I figured it was fate. I had no idea that you could get them easily in the US.

Apparently Tim Tams are a new item at my Target. I've read that they are carried seasonally in some areas but I didn't notice them before.

As I was choosing my flavor (I went with Original) two other people in the cookie aisle also declared their love for Tim Tams. I had a good feeling that I was going to love them from the very first bite.

It turns out Tim Tams are even better than I expected. The cookie part is light and flaky. They sweet but not chokingly so. I just love biscuits, maybe since I'm part English?

Our box didn't last very long. I think I had 3 of the 11 biscuits which is like 285 calories.
They are definitely not diet friendly, unless you have more will power than I and you can stick to just one a day. I am glad that my house is full of people to share them with!

If you use Target's Cartwheel discount service you can get 15% off Tim Tams right now. With the discount my package came out to $2.79 which is much better than Amazon's current price of $10.95 per package for the Original flavor. I am sure that shipping them is tricky though since they are delicate. My Target store has the Original and the Caramel flavors. Amazon has flavors that Target doesn't carry such as Red Velvet and White Chocolate which are available in double packs. 

This Windex before you is the whole reason why I decided to make the trip to Target in the first place. At the moment Target has a promotion where you can buy 3 Windex bottles and get 1 free.  If you use this along with the Windex coupons from Right @ Home you can get another $4 - $8 off. I was able to print one $2 coupon and three $1 coupons so I got $5 off. 

You can also get an extra $1 off your purchase if you text SNACKS to 827438. You can read more about this deal here on Krazy Coupon Lady. The extra dollar off mobile coupon ends soon but the B3G1 free promo should run through 3/21. 

All in all I spent $3.57 for four bottles, score! I have never tried the multi surface disinfectant spray before. I love Windex so I am pretty amped to try this new version out tomorrow.

Ready for Spring cleaning :). 

I also found a few other goodies while shopping there too, the joys of Target!

These jewelry racks are too cute. <3 the color at the bottom of the earring rack. 
This Tropical Pineapple candle by Yankee smells seriously good.
I figured it must be pretty yummy since it is the last of it's kind at my store.
I always notice things like that lol. 

I am currently working on 11:42 Style's first giveaway, yay!! I'm not quite ready to start it yet so I decided to write this post instead. I really am so happy to have finally tried the infamous Tim Tams. Please stay tuned.

Hope that you are all having a great week!

<3 KM

P.S. There are a few Amazon affiliate links above. Any proceeds go towards the maintenance of this blog.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Opals are Better than Diamonds

This just my opinion, but I find diamonds to be kind of boring. They can be simulated fairly easily with glass and plastic. How great can a gem stone be when the sparkle of saran wrap can be reminiscent of it? I like my diamonds on my drill bits, thank you very much.

found on ebay


Opals on the other hand are beautiful and their shimmering iridescence is hard to replicate. They glow like magic stones from some fantasy world.


Nebulous 
They can mimic sunsets and nebula, and who doesn't think extraterrestrial phenomenon are beautiful?


Check out this awesome ring that is reminiscent of a dragon's eye can be found on deviant art. Opals just look like they hold power in a way other gemstone can not.



And if you still have to do diamonds, go for something space-age like this ring. It would look much better with an opal' but opals are probably too fragile for a setting like this.


Disclaimer: We are Amazon affiliates, so if you purchase something from a link to Amazon you help support this blog. Thanks!

Monday, February 9, 2015

The Unicorns are back - and it is so good.

A long, long time ago I was browsing the CD aisles at Border's and I came across The Unicorns album Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone. Listening to that CD for the very first time was a magical moment for me, one that I will never forget! I have lots of favorite bands introduced by others, or the radio, but they by far one of my favorite self discoveries. It could be described as cute, dorky but deep, ska - think the Beachboys meet the Pixies.

Unfortunately the band split up in 2004 and the members moved on to other projects such as Th' Corn Gang and Islands. I have yet to listen to either of those as I just discovered it myself after researching for this article, thanks Wikipedia.

All of a sudden The Unicorns reunited in 2014 to support Arcade Fire, as both bands are from Montreal. I don't believe it is a long term thing but it is still a dream come true and perhaps the source of the 2 new tracks on Soundcloud - which are awwwesome! Here are their two new tracks which I have just discovered. They posted them in July and August I believe but I hadn't been following them on Soundcloud before.


Alden Penner, one of the band's members has recently teamed up with Michael Cera to make a track called Meditate. You can read about it here. I find it pretty awesome that Michael Cera has such a delicate voice, totally bumps him up a notch in my book.

One of their most popular songs from their original music is I Was Born A Unicorn. I just love this fan made video - it's just perfect.

 

Hope that you all have a great week!

<3 KM

PS. I have included an affiliate link above to the album, any proceeds will be used to support this blog.

Friday, February 6, 2015

Sewing: Bomber Dress from Men's Shirt



I found a shirt at K-Mart in Hawaii. I thought the fabric was so cool. I usually stay away from Hawaiian prints. They usually aren't my style, but I thought this was just too awesome to pass up. It looks like a normal print if you aren't paying attention, but if you do then you see there are awesome bombers and fighters flying over Diamond Head, and there are aircraft carriers in the ocean. I had to have it, but all they had was xxl and xxxl men's. I ended up buying the xxxl to make sure I had enough fabric. 


I first ripped all the seams in the shirt. You wouldn't believe how many colors of thread were used in this garment. At least six! I've never seen anything like it in my whole career of ripping apart perfectly good clothes.

Anyway, I cut out the pieces for my dress, basing it loosely on another dress that had unfortunately gotten too small over the years. I added some nifty pleats to the front that I had to do over a couple of times to make them line up right. 


It turned out a little big, but that ended up to be a good thing because I had forgotten to wash the shirt/fabric before I sewed. I washed it and it shrank to the exact right size. Now I have some silly resort-wear that does not make me cringe. I am happy.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Musician Spotlight: Marnie Stern

This girl can make a monkey call sound like music, so yeah you should check her out if you haven't already.




The monkey noise is at about 1:20 with a big one at 2:43 and it works, skills. I'm a sucker for a bit of strangeness.



Love her thick smoky eye in the rocker scenes.


Guitar skills!

Marnie's style seems to be somewhat repetitive, but I haven't gotten tired of it yet since it's so fresh and original. I think her sounds got a special place in my heart, kind of like Pixies meet Gwen Stefani.

<3 KM