Overall, It's a Nifty Knapsack!

One day, someone's head will implode from my corny titles. ^^

I spent the better part of the weekend making this:

If you can't tell, it's a knapsack made out of a pair of overalls!

I cut off the top of the overalls, split the back down the middle to make the straps, and took material from the pantlegs to make the bottom, sides, flap, and back of the bag. I sewed on a white button in the middle and a little loop of elastic to keep the flap closed. I don't have much more lining material (from making all those skirts, I'd imagine), so I lined the inside with lots of blue flannel:

There's a pocket inside on the back. And it's super roomy inside.

My knapsack in action (sort of):

It fits me really pretty well, but if I needed it higher up or closer, I could easily adjust it because the overall straps are already adjustable.

The best part of using the overalls are the readymade pockets! There are those little skinny pockets for pens, pencils, crochet hooks, etc. And then there's a big pocket where I can put my cellphone and keys for easy access:

And the inside is big enough to hold a big book (or several little books), my wallet, and a few essentials:

I'd have to say that this is my most professional-looking venture into sewing so far. I'm very proud of myself! I think I'm getting a lot better at sewing, and I really took the time to get things right. There are a few things I'd change if/when I make this again (I'd make the bottom corners round, for instance), but it was a huge success and I think it looks great. What's even cooler is that I only paid like $2 for these overalls at the thrift store. I bought 2 pairs of overalls and a book at the Salvation Army for $4.55 (Sales at thrift stores is the coolest idea ever). I'm still deciding what I want to do with the other pair of overalls. Should I make another backpack, or a messenger bag? Hrm...

Slinging Hips

Behold! I bring you... the Hipslinger!!

Okay, yes, it's technically a fannypack. But this one's cool. And I made it.

The outside is a black corduroy-like material. The lining and outer part of the belt is a green quilting fabric with pretty green scrolling.

Here it is on my hip. (Side view of my ass!!) I added the leaf button to the front cuz the black was kinda boring. I think it's really cute. I have more leaf buttons, but after some thought, I decided that one is perfect.

View from the front. I put the green fabric on the outside of the belt because I thought it needed some color. I don't know what it is about me and green lately. It's a nice color. (Still partial to blue, though)

The belt attaches by looping through D-rings...

...And is then secured into place with velcro. Nicely adjustable! (I still made it a little snug on me, though. ^^;;) Using both the D-rings and velcro make it really secure. I don't think I'd be afraid of anybody snatching this.

I added some velcro to the flap too so it'll close securely. I need to make a thinner wallet to fit in there, but it should be able to hold my cellphone, keys, some money, and a couple cards. I was running around with it tonight (I was really excited at how well it turned out...), and it barely budged. It'll be perfect if I go dancing or clubbing sometime (it could happen) cuz it's light, secure, and just roomy enough for everything I need.

And check it out! If I decide I'm too cool for a hipslinger (it could happen), it turns into a small handbag at the drop of a hat.

See? Just looped and velcro-ed, and it's a purse! (Aren't mirror pics trippy?)

Whatcha think of it? I love it!

Paint me green and call me Kermit!

I finally got off my ass and started sewing again. As promised, here's my new skirty skirt skirt.

It's made out of fabric that was supposed to be for quilting, but quilting fabrics always have some of the best patterns.

Here's the zipper. This is the first time I've ever used zippers. Boy, was it a pain in the ass! At one point, the zippy part of the zipper actually came off! (Don't ask how I managed that...) After over an hour of fiddling with it and consulting Sewing for Dummies, I got it to work. The stitching is shoddy, but I don't think anybody will really notice.

The lining is made out of white eyelet material. I noticed the quilting cloth wasn't very thick, so I figured I needed it. More shoddy stitching. It'll hold, though.

And... Action Shots!

Skirts make me feel like I should be silly and girly, so that's why there's all those dumb poses. Thanks for looking!

Norman Normanovich II

...of the Moscow Normanoviches, of course. :)

Norman is the jack-o-lantern we carved for Halloween this year. He's actually Norman II, named after the original Norman, who we carved last year. The original Norman was small and round and had goofy, mismatching eyes. So he looked like a Norman. This year's Norman is pretty generic, except he likes to lean.

This is Norman shortly after we cut him up. The plate on the right is filled with his gooey pumpkin innards! The pan on the left was there so I could toast the pumpkin seeds. Mmm...

Here's a close-up of Norman's pretty face. Actually, it looks like he was an abused pumpkin, from all the nicks he's got on him. If you look carefully at the right-hand side of his forehead, he has a scar. Looks kinda lightning shaped to me. We decided he was Harry Potter for Halloween. :P

Norman and Sam. Or is that Sam and Norman? Who can tell?? (Norman's a little better at smiling in pictures than Sam is. Tee hee...)

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

You Skirty Devil!

I made this skirt using the rest of the fabric I didn't use for the lining of the purse below. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, even though I would have preferred it to be a little more twirly. It's a little itchy, but hopefully that'll stop once I wash it and use some nice fabric softener. I really like the design of the fabric. But anyway...

Here it is on my couch. It's an A-line style skirt with a drawstring waist.

See here? I made the drawstring by braiding blue, purple, and white ribbons together and stringing it though the skirt.

Here's me wearing it while standing on my couch. You can tell I was a little unsure of where the camera was focused. (I used the timer function) I have pale knobby knees. :P

Here's me trying to look all girly and sophisticated while showing off the drawstring.

And zooming in a little... Not bad for a first skirt, eh?

For my next trick, I will attempt to form a precarious union between quilting cloth, eyelet material, and zipper. Stay tuned!

The Little Purse That Could

Eager to try out my new sewing machine, I followed a tutorial from Craftster.org from memory and made my very first purse. It's very simple and a little small, but it's cute and blue and holds things, which is really all you could ever hope for in a first ever made-it-myself purse.

Here it is, kindly modeled by my computer chair. It's a little floppy because I was too excited to wait and buy stuff to stabilize it (called interfacing... isn't sewing jargon grand?). And the strap is a little stretchy. I didn't realize that until after I put stuff in it and slung it on my shoulder. And there's nothing closing the top yet, but I'm trying to sew Velcro into it now.

Here's the inside! Future purses will have pockets and zippers, but as I said before, I was too excited and didn't have the patience to mess with zippers and pockets. It's lined with some super pretty fabric I found in the remnant section of Joann's Fabrics. I think it's called batik, and it looks all dyed and Hawaiian-y. I made my first skirt with the rest of that material, which I'll post sometime in the future. It's a little itchy, but I figure that will remedy itself after it's been washed.

And here it is, bravely standing on its own. Yay! (Don't mind the crease down the side, it hasn't been ironed...) It's quite the floppy bag. I think after I get the Velcro to keep it shut, it'll be a nice little bag for light summer adventures. Right now, though, I'm kinda afraid that all my stuff will fall out while I'm being a klutz. I am often a klutz.

This weekend, I'm aiming to make at least 2 skirts, both with zippers! o.O;; Zippers are scary... Other future projects include a messenger bag, a hipslinger (aka fannypack), stuffed animals, and yet more skirts. It's a good thing I'm starting to shave my legs more often, what with all these skirts that need showing off! ;)

Nimalee's Graduation

There are a ton of photos from Nimalee's graduation, so I thought I'd just post a few highlights. If you're interested in seeing all the pictures I took at Nimalee's graduation, you can visit the album. (It's a little weird... it goes in reverse chronological order...) I'm only going to leave it up for 2 weeks, because it takes up a good portion of my Photobucket account, so if you missed it, or need a particular picture, leave me a comment and I'll email it to you. Anyway, here are some pictures:

This is a slightly boring picture, but way out there is the stage where everybody got their diplomas and what have you... and there are all the people who came to see Nimalee graduate! No, really! ;)

Here's Nimalee with her dad. Hee, it's a cute picture.

Nimalee and her boyfriend Paul! I think the flowers in her hand are the ones I helped him pick out. He was really worried because he knows nothing about flowers, so I pointed out the ones that would be least likely to die right away. :P

Happy Graduated Girl! (I was a little scared she'd fall backwards into the fountain...)

This is what happens when you're really short and behind a ton of people who also want to take pictures...

LOTS of Filipinos! o.O;; I think this is her Liwanag youth group.

Rocking out at Macaroni Grill!! ...The sign we're making is actually the UC Irvine mascot, the anteater. Mmm! Yummy Italian food. Poor Nimalee's dad. I think he felt a little out of place. :P

And that's it! :)

Here's my first beaded rose from a few angles. Since the flash is on, it really reflects off the sparkly beads. I tried in the last picture to show how deep the blue really is without the flash, but it just turned out dark. This took me about a day to make (8 hours abouts?), and for a first try, I think it came out really well. I experimented a little with the next two, but those pictures will come later. What do you think of my blue rose?

Conejo Valley Days

Last month, Sam, my cousin Ciara, her boyfriend Matt, and I all went to the Conejo Valley Days carnival. Now, I'm not too excited on carnival rides. They're usually overpriced and kinda dirty. (But we went on the bumper cars and ferris wheel, which was tons of fun.) So there's only one reason why I always go to carnivals when I get the chance - the food! I ate so much there! Hot dogs, cotton candy, chocolate-covered strawberries, Hawaiian Ice, and funnel cake... I would've eaten more if I had enough money and enough stomach capacity...


The Hawaiian Ice was no match for our wrath... Mwahahahaha! Tremble, o carnival foods! For I will devour thee without mercy!

We're cool in our shades! Sam and I are posing with the little white bear Sam won for me in a carnival game. He had to throw a dart at a wall and pop a balloon, and he did it! I jumped around and giggled madly when it happened. I was so so excited and happy! (Ciara was jealous... hehe...)

Ciara and Ciara's boyfriend, Matt

The exhilaration (or terror... whatever) of riding the about-to-fall-apart ferris wheel.

This would be a neat picture if it wasn't for the freaky expression on my face.

Rather than posting all my boring Fair pictures individually, I decided to make an artsy fartsy collage of them. Many of these pictures were taken from the creaky, rickety, too-fast ferris wheel.

Switching gears...

So I've decided the story-creating aspect of this blog is a lost cause. I don't have time to write while I'm at work anymore, due to the whiny people at Disney calling me at all hours. But fear not, this blog will not go to waste! Presenting... PhotoJournalism!! (Now in 3-D!)

I occasionally take fun pictures with my nifty digital camera, and I'd enjoy sharing them with everybody. So without further ado, here is my first picture post!


A thrift store we came across while roaming around Ventura. Sure, the children aren't bright, but that sign can't do much for their self-esteem...

Untitled (children's?) Story

Weird things happen when I fall in love. Does this happen to everybody?

I met him when I was 6. He already had glasses in first grade and liked to fingerpaint - an intelligent artist. All the other boys liked playing in the jungle gym during recess, but my artist sat outside with sidewalk chalk, drawing inspired stick figures and cars.

I never admitted to my friends that I liked him. Boys had cooties. Everybody knew that. None of the girls would be caught dead without our daily cootie-shot. But I still found myself watching him everytime I swung up on the swingset.

One day, I was outside building a small city with blocks and my artist was nearby, drawing a forest on the concrete. Two fat boys came up to me, casting a shadow over the city, even though I had predicted a sunny day for its inhabitants. I looked up at them. They had boogers in their noses.

"It's our turn. Give us the blocks," one said. He had red stains on his white shirt. I wondered if he'd murdered a tomato.

I looked back down at the city with its invisible little people scurrying to work and running errands. "It's not your turn. Mrs. Miller said I could have them all recess."

"But we wanna use them now. Give 'em," the other one said. His black hair was covered in mud and stuck up menacingly.

"Why do you want them? Go ask Vanessa for hers. Or go play kickball. I'm still using them."

The Tomato Murderer kicked, toppling all my little skyscrapers and houses in one fell swoop. "Not anymore." He and his friend cackled, like little fat warlocks. I stared at the crumbled city with tears in my eyes and stood up. No Godzilla-boy wrecks my city!

"Hey! Why're you picking on her?" My artist was suddenly standing beside me. He wasn't much bigger than me, so I was hoping he knew kung fu or something. We'd have trouble teaching those boys a lesson if he didn't.

The kid with black hair rubbed his nose. "We wanted the blocks and she wouldn't give them."

"You should've asked nicely. I'm telling Mrs. Miller what you did," my artist threatened, his voice breaking and wavering a little. In outrage, maybe?

"You wouldn't."

"Would too."

The Tomato Murderer punched him in the nose. My artist immediately started crying and I could see his nose was a little bloody.

My mouth opened to call Mrs. Miller, but I stopped. I was really angry. Here, the boy I liked stood up for me, got a bloody nose, and all because these fat stupids couldn't wait their turn. I glared at them, even as I put my arm around my artist to lead him away, imagining all the blocks pelting them on their ugly heads.

And to my surprise, they did.

The blocks rose up and hit them from all sides. One block in particular bonked the Tomato Murderer on his head over and over again. It was like the invisible people in the city had super-strength and were hurling the pieces of their broken homes at the boys. The boys screamed and ran. I giggled under my breath, and the blocks fell to the ground.

"What happened?" Mrs Miller asked, running over. She looked around at the blocks and at my artist's bloody nose. "Never mind. Just take him to the nurse's office and I'll talk to you two later."

I nodded and led him away. "Thank you. I'm sorry they hit you."

He sniffled. "It's okay."

"I'm Lara."

"I'm Nate," he said stuffily. We reached the nurse's office.

My mouth felt dry. "I, um... I like your pictures. The trees look like broccoli."

Nate pulled away from me and frowned. Pushing the door open, he stuck his tongue out at me and went in.

I stared at the door in confusion. "What? I like broccoli..."

So I've buckled under...

Yes, I've begun a blog. Yes, I'm a sheep. Baa.

Anyway, I mostly intend on using this blog to help me back into the swing of writing. If that doesn't work, but I still like Blogger better, I'll ditch my LiveJournal. Or maybe if I like LJ better, I'll ditch this. Whatever. At any rate, I've got like 3 journals now. Will I buckle under the pressure?? Stay tuned and find out!