XX Chronicles 4th Giveaway: Ca-ca-ca-ca-n you win it?

Today, I basically decided that I wanted to buy some 22 gauge wire to make some rings. Frankly, I wanted some thicker wire, but I can't be too picky. This is the nice bit of jewelry that I came up with. It's nothing too special, but I am quite proud of it considering it's the very first ring I've ever made out of wire. It's time to start honing my skillz (the z was intentional).

Then I thought for a bit. How can I improve my skills and use up the rest of the 10 meter wire that i bought? I didn't even go through one meter! I can't wear that many rings! AH! So, giveawayyy!

What can you win: I will custom make you a piece of jewelry of your choice. Necklaces, rings, bracelet whatever! You want flowers, you got flowers. Maybe you feeling some pearls? Go for it. The sky's the limit. Even though this is no Burger King, you can still have it your wayyyy HAYYYYY. yes, I know, I shouldn't go into comedy. But seriously, let's see how you can win. *Edit* You can also win the following prizes below!

Rules:

1. You gots to be a follower. You can follow through email, google friend connect, whatever. Just let me know kay?
   
2. Leave an email, or some form of communication.

Optional Entries:

From XX Chronicles

1. Reblog, retweet, restumble, redigg, refacebook, mow it into your lawn, i don't know. THe last one isn't recommended btw. But If you do spread the word let me know. If you are blogging, a sidebar mention is fine and you can still do this even if you have 0 followers! It's the thought that counts- 2 extra entries



2. What's something you'd like to see on this blog? More DIYs? More reviews? More EOTDs? If you are a new subscriber and you have no idea, just tell me something you love personally. I know how you feel ladies and men. Sometimes I'm a new subscriber and I really don't want to go through that blogger's 1000000 posts to see what kind of posts I want to see more of. -1 extra entry

This contest ends on June 15th! INTERNATIONAL ENTRIES WELCOME

Toodles

UD Strip EOTD!

Hey ladies! Today's EOTD features UD's Strip eyeshadow. It's a blue based silver. I got this in a haul with a CG shadow in Cafe Creme (sorry ladies, but I believe that it is discontinued). I have swatches below. The UD is really great, and it is comparable to the Physicians Formula Baked Smokes Trio (medium grey color). The difference is that the grey color is not as pigmented, more "matte" and more grey. If you mixed the lightest color and the medium color, you'd get something that resembled UD Strip. The Cafe Creme is like a grey taupe, not like Tapastry Taupe which is a brown taupe. If that even makes sense. Sorry if I'm rambling, here's the swatches/products/ EOTD

Left to Right: Cafe Creme, UD Strip, PF baked smokes

Products Used:

• UDPP
• PF Baked Smokes trio (lightest color) in the inner corner
• UD Strip in the inner 1/3
• Revlon Matte shadow in Venetian blue on the rest of the lid
• Annabelle shadow (matte dk blue) in the corner
• L'Oreal HIP cream liner in Black
• Almay Interplay mascara in Black Flash (2 coats, I think)
• Physician's Formula Healthy Wear Powder SPF 50 in Natural Beige
• Back 2 the earth shadow in Earth elemental (I think. I'm too lazy to check. I love how it matches my hair!) in eyebrows.

OMG today, I have to tell you, my right eyebrow was so kinky. Not even joking. You can't really tell on my camera, but when I woke up, instead of being straight, my brows were like... curly and gross. They were really uncooperative and that made me upset. Rant over, sorry that was weird especially since usually they are well behaved.. LOL look at me talking about them like they're animals! I know you do it too!

Toodles

Let's do the limbo! How low can you go? Tutorial: Changing waistbands on jeans

Most of my family lives in Taiwan, the Netherlands, and Hong Kong. My reletives in HK and Taiwan like to buy me clothes, except well, frequently the measurements are wrong because they have to guesstimate by some numbers that my dad sends over every year. This usually results in clothing that are too large, or high waisted or not my style. Luckily, I've found a way to make the waistbands on jeans "lower". This means that if have you have a pair of jeans that are "mid- waisted" or "high- waisted", you can take them a bit lower, like 1 and a half inches. This is especially good as well, if you buy a pair of jeans from Macy's or something, and they fit your butt, thighs, legs, but not waist, becuase you can tailor the waistband to fit you.

This project is not for the meek! This is especially good if you are trying to make a new waistband to kick up a pair of pants, trying to make something fit your waist, or trying to make your pants a lower rise. I'm not going to teach you guys to make your jeans like 5 inches lower becuase that's some serious stuff right there. You have to move the pockets, cut off a substantial amount of cloth, move zipper etc. That's scary stuff right there.

Here's the original pair of pants:

Instructions:

1. First, take off the waistband. This isn't that hard actually. There's some thread holding it to the jeans and you just have to snip that and you'll find that the waistband comes off pretty easy. Underneath the waistband is just the jean pant part that has fraying stuff.

2. Now, you want to put in a new waistband that is lower than the original. You see the fraying edges? You just want to take some cloth, denim or not (whatever floats yo' canoe), and wrap it around the edges. If you don't understand, I have a picture below and lemme give you an analogy. You know when you have to tape together two edges of a piece of paper? How do you do that? You tape it together by putting half of the tape on one side and half on the other side right? It's the same concept, except you are "taping" the frayed edges down.

3. Be careful of the zipper. Try not to cover it too much. Now you have some space right? Put a hook- and- eye clasp there. They come in many different sizes and you can find them at a local craft store. I've put a link HERE. I chose not to use a button because then you have to make a button hole and those are seriously annoying.

4. I forgot to mention, save the belt loops. If you've thrown them away, just make some. Sew the belt loops back on, and if you want, put a li'l button on the front and you are fantasticlly good to go!

Final look:

What do you do after APs are over...? FINISH SKIRTS!

Actually, the correct answer to the one above would be to finish your other work, but you know, I deserve a break after AP Stats and BC calc right? Right. So, remember the skirt that I showed some ladies last post? I finished it! Thanks to Heather and Lillian, I love you guys!

What do you think? It went from a gross office skirt with an asspocket to this lovely contraption! I like how it's kind of a wild child mix of amazon jungle and pearls! Now, if only I had something to wear with it... I kinda actually want to make a contest out of that! Winner will be chosen randomly, becuase I believe that all advice is valid and useful, but you have to give me one piece of advice to be entered. Or maybe not. I mean I would actually like the advice now. So if you do have advice, do tell. I will be hosting another contest though before I leave for the summer!

Hey and a quick question, if I were to offer a handmade item as a prize, would you be interested? I know that most people only enter in contests where there's a gigundo amount of prizes or like a ton of high end products. Well, I'm taking this informal poll that is not statistically valid (due to voluntary bias) just as a go see becuase I'm going to be hitting up AC Moore first week of June or something to get some more materials. I am quite out of evrything!

Some posts you dollies should be looking out for: Making mid-waist jeans to a lower rise, haulies, and a ring and necklace tut!

Swap Haul and Quick fashion question for you fashionable ladies

Hey my fashionable ladies! How's everyone today? I meant to put this post up over the weekend, but it's been SO FREAKING HOT. UGH. And muggy. I mean, it went from 40 degrees to 80 in a period of literally 2 days. Also, it's been really really humid (haha like the eyeshadow) and my concealer/NYX jumbo pencils melted a bit. Ugh. Yeah, they're easier to work with, but it's gross...

I know that you ladies from the South are probably laughing now, but I THINK THAT 80 DEGREES IS QUITE WARM! I'm in the North, so... anything over 70 is horrid LOL.

Here's my swapsies with 2 ladies. I don't remember what I swapped unfortunately.... I got TKB trading in Manganese Violet, Electric Cosmetics' pink mineral eyeshadow, Chill Curve by Liz Clairborne, ELF mineral lipstick in Nicely Nude.

Some quick thoughts: I LOVE this new perfume, even though it is a EDT instead of EDP. It's alright. I've actually been planning for a long time to buy some beeswax, vitamin e oil and make some solid perfumes, but it's not like I have time now! Maybe when I get back from college over the winter break. I'll have a month of time then! LOL! It starts out as this light citrus/flowery smell then goes into a more warm and muskyness. I usually don't like warm smells, but this is aiight. I HATE AMBER. that's gross okay.

And how is that nicely Nude? It pulls a brighter pink on me, put it doesn't go too opaque, so it's not like Viva Gaga. Thankfully. I don't think this is nude at all.. but it's a cute pink.

Anyway, I'm calling all fashionistas! Even if you don't think that you are a fashionista, who cares! Go comment becuase I love all opinions. So, I've been working on this skirt, but I'm kinda stuck! It currently looks a bit BRIDAL, which no offense to people who like that, it's not my style. I'm not a real "bridal" kinda person. I like girly/vintage, but still with a bit of a kick. Ya know?

Tell me, what do I need to add? Don't worry about items. I've got fake flowers, faux pearls, fabrics in all colors etc. Well, here's the skirt in progress. Sorry about the crotch shot, but I needed to display the fabric on the outside of the skirt.