Wicked, Twisted Truth of Beauty

I recently worked tirelessly on a few fashions shows, and though many pics I have not yet worked on, I felt the need to share them before the year runs out. This phase of my life has come to a tumultuous turn, however I am thankful for the experiences that broadened me as an artist and as a person. True tests of character, work ethic and family ties have awakened me stronger than before, and in many ways, I have my salon's fashion show to thank for that!

The first was our Fair Queen pageant, which turned out to be a great success and an exciting experience to be a part of.

 Here I am getting my model all dolled up and ready for her debut as a Fair Queen candidate.

The second event, really stretched me as a stylist, artist and a person.... At the salon until the early morning many nights, working exhaustively on scripts, costuming, props and the like. But what an amazing experience  that I would not have traded for anything! I hope you enjoy my work :)

 

I hand painted this dress with black latex paint, and hand bustled with with black tulle and ribbon. The petticoat was supposed to also be bustled, to show the black layers underneath, but they forgot that part when I was directing the show. Still looked amazing.

 The puppet scene... these ladies really stripped down and went crazy with it!

 The I&II Band really helped us out with show intervals.

 I created this bustled angel skirt and it was awesome. Unfortunately, they put it on backwards!

I spent quite some time on this black swan mask. Unfortunately, the "poison ivy ' character that I spent the most time on, evaded the camera, so no pictures of her amazing costume and hair.

 I love my ugly vintage dress collection. This one fit perfectly for the dia de los muetros mourning scene, complete with a photo of my granfather in his Korean War era soldier uniform.

 The angel wings were pretty weak, so I got several pairs and restructured them into a larger, fuller set.
I spent hours on these ladies sugar skull make-up and costuming accessories! The blue one was my favorite, I have a better picture of her on my other camera.

 My sister's old homecoming dress came in handy here.

 This scene was a young couple vs their older selves. Kind of sweet, glad I had this frame they could use.

 My pink vintage skirt made an appearance. 

I ran out of time to make her bridal hat, so I quickly weaved flowers into her hair as I pulled it up into retro glamour twists and braids. You can see me peeking over her shoulder getting the next gothic bride ready to walk.

I made her necklace and the accessories the bride behind her is wearing as well.

I loved creating their hats and dress accessories almost as much as I did working on their hair and faces.

The end of a very long, exhausting day... wait weeks... no months!

Halloween 2012

This month has been crazy!! If I didn't have carpal tunnel, than I sure do now. Lots of face painting, hair dos, balloon twisting, crafting, young women award night, camping, childhood illnesses and ... oh my! Let's just say, there have been lots and lots of mountains of laundry and dishes, but at least we have been having some fun 'round here.

It is entirely possible you don't know what my costume is. But in person, I was surprised by how many people could figure it out within a few quizzical seconds of looking at my fascinator headband and my flashy, blingy diamond ring. Yep, a trophy wife. Which is seriously the best costume for me ever because it is so far from the truth!

My little bit, angel baby was a cheetah girl, and she was so adorable. She is almost 6 months old and is the sweetest (and fastest) baby in the world. I totally planned on coming up with some awesome homemade costumes for the kiddos, but business prevailed, reality set in, and I went the easy way out. I was thinking of everyone going as a different kind of cloud: tornado, rain cloud, thunder cloud, rainbow cloud... (inspired by this and this costume) but the boys didn't buy it. I was a little relieved not to do all the work. And well... every one was happy, and that is all that is important.

I did make my headband which took a total of 5 minutes and I made the baby's several months ago back when she was a wee, skinny lass.

Face painting at the salon for downtown's trick or treating night. Everyone wanted my face design, so I just came up with a super fast and cute spiderweb tiara type thingy for them since we had a really long line.

I convinced my boys to be ninjas, because they were easy and on super sale. Isaac protested a bit, he really wanted to be The Arrow or Spiderman, but oh well. And to add to my luck, the store sold out of his size in minutes. Caleb wanted to be the white ninja, but they only had the red in his size. The red one is super duper.

green noodle monster by Isaac, white noodle man by Caleb

I did my first magic show in like, a year. I was a little nervous but prepared some cute things and the party was a hit. Fortunately, my baby isn't too scared of my clowny look.

And of course, the balloons and face painting this season was insane, as usual! We premade lots of balloons to bring to events we knew would be daunting. It worked out quite well!

 5 loaded bags weren't enough for my son's school carnival! His class booth sold out of them quickly, and his classroom earned the most money for the school. Yeah! We couldn't make it b/c we went camping that night and the kids weren't feeling too well, so we dropped them off at the school before the carnival.

 I love the cute little Jack-o-Lantern balloon wands I came up with. So did the kids!

My first attempt at a Sugar Skull. She had a specific design in mind, I think it turned out pretty great!

I hope everyone's Halloween was a blast! Now it's time to hide some candy and do some major cleaning before the next holiday rush begins.