DIY: Embroidered Eyeball Earrings!

We were traveling to Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando this weekend (our very favorite thing ever) and I decided to take an airplane craft with me. I love to take little embroidery projects with me because they are lightweight and easy to transport. Earrings are my favorite things to embroider: they are quick and easy to make and super lightweight to wear. I've made several now and I've shared the process on each in this blog post!

I broke down the steps so you can make your own!

Now if these eyeball earrings of mine are giving you a little deja vu...that might be because I recently shared an eyeball necklace DIY!

If you wanna go bigger with your eyeball theme, then I have a video on how to create these eyeball ornaments right here!

I even made an eyeball dress! It's one of my favorites. You can check it out here. 

I am in love with these! I now feel like I need a whole set of Halloween embroidered earrings. I'm thinking skulls, pumpkins, ghosts...you name it!  

I also think that if you need a simple intro to embroidery project, this might be it! You can also check out all of my fibers projects here! 

Please do lemme know if you make some eyeball earrings so we can be twinsies! Have fun!

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DIY: Eye Love Jewelry

Lately, I've been getting that 80's itch: I've had a hair crimper in my Amazon shopping cart for weeks, I've started shopping the 80s-inspired kids section at Target and my hair has been reaching bigger and bolder heights (thank you, Aqua Net!) Pretty soon I'll be busting out the Bangles, Bruce Springsteen and Def Leppard (okay, seriously, these are always on repeat in el Honda Azul). I can't help it, it's the era I grew up in...and the best era EVER. After the 20's, 40's, 50's and 60's/70's, of course. Ahem.

After making The Eyeball Dress, I've been [eye]balls to the wall obsessed with all things peepers. So when the dress was complete, I started painting eyes...an everything!

I have a decent assortment of wood beads and bangles thanks to etsy and late night online shopping. I've seriously had this stash of wooden beads and bracelets FOR YEARS and when I got the itch to paint over winter break, they were the victim. The diamond shape resembled eyes and, well, the rest was history. 

Did I mention it was winter break and I was power watching the following: Schitt's Creek, Transparent and Arrested Development? Yes, twas good times. 

It's so evident I have 80's-itis. Just a quick scroll thru my Insta-feed is proof of that. I think it's the color that gets me...and the patterns...and the happy memories. ALL of it! Can we just bring back jelly bracelets, charm necklaces, leg warmers and neon eyeshadow already?! Please check your banana clips and pegged pants at the door, ermkay?

After painting my beads, I decided that I couldn't have a necklace that was all eyes...so I splurged on some polymer clay and created some extra beads. Some I mixed and others I painted...

And I really had the very best time. Like, totally, It was rad, dude. 

By the way, I spoke with my 80's Gag-Me-with-a-Spoon accent today in art class...and a second grader whispered, "she's trying to sound young." Needless to say, I seriously contemplated sending him to Time Out. Like, whatever, eh!

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DIY: The IKEA Eyeball Dress

Happy Post-Christmas, y'all! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and is recovering nicely. Santa was super good to me this year (thanks, hubs!) and I got a ton of fun gifties. My favorite present was the insulated Starbucks cup that, as I was unwrapping it, I was told was a freebee from the work lounge. Um...thanks? My man is so silly, y'all don't even know. 

Speaking of prezies, I used one of 'em to film this wee gem that my entire neighborhood (and now all of the internet) was at privilege to witness...

I can only imagine what my poor neighbors think of the Hot Mess Express that lives next door to them. 

So if you've been following me here and here, first off all, bless your heart and secondly, thank you for suffering along with me as I figure out this thing I call The Eyeball Dress. After creating my last Ikea fabric dress with the giant cat motif, I decided that big bold prints are my new favorite thing. You can see another Ikea print dress here and here. When I stumbled upon this Ikea print on ebay, I scooped up all the yardage that was available. Unfortunately, there were only 3 yards...which normally is plenty for a dress in this style. However, because of the placement of the eyes on the fabric, it made for some tricky pattern cutting. 

So I had to do some thinking. Which really isn't my jam so I posed the question to y'all: what to do about that bodice. Initially I created the top right but the fact that the eyes didn't match up just about drove me bananaz. So I toyed with the idea of a solid bodice which got the most positive feedback from y'all. However, I've been power watching Schitt's Creek lately and if it's one thing I've learned, it's to let your crazily-dressed-freak-flag-fly...

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This scene is reenacted multiple times a day at my house. My poor hubs. If only this were his reaction:

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He's too brutally honest to ever fib about how I look. I've learned it's best not to ask. 

Every since I scored this fabric, I knew I wanted it to be all eyes, all the way. I mean, otherwise, it's just a crazy skirt with a top stitched to it. So even though it took some unfun pattern play, I opted to do the eyes right down the middle which then continued on down to the skirt. But if I'm being totes honest, I mostly put the eyes on top so I could say stupid stuff like, "Hey, buddy! My eyes are up here! No, wait...that's not entirely true." I know, I missed my calling as a stand up comedian. I get told that ALL.THE.TIME. (well, this one time. But I think the person was drunk.)

On Christmas eve, I was just about done with this thing when my dear ole faithful sewing machine decided to flake out. I'm all NOW IS NOT THE TIME! I was determined to finish the thing...so determined that we braved The Twilight Zone, aka Walmart on Christmas eve... 

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I returned home with just a few minor bruises and scratches and a brand new Janome sewing machine. Just in time to finish this bad boy. 

By the way, the ENTIRE time I've worked on this dress, I've had that Twilight Zone eyeball on my mind.

I thought taking photos outside would be fun as it is currently a crazy 70 degrees here in Nashville. C'mon winter, man up!

Of course it is super windy outside, which explains the peepshow I gave all y'all and my 'hood. I was going for something a wee more graceful, like this.

Of course, Roger (the monster in the Playhouse) also kept popping into my head. Although, I'll admit, I have thoughts of Pee-wee's Playhouse on the daily. 

I managed to not stitch a single dress for the holiday season. Which is super unusual for me...but I actually didn't have enough days in the month of December to wear all of my Christmas garb, #tackytroubles.

Mike Wazowski, much?

 My favorite part of this dress: the eyeballs on the back. Now I can channel my inner Roz...

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Speaking of windy, I leave you with photos from the end of my camera roll. I'd apologize but I'm just keeping it real, kids.

 Real...

Crazy, that is. Thanks for all the advice on the dress, I so appreciated it! And, of course, thank you for dropping by. Xo!

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