Voila`!

The candy wrapper dress is done.
The dance is over.
She didn't wear the outfit I'd worked so diligently on, but that's ok; she looked beautiful anyway.

 

Did it hurt my feelings?
Enh.. little bit, but all along I'd realized this project was as much for me as for her.
So now I have this amazing dress, which I'll soon place on Etsy. It's all good.

In my rush to get this project completed, I'm afraid I did not remember to stop and photograph each step.
After the last photos posted here, I sewed the bodice to the skirt, and was very unhappy....the wrappers on the bodice just didn't "match" the ones on the skirt; they didn't belong together.
I also realized there was no way a ruffled flounce was going to be attached to this dress. I created the sleeves/flounces and saw that it looked more like armor than a ruffle!  Bleh!
At this point, I took the dress outside and hung it on the mimosa tree, spraying the entire creation with teal dye, letting it run and drip randomly. Awesome!
This not only filled in the "blank" spaces of fabric, but helped the wrappers to "blend" together better.

The flounces would've finished off the dress edges, and since that didn't pan out, I was faced with a new dilemma--- what to do with all those raw edges.
Enter the duct tape I'd purchased.
I trimmed the entire dress edge with hot pink duct tape. Ooooh----VERY unhappy!
It was far too bright and shiny compared to the dress itself!
I immediately added a teal tape edge over the pink.  Better, but still SO shiny!
Mod Podge to the rescue!
A coat of matte Mod Podge saved the day, dulling that tape just enough to more closely match the dress.

This was a wrap-style dress, and to cut down on bulk, I chose not to add a tie-belt, but instead used snaps at the waist.
This left the dress a little plain, so I used one of the sleeve flounces to create a large rosette by rolling, pleating and hand-stitching. When it looked like a flower, I stitched it to a large safety pin and attached it at the waist.

I wasn't happy with the way the skirt hung (and with a real live curvy human being inside, it had a gap at the bottom of the wrap overlay), so I created a petticoat from muslin and hot pink tulle.
The plain muslin begged to be hosed down with that teal dye from earlier, so out it went to the mimosa.
The way the dye dripped and puddled into the tulle was delicious!

It was only then that I realized I hadn't remembered to take photos of the steps!
So I packed up the dress, the petticoat and a wig from my collection (don't you love the way it matches the dress?) and sent it all off to the studio with the Canadian to be photographed. His prissy little mannequin is just not the same as a real feminine body, but she'll do.

I love my dress, but now I have all these candy wrappers, and a million ideas....
I don't think this is over.....not yet.
All along I'd been contemplating a matching clutch and pumps.
And I'm in love with that petticoat....
No, I do not think this is over..... 
*maniacal laughter*

Flaming Angels, Guitars and Indestructible Me

This piece was created months ago as part of the Georgia Theatre art quilt, and as I'd hoped for all the pieces included in the quilt, it has a story.

The Canadian loves to shoot photos of statuary.
A couple of years back, he brought me an image of an angel loosely holding a palm frond. "Look at this Jennifer! Doesn't it look like she could be holding a guitar instead??"
He was excited, and he has more faith in my Photoshop abilities than I do, but to humor him, I played around with it.

I actually liked the angel/guitar creation; I had to use her on a quilt square. I'd been asked by the newspaper to demonstrate an example of a "no-sew" technique for them to photograph. Hmmmm...perfect!

As soon as I'd posted her originally, I realized there was an up and coming band in Athens called the Burning Angels.... no connection...I'd never even heard them play, but it amused me.

I've been thinking quite a bit about this piece over the last while....not so much in comparison with the idea of the Georgia Theatre rising from the flames, but on a personal level.
How many times have I just continued, playing on, oblivious to the destruction around me?
How many times have I been burned in the flames, only to reinvent myself and come back again?

“Only to the extent that we expose ourselves to annihilation

over and over again

can that which is indestructible be found in us.”

~Pema Chodron

Yeah, Yeah.. It's Tuesday....

Hannah doodled this lovely creature from
one of my cast-off portraits.
Wonder what she's trying to represent here?
Rage, depression, contempt?
Is this how my family sees me?
YIKES!

and I am not feeling myself today.
So I suppose that the awful UN-self-portrait is appropriate today.
This one was actually done by my youngest daughter. She snagged one of my self-portrait blanks and this was what she came up with. Unngh....

Changes in health, medication adjustments, changes in my body that appear to be beyond my control, changes in weather....
And FAR too much to catch up with have left me feeling....well....a lot like that creature that Hannah drew.

Instead of finishing a piece I intend to submit to a magazine (due Friday), or making a baby quilt (due before the baby actually gets here!), OR creating something of some substance for our wedding anniversary (which is Thursday---I've been married to that Canadian for 6 years!),
I've moped and slept today.

Patience is not what I'm known for, especially patience with myself.
At this point, I am in a position that I vowed I would never be in.
I hate taking pharmaceuticals in the first place, and stayed off them as long as I possibly could.
First it was meds for the diabetes.
Now it's meds for the fibromyalgia, but one of them is causing my blood sugar to spike, which means taking more of the other to compensate for the damage this one is causing.
I SWORE, after watching too many members of my family balance medications (for things that I thought they should just take responsibility for) that this would never happen to me.
Not only do I feel WAY out of sorts today, I am angry with myself.

It's Tuesday.
I posted a self portrait, as I'd committed to.
Now I think I'll go back into my lair and curl up under the covers.

Guest Post--- Happy Mother's Day, from My Canadian!

Motherhood - "A seed of limitless potential which when nurtured...

blossoms in colors unimaginable... with benefits beyond comprehension"

Mother' Day 2010 is soon to be.

I am not ready for it.

I have often wished that Mother's Day was held on the day of ones birth. A combined affair where the event celebrates the birth of a new being, and the transformation of another.

These celebrations would big like Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, and have a spiritual tone rather than a secular one. The original event of our birth was a very spiritual one. A soul expanding, unifying connection, that unleashed a flood of emotion that, in reflection still holds it's original enchantment and surrealism. These events would be held several times a year, corresponding to the number of births a Mother has experienced. I would not label these celebrations as Mother's Day or Birthday. They would rather be called Love Day, for it is memorializing the first day of loving and being loved.

Lets face it. We were not born with a concept of love. We learned it from our Mothers. We nursed, cried, messed, slept, got sick and then well again, all because our Mother first loved us. As we got older all the hugs, kisses, and snuggles from Mother brought us warm feelings that we enjoyed experiencing. We found that giving hugs, kisses, and snuggles to others also felt good. We may not have understood why these actions created emotions in us, or what these emotions meant, but we would label them as love and continue to grow from there.

As we grew together, Mother would (without any thought or expectation for repayment), express her love for us through her ongoing sacrifice. Sacrifice was a condition that was occurring right from the beginning, starting with morning sickness, emotional disorientation, physical discomfort, cramping, the issuing of blood and water, overwhelming pain, and relentless fatigue. That was your beginning, and now with time, maturity, and understanding, you came to see that her hugs, kisses, and snuggles, may have reassured us, but it was in the sacrifices that she laboured on your behalf that her true love lived and grew.

We emulate what we experience, and when we couple our behaviors with an understanding what they mean, we begin to thrive. Her love for us taught us to love others. Love is what is most important, and is the true measure of greatness in an individual.

Are Mothers perfect? Of course not. But I believe that the concept of Motherhood is perfect, and that all mothers who struggle to do their best in delivering hugs, kisses, snuggles, wiping dirty faces, driving to and experiencing recitals, games and doctors appointments, and issuing forth blood sweat and tears, makes the world much better place than it otherwise would be, and a simple one day a year commemoration celebrating Motherhood seems completely inadequate in comparison to their accomplishments and sacrifice.

Thank You ...Mother.
Thank You... Wife.
Thank You... Mother of Our Children.

Make 'em or Break 'em

"Heh Heh...."

The Canadian laughed when he heard today's Wishcasting Wednesday prompt....
What rules do you wish to make... or break.

"This is going to be hard for you .....You don't like rules. You want to break ALL of them!"

Off the cuff I thought "yeah, he's right. I don't like rules".

Upon further consideration, I decided that it's not RULES I don't like.
Rules must exist, correct?
Certain universal laws exist.....it's not the laws I dislike; it's what happens when I don't follow those rules that causes me trouble!

What I dislike vehemently is authority.
No, let me clarify---I dislike authority for the sake of authority....rules just for the sake of having power over someone else.
Now THOSE rules I'll break every chance I get!

I find myself breaking more and more rules as I learn to just be myself, not listening to others' opinions, not concerning myself with what they might say.
And I'm not feeling remorseful; I'm not feeling guilty.

If I could make my own rules (and I can, can't I?) ---
LOVE would be the basis for everything else....the reason for and the thought behind every other rule.
Love is THE most important thing there is.
If my rule were in place, there would be little need for any other rules.
Think about it.