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Day With a Camera: Revamping your Space

01/06/2011

So it’s been a few months since we moved into our big, white-walled apartment on a lake. I loved it as soon as I saw it.. I’m just contemplating what to paint the walls with the high ceilings (we’re going to need a ladder). One can still however design with color no matter how plain your walls are. I went out on an inspiration run yesterday, hoping to get odds and ends I need for decorating.

I still cannot figure out how I want to store/arrange my DVDs in an attractive way… there are way too many to stack them (I’m talking wobbly tower of doom). Possibly time for another huge entertainment center from IKEA? How do you organize your DVDs and records attractively?

Strolling through a kitschy field of flowers~

A bouquet of feathers is just what I needed~

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Artist & Designer Features Self Decoration

Getting Glamorously Kitsch with Cicely Margo

12/20/2010

Cicely is a rad girl from Reno that creates eye-candy deliciousness for you to wear. We finally had the pleasure of meeting recently and she’s just as sweet as her accessories. Her creations are exactly what the doctor ordered for Miseducated girls in need of sparkle! HER SHOP!

I know we’ve been web friends for quite awhile now and I’m excited to interview you! So how long have you been crafting this amazing jewelry?
Yes a long time! Go Go LJ friends! Ive been making jewelry since I was a wee lad, and around 2004 I started to craft more steadily.

When did you decide to turn that hobby into a business?
I began selling through LiveJournal roughly around that same time and then opened up shop on Etsy in 2005.

All of us reach creativity blocks at some time.. where do you find inspiration when you reach a block?
Oh man, for inspiration, I hit up my toybox. I love gumball prizes, cheapy kid toys that come from China. I look around when I’m out at antique stores, I study vintage costume jewelry designs, I look at the color combos used. I like to combine the kitschy feel of plastic with the glamour of vintage jewels.

Oh man, for inspiration, I hit up my toybox.

Now that is probably the BEST interview answer I’ve ever heard. I love toys, too! Do you have a favorite piece of jewelry that you have made?
YES! This sugar junk glam trash necklace I made with a crap load of neon, sparkly charms. Its ridiculousness at its best!

I also love the rainbow junk pieces! Do you have any exciting stories about the purchase of one of your pieces?
Nothing too exciting. I love hearing feedback when people first get their pieces! I love their excitement over a piece of jewelry I’ve created. It makes me happy when they are happy!

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Escapeland Giveaway

Our Very First Etsy Goodie Bag Giveaway WINNER

10/04/2010

CONGRATULATIONS to the winner, Kate Barber!

(and a HUGE thank you to everyone who entered)

An ezine about this and other new features was sent to all fans on Facebook, if you would like to receive these rare but important messages and are not a member of Facebook you may also submit your email address.

Stay tuned for another exciting giveaway coming up soon!

[Giveaway Closed: Sep 24th]

Hello and welcome to the second ever Miseducated Giveaway! We plan to have these much more often, it’s been way too long! Check out the details here.

We wanted to especially thank our readers and guests for being so creatively cute and wonderful to us everywhere we go. The truth is giveaways are a great way to find new friends and readers and to expose them to new and seasoned artists. We select our giveaways from our favorite handmade art shops, antique shops and more.

The Prize

You can win a Hello Kitty tote bag filled with handmade and diy goodies from great sellers on Etsy!

1. Sweet Star and Strawberry accessories from Strawberry Latte

2. Limited Edition Miseducated Deericorn pendant

Original DEERICORN Pendant - limited edition-1

Original DEERICORN Pendant - limited edition

3. Victorian Spats by Mademoiselle Mermaid

Victorian Spats with Bows in Oatmeal by Mademoiselle Mermaid-1

Victorian Spats with Bows in Oatmeal by Mademoiselle Mermaid-2

4. Paper glittery macarons by PaperCakes

5. Postcard set by Amber&Co with cupcake pencils

6. Bag o’ kitsch charms, beads and goodies to get your DIY tastebuds wet especially from Miseducated

The Rules

To enter simply leave one comment below, make sure to include a correct email address in case you win. This giveaway expires in a week on Friday, September 24th and the winner will be chosen at random and will be announced on Monday, October 4th. All readers, including international readers, are welcome and encouraged to participate!

Bonus Entries

All entries will be checked for accuracy!
+1 Entry: Become a fan of Miseducated on Facebook and add a comment below announcing you’ve done so.

+1 Entry: Subscribe to our blog by using Google or another reader and let us know by leaving a comment below.

+1 Entry: Link to Miseducated on your blog and comment with the link here.

+1 Entry: Feature this giveaway on your blog (or tell others about it) and let us know here.

If you would like to be featured in a future giveaway, let us know and Miseducated might purchase something from your shop for our next goodie bag!

Thanks so much for all of your support.

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Crafts DIY

Make Your Own Beads Out of Sand

08/21/2010

This perfect summer craft originates from the Bahamas and other tropical places where they are blessed with beautiful sandy beaches. Die-hard jewelry makers will use just about anything to make jewelry with, even the beach itself! If you are lucky enough to live by the beach and have access to any department store or craft store, then you can make your own sand beads from scratch. It is a bit time-consuming to roll and shape all of your own beads, but its worth it in the end when you have tons of colorful beads to make all the jewelry you want!

You Need

Fine sand (from the beach or from the store)
All purpose flour or papier-mâché
Elmer’s Glue
Wax paper
Vegetable oil

If you got your sand from the beach, sift it through a cheese cloth or a window screen to separate the larger grains from the fine stuff. Pour the fine sand into a bowl and mix in the flour or papier-mâché and mix it together well. You need to use equal amounts of flour and sand. Coat your hands lightly with vegetable oil so the sticky paste that you’re about to make won’t stick to your hands. Pour in your Elmer’s Glue slowly and knead it with your hands like bread dough. If it starts to harden before you’re done mixing, add more glue. If your hands get too crusty as you work, rinse your hands off and apply more oil. Also, if you are using beach sand and you want to add color, mix in some acrylic paint.

Break off pieces of the sandy dough and roll them into your beads. This is where you use your imagination to create the beads you will use for your jewelry. Make many different colors and sizes, or make a series of the same kind for a long beaded necklace. You can also make short tube-shaped beads, square ones and irregular shaped beads.

Set your beads on a piece of wax paper and let them dry overnight. Use a large sewing needle or any other sharp metal skewer (be careful!) to poke a hole through the middle of each bead. You need to do this while the beads are still slightly tacky, but not so soft that you squish the bead. Let them dry all the way.

Coat them with clear acrylic varnish to make them glossy and protect them, if you want. Now you can make your homemade jewelry for yourself and your loved ones!

More Ideas

Substitute half of the sand (or less) with fine glitter to make sparkly beads.
Swirl different colors of the sandy dough together to make multi-colored beads.
Make beading kits with your left-over sand beads and give these kits away as gifts.
Add other natural beads like shells and tiny pieces of drift wood to make a real beachy necklace.
Sell your sand bead jewelry to people at the beach.

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Mise en Snap Visual Splendor

Mise en Snap: I Love You Alice B. Toklas!

08/10/2010

It’s about time I did another mise-en-snap!

I Love You, Alice B. Toklas is a deliciously tacky film from 1968 that parodies the 1960s counterculture. I watched it once and didn’t really pay attention.. the next time I saw everything and couldn’t stop laughing. (I always get a little mesmerized by 60s decor, trying to find ways to incorporate the hippie’s lounge pad into a family home.) The film is directed by Hy Averback and stars Peter Sellers and Leigh Taylor-Young (in her film debut). It features music by Harpers Bizarre, including the theme song that I still cannot stop singing — haha!

The title is a reference to writer Alice B. Toklas, who wrote a recipe for making cannabis Brownies released in 1954. I had the pleasure of learning about Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein during a college Hemmingway class and trip to Paris — they were both pretty cool cats.

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Design Your Life Thankful for Monday

Thankful for Monday: Happiness Through Gratitude

07/02/2010

This is a new kind of project I’m forcing myself to do. Having a few scheduled posts a week really works wonders for my over-stimulated brain. I cannot mindlessly list topics and ideas forever, brainstorming over great articles and DIY-material until I’m suddenly too drained to write or publish any of it.. silly! As much as I love lists, I’ve recently realized I’m wasting a lot of time on them. And.. as you may or may not know, a new mother’s time is very precious and limited.

So I’m urging myself to again start keeping a gratitude journal which once helped so much with my positive outlook. I had been keeping one for months on my iPhone previously, another in a journal my doctor encouraged me to start.. I must say that although I enjoy journaling and scribbling nonsense, the gratitude thing worked best digitally because it was always on hand. I could attach photos in a flash and rate my days.. sadly when I updated my iPhone OS, however, my restoration went wonky and my gratitude journal -and all of the photos- were deleted. I had a bit of a melt-down -I’m lying, it was a full-on panic attack- .. I was so upset I couldn’t now see the progress I had made.. the once unhealthy things I was so grateful for and the realization of what I should be grateful for.. to which of course my husband reminded me, “You have what you are grateful for right here, it shouldn’t be hard to start a new one. I see the progress you’ve made and deep down you know you’ve made it.”

So, on Mondays I will begin to look back at all of the wonderful (and even not-so-wonderful!) things I should be and am grateful for. It is said that keeping a gratitude journal is very healthy, a great way to be open to all of the amazing things you have in your life that you might not be noticing. It’s also said to lift your spirits in a way that cannot be denied. I agree and I urge you to try it! Even if just for a month.

One

The sweet taste of a homegrown strawberry that I happened to rescue from the brink of death! We were in the grocery store and the fluorescent lighting must have left the shriveled plants with much to be desired. I instantly usherd one to the register and planted it in new soil and a large pot — now it’s branching out into my yard and attempting to spread sugary-sweet red fruit to all of the rabbits in the area. I did get to taste one berry, one very delicious berry, however when I watered it today I noticed my other three berries had been eaten. We have a cottontail friend roaming around now and again so I’m sure he was the one who experienced the delight of the fresh berries — at least someone enjoyed them!

Two

Every single coo and grunt my daughter makes. And the fact that I unbelievably have a daughter and can talk about her. It’s absolutely a trip and I never could have imagined how wonderful it would be. She’s been in my dreams for quite awhile so I feel very fortunate that she has arrived in my arms and left me with a scar I will never forget. I can’t to experience every new moment with her and I want to remember absolutely every day.

Three

Heart-wrenching memoirs of hardship and survival. I’m a dark, depressing memoir addict. I think it has something to do with being inspired by overcoming one’s past to become an amazing and creative person. Having been through a rough and tumbly past myself and having watched many of those I love fall to the negativity of their own past, it’s very enlightening to see what can be accomplished if you devote your life to overcoming it.

Four

My husband’s new-found appreciation for cooking. Not just because I get to taste all of his experiments, either, but because I am also passionate about cooking up my own creations and it’s double the excitement! We have yet another interest that we share and it’s the best kind of interest — the kind that tastes delicious. He keeps practicing on fresh Tilapia and I keep inhaling it.

Five

Thrifting for vintage, kitschy mugs. Thrifting is not only fun alone, it’s even more fun because of the people you do it with. I often go thrifting with my best friend or husband and we have a blast finding kitschy goodies, vintage magazines and trying on 70s bathrobes. It doesn’t get old! You don’t need a lot of money to have a great time combing through pop-culture memorabilia — just a lot of time and patience. Even a box of old records or postcards can become an exciting giggle fest. No matter what their selection, make sure you look through the mugs and vintage cookbooks — they’ll always provide you with some inexpensive, kitschy fun for your kitsch-en!

What are five things that you’re thankful for this week?

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Artist & Designer Features Self Decoration

Emma Bell: Decadent Fashion and Accessory Designer

04/25/2010

Emma Bell is a fashion designer that has what you need if you’re into kitschy decadence like I am. Now only are her creations adorable but she’s always been as sweet as can be, we met long ago online while I was living in Tokyo — she sent me the sweetest email ever and we’re still planning a collaboration.

So enjoy her delightfully kitschy cuteness that is sure to make your eyes drool for cake and fast food. Her look book radiates sweet rainbows making me want it all. Enjoy her color covered candy for your body! With collaborations with companies such as Irregular Choice you certainly have quite the amazing selection ahead of you! I cannot wait to see what she does next.

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Visual Splendor

Adorable Japanese POP Art Embroidery Patterns

04/21/2010

I recently stumbled upon Danielle Thompson‘s world of deliciousness online, Kitschy Digitals, and have fallen in love with her sweet take on embroidery! She offers embroidery patterns and digital scrap-booking materials that are kitschy-sweet.

I’m definitely digging the cameras and I cannot wait to give these a try!

Downloadable Sanrio Patterns

My Melody Tea Party & Sanrio Rainbow Pattern

If you’re also feeling embroidery and pop colors try these Sanrio patterns I’ve had stashed for ages, both free for personal use! The wonderful J Tan made these and previously uploaded them for us to try (RIP Geocities).

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Business Features DIY

Toiluxe: Make Your Toilet Lux

09/17/2009

It started with a simple dilemma:

What kind of gift do I give the girl who has everything?

I myself was one of those girls, so I knew what it would feel like to be on the receiving end of another kitschy collectible, retro design coffee table book, funky framed Jesus picture… I loved each and every item, but I was at the point where there was nowhere to PUT anything, and I was not organized or patient enough to deal with seasonally switching things up. I couldn’t bring myself to pack away older items to make space for newer ones, because I had a sentimental attachment to each and every one. They all defined me, defined my lifestyle, defined how I felt when I woke up in the morning. In fact, the only room that reflected who I was the LEAST, was my bathroom, which was fine, because how much time do I spend in there anyway?

Wait a second…

The bathroom…

I went to Home Depot. After much wandering around, lost among contractors and home-improvement-ers, I found it – the wall of toilet seats. The aisle seemed to glow as if I had found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. As if I had discovered the meaning of life, or who was buried in Al Capone’s tomb…

It was perfect.

And everything just took off from there.

Making art out of toilet seats is not a quick-fix type of project. It involves sanding, priming, painting, cutting, pasting, gluing, detailing, and SO MUCH WAITING. Every step involves the need for something to dry – whether it be paint, modge-podge, or acrylic resin. I had to learn how to pace myself (my mother always used to say, “You want everything to happen yesterday!”) and it’s true. But I finally discovered my ideal working environment – my living room (at this point I’d like to thank my husband for his unrelenting patience.) I’d work on two seats at a time – switching back and forth while one was in a drying stage – and the television would be tuned to a campy, cheesy horror movie. The only explanation I can come up with for that is that these particular movies are terrible enough where if I was in a working stage (painting, decoupaging, detailing) and my attention was elsewhere, I could easily tear my attention away from the television and not worry that I was missing some crucial element to the story, yet the movies were also amusing enough that they kept me occupied during any drying stages (which could take anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes.)

I have since changed our home office into a small studio (again, thank you, dear husband, for being supportive enough to my craft for agreeing to move your half of the office elsewhere, and for bringing home the 300 pound cabinet you had at work for me to store my seats in a small warehouse environment.) I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to show my work at Boston’s Bazaare Bizarre and Somerville’s ArtBeat in Davis Square. 75% of my business is from custom orders which has allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and create designs I never would have thought of. The Toiluxe Nude Collection started via a request from my landlord, for which I will forever be grateful.
My creation process is constant – I live, breathe and dream toilet seats. If I could eat toilet seats, I would probably consider it. Toiluxe has been the most satisfying creative outlet I have had in a long time. To be able to create and touch a piece of art – a piece of art that also provides total functionality – has an entirely different sense of satisfaction from the computer-based graphic design I have always done in the past.

I love what I create. My goal is to bring joy to bathrooms across America, and even beyond.

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Visual Splendor

A Visual Tour of Apartment Seventy-Seven

08/21/2009

I happened upon a sweet, little apartment on the east side of Indy one glorious day. My very dear friend of the time and rosey-cheeked sweetie needed someone to take it off her hands while she left the country for a year. I urged her to go, life-changing adventures like that are worth having! So I found my a little 70s mushroom cornucopia nestled in kitty town, Indianapolis. Kitties of all walks of life and colors roam the sidewalks outside, the cobblestone streets provide that only the occasional slow-moving car drive by, they’re adorable to look at but no fun to drive quick on. This yellow brick road of the kitties actually does them a favor by protecting their streets from speeding demons.

Wild, flavorless strawberries peek out of the grass in every kept yard, the plants allowed to freely grow in a woodland flower district. Dark and covered in trees, this little hippy Halloween town has a lot of charm to offer.

The apartment, although a bit too big for me to keep up everyday, was absolutely lovely when arranged just the way I liked it. I had lots of friends ask me if they were in wonderland once inside and my closest friends and i have had the most amazing, special, one-of-a-kind nights and parties in this delectably roomy apartment.

Take a look around for yourself! I always welcome new friends and visitors to explore my world. If you have an apartment/special place you’d like explored, we would love to return the favor! *xoxo* Be careful not to spill tea on the… oh feel free to slosh your tea around everywhere on your imaginary tour!

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