Miseducated

Crafts Around the Web: Surprise Balls

10/18/2011

This is probably one of my favorite little gift ideas — how cute! Learn how to make them at not martha, poppytalk and seesaw. Don’t feel like making them? You can buy some adorable ones at TOPS Malibu.

With all of this cuteness I’ve joined a surprise ball swap and am going to get my supplies tomorrow to make my own. I have a lot of crepe paper left over from Colette’s birthday so I just need some extra surprises! Want to join in the swap with me?

I’ll make a post about how to make surprise balls following the swap.. I don’t want to give away the surprises inside in case my swap partner finds my blog!

Update: I was so inspired by these surprise balls that I made some Miseducated Surprise Balls for the shop.

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Hookah Dreams and Cupcake Seams

10/13/2011

Why hello! Here’s some photos of me being a dork and messing around with the hookah. I love lemonade flavored shisha! Yum! It inspires me to set up mini-photoshoots filled with nonsense.

A lot of things are changing… Things at Miseducated and personal things. They’re all exciting changes though, don’t worry. In a few months I’ll have more news for you; right now everything’s really cloudy.

Keep writing/drawing is the best advice I’ve ever recieved. That’s a lot of what I’ve been doing. Working and writing and playing with Colette. She’s so hilarious and she keeps me on my feet. Actually she makes it quite hard to focus on work most of the time. I have to get better at delegating time!

Today we had our first finger painting session. How exciting! Colette figured out right away how to put your finger in the paint and then to put it on the paper. She must have had a lot of fun because it wasn’t very long after this that she decided to take a nap. You would think I’d get a lot of work done while she’s asleep but it always just makes me so bored that I want to take a nap with her. Haha!

Do you have any questions that you don’t feel like asking on formspring? Just email us or reply to this post. I’m always happy to help in any way that I can. We’ve also finally been catching up on emails so if you’ve already sent one you’ll soon be getting a reply!

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A Perfect Day for a Tea Party

10/09/2011

Today we did our photoshoot and it went very well. I must say I feel bad for Jamie getting stuck with me as a model, though. In every single photo I’m leering from the sun and have my chin in the double position. Ahh! How embarrassing! I’ll be sure to show you her shoot when she uploads it.

We’re already planning a new one and I can’t wait. This was so much fun.

If you’re looking for where to buy the goodies in these shots head on over to Sugar Junkie and our shop.

Hair and Makeup: Pajamie
Stylist: Amber Renée
Photographer: Amber Renée
Accessories: Sugar Junkie and Miseducated
Clothing: Miseducated

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Getting Ready for a Lookbook Photoshoot

10/07/2011

Cupcakes? Check!
Kitschy Animals? Check!
Sugar Junkie, Miseducated and Siren London? Check!

I can’t wait! Jamie and I have each been collecting cute stuff for this like little hoarders for years. It’s been a long time coming! I can’t wait to show you the photos when we get them finished. I’ve needed a lookbook for so long. Too bad I recently even sent off a bunch of my jewelry for another artist’s lookbook shoot so I only have a few items for ours. Boo! And if you have or haven’t seen Jamie’s stuff yet let me tell you it’s an absolute treat. I can’t get enough of her work.

Because I am so impatient for material I practiced a little bit of movie editing and made a test commercial (ha ha ha)…

I was smoking hookah after a long day at the zoo. My mother-in-law invited us to go — it was yet another beautiful day. I got some good photos and videos of Coco being enamored by the animals. She doesn’t really talk around other people though so she doesn’t talk much in them. When we’re at home she tries to mimic every word we say, tells us stories and sings us songs. She’s shy! So cute.

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Fairytale Dreams Dusted With Pink Lemonade

10/06/2011

It’s been such beautiful day outside today that I decided to go to the park to take some photos with Colette and Ben in tow. I’m not feeling very cute today but I think I pulled it off ok… it was hard not to cut my head out of all of the photos again! hah.

I wore my new Faeria Long Vest from Siren London so I could feature the sequins and details in the sunlight. Their work is always so intricate and sparkly that I can’t believe it. I have to inspect it again.

“Capture that moment, one from a dream or a long lost memory that you would like retain. Dreaming of holding hands with someone in the park or your favourite toy that you wish you could play with again.” ~ Siren

I also brought a soft blanket for Colette to sit on in the grass and she really enjoyed it. She picked at the grass with her fingers and smelled it. She loves smelling things now, it’s her new thing.

It has been so beautiful outside here lately that we’ve been taking walks everyday. I love it. I want to be outside all of the time. Even if that only means smoking my hookah pipe while reading on the balcony. Even if it that only means propping my laptop on my knees to write in bed with all of the windows open.

Remember how we were discussing the hookah and the new flavor of shisha I had found? Well I found a said to be bad brand of shisha that I think tastes and smells AMAZING. It’s the shitty Jewels brand you see everywhere only in a big tin labeled Pink Lemonade. Mmmm! :9 Ben hates it though so it could be terrible — I have to admit that I always have the most wacky tastes!

Having done some research and going by brands I’ve tried I did find what the three best brands are for shisha. Are you interested? I can’t wait to try these flavors. :9

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Hints for Creating Realistic Fictional Characters

10/05/2011

Fictional characters are mysterious beings. They have no real life but to us, they can be very real. People talk about them as if they were real and the things they did actually happened. To make a character that will live in the imaginations of other people, they first need to mean a lot to you as their creator. It’s true that a great character is what keeps a story going (and keeps you reading) so if you want to tell a memorable story, you will need to think up a great character. How do you do that?

Combine things you love to make a character you care about. If you’re interested in the Victorian era, maybe your hero/heroine is from this age in history? Be prepared to do some research to make your character believable. If you’re into science fiction or fantasy, you will have more creative freedom, but you will need to do some “world building”, and create your own setting around your character.

Name your character. The name of your character is more important than you might initially think. It gives your reader the very first impression of their age, personality and where, or when, they are from. A character that goes by a nickname like “Chip” or “Bruiser” already gives you a pretty clear idea of what they’re like.

Give them physical characteristics. Not only looks like eye color or height, but individual mannerisms, how they move and how they talk. Look at real life examples that you’ve noticed in other people. Maybe they overuse certain words or phrases or maybe they walk with a shuffle?

What are their strengths? Memorable characters have a lot of inner strength, a saving grace or a talent or two. Make your characters determined in the face of opposition, sad but still strong when they feel unloved. Give them a sense of humor or a need to help others.

What are their shadows? To understand shadows, it helps to look at yourself and the not-so-lovely things about your personality. Don’t make your character a carbon copy of yourself or someone else, but it helps to build ideas from real life. What are your character’s shortcomings and include some quirks. Its important to make your characters saving grace/s outweigh their shadow… unless you’re coming up with a villain. Still they need some part of their personality, a very small one, to be sympathetic.

Give your character loved ones and foes. Most of the time, your story wouldn’t be much without at least a few other characters. Give them a best friend, a mentor, an ex that dragged them through the mud, someone that stands in the way of their goals, or a love interest. These other characters should have a great influence on your main character.

How will they evolve? No character should stay the same throughout the course of a story. Your hero or heroine needs to have learned something and changed for the better, even after you put them through hell.

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Siren, Sequins and Bubblegum Hookah

10/04/2011

Recently I had the chance to try some of Siren’s new styles and I was instantly hooked yet again. Their bedazzled clothing lights up the whimsical part of my brain like no other. As soon as I toss a garment over my head, in this case it’s their Belle Black Indie Dress, I feel ready to frolic in the forest and to pick the wildflowers that brush the delicate hem.

When I get my shit together I promise I’ll be adding a lot more photos of their goodies.

In other news I finally decided to get the hookah pipe down off of the mantel and put it to good use again. I’ve been smoking a lot of shisha lately and have spotted a cute brand for you to try if you’re interested (but I’ve heard the best brand is Starbuzz). These come in cute tins and an array of flavors. My favorite tin is the papillon flavor which I must admit I have to try. I’ll let you know how it tastes!

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1980s Toy Box: The Dark Crystal

10/03/2011

This article is dedicated to one of my all-time favorite movie masterpieces, “The Dark Crystal”. Here I hope to share as much as I can get about this movie. I’m learning as I go, so don’t go thinking I know everything there is to know about it yet. I’m going by what’s out there to look through.

I’ve recently purchased a slightly less than mint Marvel Comic of this wonderful movie and an elusive (not to mention very rare!) book entitled “The World of the Dark Crystal” by none other than Brian Froud. I’ll try to give as much credit as possible to those of whom I gathered these resources from, but almost all of the credit goes to Jim Henson and Brian Froud.

Brian Froud’s page includes excerpts and explainations from the movie, but it’s just not enough information for my neverending appetite for this movie. It does, however, include some beautiful, captivating lost gelfling created by Brian Froud’s wife, Wendy Midener Froud. Her eye for realism in a totally fanciful world is amazing! It makes you wonder if they do exist out there somewhere on their little planet of Thra with their three circling suns.

This movie is a masterpiece, one of the greatest movies ever created, in my opinion. It just happened to be one of those movies that required a little more insight for it to be appreciated, though personally, I would’ve prefered the Skesis to be speaking their own language leaving us puny humans (that don’t know Greek and Egyptian dialects) to read the subtitles. I also would’ve liked to see the Emperor’s funeral in the original and more podling structures, culture, and even an explanation as to *what* they were living in (giant seeds!!).

Featured Links

John’s Crystal Corner
The Unofficial Dark Crystal Page
The Language of the Skeksis
The World of Brian Froud
The Dark Crystal Wikipedia
The Dark Crystal Muppet Wikipedia
The Dark Crystal 1982 Movie Trailer

This article was originally featured at Starluck’s 80’s Nostalgia Page in 2002.

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Defending Disney

09/30/2011

I hate seeing pictures and hearing girls’ comments about how Disney deceived them for life by telling them that every girl will get their prince charming. Disney didn’t deceive anyone, at least… Not the way you would initially think.

Upon seeing this, as a girl who was raised on these movies, who BEGGED for the VHS ( do you guys remember those? They were like black bricks and you put them in the thing. Nothing was more tragic then when your player ate the film inside?) of Sleeping Beauty, knew all the words to all the songs in The Little Mermaid.
When I saw this, my entire childhood shattered.
Until I realized how one-sided this picture is.

In the words of Walt Disney, about Cinderella to start with, “She believed in dreams all right, but she also believed in doing something about them. When Prince Charming didn’t come along, she went over to the palace and got him.”
Because more then one person needs to put in the effort for a happy ending.

Or Belle. Who doesn’t save the beast’s life with her sexual interest as the picture depicts. He is saved by her love.
Because you need to love and be loved for a happy ending.

While Ariel’s story in the picture is quite true, she had changed her appearance to win the affections of the prince, paying the price of her voice. The part about her having nothing valuable to say…Well I just don’t think that’s right.
Oh! But before we think that Ariel is totally helpless, lets remember she saved Prince Eric’s life not once, but twice. Once while he is drowning, and once more as he is about to marry Vanessa/Ursula.
Eric suspects that she’s (Ariel) is the one that saved him as he meets her on the shore, but quickly disregards said suspicion because she can’t talk.
You know, because you have to talk to be able to swim and save someone from drowning right? Right? Sorry this guy’s kinda a moron. But that’s neither here nor there.
She sacrifices her tail and voice to be with Prince Eric. And proves perfectly capable without them, so long as she has her friends, and saved him from Vanessa/Ursula’s grip.
Point being, every happy ending costs something. You can’t get there without sacrificing.
Also, you can do anything with your friends. We-as humans- were not MADE to journey alone.

Jasmine, from the get go, was angered that people were treating her like a trophy. Alladin had to win her heart, she didn’t just throw herself at him.
Sleeping Beauty and Snow White weren’t saved by their physical appearance. Snow White was saved by her compassion for others ( in her case, the Dwarves), and Sleeping Beauty had a spell casted over her where she would sleep. So what the hell was she going to do? SOMEONE had to go get her, might as well be the Prince. If he didn’t go through the thorns and slay the dragon…Well then he wouldn’t have deserved a girl like her.
Actually Sleeping Beauty and Snow White is kinda where this arguement falls short because I hadn’t cared for either of those movies when I was younger, but the point is:
You have to respect yourself to get to a happy ending.

Disney deceived no one. Stop blaming multi-billion dollar franchises for your lack of dates and focus on something other then boys. All of these girls knew that one day they would fall in love, and they didn’t toss themselves at everyone until they found Mr. Right. Cinderella cared for her friends, Belle read books, Ariel was fascinated by human life, Jasmine had a f*cking tiger so if that’s not some form entertainment I don’t know what is. Princess Tatiana even had a GOAL that didn’t involve getting married. In fact, she even cared about hygiene, she definitely didn’t want to kiss that frog.

Oh, not to mention that nothing that comes out of Disney is original, all their movies are based off of books and folk tales. But it’s easier to just point one finger, I guess. That’s a whole different playing field.

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Mew for Today: Loving Big Cartel

09/30/2011

The Big Cartel directory is one of my new favorite things. Especially since I’ve already found some of the cutest stores ever and I’ve only skimmed the surface! Wow, such cuteness and character.

At Lapin & Me you can purchase Dumpling Dynasty brand housewares and more absolute cuteness. *drool*

At Electric Alice you can buy the 6%DOKIDOKI Heart Attack ring.

At Con*Tact Caffeine you can buy any scent under the rainbow of caffeinated soap.

At Shojono Tomo USA you can purchase the cutest fashion available online (as worn by Nicki Minaj). 😉

AND at Tokyolux, as I’m sure you already know, you can purchase colorful cat tees.

Like I said, that’s me just skimming the surface. There are tons more where they came from.

GET FEATURED! SUBMIT YOURS!

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