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  • Published on

    some paintings, a finished tote, and more costume ideas

    diy diycostume

    hiiiiiiiiiiiii <3

    happy new week ^^ 

    ᗰOᑎᗪᗩY & TᑌEᔕᗪᗩY 

    

    The tote is finished at last! I sewed on the last of the details, buttons, and chain. I love how she turned out. I’ve been wanting to put together a collage-style bag like this for a while. It’s making me realize I have a few pretty minimal tote bags that would be so fun to add to in the future. Projects for another day ^^

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    Click here to start customizing

    ᗯEᗪᑎEᔕᗪᗩY & TᕼᑌᖇᔕᗪᗩY

    Some sketches from mid-week <3


    ᖴᖇIᗪᗩY, ᔕᗩTᑌᖇᗪᗩY, & ᔕᑌᑎᗪᗩY 

    Some paintings from this weekend  :-)

    I want to call the clown painting and the bathtub painting finished but I’ll probably have to sleep on it- I’m not really positive yet. There’s always a point in the painting where I overthink everything. 

    In the third painting- “and then, all at once” I keep re-thinking the pattern on the mask. I wanted this version to be decorated with kind of abstract flowers made from oil pastel. Sometimes I look at past iterations of this painting and feel as if I’ve overdone it. Sometimes those early versions are truly the sweet spots and you never know it until you've done too much. I think I’ll call her done now, though. Maybe one day I’ll make a stripped-down version. A thought for another day, I guess.


    & The cow painting is new <3 just a simple cutie project i'm working on


    I’ll also finally get to share the projects I’ve been working on this upcoming week! At long last.


    I got to spend some time browsing second-hand stores for more costume pieces, too. I got a beautiful flowy, blue-grey scarf I want to use for my Bloop costume.

    At this point, the design of the costume has gone through a few iterations. The first was the initial design, but these are some other designs I thought up.  (excuse the crudity of this model)

    I’m really into the idea of using a mini skirt and top over a body suit these days. I think I may just keep shopping around and see what comes together from my findings. I can’t wait to keep you updated :-)

    𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕨𝕖𝕖𝕜: more costume stuff & maybe some jewelry

    I’ll be out of town this weekend, but will try to work on some odds and ends from my jewelry pile before I leave.

    I’ll also keep an eye out if I end up getting to shop around at more thrift stores, etc for costume parts.

    What are you going to be for Halloween? I get so into the idea of DIYing my costumes that I think up new ideas all the time. You can be anything!

     

    Thank you sooo much for stopping by

    I appreciate it more than you may know

     

    XXOOXXOOXXOO

    Benzie Bloop

  • Published on

    altered jewelry, costume brainstorm, and some apparel

    apparel diy diycostume jewelry

    Hello again!

    How are you? i’m well. 

    I altered some bits and bobs that would become charms I’ll be using for necklaces. I got this wide metal heart and single round pink earring from the swap meet that I added some jump rings to. I also uncovered a few unused charms I made probably 2 years or so ago, and added jump rings to those as well. I feel like the long chain pairs nicely because they’re vertical pieces. I like wearing this chain long, but did add a jump ring so it can be altered shorter.

    I also altered a chain and leather choker I got from a friend. I never remember to take before pictures, but I really just replaced the lightweight silver chain with some heavier weight black chain. 

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    I worked out more details of my costumes last week too. Mostly for the Bloop and Mothra, as they’ll be the most involved costumes, with the most elements to make. Here’s some chicken scratch. 

    Excuse the crudity of the model. I’ve always loved the idea of making a funky bonnet for myself, so maybe the Bloop costume could be my chance. Still debating whether I’d add the fin to said bonnet or maybe to the back of my body suit? That’s likely a cross-that-bridge-once-we-get-there situation.


    It all feels doable now, but likely because it only exists on paper. I haven’t had the chance to check any second-hand shops, but that'll be my first stop. I would like to practice affordable and resourceful costume making to the best of my abilities. Ideally, I spend as little as possible, and maybe try out a new method or two for the execution. I hope in the next week or so to do a first run at a few of the makeup looks I’d need to accomplish: likely just The Bloop and Groucho. I’ll likely post those when I do. 

    Lastly, did just a little stamping on a few tee shirts. I traced this ice cream design onto a scrap of fabric to sew onto the tote bag project. 

     I haven’t been able to get myself to finish stamping the letters to the lyrics “I’ve gotta be me” on my striped sweater. Especially with this heat, I don’t plan to wear it- why bother? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe soon. I still have to finish the text on my rain slicker. Although, the June gloom kind of came and went where I am, and there’s likely no inclimate weather in my future. Whatever, we’ll see. 

    This week: sew tote bag? clothing pile? costumes?

    I have all the pieces made for the tote bag, so I'll likely attach them when i get the chance. It'd be nice to stamp those clothes, even if they just end up sitting around. Hopefully will make a stop to look for materials, too. 


    see u next time

    thank u for stopping by <3

    X-O-X-O 

    benzie

    p.s - The Stay a While refresh is nearly done if you're interested! Inspired by my good friend during her birthday month <3 

  • Published on

    holiday garland is nearly done and painting progress

    diy diyholiday doodles paintingprogress

    Happy Tuesday <3

    glad to be back! 

    The fabric garland I was working on is now hanging in my dining room <3 It’s not completely finished yet but I like the idea of adding pieces perpetually. There’s still room on the string for plenty more. I’ll probably find a good stopping point this week and keep it up throughout the holidays. 

    I also spent time on a few canvases. I have a better idea of how I want “Semi-real” (first picture) to turn out. I’m still figuring out placement and will work on it more this upcoming week.



    I’m a little stuck on the untitled unicorn/red bull piece, but will work on it more too.


    Finally, I decided I wanted to re-work the face in my untitled sunscreen painting. 

    between the bigger projects i did a little drawing as well.

    

    i need to practice on realism with more reference pictures, but i love drawing whatever i want most of all.

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    Lastly, I stamped this headband with the new letter stamps I got from the thrift store :D I love the font and think it’d be cute to color In the letters. 

    ᵗʰⁱˢ ʷᵉᵉᵏ: 

    𝖼𝗋𝖺𝖿𝗍: 𝖿𝗂𝗇𝗂𝗌𝗁 𝖺𝖽𝖽𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗈 𝗀𝖺𝗋𝗅𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗒𝖾𝖺𝗋 

    𝗉𝖺𝗂𝗇𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗌: “𝖲𝖾𝗆𝗂-𝗋𝖾𝖺𝗅” , “𝗎𝗇𝗍𝗂𝗍𝗅𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗇𝗂𝖼𝗈𝗋𝗇” , “𝗎𝗇𝗍𝗂𝗍𝗅𝖾𝖽 𝗌𝗎𝗇𝗌𝖼𝗋𝖾𝖾𝗇”, 𝗁𝗈𝗉𝖾𝖿𝗎𝗅𝗅𝗒 “𝖭𝗂𝗉𝗁𝖾𝗍𝗈𝗌”


    between putting more time into the canvases, I really hope to do more drawing- I think it needs to be an everyday thing.

     

    Wish me luck

     

    Thank you for stopping by

    I hope you and yours have a very lovely holiday ♡


    Xxoxoxoxoxoxox


    benzie

  • Published on

    Garland progress, more tall can flowers, and finished decals

    collage diy diyholiday tallcanart

    ha p py n ew we e k!

    Big strides with the handmade garlands!

    I still need to sew up the fabric stars and add a little plush stuffing, but other than that, the only thing left to do is to combine all the elements ^^


    These garlands are a combination of scrap fabric, ribbon, buttons, and string- sourced from old pajamas, scrunchies, pillow cases, etc. The cute little line art drawings of the girls are courtesy of an old tee shirt I’ve been cutting up and using for pieces. I should look into who the artist/brand is. I feel like I found out in the past, but don’t remember who it was.

    I really like how this is coming out :) I love the colors and textures - they feel like the holidays to me. I also got to incorporate some super cute accessories from Megan :]

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    The fabric stars i cut out are kind of small so I’m not sure how visible the details will be once it’s hung on the wall. I wouldn’t mind cutting bigger pieces and re-working if I felt like it later on. So far, i love it though :-)


    I also made more tall can flowers this week! <3 

    These have been so fun to make and are more doable than ever since I got my hands on some cut gloves. The edges of the aluminum can be tedious. I work so much quicker without risking my fingers. 

    Lastly, I wiped out the pile of collage projects for good!

    Finally added the finishing touches to these plaques I’ve been working on. At long last removing them the WIP pile because they feel complete. 

    ᵀʰⁱˢ ʷᵉᵉᵏ: 

    craft: Chuck E Cheese project

    canvases: Niphetos & [untitled unicorn project]

    I think I may want to work on crafty stuff during the week and paint through the weekend? I want to carve out some time to revisit the canvases. I would also really love to pick up watercolors again. 

    I will make time to do all of these things


    thanks for coming with me

    also thank you for stopping by

    ♥x♥o♥x♥o♥x♥o♥x♥


    - 𝖪𝖾𝗇𝗓𝗂𝖾

  • Published on

    holiday garland progress & future plans

    crafts diy diyart

    happy December ! I’m glad to see you

    Let me show you some of the little bits of the paper garlands I started on :)

    I started on the “Stew”, “Swan”, and “Apples” pieces. I need to make a few more apples, and I thought about adding some chicken, a potato, garlic and some bay leaves for the stew. I also want to add more accents to the swan piece too so it’s nice and long and I can hang it across a wall in my living room. To make the elements, I’ve been using oil pastels on chipboard and cardstock scraps. To hang the pieces, I’m just using a string from a spool. 


    I started cutting out shapes for the fabric garland but will follow up with worthwhile progress pictures next week ♡


    I spent some time on the stay a while page this weekend too! It's nearly finished for the holidays. Give it a look if that piques your interest <3

    Next week: all the projects

     

    The other day I was thinking about my recent artistic endeavors. I feel like I’ve had a hard time wrapping up the loose ends on projects. I used to approach planning my week with a bit more structure, but as of late, have been laying out projects pretty loosely. I think I’ll go back to picking a few specific tasks and progress I hope to make will be given a harder deadline.

     

    I’ve moved away from my traditional projects for a bit and now spend more time crafting than anything. I kind of like it during the holidays- I’ve been able to embrace the handmade charm I love about this time of year. Coming up, though, I'd like to revisit some drawings and paintings I haven't made time for in a while.

     

    I think I’ll spend this week and maybe the next after tying up loose ends and clearing out my WIP pile.


    -       More diy holiday décor

    -       Finish all the little details on remaining collages

    -       Personal apparel


    why can't i do everything i want to all the time

    

    More progress next week


    Thanks for stopping by

    Xo

    kenz

    

  • Published on

    Finishing diy costumes and progress on paintings

    diy diycostume halloween paintingprogress wip

    ᴴᵉˡˡᵒ ʰᵉˡˡᵒ ʰᵉˡˡᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ

    I’ll be out of town next weekend so I tried to keep busy during this last week

    Sooo I worked on a few unexpected side projects this week- they’re different than the ones I had worked on a few weeks back. I won’t be able to share them here yet, but may eventually do so- I like how they turned out :-)

    October is kind of leaving without me; I can’t believe we’re already about halfway through the month and I haven’t posted my costumes yet :,O 

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    That being said, I am nearly finished! I saved the longest project for last and will be cutting bear ears into a pink beanie for my gloomy bear look. I already started and like how one ear has turned out. Some of the brown thread I use is a little visible which I thought would be cute, but now I’m debating whether I commit to it. Will be deciding on that and finishing up the project asap 

    I’m nearly finished with the FNAF masks too <3 Customizing these masks was so much fun, I have to do it again. I have a few other costume ideas I’ve been idealizing for a while but only now does it feel like a doable project. When those happen, I’ll be sure to post those as well. 

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    I finally even put time into my doodle covered canvas! I think I just want to touch up the skin tone on the center character but after may call it done. I still don’t have a title, so this is still untitled. Acrylic paint, pen, and crayon on stretched canvas. All the smaller surrounding characters and doodles are some of my earlier drawings. I think about 2003-2007 <3 

    I also made some pretty big changes to another untitled piece I’ve been working on inspired by chewing gum. I’m thinking I’ll expand the idea to involve gumballs as well as other quarter machine goods. I want to include some outlines of sqwishland because they hold a special spot in my heart. This is where I’m at now. 

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    (nothing new on niphetos,,…. ,., maybe when I’m back from my trip)

    next week: doodling? probably portable projects :V

    I'll probably be keep projects small and fleeting because i'll be traveling a bit. Will definitely bring a sketchbook and current reading material to keep myself busy.


    Will see you next time with some costume pics <3


    Thanks for stopping by

    Xoxo oxxo xo oxxo

    kenze