MY BRAND NEW ART PINS/BUTTONS

I POSTED THIS FIRST THING ON MY ART SITE: WWW.CARLIEMICHELLESORATARTWORLD.COM BUT WANTED TO POST HERE AS WELL BECAUSE I’M SO EXCITED AND PROUD OF THIS!!!!! YOU CAN NOW WEAR MY ART WORK AS FASHION AGAIN!!!

Thank you to Big Cartel and Metal Works for creating these personalized pins of my art work. We collaborated on what I wanted engraved and the materials I wanted for them and we came up with an amazing product. To start with, two art pieces of mine were chosen. The first one is titled, “LUST” and the second pin you can get is titled, “Rare Oddity.” Both styles are made with strong, sturdy, and beautiful enamel which give a nice gloss to them without being over powering so you can see the art work perfectly without a glare.

   Either style retails for $12.00 plus shipping. (THE FIRST 10 PEOPLE WHO PURCHASE A PIN WILL GET A LITTLE SURPRISE AS WELL!)

I’ve always been a huge advocate in artists supporting other artists and I hope everyone enjoys this customized pins! Leave a comment below or hit me up on any of my social media pages to place an order!

Spooky Halloween Preparation OOTD

   I don’t do these often but when I do, I like to show everything and do them in a fun way so sometimes you’ll see ootd photos or videos like today. I wanted to do this video to show my spooky sexy outfit for getting my first batch of 2019 Halloween decorations at Michael’s, my home away from home. Here’s my video of my Outfit of the Day.

Today’s OOTD!

Video plus a list and pics of all the brands and tutorials I did in the video. Enjoy!

My Fashion Mood of Today

 I accomplished a lot of things today. Errands, cleaning, organizing, doing my art, starting my first story, etc. and as a fun post, I wanted to share my outside look today and what I did when I got home.

Sporting my “RedRum” lipstick, I didn’t have time to do my hair how I normally would’ve liked to because I was running late to an appointment, but I sported my cartoon “Beatles” tank that I first showed off in my “10 summer outfit” post last year with my black Peplum blazer, my dark denim jeans cuffed with my red and white bow high heels, and last but not least, my “AbbyNormal” (Young Frankenstein) necklace.

When I got home, I washed my face, applied my favorite “Fresh” rose mask, and took a nice soak After I changed into one of my beautifully multi-colored kaftan that I had recently got that made me feel regal from the long flowing material. One of my projects today was organizing my closet wear I keep my wigs. I found one of my fun purple wigs that I never wear and decided to slip it in to get my “CREATIVE ORGANIZATIONAL” juices flowing. There was no way I was going to put my makeup back on but I applied my prismatic “Alien Tears” topper from Jeffree Star Cosmetics. I completed my fun at home look with one of my many crystal pieces, my adventurine cluster hair comb.

Today wasn’t the day that I thought it would be when I woke up. It was better. I felt more positive about the day when I was out and about than when I first woke up. It was a good day and I encourage you all to something fun and kooky, like running around in a crazy wig, if you want to change your mood. Thank you all for reading about my day. Sending lots of love to you all.

Interview and Feature with Debra Shirley

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY, I got to interview and write a feature on the extremely talented hat and fascinator designer, Debra Shirley. You all know who she is from my Victorian photoshoot I did last year, my Burlesque shoot I did last year, my recent article on her with my latest hat from her in the, “BLACK VEILED BEAUTY” article, and more. If you haven’t seen all those posts, click on her tag here or type her name into SEARCH here to see all the posts I’ve done on her. 

Here is my interview that I did with her. I absolutely am in love with Debra and her talent!!

1. How did you get into making these gorgeous hats, fascinators, and head pieces?

1).  Princess Diana inspired my love of hats at the age of 10, when I borrowed a book on her from the library. She was so stunningly beautiful in all of the hats that she wore that I’m certain she seared my 10 year old brain into linking beauty with hat wearing.  It did not occur to me that I could design hats until I was studying fashion design in my 20’s. Whatever class that I wanted to take during the summer was full and I did not want to remain idle so I ended up taking a Millinery class to keep busy.  I quickly became enamored with the art, and the skills involved in creating came oddly natural to me.

2. How long have you been designing your art?

2).  I first studied millinery in the 1990’s, and soon after was able to start a full time job as a Milliner in a high-end Bridal Salon in Chicago, designing wedding veils and headpieces. As can sometimes happen with trying to earn a living, I lost focus on my true passion for hats and playful headwear. It wasn’t until 2014 that I decided to devote time and energy into creating hats and fascinators and getting them out into the world.

3. Did you teach yourself or take a class when you were starting out?

3).  Veronica Chin, a very talented Milliner at Burning Bush Millinery was my millinery teacher when I first started out.  I took millinery 1, and 2 which is all that the school offered. The school ended up adding a 3rd level class to its curriculum, because of the interest of myself and a few other students at the time.  I learned classic techniques such as blocking, pattern making, wiring and embellishing.  I took what I learned and expanded as much as I could. Each time you make a new piece you can learn from it.

4. What are your favorite events to create your fascinators and hats for?

4).  I love to create hats and fascinators for any event that a woman wants to dress up for and feel fabulous. That could be a day at the horse races, a polo match, a ladies luncheon or even a special photo shoot!

5. What’s your main source of inspiration?

5).  Inspiration can strike in various ways. One of my favorite ways to be inspired is to work off of the colors or details in a dress or favorite outfit. I like to pull the concepts out of the print of a garment and bring them to “life” in headwear, as if the hat is an extension of the outfit.  Sometimes I am inspired by a separate component or embellishment such as a flower or feather.  One piece can get me excited and I start looking for other pieces to go along with it, until the next thing you know, its a finished hat!

6. What’s the best compliment that you have received from a client?

6).  The best compliment that I have ever received from a hat client?  It doesn’t get any better than  “I felt so beautiful wearing your creation” the key word is “felt”. I love when women “feel” beautiful  in addition to looking beautiful.

Debra and I have developed a great relationship and I’ve probably said this before but I’m so extremely happy that I met her and have become friends with her. I hope to see her soon. I hope you enjoy her beautiful photos to give you an idea of what she can create and make sure to check out all her sites.

debrashirley1111@yahoo.com

www.millineryetc.com

www.millineryetc.etsy.com

Instagram: @DEBRASHIRLEY1111

P.S: Thank you Debra, my talented fellow artist friend!

Little Black Bats

Alright I have done many many many articles on jewelry and accessories, especially unique jewelry that is handmade and/or you can’t find anywhere else. I got a brand new store and special friend that creates amazing handmade unique jewelry. Her name is Jenna Michals and her company is Little Black Bats which is such a cute name. I instantly connected with her and her work. Little Black Bats mostly makes Halloween, spooky, and magical inspired pieces but they also make fun and funny pieces as well. I’ll include the store information at the end of course.

   I bought two pieces from Little Black Bats. The first one is my dark circus cluster necklace which reminds me of a spooky Alice in Wonderland piece.

   The second one I bought was a my “DEAD BUT DELICIOUS” green and black necklace which the moment I saw it in Jenna’s shop I had to have it. It’s a quote from a brilliantly funny and spooky film spoof called, “What we do in the shadow” from New Zealand. (By the way, if you haven’t seen that movie, you MUST see it. I connected with my sister Suzy Owen who is also from there, and we both saw it together the same night, just on different sides of the world.)

Here is how Little Black Bats got started. Hope you enjoy this article and you must check out Jenna and the shop:

“Little Black Bats was born out of frustration of needing a creative outlet. In the very beginning, I was making laser-cut acrylic jewelry, but soon after realizing it wasn’t the right medium for me, I changed gears and started working with shrink plastic. It gave me the freedom I was looking for to create, and three years later, the wheels haven’t stopped turning. I seek inspiration from everything—mainly music, movies, gothic and horror subcultures, medical oddities, and more.”

Another thing I adore about Jenna as a person and why I think we became fast friends is that we have a lot of important things in common, besides both liking spooky fun, stuff include that we’re both artists, we both believe in supporting artists, we both have a strong work ethic, and more. Definitely check Little Black Bats on all their social media sites and especially the store. You won’t be disappointed.

Little Black Bats pages:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/littleblackbatsjewelry/

Instagram: IG name: @littleblackbats

Etsy Store: www.littleblackbats.etsy.com

December Hits/Misses, and Holiday Faves

I hadn’t done a Product Hit or Miss video in awhile so I thought since it is the end of the year I thought it would be great to do one. Also since it’s the holiday season, I included some of my wonderful Holiday Faves. Hope you enjoy the video and make sure to always subscribe to my youtube channel if you haven’t already and click like on this video as well please. Thank you everyone! Happy Holidays!

Night Before Halloween Car Vlog

Mrs. Freddy Krueger

   This past Sunday, I did a photo shoot inspired by my favorite horror movie character, Freddy Krueger. If you’ve known me for awhile and/or followed my site here, you already know how much I love Robert Engund aka Freddy Krueger and that I have one of the autographed gloves from the movie series, and that I’ve dressed up like him and done shoots inspired by him many times. This Freddy Krueger shoot however was different.

   This shoot is a collaboration with my good friend Haley Murin. If you don’t remember, Haley is one of the owners and artists of Street Trash Art along with her talented fiance’ Dustin Tyler that made by amazing Nightmare on Elm Street hoodie that I rocked in San Francisco. We traded Freddy hoodies. Haley and I don’t live close which is really unfortunate but I believe we are definitely psychically linked because we both happened to acquire the exact same pair of Nightmare on Elm Street socks. I thought that it was funny and cool that we have such similar taste that I thought taking photos of us in our Freddy gear would be a cool and fun idea…. and I was right.

  I donned a black and burgundy wig and did a black glittery smoky eye look topped with my new black and orange glitter lipstick. I also had my collectible Freddy Krueger bronze mold also from the movie as a prop to show off. The weather is started to finally cool down by me so taking hoodie photos with my matching knee socks outside without sweating to death was really nice.

   I really enjoyed doing this shoot and I can’t wait to see Haley’s pictures which I will post side by side soon. She is such a sweet and cool person and I’m very glad I met and have become friends with her.

   Hope you enjoy my photos. Let me know below. Who are your favorite horror characters? What are your favorite horror films?

Fall Fashion Finesse

  Hello everyone. My first Autumn fashion article is a collaboration with one of my favorite girlfriends who runs “LifewithLilRed” aka the wonderful Sarah Mushenheim who I’ve done many  collaborations with, nominated eachother for blog awards, and hopefully will have her feature interview on my site too. 

  So for our latest collab, we can up with the idea for fall fashion looks we like. Now before you look at these, remember I live in Southern Californian so it’s not super cold here yet. But my two outfits I did a shoot with can be layered for when it gets really cold and into winter. For example, my two looks in a warm dress and the other one consists of shorts but always feel free to adding stockings, long socks like I do, etc. layering is always a good thing. 

First Look:

My first fashion look is a staple for me every time it’s this season. I love my red and blue long flannel dress and I love wearing it with shorts and some heavy thigh high socks. I love boots so I’m showing my black short boots with gold sharp studs on them and a gold heel. I rocked my leather shorts which can keep me warm because of the leather and ended this look with a cool rock and roll top underneath my flannel and my music jewelry cause music is life! Enjoy look number one.

Second Look:

My second look I’ve been wanting to show for awhile is my sexy new hoodie dress. It’s the Vixxsin Black Bettie Page zipper dress which comes attached with a beautiful fitted fur hoodie. The detailing on the back is genius and definitely my style or all my eclectic taste such as pinup, rock & roll and a touch of goth. I paired this dress with my thigh high boots which are the sexiest thigh boots I’ve ever owned. But like I said in my first look, you can layer stockings under the boots or if it really cold by you, wearing thick or thermal leggings. Get created! I say that a lot in my articles but it’s true and will save you a lot of money. Thank you for reading this and enjoy my second set.

Hope you enjoy these looks and check out Sarah’s blog, lifewithlilred. What are your favorite autumn looks? Leave below in the comment section under your likes and thank you for reading and looking at my first fall photoshoot!