Hawaii Photo Diary (instagram edition)

Had such an incredible time in Hawaii. (Is it even possible to have a bad time in Hawaii??) Quick instagram and iPhone photo recap before I share my outfits with you over the next couple weeks. :) xoxo!
**Side note, just noticed that one of the people in the photo above looks like she or he is mooning the beach. lol.


Flying in a Rachel Pally dress was the best decision ever. Also, I could stare at palm trees swaying in the wind all day long.

If you haven't been to Hanauma Bay, go immediately. It's amazing. Seriously.

Because Asians always take pictures of food. See this tumblr for proof.

Waikiki - Obligatory photo of Duke.

I seriously didn't realize what I was getting myself into with this hike. Trudging through 6-inch mud? I wouldn't have brought such a cute bag.

Hiking, Waimea Falls (aka the Drowning Pool, which I totally didn't know until later or i wouldn't have been so eager to hop in! O_O), Swimsuits for All Swim Sexy suit, and the birthday boy! ♥♥♥

At Lanikai Beach halfway through our kayaking trip around Kailua.
Thanks for hosting us and showing us around Michael! Best tour guide ever! ;)

Stay tuned for outfits from the trip and an awesome giveaway from one of my new favorite emerging brands! :) You won't regret it! :)
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Unfinished projects

I've been doing some cleaning and there are a lot of unfinished projects, some of which may never be finished. I decided to collect some of them to this post.

First, a pair of Barbie stilettos, which were bright pink to start with. I painted them black using acrylic paint and then added sealer to prevent the paint from chipping. These are unfinished, because I haven't figured out what kind of straps to use and how to attach them.

Next, a pair of plaster castings for Monster High dolls. The first stage was making a master using balsa wood.

Here's the sanded and painted master with another one made of modeling clay.

Making the latex mould. If you want something else than a wedge sole with this technique, the easiest option is to make the back of the heel straight, so the opening can be placed there.

A pair of plaster soles right out of the mould.

Here after a few coats of paint. And that's how far this project has come.

Then another Monster High repaint. The next stage will be painting the round studs, but I've been postponing that, because I know how hard it will be with eyesight like mine.

The final one is an experiment with shrinking plastic. It's a thin sheet of plastic (white, opaque or transparent), which shrinks and hardens when you bake it in the oven. The first picture shows the piece I made to get the right measurements. The scale drawn in the piece of plastic was originally 3 cm long.

When you bake the pieces, they first curl and then straighten back. The result is flat, if the oven temperature is just right.

I used the plastic sheets to make the same kind of heels as in the shoes made entirely of cardboard. Far right is the pattern in the correct size, far left the pattern enlarged to take the shrinking into consideration, and in the middle is the baked plastic heel.

Here you can see the difference in thickness. The upper piece I'm holding is an unbaked sheet and the lower one is a baked piece.

I have also made the straight parts of soles for these and glued the heels into them, but that's where this project has stopped, at least for now. The next stage would be to make the inner soles, probably out of cardboard as usual.