Recontruction!

I'M DONE WITH SCHOOL!

OK now that I got that out of my system, I would like to share some wardrobe updates I've made out of old clothing I would have thrown away or donated. I had been planning a big shopping spree for new summer clothing, but if I can use old clothes to make clothes then I can save more money for luckypacks or the next Lolita group order (we seriously have way too many group orders in Taiwan... it's so addicting!!)


I bought this long t-shirt a couple years ago because I love that bunny print and the fuzzy fur tail. I saved only the front piece and replaced the back with leftover fabric from a school assignment, added black binding, a ribbon rose and bow from a school assignment, and trimmed it with lace leftover from the Lolita Runway Challenge from last year.



My mom got some One Piece t-shirts and gave me one. It was an oversized t-shirt and I'm not a follower of the One Piece series (I only like Chopper because he's cute!) so I combined it with an old tank top and old bra to make a dress. This was also the first time I tried adding a bra to clothing, so there is definitely room for improvement~



My first shoe reconstruction, which didn't turn out very well!! I covered flats I was going to toss with leftover fabric from school projects. I don't know how well these will last because I've only worn them once, but it was fun!


Something nice that you can do with t-shirt scraps leftover from reconstruction is to wrap cheap plastic hangers with them to help prevent your clothes from sliding off! This way, you can buy the cheaper hangers and then customize them with different colored fabrics. This is a good way to upcycle and save money:


Lastly I cut up a maxi dress from a couple years ago into a skirt and a crop top. I have never worn a crop top before but they seem to be really in style this year! I just hope I will have the confidence to actually try to wear it out....


Before (clickable):


After (clickable):

Dessert Coord

Taiwan is a very food-abundant country, and desserts are definitely a big part! I chose two of the most famous Taiwanese desserts for this week's Lolita Blog Carnival. The number one dessert is probably pineapple cakes: I have made about a thousand of these before (literally a thousand. We were experimenting with different recipes...) but I actually don't like to eat these very much (sh!) Another famous dessert is mango shaved ice. Shaved ice in and of itself is very popular dessert, but mango is probably the most famous and popular topping. The colors of both these desserts are similar so I made one coord for them.

Mango Ice/Pineapple Cake by talarayne featuring nylon stockings

I'm not sure if the black shoes really work with this coordinate. There is usually brown sugar syrup added with shaved ice, but perhaps orange shoes would work, too. It was really different to design something with white and orange, since orange is such a rare color to see in Lolita fashion. I didn't want to do orange and yellow because I thought that might end up looking too citrus. How do you like this color combination? What is your favorite dessert food? I think my favorite dessert food is actually currently 綿綿冰(mian mian bing), which is literally "cottony" or "fluffy" ice, which is ice cream that is sort of a medium between ice cream and soft serve. Ice cream is definitely my food I can never give up!





Other Participating Blogs:
Lace a la Mode
2tsp of Sugar
Hello Kitty Loves Disney
Rainbow Star Candy Shine

Quick Video Link!

I just saw this clip on Lolita Fashion in Japan shared by a fellow Lolita on facebook. Check the video out here! What is your opinion on this clip?

Happy Dragon Boat Festival!

(Dialogue: If I had known everybody would only remember zhongzi, I wouldn't have jumped!) (Caption: FireMakers reminds you: Suicide cannot solve anything. Please treasure your precious life!) Happy Dragon Boat Festival! OK this comic is a little morbid, but still a little funny I spent the holiday with my mom and paternal grandparents. We went out for hotpot and it was really yummy! We actually didn't even eat zhongzi because we were so full...

THE WHO Crafting Meetup!

It has been so long since I've been to a Lolita meetup!!! First of all, here is my outfit:

Outfit Rundown:
JSK, bloomers: handmade by me
Petticoat: Classical Puppets
Shoes: AN*TAI*NA
Everything Else: offbrand

This meetup was a crafting meetup at THE WHO cafe. It was really nice because we booked the whole space so where were no outsiders to take secret photos of us! It was very relaxing and we all brought the supplies we had to exchange/buy/sell and make items.


Unrelated: Me and a fat cell

I ended up making several rings, a pin, two clips, and a headdress:


PiGi had brought colored glue sticks so we used a chocolate one. AKI made like 30 rings! I only used it to outline LOVE on a cookie that I made into a clip and as a drizzle on a macaron, but it is SO much more difficult to use than regular hot glue! It is much runnier, so if you use it I would suggest that you have everything you want to drizzle set up already. If you leave the glue gun on, the "sauce" will keep dripping out and we ended up wasting quite a bit!

It also comes out more "gloopy" when you squeeze the trigger, so squeeze very gently!
If you need to change colors I'd definitely suggest putting a clear stick in between to sort of "clean" the glue gun and prevent the colors from mixing.

Here is some of the stuff I brought:


The cafe owners were incredibly nice! The food was very tasty and looked very cute.
Handmade cookies:


My chocolate cheesecake:


My Rose Au Lait:

The bird is a craft material that PiGi brought!

There are a lot of pictures, so I'll post the thumbnail links which are clickable to see the larger images:
THE WHO:


Lolitas and crafts:




Group photo with the owners in back!

Organizing and Room Decor

I've recently been making more organization and decor in my room. The first bit started with a bit of insomnia. I don't like the look of my pills case, and, in a random fit of creativity, decided to deco it.


I did not plan it out and simply glued random gems on and then a ribbon around the base. I don't like to have the entire thing covered in rhinestones, but if you have daily vitamins or medication to take, this is a cute way to brighten it up!

A day or so later, I got out some empty glass food jars and decided to use them to store brushes and vitamins. The lids weren't very pretty, so I colored them like so:

I used a base of white paint to make the nail polish colors brighter.

While I had all my craft material out, I decided to organize my deco tape so they would be easier to get to. I rolled up a piece of thick paper (it was a file envelope), hot glued ribbon around it, and then hung it up on the wall. I'm not allowed to stick hooks on the wall (not even 3M command hooks because they still leave a mark!) so this is the only hook in my whole room! It was left by the previous tenant :)

The foam tape is really unruly, but this way is easier to see the deco tape I need!

I also went on a shopping spree and got new hangers and a shower curtain rod (the extending type) so I could create a new space to hang up my clothing. It's right over my bed area and is supported with two hooks in the middle section to help hold up the weight of the clothing.


This has freed up so much space in my closet so I can finally put my books in the upper shelf levels!! I've lived here for nine months and finally unpacked the last box, haha!

This was the outfit I wore for my shopping at the department store:

Birthday Post

I celebrated my birthday with a couple friends and a coworker at a Rock bar (Roxy Rocker) in Taipei!
So now I am completely 23 :) Feel like I'm getting so old!

Even worse, I haven't even worn Lolita much this year!
So here is an old comparison photo:


Not the VERY very first outfit, and not the VERY very latest outfit. But the photos taken at my actual birthday celebration were quite unflattering due to my extreme Asian glow and the fact that my alcohol tolerance is extremely poor so I got extremely drunk extremely fast. I did get to try absinthe, though!


It was the first time to try this drink for many of us, so we learned the hard way that if you do not blow out the fire quickly enough (after you drop the blazing sugar cube in, the absinthe catches fire), science takes place and the glass will split very smoothly and perfectly at the edge of the alcohol due to the heat difference between the heated top portion of the glass and the cold bottom portion. Science at its best!

I cannot wait for summer to arrive so that there will be more time to do fun things!

Hope you are all having a great week/break if you are already on break!