How it’s made: Ursula from The Little Mermaid by K*Rod

I absolutely LOOOVE Halloween, so of course this means that I want a costume that is going to be fun and unique. Last year, during a game of beer pong, Kathryn and I came up with the idea of going as the Little Mermaid and Ursula. I’m not going to lie, making an Ursula costume seemed like quite a feat, but it all came together pretty quickly. Here’s how:



1. I scouted the local thrift stores in Denton to see if I could find anything that would give me an idea of the materials I might need. Luckily for me, Ruth’s Room was having an AMAZING sale where everything in the store was 50% off. I found this awesome corset and a high-waisted long black skirt that reached the floor. The total cost came out to about $5-7.
2. I had the idea of cutting the skirt into sections in order to form the tentacles. I went over to Jo-Ann’s fabrics and bought some purple silk-like fabric, glue sticks (for a hot glue gun), and some thread.
3. Next, after measuring and marking how short I wanted the skirt to be, I cut the skirt into 4 sections up to the mark I had made. Ursula only has 6 tentacles, so I was going to wear purple tights so that my legs would be 2 of the tentacles. After cutting the purple fabric into strips that matched the skirt length, I attempted to sew the purple fabric on. However, this was taking a long time. Soooo, I had to hit up Jo-Ann’s fabrics again for some Heat’n Bond Ultra Hold Iron-on Adhesive Tape. I ended up ironing on the adhesive tape to bond the purple fabric to the skirt.
4. During one of my various trips to Jo-Ann’s I bought some polyester fiberfill to stuff into the tentacles. After doing that, I took some wire cutters and cut metal hangers and ran the hanger into the stuffed tentacle and shaped them upwards. To make sure they would stay up, I hand sewed the back of the tentacles to the skirt. I had previously bought some small suction cups from Wal-Mart and painted them black with some craft paint I already had. I then used the hot glue gun to glue the suction cups to the tentacles.
5. To accessorize the costume, I bought a bag of shells, a black leather necklace strap, some purple craft paint, some earring wires, and a seaweed-looking black and purple garland at Michael’s. I wrapped the black leather strap to the top of a large shell and hot glued it to secure it. I then hot glued the earring wires to 2 small shells and painted them purple. I used some white color hairspray I bought at Wal-Mart to color my hair. Then Kathryn helped with my makeup and doused me in glitter spray.





AND THE REST IS HISTORY!!

RocKtober.

It’s my favorite month finally! Well not finally, actually, because 2011 is FLYING by like it can’t wait till the end of the world in 2012. Just kidding of course.

Reasons why I have renamed October ROCKtober:

Pumpkin Spice latte from Starbucks (just tried it a month ago and I’m HOOKED. One a week please)


Perfect weather. (Texas is pretty nice but Clemson is where fall is at its best)


Weekend mornings on my porch with a cup of coffee and my robe.


Football & my CURRENTLY undefeated CLEMSON TIGERS.


One year anniversary of my first and (only) tattoo.





Oktoberfest beer. YUM.


HALLOWEEN…obviously (posts to come about the creation of these costumes and this years’ costumes).





One year anniversary of the creation of KatBeckDesigns Featherbands (thanks to Megan’s inspirational visit a year ago).




Have a rocking start to October y'all!

Beautiful bangles.

I’ve kinda been on a mission for a couple of years to collect an armful of beautiful bangles. It’s been slow but definitely successful. Especially after a trip to Sam Moon yesterday. Here’s my current collection that sit in my teacups when they aren’t on my arm:






I blame my recent urge to up the ante on this style blog Atlantic-Pacific. She’s so inspiring it’s ridiculous. I literally am taking more fashion risks- adding more accessories, more scarves, more lipstick, all because she is so bold with her fashion. You can totally see that from these few snapshots here (just follow her though for real- she’s amazing).












She basically wears the same bracelets everyday and throws in an accent piece to coordinate
with her outfit; she obviously doesn’t work on a computer all day because it’s nearly impossible to type without making a ton of noise with THAT many on.

happy Wednesday lovers.

Ummm...where did you get that? Style Spotlight.

Ms. Beasley looking casual cute on Friday at work.


Jeggings: H & M
Boots: Cynthia's (boutique in Florence SC)
Shirt: Target
Vest: Buckle
Bracelet: Elan
Necklace: Vintage

Scarfs, jeggings, & boots season.

It’s officially Autumn. Not so much here in Tejas, but it is quite nice to have some 80 degree weather.

I get excited about this time of the year for 3 things- scarfs, jeggings and boots; and I have accumulated QUITE the collection of these 3 items.

*side note, if you are not aware of what jeggings are they are jeans that wear like leggings. duh. lol

Here’s some of my favorite finds for these fall essentials:




Grey pull ups from Forever21 / light Denim from Target / dark green stretchy from Target / Dark blue denim from The Gap / Black denim from The Gap

Jeggings + boots = BFFs. And if they ever stop making these comfortable perfect pants, I will go nuts on someone.




Plato’s closet find! Half cowgirl, half city slicker / What would I do without these target boots in brown and grey / Similar style from charlotte russe in black / Off-white is the new black, found them on Lulus.com / My mother’s cowboy boots which she may or may not get back. I believe she purchased from Belk


Scarfs make any dull outfit stylish; and they are cozy. I’ve collected SO many over the years I really cant tell you which is from where. But I generally have found them at Target, H&M, NYC street vendors, and Razzberry Fizz.

Happy Fall and Happy Friday!

Nude nails.

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Quick Sand.

Nude nails are very fall 2011. And this shade is great because:

1. It dries in a minute or less
2. Has a shimmery UNDERTONE which makes the nudeness of it not so boring
3. Makes your look “polished” literally and figuratively.
4. It’s cheap.

Here are some Hollywood hotties rocking the trend.









Please excuse the nubs that I call nails.

Hey bloggers.

Sorry I have been MIA. I have been trying to avoid the internet in general. I work on a computer 8 hours a day. Instead of blogging on my lunches and when I get home from work- I’ve been sitting/walking outside; simply enjoying nature and the wonderful weather. It’s really done numbers on my mind. At the same time- I really enjoy blogging. Right now I am researching a bunch of eye creams and new skin care products I have stumbled upon. So hopefully I will have some positive feedback from these products that I can share with you in the next couple of months.

Peace & love,
kat

Be the change you wish to see

My body misses yoga but my heart misses dance.



Why do my hobbies have to be SO EXPENSIVE!? Why can’t there be enough time to do jazzercise, dance and yoga in my daily life? At this point in life, I choose dance. I start back classes in a couple of weeks and am PUMPED. I figure- I can dance in my twenties and do yoga forever.

But still- I need yoga. So I came up with a somewhat solution. Yoga at home. After an 8 hour work day and almost hour commute to and from Dallas every day, I have to PUSH myself to get to jazzercise. So I know there is NO way I am going to do some yoga in the afternoons. I’ve set my alarm clock just 15 minutes earlier (5:22 people) and am waking up and doing some sun salutations. It’s only been a week of this new routine but I feel better. I’m not nearly as sore as I usually am from getting my booty kicked in jazzercise.

This all comes down to a little phrase I have always admired but have recently come to comprehend:

Be the change you wish to see.

I know what I wanted to change about my life, so instead of wishing, I am being. My next goal is to start walking more. Sitting ALL DAY LONG is starting to freak me out; especially after my husband showed me this article. Starting today, we are going to take a little walk around the ‘hood after dinner. We’ll see how long this lasts with his insanely busy school schedule starting on Thursday…

feng shui [Friday]: color

It’s the weeeeekend blog lovers. Today we are going to discuss the use of COLOR in feng shui, as it is one of the easiest ways to transform a living space and influence your mood.

The colors are categorized by the five elements: fire, earth, metal, water and wood.

FIRE – passion and Energy
A balanced Feng Shui Fire Element in your space will bring a supporting energy in all your career efforts and will help you achieve recognition.

· Red
· Orange
· Purple
· Pink
· Bright Yellow

In my office, the columns in the building are bold red. I think they had a good decorating consultant for sure.




EARTH – nourishment and stability
A strong and harmonious Feng Shui Earth Element in your home will help create stability, nourishment and protection for all your relationships.

· Pale Yellow
· Beige
· various Earthy/Sand Colors

I grew up in a home of various shades of beige. I found it BORING as a child but now I see that it truly did provide nourishment to grow and a sense of stability.




METAL – clarity and preciseness
Feng Shui Metal Element brings the qualities of sharpness, precision, clarity and efficiency; its balanced presence will help you live with clarity and lightness.

· Gray
· White

I am really into gray right now. I want a gray room in my future home for sure.



WATER - EASE, FRESHNESS AND ABUNDANCE
A harmonious Feng Shui Water Element will bring a refreshing energy of calm, ease, purity and freshness. Water is also the ancient symbol of abundance, thus a potent feng shui cure.

· Black
· Blue

I decided to paint our master bedroom a shade of blue (bluish greenish teal) to bring about the aspect of calm. It definitely is a very relaxing space. Since we put an ottoman in there, I can watch movies and I really do love the instant feeling of relaxation the color gives.



WOOD - HEALTH AND VITALITY
Lush and healing, the Feng Shui Wood Element will bring the energy of health, vitality and growth. It is also an expression of abundance, thus an ancient feng shui cure for wealth and prosperity.

· Brown
· Green

I definitely plan on using green in a baby’s room one day; an environment providing health and growth are perfect for little ones.




*thank you about.com for helping me put this into words

feng shui [Friday]:

I purchased an amazing book on Feng Shui about 3 years ago from Recycled Books (big purple building that says Opera House on the square) in Denton. First of all- what an incredible store to find the most random books on any subject and a plethora of old records. Took Megan Beasley and I literally had to drag her out of there.

As a lover of all things interior design and Eastern theory- I find feng shui so intriguing. There are so many elements to this subject I am going to ATTEMPT to make Fridays “Feng Shui Fridays.” (half way because its sounds cute and half way because there is so much awesome info to share on the subject). I believe that applying these theories to my little apartment have transformed it into a home.

Feng shui /FUNG-shoo-ee/: is an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics believed to use the laws of both Heaven and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive qi (energy).

feng = wind

shui= water

These two elements are associated with good health in Chinese culture, which they translate to good fortune. The Taoist vision is that the earth is living and filled with all sorts of energy. Being very superstitious, the ancients believed that the location and direction of their kingdom could influence their reign positively or negatively. The building blocks of feng shui come from the concepts of yin and yang and the five elements: earth, wind, fire, water, and wood. Todays topic is the compass, which is used to grid your living space, as it helps one to understand the movement of certain kinds of energy in certain places.

I literally drew this and saved it 3 years ago.



If you place this diagram over your living space (get a compass [iphone app]and find north) then you are able to see the areas of your home that are most conducive to certain activities. After doing the chart to my apartment, I found that some of my areas were in quite perfect positions for what’s going on in them.

North East sector is for study/contemplation: This is where I relocated Nicholas’s desk. He’s been super productive on his thesis and is bringing in 4.0’s…which he always does, but I do like to think having his desk here helps his mind concentrate.

South west sector is for relationships: This is the area that we made our master bedroom. Rather perfect for newlyweds sharing a room for the first time.

West sector is for children/projects: This is where I started my little business, KatBeckDesigns. All my featherbands are made sitting at my dinner table located in the west sector.


Take it as you will- but what you believe really affects how you perceive.

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone is having a great start to AUGUST! How did 7 months already fly by? Explanations please. I’ve just been spending my time battling with the glue gun. I found this on Pinterest (check it out if you haven’t already- pure amazingness) today.



I was just thinking about how I may not have fingerprints in a couple of years as I was making these featherbands now posted on KatBeckDesigns shop on etsy. Too funny. Too true.






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