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Inspiration: Creating Your Own Print Fabric

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Image via Nette

I recently read this post over on Nette’s blog about making your own fabric using ink and a stamp pad that could be used on fabrics and can withstand washing. After reading her post, my imagination went crazy and I could not fall a sleep for another hour because of the excitement..I’m not exaggerating! How wonderful is it to be able to create your own print fabric?! I love kitschy, quirky prints. Especially animal prints like crabs, cats, puppies etc. After further online search, I found this stamp pad, called Fabrico by VersaCraft. According to the item description, the fabric can be washed after you stamp and iron it. They have tons of color variations, and small stamp pads only cost 200yen (about 2.50USD) each!

Image via Calivintage

I’m so excited to make my own fabrics..has anyone had experience in doing something similar? I hope it really works and the fabric is durable for multiple machine washes!

Interview: Makeup Artist Mayuko Nakamura

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Today I’m sharing an interview I did with  the very talented makeup artist, Mayuko Nakamura. She did the make up for  Sarah who was featured in my Spring collection lookbook.  She also did the  hair and make up for Hannah and Rachael who were featured in the the After the Carnival lookbook. I was intrigued to see how she transforms the models without caking a heavy make-up on and was interested in learning more about her thoughts on make up and hair in general. I interviewed her in Japanese and translated in the transcript into English..here is Mayuko 🙂

❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤***❤ ***❤***❤

１、自己紹介をお願いします。
1. Please introduce yourself.

中村　繭子
1978年10月25日東京生まれ。
趣味は読書と雑誌や写真集を見ること。
体を動かすことが大好きで学生の頃からサーフィンをしています。
最近は、スケートボードも始めました。ジムでトレーニングをしたりもして楽しんでいます。
普段の生活は、ヘアメイクスクールに通ったり　東北沢にある、ZAPSURFSHOPでアルバイトしています。
カリフォルニアの素敵なサーフボードや、カラフルな　ウッドのスケートボードに囲まれ、　静かな時間を過ごしています。遊びに来て下さい。
My name is Mayuko Nakamura, I was born on October 25th, 1978 in Tokyo. My hobby is reading books and  magazines and I a  also into photography. I love exercising and I’ve been surfing since I was a college student. Recently I started skate boarding. I enjoy training at the gym as well.
I spend my days going to make up school, and working part time at a shop called ZAPSURFSHOP in Higashi Kitazawa. The shop is filled with beautiful surf boards from California and colorful skate boards made of wood. Please stop by at the shop if you have a chance!
２、なぜメイクの道にいくことにしたのですか？
2. Why did you decide to pursue a carrier as a make up artist?
10年勤めていたスポーツショップを去年退職し、第二の自由な人生を広げたいと思い、昔から好きだったヘアメイクの世界に思い切って飛び込みました。
きっかけは、M..A.C.での親切で明るい接客に感動したこと。そしてカラフルなカラーパレットから女性の美が無限に表現出来る事に驚き、　自分もシンプルでナチュラルな美しさを作品に残してみようと思い立ちました。
Last year I quit my job working at a sports shop after working there for 10 years. I decided to jump into the world of hair and make up which I’ve loved since I was little. I was inspired by the delightful customer service at M.A.C., and was happily surprised that you can express women’s beauty in an infinite number of  ways by using a colorful makeup palette. I wanted to express the simple and natural beauty of women.
３、おすすめメイクとスキンケアはありますか？
3. What kind of makeup and skin care do you recommend?
私の勧める大好きなメイクはずばりすっぴん風そのままメイク！です。一見　お化粧してるの？と思わせてしまうくらいのナチュラルさで実はしっかりとケアが行き届いているメイクを提案します。それにはやはり毎日のスキンケアは怠れません。しっかりとメイクをおとし、保湿をすることを忘れないで下さい。
夏の時期こそパックをしてあげてください。
夏にファンデーションに抵抗のある方は、BBクリームがおすすめです。最近のBBクリームはかなり優秀です。日焼け止め効果もしっかりあり、保湿もしてくれます。テカリを抑えるにはパウダーが必須ですが夏の時期はテカリをうまくツヤに変えヘルシービューティがかわいいです。チークもパウダーの物ではなくクリーム状のねりチークがおすすめです。鼻の上や頬の高いところに広めにオレンジ系のクリームチークをのせると日焼けしたような感じに仕上がりキュートになります。また夏に使いたくなるキラキララメは沢山つけるとぎらつきすぎててかりに見えるので気をつけてください。BBクリームでベースさえしっかりとしていれば、目元や口元も好きなアイテムを手でラフにつけるのもひとつのテクニックです。ご自分のチャームポイントをしっかり見つけて素材の美しさを殺さないように自信をもってメイクしてみてください。THREEというブランドのものは、大好きなネロリが使用されており、香りが優しく天然成分がたっぷりと含まれておりおすすめです。
I recommend makeup that looks as though you are not wearing any make up at all! I suggest natural make up that let people wonder “is she really wearing make up?” , when in fact, you have payed attention even to the smallest details. For that, it is important to do daily skin care. Make sure to remove make up and moisturize. In the Summer, use skin masks.
If you feel uncomfortable wearing foundation in the Summer, I recommend using BB cream. The BB creams that are out on the market are amazing.  They have sun screen effect as well as moisturizing effect. In order to avoid the skin shinning too much, you can use some finishing powder, but in the Summer, you can take advantage of the natural sun shine and create a glossy, healthy look. For blush, I recommend cream blush instead of a powder one. Personally, I think it would look cute to put on orange color cream blush on top of your nose and accentuate your cheek bones  if you have high cheek bones. You might want to use items that have a glitter effect in the Summer, but if over used, t might give too much shine so be careful for that. As long as you can create a beautiful base makeup with BB cream, you can be creative with your favorite cosmetics around your eye or lips, using fingers.
It helps to know your personal attractive parts and features. Work with what you have already, try to enhance your natural beauty, and be confident. I recommend items from a brand, THREE, which has items with my favorite aroma, nerolido. It has nice smell and plenty of natural essence.
４、おすすめのBBクリームはありますか？
4. What kind of BB creams do you recommend?
私は韓国ブランドのHANSKIN のキャビアゴールドBBが好きです。植物性のビタミンが 含まれており、薄付きながら ちゃんと カバーすべきところはつるんと隠してくれます。
LANCOMのUV エクスペール GNシールド５０BBは 日焼け止め効果が高いのに 乾燥せずに潤い、ベース効果以上に整わせてくれます。通常はこの上に ファンデを 塗るようですが 私はこれだけで外出することも しばしばです。
BBクリームは どんな肌色にも 馴染むのが 売りですが、やはりくすみを感じたり 逆に白っぽく出たりすることがあるので、 ご自身の肌色にあわせて使用することが大前提です。
他にも ボビーブラウン や ローラメルシェなどからも BBクリームという名称ではありませんが 同じような製品が出ています。今後 BBクリームが 主流になっていくのでは ないでしょうか。 

I am a fan of the Korean brand, HANSKIN Caviar God BB. The cream includes vegitable vitamines, and covers well as well as giving a natural look.
LANCOM UV expert GN shield50BB has high sun screen effect but does not dry out the skin. The effect is beyond that of  regular base make up items. Some people add foundation on this, but I often go out just with this item on my face.
BB creams have a benefit of going with any color of skin, but it is important to find a color that matches with your particular skin color to avoid dullness or being too white.
Bobby Brown and Laura Mercier have similar products, although they don’t name them as “BB cream”. I think BB creams will be more popular in the future.
５、時間がないときのおすすめメイクとコツはありますか？
5. What is your tips for makeup when you have a little time?
時間がなくて　ゆっくりメイクできない、というときこそ普段のメイクを省みてワンパターンメイクにはまらないヒントが沢山あふれています。
大概、隠したい部分やウィークポイントをカバーすることに限りない時間を費やそうとしますが、発想を逆手にとり、チャームポイントを生かすメイクにシフトしてみてください。自分の好きな顔のパーツをよくチェックし、普段のメイクの半分の時間だけでもそのパーツに集中して丁寧にメイクしてあげることでそのパーツから
普段にはない輝きとパワーが出るはずです。また街中でふと目に入る普段の自分とは違った自分からなにかしらメッセージが感じ取れるかもしれません。
When you don’t have enough time to leisurely put makeup on, it is an indication that you need to review your daily makeup routine. Usually, people tend to spend too much time putting on makeup. They take a long time covering up the parts they don’t like,when in fact they should spend more time focusing on your favorite parts of your face. Check what parts of your face you are most confident in or like the most and spend more time accentuating them. If you think that way, your favorite parts of your face will glow. Also, it is always good to look at various people on the street, you never know what you will find and you might be inspired by them to try something different.
６、日本の夏はものすごく蒸し暑いですが、それに対応できるかわいいヘアスタイルはありますか？
6. Japanese Summer is super hot and humid! Is there any hair style that can combat that?
とにかく　夏はアップスタイルが女の子をかわいく清潔にセクシーに見せてくれるはずです。頭も小さくコンパクトになる事でスタイルもよく見えます。
ポイントはアップにするお団子の高さと前髪にあります。お団子の高さを変えるだけで人から見た印象はだいぶ変わります。
服のイメージやデザインにあわせ変えてみてください。また、前髪を　コテで流してみたり、編みこみを混ぜてみたり七三で分けてみたり、ポンパドール風に　膨らませてみたりすることで同じアップスタイルも違った感じに楽しめると思います。
I think doing an up-do makes a girl look cute, clean and sexy in the Summer. By putting your hair up, it makes your head smaller and more compact, thus balancing out the entire figure.
The key is the height of your bun and bangs. Depending on how high or low the bun is, it totally changes the image. Change it up depending on your clothes. Also, you can play with your bangs by using a curling iron, add braids, side parts, or if your daring try a pompadour.
７、　これからの予定と計画、将来の夢はなんですか？
7. What are your future plans and dreams?
ヘアメイクの世界に仲間入りし、日々勉強と、新しい発見の連続で自分が求めているものを探求しながら進んで行きたいと思っています。
具体的には技術者として女性の美を日常のレベルから引き上げる　お手伝いが出来るように、気軽に入れるサロンのようなスペースを作りたいです。もしくは、
お客様のご自宅に出向き、リラックスした環境でメイクをさせていただいたり。高齢化社会に向けて、女性の美しさがどんどんアップしていき、またそれが精神的にもゆとりを持たせ、社会や家庭に還元されていくと思います。パワフルでそのままの美しさを活かせるきっかけとして私が出来る事を小さなことから見つけていくつもりです。
とにかく今はひとつでも多くの方にふれあい経験を積んで生きたいと思っています。
I’m planning on proceeding forward by studying daily and finding out new things in the hair and makeup world. Specifically, I would like to create a salon space where women can come in casually and learn how to enhance their beauty. I am also thinking about doing makeup at makeup visits by going to the customer’s house and teaching them the basics in a relaxed environment. In Japan, we live in an aging population so I hope to provide an arena for older women to use makeup and hair enhancements with particular effect so that they can influence both themselves and society. I would like to do as much as I can to provide opportunities for women to look beautiful in their natural state. I hope to be able to realize this goal by working with and  interacting with as many different kind people and as many different body/face types as possible.

Vacation after Vacation

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It’s weird that Andy and I felt that we needed a “break” right after our vacation to Korea! But after that hectic trip, we needed some rest – so we asked my mom to come over to watch the baby for a couple of hours while treated ourselves to a nice aroma oil massage at a place called River-M. It is a small salon, but it was so good! The aroma oil that comes with the massage is a nice addition.  I picked Yuzu (Chinese lemon) aroma oil and Andy picked Rosemary. It was so good. I fell a sleep during the massage! After that, we went to see Transformers 3. This was the first time we have been out to movie since the baby was born. I love going to Friday night late show movies. In Japan, movie times after 8pm are called “late show”, and most movie theaters have some discount. It is usually 1800 yen ($20 USD) for a movie, but for late show, it’s only 1200 yen ($14 USD). We could not do the late show this time since we had to put Kiko to bed and my mom needed to get back home by 7, but it was so nice to be out to movie theater again,  just two of us!

I also started taking Gertie‘s Perfect Bombshell Dress course at Craftsy. I’ve read that Novita and Paunette took the course and the course was really good. I decided to take it because I think I need to gain some new skills in preparation for the wedding dress I’m making for my friend. I’ve read some stuff about boning, underlining etc for structured dresses, but the video will be so informative and beneficial for me in this new endeavor. Plus, I got 50% off discount of the course from the BurdaStyle’s news letter. So it was $29.99 instead of $59.

I’m on video 5 out of 15 now, and it’s already shown itself to be beneficial. I’m leaning a lot about making muslins. Even Gertie’s tutorial on how to use PDF pattern was good, because she does it in a slightly different way than I usually do. So it was refreshing to go over some basics!

I’m thinking of making the bombshell dress for myself for a wedding that I’m attending in September (the wedding for the girl I’m making the wedding dress for!). I’ve never gone for this type of dress with a structured upper bodice, because I have a very flat chest – but since I’m still breastfeeding, I became a bit bustier than I used to be and want to take an advantage of having a new body while I have it! hehe :p

When I make clothes for myself, I tend to go for purple, navy, or pale pink. But I want to try some new color..I’m thinking of seafoam, like this 50’s wiggle dress? Do you have any suggestions? I’m looking for a nice solid color that’s not white or cream (obviously!).

And last but not least, BurdaStyle is featuring my variation of Heidi dress this week! Alison from BurdaStyle contacted me a while ago to make a maternity variation of Burda or BurdaStyle pattern. I picked Heidi, because I like the pockets and pleats of the skirt. Also I found it more flattering to wear an I-line skirt during my pregnancy. You only have the bump for a limited amount of time, so why not show off?! My version can be worn during pregnancy since the skirt is made out of stretch knit, but even after the baby is born as a nursing wear, since I install a zipper on both sides.

Check out here for the step-by-step instruction of how to make this dress!