Look Pretty.

I have a new website! Catafterparty.com

2015-05-13T13:06:00.001-07:00

If you would like to keep up with my travel, photography and craft adventures, please stop by my new website at www.catafterparty.com

Put it in your RSS feed so you never miss a post!

:)

Paso Robles-Something Old, Something New

2014-11-20T18:50:00.001-08:00

Going North, Paso Robles is 3 hours outside of L.A. Don't even think about taking the 5 up there. If you want to actually enjoy yourself, take the 101. I love the area and try to go as often as I can (which hasn't been too often lately).

There are certain things I always try to do when I go to Paso Robles and the surrounding areas. I didn't get around to doing everything I usually do, but I marked some good ones off the list this time around.

I always go to Rotta Winery and do a tasting, if only to get just a sample of their Black Monnuka dessert sherry. It may be the best dessert drink I have ever tried. I bought some bottles to take home with me this time around. ;)

There are many other fantastic wineries in the region, I wish I had time to do a couple of more tastings, but that Black Monnuka draws me in every time.

I also always go to Full of Life Flatbread in Los Alamos, CA. It just might be the best pizza I have ever eaten. I love the town too. After having not visited for a number of years, I was happy to see that the town is growing and even has some new restaurants and bars. I'd love to try them next time I go up.

I also always see the ocean- California's #1 roadside attraction. Brian and I just happened to catch the tail end of a beautiful sunset.

There were a couple of new things that I did when I was in Paso that I really enjoyed! I had not been to Paso in a couple of years, so this time around there were new places to go!

I went to a new Olive Oil Farm!

Kiler Ridge Olive Oil Farm had great scenery and a fantastic and informative tasting for only $5! It is great for taking a break between wine tastings. They even have a cute olive oil dog! I would definitely go back the next time I'm in the area and get another tasting.

We also went to a relatively new brewery called BarrelHouse Brewing Company and sampled all of the beers that they had on tap. Everything we tried was delicious. They even have free pretzels and mustard to munch on while you're sipping your beers!

We were in a sampling mood, so we went to Vivant, the local cheese shop to see what they had. We were introduced to the cheeses of Central Coast Creamery, which were absolutely fantastic. We bought two hunks of cheese to take home with us. Its too bad Central Coast Creamery does not have a tasting room. I would be all over that in a second. Their cheese is delicious.

I also went to The Ghostriders Tavern in Los Alamos for the first time. It was not at all what I expected. I always thought there would be a plethora of burly bikers inside, and I was always kind of anxious to go in in the past. But we decided to check it out, and there were actually only a couple of regular looking folks in there. It was great being so empty, because it gave us plenty of room to play pool.

The last (actually first) thing I did for the first time in that area was visit the small town of Santa Margarita. There isn't much there, but they did have a cute cafe that Brian and I ate breakfast at, and a very decent antique store right next door. I mean, where else in the world can you find a 1954 edition of Chinchilla News?

Paso Robles and the surrounding cities are places you wish you could stay at for just one more day. If I had time I would go to the Madonna Inn for a fancy surf and turf dinner, check out the lavender farm in Los Olivos, and maybe do a couple of more wine tastings, go antiquing in Los Alamos and try their new lunch spot Bell Street Farm. Maybe if I was feeling adventurous, I would even go dancing in Santa Barbara! Next time...

Dress + H&M

Shoes + Kelly & Katie

Watts Towers in 1975

2014-09-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

I couldn't find the best way to incorporate this into my blog post from August when I visited the Watts Towers, but I still wanted to share some vintage photos from my Mom's trip there in 1975. The Towers have changed a bit since 1975, you can't climb on it anymore, and you can't go inside without purchasing a tour. I don't think the very last photo was at the towers, but its a random picture of my dad in the 70s!

Gettin' Idyllwild.

2014-09-23T10:30:00.002-07:00

Last weekend Brian and I headed to Idyllwild with Rachelle, Aaron, Paula and Matt. Idyllwild is located on the west side of the San Jacinto mountain range. Just to give you some perspective, Palm Springs and Joshua Tree are on the east side of the range. The west side of the range is like a whole different world.

Brian was our designated driver again, so I got to record some of the view on the way over.

Before setting up camp we took an excursion into the town of Idyllwild to eat breakfast and shop. The area is full of travelers, bikers, rock climbers, hikers, locals, and occasionally adorable alpacas (I want one). There is so much to do here, that I feel like you should spend a weekend just staying in the town seeing all of the shops and restaurants, and another weekend just in the mountains checking out the different nature trails.

The shops I visited all leaned a little hippie/spiritual, but they are fun to peruse and they smelled good because of all of the incense.

shot by Rachelle Neshkes

Shot by Rachelle Neshkes

When we got to the campsite we set up, and then decided to go on an easy trail to warm up for the next day. We ended up on a horse trail, but it was beautiful just the same, and we got to see horses!

If you're into hopping on boulders, there are several large rock formations to climb in the area!

The next day we went on the Devil's Slide trail. Apparently you need a permit to hike on state lands in Idyllwild, so be sure to stop by the Mt. San Jacinto State Park Ranger Station before you go so that you can register for a permit.

The Devil's Slide trail was pretty hard, but it was completely worth it to get those amazing views. It was a great hike because it was perfect weather, and it was mostly shaded. We opted not to go to the top of the mountain due to time constraints, so we ended up at a junction that is part of the Pacific Crest Trail.
It was pretty awesome to be in the midst of people who were traveling so far. I would love to take a couple of months off and experience the trail from start to finish. Maybe one day...

Junction group shot c/o Matthew McPherson

I'd love to go back to Idyllwild and check out a couple more trails, and maybe even hike part of the PCT. It is great for the weekend to get a taste of the town and surrounding nature. I would probably suggest 3-4 days so you can do a little bit more of exploring the town and hiking trails.

Shirt + Nordstrom

Shorts + Insight Venice

Boots + Thrifted

Hat + Dofrman Pacific

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Joshua Tree Weekend Getaway

2014-09-05T17:52:00.002-07:00

Joshua Tree is about two hours from Los Angeles, but it feels like a whole different world. Brian and I have been on a roll when it comes to weekend camping trips lately, so when Brian's friends invited us to join them in Joshua Tree, we couldn't resist!

I did some research and realized that there were several points of interest along the way to JT that were worth checking out.

Our first stop was the in the unassuming little city of Rialto, CA. Right off of historic Route 66, you can find something you don't see everyday. It is a very unique motel where all of the rooms are actually teepees! We didn't get to look inside the "teepees", but the outside was like nothing I have ever seen before.

Our next stop was the location of the first ever McDonalds. The actual restaurant was demolished, but the original sign is still there, as well as a commemorative museum. The museum is small and needs a little work, but it was fun to walk through and see all of the old characters that McDonalds has had through the years.

Our last stop before Joshua Tree was the famous Cabazon Dinosaur roadside attraction that is right off of the 10 freeway. I've been out that way a couple of times, but always managed to miss the dinos. I finally got out to check them out, and they are really quite large. It was a fun little photo opp!

Joshua Tree is calm and peaceful. When the sun went down we could see so many stars! Our group decided to star gaze, so we all laid out on huge boulders and looked up at the sky for a while. I think I saw 3 or 4 shooting stars that night. It was beautiful!

The next morning we decided to go rock hopping, because Joshua Tree has a ton of huge boulders. We spent a good hour or two hopping around rocks before heading home.

c/o Brains Rigazzi

It was great to see all of the little stops hidden around California, and Joshua Tree was as beautiful as ever. I can't wait to go again!

Shirt + Forever 21

Shorts + Forever 21

Shoes + Aldo

Kernville

2014-08-23T18:50:00.001-07:00

Now, most people in LA are never going to say, "I want to go to Bakersfield this weekend!" Unless you are a trucker, or passing through to get to San Francisco or Sequoia, Bakersfield isn't going to be on your radar. ever. That being said, its still kind of an interesting place. Because it is a major hub for people who are "just passing through", it has a mysterious, eerie vibe of non permanence, at least the trucker motel we stayed at on our way to Kernville did.

I brought my cowboy boots because I thought we were going to go to a honky tonk bar the night we got there, but we were so exhausted by the time we got there that we just went straight to bed. I'm planning on going back to Kernville, so hopefully I will have another chance to get that Honky Tonk in.

So about Kernville. If you're pretty much from anywhere else on the planet, you have a cool river to hang out at near you, but in Los Angeles, all we have is a huge ocean. Yes, we do have the L.A. River, and the folks here are putting in a great effort to revitalize that natural resource, but its going to take a while before you can swim or fish in it again (if ever).

Kernville is three hours away from L.A. by way of the scenic highway 178. I love that my boyfriend loves to drive on road trips, because I got to look at the view the whole way, and it was gorgeous!

The city of Kernville is really cute with a small western town feel. They also have their antique game down. They have some good stuff in those antique stores.

After we stuffed our faces at the Cracked Egg Cafe, we headed out to our camp at Headquarters Campground.

Headquarters Campground is located about 10 minutes from the city of Kernville. It is great because it is close to the river, and there are several campsites that are right along the river. The only downside is that each camp does not have a lot of shade cover, and privacy is definitely lacking between campsites. (We were at site # 30). We had a great time, though, and we made friends with the other campers. Don't expect to have a quiet camping experience if you go though, thats not what this place is about. This place is about drinking beers on the river and hanging with your buds. Good times!

We had a great time camping in Kernville. We saw a couple of shooting stars and satellites, had a nice campfire, and ate a ton of food that we cooked over the fire. After we packed up camp and headed back to town, we decided to try stand up paddle boarding. The place we went to was very helpful and had a great rate for 4 hours of paddle boarding. We found out that we couldn't paddle board on the river, so we headed to Lake Isabella which is about 10 minutes from Kernville.

We returned our rental exactly 4 hours later, and we were absolutely starving, so we decided to drop by the Kern River Brewing Co. It was a good decision on our part, if only for the amazing fried pickles! They also had a great house made BBQ Sauce. I got the beer sampler flight, and all of their beers are tasty, especially their Just Outstanding IPA.

After that we headed home, but I'm sure we will be back. We still need to try out river rafting, and other river sports that we don't have back in LA. Until then....

Cowboy boots + Thrifted

Tan shorts + Gifted

Floyd Shirt + Walmart :-/ (sorry, I won't do it again)

Bikini Day 1 + JC Penny?

Bikini Day 2 + American Apparel

Other top + An American Artist original

Watts up?

2014-08-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

I think my mom was the first person to tell me about Watts Towers. Many a hippie in her day had sojourned to the depths of South Central to see this magnificent work of art. Ever since I found out about the towers, I knew that one day I would visit. The visit I had this weekend was definitely long overdue, but I'm happy to say that I can finally scratch this little Los Angeles adventure off of the list!

I think the most amazing thing about this piece is that it was created by one person, Simon Rodia, who worked tirelessly for over thirty years to create his masterpiece. Then, when it was done, he simply gave the ownership of the property to his neighbor and walked away, leaving behind a legacy that in its own way, paid homage to the legacies of his heroes- Da Vinci, Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus.

Its really like nothing you have ever seen! Everyone in Los Angeles should give it a visit. Even if you are not from L.A., it is definitely worth your while to make a little detour over to Watts Towers. Tours are $7 which includes access to a small art exhibit in their visitor center and a short documentary. To find out when you can go view the property, click here.

It was a hot day in Watts and we didn't eat any breakfast, so we decided to try Hawkins House of Burgers. It was pretty damn tasty. Brian really liked his fat egg cheese burger, and my fish sandwich was perfectly cooked. The onion rings are awesome, too!

We decided that we were on a roll and so on the way home we stopped by another Los Angeles landmark, Randy's Donuts in Inglewood, Ca. I love the 50s vibe, and don't be fooled by the kitschiness, these donuts are REALLY good. We got two jelly filled for two bucks! Can't beat that. :)

Sunglasses + Vintage

80s shirt + Thrifted

Jean Skirt + Thrifted

Shoes + Vans

zoooooooommmmm ouuuuuuuuuuuutttttttttt :)

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Mazes and Surprises on La Brea

2014-08-07T11:00:00.002-07:00

As an Angelino, have you ever driven by that place on the corner of La Brea and 1st street and said, "what the heck is that?!" Well, after asking myself that for the last 10 years, I finally decided to stop in and see what exactly the place is about.

As it turns out, its kind of a neat place. It is called Metropolis Nick Collectible Furniture. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by an interesting fellow with purple hair (possibly Metropolis Nick). We walked through the place, which was like walking through a colorful maze. There are a lot of large vintage and antique pieces of furniture, paintings, and signage. But, there are small things that catch your eye too. It is definitely a fun place to check out if you are in the area.

On a side note, if you are a man on a mission in search of fashionable items, this is the area for you. Right next door to Metropolis Nicks there are several men's fashion boutiques. (Sorry, that doesn't sound very manly). They all are a bit different and all have great style (Union, Stussy, Undefeated, Black Scale, And Still). We went in store after store and it seemed to be never ending! There are also a couple of cute looking restaurants nearby, so you don't have to shop till you drop.

Here's a pic of a dressing room in one of the men's clothing stores. Unfortunately I forget the name of this one. But if you ever end up in it, say hi to buff Alf for me.

Romper + Lulu*s

Sunglasses + Desert Daze find

Sandals + Amazon :P

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Friday Favorites #3

2013-10-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday! Here are some things I've been looking at this week...

////This is a MUST SEE for any Game of Thrones fan :)

////I didn't know this before, but Lynn Hirschberg's interviews of really famous people are fantastic. Check out her interviews on Pinterest . I actually thought Taylor Swift interviewed surprisingly very well. I thought Joseph Gordon Levitt's was really interesting as well...

////I thought this was cool- Every outfit Walter White ever wore on Breaking bad

////This is a dessert made to look like Ramen! HAH!

////Here is a history of the most popular female names in America. Kinda weird!

////Here is a silly ad campaign for the Canadian beer company Molson

////11 Illustrations of Words with no English equivalent

////This ice cream recipe

////These amazing book edge paintings

///I'll be needing these earrings stat, haha

///I can't seem to find shoes in this particular style anywhere, but I'm on the lookout. They're cute!

What about you? What's caught your eye this week??

How to make your very own PEPPERMINT BUTLER!

2013-10-20T18:21:00.003-07:00

For those of you who are not familiar, Peppermint Butler is the loyal butler to Princess Bubblegum in the popular series Adventure Time. The show has a bunch of great characters, so I thought it would be fun to dress up as Princess Bubblegum for Halloween. After working on the dress and the crown for my costume, I got the idea to create a Peppermint Butler purse. I'm going to fill it with bubblegum and peppermints :)

It was a bit time consuming, but still really easy to make dear old Pepp. What takes time is waiting for all of that glue to dry ;)

The first thing you need to do is draw a circle. You can really make your Butler any size. Mine was about 8 inches in diameter. Cut out about 4 circles of the same diameter using regular printer paper.

Now, use a cereal box or some sort of flimsy cardboard, take the circle you cut out from printer paper and trace it over your cardboard, and cut a circle out of the cardboard. Do this two times.

Next up, cut out two more pieces of cardboard as pictured below, it can be any width. I chose 3.5 inches. It worked out pretty nicely as far as peppermint proportions go...

Tape the two pieces together.

Little by little, start taping your long straight piece to your cardboard circle. Tape the inside too for extra support...

If you desire, you can line the inside of your purse. I had some purple felt left over from making the Princess' lapels so that is what I chose to use. you can line it with any color, really...

After it is all lined, finish taping both sides of the box...

Before the felt goes on, you're going to cover the cardboard with those white printer paper circles you made earlier. That way, the cardboard and tape and ugly stuff doesn't show through...

Below you see I've applied the felt to the front and the paper to the sides. The glue is on top there and I'm just about to put the felt on top...(P.S. use this glue, it is AWESOME)

After that you slowly start bringing him to life using different color felts. Its helpful to have those extra cut outs of the printer paper so that you can measure how wide to make his clothes and so on...

His arms and legs were a bit tricky. to make them, I rolled a piece of felt up with a wire I got from a craft store. In other words, there is a wire in his legs and arms so you can bend them. I sewed the felt up and added the cuffs on the end to hide the imperfections.

I made his hands and feet the same way... I will tell you how I did the hand so you get the idea...I drew a 1 dimensional hand on felt and cut that pattern out 4 times. I sewed two of the pieces together and stuffed them with left over felt to give it some dimension. I placed the hands into the cuffs and using white thread, sewed the unseen part of the hand into the white cuff. You can't really see it and it keeps the hand on the arm really well. You basically use the same idea for the feet except that the feet go over the leg and you use red thread to sew it to the leg...

So, for those of you wondering how I attached the appendages onto the body, I'll tell ya. I sewed the arms and legs into the cardboard! It wasn't all that easy. You are basically blindly trying to find the perfect spot for your needle to go, and it takes a couple of times to get it right. On top of that, pushing a needle through cardboard, albiet flimsy cardboard, HURTS yo' fingas! Be sure to have a thimble handy to protect those digits...

Here is the finished product...My Peppermint Butler glamour shoot!

Ahh! Cat hair on his feets!

Kinda need to do some last minute glue touch ups, but I ran out of glue!!

UPDATE: I got some cord from a fabric store and put two holes at the top and turn Mr. Butler into a purse! That way he will always be at my side ;) Here is a photo of me in my halloween costume with my butler purse!!

Screen Door

2013-10-07T18:34:00.001-07:00

Have you ever been to that restaurant in Portland called Screen Door? That is what this post title reminds me of. You can get so much fried chicken there, it is nothing short of amazing! That's not the kind of screen door I'm talking about right now though. The one I'm talking about just made my apartment feel more like home. I made a screen door! Now my cat can't escape when I want to leave the door open! I've been waiting for my screen door for months, and I finally had time to do it :)

Here is a quick picture tutorial on how to make one yourself. You will definitely need at least two people to do it.

Here is what you need:

5 pieces of wood
A drill and drill bits
Measuring tape
Clamps
A Ruler
A razor blade
Long screws, depending on how thick your wood is (I think our screws were around 3")
Other regular screws
A hand saw
Screen material
at least 2 hinges
an eyelet latch
a handle
a friend

The very first thing you need to do is measure your door frame where your screen will go. Ours measured something like 80.5" x 36"

Then you will need to measure the wood pieces

We measured two long pieces and two short pieces. All together your frame will have 4 pieces of wood. Later you will add 1 more piece somewhere in the middle as a support. We'll get to that in a minute!

Then we clamped our wood down to our coffee table (limited work space here!!)

We used the razor blade to make a measuring mark on where we wanted to cut the wood.

Annnnd SAW!! When sawing it is best to "let the saw do the work." Just rock the saw back and forth gently and it will cut through the wood super easy. Be sure to have a vacuum handy because there will be sawdust!

Fix your beard and continue...

Drill two holes (for extra support) where you want your screws to go. This depends on the width of your wood. Our width was pretty thick so we had to drill through the wood as much as possible so that the screw would actually attach to the smaller piece. Make sure the drill bit that you use to drill holes in the wood is slightly larger than the head of the screw that you are using.

Clamp the two pieces together and get ready to screw them together!

We got super cute blue screws at the hardware store. They aren't meant for wood but they still work and they were super long!

We got pretty excited about making the skeleton of the screen door and we decided to test it out in the door frame...

It fits!

After all the excitement we added the support piece in the middle. Make sure to place the support piece lower or higher than the door knob to your main door!

We then added screen material to what we considered to be "the back of the door" and we used a staple gun to fix it to the wood. I stood on the wood while Brian pulled it SUPER taut. The long side took about 10 staples, while the short side took about 5. We didn't staple gun the support piece.

When we were done staple gunning the screen material, we used a ruler and the razor blade to cut off the excess material. Ow on your knees if you have a hard wood floor! Oh well. It took about 8 minutes to do this.

Finally you add the hinges, about 10-12 inches down from the top and bottom of the door. The short side of the hinge is affixed to the wood, while the long side is affixed to the door frame outside. Make sure you know which way you want your door to open!!

This is the hinge after we fastened it to the door.

We also wanted the screen to lock from the inside, so we bought this eyelet hook piece. The hook screws into the door frame, and the eyelet screws into the screen. We put the lock at the same length as our support beam. I guess you could put the lock wherever you want, though...

Lastly we added the door handle. I think the handle is meant for drawers and stuff. I liked the flower pattern and it was on clearance. Perfect!

Here is our little country screen door all finished...

****NOTE: Be sure to subtract the space that the hinge will take up in the door frame when you are measuring the short side of your wood. I'd say it takes up about 3/16".

P.S. Screen Door Portland. I want it!

Vote for me Elsiecake!

2013-08-19T23:01:00.001-07:00

Here is a larger version of the photo I just submitted for the H&M personal style contest,
minus the Instagram filter :)

Fun Project: Glitter Banners!

2013-08-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

I thought of making a glitter banner because my sister is having a baby shower and the party needed some festive decorations. I love working with glitter. It makes everything bright and sparkly and fun! I think the project turned out really well and I want to do more banners in the future using different color glitters!

To do this project you will need the following:

1. Thin Cardboard 8.5x11 (Like a cereal box)
2. Letters printed out on 8.5x11 paper, 700 to 800 pts, any font, up to 2 letters per page
3. Spraymount
4. Exacto knife or blade
5. Glitter (I used Martha Stewart brand)
6. Paint Brush
7. Mod Podge or glue
8. Yarn or thick string
9. Scissors
10. A folder or a folded piece of scratch paper 8.5x11 or larger
11. Masking tape or scotch tape

I didn't get a chance to get the very first steps photographed, but they are the easiest to do!

First you need to spray mount your printed letters to the cardboard. Cut the letters out with scissors once the paper has bonded to the cardboard.

Once you have cut out the letters, you will need to take your exacto knife or razor blade and cut out any extra white paper on the inside of the letter (for example the letter A will still have white space on the inside to cut out)

Once the white space inside the letters are carefully cut out, use your paint brush to coat your entire letter with your glue or Mod Podge. (Finished example below). Only a thin layer of glue will be enough.

Once you have coated the letter with glue, you can sprinkle on the glitter! Remember to put a sheet of folded paper under your letters to catch the excess glitter.

Once the glitter has coated the entire letter, return the excess glitter to it's container for later use.

Repeat these steps the desired amount of times to create all of the letters that you will use in your banner. (I did it 9 times for my banner.)

Allow banner letters to dry overnight. The next day, put another coat of Mod Podge on top of the glitter with dabbing motions. If you don't have Mod Podge, be sure to use a glue that dries clear. This helps really well to seal in the glitter so it doesn't come off of the letters. If the letters curl a little, try putting them under a heavy book for an extra night after they have completely dried.

When the letters have dried and are flat as can be, there is nothing more to do than attach the string to the back of them. I literally just eyeballed about a quarter inch down from the top of each letter, and masking taped the string so that the tape was hidden from the front view. I also Mod Podged the string over the masking tape for extra hold. I am sure there is a cleaner way to do this. Maybe clear tape would work better. Or perhaps you can crazy glue pieces of straw to the back of the letters and insert the yarn through there. I'll have to try that next time. Anyway, I would leave about 4 feet of yarn slack on either side for hanging the banner up.

Here's what it looks like done. I'll be using it for my sister's baby shower next week! (hopefully I will have photos to post for that too.)

Friday Favorites #2

2013-07-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hey! Here is some cool stuff that I found this week. What did you find?
Happy Friday!

These fantastic toilet paper rolls

This seed baring cigarette

This "Sandwich Book"

These hipster Greek Statues

Adorable salt and pepper shaker set

•Everyone knows that Corgis are the cutest dogs ever, but what about a hybrid? ALSO CUTE, FYI.

•The most amazing thing I've ever seen done in EXCEL

•I want him, its TOO CUTE!

•#hashtag banner

•Check out this cute LATTE ART

Aviation Submission Roundup

2013-07-15T21:26:00.002-07:00

My friend Alyson and I LOVE Portland, Oregon, and we also LOVE cocktails, so entering the Aviation Gin photo contest seemed like a no brainer!! We were hoping so bad to win a trip to "The city of roses", and to tour the Aviation Gin facility, but sadly we were not the ones randomly selected in the drawing. We were however, given a couple of honorable mentions on the Aviation blog! Anyhow, we ended up with some pretty interesting photos for their contest, and here they are all in one place.

(Thank you Brian R. for being present at every one of these shoots, and offering your equipment, skill, and advice!)

Some things about the photos-

Photo 1: I shot the bottle against a pink background and thought it needed something else, so I added a gradient and some circles in Photoshop. I also got this thing called a "fry cup" at a restaurant supply store and added those colorful circles to it on Photoshop. Its pretty much impossible to find snow cone cups anywhere, especially on short notice. There was a lot of color tweaking in this photo. I enhanced the snow cone color, and the color of my my hand. I really did make a snow cone for this competition. This particular snow cone was cantaloupe, habanero and orange syrup. The original idea for this photo was to have three hands and three snow cones of different colors, and I really did make the syrup for all three flavors, but I ran out of time, so I had to improvise with using only one flavor.

Photo 2: I love the way this one turned out. We pretty much stuck with the original idea of this photo, "50s slumber party"-the only real change we made was that we used color instead of making it in black & white. This photo kind of came together miraculously. All of these pretty girls just happened to be free that day, and on a whim, I asked Hannah if she had a vintage hand held mirror and brush, and alas, she did! I think it really enhanced the picture. The only thing I would change is that I would take Dorian's watch off. I totally missed that one!!

Photo 3: I felt kinda lost on this photo, but had fun hanging with my girl Hazel. I bought clothes from Forever 21 (word to the wise, they do not do returns for a refund! ouch!) I made the best looking Spicy Red Snapper EVER (equivalent of a Bloody Mary). It had a whole frekin' breakfast as a garnish: (veggie) Sausage, silver dollar pancakes, TATER TOTS, a hard boiled egg, celery, jalapeño, and habanero. It looked like a million bucks. I should have gotten a closer shot. The scene is supposed to be a club or bar scene, with two people who are opposites, but are united by their gin drinks. The drinks they have chosen define their personality, as opposed to how they are dressed.

Photo 4: This was the first photo that we took for the competition. I already have it somewhere on this blog. I had to eat SO MANY (veggie) HOT DOGS for this damn photo shoot. I will never eat another hot dog again, ever. The burger was also vegetarian, and I think Alyson was sick of them by the end of it too. It was really fun to have her and her roommate Scott over to do this shoot though, even if we did get sick of BBQ foods.

Photo 5: I had a lot of fun hanging out at the park at night doing this shoot. Aly jumped off of this ledge so many times! It must have gotten really hot in that leather jacket and that hat. We were at this park in Mid-City Los Angeles at around 10pm at night and there were still children playing in it! We left around 11:30, and I remember seeing this couple pushing a kid on a swing that must have been no older than 2. I guess there is a whole night park culture that I knew nothing about. I had to Photoshop some of the water back in, because it got cut off!!

Anyway, hope you like these pics.

Workin' It

2013-05-28T10:49:00.002-07:00

I've been so busy taking photographs! Here is a recent project I did where I collaborated with the beautiful and talented Alyson, her roommate Scott, and my super awesome boyfriend Brian. This is for a contest. I wanted it to have a magazine booze ad vibe. I hope you like it :)

Art Direction: Danielle
Theme Concept: Alyson
Photo Assistant: Scott
Photographer: Brian

Side note: As it turns out, it is really hard to make two people look good in a photo at the same time. You just can't control it. One person may be blinking while the other person looks fabulous, or one person may be doing something weird with their mouth while another person can be having a wardrobe malfunction...Really, anything can happen. This was the case for this photo shoot. This is actually two different photos 'shopped together. Aly looked great, but I just didn't have the right look, so I sifted through the other photos in hopes that I could find one of myself giving off the same vibe that Aly was, and at the same time not looking too shabby. Lo and behold I found it!

Another problem with the photo was that the hot dog that I was holding in the "good" picture of myself wasn't hot-doggie enough. You could only see part of the sad small bun, so I found another photo where I was holding the dog with all of it's mustard and ketchupy goodness, and I used a layer mask to throw it into the photo. Hopefully you can't tell that any of this was actually photoshopped ;)

Before photos (pre Photoshop)- Notice the sad sad hotdog in my hand

Old Film!

2013-05-05T15:18:00.002-07:00

I just scanned some of my film photography on my website. Check it out!

http://cargocollective.com/dkphotography/Film-35mm

Here are some pics that were posted. (Remember Lucky's supermarkets! Blast from the past:))

Friday Favorites #1

2013-04-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some links that I thought were notable this week. What did you love this week?

I think this is a great idea. It enables people to reach out to others in a creative way. You might make a friend that you never would have made otherwise :) http://selflessportraits.com/

Here is a plethora of cocktail recipes from all 50 states!
Cocktails from Every State

I was clicking on this website for 30 minutes straight (and laughing)
http://dubgif.com/

I thought this idea was beautiful
http://weburbanist.com/2013/03/10/hunt-peck-paint-chromatic-typewriter-prints-landscapes/

This was a neat "Time Lapse" Gotta love Google

Any fan of The Simpsons can appreciate this real life intro

Designers and beer drinkers alike can appreciate this :) "Beertone"

Brian and I are going to do THIS in our bathroom. Living art!

Here is an interesting art concept- Reverse Graffiti

And here is an adorable Panda! HAPPY FRIDAY!

Moving :)

2013-04-14T20:11:00.003-07:00

I'm moving! Don't worry, it isn't far, just downstairs from where I live now. Many of the people in this complex end up living here for years and years, but strangely in the past couple of months I have noticed about 6 units move. I have lived in the complex for about three now years going on four.

The cool and exciting thing about this move is that the handyman crew hadn't started to work on my new unit yet, so Brian and I asked the complex manager if we could put some of our own finishing touches into the unit before we moved in.

All of the units are carpeted, but we asked them leave the bare subfloor. We were told it would be cement, but to our surprise, it happened to be plywood!

We kind of freaked out a little when we discovered it was plywood because we had our hearts set on staining and polishing cement. But after researching You Tube and the internet, we found out that refinishing plywood wasn't an uncommon endeavor, and it can even look downright awesome if done properly.

Here is a time lapse video of Brian and I polishing and staining our new apartment! It took over two hours to sand, clean, puddy, tape off, and stain everything, but here is a portion of the work in
12 seconds!!!

Mini Party Hat, for You, Your Boyfriend, and Cat!

2013-04-11T23:15:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time I posted a tutorial on how to make an owl ornament with a toilet paper roll,

and a long LONG ago on Twitter I said...

So it turned out that "More on this soon" happened to be a year later, but in any case, I'm presenting you today (better late than never), another crafty idea made from the humble cardboard of a toilet paper roll.

Step 1. Cut the roll down the middle on one side.

Step 2. "Unroll" the cardboard and draw the following shape on the the side that rolls up toward you.

Step 3. Cut out the shape that you drew. (Keep the piece that is filled in like above). Pinch the 90 degree corner a bit to make it easier to roll. Now, roll it like you would a blue crab hand roll (yum!).

Step 4. Tape the edges with a non sticky tape (like Artist's Tape) to hold the cone shape in place.

Step 5. Place a stronger tape like masking tape or duct tape on the inside seams. Cut off the excess. You can then take off the Artist's Tape on the outside and the shape will hold! After that if you want, you can put some sticky tape on the outside for more support.

Step 6. Take your hole puncher and punch a hole on two opposite sides of the bottom of the hat. This is where you will put your string!

Step 7. Paint! You can use any kind of paint and any color. I had a ginormous bucket of light pink paint that was supposed to be used to paint my bathroom walls, but I never got around to it. Wall paint actually works quite well for this project!

Step 8. Use GLUE (I used Mod Podge, but any glue would work) to add sparkles to the rim of the hat. I painted the glue on with a brush, added the sparkles, and then used a q-tip to even out the lines.

Step 9. I used half inch diameter styrofoam balltz to make the top of the hat even more cute. I poked a hole in one of the balltz with the edge of my paintbrush. I put some glue inside the hole and stuck it on top of the hat. I wiped away excess glue with a q-tip.

Step 10. I didn't have any other paint beside my bathroom wall bucket, and I didn't have a printer handy, so I traced circles from a round object I had lying around (a magnet, actually), and I colored them in with my PrismaColor markers.

These circles are about a half inch in diameter, but you can make them bigger or smaller. You can even do rectangles, stars, hearts, clovers or diamonds! This party hat can be whatever you want it to be. (It's your party). I used the classic party hat shape of a circle.

Cut the circles out with your scissors.

Step 11. GLUE (I used Mod Podge again) the circles onto the hat in whatever design you like.

Step 12. Glue on the string or rubberband. It will take a couple of hours to dry. Hold with adorable mini clothes pins.

I used a rubber band because I made the hat to put on my cat, but for a human mini party hat you may want to use string so you can fit it under your chin.

ENJOY!

**No kitties were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Wedding Book

2013-01-04T12:41:00.003-08:00

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Pumpkin' Pickin'

2012-10-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago Brian, Michelle, Lauren and I went pumpkin' pickin'. As always, it was a good hour outside of Los Angeles proper, and as always, it was a good ole time!

Here are some photos from that adventure :)

Year of the Farm: Peaches

2012-09-03T11:57:00.002-07:00

This year I made it an effort to go to as many u-pick farms as possible. Unfortunately I haven't posted anything on here, but I've been orange picking, blueberry picking, cherry picking, and now peach picking! Late August kicks off the peach picking season, so my boyfriend Brian and I headed to Antelope Valley to M & M Peach Ranch to pick some amazing tasting organic peaches. So much fun!

Danielle:

Shirt+ Forever XXI

Shorts+ Insight Venice, CA

Glasses+ Ray Bans

Purse+ Mossimo

Brian:

Shirt+ AAA

Jeans+ Gap 1968

Boots+ Ryan Rowe Campbell

Michelle

2012-05-18T19:18:00.000-07:00

I have another awesome friend named Michelle! I met her through a little store called Surfas, where I also met Alyson. Aly, Mich and I are all good pals and we like to go out and explore Los Angeles together. :) Aly and Mich taught me how to dance! There's a fun fact. They are also both completely awesome people.

Michelle DOES NOT LIKE POSING FOR PICTURES. I probably would have taken more of her, but that will have to come later. I'm lucky I got these out of her. She looks super cute in them!! GO MICH!! You can do it!! (put your ass into it)

New Pictures

2012-04-01T19:26:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone!

I just did a photoshoot with my sister today! We took some really fun pictures for her jewelry site. This was the first time that I completely used Lightroom to process my photos. To be completely honest, I accidently overexposed the heck out of these photos, and Lightroom brought some of the picture information back. It was like magic! Since I'm pretty new to lightroom, I must say that the end product isn't exactly what I would have normally done in Photoshop. It would be fun to see a processing comparison between Photoshop and Lightroom...some other time ;)

Anyway, the pictures will be going on Etsy soon, but for now, you can check out and "like" her Facebook page.

ENJOY!

https://www.facebook.com/touchofshanajewelry

Here are some pics you will see: