Ephemera: Art Project Update; Closet Set-Up and Deer in the Yard

Hello, my friends! No Mom-Day Adventure today, as I needed to spend the day prepping my Limbo pile for the big Closet Sale this weekend. Instead, I bring you:

An art project update - Yvonne's Badass Booties!
Glimpses into my Limbo Sale set-up!
Deer and fawns in the front yard! (it's okay if you want to scroll down to look at them first!)

Art Project: Yvonne's Badass Booties

I bought these L'intervalle leather, made in Italy booties at Value Village when I went shopping with Emma back here, paying $16.49 for them. I'd always planned to illustrate them, but since the booties were too tight on me, I offered them up to Cat, taking them along to the last Winesday for her to try on. They didn't work for her, so everyone had to try them on, and lucky Yvonne! They worked for her.

Sorry for cutting your head off, honey. They suit Yvonne's style, so I asked her what she might like on them, design-wise.

"I like ska, sort of a ska theme." Well, I do not know what that means, but apparently checkerboard, sharp graphics, slightly comics-looking.

"I love those United Nude boots you have with the black and white!" she added. Well, I can work with that, for sure, but we don't want to copy them.

I had a browse through L's closet for shirt patterns that fit sort of a geometric black, white and grey theme.

L's done with this Adidas Farm Rio shirt, so it's now in the Limbo pile for sale.

I took the colour out and played around with the contrast.

Great patterns!

And I liked this shirt of L's.

Yvonne's a badass like me, so I though the font or the skulls would be fun to play with.

I printed off guideline pictures and started playing with drawing the patterns. I also started notes on them, including which pens I'm using, just in case I end up taking an unexpected break.

I moved from emulating the Adidas patterns to trying a Zentangle-ish "bandage" layered pattern, which is what I ended up with. I sent Yvonne pictures to get her feedback.

"Love this, She! So excited!"

Next, I found a test spot for my pens to see what colours I'd use/need.

Because the boots are pull-on with cream elastic gussets on each ankle, those have to stay cream. I can't cover the entire bootie with colour, like I did with the neon floral shoes, or those big sections of cream will look off.

For the stripe down the front, I tried a ruler (my dad's old drafting ruler!), but it didn't help on an undulating surface.

I lit on using a piece of thick paper to help me keep the lines down the centre straight. This is nerve-wracking!

Then I had the brilliant idea of using my broccoli elastics (I have a drawer of them) to get the lines right across the toes.

You can see that it's not perfect, but part of the process is being okay with that.

I like how this looks! The cream background of the booties will still be there, in the negative space.

I could only do the elastics so far and then I had to just go for it and wing it.

Even harder: making sure they are roughly matching on each boot.

Finished the lines! Phew! The boots will each have a black line around the soles as well.

These will be very dramatic on.

I switched the name from "Yvonne's Ska Boots" to "Yvonne's Badass Boots."

I started colouring very slowly with my permanent black marker, doing the back stripe. I'll have to get a fuzzed out black marker and push it into the seams when I'm done to get rid of the cream bits.

Adding a cute skull and crossbones on the heel. This is the only spot that will have a detail.

I did a dark grey "shadow" on the black edges, with a lighter grey blending it into the cream.

I hope to find time to do some more work on it this weekend.

Limbo Closet Sale Prep

After a nice long chat with Mom in the morning, I put the "weekend" lights on, and picked my soundtrack for the afternoon.

Our 6-CD carousel means I don't have to change the music.

The Chess soundtrack and the Les Mis soundtracks were constant companions to me when I worked at the Christmas store back in 1986-1997.

The Valley Girl soundtrack and the Xanadu soundtrack round out a "very Sheila" accompaniment. Mint socks!

This is our "dining room" (we don't have a dining room table), where the bulk of the clothes will be.

Doing the set-up was a bit bittersweet, as I didn't have to cover up things or hide them to keep a mischievous little kitty from chewing or sleeping on them. Aw...you can review the last Closet Sale here.

Time to get the Limbo pile out!

About 15 bags worth.

I sorted the newly-removed clothes into piles and started going through the older items, moving some into the Free pile and marking a few things down.

The Free pile is on the lower right, and on the bar shelves.

This area is shoes, menswear/unisex and vintage/designer.

I got all my pricing materials out - stickers for pricing and indicating damage areas, pens and tags for writing on.

And here are the shoes all done.

The ones on the left are priced (nothing over $100), and the bigger pile on the right are all $25.00.

Bags with all the vintage and designer clothes, which are all individually priced.

Nothing over $100, period. There's even a Vivienne Westwood jacket in there!

All done sorting the Free section.

Take it all, folks!

I utilized the scratching post to display some vintage lingerie and pajamas, plus some bras I brought in the wrong size on final sale (grrr, but if you are a 34DD, you are in luck!).

On the floor, my orange vinyl suit, and all the dresses.

My pricing sign (thanks again to my boss for letting me have the two whiteboards).

From left: skirts, pants, vests/layering pieces, tops and more tops.

Payment details and helpful notes.

And on the floor, tops/sweaters, jackets, blazers and outerwear.

My $5.00 jewelry section on the table.

Some vintage items priced on top of the Treasure Box.

More specially priced items, including the necklace I just wore as a bracelet.

I didn't feel any sadness in letting this stuff to - I'd rather see it go to a good home.

Scarves, purses, hat, belts, gloves.

The most expensive item is $25.00.

I hope it all sells!

Oh, and I did pull out some Regret-Me-Nots which I'll show you next week, as I plan to style each one of them up (two items will be modified by me in the future).

Deer in the Yard

While I was talking to Mom, I looked outside from the deck and spotted a deer and her fawn.