Costuming!

Today was my first day as costumer for the University theatre department! The way everything worked out is that I am the head costumer and my friend Angela is the assistant costumer. It's going to be so much fun! Today while we were going through and trying to do some organizing and just get a general feel for what was there we kept getting distracted by every exiting and cool thing. To us it was like Christmas, birthday, and 20 good garage sales all mixed into one :) We kept saying "we're having way to much fun. I can't believe we're getting paid for this!"

It's kind of hard to explain what the costume shop is like, so I took some pictures...it's really hard to take pictures in a very crowded storage area. There is two separate rooms, one where the sewing and everything takes place which also houses the notions, fabric, small accessories, the extra machines for costuming class, and so much more. The second room has 4 giant racks of clothes, an enormous amount of hats and shoes, tons of boxes of various clothing and accessories, and even more clothes hanging from the ceiling. There is another gigantic room of the costume shop that is stuffed to the brim with props...but I don't really have much to do with that. Anyway, here's the best pics I could get.

I have no clever title

I mentioned in this post that I had made a circle skirt. Today I finally got around to taking some pictures of it. That leaves me only one outfit behind.

I made this skirt from some jersey knit I found in my closet, turns out it may have been mom's fabric :/ I drafted a pattern for the skirt and for the matching shorty-shorts (I hate the word bloomers.) I'm impressed with how well both pieces turned out.

Please excuse the fact that I can't seem to take a good photo today. I did the twirling pictures early on then felt like I was going to throw up for the next 4 hours.




















Don't worry, I'm totally wearing the matching shorts under there.

I've had a project I've been meaning to work on for months and finally got around to it today. It was to turn a shirt Mary Ann sent me into something cool...and I got it done today! I can only show the before right now because she hasn't received it yet.

Puting my stamp on things

I must confess something about my weekends. When I'm at school I always intend on doing homework, cleaning, and just getting a lot of things accomplished...and it never happens. In fact this weekend I did NO homework *there is a paper due tomorrow*. Instead I crafted like there was no tomorrow.


I made a ton of covered buttons from a bunch of scrap fabric I had, a zippered bag, recycled envelopes, a little box made from paper, and five stamps that I hand carved from erasers. I've been wanting to do some more printing/stamping since I pulled out my lino cut from high school a few months ago. On Thursday I found a speedball carving set at the campus book store. I spent hours yesterday looking at pictures on flickr (I searched handmade stamp and got 6,995 results!) and made some totally cool stamps. So what do you think of them?? Any suggestions of other stamps I should make?? There is definitely an orca coming soon and hopefully a set of converse all stars.

A Glance Outside My Window

Yesterday morning my daily devotional email said this:

The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship. Psalm 19:1
God gives us a glimpse of his glory not only through his Son but also through our beautiful natural surroundings. Look around and praise his glory!

That is something I've been a firm believer of for a long time. I have a deep appreciation for the beautiful things that surround me everyday. So when I read this all I could do was think "amen" then I stood on my desk *shh, don't tell* and took some pictures of the beautiful view out my window. Then hours later I looked up and saw an amazing Oklahoma sunset and just had to take some more pictures.

I don't understand how anyone can look at a storm rolling in or a perfect sunrise and not believe that there is a God out there. Even though I love the big, beautiful statements of God's love I can't help but admire the little things as well. There are some days where something as simple as seeing a child learning to read or a squirrel chattering from the treetops is all it takes to make me smile and whisper a "thank you" to God.

Summer Wrap-up

In case you haven't noticed I'm back at school now. This means no more working 6 nights a week. It also means I have more time to sew and watch movies. It's nice to have the time to relax, but I miss work and my friends.

Every night after I finished up in the ticket office I got to see some portion of the musical(s)...but there was always parts that I never got to see, like the pre-show (until I found some of it on youTube yesterday!). One night when Sarah came to watch the show she filmed the song Kansas City for me because I never got to see it! Thank you Sarah, I miss you!



One of my favorite parts of Oklahoma is the "Oklahoma Hello." So on the last night I broke out my camera and filmed it. Warning: my camera quality is crummy!




These photos are some that I've posted on facebook in my "Behind the Scenes..." album :) They are in no particular order.

Our pony girl










The town social in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

The youngest brother with some fans

Some of the brothers and the family of the girl who played Millie

Me and dream Curly







The guy we called Johnny Cash because he always had a guitar slung on his back









Some of the cast on the last night










Some of the cast posing for their families to take pictures









The final pose from Oklahoma, and I managed to capture the gunfire









Curly signing an autograph for a kiddo








The sound guy...Buddy's owner










From Seven Brides in response to who's baby it is









*sigh* I miss summer!

So there's this skirt...

... I found on etsy that I think is pretty neat. The girl who is selling it was crazy cool enough to tell how it was made. So of course I made one for myself...it was easy considering that the only sewing I did was on the drawstring.

I found a school shirt at the Salvation Army thrift store last semester and yesterday I turned it into a cute skirt...the pictures don't do it justice. The kick pleats look better in person.

A new "beginning"

I'm back at school. In a new dorm room (across the hall from my old one). I have two teachers I've never had before. Even though I've done all of this three times before it still feels like starting over.

I like my new room...it only has one bed instead of two so even though it is a little smaller it feels bigger. Also a new things is having two windows instead of just one, and the view is pretty good.














I'm not in band for the first time since 5th grade and I don't really know what to do with my time :) I've spent some of my time organizing my room and doing some crafting. No piece of paper is safe near me now...it WILL be turned into an envelope! Last night I made a cover for my notebook (of course reversable) and am going to start making a skirt pattern soon...because I wasn't thinking and left mine at home.





For some reason blogger is flipping my photos over :(

I am

such a bad blogger :(


Today is the last day at my job...you can't really keep an outdoor amphitheatre where the cast is collage students open after school starts. So I'm having to say good-bye to the friends I've made. I'm going to miss this place. Then tomorrow I'm moving back to school...I haven't finished packing yet :/ Then school starts Monday. So...all that to say hopefully once school starts I'll have more time to do some blogging.

I applied for a credit card tonight...

...so I'm one step closer to having an etsy!

Back to sewing

It's been a pretty long and dry summer for my crafting, but today I broke the dry spell! It all started last night when I found a tutorial for a reversible headband over on the long thread. This morning at church I was digging through my purse and discovered the perfect fabric to use to make one...my work bandannas. (Ok...I really used the ones from last year.) So after lunch I found a red bandanna and a blue one and set to work. In less then 20 minutes I had a cool new accessory to wear to work that goes with my uniform :)

















**Remember how I am a confirmed cat lady?!? Well this cat heard the rumor that we are the damaged cat refuge and headed our way...meet Bentley. He has a knot in his tail :)
















(Thank you mom for taking the pics of my headband and for distracting Bentley long enough for me to take his picture)

Thomas

As I've mentioned before I work at an outdoor amphitheatre where a western musical is performed 6 nights a week. It's my second year to work there. Last year there was a man named Thomas who came about 3 nights a week. He was a nice guy who LOVED the shows! He would always take pictures of the cast in the "Thomas pose" and at the end of the session made a sort of collage for each performer.
















We could always tell that there was something a little different about Thomas but we were never sure what it was. After thinking about it for quite a while I think that he has mild autism. Anyway, this year I was looking forward to seeing Thomas again (I knew he would be there because he'd been coming for the last 10 years.) On My first day back I looked for his reservations and found none. This worried me and Sarah (another gal who worked the ticket office with me last year). We were afraid that something bad had happened to Thomas. Then two Saturdays ago Thomas called! He told us that he had to move an hour away and had broken his foot and that's why he hadn't been able to come. He's trying really hard to find someone to bring him on the last two nights of the season...I wish I didn't have to work those nights or I would go pick him up. Thomas wanted to know if we could get a playbill signed by the cast and mail it to him. Sarah and I got a playbill signed and took pictures to send to him. So today on my way to work I'm dropping by the post office to send a care package to Thomas :) I'm sending a card from me and Sarah, the signed playbill, a unsigned playbill, a brochure, a bandanna, and 15 pictures.













The Thomas pose