Princess of Texas

Erin: *just finished doing P90X Plyometrics video; eats a Kashi waffle (which are the most bland and flavorless waffles ever, BTW, but they're healthy, of course)

Mattles: Would it be wrong if I ate a (Pillsbury) toaster strudel?

Erin: Hmm, would it be wrong to eat a toaster strudel after I've been exercising for an hour and only got to eat a KASHI WAFFLE while you've been sitting around doing nothing... And you want to eat a toaster strudel covered in frosting? Yes, the honest answer is yes, it would be wrong to eat a toaster strudel.

Mattles: *looks sheepish* Those Kashi waffles really are terrible, aren't they?

Erin: ........

The only thing worse than being depressed is being depressed for a stupid reason! *nods sagely*

Must cheer self up... umm... umm... umm...

OH, I'll post that meme thingy that Monica did.

Comment on this entry, and I will:

1. Tell you why I friended you.
2. Associate you with something - fandom, a song, a color, a photo, a word etc.
3. Tell you something I like about you.
4. Tell you a memory I have of you.
5. Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
6. Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.
7. In return, you must post this in your LJ. (Not really!)

I feel inspired! Yay!! Something about spring just really gets me excited about being creative... and seeing people post about renaissance faires and weddings helps!

So why am I sitting in front of the computer?! ACH! I don't know!!

I'm so annoyed at myself for failing to take pictures lately... I think I need to go on more adventures just so I can take pictures to go with them. XD

But since I don't have anything good of that type to offer right now, here are four of my six babies!



From left to right: Honey, Chiba, Pietro, & Cookie

Pietro is the newest. He and Cookie are best friends. <3 (Honey and Chiba also best friends.)

WHY OH WHY IS IT SO HARD TO COIL MY BASS CABLE IN A PERFECT CIRCLE AAARRRGHGJSHKDHASKDJHSA!!!!!






[...In other news, I've started working on a new costume. =D Productivity, fuuuuu~!]

YAAAAAAY, I found two new copies of Guild Wars: Nightfall, for $30 WITH shipping! Yaaaaaaaaaaay~! It took forever, but at least I finally found it at a price worth getting. XD

ALSO, has anyone played Atlantica? It is beautiful, has exceptionally lovely music, and is FREE, so I recommend it. I find it only a little more inane than paid MMOs like Guild Wars, and the combat is far superior to the usual MMO style, in my opinion. And I get to use a cannon! Yay cannons!





ALSO ALSO, Matt got me a new video card, so hopefully I'll be able to up the visual quality in mah MMOs when it comes. ^___^

ALSO ALSO ALSO, Matt and I are trying to decide if it's worth it to get a new game console. We're a generation behind, as nothing's been screaming at us to get (okay, that and the fact that we couldn't afford a new one until now anyway. XD) We were excited about the Wii before it came out, but it just seems... overrated in person (in our experience.) We're thinking the 360, because it seems to always have the same games as the PS3 while being cheaper. Any opinions??

Okay! So now that the wedding post is done (though I forgot the honeymoon post, which I WILL do), it's Texas Renaissance Festival day! Yay!

This was the first time I ever went to that particular faire. I'd been to Scarborough Faire twice, but neither time in costume. I'd also been wanting to make a fairy costume for yeeeaaaars (always loved Lillyxandra's work.) So I wanted to do it this year! And I was going to make Matt a ranger because he looks like one anyway.

Well, TRF has themed weekends, and I was trying to choose between the fantasy weekend and the Christmas weekend. I'd decided at only a month away, it was too late to make us costumes for the fantasy weekend, but then I found out that Matt's parents' neighbors, who are awesome, were going fantasy weekend for their son's birthday, so I was like... "WE'RE GOING!" (So I ended up choosing both weekends. XD;)

I didn't take any pictures, so these are all ones I found online... But I uploaded them to my own website, so that makes it not so bad I took them, right? ^^; (They're mostly from here- http://www.xulphlux.com/)



( Go here for excessive costume construction rambling that most people won't care about! )

( Go here for excessive day of the faire rambling! )

I'm still waiting on some "official" shots they took of us, but I dunno if I'll ever get 'em. *hopes* <3

Well, fiddlesticks. I've got great stuff to talk about, but I feel a bit obliged to wait until this hurricane is through. Pray for us, everyone! I've never been in a hurricane before. We have the windows boarded up, a full bathtub of water, and about 80 granola bars to get us through it. My mom made me feel better by reminding me that nothing that could happen would be without the foreknowledge of God... which, of course, doesn't mean that nothing bad could happen, but that it's not just random chaos. Maybe you have to be Christian to understand why that's comforting, so just take my word for it, guys. XD; "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
I must not be worried!

*hunkers down with her plushies and birds... and Matt, too of course*

Man... I am SO not used to all this social interaction... not to mention all this getting up early stuff. X_X It's really messing me up. I haven't even been exercising lately! I'm so tired when I get home, there's just like... no way.

*SIIIIGH*

I really like school though! It's just that life outside of school has pretty much vanished for the time being, at least until I get myself going on a schedule that won't leave me exhausted every afternoon.

Anywaaays... Only four to go in Shadow of the Colossus. =O So close~

Not much other news~ I haven't even gotten much done on Chrono because of being too tired all evening. This is ridiculous, I never get home later than 3:00! *cry*

Must... not... let... self... take... nap...

Whoo! First week of school is overrr~ I like it, actually. It's interesting to be in school because you want to be there and not because you have to be there. So now I get to start my weekend, which means starting on plushie works!! I scaled down an image of one of my plushes and printed it out so I can see about how big the pieces need to be for Chrono. Hmmm... Still need back shots of him though. I'm too poor to buy manga that I will inevitably want to keep collecting. ;_; *pokes Shadra for imageeessss*

Hmmm... what else. Speaking of being too poor to buy things (but doing it anyway because Dad gave me a little money)- I picked up "Whitesnake: The Definitive Collection" at Best Buy. 18 songs for $10 = super cheap!! I'm trying to not buy collections anymore, but this one was too good a deal to pass up. It has all the songs I wanted on it, and the price was right. And I probably won't get SO into Whitesnake that I'll want their individual albums anyway. Maybe... ^_^
I actually REALLY wanted to pick up Pyromania today, but they didn't have it. -_- Stupid Best Buy.

Now I must force myself to be productive and NOT go play Shadow of the Colossus for hours... *addicted*

First off, MAN how'd a week go by since my last entry?! That's really insane...
But anyways, I figured the plushie pricing out!

It will be $100 for a non-jointed/fixed pose plushie
and $150 for a jointed/poseable plushie.

It occured to me just today, as I was thinking "I'd be able to happily sell them for a lot less if it wasn't for the skeleton"... And it's like, DUR, then don't do the skeleton. I'd like to look into that plastic bead sort of armature, but it wouldn't allow hand movement, so I'd still have to rig one up like I do now... So HMM... But I like the way I do them now, anyway... The first try was iffy, but I got the hang of it on Sakura.

This also means though that, because they won't have an internal support or weighted feet, the nonposeable ones will not be able to stand on their own. But they'll also be cuddlier. ^_^ My Crowdia does not have a skeleton... She also super floppy legs though because I made them out of spandex instead of spandex over cotton or interfaced spandex (argh!) but I think that firmly stuffed legs would be able to lean against a support fairly easily... HMM. Especially if the fabric was interfaced. *should try!* I'm also thinking of doing the plastic-beads-in-the-feet thing that real plush companies do. Which MIGHT make them able to stand due to how big I make the feet, but we'll have to see. ^_^

With that said, I just need to know if Shadra & Amy are still interested (and who Shadra would like, of course XD) I don't mind payment after I'm done in the case of you two since I trust both of you (and that way there's less pressure on me anyway). And I looove the little guy Amy was considering, he's SO CUTE.

...I REALLY need to make some money. ;_; I wanted to use the last two weeks before school to work only on clothing for school, but... I REALLY need to make some money. As in, I need to pay for something and I don't have enough and I don't want to have to beg Dad/Matt to help me because I need to be grown-up and pay for my own stuff.
A big part of my desperation is due to the fact that my Arwen crown commission person bailed on me at the last minute... after the thing was almost completely finished. >_<;;;;; I don't know if she's going to be expecting the materials payment back or not, but I sure as heck don't have it right now. I'll probably be auctioning the crown off, but I need to find some quicker money because I MIGHT make a costume to go with the crown. Because I'm very proud of it because it's so pretty. ;_; That, and I have NO self-confidence that it would actually sell.
So...

Does anyone want to commission me for a plushie? ;__; Here's a direct link to my plushies gallery-
http://www.minuitbleu.com/galleries/plushiecontents.html

They're fully poseable and about *tries to remember* I think 10 inches tall, with turning heads, opening and closing "mitten" hands, very detailed costumes, and they stand on their own. I HAD decided against taking anymore plushie commissions, but I'm really desperate. *cry*

I have to ask $100 for it though... They're actually more like $150 worth of work, but I don't know if anyone would pay that much? I don't know, I've seen people selling them ready-made for that much, is it too much to ask?? <--- actual question, not hypothetical
I don't want to be unrealistic, but I do want to make at least minimum wage. ^^;;;;

If anyone has any requests or leads or... or ANYTHING that might help me out, pleeaaase let me know. I'm sooooo poor. >_<

And I haven't forgotten you, Amy~! I just didn't want to say "I'll do Nash nooooow~!" because I'm asking so much more now, after having made a few plushies and realizing it takes me five million years to make them, so I didn't want to obligate you or anything! So it's okay if you don't want him now. *nodnod*

I could also do smaller, more simplistic plushies if there's anyone who wants one but can't afford that fancy of a model. XD (Maybe that short, fat kind with the pointy limbs and black dots for eyes?) Just let me know what you can afford, and I'll do something that can make us both happy. *DESPERATE*

Fabric that smells like vomit makes Erin sad.

Good stuff, good stuff!

First off, I've gotten Amy's, Monica's, and Karrie's Christmas cards. ^__^ YAY, thanks guys!!! I really want to send mine before the week is out, but it sort of depends on somethiiiing secret-secret....

Also! I'm going to college! =O Starting this February. ^__^ It's a design school called Wade College, and it's REALLY awesome. Small classes focusing on individual attention in the Dallas Market Center, yays!

It was really cool, because the admissions guy I talked to, Brent, was all into anime and video games too. XD So we got to talk about that, and he really loved the stuff on the website. YAY~ He also showed us around the World Trade Center and stuff.
So then I talked to the head admissions lady, Lauren, who was really nice. I showed her a couple of my sketchbooks which she liked, and well... before it was all over, I was accepted. ^_^ I was really confused because I thought Brent had to talk to a council thingy or something first, but somehow that got skipped over. Sooo... everything's all good to go! And now I can stop feeling jealous of my friends who get to go to fashion school. XD
I was just a little disappointed because Brent was going to show us around the building where classes are held after the interview with Lauren, but I forgot until we were already out the door and I was all "Waaaiiit, he was gonna show us around" and my parents were all like "It's okay, they'll do that during orientation. We're hungry." XD;;;; But but... he wanted to see my sketchbooks, toooo... I'll have to show him some other time, I guess.

So then we went to eat at Applebee's 'cause my parents had received a gift card for Christmas. I got this chicken parmesan that tasted like cheap frozen pizza... CONFOUNDING. And there was about three times more than I could possibly eat. So I brought it home, ate it again for dinner, and it's STILL not gone. I think it's growing.

Anyways... then we went home, and later my dad and I went to Hobby Lobby, Albertson's, and Best Buy. I got some beads and fabric paint at Hobby Blobby, some store-brand marshmallow cereal at Albertson's (I think I actually like it better than Lucky Charms), aaaaaand Def Leppard's album Hysteria at Best Buy. FINALLY I have some Def Leppard!!

So yeah~ I'm so glad the website is almost done. We need to put up all my crocheted/knitted stuff stillll... and men's clothing and men's jewelry and lolita crowns and ornaments and dolls... X_X;

Because I always have to have a picture in my entries to make them look interesting (I guess?), here's one I just took yesterday of an old outfit-



I feel that the attitude of the outfit I'm wearing and the attitude -I'm- giving off are a bit on opposite ends of the spectrum, but... oh well. XD;

WHY DON'T I EVER UPDATE. *cry*

OKAY. I'm trying to be good and update and such!

And... now I can't think of anything to say. XD;;;

Uhhh...
Lessee...
I made a new plushie! It's Sakura Kinomoto of Card Captor Sakura fame.



Consoling the Kratos plushie I still need to finish:



( Cut for the reference pic and the wand and Kero-chan accessories! )

Amy, I am sorry I'm lame! I never even got started on the Nash plushie. *cry* I got kinda depressed that I couldn't find any felt in his hair color anywhere. And then I got even more depressed at how long plushies take to make. And then I got even more depressed at the realization that plushies are about as profitable as costume commissions, except not so stressful. *weep* Why can't I find anything that makes me money~!

My newest money-making scheme involves 1/6 scale doll clothing. *nod* I'm going to TRYYY to be good about keeping up with that at minuitbleu. Speaking of Minuit Bleu, we've updated the website LOTS. It's close to being done... Soooo closeeee....

OOH, speaking of dolls, my Matt got me a Pullip Greggia!! Eeeeee~! <3 <3 <3 I also have a Rovam on the way!!

And speaking of Matt, he proposed to me last night. XD Engaged!! Why yes, that should have been the first thing I mentioned!! Haha~

EDIT! Poo, I forgot! If anyone wants Christmas cards, gimme your address! You can comment here or mail me at kazuhiromurata@hotmail.com! And no, they won't be getting there in time for Christmas! XD;

Okay... poo, I meant to be better about updating this week. *sigh* Ah well!

I'm up early today, because I'm going on vacation! WHEEEEE A DAY AND A HALF RIDE IN THE CAR EACH WAY. 'Cause ya know, I just don't get enough of that when I have to sit in the car for four hours on the way to Houston all the time. >_<

Plushie stuff will be started upon my return! I have two more (personal) plushies started/partially-finished already... Well, actually three...

The photoshoot meeting went just fine, but ARGH I forgot the pictures Elena gave me. *weep* So I'll have to get those next time. She wants to do like a tribal look with me... with a mohawk. o_O Which is so bizarre and NOT me at all, so it will be very strange to see myself in such a manner. Aren't I too pale and short to be tribal?! (BTW, Zula is my favorite character from Conan the Destroyer, can ya tell?)
I made it all the way there just fine, but I got lost on the way back! VERY lost. ;_; So of course I started crying and pouting and just being generally very, very upset, but thank goodness, my Matts was on the phone and found a way home for me (and listened to my whining with much patience). <3

Other than that... Trying out lace-making (needlepoint, not bobbin)... thinking about bringing my crown-making stuff too, but I'm not sure. I'm just not sure how much time I'll have, or if I'll just want to do needlepoint anyway (but what if I get bored with it?) HMMMM.

See you guyses next weekend~ ^_^

So! Umm, some good stuff is happenin'~

1. I discovered this morning that The Tick comes on ABC Family on Sunday morning at 10:00! Who knew! So, since it is on at a rather inconvenient time (it was a miracle I actually made it to church on time), I will be recording it. I would record it anyway so Matt could see it too though. <3 <3 <3

2. I have a photoshoot meeting thingy to go to at a hair salon tomorrow morning (the photoshoot is on August 8th.) The reason I'm invited to this is one of the stylists there used me wearing one of my outfits and my Crowdia wings for a photography project. She has some pictures to give me (which I will be sure to post, if I like them XD). But she also wants me to be one of the models for this shoot, and also possibly use my clothing on some of the other models as well. The only problem is that I'm not getting any compensation if they use my clothes (the best I can hope for is credit in the ad), which makes me nervous, 'cause like... dagnabbit, I don't want other people messing with my clothes. Hahaha... We'll see though. At least I'll get more professional photos, but that isn't really as immediately beneficial to me as the people who are actually models. But whatever...
The biggest problem with this is that I have to drive myself! WAH. And, in case someone didn't know, I HATE driving. HATE IT HATE IT HATE IT. As a matter of fact, I never drive ANYWHERE I haven't been before. So this is scary and uncomfortable, and since my sister, as usual, backed out of coming with me, I have to go alone or not go at all. *weep* I wish I had some local "active" friends. (Ya know, the kind of friend you can ask to do this kind of junk with you? And not just "Hey, I talk to you once a year" friends?) So basically, I'm taking a very roundabout way to get there so I don't have to get on a freeway. Which means I have to leave at like 9:15. -_-;;;; Ewww, too early! Not to mention that the only person I'll know there is Elena (the one who I helped out with the photo project). WAHHHHHHH!!!!

3. Finally! I would like to announce that I have FINALLY finished a UFO catcher-style plushie. FINALLY. I had made the patterns for the body months ago, but never finished it...



(Sorry for slight fuzziness; it's the best I could do inside.)
It is Crowdia from Rhapsody! <3 She's about 9" tall, with real feather wings, handpainted eyes and mouth, and all of her standard accessories (bird, rose, and sword), all of which I made. As well as her full outfit, of course. I wanted to use the fabric from my Crowdia costume for her, but alas, I could only find the dark grey jumper fabric. Thankfully, I had plenty of scraps and such to choose from for the rest of the outfit. ^_^
I don't know WHY I thought this would be a good first project, seeing as how she has wings and tons of accessories, but whatever! The most time-consuming part of the outfit (clothing-wise) would have to be the shoulder pieces attached to the gold rings on the jumper... which you can hardly see anyway due to her big plushie head! *falls over*



So umm, yeah, I have to figure out how I can go about getting a plushie commission now. I think they're more fun than costumes... *holds a plushie in one hand and rattles a cup with the other* Commissions~ Commissions for the poor~
Er, if anyone does happen to want any plushie goodnesses, feel free to e-mail me or comment here. I think I'm going to start them at $70 + shipping... Just because that's a standard plushie price and I'm not sure how much mine SHOULD cost yet. (I didn't keep track on Crowdia because I was working on too many things at once.) The price includes the costume and one prop (if desired). Felt feather wings would count as a prop, but feathered wings would cost more because they take awhile to make (even at that small!) Of course, additional props could be made as well. I guess super-detailed costumes would cost more too? Hahaha... I don't know yet. I think I'll just start one at my base price and see how much (little?) I make an hour.
Ummm... Oh, I don't want to do any heavily-armored ones YET... Though I am looking into the possibility of tiny fiberglassed armor. I'll also have an option for machine-embroidered eyes in the future.

*pokes sad little bank account* I really hope I can actually find a market for this. Anybody have any ideas?

For take be morbidity
&
Dressing to impress oedipus saratoga



If only -I- could impress Oedipus Saratoga, too~! *weep*

Spamspamspamspam~ Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!

Hahaha, I have so little to do here. Umm, commission is coming along nicely... need to finish assembling the arms/hands/skeletons together, then make the harness... oh, and find some yellow kitchen gloves in size small, which seems quite nearly impossible!

My website is STILL not back up, despite their guarantee that it would be up like... three or four days ago. THIS COMPANY IS SO HORRIBLE. Unfortunately, I really can't afford to move to somewhere else. Everyone, please never use FuitadNET. They have the most horrendous customer service EVER.

Anyway... umm... here's something Linlin is making me do. Yes, you can blame her. Hahaha~


Things you enjoy, even when no one around you wants to go out and play. What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level? Make a list, post it to your journal... and then tag 5 friends and ask them to post it to theirs.

1) Making jewelry... Making clothing doesn't usually reduce stress for me, unfortunately...
2) ...But designing clothing/costumes does. Ish better with music!
3) Exercise! I love exercising. <3
4) Cooking foodses, which I proceed to HORDE FROM MY FAMILY, MUAHAHAHAHA. (Or just make something they don't want.)
5) Reading classic books/the Bible... Also, plays! I love my Moliere book. <3
6) Praying~ For obvious reasons!
7) Attacking Matt! Wahahahaha~
8) Watching Metal Mania on VH1 Classic with Matt. YAY 80s METAL CHEEEESE <3 <3 <3 2-hour episode tonight, whoo!

Tag... friends? Hmm, okie!
Umm... mappyman, disposableninja, kingakamai, muralasa, littlefishy

... and jervispendleton. YES I CHEAT AND ADD ANOTHER PERSON

It's too bad I can't list video games there, but I always get stressed that I'm wasting too much time playing them. XD "It's for inspiration!" I say.

Lalala... I should go accomplish SOMETHING...

Boo hoo, I want to work, and there is no room in the room which is designated as my workroom.

I am in Houston right now, as is quite often the case. And as always, Matt has been evicted from his bedroom so that I may store all my junk in it and have a bed to sleep in. (But don't worry about him; he has a very comfy couch in the living room to sleep on.)

I want to get started drafting the pattern for a new lolita outfit, but alas, there is no room in here! So I must clean clean clean. I'm quite itching to sew...

...But that will probably change when I officially get started on my commissions. For the first, I have to make fake arms. Yes! Fake arms! My initial idea was the create them with expanding foam and fiberglass, but I think I'll do sewn (possibly resin-coated) arms instead. It seems altogether easier, not to mention far less messy and toxic.

OH. That reminds me. I never posted pictures of my last commissions here!
Nor did I post them in my Minuit Bleu journal, which is for all practical purposes out of use at the moment, seeing as how my stupid website is down. But I'll do that later, because I need to upload the pictures to a friend's server and whatnot, but I'd really rather get working on my dress right now.

P.S. Vincent is great. ^_^

So bored that I'm posting in my LJ! What the?! How did half a year go by...

Well, my website is down right now because my webhosting company is LAME. Still working on that. I have a bunch of commissions I'm about to get started on, which is never any fun, but oh well. But I have a custom dressform of Deandra (who is commissioning me), so that makes things a million billion times easier.

http://dlishusjewelry.com/featured.html

Shinies~ Whee, my feature finally! Too bad my website is stupid and down right now. But oh well, you can go to my temporary Geocities site instead. Yay.
Sarcasm aside though, I'm thankful for it, because Matt whipped it up for me the night before my feature went up. <3 Matt

Booooo~ Nobody loves me! Everyone keeps taking me off their LJ lists for inexplicable reasons! I'm assuming because I never post or comment! WELL. That doesn't mean I don't read! *weep* I'm just lazy! Lazy, I tell you!

So anyways, umm... I've been playing Guild Wars. It's fun. Much better than Warcraft. *nodnod* My girl is short and pale and beautiful... and French! Because her name is Lucine Patisserie. Because pastries are good.
Speaking of French, I haven't studied it in a long time. *cries*

Matt's home!!