Gotta love the Fam!

So Sunday, as I was working on my flowers,  my mother-in-law commented that if she could do anything to help just let her know so I casually mentioned to her that I am on the look-out for lip-gloss containers and nail polish containers that have brushed metal lids. Today she sent me the link to an awesome website MakingCosmetics.com and would you believe it they had just what I needed-well the lip gloss that is and some lip pencils so lips down....nail polish to go! aw yea it is actually a mascara tube but who cares:)

Ta Da!!!! she also had the best idea to fill up my eyeshadow containers with candle wax and then just top them off with the eyeshadow to save time and money.

tree plans

So I think I have found a way to create a tree. My husband and I sat down and sketched out some ideas and then began discussing what was feasible. Some of our first ideas included overlapping plywood to create bark textures, but that would end up taking forever and we couldn't figure out how to create tree limbs from that. So the idea I am focused in on now is creating strips of the plywood and cutting them out to create an entire tree silhouette with some boards sticking out further to place my products on. I know plywood sounds cheap looking but I was surprised when he brought a sample home it actually is really pale and pretty and doesn't need much done to it, it is also very smooth. But my second favorite idea is creating a flat tree silhouette with branches, against the wall or against the one brick post thats ticks out in the gallery, and using the sewing pattern to create paper flower balls and attach them to the branches to create 3D foliage. O.K. sounds crazy but in the sketches it turned out pretty cool. Also, found out that my grandparents have a bicycle that is 40 or so years old-I need to go check it out but I am praying that it has either a banana seat or a basket on the front-hope it's in o.k. condition!

the flower balls that would make up the foliage on the tree would look like this-except out of sewing patterns...and they would be layered.

exploring

So I have been exploring flower making. Currently the flowers I have been making have been out of paper, the thicker scrap-booking paper and then the extremely thin yet inexpensive sewing patterns. I enjoy the looks of both the papers but they are both tricky to work with so my next task is fabric flowers. I started looking at linen fabric to make flowers out of, because I feel like the texture and the colors work well with my other fabric, but I found the muslin to be just as attractive and again, much cheaper at like a dollar a yard. I also found a few new ways to construct flowers with wire instead of sewing them which I will try out soon. And I tried to order the blue velvet ribbon I found online but they are temporarily out stock in the width I was looking for so I am holding off on that for now. I have been on the search for brushed metal tops that would work for nail polish bottles as well as lip gloss containers and right now it's looking like ALMAY cosmetics is my best option. They have a mascara tube that I might be able to take the top off of and glue onto whichever nail polish bottle I like, but I am still working on the logistics of that. I also found an ALMAY lip stick case that is tall and thin and is clear as well as has some brushed metal elements but I need to try and dig out the lipstick from it, because the colors aren't that great.

here is the mascara top, it looks more metallic in person

Mail!

I have already gotten my tins and now my brushes came in, and my fabric should be in its way! It is helping me so much to have tangible objects to play around with and be able to visualize how everything will fit together as a unit. The brushes look a lot more expensive than they were and I like that they are very soft and a natural brown hair instead of the black you always see. The flower came out successfully for the first try and I think that I will try and make it have more layers next time to make it fluffier/have more dimension to it. That was the consensus when I showed it to people. I used the pearl center and I like the looks of that too, but I def. need to start cranking those out in all shapes and sizes. I also will be ordering nail polish bottles asap and once the fabric is in I will be diving into the label design as well as continue to work on packaging.

tins:)

so I got my tins last night that I ordered and I am pumped-they were form specialty bottle and they are gorgeous. There is the perfect size for my eyeshadow AND my blush-plus they were only like 63 cents a pop. They really look nice. Now if I my fabric and brushes would just come. So wish me good luck on my flower tomorrow! I got pearl and wooden buttons for centers the other day so I have options.

Tins

So I found a great supplier of metal tins-Specialty Bottle-and the great part about them is they have metal tins with clear tops-BUT-they only have them in the smaller sizes which I am not sure will work for my blush. Also you can order one-offs from them so I ordered samples (and they were all under a dollar a piece) So here is my dilema-I think it is necessary to see the colors you are buying so how do I make the blush tins work or do I need to keep searching for larger tins with clear tops. Also if I am packaging my makeup in brown boxes-how do I allow for the buyer to see the colors? These are things I am pondering.I am also considering making the cosmetics line a package deal like you buy a box and it's filled with maybe one or two lip options, a blush and six eyeshadows-I don't know this might be a ridiculous idea. I am planning on making a paper flower this week, and it will probably be out of sewing patterns. So we'll see how it holds up/how easy it is to make because I would love for them to be al over the tree I am creating. And about the tree-my husband is bringing home pieces of scrap wood so I can see what is available and really start to sketch out what I want my display to be.

logo

I have been designing various versions of my logo for my cosmetics line, which will be named Elliot Elaine...ta da!  I have been focusing a lot on old style monograms and the mix of typewriter typefaces and more elaborate-handwritten typefaces. I am pretty happy with what I have created so far, putting the E into different containers and playing with the handwritten feel of the entire name in the logo. This definitely fits with Anthro's esthetic. I do however want to try and get handwriting from a few people I know because I feel like the typefaces I am finding maybe aren't going to cut it. I really enjoy the look of a mix between cursive and print. I am also searching for paper and cloth patterns to incorporate in my design and am keeping my eye out for things to collect and maybe ad to a book to display along with my project-so it's picture taking time!