progress

So I got my FREE boxes in the mail the other day and they are perfect they will fit my gift set wonderfully! I am working on covering the first box with the oh-so-famous sewing pattern and I must say so far so good. It really is giving it an aged effect and creates a beautiful texture on the box, you would never guess that the box was cheap old cardboard! I also received my tins. I was a little worried about them since I had to order a different style so that all of my lids would be the same, but I think they will be great. The new ones are screw on instead on the pop on lid and they are all indented on the top so I am very happy with them. Now to start filling! I also wanted to ask if anyone had any great ideas on how t display my cosmetics so that my display doesn't get destroyed/people can see my cosmetics tins from top to bottom. Prof Powell mentioned maybe having two sets open-one to leave intact and one for people to pick up and admire, she also suggested to build shelves into the tree and display some extra tins there. I am still mulling over these two great options but if anybody had any other ideas I would love to hear them:) Oh and the artist statement was not as hard as I had expected-I just free-wrote for awhile and I think it's coming along pretty smoothly.

boxes-Free

SO I am pretty much a ninja-jk-I just got the 3 boxes I need for my gift sets free! On the website-u-line.com the least amount I could order was 50-way too many so I just called and they are sending me 3 asap-I can't wait to cover them with sewing pattern and start laying out the flowers on them-which I have been cutting out and will soon be on assembly. I also ordered my final tins and am researching exactly what color makeup to put in my open set, right now it's looking like spring time yellow, pink, and cream.

Enlarge

here is the box-not so pretty yet, but I will be working on that 

goals accomplished!

So I'm nto trying to brag or anything lol but it feels pretty good to know that I met most if not all of my goals for capstone over christmas break. I am really excited and def. a little nervous that its coming up so fast. I am in love with where my project is going and am excited for Prof. Powell to give a fresh perspective on it. I loved her idea about pressing an initial into the powder, so know I am researching hoe to make a custom stamp/how I would accomplish that. I am glad that the brushes and the new flower was a hit so-I will be onto making many more of those soon. I also need to play more with foliage for the tree. Maybe some minor tweaks to the logo still. Next is ordering more tins and maybe a mock-up of a box or ordering one that I can cover, to hold the gift set. I am also going to really start keeping my eye out for a blush and some more eye shadow colors. Oh yea and I need to actually try out mixing the shadow with the alcohol, they made it look so easy online so we'll see!

Presentation

I had my Capstone presentation this past Tuesday and I think it went great! It was really nice to get some feedback and things resolved as well as to see that I was on the right track with my packaging ideas, logo and aesthetic. I am so excited to finalize my tree ideas and to get started on gathering the wood and materials I need for that. I really love the way the line is coming out and it makes me proud that the product is something I would buy and really enjoy. I also like the fact that I have handcrafted a lot of things, like the flowers. I feel like I am on the right track and although I know that next semester will inevitable be hectic...I think that I will be have so much more time to focus in on my Capstone! Oh over break I am going to also refine my logo and hopefully create the case for the makeup brushes, and work on the box that the lien will fit in as well as "naming" or coming up with the story behind each set.

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