I am super excited to be sitting at my new computer courtesy of the refund we received from the United States Government in conjunction with my almost one year old pacemaker. I guess when you have heart failure, the mechanical item that you have implanted to keep you alive is considered a tax write off. Makes sense, I mean, I can write off my sewing machine. Anyway I finally, FINALLY am able to download pictures of the fun time I had at Kids on the Move and share them. The project I decided to do was something I found online. The advert had to do with accumulating kids costumes for the Bridges program at KOTM. (The Bridges program is specifically designed for Autistic or developmentally delayed students.) I decided rather than go and just buy a bunch of stuff at Party USA, (which is a great place for costume accessories, btw) I would make a bunch myself. I took some time in between shoots and sat down with my tax free Singer and just started making things up. I knew the kids would probably be all different sizes since I heard a couple of different things about the age groups receiving the costumes. I figured they had plans to use them for a few different classes. I had completed almost a dozen different sized skirts and vests and aprons, when I found on clearance a big huge black steam trunk at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I picked it up and put the costumes inside, but the trunk was so vast it looked empty. I made a few more skirts and aprons and then started worrying about the boys, what would they wear? So I took a trip to everyone's favorite store, Dollar Tree, and bought a bunch of spy kits, hats, and cool dude sunglasses. I intentionally stayed away from anything with actual weaponry. I also bought a bunch of fairy wings and tutus and of course jewelry and by the time I was finished I felt we had everything the kids would need for pretend time for a few years to come. What I wasn't prepared for was the amazingly warm reception I got from the teachers who were so kind and gracious and made me feel like I had donated a million dollars. I almost cried they were so kind to me. The kids are gorgeous and the teachers were amazing with them. The teachers said they would be able to use the costumes for a lot of different things so I was glad I had thought to make items to fit all age groups. You can check out this awesome organization and even sign up for great volunteer opportunities on www.kotm.org. Also I must say thanks to my bestie Julia at http://www.blonde-canary.blogspot.com for donating some amazing fabrics that I used for this project. The other fabrics were found at Wal*Mart in the discount section. Love me some one dollar per yard fabric.
This is a serious faux hawk up-do. She said the tutorial can be found on Pinterest, ladies.
I also had the opportunity to do the makeup for my sweet friend Mindy Gledhill for some amazing promotional shots for her Pledge Music campaign, among other things. Go check out www.pledgemusic.com/mindygledhill and don't be afraid to donate towards her album because you get super cool stuff for it. The following shots were taken by me, my daughter and the beautiful and fun Jefra Linn. The professional ones are Jefra's, of course. You can find her work at www.jefrastarrlinn.com. She's really good people, I recommend her for family pics this year if you want a mind blowing Christmas card that will make everyone jealous. She took this great picture of my baby girl and I. Mindy's makeup details are pretty simple. Ben Nye White Creme on the lids. My favorite cheek color, Hydrangea by Pops Cosmetics. My favorite red on her lips called Marilyn Red also by Ben Nye. Her eye liner is a gel liner by L'Oreal in Blackest Black that is new and I'm kind of liking. I did a similar look on Mindy for her amazing video Harvest Moon and she really liked it so I tried to recreate it here. Mindy was gracious about letting my daughter hang out on set and even fed us pancakes. Don't let it get out that I will work for pancakes, people. My agency wouldn't like it. Naaaaw, they don't care.
Jefra and Mindy. How cute are they?
Last week I had a load of fun doing makeup for my gorgeous cousin Tiffany's daughter that everyone calls Chiila. No one knows exactly why she's called that. Anyway, she's not only beautiful and smart she's a gifted athlete and had just finished the BYU invitational with moments to spare before she had to get ready for prom. Tiff was teasing her and calling her Chiilatariat because she seems to just push harder and go faster when she is up against a really tough competitor. That's a gift I tell ya. I ran from the age of three and I never had that kind of drive. I hated competition because I knew if I won that would just mean I was making another person feel bad for losing. Needless to say, I lost a lot. Unless I was in a relay and then I ran for my life because I couldn't let my teammates down. Anyway, Chiila has a 6th gear. That girl is fast. And as you can see, gorgeous. Like her mum.
Deets on Chiila's makeup: I used Urban Decay's eye primer on her lids first and then mixed four different shadows from the Urban Decay Naked palette number one. The eye pencil is also Urban Decay, 24/7 in Demolition and then I added a bit of the L'Oreal gel liner but only on top. Her lips are Makeup Forever's Rouge Artist Natural, N4. She has on just a half false eyelash because her lashes are naturally gorgeous but I wanted her to have a bit of a wing so we did a great cat eye lash on her along with a little touch of a wing with the liners. I used my favorite mascara that is hard to come by, Rimmel Lash Accelerator. (The kind with the yellow cap.) I also used an eyebrow pencil that was given to me by Pierce Brosnan's makeup artist, Bron Roylance, so thanks Bron and I probably should have mentioned that to Chiila and her mom, they'd have gotten a kick out of that.
Next week I am doing more pro-bono Prom makeup. Pics will follow.
As a side note. I am still enjoying doing things for other people. Kind of. I don't feel the excitement or the urgency to do one thing every single week like I did in January, but I am liking saying yes to favors when asked instead of automatically thinking I'll be too busy and saying no. The only thing is, I thought I'd feel better than I do. I mean to say, I thought doing things for others would make me feel better about myself in some fashion. Like I would think more highly of myself for being the kind of person who would do nice things for other people but I don't really. I don't know if it's because technically I am doing it because I made a resolution to do it, or because I know I'm going to blog about it and I'm still conflicted about whether that's right or not, but it hasn't really effected me the way I thought. I don't feel about myself the way I imagined. Not that it's really a huge deal, I mean, I'm not doing this for me but I definitely felt better when I was ten and I spontaneously shoveled the neighbor's driveway. I guess I thought it would be more of that kind of a warm feeling all over every time. Maybe it's different when it's pre-meditated. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. I have eight months of my resolution left.
