A short hiatus...

Has now ended.
October has been a very busy month full of watching a lot of baseball games, cooking, working, brainstorming, sewing, jogging, and getting muddy. I haven't found one good project to share, but when I do find it, I'll post it.
For now, I'm just going to take it easy and post when I can.
But here's where I've been lately.

3rd generation renovation

This weekend I painted our breakfast nook all by myself (I kind of had to do it all by myself because everyone else in the house had painted a room on their own too, so I took on the kitchen). All I can say is that if you're not on the tall side, a ladder is your best friend when doing tasks like these.

There will be more projects to come.

The nook before

Getting ready to start painting

The nook after

The first year

I started this blog a year ago to give myself something productive to do. It started as some sort of a journal for my day to day life, but since then I have gone in a different direction. I started making things with my hands, all sorts of bad DIY projects. I wanted to show people that not all projects come out perfect, but the point of doing the project was to at least try it once!

So, in honor of my strange little blog turning one year old (because honestly, I thought it wouldn't make it to a year), I want to give something back.

For this first birthday: one reader will get a free PARA MORIR NACIMOS t-shirt reconstructed by AWCA. Just to be forewarned, it ain't gonna be perfect but at least you'll know you're the only one with a one of a kind t-shirt.

A free shirt is a free shirt.

Comedy Hour with Iron Lung

Well, more like comedy for about 25 minutes including a shit ton of songs in between from one of the wittiest bands around.
I like it when a band interacts with the crowd...wait, let me correct myself, I like it when Iron Lung interacts with the crowd because they're funny and I like laughing.

For bands links click here.

Mutant Video: 2 guys and a projector. My eyes and ears were both busy.

White Wards: Young kids+punk=this band. I mean this in a good way.

Walls: The singer was also witty and they reminded me of Black Flag when they let their hair grow out. So good all around.

Slices: Sarcastic singing.

Brainoil: Hella heaviness is awesomeness.

Iron Lung: Comedy and music are two of my favorite things.

Side Project: PARA MORIR NACIMOS

This is a side project I am working on with Bearded Man for his blog PARA MORIR NACIMOS. We will have t-shirts and stickers for sale soon. We want to show positive and real imagery during confusing times like these. 

Love it or hate it, Death is coming for you.

PARA MORIR NACIMOS is not obsessed with the morbid. Death is a natural process we must all go through. We are born to die. But we should not fear Death, we should welcome it. If we fear Death, we fear life. We fear to live our lives the way we want, to find happiness in the smallest things, to make light of big problems. 

PARA MORIR NACIMOS is a positive message. We believe in: living life to your heart's desires, welcoming Death as a natural process, loyalty til death, and of course, supporting your family, supporting your friends, and supporting what you believe in.

Here are some things we have in store in the coming future.

Not-so-spontaneous DIY Monday: heart pocket tee

When my co-worker and friend, Ashley, had asked me to do something interesting to some of her t-shirts, I was flattered. No one's ever asked me to do anything like that before. The fact that she let me do some sort of project with her t-shirt really meant a lot to me, someone actually thought my DIY stuff was not all that bad. I'm not the best at DIY, as I've said this many times before,but I find so much joy just sitting on my floor and hacking up t-shirts and listening to good music.
Now, for this not-so-spontaneous DIY Monday (because I had actually planned this project out to the best of my ability), I modeled Ashley's shirt from the one I made here.

It's just any other ordinary cotton American Apparel t-shirt. Have scissors, needle and thread, and some willing hands to do this project. I sew everything by hand, I don't own a sewing machine...yet!

Next, using two pieces of fabric, cut the pocket out into the shape of a heart. You can use, one piece of fabric if you'd like. Don't let fabric go to waste!

Sew the two pieces together with any colored thread you want.

Pin down.

Sew the heart-pocket onto the t-shirt but keep the top part open. Then cut the collar if you'd like.

There we go. I don't know why I decided on a heart-shaped pocket (a black heart, no less), but I thought it would be a little bit more cheery than just a regular pocket.

B.A.D. Championship 2012

Richmond Wrecking Belles vs. San Francisco Shevil Dead

B.A.D. Girls

Bearded Man and I headed out to Richmond for our first time ever to a roller derby match. We had been wanting to go for almost 2 years. This match was way more exciting than anything they showed in the movie Whip It! I do think it is a good movie but the real thing is always better. Til next season, B.A.D. Girls! 

Papa wanted me to play the accordion, I wanted to play guitar and I never did

I don't regret too many things in life, but one thing that does crush my heart at times is how I never learned how to play an instrument. Clarinet in the fifth grade does not count! My dad always wanted his daughters to play music, an all-sisters Mexican regional band, if you will. He said I would play accordion, one would play drums, and another would play guitar. Accordion?! No way! I said. I wanted to play guitar. LOUD guitar. No joke, I said loud guitar. But when it came down to it, I just couldn't muster up the courage to learn how to play guitar. I was too scared of being bad at it, not having any musical talent, just...negative thinking all around. So I never did it. And on days that I'm feeling blue, I always go back to "why didn't I ever learn how to play guitar like I always wanted to?"
Here I am 10 years later after first wanting to play guitar...still wanting. And I would've kept longing to learn had it not been for Bearded Man going out and buying a guitar so the both of us could learn together. Because it's never too late to do something you want (cheesy alert). But it's so true! If it wasn't there wouldn't be any 80 year old grandmas receiving their phDs or some shit. You gotta do what you want to do sooner or later. Sometimes the case is later.

Epiphone Les Paul

Spontaneous DIY Wednesday night

Who knows how others create projects, but I know that mine cannot be planned out. They never work when I plan it out. So after many failed planned DIY projects, I gave up and now do everything on a whim. This afternoon this idea (pictured above) to turn a plain men's black long sleeve into a pocket tee came up in a moment of boredom at work. 

Any plain old oversize t-shirt will do. Go nuts with it. The cut of the shirt depends on your preferences.

After you've cut your sleeves, use the excess and trace out a pocket. I have another pocket tee already, so I just used that as a pattern. 

Cut it and sew it on. If you have a sewing machine, you are very lucky! I sewed this pocket on by hand. (Sorry for the shit quality photo. It's spontaneous, duh.)

And these are the results. If you can see the detail, congrats! You have amazing vision.

Happy 105th birthday Frida Kahlo!

Today would have been Frida Kahlo's 105th birthday.  Celebrate this wonderful artist's life and work by appreciating it and making a self-portrait of your own. Happy birthday, Frida! 

Spontaneous DIY Saturday: No Statik racerback

Turn a regular t-shirt into a racerback tank. I bought this No Statik t-shirt at Chaos with many plans in mind for it. When I came back from my trip to Chaos, I didn't get to my project right away and my t-shirt just sat in different spots in the room.
I found this tutorial on BUST .
You can follow the steps here.
And here are my results.