Lucy M.

BJD Clothing

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:35:46 GMT

I've actually made 5 pieces of ball-joint doll clothing in the past couple of days, but one of them, I've decided, I don't really like, so it won't get pictures on here until its made itself decent. I'm pretty happy with the ones I've finished, but each one has something I think isn't quite perfect about it, so I don't know if I'll sell them, but if anyone's interested, let me know~!

A lot of the clothes are being made out of scrap material or recycled people-sized clothing, so it's really not going to be a big deal if I can't sell these. Besides, my doll will need clothes when it's finally finished, so these won't go to waste. I did not receive the doll clay for Christmas as I was hoping, but I did get $40 from my grandma, so I'll be using a bit of that to continue the work on my lovely. I just found the old pieces from the FIRST bjd I ever tried to make, and it is... not likely to be salvageable. The head reminds me of this Mycenaean death mask I saw in Survey of Western Art I this past semester, and the body pieces really show that I'm better at carving shapes out than at forming them.

These were a few of my Christmas gifts, taken with another gift, a new camera! I don't remember if I showed this last time or not. I know it sounds like I'm not really working on anything other than bjd stuff, but that's not totally true. As for my two commissions left, one of them might not be finished and delivered until Animazement itself, and the other will probably be finished at school, just because I want to make sure that everything fits and works and such. I'm excited to get more work done on everything, finish stuff up, get paid, and after that, well... I continue to work! ^_^;

Happy New Year from Lucia!

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 02:11:20 GMT

Well, many things have transpired over this month. We had a lovely Ladies' Festive Tea Party, and fancy gifts were exchanged, and I have decided to begin making ball-joint doll clothes. These will mostly be the things on my Etsy account these days, but I will still be making human clothes, and absolutely will take commissions. Speaking of which, I've finished one of my costume commissions already, and the other two are nearly done! I've been commissioned to make a headbow with a lovely Alice in Wonderland print fabric that I've unfortunately left in Georgia, so soon, I'll be able to go back and make it! The commissioner has told me that she's willing to wait, which is very nice of her! I only hope she feels that way now, too!

Let me know if you want anything done in this fabric, too, or anything else, for that matter!

I've been working on fun craft projects for my family and friends for Christmas, so it's all over now. It's been fun, but I got burnt out creatively for like 3 days and started just playing Kingdom Hearts II! ^_^;; I got a new camera, though, so that's exciting!

Dress-Up

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:49:07 GMT

I love to dress up and have pictures taken, and vice versa, which is to say I love to dress people up and take many pictures! So much fun!

This is my favorite kind of pose for myself, because it's cute and comfortable, so these pictures remind me a lot of myself. They are from this blog, not from me! www.ourblogoflove.com/index.cfm

Isn't this the reason why the Lucia shop exists? Lolita and other lovely fashions are so much fun! I enjoy it a lot.
This picture is really old, from when I dressed up one year for Robot Day, but it doesn't look very robot-y, does it? In the end, it's just that I love to get all kinds of dressed-up, so this year, let's put on pretty dresses and dance and take photos!

I got a really cute shirt-ish thing from Civvie's, the clothing store on Broughton Street. I originally saw it and its sisters for $67, but finally, it was down to $20 somehow, months later! It was exciting, even though I wanted a navy one, and Danielle got a matching one! We will wear them together and take twin pictures somewhere when we get back from winter break. Yes, yes. This will happen for sure. Here's just a sneak peek!

As for the store, I'm afraid that these days, I have little news, due to the fact that I haven't made runs to the fabric store lately. Although... I really should finish that Cinderella trump cards one-piece I was making. I hope there are people petite enough to wear it who are interested in it. It's just a liiiittle too small for me to wear. I know people who are more petite than me, but one isn't a lolita fan, and two definitely don't have money for it.

Coming Home

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:15:29 GMT

This is my lovely workspace~ So filled with stuuuff~~ If you're interested in the pretty little boys, I'm working on making Chinese zodiac boys for Animazement, so you can order one! They will be keychains, magnets, prints, postcards, and things to stick on your door. Maybe. We shall see, since I probably can't afford to do ALL of those things. I made stamps, so those are what all the ink is about, too.

Rebecca and Danielle and I had a picnic on Sunday! It was lovely. We bought subs from the shop at Turner, and then spread out Rebecca's sheet, which was in need of a wash anyway, on the lawn by the pool and brought out our snacks and playing cards, and quickly became hot in the sunlight. Eventually, we moved to the shade, but not before a few quick card games.

So, I'm going home tomorrow, and there's so much to do! I have so much to pack, and so much to scan, and blaaaaah! I still need to call the cab company. x.x It's so crazy! Check out the cards I made! They're for sale at my etsy account!

I will be unable to ship anything tomorrow, but I can get it out Friday, so please be patient. ^_^ I'm excited about all the things I'm going to be doing this winter, and there's SO much to do! I already have a list of Christmas presents I want to make and/or grab, so I hope that my friends will like them~ I even have a few ideas for my family this time, which is very different from usual, since I almost never have a good idea of things to give to them. 'T will be exciting. Is everyone else getting their ideas yet? What do you think of the cards I made? What other ones would be interesting? Is it also unnaturally warm for November where you live? It sure is here! Remember my etsy site: http://santaluchia.etsy.com (there are also links on each of the card pics above!) , and please stop by! ^_^ And now, I'm gone!

Wishes Granted

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:36:48 GMT

This is something I wrote on the 9th:

In the morning, I had forgotten only minutes before I started to feel heavy again. I found myself unusually blue, for even when things like this happen, it is extremely rare for me to be like this. I found that I was pulling myself together by lunch time, even to the point where suddenly, I felt like sending a happy little text, brief and random, to him. But no, I thought, I am not ready to be nice to him. I looked through my contacts list. Katie. I will send it to her.
                               Happy monday!
                               1:46 PM 11/9/09
                               To: Katie
Moments later, I got such a happy little response,
                               I love you!
                               1:47 PM 11/9/09
                               From: Katie
and that was quickly followed, much to my surprise, by a phone call. She seemed so happy to have heard from me, and although we were both on our way to class, we shared a brief and happy conversation, and she asked me to leave a funny little message on Allison's phone, since she knew Allison was feeling anxious today. I feel like my whole day was lightened by this, and I was even able to give my all in sending Allison two messages advertising ClamCheck, among other things, and trying to get her to buy this and that product, despite how badly I failed at it. I talked to Allison for an hour, and I felt so much better. For just a few hours, it was a lovely day.

So, that was back on Monday. Today, I've been working on cleaning things up, getting ready for winter break, and... starting to make a Christmas wishlist. La Doll clay for my bjd project, Beegu (a children's book), an electric kettle, and a file folder rack have made it to my list so far, so I'm still working on it.

Doesn't it look just like The City with No People?

Winter Break Approaches!

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:30:34 GMT

Just two more weeks until winter break at my school~! I'll be taking the train home at like 1 AM, but I'll just sleep the whole way, I guess. Maybe I need to get some of those ridiculous little eye-covers.

I went to Atlanta Varsity Showdown, a swing dancing thing, for a weekend, and that was very cool! That was actually from before my last post, but plenty of things have happened in between everything... I just need to update more often. ^_^; Anyways, lots of fun! This picture was, in particular, from the preliminaries for the Jack and Jill contest, just a random partner dancing competition. I learned a lot from it, like Lindy Hop (and where the name comes from) and the shim sham, which is very helpful. I'm addicted to swing music now, especially Ella Fitzgerald. Does anyone know a song that's all about food, sung by a man, where he just talks about "fancy foods that cost so much, rattlesnake and such," and other lines like that? I can't find it! x.x

I've started trying for the second time to make my own ball-joint doll, but I haven't gotten much further than this. I got a really light-weight clay to try to sculpt the primary model. Ideally, I would have carved it out of foam, but... limited resources where I am. Luckily, my lovely mans brought me a large piece of styrofoam when he came to visit, it's just not necessarily the best kind. ^_^; I'm hoping to get some La Doll clay for Christmas or something so that I can cover up this primary sculpture with something more sturdy and generally better, and then I can string it up with elastic, get some eyes in there, make a wig... we'll see how things go. ^_^ I reeeeally want a lot
of the dolls from Blue Fairy, like the Olivia dolls... If only I had money.

This first picture on the left was my costume for the masquerade for Halloween. I was saying I was a pink fairy, but my wings are all the way back at home, so I couldn't complete it. x.x On the actual day of Halloween, I was tired, so I wore the outfit on the right to swing club, and Alex, the vice president, complimented me on it! He's very charismatic and friendly. You can't see the brown socks or mary-janes, but the skirt is handmade by me and the dress was on sale at Charlotte Russe, or however you spell that. ^_^;

Well, I updated my etsy, just by renewing the old orders. I finally sold something~~ But not on the website. ^_^; I sold the kitty skirt. I must have mentioned this in the last post, because in it, you can see the buyer wearing her skirt. I am excited~ Also, I finally got to start watching the Korean TV drama, My Name is Kim Sam-Soon, because a girl on my hall has the boxed set! It's been fun so far! Whenever I see the cakes and sweets, I want them so badly... That's how it always is, isn't it? ^_^; Well, I'll update more later! I'll try to make this more regular again. I'm looking forward to my new 2D Design project, since it's nearly 4 feet tall! Exciting!
Check out my etsy site here: http://santaluchia.etsy.com
And my deviantART here: http://keropi.deviantart.com

Art College Life

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:24:37 GMT

So, I'm at SCAD, and I love it. It's so beautiful and interesting and it was a perfect day today, despite being unreasonably cold earlier in the week, and I hear it's going to be like 80 degrees tomorrow... x.x; Such is the effect of global warming... Also, one great thing, the internet here is like the wind... It took me so much less time to upload these pictures to flickr than it usually does.

I've been up to all kinds of trouble, what with all my schoolwork, plus working on my own art, a comic for my friends, and making my own ball-joint doll! This is the craziest endeavor, and I have a feeling it will take quite some time to finally come together. Especially with the way I've been putting it off. But I am determined. One day, I will by my own Olivia doll from BlueFairy, and one day, I will have tons and tons of hand-made dolls... I hope. (part of this is because I intend to use the first good one I make to create molds and copy them, but just change the faces) There are so many dolls I want from BlueFairy actually... I am in love... However, I am picky: I want a cute male doll that's not anatomically correct (boys are icky), and I want at least one cute girl who's considerably flat-chested. I guess I can alter a doll I buy, but... I guess I'll just get a girl Olivia body and make my own boys for the most part.

My desk space keeps transforming from week to week or day to day.

The Shoujo Phonebook, a comic anthology club, had a lolita teaparty, so here's Zoe in her Bodyline dress, and Rebecca in her own black blouse, a skirt made by me that she's buying, and a top hat that I helped her decorate. There was bubble tea and a raffle, and I won a couple of things. My favorite is the lovely print by Joy Hua.

The bowl is mine; I just had to bring my dinner, since my class gets out at 7:30, and I barely got home in time for the 8 o'clock party. The dress is made by me, and needs some altering, but I've already actually altered it a bit. I like it a lot. ^.^

I'm really looking forward to the Savannah Film Festival, since I've signed up for volunteering, but also, the Masquerade ball for Halloween is going to be awesome~~~ I'm going to be a sweet pea fairy or something. ^_^; I'm just wearing my prom dress with some new accessories and a pink wig. I wish I had my wings down here to go with it! x.x It's so weird of me to not construct some big new costume for Halloween, just because it's another excuse to make a contest, but... I haven't once gotten to the fashion building to use their machines yet, so... I doubt it would happen.

Anyways, I'll try to get back on the updating, since I just hadn't uploaded my pictures to my computer yet. I'll be posting the pictures of the giant turtle on my next entry! Unfortunately, I missed getting a picture of the giant fish, but maybe next time.

New Skirt and School Starting

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:38:36 GMT

So, a new skirt! I was so happy to find this mermaid fabric on the site from which I order my Japanese fabric, and I've always wanted a mermaid lolita skirt, like the one from Shirley Temple or Emily Temple Cute. I love those so much (especially the Shirley Temple one)! So, I'm thrilled to have a mermaid skirt. This doesn't mean I've stopped dreaming about those ST or ETC ones, but at least I've got something that I'll wear again and again and satisfies just a little of my quest for mermaid.

If you'd like something with this mermaid print, let me know! I take commissions!

I would have posted this way sooner, but I ran out of space for the month on Flickr, because I posted a bunch of pictures for the new co-president of the Japanese club at my old high school. I was co-president last year, so this year, I'm giving her the material I have. Now, I'm getting ready to head off to college, but I've still got two weeks to go, so I'm having fun sewing, drawing, packing, and all kinds of other things. I painted my bicycle, so it's now all nice and pretteh~~

I forgot to take some of the tape off of it when I shot these pictures, so... x.x;;

The couch behind my sewing machine area looks like a fairy tail compilation. I adore all the different prints. Winnie the Pooh, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (two different prints!), The Little Mermaid, Cinderella...

And lastly, packing for college land. This is my third box out of 4 for book packing, and I love how absolutely shoujo-tastic it looks. I rearranged the books so that some of my favorite covers are on the top. Who needs to keep things in order? ^_^; I'll fix that when I get there. I'm leaving all of my Yuu Watase series at home, along with a couple of other random books. If I really need them this year, I'll come back and get them during the winter break. While I'll be moving out of state for the year, I'll still be continuing all of my sales!

Back from Afar, Mitsuwa's Natsu Matsuri

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 04:22:56 GMT

So, I went to go visit my cousins and relations up in New Jersey and Massechusettes, and along the way I got to stop by New York City. I went to Kinokuniya, my beloved place, H&M, which I've never been to before, and in New Jersey, Mitsuwa marketplace. That was one glorious day. How I wish there was a Mitsuwa marketplace where I live... x.x At Kinokuniya, I got to touch brand lolita clothing for the first time! Metamorphose, Angelic Pretty, Innocent World, and Victorian Maiden all had dresses for sale there, but waaay too expensive for me. If I had planned to buy anything there that day, it probably would have been one of the absolutely beautiful Victorian Maiden dresses there. I found out that Angelic Pretty seems to use some really thick fabric sometimes, but Victorian Maiden's was of good quality, but thin and lightweight and unlined. I don't think any of those things are bad at all, so it makes me wonder if I could leave out lining in my dresses for Lucia, but until I have access to a serger to finish all the edges, I think having lining in them would be the most polite thing to do.
My friends love Axis Powers Hetalia, so I had to get a picture of this to show them that I found the books in the shop.

The reason I wanted to tackle Mitsuwa on August 8th was because they were having their Natsu Matsuri (Summer Festival) event there that day.

They had masks, goldfish scooping (although the goldfish were replaced with small plastic toys), water-balloon yoyos, yakitori, yakiika, shaved ice, and sooo much more! I wanted to take a picture of the food we got, but I forgot and ate it all! Plus, I spilled Ramune in my new (freebie) bag from Ribon. I was worried for my camera's life.

Mitsuwa is like an actual Japanese grocery store, unlike what we have, Grand Asia Market, which just has a bunch of things from all over Asia. I think Grand Asia Market is wise to condense all these things together to draw way more customers, but I still wish I could buy okonomiyaki sauce/mix at Grand Asia Market... x.x Besides Mitsuwa's grocery store, there's Sanseido Books, a Japanese steakhouse, a Japanese bath and body shop, and a general Japanese stuff kind of store that had everything from bento boxes and kitchen supplies to geta and yukata. It was like heaven on earth! And besides that, inside the grocery store, there's a food court that serves up actual authentic Japanese dishes like korokke (croquettes), tenpura, "creamyaki," and so much more! We had creamyaki, a regular croquette and crab croquettes.

There were Totoro bento boxes at the store by Mitsuwa, buy they were like $26! It was ridiculous! They were sooo cute, though. It was the same for the Peter Rabbit bento boxes at Kinokuniya. Way too expensive, but I wanted them so much!

Cupcakes! Werewolf Night by Van Gogh, Allison, and Lucy

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:50:28 GMT

Allison and I made cupcakes and decorated them with the help of a book she got from the library. There were a lot of great ideas that I'd like to try (and some sort of weird ones, too), but we decided to go with Starry Night, with our own twist. Werewolves. We used a ton of food coloring for the blue, but it was never quite dark enough, so we're pleased with what we got regardless. The green was almost the same way, but I mixed in some red, too, to make it darker.

The results!

Our werewolf, complete with added blood by Allison!

Then, Allison went out to get the mail, and when she came back, she had a package! Her order from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab came in!

Free samples came with it, too, but they weren't great. They were Wolf's Heart and To a Woman. Wolf's Heart was very musty, and To a Woman had something sharp about it. It smelled like make-up from a long time ago and antique shops. However, Allison ordered Hollywood Babylon, and it was lovely! She was quite satisfied, and recommends it to others, and I do, too.

Artistic shot with teapot, requested by Miss Allison herself!

Then, we had tea with cupcakes and blackberry jam while watching Brideshead Revisited. I didn't get to finish it, but I assume I got close. After watching it, I felt very fanciful, and got the notion in my head to have a lovely Venice Night Festival party. Perhaps that will be the theme for my birthday eventually.

It was a lovely day, and we ended up making potato and basil fritters from Allison's Korean cookbook from the library, too. They were great! I went home and made some more to have along side of dinner.

I'm about to go on vacation to New Jersey and Massachusetts, and stop by New York City on Saturday, too. I'm SUPER excited for the following reasons:
-Going to 3 different Japanese stores (Mitsuwa, Kinokuniya, and a department store I forget the name of)
-Mitsuwa is having a Natsu Matsuri (summer festival) going on including the Obon dance
-Kinokuniya, according to the egl community, is selling lolita items again! *squee!*
I will be slow to reply to any emails and requests, but I will be back in a week. The fabric I ordered with Allison will arrive during the time that I'm gone, so I'm a little worried about that... Maybe I'll have Max go check it out, or just go to the post office after I've gotten home if it's not on the porch waiting for me.
Check my previous journal entry for information on this skirt!

New Skirt and Soon to Come Dress

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:54:47 GMT

Has it really been this long since I posted? Well, it's been long enough for me to have long finished a skirt with my Alice tea party fabric and get serious headway on the Cinderella playing card dress (I will refer to "onepieces" as dresses, because "onepiece" is really just a Japanese-English-ism for which the intended meaning is "dress.")

The back of the waistband has shirring, so it can fit more than just one waist size. Minimum: 32 inches. Maximum: 39 inches. Length: 20 inches. If it's too short, I can add .5 to 3 inches of white eyelet lace to extend the length for a little extra cost.
The skirt is made of imported Japanese cotton fabric with black cotton lining.

BACK:

Price: $55

Want matching accessories? I can make a hairbow, bag, or other accessories of your choice from the same fabric on commission. Plain bow: $6. Plain bow with hairband $10. Inquire for particular styles of accessories and their prices.

I can make more skirts like this with other background colors on commission, including with a light blue, dark blue, pink, or grey background. All of these will be on commission, so they will take a bit of time to make. I can make duplicates of almost any skirt pictured on this blog and many are available in different colors, so let me know if you're interested.

New Items for Sale!

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:01:00 GMT

Cookies I made~ They're supposed to be bunny-shaped, but they spread out a lot. ^_^;
I now have two new skirts up for sale in my etsy shop! One skirt was finally finished after months and months of waiting for the store to get lace back in stock, since I put lace on half the skirt before running out, but I finally just got some different lace and finished it up. The other one got finished up with just some pearls and and underskirt. I'm not super happy with the underskirt, so I'm selling it at a discount.

AllanThis is the ad I made for the first skirt. I'm pretty pleased with it over all, except for the way my cutsew looks. ^_^; A little weirdly draped...
santaluchia.etsy.com Admiral's Ball Bustle Skirt, for sale- $45, discount underskirt-$7, regular price underskirt-$15

Urgh, the humidity made my bangs and hair in general look icky, and the waist for the skirt itself is slightly too big for me, so the whole thing looks slightly odd. And then, of course, the cutsew has issues again. Anyways, for sale santaluchia.etsy.com- $40

Then, I finished a skirt of my own, too. I really like the fabric, even though it's supposed to be for curtains and the skirt itself ended up being a little short as a result. I'll just make some bloomers or something for it. I can make another if anyone wants to buy it. They also come with the Alices and other characters in blue or orange besides the pink pictured here.

I adore the print. ^.^ So adorable!

So, as you can see with the first two photos, I've been working on a short-sleeved jacket-y thing based on a MAM shirt. I still have to sew on some lace at the bottom of the shirt and on the sleeves, and then ribbons on the collar and sleeves. I really really like it so far, but it has issues with the stiffness of the zipper. This is a problem I have on store-bought jackets like this, too, so I'm not too worried, but it's still awkward, and that's the reason I haven't zipped the jacket all the way up in the photos. I've been looking at the dresses from Juliette et Justine lately, and they're so pretty! I love their style! Innocent World and other classic brands are lovely~~ I like classic style a lot.

Anyways, I hope I can get some more fabric soon so that I can get to work on the skirts/jumperskirts/dresses with the new fabric. I have plans for them... *rubs hands together evilly* I want to get a lot more fabric to make stuff to sell, but I have to actually make some money first. x.x I wish I had a part-time job. I haven't been hired anywhere, despite filling out applications. If anyone knows of any job openings, send them my way! x.x

Back from Vacation, and Second Order In!

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:04:52 GMT

Hello! I have returned~ Sunday afternoon was really when I got back, but I've been ~~being lazy and playing video games all day~~ working on various things... Yes... Oh, my Pikmin babies... Yes, I'll help you breed, defeat your enemies, and slowly take over the world! I'll never give Alex back his copy of the game! Never!

Anyways, super happy because my second Super Buzzy order came in! This time, I ordered two yards of fabric designed for curtains with an Alice print on it and scalloped edges that I'm almost done turning into a skirt. That one's just for me. ^,^ Besides, I don't think other lolis would want it, really... I like it, but... ^_^; Maybe it's just me. I also got some pale blue fabric with sihouettes of Alice, the white rabbit, and other cute things on it, and I'm really not sure what to do with that one. I think maybe a skirt with black lace on it? Or white? I'm not sure... Maybe both? ^_^;; Yeah, I think a skirt with two rows of lace at the bottom each a couple of inches from each other would be nice.

So, lining questions on the egl community revealed that although most brands use the typical shiny acetate lining, not many girls prefer it. Most prefer cotton. It's more comfy and breaths better, as I would have thought. Cotton does cost more, though... x.x Maybe muslin or just broadcloth would be the way to go.

I can't get started on my skirts, unfortunately, until I get some lining. I can't finish my curtain skirt until I get fabric for a bow for the waistband. I can't do anything! x.x So, until then, I'm going play video games and see what I CAN work on. Or maybe just draw and stuff.

The pictures above are from the picnic we had at the art museum before I left for the beach. I just brought the cupcakes left over from the tea party I had had the day before, but there was also fresh fruit, which was really nice, considering no one brought drinks other than soda and kool-aid. x.x I love a ton of the pictures, but I narrowed them down to just 10 that I uploaded to flikr and then even less for this blog. We had a lot of fun, despite the intense heat. Once we were in that sheltered area, it was nice, because it was shady and breezy. Without the breezy, I would have died. x.x I got a picture of myself with this HUGE hibiscus that was seriously the size of my head!

So, there is still room for requests for the new fabric! To see 3 out of the 4 prints I now have, check out the journal entry previous to this one. If you'd like to commission me for anything else, just drop me a line! I finally just posted on the egl community asking about the shop name, and although I got mixed answers again, it seems the majority there wants Lucia, so I'll go with that. I think I might make a specific line called Lucy's Looking-Glass or something, but that won't be until I've gotten everything set and established, so it has at least a couple years to go.

Fabric Arrival!!! Plus Purikura Fun

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:24:55 GMT

MY FABRIC ARRIVED!

I am so excited that my fabric came in the day before I leave for the beach! ^.^ This is awesome! You can see the prints I ordered here. I could have sworn I ordered an Alice thing, but I know I only ordered three types of fabric, and I wanted all of these, so I went ahead and ordered the Alice things as well as some other things I wanted, too. ^_^ I LOVE Super Buzzy! You can tell it's a very small and personal service, because there's a cute bee stamp and a handwritten "Enjoy!" on my invoice that came with it, and added a couple of Japanese candies to the bag of fabric! How sweet! ^.^ I'm already in love with this website, and I can't wait to receive my new order! It'll be nice to come home to a brand new pack of fun stuff!

If anyone wants something made of the above fabrics, now is the time to say so. You have about a week until I get back, but it's first come first serve. Even if it's like the last day of the week and you're interested, I'd advise tossing me a note, because you never know which fabric people will swarm for. The Cinderella fabrics are also available with red or darker blue instead of the black background, and the Alice one is available with a blue, red, or pink background, too.

---------------------------

Also, I'm so happy that I found a site that mimics purikura booths! You don't get to take the pictures on the site (I don't have a webcam or anything anyway), but I don't care, as long as I get to play with the cute stamps and frames, and draw straight on the pictures. ^_^ Awesome!

Floral Tea Party! Photos~

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:22:43 GMT

Three out of the five ladies (excluding myself) from our little bitty tea society had a floral-themed tea party today! Rachel found out at the last moment that she couldn't go, and I had forgotten that Katie was being a camp counsellor off at the beach, but Allison, Kelsey, and Elizabeth were free for tea and socializing.

Sometimes we seem to get a little bored after a while, but this time, there wasn't a moment with a lull in the conversation! ^_^; I had prepared a couple of cute little crafts to do, expecting there would be a moment in which we would go for that, but I had trouble getting the idea in! We had cupcakes (they were supposed to be rose-flavored, but I never was able to go to the store for rosewater, so they were orange instead), Black Jasmine tea (from The Pineapple Tea Room), and a mix of Chamomile and Orange teas. I had never had the second one, but did it on a whim, and it was great! A very autumn flavor. I also had candied rose petals on the side.

We did end up finding out our destiny numbers and corresponding flowers from the floral issue of G&LB (Allison and I are both Gerbera, Elizabeth is Sunflower [totally suits her!], and Kelsey is Rose [how romantic! ^.^]), and read our corresponding profiles and such. We also made little rosettes out of ribbons according to the G&LB tutorial from Ribbonwork: The Complete Guide, and Allison and Elizabeth decided we HAD to show Kelsey Dr. Horrible. He is great, and since it's only 43 minutes, we had just enough time for it, even if it doesn't quite fit the theme. It was so much fun to talk to everyone and drink tea and eat cupcakes and all. I love tea-parties! ^_^

For the first time, I tried to make rose syrup according to a recipe, but I divided the ingredient quantities by 6. I found out that it's not really syrup-y consistency, but it IS way too sweet to drink on its own. I'll use it in place of rose water for now. ^_^;

Unfortunately, I found out my fabric just got shipped yesterday, so it won't be in until I'm already gone, but at least it should come for me. T.T Fabric, I pine for you~~~!

So, the bustle skirt is coming along really nicely! I'm so disappointed that I can't list it yet, because I still have to add a detachable strand of pearls to the front and a detachable bow in back and an underskirt. x.x I'm really proud of it so far, though. And I have to make it snap shut. I'll have pictures up soon where you can actually see the print, but if you're interested in it, just email me and I'll send it right away. ^_^ You can reserve it if you'd like or order it in this color, grey, burgundy, or reddish-pink. You can also request it without the pearls, underskirt, or bow, and it'll be cheaper.

Super Excitement!

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 20:44:58 GMT

So, thanks to the lovely livejournal user Meiki, I found the site Super Buzzy, and although I was skeptical about the name, once I looked around the site, I was more excited than ever. I can't wait to receive the fabric I ordered! I was in such a rush, I didn't even purchase some of the other cute items I now want. ^_^;; I'll get them, though! I'm just going to wait until my first order comes in so I can be sure of how good it is. Hopefully, it'll be this week!

I can't wait to receive these! I want to make really nice things for everyone, so what kinds of things are people interested in? Also, I can get most of the prints in different colors (like pink and red) , so please let me know if you'd like these things! I really want to get started on making them, and, as with most of my products, at least if someone else doesn't want them, I do. ^_^

I really want to get to work on making some interesting and nice things to sell in my store, so I really appreciate people giving me feedback as to what they'd like to see. Do you like bustle skirts? A-line dresses? What would you be interested in buying?

Also, I'm still hoping to get feedback on the name of my store. Lucia or Lucy's Looking-Glass? Which is more memorable? Which is prettier? Which would make a better lolita brand name?

Thank you for input!

~Sailor Song~

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:51:15 GMT

So, we had the sailor/pirate-themed meetup today! Everyone looked so cute, and we took lots of lovely pictures, but I was disappointed that one of the only decent pictures of me has my fail-petticoat showing. I had ripped it apart and remade it the night before, but there was one tier of the skirt that wasn't finished, and it was sticking out, despite my best efforts to get it not to do that. Also, I had no more lace, so it wasn't as long as I wanted, and I ran out of ribbon about a foot away from the end. x.x

But I really liked one girl's cute Metamorphose skirt! ^.^ The stripes and embroidery were so adorable! Plus her hair looked so cute, too!

I'll post the rest of the pictures later. I'm still going to make the sailor blouse eventually, and apparently, Lindsey has ordered a couple of sailor dresses, so we'll be a little late, but maybe we can get some beach shots or pictures at the aquarium. My friends and I are thinking of going to Baltimore! ^_^

Which would be a cuter, more memorable, and better name for a lolita shop? Lucia

Lucy's Looking-Glass

</lj-poll>Hey, so was pretty sure I was going to change my shop name to Lucy's Looking-Glass, but Lindsey says that "Lucia" is more memorable. I'd love to hear what other people would think about it. Is "Lucy's Looking-Glass" memorable? Is Lucia a cute loli shop name? Which would be better?

Also! Does anyone know how to post bigger pictures than these tiny things here on LJ?

I Need a Job, but in the Mean Time, I'll Keep Sewing

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 02:13:16 GMT

So, obviously sewing on commission and such isn't the most reliable source of income. I've been working on more ads for my shop, and I'm thinking of officially changing the name to Lucy's Looking-Glass.

Oh, why such failure picture quality?! Curse you, LiveJournal uploading!

That's much better. x.x

Anyways, I'm taking some better pictures of some of my items, trying to make more (just waiting on that trip to the store... x.x) , and really wanting to have a tea party. Summer last year was filled with tea parties (Steam Punk Tea, Chocolate Party, etc.), so I'm feeling the need to have some more of those again. So much fun! I want to do a floral themed tea party as soon as I can. My friend is having a mafia party soon, but I can't wear my lolita clothing for that, so... ^_^; We'll see when I can hurry up and have my floral tea.

When I get my own shop, I really want it to be not only a place to shop, but a place to sit and socialize, with a tea room area or other places where lolitas can sit down and chat. Wouldn't that be nice? I saw a place where the stationary store closed in a local shopping area, and I was eying the "for lease" sign longingly. That shop is rather nicely sized, on a corner, and has windows all the way around. I would love a space like that, but I know I'm nowhere near prepared enough to start up shop there. I'm going to college in Georgia this fall, anyways.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
SantaLuchia.etsy.com

More stuff in my lovely shop. Check out the Love Letter skirt I featured in my last ad down there in my previous entry. It's so cute, and soooo full. ^_^; There was hardly any fabric left once I was done for the bow! I'm working on making a cute blue bustle skirt as well as a bag and matching hairbow that have been in progress for half the year. ^_^; It's because I never got around to getting a cute matching button for both pieces. Feel free to request anything! I take commissions!

My Fashion Clash- Lolita and Me

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:53:08 GMT

So, someone on deviantART has brought it to my attention that I really need to get better pictures of my merchandise! ^_^; That's not how she said it, or what she said, quite, but it made me realize that if I want to sell to lolitas, I'd better make my clothing look like lolita!

MOST SHAMEFUL: There is a picture of Katie wearing the kitty skirt, her stomach is showing, the top of her underwear is showing (because no one wanted to bring it up to her that she needed to pull up the skirt), and she looks like the furthest thing from lolita. Quite a good deal of this is my fault.

LEAST SHAMEFUL (but still not good): There is a picture of me wearing the love letter skirt and a pink blouse that's far too big for me. I have made no attempt in the picture to tuck the shirt out of the way to make it appear that it is my size for advertising purposes. I just hope no one notices. This was silly of me.

Lesson learned: All this needs to be fixed! I need to make sure that next time, every model has a petticoat at the shoot, because only Elizabeth had a petticoat on her, since she was borrowing mine, and I only have one since I lost the other at Animazement... x.x I need to actually have matching tops/bottoms for all outfits, and not just assume that because one item is the featured item, the rest will be ignored. Everything needs to be pulled together correctly, and I need to never let bad pictures like these ones see the light of day.

Why did this happen? Well, etsy is not a site known for its huge number of lolita buyers. I wanted to be able to appeal to all of those people out there, too, and not just scare them off by saying it's part of some big type of fashion. I wanted to say that you could wear it along with your every day outfits. Because this is the thing: I do not dress in full lolita clothing every day. I wear many of my shirts, skirts, and dresses that can combine to make a lolita outfit, but I wear them with things that are decidedly non-lolita. I personally like it, and it's almost something you can call casual lolita, but not even really that. So, I saw no problem with throwing my models into clothing that was half one thing, half another, because I do it all the time. Except, well, with Allison's. She had just had a really bad experience on the way there, and I didn't have the heart to tell her, "No, you can't wear that," or "Look, that can't be showing." But I know better now, and I'll improve.

Here's my latest shop ad, which I really like, but please don't bother with my shop until I've removed the pictures and gotten the right ones up. Thank you!

I'm thinking about changing the shop name to Lucy's Looking-Glass for good. What do you think? Do you prefer this to Lucia?

Relax Summer

Sun, 31 May 2009 20:39:42 GMT

So, Animazement finally came, and I went to the lolita panel. It was wonderful, and I thought the slides and topics mentioned were so true and so helpful to new lolitas, but I wish there could have been a little discussion for the more long-time lolitas. I always feel like I'm not 100% accepted with the lolitas I don't know very well, like I'm perpetually a newbie to it, but I've been a lolita since I started high school (although then, I was the worst lolita ever. I was like any other beginner- anything frilly is lolita! Anything lacey is lolita! NO. WRONG.), and I know what's right and wrong in lolita fashion. I know my way around the style and mindset, and I always try to be polite and helpful to everyone, but I guess I have trouble getting into a new group of people.

I just totally failed on my first post in the egl community here on livejournal. I was so ashamed to see that I had forgotten one of the rules: No introduction posts. And I had made a rather "wordy," as someone said, introduction, too. I am all too glad that one of the mods deleted it very very quickly, and also glad that I got a chance to apologize on there before it was deleted. I hope this doesn't mark me as an idiot for the rest of my time on there...

Now, enough of my depressing stories, on to the good stuff! Now that Animazement is over, I can finally breathe. I had been working so hard on my artwork to sell there, so I didn't get a chance to work on my manga, Everything is Peaches and Cream (in which everything is not peaches and cream), or my merchandise in my etsy store. Somehow, I did have time for Poupee Girl most days, though... >.>

Speaking of which, I'm really glad that Poupee Girl is such a friendly community. Everyone is always complimenting each other's clothing and things, which is why the community exists, really, and I've been able to make the acquaintance more properly with two people on deviantART who I had been devWatching. Lemontree and Ichigatsu (or perhaps it's meant to be read in Chinese... I don't know the Chinese reading of it) are two very friendly and fashionable girls, and I would love to get to know them better. Lemontree is quite an accomplished designer, and I believe one or two of her designs won in the Bodyline competition! If I ever want to hire someone else to help me work on designs and sewing for Lucia, I want it to be her.

And, speaking of Lucia, I have renamed my store for the moment. If anyone happens to read this for whatever reason, please help! Should the name of my store be Lucia, or Lucy's Looking-Glass? Which sounds more lolita? I'm not able to be very objective right now, because they are my own choices, but if you have any ideas, please help!

exhausted!

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 02:26:02 GMT

I've been making a ton more things for Lucia, and it's been super fun, but super exhausting! I love my sewing, but it does make me a bit tired. I'm going to work hard so I can get more things out here!

I took a little photoshoot in the snow yesterday. The snow rushed in quickly and our poor camellias, crocuses, daffodils, and quinces were caught by surprise. So, I went out in some of my lolita finest and took some pictures, which you can find here---> http://keropi.deviantart.com ^_^ I'm quite happy with how they turned out. Oh, I'm trying to find some place I use that can support my mini etsy tool. I'd really like to use it, so I'm going to try it here.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
SantaLuchia.etsy.com

New Lucia Items!

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 03:27:55 GMT

I recently opened Lucia, my lolita shop on etsy, but when I did, I only had one or two items that were very fancy. Most of the items were toned down, designed to feature other items like pinafores, corsets, aprons, or other things. I'm working hard to make more elaborate outfits, so here are a few interesting designs I have up in my shop!

*santaluchia.etsy.com*

Not pictured: white bows on either side of the skirt.

I got my lovely lolita friends, Allison, Elizabeth, and Katie to model my clothing. ^_^ Once again, the bows aren't pictured on the skirt here, but they're detachable, and I forgot to take a picture with them on during the shoot. You can see a picture with them attached at my etsy shop. Here, you also can't really see how long the cutsew is, but it goes down about as far as the top cutsew does.
Enjoy! Please let me know if you're interested in a commission, or tell me what you want to see in my shop. ^.^ Thank you!

Lolita Shop Open! What would you like to see in it?

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 05:31:01 GMT

This is like my third lj account, since I can never keep one going for very long... ^_^; I'm not good with keeping a diary. The closest thing is my deviantART journal keropi.deviantart.com

Sooo, I'll just tell a little about myself and my new lolita shop I opened for the first time this January!

I love Japanese culture and all thing cute, so of course I fell in love with lolita when I first saw it! It's so elegant and adorable, and so much fun to wear! I also enjoy cosplay, but obviously those aren't really the same thing. I've been trying to change my wardrobe over to lolita ever since my freshman year of high school when I really started to dedicate my clothing style to it, but I'm still somewhere around what I would consider casual loli. I typically wear nice ruffly shirts or fitted T-shirts with cute designs on them like crowns, Alice, or fairies and such, and I love making my own clothes (mostly skirts).

I recently opened Lucia, my shop on etsy.com that uses my own designs. So far, I only have a few skirts and cutsews, but soon I'll have some dresses up and other fun things like that. I hope that people can give me some feedback as to what kind of designs they want to see. For instance, do you want to see some more cutsews? More blouses? Maybe a certain type of cut, collar, or style of lolita? I take commissions, too, so please let me know what you'd like!

If you see anything in the shop that you want in another color or size or with different lace, just let me know, and I'll make it! ^_^ I look forward to serving the lolita community, since it's something that I love quite a lot.
santaluchia.etsy.com

Lucy M.

BJD Clothing

Happy New Year from Lucia!

Dress-Up

Coming Home

Wishes Granted

Winter Break Approaches!

Art College Life

New Skirt and School Starting

Back from Afar, Mitsuwa's Natsu Matsuri

Cupcakes! Werewolf Night by Van Gogh, Allison, and Lucy

New Skirt and Soon to Come Dress

New Items for Sale!

Back from Vacation, and Second Order In!

Fabric Arrival!!! Plus Purikura Fun

Floral Tea Party! Photos~

Super Excitement!

~Sailor Song~

I Need a Job, but in the Mean Time, I'll Keep Sewing

My Fashion Clash- Lolita and Me

Relax Summer

*exhausted!*

New Lucia Items!

Lolita Shop Open! What would you like to see in it?

exhausted!