F.A.M.E.

No, not the musical, not the Lady Gaga CD... it's an acronym for some of my favorite things... Fashion, Art, Makeup, Etc.

Fashion is probably a major interest of most people, especially most women. It's the way we express ourselves. I am in love with clothes. I have so many that my closet is overflowing into my entire bedroom. (Doesn't help that my husband has tons of clothes as well!) I love how a new outfit can make you feel like a new person and how changing one accessory can make or break your look.

I used to color coordinate my clothes, accessories and eye makeup to all match when I was younger. Then I went through a phase of HEAVY black eye makeup when I was 15-16, I'm talking.. Taylor Momsen eye makeup. I wasn't "goth".. I did wear a lot of black but mostly because black is my all time favorite color and in my opinion, it looks great on me. I think black looks good on almost everyone. After I got out of that phase, I kept my eyeliner very dark and thick, but used pale, shimmery eye shadows a lot. Gradually, I was wearing less and less eyeliner and eventually that became all I wore on my eyes. I would just have black eyeliner on my lower waterline, and that was it. It took maybe 5 minutes to et my makeup on. Black eyeliner, chapstick, bronzer and powder. Done.

I still do that on some days... usually in the summer if I'm worried of sweating off all my makeup. But now I experiment with different colors, techniques, and "looks". I love how polished I can look with the primers, concealers, foundations, various powders and all of that but.. it does take FOREVER to get ready. I'm working on finding a faster way to have that complete/semi-flawless appearance, but it will just take practice and time I suppose.

When it comes to art, I have been drawing and painting for my entire life. I've always enjoyed it. I wanted to be an interior designer and decorate homes with my paintings and other home decor items I'd design/make. That would still be an awesome job, but with this economy and in my area... I'd never be able to call it a "success". So instead, I use my free time to be crafty making gifts, or some things for sale, but mostly if I'm painting or making something, it's for me or my friends. I also screenprint T-shirts, which, takes some fine tuning and practice. I've made so many mistakes on shirts... but I've only been screenprinting for a few weeks. Before that I airbrushed shirts, and before that it was iron-on's. I guess I came full circle on T-shirts. Haha..

With jewelry, I try to make things that I can't find in stores that are super customized to a shirt, or an eyeshadow or one specific thing like that. I feel that makes the necklace/bracelet/earrings POP way more. Also, I might be guilty of making replicas of expensive jewelry I see in stores. But I can't help myself. After you learn to make jewelry, you'll never want to buy it again. I just can't bring myself to spend $40 on a necklace I could make with less than $20 and about a half an hour. I'm a thrifty shopper. I buy most everything on sale and will seriously hunt online and in stores for the best deal before spending my money. I rarely, RARELY spend more than $30 on any ONE item. I would rather go to Ross or TJ Maxx to shop than the mall department stores. If I'm spending $100, would I rather walk out with 1 pair of pants and MAYBE (if I'm lucky) 2 shirts, or come out with 3 pairs of pants, 3 shirts, and some shoes and a purse?? I'm a proud bargain shopper.

I feel like I'm rambling (I tend to do that...) so I'll end this post here. I just wanted to share a little more background on me and things you might see me post about!

Thanks!!

Erin