Decorated Sunglasses

With the new baby at home, I wanted to try branching out into glittering other (smaller) things besides shoes, so I started doing some sunglasses this year.

Like Nyx purses or Muses shoes, the Krewe of Iris throws hand-decorated sunglasses. According to this article, Iris chose sunglasses in honor of the fact that they've never had to cancel their parade due to inclement weather, which is especially impressive considering the Krewe's existed since 1917.

I love the idea of working on something wearable - the challenges for sunglasses as a "canvas" are totally different and I've been having so much fun with that. The online community for Iris sunglasses decorators isn't as big as Nyx or Muses (yet), but you can find a few examples on Instagram, Facebook, etc. My Pinterest research page (limited though it may be) is here.

In my first go I made these four pairs:

Purple and gold butterfly sunglasses with aurora borealis rhinestones:

Purple jeweled sunglasses:

Rainbow sequined heart sunglasses:

And, my favorite, teal peacock sunglasses:

I modified my shoe glittering technique to be better suited to sunglasses (I'm still working it out, but getting pretty happy with it now that I've done a few pairs). I wanted to use a lot of purple (to invoke iris blossoms) and rainbows (because Iris is the personification of the rainbow in Greek mythology). I was inspired by this pair of DIY turkey sunglasses, but thought I'd do it as a peacock (Iris' favorite bird) instead. I made the little peacock body with foam, glitter and little crystal rhinestone eyes.

I put the writing ("2015," "Hail, Iris" and "Krewe of Iris") on the sides of the glasses:

Here is my gorgeous sister modeling them:

Pretty good start, looking forward to making more!

Twelfth Night - Happy Carnival!

If you attended the 12th Night Muses Brew launch event, you may have seen some of my shoes being auctioned to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where I work. Twelfth Night (Jan. 6th) just so happens to be Danny Thomas' birthday, so it's a nice little coincidence.

The three that were auctioned were:

1) The Lucky Dog Cart Shoe (blog post here):

The wheels really roll!


2) The Fried Shrimp Poboy Flip Flop (blog post here):

3) Ice Cream Sundae Shoe:

This is the only picture I have of this one, but it's a lot like a sno-ball heeled shoe, except with a two scoop ice cream sundae including chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, whipped cream, sprinkles and a cherry on top. The ice cream scoops are foam balls, the whipped cream swirl on top is silicone caulk, the sprinkles are multi-colored bugle beads. The shoe and cup are silver and aqua-marine with aurora borealis rhinestones scattered over the cup and along the foot strap.

Links to articles on the Muses Brew:
http://www.nola.com/mardigras/index.ssf/2015/01/sampling_the_krewe_of_muses_ma.html
http://www.nola.com/mardigras/index.ssf/2014/12/nola_brewing_teams_up_with_kre.html
http://wgno.com/2015/01/06/the-krewe-of-muses-nola-brewing-co-create-new-beer/

I couldn't attend the event, but I hear the auction of these three raised a little over $500 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which is a great birthday present!! I also expect a few new visitors are here because of the auction, and if so - welcome!! Let me know if you have any questions and please share your shoes here or over on Pinterest....I love seeing other people's shoes!!

HAPPY CARNIVAL!!