Happy Mardi Gras!!

If you're in New Orleans, know how much I envy you, coldness and all. We're back in Memphis, drinking our Community Coffee and reading "Mimi's First Mardi Gras" to the baby (who doesn't understand (a) the book or (b) why mommy is getting teary eyed over it). We don't usually stay in NOLA for Mardi Gras day, perferring to take our days off the week before so we can see Muses Thursday, then heading out some time after Bacchus.

So, what did I learn and what's in store? I didn't pick up quite as many tips as much as last year when my sister rode, but I wanted to do a little year in review including with tips I picked up this year. As before, I'll do a top 10 list, in no particular order:

(1) Bloomin' Deals on Freret: Run by the Junior League of New Orleans (JLNO), Bloomin' Deals thrift shop has some of the best prices for shoes and boots ($2.50/pair and $5/pair, respectively). I almost wanted to keep that a secret to minimize my competition for shoes there, but I couldn't in good conscience keep it to myself (that's how much I love you, other shoe glitterers...I hope you feel the love). My sister introduced me to Bloomin' Deals after brunch at High Hat (also recommended). Good thing too, because it looks like the Goodwill on Robert E. Lee next to Robert's ain't dere no more...

(2) Roman Candy Rum: It's the 100th Anniversary of Roman Candy (!!), and they introduced a line of rums to celebrate (watch this really sweet video about it or check out their Facebook page, but be prepared to really want some Roman Candy). Now, y'all know I love Roman Candy: I have this 2014 shoe to prove it. I was a little hesitant to get too excited, because I'd had my heart broken before by King Cake vodka (which is certainly drinkable, but not exactly the stuff of dreams). Well, I can't speak for the chocolate because I haven't had any, but the vanilla and strawberry are divine. I didn't come up with this, but need to share it: Roman Candy vanilla rum + Orange juice. It's like the tastiest creamsicle cocktail you've ever had (you're welcome). OJ is also nice with the strawberry for fruity tropical deliciousness.

(3) My fellow Glitter Addicts' growing web presence: Between Twelfth Night and Fat Tuesday, I got over 100 new Pinterest followers, suggesting a lot more people are getting interested in glittered shoes/purses/sunglasses, DIY throws and/or Muses shoes. Exciting stuff! I also finally bit the bullet and made an FAQ page this year, which at the moment only includes an answer to the question "how do you do your lettering" which I got asked a lot this year (if any other Q's become FA, I will add them there).

(4) My Top 3 Proudest Moments List Gets Revised: After the NYT wrote that you couldn't find kale in New Orleans, the first shoe I did for 2015 was a KaleGate shoe with a green leafy ruffle and the phrase "New Orleans: Proud to Kale it Home" in the style of the old Proud to Call it Home bumper sticker. In the 2015 Muses parade, there was a float about clueless transplants to NOLA, and not only was the bumper sticker on the back of the float, it was on the head dresses for that float as well!

I called up my husband to tell him marrying him had just been bumped from my top 3 proudest life moments. My list now looks like this: #1 = had a baby, #2 = got my PhD, #3 = JOKE ON A MUSES FLOAT (sorry, honey).

(5) Twelfth Night Auction: This was probably the coolest part of the 2015 Carnival Season for me: Muses auctioned off three of my shoes at their Twelfth Night event to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where I work. Twelfth Night (Jan. 6th) is actually also the birthday of Danny Thomas (the founder of SJCRH), so I'm hoping the $500 raised by the auction made a lovely birthday present. So thrilled about the money raised, and so very very grateful to the Muses for making that happen.

(6) Is that what I think it is on that sign? We were watching Muses Thursday night and I noticed a sign across the street from us had some photographs on it. Closer inspection revealed that some of the shoes on the sign were FROM THE BLOG. I felt pretty famous in a limited way. I went over to ask if I could take a picture with the sign and they very kindly (if a little confusedly) let me:

That's my Tiffany Box Shoe on the far left and my Cinderella Shoe on the far right

(7) New Women's Krewes: 2015 saw the arrival of two new women's krewes: The Mystic Krewe of Femme Fatale and The Krewe of Athena. An awesome sign of the ever-increasing presence of women in Carnival. I didn't catch either, but from what I've read/seen on the web, the Mystic Krewe of Femmes Fatal's signature throw was make up compacts and the Krewe of Athena throws decorated fedoras. Can't wait to see how those develop in the coming years...

(8) Sunglasses: Speaking of other women's krewes, this year, I tried my hand at glittered sunglasses. Super fun medium to work with. I really think we're going to see the Krewe of Iris' signature handmade throw catching on in the next few years, particularly as they have a 100 year anniversary coming up. I'm making that prediction because sunglasses are wearable (which is really fun) and tie in to the krewe in a super cute way, and this year the krewe got more into publicizing them. I'm also a fan (and now proud owner) of the Iris plush King Cake baby, purple sleep mask with rhinestone sunglasses, and some beautiful hand-strung beads with shimmery iridescent purple irises on them. This was a great year for Iris: good weather, cute theme that appealed to a wide range of ages and some really spectacular throws.

(9) Show us your shoes! As usual, I spent the day after Muses checking out ebay, Facebook (where'd ya get dem Muses shoes?) and NOLA.com (Show us your Muses shoes) for a little vicarious shoe fun. I myself have never caught a shoe (the only shoe in my collection was a baby shoe that was gifted to me by a friend (the one who first introduced me to shoe glittering) when I got pregnant.

(10) Where'd the shoes go? Have to include a low-light of the year to go with all the highlights. Last year, La Boulangerie included porcelain shoe feves in their King Cakes and Galettes du Roi on Muses Thursday. You could only get them Muses Thursday, which meant riders couldn't get them, but the fact you could only get them for one day did add to the thrill. I got in the car to go buy as many as I could carry this year, but when I called on the way I found they weren't doing them this year. Bummer!



All in all, a pretty great year. How to top it? What's to come for 2016? It's funny, the end of each Mardi Gras feels way more like New Year's to me than New Year's. Here are my plans/"resolutions:"

- Glitter way more shoes! The new baby meant I didn't do a ton of 2015 shoe, but now I have a list a mile long of ideas for 2016. Friday I went and bought 10 pairs of shoes at Bloomin' Deals to ease the post-Muses-Thursday-slump. I've got my shoes, glitter, glue and ideas - time to get cracking!!

- I want to try to blog more now that I have a teensy bit more time. What do y'all like to see here? Links? Techniques/tips? Pictures of finished shoes? Works in progress? Let me know if you have a preference and I will try to listen...

- I need to update my list of Muses articles, as it's now woefully out of date

- I'm going to get an Instagram account and have my hipper younger sister teach me how to Instagram (and yes, I feel a billion years old typing that)

- I think I'm going to do a weekly "feature" of a sort-of homemade throws hall of fame. There are so many krewes and walking groups doing hand decorated/DIY throws now. What I'd really like to do is open a Museum of Handmade Carnival Throws, but for now I'll settle for doing it digitally!


Hope everyone had as great a Carnival season as I did with my family, and I wish you all a very happy Mardi Gras day!!!

The most wonderful time of the year!

Christmas, schmistmas....THIS right here is the most wonderful time of the year. Everyone awash in glitter and getting their one-of a kind hand decorated throws ready for the crowds: shoes, purses, messages in bottles, oysters, bandoliers, sunglasses, fedoras...did I miss any? I've been loving oogling other people's throws on Instgram, Facebook and Pinterest. It's amazing how much everyone has stepped it up this year - there are so many drool worthy purses and shoes for 2015.

This was making the Facebook rounds, but thought I'd share it here as well just in case anyone missed it and because I feel duty-bound to report glitter-related news: Send People You Hate Glitter. It went viral almost immediately (now there's even a copy cat site), and then the guy wound up selling the site for $85,000. Craziness! I must note that every NOLA friend of mine who shared the link pointed out that in New Orleans we generally love glitter, so wouldn't really see it as a punishment/expression of hatred.

I also wanted to share this, which I came across on Instagram:

EDIT 02/08/15 - Float 13, not Float 10 (as I'd previously posted) (I also updated the photo)

Sounds pretty exciting....if I have time, maybe I'll make a sign with my reason why I need a shoe ("BABY'S FIRST MUSES!)  and try my luck at Float #10 Float #13. I often hear that signs are the best way to get shoes (though my sister didn't throw to people with signs in 2014, since she figures they already get a lot of attention). I also had a friend recommend bringing booze to swap for coconuts at Zulu. Anyone else got any tips to share for scoring the best throws?

Less than two weeks until Muses Thursday!!! Let that glitter fly!!

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!!

Mr. Okra Shoe

Reference images:
http://10cities10years.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/mr-okra.jpg
http://handbook.neighborland.com/?attachment_id=554
http://www.gonola.com/images/IMG_1008.jpg

After putting the Lucky Dog cart shoe on wheels, I was thinking of other iconic NOLA vehicles and got the idea to do a Mr. Okra shoe. The truck is so beautiful and distinctive, I don't know why it took me this long to think to make a Muses shoe version of it! Again, my apologies for sparse notes and blurry pictures.

The shoe is primarily Tulip red with lots of little applique transfers of fruits and veggies and some lettering (FRESH GRAPES, OKRA and PLUMS on the heel, BE NICE OR LEAVE on the front). The two-tone yellow and green "Mr. Okra" on one side and "Muses" in the same font on the other.

The wheels are wooden craft wheels from Michael's, with silver-glittered Abita bottle caps as hubcaps. The wheels are on axels mounted in wee cable clips, so they actually roll. Red sequin trim along the top edge, silver along the bottom.

Finally I made a ton of glittery produce to load up the shoe with: granny smith apples, golden pears, red apples, heads of lettuce, tangerines and grapes. I hot glued them into the interior of the shoe in piles.

Jingle, jangle, jingle... here comes Mr. Bingle!

With a message from Kris Kringle!

No time to post details/specs, but here are pictures of my 2015 Mr. Bingle Shoe, just in time for the Holiday season!

(Sorry the pictures aren't better, it's tough to hold the phone steady with an infant in one arm)

2015 Blush and Bashful Steel Magnolias Shoe

Every year, I like to do a Steel Magnolias themed shoe. Last year and the year before, it was the 25th Anniversary of the film and the stage version, respectively so I did pink shoes with silver accents (because it would've been Shelby and Jackson's silver anniversary).

My 2014 Steel Magnolias shoe is here
My 2013 Steel Magnolias shoe is here

This year, I once again did a pink and pink (I mean..."blush and bashful") color scheme, but I went with gold accents and I did a spin on Shelby's bouquet. Stylistically, it's a little modern for a late '80s bride, but I like to think Steel Magnolias is timeless and that this is the bouquet Shelby would pick out if she was getting married tomorrow or, at the very least, a Muses shoe she'd be pleased to catch in February.

The interior of the shoe is Recollections "champagne." The heel/sole of the shoe are Martha Stewart "copper." The exterior of the shoe is primarily Martha Stewart "cotton candy" and the foot straps are the tinsel cut of Recollections "blush" which I used last year. The edges are lined in gold sequin trim. The lettering (Muses on one side, 2015 on the other) is Scribbles "white mist" with Martha Stewart "bubble gum" over it.

The bouquet is a mix of different flowers I picked up over time, including some pale pink roses and some of the Spring floral bunches I picked up 70% off this summer. I added a little glitter to the flowers (three shades of pink). I also added a pink butterfly perched on the bouquet and sprinkled some lovely emerald-cut pink rhinestones in the interior of the shoe for a little extra punch of tickled pink.

The pictures aren't fantastic (it was a little gray out so the light wasn't really bright enough for the flash-free pics to come out well, and with the flash they always look a little weird), but with a new baby in the house, they'll have to do for now!

109 days left!! Nearly into the double digits. How's everyone else's shoeing going?