DIY and Cheap Goth Baby

I'm 20 weeks along and I just found out it's a girl! I'm very happy about that, even though I had started collecting some boy gear already. My only real issue is: baby's wardrobe. DH Nate hates pink, and I agree that pink is so over done. So far I mostly have yellow and green, but those colors are pretty ambiguous. Since I'm all about cheap I happily accept all hand-me-downs, but I've been looking for ways to spice up my little Bella-Donna's clothes. Hello DIY!!!
I wear black and white and purple, and my little girl's clothes are going to be based on a similar black, white and red theme. Just an overall goth/rocker thing. My sister Marcasia was aghast and said "I hope your not going to dress to dress you're kid in all black". Why not? Look, dark covers stains, plus my baby will stand out in a sea of yellow and pink. Recent studies show that newborns recognize black, white and red visually first. So I'm helping her developmentally AND style wise. Double bonus.

There are some great online shops where you can buy cool baby gear, but $20 per onesie is too much for something she'll barf on, crap on, and quickly outgrow. This site has some wicked gear. Inspired, I've decided to dye white onesies and hand stencil or draw skulls, zombies, and other dark themes. Also Walmart has $2 white onesies and black baby pants- totally cheap and easy. A tip for dyeing: I use dylon but be careful about the amount of material you are using because too much makes the black color more a navy. Also I leave my clothes in the dye for an hour longer than recommended, and rinse and rinse for baby. Cotton works best for dying, synthetics aren't really good next to baby's skin anyway.
I've been on the prowl for cheap items too:Here's an awesome and inexpensive tattoo art baby sling on amazon. It's only $12!


Here's my niece Nika wearing a custom hair bow I made, wouldn't matching mommy/daughter bows be so cute? Don't be afraid to make accessories! Beats pastel pink on the coolness scale.If you are a crafty mama you can try this easy no sew tutu tutorial. The $10 in material sure beat $36 for a purchased punk goth tutu, and this way the color choices are infinite. I made this insane tutu for a live theatre performance. YES, I'm a Renaissance woman. The top layers are based on the no sew tutu. Yes, that is Nate in the wig, our show was gender bending and cross dressed.


This picture is from Homemade by Jill: It's from a ridiculously easy custom wipes case tutorial. I love love the purple, but wouldn't a skull print or polka dot theme be cute too? You could even embellish it more with charms, bows, lace, etc. My diaper bag and changing pad are black, I got them for next to nothing at a local thrift shop. Carrying a pink teddy bear bag just isn't me. I told Nate, " I normally would never carry a pastel bag, so why would I change that for a baby"? You have to carry that thing everywhere, might as well reflect your sense of style. I also bought red fleece so I can make no sew fleece baby blankets. My girl is coming in February so the warmer gear the better. It's too easy! I just cut a blanket size square and snip the edges into fringe. You could even knot 2 layers together for a warmer blankie. When I'm not so tired and lazy I will make some baby hats too, and I want to make satin bonnets. I worship the Victorian inspired romantic goth look.

Hope this helps you to get inspired! Happy Crafting!!

Halloween and my anniversary

I'm exited about Halloween! It's my favorite holiday and as a "goth" it's even more better!
Costumes are the best! Lately I've been kind of not dressing as "artistically" but I went as a sexy/Hogwarts type witch complete with veil and mini- cape last year and my homemade hat is what inspired me to start making mini-witch hats. The color is off, it's more purple in real life.This is my first diy and only full size witch hat below:
I'm completely self-taught so I'm constantly in a learning process. My design hasn't changed much since I started "Syd and Marc" with Mar but my method has. I still like glue, but I'm experimenting with sewing as much as possible. It's cleaner and more durable therefore raising the value of each one, but each one is still as much a piece of gorgeous art as accessory . I'm also a perfectionist at hiding the ugly parts such as stitching and gluing eww those are gross when you can see them, it's when an item becomes a "practice" hat or practical model. I am always experimenting with new designs, and I have a tendency to start grabbing material and working alot. My method is to only sometimes draw out the design and list my supplies needed on paper when I need to work out something that I know is going to be tough for me to make. And then I craft!

Here's a picture of my home made light box and my craft studio:
I got the instructions from a couple of tutorial and guides online. Purchased light tents can cost $100 or more but mine cost tissue paper and a glue stick plus some fancy scrapbook paper and movable tape for background changes. I also crop the pictures when I'm done so you can see hat detail=good and not ugly light box=bad in my finished pictures. I can get a bit frustrated when my first attempts are crummy and I want to spend money I don't have on a photographer but my babe Nate tells me that I can do it myself. So I take a break and read more tutorials and try again. Some of my photos like my self portraits can be blurry, so next I need a tripod but I think my pictures are getting better and better . See how pretty my top photo turned out.

Fall means my dating and wedding anniversary's are coming around! Nate and my dating anniversary is October 3, we've been together 4 years. Our wedding anniversary is December 3 and we've been married for 3. Here's a couple of pics from our anniversary vacation 2 years ago when we drove many miles to an awesome, wonderful hot spring near Alamosa. Even though there was some snow around we still had an amazing time. We loved it so much we even talked about moving to the nearby area haha so we could visit the springs all the time. We should go back soon hmm hot spring. Last year we threw a small party and ate to much cheese, and I drank way to much boxed wine. I think the hot springs was more fun. That reminds me I have to start planning something special for this year.Here's a cute picture of us together, taken about a month ago. Sorry it's so tiny. I love my hubby so so much :)
He's been so encouraging and supportive of all my dreams and big plans... Right now we are side by side on our computers we each have one on our side of the bed. Yes, we're really into computers. I'm always reading, Nate's a gamer, and we both love watching movies.