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Princess Lasertron Felt Flower Kits

Have you ever heard of

  Princess Lasertron?

She is Megan Hunt from Omaha, Nebraska. 

One of her more popular products are her felt flower & button bouquets that she makes for weddings.

She always uses really interesting color combinations and her collection of unique vintage buttons add a special touch and charm to the bouquets.

She has started selling kits so people can make their own bouquets - and not just for weddings - you could make one to put in a pretty vase in your bedroom, give as a gift or make as a group with friends.  

They are fun and easy to make and I have had the pleasure of being one of the first to try out her kits for myself!  She had a giveaway on her blog a little while ago for felt flower Mini-Kits so that she could get some feedback and I was one of the lucky winners :)

They are really cute and are fun to make - you can find 

the kits in her Etsy shop!

To see more of her work -

  check her out on Flickr!

Little Girl Big World - Episode 9

Sunday, May 28, 2006

This morning Heidi and I headed over to The Met to see the Anglo-Mania Exhibition.  It was pretty awesome.  

At first we actually weren't impressed because there was such poor lighting you couldn't see the clothes so whats the point?!  But after a little while all the sudden we came across the goldmine!  I wish I could have taken photos of these because I want to remember so many things about them!  

Alexander McQueen had A LOT of things in this exhibition!  Know why?? Because he's AWESOME.  It's funny I knew from the very beginning that he was the best.  When I first started to know who any designers were, I came across him and stopped searching.  When we had to do a report on 2 designers for one of the first fashion classes I was in, mine was on Alexander McQueen and Emanuel Ungaro.  One of my favorite collections that he has ever done was his Chess Piece collection, and guess what... two of those dresses were in the exhibition!!

  

So I was like 5 inches away from his actual garments.  It was like I was starstruck!  

I should frame it.  

After the Anglo-Mania Exhibit, we wandered into the part where they have suits of armor which was awesome.  

Then we went to the Egypt part!!  That was amazing too!!!  I'm glad Heidi loves Egyptian stuff as much as I do because I looked at everything they had!  I was about 2 inches from real hieroglyphics oh my god.  

I did not get any pictures of it.  I actually saw one guy touch a piece of a pyramid with a sign right next to it 'please do not touch'.  I could've slapped him.  Dirty hand grease on a REAL chunk of Egyptian carvings. 

After the museum we went back to her place to PAINT!!  We're going to continue tomorrow, but we got a good portion finished today.  

Her french room mate was having a dinner party sort of thing so they invited us to eat with them and it was really fun.  She had these friends from all over the world and they all had these cute accents and silly senses of humor and they were all really friendly and really cool.  I felt like I was in a different country myself just because the atmosphere was totally different around them!  They were really funny, I hope we have more nights like that.  I stayed at her place till 10 (already dark) so Evan was ticked and I know Dad would be too.  I really do feel safe in this part of town now though.  I'm not going to do it again, but I think I'd be fine if I did.  Tomorrow is Memorial Day, so there's no work!  Probably going back over to paint some more!

  

Little Girl Big World - Episode 8

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Oh my feet!!!  

Heidi and I headed out on foot for Chinatown at around 9:30am.  We arrived back at my place at 5:30pm!! 

(a 9 mile walk according to the map) 

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We only sat twice... once at the very beginning around 11 while Heidi ate a Gyro, and then again at Starbucks for about 10 minutes around 2pm.  We were dying of thirst and searching desperately for some air conditioning as well.  We walked all around SoHo and Chinatown, and then we walked up to the Meat Packing District to see her place of work, Shelly Steffee.

I love this photo of Heidi.  We had an umbrella with us because it had rained during our walk so we got one.  Then it became extremely hot and sunny but we still had to carry the umbrella around.

She was using it here to shade herself from the sun but it looks so funny.

Then we walked to my place.  Oh my gosh, I was practically limping in the door of the Webster.

  While we were in SoHo we went to an art store and got paints to paint stuff onto bags.  We found these plain black canvas messenger bags that have a flap that covers the whole front so its a perfect painting canvas.  We're going to do that on Monday because it's Memorial Day and we don't have to work. 

Speaking of painting, we met a cool painter from the Netherlands who was setting up his paintings on the side of a building when we were walking down the sidewalk in SoHo.  We thought his paintings were amazing and how cool it would be for him to paint stuff for our store one day.  So we went back and asked him for his business card.  He just came all the way here just to try to sell his art, and then he's going to travel around Europe doing the same thing.  Wow, man, these artists are hardcore.  

Tomorrow Heidi and I are going to The Met and we're giving ourselves the whole day just in case its that awesome.  There is so much to see there and we don't want to rush ourselves!  And if we get done earlier than expected, we can wander Central Park again because Friday we only saw like 1/10 of it.  

I spent a little bit of money today.  I have been soooo good so far, today was the only day I bought anything.  I got Evan a fake Ed Hardy hat because its awesome and was only 10 bucks from Chinatown.  And I got a couple paints and that bag.  But that was really cheap.  I'm so exhausted.  I'm going to sleep early tonight to let my poor legs rest so they don't go on strike tomorrow and leave me without transportation.

Little Girl Big World - Episode 7

Friday, May 26, 2006   

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Today I began with breakfast and then headed out on my adventures.  

I walked all the way down to SoHo (according to google that is 2.9 miles!), stopping at the Farmers Market in Union Square for some home-made chocolate chip cookies.  

SoHo was cool but I just couldn't seem to find most of the stores I went there to see!  Which is a shame, considering how far I walked. (That's over 6 miles when you add in the walk back home.)

I did meet some cool girls that were selling their shirts on the sidewalk with the other street vendors.  But they actually made this stuff unlike most of the vendors.  I stayed and talked to them for awhile because I was really drawn to them and their garments for some reason.  They told me that they have actually been to jail for doing what they're doing!  That is real dedication, because they go there every weekend!  Jail, for selling tshirts?  What is with this country?  Don't the police have more important things to do in New York City!?  I can see why they might take those people to jail for selling all the fake stuff like purses and bootleg DVD's... but these girls are just trying to make an honest buck, like having a lemonade stand but its awesome clothes instead.  What the heck, man?  

I vote for legalizing fashion lemonade stands!!

Then I met up with Heidi and we went to The Met.  That's far so we took the subway.  I had already walked 6 miles, remember?  We decided it was too big to see in the amount of time we had before they closed so we made a plan to come back with a whole Saturday to spend there.

We didn't feel like going home quite yet, so we talked and walked through a bit of Central Park.  It got dark pretty quickly though - so we took the subway home.

Little Girl Big World - Episode 6

Thursday, May 25th 2006

I got my exercise today!  

Instead of learning how to take the subway up to Bloomingdale's to meet the girls to do our market research this morning, I decided to walk!  I've also decided that I should just continue to do this for many reasons.  

One, for exercise.  

Two, to learn the city.  

Three, because both are very beneficial!  

Four to save a few bucks!  

So tomorrow, I have the day off and I think I am going to do some more walking!  The more I walk around and explore, the more I will get to know my way around.  

Work today was alright.  

We were at stores until 2 and then from 2 until 6:30 we were on the phones.  I'm sick of the phones.  We're not really learning anything by doing that.  Well, we are learning how to talk to people that we don't know on the phone, but it has nothing to do with fashion.  

I wish I could shop!  I see all sorts of great fabric stores, and even whole stores with just trimmings that are amazing and are so inspiring!  It really sucks to be in New York with no money!  Torture, really!  

Today as I was walking down 9th coming home from work, I saw a poor lady who picked up a cigarette that someone had thrown down and it was still burning so she proceeded to smoke it.  Ughhhh.  How terrible.  

I got yelled at when I came home because I went straight to dinner instead of getting my key out of my mailbox first!  I didn't know there was an order to things like that but the crazy old Spanish lady made sure I knew.  Cranky .. lady.  Then I had dinner with Miranda from UofM and then we went to the movie room and watched Friends and then some of Stepmom.  

What should I do tomorrow?!  So many choices!  I should go down to SoHo because it might be easier to go there alone at least for the first time, so I can try to find all those Intimate Apparel boutiques and do my research.  Then later with Heidi we can just go there for fun and I won't have to be thinking business and drag her into every underwear store we find!  

These boots are made for walkin' and that's just what they'll do.  Manhattan you're made for walkin' and I'm gonna walk all over you.

Little Girl Big World - Episode 5

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Today I was told I have Sex and the City hair.

I concur!

I love the visual merchandising in New York.  It is always creative enough that it feels like art.  You just do not see that in smaller towns.

I need to get a poster or something to look at on these white barren walls in my room.  They're really uninspiring.  I like to be surrounded with inspiration and this room is the total opposite of that.  I'm sad because I don't even have any pictures of Evan and I here, I had them all packed before I even thought about bringing any here.  I have 51 more days here (not that I'm counting).

Heidi and I talked on the phone for an hour or so today and we got talking about how totally possible it would be for us to start our own business.  I really think the two of us would and could collaborate really well together.  I always go back and fourth on the idea of my own business.  But seriously, why the hell not just try it?  It's not the end of life if it doesn't work out, I just try something else.  I mean, yeah there's a lot of money involved, but in time that passes just as any large purchase would.  So what.  Life is for experiencing and I'd regret not trying.  We could call it H&M.. oh wait that's already taken.  The best names come from the unexpected, so the name should not even be thought of until it just comes to us one day.  Our one goal is to be ourselves and different from what's going on in the corporate design world. 

Little Girl Big World - Episode 4

Tuesday, May 23 2006

Today kind of sucked.  

We had to be on the phones from 10am until about 3:30pm and I hated it.  All three of us hated it.  Some people thought we were telemarketers or something because a lot of people were jerks to us.  

The stupid thing is that InfoMat is a great resource for them so it is their loss if they don't give us their updated info for their business contacts.  Whatever.  

I had to call one Lingerie Boutique in South Carolina and the owner told me her last name was Mars.  I had her spell it for me to be sure because she had a really strong accent that I am not used to hearing.  She spelled it... Meyers.  MEYERS?!  Meyyyyerrrrs = Mars.

Glad I double checked!

Then after that torture was over, we got to learn all about what we'll be doing in detail to get these trend catalogs done.  There is a lot to do!  That is a good thing though, because it will help time pass more quickly.  I want it to, I miss Evan so badly already.  It's quarter to 8PM and I'm in for the night because Dad doesn't want me out when it's dark out and it's about to get dark so it's pointless to go do anything.  

So I'm going to make my time productive and make a list of places I need to go tomorrow in the order I want to see them by area, so that way I can be efficient tomorrow instead of wander the streets aimlessly.  We are going to be doing our in-store trend research tomorrow.  That will be the fun part.  That, and making the catalog in Photoshop.  That will be my favorite part because I love Photoshop.  I'm really going to learn my way around Manhattan well tomorrow!!

Little Girl Big World - Episode 3

Monday, May 22nd 2006

It has begun!  

The first day of the Internship is over.  I arrived about 20 minutes early along with the three other interns.  One is from Georgia and two are from the same school in Texas (but one has a Texas accent and one doesn't so that's funny).  Oley, our boss, was very nice and Nate was really nice too.  I met Grace (the one who lives in the Webster with me) who is so quiet and timid but seems to really know her stuff because Oley loves her.  

We learned all about InfoMat and then were given what category we are going to be working on.  I was assigned Intimate Apparel, which I am clueless about but I think it will be really fun!  We didn't get to work on anything cool today really, just learning how to enter info into the database all day.  I did find 10 new designers that they did not have yet so I entered them in.  

We went to a really cool place for lunch.  It was a deli on the corner but it was huge for a deli because they had tons of prepared foods in buffets and lots of fresh fruits and veggies all cut up and ready to go.  I'm actually excited for lunch because of that place because there are all these new things to try and since they sell the food by weight and since I don't eat a lot, it's not that expensive.  I tried sushi kind of... I broke a chunk of the rice and seaweed off and ate it but it tasted kind of weird so I didn't eat the whole thing.  I need Heidi with me for that kind of an adventure.

So after work I went over to Heidi's and saw her place!  It's creepy!  I'm so glad I live here!!!  It's so nice and clean and comfy and in a great location and I have food and tv and stuff.  She's tough though so she will be fine there.  I went with her to get her groceries.  The closest place with food that she knows of so far is in "Little Korea" which is just a street of Korean stores and a grocery store.  So she had to get Korean groceries!  It was hard, for obvious reasons.    

I wonder what adventures will be had, tomorrow...

Little Girl Big World - Episode 2

Sunday, May 21st 2006

A day of learning and exploring.  

Heidi was basically my tour guide.  She has only been here for a week and she is already a pro; it's amazing.  Another thing that helps make her so great is the fact that she has to run all around the city for her internship at Shelley Steffee, so it forces her to learn her way around very quickly.  

When I think "New York", I first picture Times Square.  That may be the media-brainwashed part of my brain.  It seemed most fitting to go there first - to sort of immerse myself in that New York-ness.

  

I was already pretty aware of what it was going to look like.  The part I wasn't prepared for was just how many PEOPLE there were just walking around.  The sidewalks were as crowded as concerts.

But less fun.

We visited the Garment District.  A giant button.  Impressive.

Then we wandered to St. Marks Place in the East Village.  I got some skull tights from a shop that sold lots of vintage punk band memorabilia.  Really... 180 bucks for a Misfits t-shirt is not okay.  Even though I love the Misfits.

We had pizza at a little Italian pizza place and sat at Starbucks forever just talking.  

***note* I have never seen so many Starbucks before in my LIFE!  
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See map for proof of the ridiculousness. All the red dots, not just the lettered bubbles, are Starbucks locations.***

We also had the discussion of how our school because we need to teach ourselves how to drape since they refuse.  So we're going to research to find out what book(s) they use to teach draping at FIT or Parsons and we'll get those books and next semester we'll use the lab at night and learn to drape together.  It'll be fun.  

We went to K-Mart today, which was funny because it was upscale looking for a K-Mart.  I needed an alarm clock since my room has no clock at all, and some flip flops, and floppy discs (I have a really old laptop, okay??).  I've discovered that I'm actually in a really good location (34th and 9th) and there are a lot of useful things around me.  Like Payless, food places, a post office, a subway entrance, a Subway restaurant for those late work nights, work is a few blocks away, a taco bell!!  Haha.  Heidi said it's the only taco bell she's seen so far, lucky me.  Well long day tomorrow - first day of work - so I'm getting some sleep!

A Mad Hatter Tea Party Invite

The time has come, my little friends, to talk of many things.  

A Fanciful Twist is hosting a Mad Hatter Tea Party on Saturday, June 27th!

On that day, her blog will be filled with all things Mad Hatter-y and Tea Party-ish!  I couldn't be more thrilled with this theme because Alice In Wonderland happens to be one of my favorite movies.  I'll be brewing up something here on my blog on that day too.  You will have to stop by and see!!

You're invited!!

Vanessa of A Fanciful Twist is keeping a list of all the participants on the sidebar of her blog so be sure to visit each and every Mad Hatter Tea Party to get your fill...

Little Girl Big World - Episode 1

I have decided to do a little something different for a bit.  I feel like reminiscing about my time in New York and have realized that I was there three years ago today.  I lived in New York for 2 months for an internship and it was an awesome experience.  Such a short time but I learned so much!

I kept a journal while I was there - and took a ton of pictures.  I'm going to combine the two here on the blog and see what happens.  Memories are fun.

Saturday, May 20th, 2006

I have arrived in Manhattan! 

 

Sometimes, things are exactly how you'd hoped they'd be but nothing like you'd expected at the same time.  Life is planned.  I don't know how things work out the way they do but I now have faith that things all happen for a reason and having an optimistic outlook is not naive.  Dad tried to put "the fear of God" in me by telling me all these horror stories of New York, to make me aware.  That I appreciate because I have to be safe, but it is not all bad and I can't run around terrified for two months.  I have to become confident or I will look vulnerable.  Anyway, I am discussing the fact that so far I have just had faith that I'll just handle whatever situation I happen to be in.  

I had a lot of stuff to carry, but not so much that I couldn't manage.  I had more for Italy, and that was only one month.  I've learned since then.  But I got on the Ferry and rode across the water from Hoboken to Manhattan.

  I get off the Ferry and out onto the sidewalk and kind of just look around, assessing the situation and figuring out how to find a cab.  The free Ferry buses were right in front of me but I was a little worried about getting on and off with my big heavy suitcase.  So I was going to take a cab.  Then (due to my curious look, i'd imagine) a nice old man bus driver asked me where I was going so I told him my little situation and he suggested I take the free bus and said that he'd gladly get my things on the bus.  So he did and there I sat.  I still wasn't sure how I'd know my stop and all that, but like I said, I just kind of figured I'd know or figure it out.  A family came on and the mother sat by me and ended up telling me all about the bus and how to signal the driver and when my stop would be coming up.  I was telling her about my giant bags and stuff and the man behind us said he'd gladly help me get off the bus (but it turned out his stop was before mine).  I was fine anyway because I was just going down the stairs which is much easier than up.  

So I get off of at my stop and know I have to walk about a half block because I'm on 34th street, between 9th and 10th.  So I walked a half block and there I was at 419!  The Webster! I checked in and got a tour of the building.  I'm in room 906 with a view of part of the building and part of 34th street.  

The Webster provides temporary living for females only.  You can rent a room for any amount of time and they have a dining room so two meals per day are included in the price.  The whole place is pretty nice.  The building is very old so it almost looks a little creepy at times, but I can say it's much better than I had imagined.  

There are many rooms to use besides for just the (tiny) bedroom.  There is a very nice library, a big room full of couches and a piano and then another room with more couches and tables and a door to a big garden with tables for eating, and then another room that's called the Project room with a big table and there's a tv and then there's another tv room with a bunch of chairs and vending machines and a computer room and a laundry room and a garden with tons of seating on the rooftop as well!  Phew.  They are not lacking in places to sit.  

I had my tour with a girl who was from U of M!  Weird that the first person I meet is from Michigan too.  What the heck.  I just thought of something, I need to keep her as a friend because her name is Miranda and it would be SO Sex and the City to have a Miranda as a friend! Ha ha. Small small world it is.  

After I went up to the roof to take some pictures, I went down to the Dining Room to take advantage of that meal plan. 

 

There was one girl in the elevator when I got in.  I said hi to her but didn't expect much.. since, you know... New Yorkers are mean. We both ended up going to the dining room.  I nonchalantly followed her lead through the food line to see how it is done.  We grabbed plastic trays and slid them along the metal bars (flash backs to high school enter my mind).  

Another girl came in the line behind me.  When the two saw each other, the girl behind me ran up and hugged the girl in front of me and was freaking out because she just got her acceptance letter to grad school.  So when she went back to her tray I said congratulations to her and she started talking all about it.  She asked if I was new here and I thought "how could she possibly know!?  She can't know everyone.. there are like 300 rooms in this place!".  Instead I said, "Yes!  How did you know?" and the girl in front of me says in a thick Portuguese accent, "She knows everyone.  She knows you're new when she doesn't recognize you."

 

As we slid on through the line, we talked and I followed their lead in ordering my food.  Pointing seemed to be the method of choice.  The .."lunch ladies".. don't speak English!  That is slightly unnerving because no questions can be asked about the food.  The girl who knows everyone asked what I was doing in New York.  I told her it was my first day in New York and I was here for an internship. She immediately invited me to eat with them.  I luckily found a very friendly first friend.  Come to find out, she lives in 908, so we're neighbors.  Come to find out again, a girl I will be working with named Grace lives on our floor as well and I hear she is very nice and she is from England.  Everyone so far has been so open to me.  I'm doing something right.  The stepping stones are falling into place right before my feet hit the ground.  The only conflict I have currently is my room has no alarm clock (actually no clock at all) so I need to go buy one so I can wake up for work! Now I have two goals for tomorrow.  Buy an alarm clock and find InfoMat, oh and also find Heidi!

Whew! Lots of Happenings!

Cool things have happened in the past two days.

I got a promotion at work!  Woo!

It was a total surprise.  

They promote everyone in front of the entire company which is a couple thousand people.  No biggie...

My contact came flying out of my eye and into my hand just moments after the announcement, which added to the fun.

I won a giveway!  And a really interesting one, at that!

It's not just any old giveaway - it's a giveaway of a kit in which I must complete and give feedback.  That will be fun! 

(photo from Princess Lasertron's blog!)

 Princess Lasertron - designer of felt flower and button bouquets and accessories - is starting to sell kits to make her felt flower bouquets.  In order for her to test the kits, she's doing the mini-kit giveaway in which I was a random winner :).  The random number generator isn't really random you know.  It picked me because I am awesome.  I'll blog about the kit and the experience once I recieve it!  Princess Lasertron will also be blogging about the other mini-kit winners experiences once we all finish.

Today we went to the greatly anticipated Sample Sale at work.  Mmmmmm.  Adreneline!!  Digging through a thousand boxes of piles of clothes with thousands of other frantic people is just a crazy experience.  You leave feeling exhausted, sweaty and soo hungry!!  Peter, Heidi, Evan and I all made out like bandits.  Socked up on enough t-shirts, jeans, hoodies and random pieces of fabric to clothe an army.  I got a ton of plain hoodies and tees that are begging to be covered in hand embroidery!!  I have been doing laundry for hours.  Oh the pain.  ;)

Sometimes You've Got to Improvise

Today I woke up and decided that I really wanted to have a picnic.  It looked like a really nice day and I wanted to take advantage of it!

Evan and I went to the grocery store and we came back and were going to set a blanket out in the grass outside of our little porch area by our apartment and have a picnic, relax and enjoy the sun.

When I went to set the blanket outside... I saw a terrible massacre.  There was a birds nest that we had been watching grow for the past few weeks - that had fallen down from the post it was on (the fall was at least 11 or 12 feet!).  There was one egg - cracked open - on our porch.  The nest was down in the grass sideways and the other eggs were cracked and spilled on the edge of the porch and grass area.  Blood.  And need I say it - baby birdies.  They did not look like birds yet, though.  I won't describe anymore except to say it was absolutely gross.  

I was sooo sad and disturbed.  Who could have a picnic now - right next to the site of a tragedy?!?!

I ran back inside.  Upset and a little nauseous.

Evan ran and grabbed the blanket, the food, drink, plates - and started causing a scene in the hallway.  He improvised.  He made me feel better.

We had a romantic indoor picnic in the hallway.  We had some 1950's classics playing softly in the background.  We had Kung-Pao noodles and Sushi.  There was no sunshine but we enjoyed each other's company and that was the best part.  I am pretty sure I have the greatest husband ever.

Ode To Mother

I feel so lucky to have a great mother.  She really.. really... realllllyyy is THE best.  

She has become my very best friend.  The older I get, the closer we get and I love that.

I look up to her for so many different reasons.

She sacrificed so that I could have the things I needed.  And sometimes even the things I wanted!

She did not marry this guy!  Phew!

She taught me to think for myself and to learn how to find my own path in life.  She allowed me to have my own beliefs and never told me WHAT to think... she instead taught me HOW to think.

She always knew how to be goofy and silly and make people smile.  She once did a cartwheel and splits in the living room during a sleepover I was having.  A strange mix of totally awesome and super embarrassing.  For her - lots of pain after realizing it has been too long since she's tried those tricks.

She was always nurturing but never overprotective.

She supported me always.  It did not ever matter to her what I wanted to do.  She never made me feel like I needed to be something I wasn't.  I never had to prove to her that I was great.  She accepted me and loved me unconditionally.  She of course, still does.

She never made me have those poofy curled bangs that curled downward AND upward.  She mostly let me do my hair however I wanted.

She always told me that even though she has two kids, I will always be the favorite and she vowed to always give me more attention than my brother.

Just kidding, Bri.  ;)

Seriously - LOOK at my brother's face in that photo.  The Devil with the broken arm, that's him.  

Luckily for her, I was always an angel - not just on Halloween.

My mom was always doing silly things - like trying to... wait... what IS going on in that photo?  Ohh she's trying to rollerblade!  In a unique and creative way!  She is unique and creative :).

And she always made sure we spent lots of quality time with my Grandma... HER beautiful and inspiring mother.

I have been told I am a lot like her.  That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.  My Grandma is my hero.  She was artistic, witty, honest, energetic, motivated, organized, responsible, open-minded and open-hearted.  She, like my mother, did not judge or hold expectations.  She did not complain or demand.  Her essence will always be with me as I live my life.

Thank you Mom.

I'm sending you all my love today and always!

May Magic

Today we saw some magical things!