So THIS is happening on Saturday!

I just became a member of the Costumer's Guild West on Monday! About a week ago, I did a Google search on "costuming conventions" and stumbled upon a giant list of All the costuming expos around the world. I found this one show in Woodland Hills called Costume College and it really looks like something I would enjoy and completely benefit from! They have varying prices for "tuition" that includes unlimited classes in a wide array of costuming topics, depending on your membership or non-membership. 

Guess which is cheaper? Membership of course.

And Of course, I'm going to become a member of the Costumer's Guild West so that I can get the discounts, but more importantly, the resources and networking opportunities of the costuming world! I mean, in all honesty, I'm always looking for a good deal and for a new business owner it's the only way. But I have to say, I'm super excited about what this membership can lead to :D

So, after registering I decided to take a look at the events calendar to see what's going on in the mean time. (Costume College is in July, 2016) WELL, the name peaked my interest so I had to find out what was the Social Daunce Irregulars - Victorian Grand Ball?

I mean, Really? This is Amazing! I've Always wanted to go to something like this, it would be like I was in Meet me in St. Louis, with my little dance card and a fancy evening gown! Of course, it's this coming Saturday and I'm not able to attend. Oh well I guess I can wait until April... it's fine... 

But hey, if there are any size 4 ladies out there in Los Angeles that want to go to this shin dig (in Pasadena) but might not have a dress yet, take a look back at my 1880s/1890s Red Vamp Gown and then travel over to my Etsy Shop to claim it as your own. You know you'll be the best lookin' socialite in the room!

New Listing on Etsy Shop

Hello! I'm doing this a bit late today because I've been working on some wedding gown designs in Photoshop (which is not my favorite thing to do therefore it takes me longer than I like...) But I did want to share the new listing I have on my Etsy shop page!

I'm pretty excited about this because I wasn't sure if you were able to put "made to order" type listings on Etsy, but YES you totally can! Wedding dresses are super special to me and I think ultimately Boxcar Boutique will become a Bridal line (Eeeeeek!! That gets me giddy!) Don't get me wrong though, I LOVE making historical costumes, it's so much fun recreating the styles and silhouettes of the past! But, if you really want to know what I'm passionate about, it's wedding gowns.

I have one bridal client so far, my VERY good friend, Lindsey Newell, who is such an amazingly talented actor here in Los Angeles! She's so good to me, always sharing my posts, bragging on me, and all the awesome things you could do to support a friend. I Love you Lindsey! But yea, she's my first bridal client, and you can see a drape of her gown in the listing on Etsy (I needed an example pic on there for potential clients to see, ya know?) 

Well, anyway, I just wanted to share that new listing with you lovely people and maybe, just maybe one of you out there is in need of a gorgeous gown!

Photo Shoot #2 (finally!)

Here ya go! It's Friday and I've got the final 5 pics taken by Robert Hayman and modeled by Beck Black!

Well that wraps the photo shoot sharing posts! I'm SO incredibly grateful to have gotten this kind of opportunity, especially just starting out! A great big Thank You goes out to Robert Hayman, who saw the talent I have in my creations and wanted to work with me immediately. You have no idea how much this truly helps and I'm sorry for taking so long to post your FABULOUS photographs! Mwuah :-*

Photo Shoot #2

Alrighty! Here is the 2nd photo shoot I was talking about. Now this one features my 18th century red and cream silk corset and a petticoat I whipped up the night before! As before the amazing Robert Hayman worked his magic with his camera and make-up on the absolutely Beautiful artist Beck Black! And to top it off, the corset fit her PERFECTLY :D :D :D Well, I won't keep blabbing, here they are!

:D :D :D Ok you know the drill, the rest is soon to come and Thanks for tuning in!

Photo Shoot #1 (Continued)

I know you've All been waiting so patiently for the final pictures from the Red Vamp Gown photo shoot, and the time has finally come :D I won't say much else, just reiterate these Beautiful shots were taken by the very talented artist, Robert Hayman! Ok... Go!

       

             

          

And that was that photo shoot! I'm super happy with the way these came out and I just can't wait to show you the 2nd photo shoot Robert did of my 18th century corset!! Keep your eyes peeled 0_0

Photo shoot #1

Happy Friday, folks... I'm going to make this short and sweet. So I mentioned in my last post I got some new photographer neighbors. They took one look at my work and wanted to shoot it That same week! Well, needless to say I was more than happy to let that happen, and the results were... AMAZING! The talent behind the camera is Robert Hayman, and he truly has a gift :) So without further ado, here is the first half of the Red Vamp 1880/90s gown photo shoot!

              

Yaaaay! Enjoy the pics everyone! And Please, do share or "Pin" the shots you love the most (just don't forget to credit me and Robert Hayman!!)

Stay tuned for the other half of this photo shoot! Hey, I gotta bring y'all back somehow ;P

HIATUS Pt. 2

So you guys wanna know what else has been keeping me busy and away from writing blog posts? You don't.... OK, well I'm going to tell y'all anyway, because.... It's my blog!

1.) I've got cats...

These Adorable little fur-balls were born/raised in the junkyard of my workshop property and I've been socializing them ever since they started wobbling around! After their mom left, I took care of them and you could say they began to regard me as the "Mama cat" (Of course, she came back a few months later, pregnant with another litter!) Well back in September I heard talks about Mgmt wanting to trap-fix-release all the cats on the property (there were apparently 25 cats total!) I became a little worried but I figured they’d come right back with that kind of program. It turned out, they weren’t doing that and the cats were being trapped and taken to the pound! Of course, I freaked out because my “babies” were being taken away to a very uncertain future! Well to get to the point, I stepped it up and adopted the two boys from the animal shelter and took the remaining girl to FixNation myself so we wouldn’t have any other problems. But the boys ended up with respiratory infections, which meant I had to take them back to the vet for more antibiotics. It was an ordeal! I was lucky to have such a good work neighbor who offered to hold the girl kitty at his home while she recovered! (I can’t have cats where I live so they stay outside my workshop, in a cathouse) Unfortunately, the last little sister is still at the shelter waiting to be adopted and it breaks my heart knowing she may never see her siblings again… I’m contemplating adopting her as well, but she’s so cute she may have a chance with someone else! So that was One sidetracking issue...

2.) I have a God Daughter!

You see, I’m originally from Memphis, TN, and my best friend of 20 years had her first child back in December! It was planned that I go back to attend the Baptism since I am the Godmother. My BFF’s parents generously bought my ticket to come out and it was So nice to finally meet my little Livy the night I flew in. She is an absolute Doll; just such a sack of smiles, I love that little girl so much! It’s so great to be a God Parent and to live vicariously through your friends with the whole child rearing business, hahaha! Anyway, I went back home for a little over a week for the Baptism and spent some time with her, my parents, my sister/brother-in-law, and pretty much everyone that’s important to me here and it really was a fantastic time! But it was a week out of work, both personal income work and business related work, which pushed things back a bit… And of course this was the trip I already had planned before I had to deal with all the cats and their surgeries and antibiotics and the sheer mess of it all! It was very stressful to say the least, but everything worked itself out (thankfully for my Amazing boyfriend and generous work neighbor!) and I am very grateful! So that was the Other sidetracker.

3.) I’ve been looking for a new workshop…

While I Love my current workshop, our neighbors seemed to be moving out and I was hopeful to take over their more spacious unit. But it seemed the other partner (who’s squatting in the outdoor space...) wanted to keep it and apparently scrambled to find a tenant in the last minute before I even got the chance… So we now have new neighbors essentially, but it has been quite beneficial to me since the new neighbors are photographers and have proven to be very interested in my work!

So finally, to conclude this unusually long post, stay tuned for those photo shoots by my neighbor, Robert Hayman; they are AMAZING!!! 

Thanks for reading :D

HIATUS Pt. 1

Yea Yea... I know... It's been a while. Like over a month. I know, I'M SORRY! And I KNOW I keep saying it, but keeping up with a blog is difficult for me! Especially since I've been focusing most of my time and effort to my IndieGoGo campaign (which honestly didn't get very far...)

I obviously need to come out with a video next time around... ANYWAY, I was trying my best to get donations but if you read one of my other posts about Facebook, then you can understand why I was having a hard time. I ultimately caved in and spent $15 to boost my IndieGoGo-link post and got about 10 more Likes on my page but no additional donations (I am still grateful for more Likes though, don't get me wrong!)

Another thing I've been spending a lot of my time on is my Etsy page! 

I only have 4 items (only 2 of them are actually my creation) but it's certainly a start! Two of the items are custom handmade vintage pieces given to me as a donation from my boyfriend's great-grandmother! How sweet, right?! So that's my Etsy page, check it out!

There have been a multitude of other things that have sort of taken over my mind and time in the last month, most things I couldn't control (which I'll get into in another post) so it's kept me from Really getting down to business! But now I'm back, and will hopefully keep up with this S**t!

Thanks for hanging in there! :D

*Fun Fact: Today is my Dad's birthday! :) Happy Birthday Daddy, Thank you for all of your support!*