The 100th Post

I must say, Theodore and I had a blast making this video! Who knows, we might end up doing this every season. It took us about two hours to record, half a day for me to edit, and another half a day to get this post up.

From watching this video numerous of times, I’ve come to the conclusion that my compulsiveness of touching my hair and saying ‘like’ and ‘I mean’ uncontrollably is extremely embarrassing; it’s a nervous habit that's hard to shake. I don't sound superciliously in person as I do in the video, for that I apologize. And I really put this disclaimer up because I wanted to filter the "dumb ditz" or "valley girl" comments.

Without further ado:



After video editing this, I realized that I didn’t answer very many questions. In fact, it's mostly Ted and I messing around – entertaining to the say least. So, here are some more answers:


Lately, I’ve been checking out a lot of Rumi’s Fashion Toast. I love her outfits! But before I discovered Rumi, I’d constantly check up on TheFashionSpot.com for trends discussion, model street wear, and runway looks. Not to mention the very obvious, the one and only, The Sartorialist.


Every thing I know on the computer is self taught. When I was much younger, I used to be interested in computer graphics design but grew out of it very quickly. So through that, I carried my graphic design skill to this blog.

I use Jasc Paintshop Pro 7. I know there are probably 13 different versions of Jasc Paintshop, but I keep it old school. I use very simple tools to make the collages, so programs such as Adobe Photoshop can easily handle the tasks, if not better than my program.

The main reason I don’t usually answer this question is because,

1. Explaining the process is much too long, especially when the question gets asked about once a week.
   
2. I don’t want every other blog to have the same image features as me. It’s one of the only things that keep my blog unique in my opinion.
   

But for the sake of my 100th post, and the fact that I owe it to you guys, here's the gist of how I make images:


I first take an image, usually off of style.com, and outline the edges with a cutting tool. Since I have about six images for each collection and an average of five collections per post, I don't want to sit and precisely cut out 30 images. Therefore, I do the magazine cutout style; it saves times and still looks good.

After I cut out each picture, I paste it onto a blank canvas. From there on, I keep adding and stacking the pictures atop one another. Once I have the girls in an order that flows well, I add accents: drop shadows, words, etc.

To begin with, I ask myself a few questions.

1. Is this trend worthy enough to post?
2. How can I lay it out and interpret my thoughts into these pictures
3. Are the pictures easily attainable? 
4. Will websites with all budgets have the pictures I want?

Once figured out, I start my search by going through each website for different items in different ranges. Like this Philip Lim dress, this would obviously be labeled with a 'spoil'. I then have to pick 3 more images that meet these criteria:

1. Does the image have a white backdrop? Otherwise, the collage would look sloppy.
2. Does it fit the price range I'm looking for? How about the trend?
3. Have I used this website too much?
4. What's a good example to use? Runway? Celeb? Socialite?

Yeah, it's a lengthy processes, which is why I'm dreading the Spring Staples that I have to post soon. By the way, for newer readers, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, every season I post the 5-7 must-haves for the current season. Here's last seasons: The Winter Staples.

First I grab the first picture I want to use and paste it onto a template of a notebook. I resize the picture accordingly to the fit of the images -- it's like a puzzle. Then, I paste in other pictures add words and voilá! Your season staples.

First I grab an image I want. Any image, usually an editorial. I select the typing tool, and there are option on the bottom (sorry it's not clear); I select "selection". By selecting that, it makes a selection around the image I want, with the letter I want.

If you look in the black box I outlined, you can kind of make out the selection outline of the letter T, that means that I can copy it.

Then I paste it into a blank canvas. Rinse, lather, repeat.


Aren't we all quick to judge based solely on appearance? Well, I work -- a lot. Most of the stuff I buy are either on sale or just inexpensive. I almost NEVER buy anything full price, with the exception of American Apparel since their popular cuts never go on sale. The only thing I splurge on are purses and jeans, you know, once every blue moon. I pay for half of my schooling, and since I've been picking extra bucks up lately at the new job, I decided to relieve my mom of my phone bills. I have my responsibilities outside of my blogging life; the last thing I want to be labeled is a dead weight daughter who benefits from my parent's wealth.

I hope that answers a lot of questions! If I didn't get to your question here or in the video, it's probably because I plan on posting about it later! I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. Ted wants to read his comments, so say sexy things to him.