EPBOT

Sunday, May 5, 2019

John and I've been out in the sun the past few days painting a house: a truly epic battle against bugs and weeds and our own crippling desire to be back inside in the A/C. [insert laugh-sobbing here]

I'm bone-tired and sore and in no condition for clever wordsmithing (pthhhhhbt), so instead I thought I'd show you some fun pics from our craft night last week:

Rainbow smoke dragon!!

This is my first ever collaboration (heh) with an artist: I did the rainbow bit with alcohol inks, then my friend Bianca drew the dragon.

There were a total of 6 of us messing around with inks last Wednesday, and it was fun to see how differently everyone approached it.

::when you're trying to sneak a photo and SOMEONE notices::

There's no right or wrong with alcohol ink art, of course, which is why it's great for groups.

Now, I'm still a newbie at this, but I do have one AMAZING tip from my friend Arielle to pass along:

The back side of certain premium photo papers works just like Yupo! THIS IS HUGE, Y'ALL. (Yupo is a waterproof paper many ink artists use, but it costs about $1 per sheet. Yeah. Yowch.)

Arielle uses the Staples brand high-gloss photo paper, so that works, and then we found this Canon Luster paper we already had works, too! WOOT WOOT!

(I got this 50 pack for less than $18 on Amazon. SCORE. )

I used the pricey waterproof paper the first time I tried alcohol inks, then this cheap photo paper last week. I honestly didn't notice a difference between the two.

Again, you use the back side of the photo paper for alcohol inks. Feel free to try other brands, too, just watch out for watermarks on the back.

Other stuff you'll need:

- alcohol inks - I found a big Pinata variety pack, but any brand will do

- a board under your paper to protect your table

(Alcohol can eat through your table's clear coat. ASK ME HOW I KNOW. ::facepalm::)

- alcohol in a small spritzer bottle (like John's using up there)

- alcohol in a small shot glass with an eye dropper

- straws (to blow the ink around)

- a hair dryer (to blow it around harder)

- paper towels (for dabbing and for spills)

- small artist brushes

Our friend Arielle works with alcohol inks professionally (follow her on IG for so many pretties!) and she did a lot of brush work with her paintings:

I'm apparently terrible at sneaking photos, ha. But look at her pretty Henna!

John likes to use a lot of alcohol and the hair dryer to get big swaths of color:

Thursday, May 2, 2019

Now that I'm fully recovered from the weekend, let's dive back in to my favorite Dapper finds on Saturday in the Magic Kingdom!

Rockabilly Ariel with her spiffy-suited Eric were so cute together.

More royal couples:

The lantern purse!

Someone mentioned shoes in my last post: Here in WDW there's a lot more ground to cover than Disneyland, so you'll see more flats - and most who do wear heels have backup flats to switch into throughout the day.

(Some day I'm going to write a Dapper Day survival guide, and back-up flats will be tip #1! Too many newbies try to wear heels all day, then end up limping to buy flip-flops by noon, ha.)

Saddle shoes and chucks are dapper alternatives to heels, and are perfect for colorful 50s styles.

I'm proud to say that's my friend (and FOE) Matt rockin' the kilt. GO, MATT.

And I have to show off the back side of this gorgeous hair:

SO PRETTY. I basically stalked every woman with flowers in her hair, I love them so much. (If I didn't require a giant hat for the sun I'd be wearing a friggin' bouquet on my head.)