All Posts By

Amber Renee

Design Your Life

On Being Miseducated for Life

01/03/2009

Sure, why not. So the word LIFE is a little loaded, or scary, or both. A lifestyle and way of living… that’s really a bizarre thing for women to grasp sometimes. When you wake up a little hungover and your mascara has smeared across your pillow, is that a lifestyle? We’re not all mothers, homemakers, students, wives, career-driven, party girls, crafty mavens, so why accept Miseducated so freely into our life and mantras? Well don’t unless you feel you’re a little conventionally different, your lifestyle is a little odd but that’s what makes it rad.

There is no necessary reason to sprinkle the table as well as your cocoa. There is no need for a tiny, pink lamp that releases such a faint fairy glow so that you can hardly see your hand in front of your face at night. These are the lovely pieces that nestle within your life, they add a sense of nostalgia, whimsy and they make you smile.

Now, some tips for making your life and your home a little bit more Miseducated whilst in the lifestyle battle of deciding what you’ll do once you actually have clean laundry…

Miseducating your Life Tips

When you finish making your cocoa, whether pink or not, top with a few sprinkles. Add more happy hues into your world where they are sparse. Colors affect your mood but it doesn’t mean a little more here and there isn’t perfectly acceptable. I’m telling you it is.

Before bed and after a bubble bath or shower, grab some of your favorite scented lotion and rub it all over your body excluding your face! Keep a bottle in your night stand for just this purpose. While you sleep your body sweats and leaves the scent behind, your bedsheets however will smell like your favorite delicious lotion when you jump in next!

When choosing home decor don’t stick with safe, muted colors. Choose your favorite colors, choose bases you feel comfortable with, such as black and white or chocolate brown, and add accents of your favorites everywhere. Each and every table, shelf and desk are stylized scenes you have created, feel free to nestle glass bottles of your colors and candles, knick knacks. Hit the antique shops or your local thrift store for some unique, inexpensive finds.

Hide tiny positive fortunes (from fortune cookies, of course!), pictures and notes in numerous, unexpected places around your home. You’ll find these and smile later.

Remember, your creativity can only be expressed by you. Stay tuned for more nonsensical tips in the future.

Design Your Life

The Flower Child and Rainbow Candy Rave Culture

12/29/2008

The mod youth culture of the early 1960s used the word rave to describe any wild party in general. People who were quite commonly seen in attendance to the parties were sometimes called ravers. However specifically speaking of the rave culture and how it started, the terms rave and rave party have been used since the late 1980s worldwide to describe dance parties. This subculture was inspired by the acid house movement. DJs and other performers play electronic music of a wide range including happy hardcore, trance and jungle at these parties.

candy rave

The rave attendees go to dance, socialize, use drugs and have fun in an uninhibited way with like minded people. Attendees also commonly partake in the use, distribution or sale of club drugs such as MDMA, LSD, cocaine, amphetamines and, most recently, ketamine.

Candy ravers can primarily trace their style of fashion to the late 1980s culture and the “Summer of Love” in the United Kingdom. Fashion in clubs at the time were primarily day-glo colored attire, smiley face clothing, beads and whistles.

In the US this loud, colorful and inviting style was used to locate the drug dealer at rave parties. This cute attire however caught on and the candy ravers formed a community of Peace Love Unity and Respect. The lifestyle and mantra lives on throughout old skool and new ravers alike. The candy rave scene has died out a bit since it’s abundance in the mid 90s and early 00s but raves can still be found if you look around and the fashion has evolved and lives on. It has been said that the style is similar to the decora style of Harajuku in Tokyo, Japan. Each style has a completely different community and mantra; it’s kind of like saying hippies and beatniks are the same. Candy ravers continue to adore the color, fun and happiness and unity of an adoration for the cuter, more colorful things in life.

Mise en Snap Visual Splendor

Mise en Snap: Tales from the Crypt

12/24/2008

I recently had the fun of re-watching the 1973 movie edition of Tales from the Crypt. An absolute design gem in my opinion, you can find lovely mise-en-scenes in most old films (especially in Hitchock’s). Try watching some of your favorite old films for inspiration when designing anything. You’ll find as many tacky, funny goodies as you will absolutely sensational ones. Mind not the knives, terror-stricken faces and gore — as my grandmother LaVera once said, murder is necessary to tell a story.

tales from the crypt

tales from the crypt

tales from the crypt

tales from the crypt

tales from the crypt
All horror films should contain tea parties nestled within their gore!
Many Miseducated ladies are known to have fright fests
so why not get a little tea party motivation simultaneously?

tales from the crypt

tales from the crypt

tales from the crypt
I’m really digging the modular stereo with rainbow tuning.

tales from the crypt

tales from the crypt

Escapeland

Introduce Yourself to the Miseducated Community

12/21/2008

Several members voiced opinion on ways of opening communication so we decided to give everyone a chance to introduce themselves as well as provide a little insight into their world which may be used in future swaps or features. To introduce yourself to the community simply reply with some fun information about yourself and open some dialogue!

All Miseducated guests and visitors are important to us and we want them to have a great, chill time! Just escape through the rainbow atmosphere of nonsense, whimsy, creativity and fun~ Take a break from work, grab some tea and incense and let’s enjoy life together.

Name

We might already know your name, but we’d love an introduction!

Random fact

Why not?

Three Hobbies

Or one. Or two. Or 27.

Feel free to leave a bit of info about why you’re here and how you happened to enjoy your stay if you’d like. Feel (more than) free to communicate with others here also because that’s the way the Miseducated community grows!

Mise en Snap Visual Splendor

Mise en Snap: SPUN Snaps from the 90s

12/19/2008

SPUN featured quite a few miseducatedly fashionable moments as well as lovely artistic shots nestled within it’s not-so-attractive, but strangely engrossing plot lines. Each snap(shot) seems to engulf the pleasure and pain aspect of drug addiction. It’s a movie about scoring and partaking in the use of, as well as the lifestyle surrounding, crystal meth. Probably not a good watch for the easily offended or sickened but a good watch for the strange movie lover like myself.

SPUN

SPUN
The dog was green to indicate he was sick but it otherwise acted like a normal, healthy dog with a miseducated hair treatment.

SPUN

SPUN

SPUN

The Credits:
SPUN

DIY Recipes

Rainbow Gelatin Cake Recipe

12/15/2008

Creamy, delicious color topped with color upon color, reach the moon if you must! This cake is absolute fantasy land in a kitchen. If you take the rainbow challenge, please show us how it goes! The only thing better than eating rainbows is gazing upon them~

Rainbow Jello Cake

Feel free to print this for your recipe book/box and keep it close by for celebrations of the colorful sort.

Escapeland

Miseducated Competition Sponsored by RE-MENT

12/12/2008

Grand Prize Winner

Miseducated/RE-MENT Contest Winner

“I don’t have space for a dollhouse, so I can set up the “Studio” on the kitchen table and play for an afternoon, dreaming up new combinations, mix and match items, and take notes for my eventual future dream dollhouse. I am NOT too old to play with dolls!”

Runner Up

Miseducated/RE-MENT Contest Winner

“I live in a small apartment and my bedroom has become my studio to work on my design. My favorite furniture (my teak dresser) is now used to store sugar creatures and my bed (covered in plastic) is used for air brushing. I like getting the quiet, relaxing bedroom vibe while working although I would not say no to a large, spacious studio where I can make more mess.”

The Contest

re-ment contest
This contest is sponsored by Miseducated and RE-MENT Japan, featuring prizes from their new series ‘Flirty Pink.’ This series does not go on sale until December 15, the winner will receive a ‘Flirty Pink’ limited edition blind box of rare archived products hand selected by the RE-MENT company. This contest is only open to registered members.

To enter
1. Send 2-3 photos of your own miseducated space that you enjoy imagining in. What special space makes you smile? Radiates your personality? Strays from conventional mores into a new kind of room?
2. 1-3 sentences about why this room is miseducated (strays from conventional mores and speaks especially to you).
3. 1-3 sentences about why you like RE-MENT and RE-MENT’s miniature series (include your favorite series if possible).
4. Your Name, Age, Location and URL (if any).
5. Email to: [email protected]

All entries must be received before December 15th. Winners will be announced December 20th (date restrictions are due to the release Japan, this is a Japan only release). The grand prize winner will receive a limited blind box from RE-MENT of the new ‘Flirty Pink’ series. Runner up will receive a random selection of a RE-MENT blind box series and limited edition postcards.

RE-MENT also has official Flirty Pink cell phone wallpapers free for fans.

DIY

Take the Pledge to Buy Handmade

12/08/2008

To learn a new recipe or diy project, just explore around the DIY pages of Miseducated and within the links section above for some of our favorites!

I’m sure many of you crafty girls have your own shops so please post your shops and urls here! If you have your own idea for a project you’d love to share, simply email us at [email protected] as always! We love to hear from you.

Why buy handmade?

Buying Handmade makes for better gift-giving.
The giver of a handmade gift has avoided the parking lots and long lines of the big chain stores in favor of something more meaningful. If the giver has purchased the gift, s/he feels the satisfaction of supporting an artist or crafter directly. The recipient of the handmade gift receives something that is one-of-a-kind, and made with care and attention that can
be seen and touched. It is the result of skill and craftsmanship that is absent in the world of large-scale manufacturing.

Buying handmade is better for people.
The ascendancy of chain store culture and global manufacturing has left us dressing, furnishing, and decorating alike. We are encouraged to be consumers, not producers, of our own culture. Our ties to the local and human sources of our goods have been lost. Buying handmade helps us reconnect.

Buying handmade is better for the environment.
The accumulating environmental effects of mass production are a major cause of global warming and the poisoning of our air, water and soil. Every item you make or purchase from a small-scale independent artist or crafter strikes a small blow to the forces of mass production.

Learn more and take the pledge at http://www.buyhandmade.org

Visual Splendor

A Little Apartment in South Korea Tour

12/07/2008

Miseducated loves to see inside the walls of cozy apartment. How is it decorated? What unique features does it have? A person’s home says so much about them, that’s why Miseducated girls come from unique little nooks all over the world.

Now, let’s go on an official tour of Wendy Gould’s apartment in South Korea.

Want to give a tour of your home or your favorite place? Contact Miseducated and we’ll take a look and let you know if we’re interested in featuring your spot!

DIY Recipes

The Mushroom Forest Tales and Recipes

12/06/2008

Mushroomaholic? Yes please. I’m an absolute mushroom lover from both a visual and a taste stance. I still enjoy walks in the woods looking for tasty morels. (it wasn’t long before I cooked and ate the one you see above) I come from a family/culture that appreciates the earth and that mushrooms are possibly the tastiest gift of all. If you happen to spot some mushrooms along your trails, please post your own mushroom photos and collections for the MUSHROOM GALLERY (coming soon!).

Enjoy these vintage Moonlight Mushroom scans about a mushroom garden in Pennsylvania for some smiles and recipes. What a cute thrift store score!

100% moonlight

moonlight mushrooms

hors d'oeuvre


Remember never to eat a mushroom you have found in the wild unless you are experienced in mushroom identification!