Easter Outfit

On Easter I tried to recreate the hairstyle they did for the Fashion Show I was in earlier this month. Basically a French Braid from a deep side part across the front to the other side, teasing at the back, and the rest of the hair pinned up in curls.

I wore a new pair of pants I got for my birthday, some black pumps, and a necklace I made myself (I love an opportunity to say, "Thank you I made it myself" :) ). Throw in some Easter pastels and I was ready to go.

I felt comfortable yet very put together. My cousin said I looked "elegant". She's two years older than me and has always been kinda the older cousin that I looked up to and wanted to be like... so that made me feel special :)

Je peux coudre 2

Translation: I can sew.

But I'm tempted to not even call this sewing, it was so simple and basic. But my machine did get mad at me a few times... probably because it didn't like sewing through that many layers and lace etc.

I bought a few plain tank tops at Michaels knowing I wanted to embellish them somehow. One day I was going through my mom's sewing room and found this cool emerald lace and satin trim. I knew it was destined to be mine.

So I trimmed, pinned, and sewed it down. Sweet and simple.. et voilà!

Don't you love it when something is so simple, yet makes such an impact?


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Fashion Show

Earlier this month I was in a charity fashion show. Basically my mother heard about it and volunteered me for it. But it was fun and it was nice to get to do runway... I'm only 5'5", so way too short to actually do runway work :(

The show was a fundraiser for the Center for Violence-free Relationships and the outfits were totally gorgeous.

I particularly loved how they did my hair and makeup. I tried to recreate the hair on Easter- maybe I'll post that on here too a bit later. And I told the person doing my makeup that she could do whatever she wanted- the other models were older so probably not into more crazy avant-garde styles. I've worked for both BeneFit and Ulta, so I like bright fun makeup. She had been wanting to experiment with gold leaf, so I told her to go for it :)

I also made the purple earrings I'm wearing here to match the last gown I model :)

Belated Birthday Post

So I've been mia for the past few weeks.... mainly because I've been taking care of this gorgeous little kitty who is getting on in years (about 21 to be exact) and instead of sleeping in the garage has been 24/7 in my bedroom. She's had her good days and her bad days, complete with some crying on my part. I lost my younger (well she was 17) kitty about a year ago and I was devastated. I had Tabitha since I was 6 and Tinkerbell since I was 4. They are clearly part of the family and it's difficult seeing her struggle to get around. We didn't want her trying to climb over all the stuff in the garage with her little legs. So instead everything is within easy reach in my room... including a litter box... needless to say we've never had one of those inside, but I've been keeping it clean and lighting a lot of candles with the window open lol. Anything for this little sweetie :)

For some reason she chose under my desk as her bed of choice... only adding to the feeling that instead of typing on the computer I should be giving her lots of love and kisses.

But for my 24th birthday I did have my brother and his girlfriend over the night before. My mom made an amazing dinner and got a delicious ice cream cake- my favorite kind :)

My hopefully future sister-in-law as I call her.. or just my sister... has always been great at crochet. I started out knitting. Eventually we traded crafts and she made me this gorgeous knitted blanket. The colors are just beautiful and I absolutely love it!

I didn't get pictures with my brother and his girlfriend, but I did take birthday pictures with my gorgeous Tinkerbell :)

How adorable is that little face!

Je peux coudre 1

Translation: I can sew.

Clarification: I can sew simple things.

Recently I sewed a simple white tunic top with ruffles. The ruffles were pretty easy. Making and sewing bias tape was a new experience, but it wasn't too hard. Hardest part about it was attempting to turn the ties without a tube turner. I tried using a small knitting needle, but it went through the fabric. Long story short, I actually didn't want the ties super long... yes, I'm sticking with that story... and they're kind of stuffed at the ends without being turned fully. All in all I'm quite happy with the results. And it all started with raiding my mom's fabric stash... and she has a stash... but you can make such pretty things with it... I'm in the process of building my own :)

It's been raining for like, I don't know, two weeks? But lately it's been actually feeling like spring- it actually got to 70F today. And it was so sunny it was kind of hard for me to get decent pictures, especially wearing white and being so pale... but I tried... and then I tried editing so you could see the ruffle details and such. Needless to say, the lighting's a little off. Hope they're decent enough :)

When I left this morning it was still a little chilly so this is how I styled it- with a chambray button down that's a discard from my mom. Not sure of the exact year it's from... but it could be vintage (20yrs old). Love taking something old and making it new again :)

This is the pattern I used to make the tunic.

I also styled it with my wisteria branch bangles- made from actual branches that I selected from clippings destined for the green waste bin. I hand cut and formed them and allowed them to dry for several weeks. Then I wrapped embroidery floss around and hot glued the ends and added a charm; it says "mother earth".


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De Young Museum Trip in SF

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to go to San Francisco with my mom and some of her friends. We went to the De Young Fine Arts Museum for a special exhibit called the Bouquets to Arts. Basically it was a huge collection of floral arrangement pieces that were inspired by or based on existing pieces in the museum.

First off, I loved getting to go to SF. Granted we didn't have time to walk around- we all took a huge bus and only had 4 hours there- but even just looking out the window on the bus, I love all the architecture in the city, especially the Victorians.

This house looked so tiny compared to the others. Even the door to the gate looks so short.

Even though the main focus was the flowers, I couldn't help but marvel at some of the regular paintings. Especially the abstracts. Some of my faves:

Untitled XX (1977) by Willem de Kooning and Untitled (1949) by Mark Rothko



Rover's Garden Grows (1991) by Dale Chihuly and Italo Scanga; Ultramarine Stemmed Form with Orange (Persian Scenes) (1988) by Dale Chihuly

 I originally was just marvelling at the top half of Rover's Garden Grows... only after a moment did I even notice the bottom half... with Rover.

Here is one of the paintings next to it's accompanying floral arrangement. Love the colors.

And now, onto the flowers.

Not only were there conventional "arrangements" of flowers, but even things like a dog, a chair, and a dress either made out of or adorned with flowers. Such creativity! And so short-lived- as they are real flowers, the exhibit was only open for four days.




I love the bright colors... and random, but I'm pretty sure that fabric is from Ikea.




Even the space between exhibits is gorgeous.



On the way out, I found my fave pic of all, as my mom was telling me we had to get back to the bus. Can you guess what my favorite flower is? So bright and happy :)

P.S. can you tell I had fun experimenting with Picasa collages?

New items in the shop

Posted some new items in my etsy shop. Thought I'd give you a look here too :)

This ribbon tie necklace is definitely one of my faves! It can be worn long or short and grey is one of my favorite neutrals right now :)


So please head on over to the shop and see if something strikes your fancy!