For You Blue

Dress: I Heart Ronson

Shoes: Aldo

Necklace: DIY

Nailpolish: Essie "Punchy Pink"

This is a cute little dress that I styled pretty simply with a matching necklace that I made. The necklace is made out of an extra large regular cotton shirt that I cut into strips and tied together. Very easy and can be styled in a number of ways. 

I don't have much else to say tonight but I have been watching hours of Rachel Zoe today. I die! There have been a few Rachel sightings at my building by my coworkers but I had never seen any of her show until two days ago. Now I am hooked and I can't stop watching but I must go to bed! 

Miss Tree

Last summer I didn't have a job right after I graduated college so I went on a crafting kick and started reading fashion blogs (still my obsession). The craft kick was fueled by a really neat kit that I got as a graduation present from one of my best friends who I've known forever. It is called "The Softies Kit" by Therese Laskey. The kit comes with patterns to make 15 different softies and supplies to make one mini cake. So far I have made the tree, the ice cream sandwich and the dress on a hanger but I have plans to make all of them.

I would recommend this kit if you are interested in making super cute softies and like hand sewing. Since most of the stitch work is decorative and tiny the majority of it is impossible to do on a sewing machine; unless, perhaps you are some sort of sewing machine genius. Unfortunately, I am not very handy with a sewing machine, especially since I use a vintage Kenmore that belonged to my grandmother. The thought of hand sewing some of the patterns that really call for machine sewing has deterred me from making those till I'm desperate enough to try and fight with my sewing machine. 

Ms. Tree

I named the tree that I made "Miss. Tree" (how original, right?) because I love to give all the softies that I make little names. I spent far too many hours hand sewing all of the tiny stitches on the leaves! One mistake that I made was semi glueing down the leaves in exactly the place that I was going to sew because the glue made it really hard to get the needle through the felt. My poor fingers were raw after that! I love how she turned out though and refuse to part with her!

For now she just sits on my desk next to my writing utensils and a stuffed Donald Duck but I can tell that she wants some other softie friends to join her.

Baby's In Black

Dress: Forever21

Shoes: Wet Seal

Belt: Charlotte Russe, my sister's

Glasses: D&G

Necklace: DIY shrinkydink

Bracelet: DIY studded

Headband: Forever21

I had an amazing weekend filled with the best ever garage sale, tons of pool time, lots of sugar, and even some fun time with my friends! I can't wait to show you all of the items that I got from the sale!!! Hopefully, I will have a sneak peak of all of the items later this week. After all of that I am so tired but I am going to try and post my outfit today after lunch to makeup for not posting last friday. I hope that everyone had an amazing weekend! 

Elephants on Parade

Blouse: Forever21

Skirt: Zara

Shoes: Target

Watch: Guess

Bracelet: "borrowed" from my mom

Earrings: DIY Shrinky Dinks

I really like combination of this shirt and skirt because the skirt is kind of rough but school girlish while the shirt is very feminine. The ruffles, lavender color and the shoe bows soften up the whole look. This skirt is one of my favorite pieces of clothing and I wear at least once every week! It is so versatile, somehow I have managed to convince myself that it matches everything else in my closet. In the winter or at the office it goes perfectly with tights and boots. 

The earrings were made at a craft party that I hosted when I lived in Spokane. They are made from Shrinky Dink plastic and colored with Sharpies and colored pencils. I have been aching to make some more so look for a tutorial on how to use recycled plastic to make them! I can get a few of my friends together I might have another Shrinky Dink party sometime soon. They are super easy and fun to make so they are the perfect party craft. 

It is starting to get hot in LA, like summer is suppose to be, which means we will finally get to really enjoy the pool. I can't wait! It is as close as I am going to get to a vacation this summer so I am going to have to make due. Oh well, is anyone else going on a really great vacation that I can vicariously go on? Please let me know, that would be fantastic! 

Stripes + Florals

This is my (work friendly) take on the blogger trend of stripes and florals together. It is a completely different approach to the look than I have seen before on blogs and places like Chictopia. The color palette is very soft and you can barely tell that there are stripes on the jacket. It is hard to tell but the shirt is sheer and has an all over flower pattern. Three different floral prints in one outfit! This skirt is from a phase where the majority of my closet was florals but now I only have a few pieces.

I do realize that this outfit really washes out my skin tone but it perfectly matches my "Mae" necklace so I had to wear it! :)

Shirt: random store in Berkeley years ago

Tank top: Zara

Skirt: Macy's, Necessary Objects

Jacket: Michael Kors, thrifted

Shoes: Aldo

Earrings: Buckle

Necklace: made by my coworker 

Jewel Tones

Shirt: F21 - it's a bit more more purple than the camera picks up

Skirt: DIY by me almost 8 years ago

Shoes: Steve Madden from Emeryville Store; 

got these on sale for $20 because this pair was marked with the wrong price!

Bracelets: left arm - both purplish and beaded

right arm - Christmas gift from co-worker

Nail polish: OPI Quarter of a Cent-Cherry

This is a modified version of the outfit that I wore to work today. I was really sore today from hiking Runyon Canyon yesterday with the family so I decided not to wear the heels or the skirt and opted for some plain black dress pants from Express. Occasionally, comfort is the deciding factor in what I'm going to wear to work that day. I am not a morning person by ANY means so pants are usually easier to throw on in the morning instead of trying to find tights and a skirt. 

The skirt is made out of a men's large t-shirt from my grade school days on LHTV (Laurel Hall Television). I made it sometime in the beginning of high school when I was really into making clothing for myself out of old t-shirts from all my LH class trips. The band of the skirt is made from an old Limited Too sweatshirt that I wore when I was little. You can see the red of the band peaking out in the picture that I am holding Tanner in (it is the same color as the nail polish). 

I love this bracelet that one of my co-workers got me for Christmas. I am not quite sure where she got it but it came in the cutest case with some Italian on it. I don't wear it very often in real life (except picture taking) because it is very chunky and catches on all of my clothing, which drives me crazy. The same goes for rings, they tend to get in the way of typing and other activities, plus I take them off and play with them and subsequently lose them! So I just try and stay away from most rings and bracelets but I want to venture out more and try wearing more rings and bracelets.  

DIY Studded Bracelet

I was inspired to make this hot pink and studded bracelet after seeing NYDesignStudio's DIY tutorials. It is VERY easy to make and only requires duct tape, studs and velcro. I made mine with the hot pink duct tape and pyramid studs that I already had on hand but any combination of studs and duct tape will work. Tonight I am going to try two rows of studs and see if I like how that looks. 

(Sorry the pictures are so crappy, I only have my MacBook camera with me at work, I need to get my own camera!)

Hand Knitted (Baby) Sweater

One of my co-workers had a baby a couple of months ago and I needed a present for the baby shower. Of course I had to hand make something really cute. It is the best feeling to give someone a present that you have worked really hard on and you know they will love. 

I decided to knit this wrap sweater because all of the reviews said that it is a very easy pattern. I thought how hard can a baby sweater really be? (Before this sweater I had only knit hats and scarves.) Their definition and my definition of easy are obviously not the same because after hours and hours of knitting, ripping out sections and then re-knitting I finally finished the sweater.  I was hoping to have it done by the shower but since it took so much longer than I had anticipated, it wasn't all the way ready. But I had to get it done before the baby was born. Luckily, I finished the sweater the day after she left for maternity leave. The sweater is made out of the softest cotton and tencel blend that is perfect for delicate newborn skin. 

The patten is "Judy's Grandmother's Baby Sweater" from Greetings from Knit Café by Suzan Mischer. If you have any specific questions about the sweater feel free to leave me a comment or email and I will get back to them. :)

Memorial Day Weekend

Dress: vintage with belt from parents' friend

Purse: coral Coach bag with short and crossbody straps

Bracelet: flowers from Hawaii several years ago

Shoes: "Seppa" blush corset heels from Aldo

Sunglasses: D&G from Sunglass Hut

Earrings: blue and white seed bead made by me for this dress

I got my wish for hot weather this weekend just in time for our backyard pool parties. I had a hard time picking out an outfit that was dressy but also cool enough for the 90 degree temperatures. The dress that I settled on is a vintage dress that was given to me by one of my parents friends. She cleaned out her closet a few years ago and gave my sister and I the dresses that were still in good condition.

My friends in college always made fun of this dress whenever I wore it. They called it my grandma dress. How sad! I love his dress. It was a lot longer but my mom hemmed it for me several inches so the length is a lot more flattering. I wish that I could find 6 more dresses exactly like this one in different patterns. Then I could have one for every day of the week when it is too hot to wear anything else this summer. I hope that everyone had a great memorial day weekend!

Shredded T-Shirt

After seeing beautifully shredded t-shirts on Childhood Flames, Outsapoptrashion, Atlantis Home, and a few other blogs, I had to make one, too. Since the project doesn't require any supplies other than a knit t-shirt (or any knit fabric) and something sharp to separate the loops, I thought it was the perfect DIY for a lazy Saturday.  The shredding started out slow because I didn't realize that you have to start each section to be shredded with the width THEN work upwards pulling the loops (if you watch the childhood flames video this will make more sense.  The whole process ended up taking over 5 hours and was spread out over several days.  Even though it took forever, I am so happy with the result.  I already have several friends comment that they want one of their own! Instead of making all of them, I'm thinking about having a t-shirt shredding party.  That way I have time to make more for myself! 

From the front it looks like a normal plain white t...

T-shirt: DIY shredded, Hanes 8 pack from Target

Bra: from Victoria's Secret

Skirt: gift, Kimchi Blue from UO

Belt: borrowed from friend

Bracelet: borrowed from friend

Shoes: Steve Madden from Steve Madden store

from the back it is artfully deconstructed...

I used a regular Hanes tshirt that comes in a pack of 8 from Target because that is what I had lying around but any knit will work, even if it is a rib. Good luck shredding your own shirts. Just remember it takes a lot of time and patience. OR if you don't want to DIY it I would be happy to take custom orders for a small fee.

Studding Party

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and I celebrated with my friends by having a stud party.  No, this wasn’t a party themed around a young bachelor but rather studs, or pyramid studs to be more specific.  I ordered 500 silver and 200 black studs from studsandspikes.com after reading positive reviews from other bloggers about their products and service.  I received the order promptly and the studs were all that I had dreamed of! 

This stud obsession of mine started before Christmas when I began to see more and more studs pop up on everything from clutches to men’s dress shirts.  It was an instant obsession.                                                                      

           

At first everyone was weary of studding because they didn’t think that they were cool enough to wear studs or they didn’t want to ruin an item of clothing if they ended up not liking the finished result.  After putting in their first stud all of my friends were hooked! One friend said that she could totally understand my obsession and wanted to order some more studs with me! 

Here is the pair of jeans my friend studded. 

We learned an important lesson – thin cotton tank tops are not suitable for heavy studs! Even if they look like they are secured, the studs slip out very easily! Denim and leather are still the easiest and best fabrics for studs.

Happy Studding