Spring Work Wear

Spring always puts me in the mood to wear florals! And even though I prefer solids to prints, I do have the most fabulous giant rose print and polkadot skirt for when a floral mood strikes.

About a month ago, I started a new (full time) job and I've been getting used to the new schedule and dress code. It seems like every time I feel like I'm just getting my wardrobe settled, something happens to change my wardrobe needs.

A lot of ladies are afraid to start wearing vintage because they don't know how to wear it to work. Sometimes it takes a bit of creativity but there's usually a way to add some vintage flair to your work wardrobe.

My new office's official dress code is business casual but in my area it's even more casual. Lots of people just do jeans and a polo. This is an example of my work wear.

A nice blouse and skirt combo is a winner for many dress codes. I also love adding my pearls for that extra bit of class.

Accessories are a fun way to express your style at work as well. While the brooch isn't exactly a popular accessory today, they are fun and qwirky. Starting small can help build your confidence wearing vintage at work.

I enjoy wearing crinolines with my full skirts but I leave my really huge ones for weekend wear. Big ones can be a bit impractical for work especially if you have a desk job and will have to sit on it all day!

Personally, I don't have an issue being the person in the office with a qwirky retro style. Some days I opt to wear jeans like everyone else but I really prefer skirts.

And why be boring when you can be fun? I'm in so much better of a mood at work when I'm put together and dressed like myself.

I adore cute shoes! I don't buy or keep shoes that aren't comfortable so my feet can be happy all day too. Flats are my friends in that respect but I also love a good wedge or low heel.

Hair is another fun way to add a bit of retro to your work wear especially if you have a uniform or other strict dress code restrictions. My hair is still a bit short for that at the moment though.

But that's ok since I can still twirl in a twirly skirt!

 What are your favorite ways to wear vintage at work?

Bible Journaling Flip Through Video

Today, I want to give you a peak into my Journaling Bible! I'm so excited to share this with you all. I've been doing Bible Journaling since November and I've been growing so much in this process. I hope you enjoy seeing all of my entries!

IRCC6: Plans and Fabrics

Sorry for not posting last week! My laptop was out for repairs so I wasn't able to post anything except for the video I'd finished before hand. But it is back and happy and we can get back to the regular(ish) blogging schedule.

The Italian Renaissance Costuming Challenge 6 is set to start this week and I'm so excited. I've been gathering supplies (since my costuming fabric stash is quite sad at the moment) and solidifying my costuming plans so I'll be all ready to go as soon I'm allowed to start sewing.

Here are my fabrics! The bottom two are yummy linen yardages. Florida summers are going to require linen so I splurged on some 100% linen for the gown (blue) and petticoat (burgandy). The top fabric is a cotton blend that I will probably regret in August when it's time to take final photos but the color and diamond pattern were so perfect (and cheap!) that I couldn't resist. It's for the overdress.

I was very inspired by the color combo on this lovely lady! So yummy! I did swap which color was for which garment but at least the color combo is good.

I had a hard time getting all of the fabrics to show up as the correct color all in one photo. The two reddish ones are quite the same shade of red purply wine like in this photo.

The blue is a yummy blue gray that is even more fabulous in person. This photo shows it best. I'm so excited to get to sew with it. Both linens are 5.3 oz IL019 from Fabrics-store.com. They are a bit more slubby that I would like but they are wonderfully soft and I'm going to love wearing them.

 This is the style of overdress I'm planning on making-a giornea. This one has some pretty gold trim around the edges and I may try that with mine if I have time! The diamond pattern will be great for designing my own trim. I have some faux and real pearls in my stash that I may end up using to bling it up but I'm not sure yet.

I still need to purchase some linen for my undergarments but I'll have quite a bit to get started with for right now. So excited!!

My Konmari Journey Part #21: Sentimental Items and Photos

I've finally reached the very last category of the Konmari method which is sentimental items and photographs. Really, I was expecting this category to be much harder than it actually was. I had tons and tons of photos to go through but many of them I didn't really have a strong emotional attachment to. Oh, well.



Now that I've completed the process, I'm going to be doing a wrap up video talking about what I liked, what I didn't like and how successful I thought I was. If you have any questions or comments about this process, please leave a comment and I'll try to answer it in my wrap up video.

A Clean Slate

We all have choices in our lives that we wish we could do over. Unfortunately, life doesn't give us any do overs.

But Easter is about just that. Jesus came to pay the penalty for all of our mistakes. He offers to give us a clean slate by wiping away those things in our past we regret.

With this clean slate comes a chance at a new start. We don't have to be the same person we were. We have a chance to be a new, better person.

This gift also comes with a real life, one that we where we walk side by side with God. For Christians, this life is not the be all end all. We look forward to our eternal life in heaven.

Today's journaling is inspired by my church's Easter service. The theme was chalk board inspired as Jesus wipes away our sins. I just had to try to capture the feel of this message in my bible!

This was my very first entry in my Interleaved Journaling Bible! It has a blank page of text next to to each page of text. It's perfect for big, pretty journaling entries.

To get the chalk board effect, I used a piece of black scrapbooking paper for the background. Then I dug out some pretty shades of chalk ink. They look just like chalk drawings! And I threw in a few white stickers since I only had one largish alphabet set. (Need to remedy that!) My journaling was done in a white gel pen.

 I'm so happy to have this lovely page in my Bible! Such a great reminder of the wonderful things God has done for us.

My Konmari Journey Part #20: Clothes (Again)

Since I did not do all of my clothing in the first go around, I did want to go through them again near the end of the Konmari process. So here it is!




I did end up getting rid of a few more things and ended up with about 40 items in my closet and perhaps another 10-15 in my drawer plus underthings and pjs. Yay tiny closet!

The next video will be my sentimental items and photos! Since we're near the end, I'm taking questions to go in my wrap up video. If you have any questions about this process or what I thought about it, please leave it below.

Italian Renaissance Costuming Challenge 6

I've been an avid follower of the Italian Renaissance Costuming Challenge (IRCC) for several years and have decided that this is finally the year to enter it! I'm strongly considering making my Adrian persona Italian because Italian garb is so pretty (and because picking a late period English name would be rather boring). So I do need some more Italian outfits.

I really love the high waisted look of 1490s styles like those who inspired the fashions on Ever After and The Borgias. And I've got a bit of cold feet at cutting into my silk for my Borgia dress in an untested pattern. I'm hoping that this project will help me get some kinks out of the dress pattern before cutting into my pricy silk.

My first layer will be a camica or Italian chemise. I've already made one for my Borgia dress but one can never have too many pairs of underthings for costuming. The second layer will consist of a gamurra or gown which will be front laced with a pleated skirt.

The third layer will be a giornea which is a pretty draped over dress that is open at the sides like this lady is wearing. I'm hoping this will be a nice easy layer to throw on to make my outfit look pretty pretty for events such as court during Adria but that can be left off for most of the day when it's just too hot for that.

Lastly will be accessories. I'm planning on making some jewelry and another pocket ( because pockets rock). Italians also have such pretty jewelry! If I have extra time at the end and I'm feeling ambitions, I may throw in a few extra accessories but who knows.

Once the challenge begins on April 14th, I'll be sending in monthly updates which I'll also share here. Now off to do some fabric shopping!