Saturday, October 30, 2010

Reminder

Don't forget to enter my giveaway which ends tomorrow at midnight!

And just for kicks and giggles, here's my hubby in his Halloween costume! He's a fish tank and he was a big hit last night at our church's Halloween party.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

I love getting mail!

Coming home to a package outside my door is one of my favorite things. Yesterday I came home to two(!!!) and a note that I had one at the post office that I needed to sign for. Oh, happy day!

My first package was a pair of sunglasses that I bought from Super Kawaii Mama. I ordered them a while ago, but as they were coming from down under, they were a while in transit. I broke my last pair of shades a while ago and I've been searching for a new pair. This pair was just pink and fabulous and totally me. They had the added benefit of not making me look like Paris Hilton. (My hubby thought my last pair did.... :/ )

This picture is from Super Kawaii Mama's blog as these shades have already found a home in the car and I was too lazy to go out to the car in my pjs to get them and take pics.

My second package was a Lauren Maurer print I won in Bombshell Bettie's Vintage giveaway. It is even more beautiful in person. If I had I vanity, this picture would go right next to it to inspire me to look fabulous every morning. As I don't have one, I'm probably going to put it in my bedroom somewhere. My husband and I love art and our apartment is full of it. I also have a great Audrey Hepburn poster that needs framed and hung up.

This is a picture from Lauren Maurer's etsy. You can still buy this print in her shop!

The last package that I had to rescue from the post office was from Wearing History. I love Lauren's store and there were a couple of patterns that I daydreamed about making but was a bit nervous with my sewing skills. I decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and buy a couple.

My new patterns!

I love all things sailor and nautical and this playsuit is totally me! It originally was not released in my size and I was super excited when Lauren re-released it in my size.

The second pattern I purchased was a 30's style shorts, pants, and blouse pattern. I'm super excited about the possibilities for this pattern. It looks really tame in the picture but Lauren's made these two:

I absolutely adored this blue, pink and red shirt that flew out of Lauren's store.

I also adore this shirt that is currently available in the shop. The two colors of rick rack is so cute!

I also purchased a hand made retro bustier from Wearing History. It's so cute! A retro kitchen print with alternating vintage buttons.

How could you not love this! I may have to wear it tomorrow despite the 50 degree weather.

Close up of the print.

Another close up. Love those buttons!

Hope you've enjoyed my shopping! And don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Cherries Jubilee

I finished my cherry print purse! Hooray! It was just as crazy today as my previous attempts, but I succeeded. I did not get a zipper foot that worked on my sewing machine, but I did get the zipper in nicely by being very careful and moving the zipper as I sewed. My thread kept getting caught in my machine and I had to take it apart to get it all out. Then I couldn't get it back together again! Ahh! But, after some tough love (and quite a bit of banging), I got the whole contraption together and tada! it worked again! It was nuts. But now I have my purse and it is so worth it! I made it from a vintage pattern so I guess this is my first vintage purse.

Hey look, it matches my shirt! The lining is also green as I didn't find a good cherry red lining at the store and green's my favorite color anyways.

The ties are just long enough to fit over my shoulder but still short enough to carry by the ties.

My huge wallet fits inside, which makes me happy. It's a bit smaller than my normal purses, but I'm sure downsizing a bit will be worth it to use this beauty.

The best part of finishing my purse? It has a twin! And one of you lovely readers will get to add it to her closet. That's right, I'm hosting my very first give away!


To Enter:

Follow my blog and leave a comment on this post. Be sure to leave your email if you're not logged in or if your email is not on your blog somewhere. For an extra entry, post about this give away on your blog and leave a link to your post in a separate comment.

The give away will end on at midnight EST/GMT -5 on October 31st and I'll post the winner on Monday Nov. 1.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Belle Blossoms' October BOM

I recently signed up for Belle Blossoms' Blossom of the Month Club and received my very first blossom in the mail last Friday. It came beautifully wrapped in leopard print tissue paper with a blue tie. I was a bit too excited to remember to take pictures. Oops! Maybe next month.

Orange magnolia

Inside was a beautiful fall orange colored magnolia blossom with two leaves. It is huge and so realistic looking! It was clipped to a pretty card with a poem about magnolias and a hint for next months blossom. I wore my blossom out that night as it serendipitously was the night of my husband's and my church's biannual dinner and a movie date night. I paired it with a cute little blue wrap dress from Ann Taylor and a pair of black suede pumps. The orange popped really great against the blue! I didn't get any pictures, but my friend did so I'll have to bug her for them.

The blue dress I wore to dinner and a movie. (Not me in it though.) I too chose to wear a cami under it as the dress does come a bit low in the front.

Saturday, my hubby and I helped out at a paintball event at our church and I wore my blossom again. No, I didn't play! I'm much too sensitive to take the pain, but I sold refreshments. I was quite impressed by how well the blossom stayed in my hair. I didn't have to adjust it once the whole day. It even survived several trips on a speeding golf cart without budging! It was super cute with my jeans and brown jacket. (Again, sorry no pics. :( )

So, today I wore it again and this time did get pictures! Yay me!


Skirt, belt and earrings: New York and Company
Shirt: ?? I've had it forever
Hair flower: Belle Blossoms :D

I was talking in this picture, but my winged eyeliner turned out great today!

Such a beautiful flower!

I'm sure I'll be a happy BOM girl for a long time!

Sewing aside:
I have been having a crazy time trying to sew my simple bag. First, my sewing machine had fits with my black thread. It's a really think kind of thread and I think I need to have my machine on a different setting or something. So today I finally got back out to the store to get normal black thread. When I got home, I started sewing, but when I went to go put my new sewing foot on, I realized it attached 90 degrees from the way it needs to. Bummer. So, I guess I won't be finishing my "quick and easy" project anytime soon.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Movie Review: The Egg and I

Friday night was my church's Sweetest Day Dinner and a Movie night. There's yummy food and dessert and always an old movie! This year we watched "The Egg and I" (1947), starring Fred MacMurray and Claudette Clobert as husband and wife Betty and Bob and Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride as Ma and Pa Kettle.


After surviving World War II, Bob comes home to his wife Betty and decides to leave his cushy job in the city for a simple farm life. Betty, who, like me, enjoys her creature comforts, is not terribly excited about the dilapidated state of the farm Bob moves her too. They encounter many ups and downs including a temperamental old stove, a cast of crazy neighbors and a beautiful, rich farm girl who thinks Bob is the man for her. This is the first of many films featuring Ma and Pa Kettle, a kooky rural family with way too many kids.


Betty has some cute outfits in this film.

Love this jumper!

Yay, the baby chicks are here!

Uhh, this is where you want me to live?

What I've been up to

Life's been pretty busy this week, but lots of stuff has happened. On Sunday, I bought a couple of reprinted vintage patterns from Simplicity for $0.99 each! Yay! Some of them are a bit out of my range right now, but I figured I might as well stock up while they're cheap. I got a fifties jumper pattern, a forties suit pattern and a modern wrap dress pattern that I think would look vintage with the right print.

Hopefully these lovelies will be in my closet soon!

I got some fabric for my next project-the tie bag I spotted a free pattern for. I chose a cute rockabilly polka dotted cherry print with green lining. I'm super excited about it! I've got my pattern cut out for it and I plan on starting to sew tonight.


This print is just so fun!

I also got a zipper foot. In addition, I picked up a surprise for all of you. This means a giveaway in the future. So, invite your friends so they can be in on it too.

My first blossom of the month from Belle Blossoms came in yesterday. It's very wonderful. I'll be doing a review on it later this week.

Well, now I'm off to sew!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

The Floral Circle Skirt

I wore my circle skirt today and it was so much fun! I want 10 more circle skirts! :) And I curled my hair with sponge rollers and it was super curly. My curls stayed in all day too, even thought it was 88 and I was outside most of the day. woot! My hair was a bit frizzier at the end of the day (when I took pictures) than at the beginning of the day. Such is life though.

I'll do a bit different set next time I use sponge rollers but they made prettier, stronger holding curls than pin curls ever have for me. I wasn't Shirley Temple but I think I could totally get my hair to do that using the tiny rollers. I can probably also start playing with second day hair (after I get some dry shampoo!) which I could never do with pin curls. They'd always end up just giving me lots of volume but no curl.

Enjoy!

Skirt: Handmade by me from a vintage pattern
Lacey tank: ?? I don't remember
Sweater: Ann Taylor Loft
Shoes: my trusty brown wedges from Payless
Earrings: Express

The front of my hair curled very nicely into a pageboy type style (after some rather vigorous brushing). The back didn't behave so nice as a couple of the rollers fell out while I was sleeping. Guess I need to use smaller ones till my hair gets longer. The back also fell a lot during the day due to humidity and my sweaty neck.

My skirt!!! I was so happy with it and I got loads of compliments. I haven't been out this vintage in a long time. I also introduced myself to the wonders of lip liner for giving red lips staying power today. It worked really great! By the end of the day, I did give up and just throw on some gloss, but I'm still learning all the secrets.

I spy...

I've spied another giveaway for you from Bombshell Bettie's Vintage! Be sure to check it out before it ends next Saturday!

Friday, October 8, 2010

Sewing and Cooking Fun

Yesterday and today I had off school and dove into all things domestic! My first project was my circle skirt!


Here's a close up of my fabric. It's a really pretty floral that is sort of stiff. My other circle skirt is stiff too, so hopefully they'll lay the same.


The skirt was simple and easy to make. I've finished except the hem and the hook and eye on the waist band. The vintage pattern I got from Casey's Elegant Musings says to let the skirt hang 48 hours before hemming. I'm assuming that this is to let things settle. (Anybody have any thoughts on this?? Because without this step, the project would be a super easy weekend project.) Although, it's probably a good thing that I can't finish till Saturday because I'm planning on wearing it on Sunday, but it's so cute, I want to wear it right now!

The most difficult part of the skirt was putting in the zipper. Never having put in a zipper before, I didn't know you needed a special foot for your sewing machine, which of course I didn't have.... I made it work though. The zipper is in-functional, if not super pretty. But it's on the side and I don't care if it's pretty. I will, however, be getting a zipper foot before I do any more zipper projects.


I also started some Christmas present projects for people. I'm not posting the finished projects, but I loved this fabric so much I wanted to share with you. I know I'll have to find something cute to do with the leftover fabric. Any thoughts?

Today, I cooked some freezable breakfast burritos for my hubby. (I might have to steal some though.) They were super easy.


1. Scramble eggs.


2. Cook breakfast sausage (or bacon, if you prefer.)


3. Build your burrito. Add cheese. You could also add peppers, but we didn't have any.


4. Wrap in foil and freeze. (I forgot to take pictures of this step...oops!)

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Pearl Harbor

Last night, Pearl Harbor was just starting as I got home from school, so I figured I'd watch it. I knew it would be a sad movie, but I thought the fashion would be worth it. The first half of the movie was great and full of fashion!

I loved following the nurses around. They always looked so great.

This may have been my favorite shot because of all of the head wear!

Check out the purses and shoes that match the head wear from the last shot.

Kate Beckinsale was beautiful as Evelyn.

She had quite a collection of swimsuits, which comes in handy when you are stationed in Hawaii!


The second half of the film, however, was very difficult for me. As a rule, I don't watch modern war movies. (By modern, I mean anything set after the 1400s.) My husband was deployed to Iraq in 2008 and I haven't watched a modern war film since he left. I had heard wonderful things about this film and wanted to see the forties fashions. I really wish I'd stopped watching after the first half. There were some serious water works last night. Those of you who have seen this film can testify to heart wrenching love plot and I really just couldn't take it.

So, I guess over all I'd say it was a great movie, but I doubt I would watch the full film again. If you are like me and don't think you can handle it, check out pictures online or just watch the first half.