Birds of a feather, flock together

My latest headband... semi Coachella (sigh... its over) inspired with the turquoise stone, swede rope, gold wire and three types of feathers. Enjoy!

Rain, rain go away and Coachella Fever

I adore the rain, but there is something about getting teased with 75+ degree Cali beach weather that makes me crave sunscreen smell and bikinis. To hold me over while I lull at the office longing to bask in the sun (and go into depression about missing Coachella), I decided to post about what I'm most looking forward to in fashion in the upcoming months. Guess this is also a wish list for what could have been an amazing trip to Coachella. Sigh.

I say if you're going to a festival in the coming weeks, pack staple pieces that breathe, sunglasses that actually block the sun and a vintage grunge tee that screams rock n' roll. I ordered the pieces from head-to-toe.

Give your hair some pizazz, with a statement head piece.

I can't help but think Elton John when I see this style on the street. Wish this style of sunnies looked better on me!

Layering jewelry is a must this summer. Try shopping a local flea markets to find something handmade and one-of-a-kind like these crystal hoops.

Cropped tops (especially crocheted ones) and maxis are perfect for the beach, festival or carnival.

Fringe suits. Enough said. I even think it could pass for a bra top.

Graphic Tee

Last year ombre became the "it" hair style, and has now transcended into clothing. I call it, chic Tye-dye (cause let's face it, that's pretty much what it is). I adore this Venus Ombre Fringe Vest from Spanish Moss Those leather shorts are fab too.

Monochromotic styling is definitely a must (though this particular mod look is a little fancy pancy for Coachella). This mint color is totally trending too. Alice and Olivia Mint Cuff Short.

If you aren't wearing some combination of high-waisted, cut-off, studded, dyed jean shorties to a festival, then I don't if you'll be making many friends. I'll actually be creating my own studded, ombre shorts this weekend! More to come on that.

I'm HORRIBLE at painting my nails and it just happens to be one of the biggest trends out there right now. My fav polish strip from Sally Hansen is "Tribal-on It"

Druzy had me at hello. This druzy ring is a steal on Etsty.

Go hippie, or go home. Who knew feet could look so awesome? Snag a Aya Omura Crochet Foot Tie at Free People.

Flower Power In A Box

I wanted to take my crafting to another level and decided to hand make the gift wrapping to compliment my hand made headpiece. One bottle of wine and two hours later... I came up with something personal, sweet and timely for the upcoming spring/summer seasons. This piece was done as a 'thank you.'

My Inspiration:  November issue of W Magazine for spring 2012. Photo shoot styled by Giovanna Battaglia, labels such as Givenchy, Balenciaga, Michael Kors and Alexander Wang get a floral makeover.

My Inspiration: Free People floral head piece sketch spring 2102

My Inspiration: Chloe' RTW S/S 2012

My Inspiration: Chloe' RTW S/S 2012

The headband: "Spring Has Sprung" - Sea pearls, yellow feathers, marble turquoise stone. I loved the idea of doing some hand painting on my head pieces so I custom mixed acrylic color to match the turquoise stone. I lightly brushed the feathers with my color. Turned out really nice.

The box: I wanted the outside to look just as thoughtful as the inside. I took a recycled gift box and hand painted star bursts on the outside. I adorned the box with a red paper bow.

The note: Hand written notes are a thing of the past, but I just can't let them go. I hate using store bought cards. I prefer to make them. I took a piece of textured card stock and burnt the edges with a lighter (an elementary school touch). The envelope is two piece of felt sewn together. I though it looked a little plain in comparison to the rest of the gift so I topped it off with a wire butterfly.

Happy crafting!

Happy Brithday to the Suessiest of Doctors

I had the entire collection of Dr. Suess books. Aside from his obvious charm and whimsy, Theodor Seuss Geisel (he didn't actually practice medicine, or even earn the doctor title) truly turned the world of children's books upside down.

FUN FACT:  "The Cat in the Hat resulted from a theory Seuss had that the ‘Dick and Jane’ children’s books were so boring, reading levels were down in schools because kids refused to read them. To fix this, a director at Houghton Mifflin sent Seuss a list of about 350 words kids should know and then challenged him to write a book kids couldn’t put down with only 250 of those words in it. In the end, the book uses 220 of the words most used by children."

Find more Suess facts and oddities at 15 Things You Didn't Know About Dr. Suess

Suess had an uncanny way of encrypting both sentimental and intuitive messages in this stories.

Once of my favorite movies of all time, and what I believe to be a fantastic remake and interpretation of Suess' story.

Mike Myers (accompanied by a young miss Dakota Fanning) in the 2003 feature film of The Cat in the Hat - in my opinion second rate the the remake of How The Grinch Stole Christmas with Jim Carrey.

 

 

 

 

 

Just in time for his birthday (those smart movie peeps), The Lorax comes out in theaters today and stars Danny Devito, Ed Helms, Zac Effron and Taylor Swift.

I leave you with the wise words of Ellen DeGeneres wishing Suess a happy day of birth...

 "Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss! Your books are better than some juice. Something something something Bruce. I’m not great with rhymes. Caboose."

DIYing for spring/summer 2012

Happy March 1st everyone! I can feel spring rounding the corner. The sun wants to come out so badly in LA, and I terribly want to flip my closet to spring wear!

Design*Sponge is ALWAYS providing fab content for DIY projects for even us average Joe's. These 'life-size Barbie' paper flowers were from a D*S contributing writer - she made these for her wedding. Get out, these are to DIY for! Check out her tutorial and some gorgeous photos here.

THE JOB HUNT - URBN Inc.

I'm always on the job hunt.... I'm always looking for new ways to improve myself and climb that tiresome professional ladder. I recently applied for the Merchant Leadership Program at URBN Inc, which essentially filters into a buying position at headquarters. I'm still waiting for a reply back, but I had to say that the application was challenging, but very rewarding. If anything, I've gotten tremendous experience by just completing my app. Plus it was fun to do!

Lifestyle is THE main objective for the URBN brands (Urban Outfitters, Free People and Anthropologie). I specifically applied for the Free People segment of the MLP program, mostly because I enjoy shopping there... I am the demographic and I feel that I am a good example of that lifestyle.... I digress. I'm really proud of the work I put in, and for curiosity sake I'd love some feed back. So comment away on what I like to call the "Inspiration Installation" portion of my application!

The whole application was about 5 pages long, but I didn't want to bore you with my words (maybe I've done that already?) so here is the gist of it.... My photo installation was inspired by spring 2012 as I saw it for Free People. These are trends that I'm looking out for this season. I included textures, themes, lifestyle and of course product.

For this spring I see a continuation of the 90s grunge trend, which includes studs, nail art, biker boots, and bleached denim. I'm also on the look out for anything Navajo/Native American inspired.... turquoise and sliver jewelry, worn leathers, fringe, feathers (of course), messy curls, and suede. The hobo-hippie look is a Free People staple, so I find it to be more of a lifestyle than a "trend." So... my intention was to interpret the 2012 hippie (yes there's such thing), who I see wearing SUPER-bell bottoms, platform wedges, head/hair wraps/scarves, extra hardware (aka layered jewelry), body jewelry (in the hair, on the shoulders), lots of lace and crochets, and either sporting a knot bun or a braid every day.

Why buy, when you can DIY?

I craft simply because it helps me wind down after work. A two-buck-chuck bottle of wine and my glue gun is all I need.

I'm not sure what sparked it though - it could be from my dance costuming days. Or because I simply can't afford to buy everything I want. Either way I found myself going to my favorite boutiques and flea markets thinking "I could make that for less money." So I did.

I by no means, am claiming to be an artistic genius. I'm not one. I take mental notes from things that inspire me in a store, from nature or from an outfit on the street. My most recent inspiration is Pinterest. (I'm addicted to that site.) I'm pretty much self taught. And I accomplish things very unconventionally - from a trial and error basis. ANYONE can do this.

 Recently I'd been craving some new jewelry, but was too broke to splurge. I had just paid a visit to Micheal's and really wanted to use some of the great feathers I picked up. I took two different kinds of feathers and wire wrapped them together. I sealed a clamp bead that has a eye hole at the end over the tips of the feathers. The hole in the clamp bead allowed me to hook the earring through. Ta-dah! Feather dusters!
 

A coworker of mine, asked me to make two headpieces for his sister's wedding. She was a young bride so I knew I could be a little trendy. (Left) I call the feather piece "Mermaid Meets Big Bird." I used Swarovski crystals in satin rose from Rhinestone Biz and beads and sea pearls from Michael's. 

(Right) I hand made the ribbon roses using silk ribbon. In the middle I glued a cluster of sea pearls, stringed pearls, and Swarovski crystals. Both have hair picks glued to the backs for easy application.

 
   

(Right) "Peacock Talk" was made for a best friend's birthday. She loves antique costume jewelry and bright colors, so I knew I could think out of the box for hers. At the tip I glued amber Swarovski beads, two sea pearls, a teal bead and topped it off with some gold wire wrapping. Scatted throughout the peacock feathers I glued in some black feathers that I threaded with purple Swarovksi, diamond shaped beads. It looked awesome with her long wavy brown locks.

 (Left) This brother-sister duo I made was for another best friend's birthday. The actual band of the top headpiece is braided with three colors of swede and gold chain. I envisioned this one worn as either a headband or wrap around bracelet. The bottom piece was pretty heavy. I wanted it to be exaggerated and more of a showpiece for going out, or for a hot date. The center of each flower is adorned with a black, metallic button-shaped bead that had contours on the face, which really made it look geometric. The showpiece head band has incorporated beads that played off of the olive tones in some of the flower petals.  The smaller piece has gem-like beads that bordered that black centerpiece.

(Right) Yet another birthday piece. This girlfriend is more simple and wholesome in her style so I wanted to make her something that mirrored that. Her birthday was in December so I light dusted the piece with gold glitter to keep things festive for the holidays. At the center is a marble green stone and rimming it are sea pearls and clear crystals.

 These next two are actually candles that I made for some of my coworkers for the holidays. At FIDM we are surround by fashion, so I really wanted to stay away from clothes, jewelry and accessories. Candles seemed like the perfect medium. The candles came from Michael's because they happen to be on sale there. I knew I was going to cover them up so I didn't want to spend a fortune on them. (Right) I kept it a little springy for this green piece. I used red beads, sea pearls, a marble green stone and a wooden toggle. It is topped off with gold wire wrapping and some gold spray glitter.

 (Left) This candle was for the Executive Director in my office so I knew it needed to be classy and sophisticated, but also still be a reflection of me. The top flower has metallic beads, sea pearls and two turquoise marble stones, topped off with gold wire wrapping. The bottom flower is hand stitched together with leftover petals from the bigger flower. I glued some green leaves to back, and in the center is knotted gold chain and a sea pearl. I really like this one.

These next two feather pieces were for my best friend and her sister. They live in Minnesota so I was really hoping to show them and their friends something they hadn't seen before. They are extremely fashionable and love to shop so that gave me a lot of creative freedom. They were my first feather pieces so the elements were new to me. The tip where I glued the stones was much more three-dimensional than the flat center of a flower I was used to. I embraced the cone shape and really liked how they turned out. I was actually on a very low budget so I ended up using recycled pieces of jewelry that I hadn't worn in years and mixed it with beads and jewels I bought from my previous Michael's run.  They turned out pretty awesome. My girlfriend wore hers the night she opened it, to her birthday party.