Bebe Dress

Finished my first "solo" sewing project this week.  The Bebe dress from Serendepity Studios.  I had a little bit of trouble with the invisible zipper, it took me a couple of tries to get the second half of the zipper in, but I walked away from it overnight and in the morning I figured it out.  

I used some fabulous vintage lace around the bottom.  I have been saving it for just the right project, and thank goodness I had enough of it with about 6 inches to spare!  The dress fits well, but I think I need to tweek the bodice just a bit to get the closer fit.  All in all I will make another!  I have some Liberty Tana lawn fabric just waiting to be made into this dress.

Flea Market Finds

Thursdays are the big day at one of the local markets. I always work a long day, so when an opportunity presents itself to get a Thursday off...I leap at the chance! This sterling pendant was the buy of the day! The seller had it marked super cheap and it is a fabulous piece! The same seller had these beauties! The amber one is a button that Donna spotted! And the other I thought would be pretty with a shawl. Fabulous day at the market with my lovely friend Donna . It was chilly but we had a blast, and met some great characters~ part of the fun at the market is the people you meet! Some great vintage fabric, now that I am sewing I keep an eye out for it! This great vintage toast holder that is now a home for all my loose desk papers. Just wanted to share some of the fab finds.

Flea Market Finds

Just a quick post today to share a flea market find. I found this dress on an early morning trip to the market. I had originally spotted it for fabric. It sat in a bag for about 6 months until I took it to be dry cleaned. When I brought it home I really looked at it...And discovered it was in much better shape than I thought, and it appeared to be closer to my size than I would have guessed. Actually it needs to be taken in. I also need to replace the buttons and repair the smallest tear by one of the button holes. But I love it! I think it looks fab with my capelet that I wore alot last spring too! Another successful flea market find, that cost me about $10.00.

Cowl Loving

I'm a huge fan personally of the cowl. Big, chunky, way easier sometimes than wrapping a scarf. I wear mine on most days(confession..I have several ). So I wanted to show some ways you can wear a cowl right through the spring. It really is a versatile piece of my wardrobe. The Super Snuggly Chunky knit cowl can be worn as a scarf over a cute spring coat for chilly mornings or evenings. Once you are at your destination it makes the perfect little capelet for chilly offices or restaurants. Adds just a bit of whimsy to your outfit and gives you the warmth of a Happiknits hug!
Outfit details:
Dress: thrifted
Coat: Anthropologie (sale rack!)
Necklace: the lovely Donna sutor
Cowl: Happiknits

Month of Love Cowl Giveaway

I apologize for my extended absence. Life took over and demanded attention. The Etsy shop did Fabulous over the holidays and I want to extend a *huge* thank you to all of my wonderful customers. It truly means the world to me that you are all wearing something I made! So, a couple of things to start off the new year. I want to do a Cowl giveaway and introduce you to a fellow blogger who I met through Etsy.

Ariana is the author of Fatalefashion She approached me on Etsy, I checked out her blog and I love it! It's in the same vein as the month Marie Claire column dealing with being a bigger girl in a skinny world. I can totally RELATE! I love to dress fabulous (as does Ariana) and I hate it when I can't find something in my size. Trust me, I am not sitting on the couch eating bonbons(hey, it sounds like fun) but, I was blessed with the "famine" gene. I am serious here. Out of the mouth of my endocrinologist, someone in my family survived a famine. So all I need to survive is the smallest amount of food or possibly, none at ALL. Hahaha...are you laughing with me? So anyway, I love my body, and I like to look fabulous and fashionable ALWAYS! So please, stop over and check out Ariana, she looks fabulous and fashionable!(And she will be modeling one of Happiknits Super Snuggly knit cowls!)

Next up....Cowl giveaway. As a kiss and makeup for being absent, I want to giveaway this fabulous cowl. Easy peasey to win. Just leave me a comment for the first entry. Check out Ariana's blog for an additional entry. Give me a follow on twitter , facebook , and/or my blog for additional entries. Just leave a comment for each and good luck! **Drawing for winner will be done on 2/14/12**

Congrats to Lori who won this lovley Happiknits cowl!

xoxo

Flea Market Finds

Had a great day at the market on Thursday. This one haunted me after I walked away....I HAD to buy it just to see what was under all that DUST!!!Beautiful weather and lots of treasure trolling! Amazing what a little bit of soap and water will uncover!

Happy New Year

A new year, a new goal to attempt to blog way more often than I currently do. Life has had many twists and turns for me the past 6 months. I have tried to take away the lessons I could from the things happening all around and inside of me. Not without much sorrow and pain. What I found was a strength inside of me that I didn't even know I had. Don't get me wrong, I have always thought of, and referred to myself as a "strong german chick" but this came from deep in my soul.

The photos that I want to share with you today are of my neice. She is a busy girl~~much like her Aunt Becky~~ and she never stops moving. Taking a picture of her and getting it clear is quite a challenge. But, Aunt Bec the yoga teacher, taught her a little something.... I taught her to slow down (if only for a moment) and take a breath. And, as you can see from the "before" and "after" pictures, I think it worked really well!

Happy and Peaceful New Year my dear friends, remember to slow down and take a breath :)

Vintage Art brooches

For several years now I have been gathering lots of vintage lace, buttons, milinery flowers, photos, and whatever else strikes my fancy at the market. Although I have started incorporating some of it into my knitting work, I have wanted to do something akin to mixed media but, on a wearable. My entomology capelet was certainly the first successful piece(trust me, it took several failed attempts to get it right) and in my mind, as we hone our craft the pieces just get better and better. I think I have mentioned in the past that I am, aside from 6 knitting lessons, completely self taught. Through much trial and error. Because, it always seems to take me a few tries to get things right. So I have been working on these brooches. I *love* the way the two came out. I have already sold my first one at the Cranberry Festival this past weekend. I *love* this image. Absolutely stunning woman. And I had a fantastic time playing with all my vintage goodies to find the perfect combination for both of these brooches!

xoxo

Time off

Just a quick hello dear friends. I have been taking some time off for reflection, fun, mischief, and much needed selfishness. I think sometimes when we concentrate most of our lives on taking care of everyone around us, we lose the ability to see who we are. Take some time off for you. Go have fun. Check out some fun I had.......

It is my first tattoo. It is of 3 of my favorite vintage buttons from my collection. I have had all 3 for a very long time. My tattoo was done by Matt, who I have known since he was about 13. I always knew if I was going to get a tattoo I would want him to be the one to do it. I love it :)

Be well friends

xoxo

A Trip to The City

Last week I went into the city with my dear friend Donna and her intern Nicki. Now, you may be asking what city? Being that I live in NJ both cities are readily accessible, but to me there is only one that I refer to as "the city" and that is New York. It truly is magnificent. We spent our day in the garment district. Where fashion comes to life :) I had a fantastic time and bought tons of goodies to use in my creations. We started at a fabric shop and then worked our way through lots of shops with trims galore... This fabric shop rocks because they will swatch most fabrics for you, and trust me there is alot to chose from! I bought a couple of yards of fabric and got a few swatches that I thought would be fun to do some needle-felting with, but I was saving up my money for Tinsel.... I almost bought some of this thermal fabric, but I stopped myself...lol..look at the price per yard! The next shop was feathers...all kinds of feathers...I *love* them :) Had alot of fun in this store! Bought lots of different colors and I cannot wait to use them! I should have bought one of these boas too..maybe next time :) Our main stop was Tinsel Trading which Donna has been telling me about for along time. It is filled with vintage trims, ribbons, millinery flowers, etc.. It is a dream for a girl like me. Trust me I had a great time, and spent most of my budget here. The staff was *so* helpful. Mostly I bought vintage ribbon. It was all so beautiful and kept so well. Tinsel has a huge collection of vintage and when the vintage sells they produce replicants. But friends, this girl bought only the original. This lovely cabinet was filled with original vintage ribbons, still on the spools, wrapped in paper. *sigh* all so beautiful. They also have such fun little trinkets to place around the house, all handmade. Too much fun for one store if you ask me!

And for a girl with a camera, I was not at a loss for pictures!

The last stop was at another trim shop that had walls and walls of ribbons, tassels and trims!

Just a few more goodies that I bought at Tinsel Trading, this FAB all vintage thread, that will be beautiful with some needle felted flowers, can't wait to play with it!

This gorgeous black ribbon is vintage military, the nice saleswoman ran down into the basement(what I wouldn't give to see that stockroom!) and came back up with it :)

Some of the vintage ribbons from that glass cabinet, they are all vintage, still on the original paper, and oh so worth the price I paid per yard!

Another stunning vintage ribbon *squeal* I cannot wait to create something fantastic with this!

And, last but certainly not least. This silver ribbon is my absolute FAVORITE find of the entire day. Not sure if I can bear to even part with it at all. *sigh* If I could only get myself to France and the Paris flea market, I am sure ribbon like this is aplenty. But for now, I am thrilled to have found this and there was about 1.5 yards of it left, so the saleswoman just gave me the spool! Hope you enjoyed all my finds! I cannot wait to start creating with them!

xoxo~