Fake Garters

What I Wore:
Dress: Old Navy
Cardi: Smart Set
Necklace: FanExpo Booth
Tights: Ardene
Shoes: Spring
Belt: Bealls

I dunno why but this dress always makes me think of this picture of Kate Nash from her album Made of Bricks. I love the ruffled collar on this, although it could have used a bit of ironing (frankly the whole dress could have) before I wore it out. In fact, it would be great if you could just ignore the wrinkles. This dress is made of rayon and it pretty much wrinkles just looking at it. I still love it though, it's soft and fits really well. I love how these tights look here, peeking out below the hem, they're really cute and a little bit saucy. Too bad they managed to get a huge hole in them by the end of the day and I had to throw them out :( I might pick up another pair next time I am around an Ardene's. I spend way too much money on their accessories. My tastes have grown out of liking most of their clothing and jewelry, but I love their tights and socks. You can't really beat their prices either.

P.S. I trimmed my bangs, what do you think?

Tippy Toes

What I Wore:

Dress: Thrifted (Frenchys)

Belt: Ardene

Tights: Old Navy 

Shoes: c/o Cut Out + Keep and B.A.I.T

Hair Ribbon: ???

I have returned from my unfortunate but required break from blogging. I was only gone for 10 days but it feels like a lot longer than that. It's been a whirlwind of a few days, with a lot of driving and sleeping not in our house, but things are looking up so I will leave it at that for now. I am going to be taking it slowly on here for a while. I might just post brief updates and outfit posts for a bit, we'll see how it goes. Which reminds me I haven't had any time to work on my April sewing project so I am not sure if I will be finished it by the end of the week. I think I'll just work away at it and post pictures when it is done. I'm not sure if I will be able to get back on track in time for next month's project either, but don't you worry your pretty little heads I will still be sewing and posting my work on here.

Just before I left my B.A.I.T shoes from Cut Out + Keep arrived and I haven't had a chance to show them off until now. Aren't they perfection? I think they are pretty sweet and I have hardly taken them off my feet (except to sleep, and even then it was unwillingly).   

Life Saver

What I Wore:
Shirt: Vintage (stole from my mum)
Cardi: Smart Set
Skirt: Made by moi
Tights: Ardene
Shoes: Spring

What can I say about this outfit? I guess a lot of my clothing really is nautical themed. I might have mentioned it before, but this shirt used to be my mum's and I always coveted it. She was cleaning out her closet a while ago and finally decided to hand it over to me. She always takes stuff from me when I clean out my closet, so it only seems fair that it should work the other way. I am very pleased with how this skirt turned out. I haven't worked on draping a circle skirt since I learned how to do them at school, so I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the technique came back to me. Plus, circle skirts are super fun to spin around in so that's cool too! I basically made this in two nights, which is also pretty exciting. I figured out how to put elastic on with my serger, and how to use an elastic for a waistband too. Overall I was just really pleased with myself for taking on a bit of a challenge and completing it successfully. I think I need to work on challenging myself with my sewing more in the future.

I have been debating sharing the following on here for the last week but I feel that it is the right time to do so. I apologize for the lack of post yesterday but I am going to be forthright and say that things have not been going smoothly lately. Both of my mother's parents (my grandparents) are in hospital in different places in Ontario for different reason, and the last few days have been very hard. It was very touch and go for a while there and I don't know how my mum and her siblings have been handling things so well. Luckily we received good prognosis news yesterday and they are both slowly improving. I am not sure how much I will be able to post over the next few weeks as we might be travelling back and forth for the next while. I guess I will just play it by ear. I am hoping that they continue to improve and everything turns out all right.  

Oh Buoy!

 What I Wore:
Dress: Made by meeeee
Cardi: Thrifted (ValueVillage)
Tights: Dollorama
Shoes/Hairbow: Payless
Belt: Bealls

Apparently I have too many nautical themed outfits and it is hard to avoid using the same title for all of them. I always want to use Sail Away or Sailing Away but I have definitely overdone both. I need to become more creative with my titles. Puns are always good, right? I really like this dress and sweater together, I can't believe I didn't think of pairing them before. I seem to be saying that a lot lately, maybe I am branching out of my comfort zone, or maybe I am becoming more creative. I am not sure, but I am pretty pleased with the results so I hope it doesn't stop anytime soon. My shoes came in the mail on Monday from B.A.I.T! Of course they arrived just as I was leaving for work, which meant that I didn't get a chance to try them on and all I could think about at work was opening the box and basking in their glory. I tried them on when I got home and  and they were well worth the wait. They are beautiful and perfect and I cannot wait to wear them and show them off, haha! You will definitely be seeing a lot of them on here in the future. Like I said before I have a few outfit pairings already planned out, so be prepared (that sounded ominous, but it was meant to be exciting). The lovely people at B.A.I.T sent me this nice note with my shoes, how sweet!

I want to thank the people from B.A.I.T and the people from Cut Out + Keep for picking me as the winner of the giveaway!

An Apple A Day

Supplies Used:

Quo: #1Red

Quo: Instant Artist (Black)

OPI: Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow (what a name)

Revlon: No Chip Top COat 

Apple Pickin'

What I Wore:

Dress: Made by me

Cardi: Thrifted (Talize)

Shoes: Spring

Belt: Fairweather 

I must say I am quite pleased with how this dress turned out. I bought the fabric ages ago (just before Christmas) from work and I just got around to working on it last week. I have built up quite the stash, but I am slowly working my way through it. I had the design planned out in my head as soon as I bought the fabric (like most of the stuff I buy, I like to know what I am going to do with it before I buy it) but I didn't get the pipping into a couple of weeks ago. The colour matched the apples perfectly, and I thought the velvet finish added a little something extra. I am happy to say that sewing has really started to become fun again and I going to keep on working through my stash, and exhibit my creations of course. I also just wanted to say, in case anyone was wondering, that if I don't put a patter link with something that I have sewn it means that I draped (or possibly drafted a pattern, but that is less likely) the item so it is completely original.  

I really don't have too much planned this week. Other thank doing some blogging and sewing there isn't much on the agenda. I have been contemplating going to the Vintage Market Place on Saturday, but I feel that might be dangerous for my pocket book. Sometimes I find it really hard to practice self control when it comes to shopping, and as you may recall spending less was one of my 2013 goals. Maybe going would be a good test of will. My sister and I are going to be volunteering for Doors Open at the beginning of May, and we have a training session to go to on Sunday.I guess there is more going on than I realised, haha. I hope my shoes from B.A.I.T come this weeks, it's doubtful since they only sent them a week ago, but I am really impatient sometimes *cough* all the time *cough*. I hop everyone is having a happy Monday, and with that I'll leave you with a sneak peek of my nails for tomorrow!

April Sew-Along Update I

Sorry for the day late update but this project has been giving me some problems. So this is where I am with this at this point in the game. I have all my pieces cut out, and let me tell you that was really interesting. I have never ever seen a pattern that tells you to cut something out like that first picture shows. It was really weird, you had to have two folds and have the salvages meeting in the middle. It was really awkward to lay out and I had quite the time of it. This fabric has been mildly nightmarish to work with too, it's all slippery and pulls, and I am currently attempting to finish the seams before I start sewing the pieces together. It isn't going that smoothly so far, I might have to get new needles for my serger. I'll see how things go over the next week and keep you guys posted!  

Hearts and Bows

What I Wore:

Dress: Bealls 

Shirt: Giant Tiger

Belt: Spoof (a store in Toronto)

Leggings: Suzy Shier

Boots: ModCloth

So I was feeling pretty awesome in this outfit when I was wearing it earlier this week. I love how you can kind of see the hearts through the thin black crepe. It's pretty sweet. I was going to try out something a little different with my shoes but a) it was really cold and b) it apparently  looked a bit odd/eccentric and since I was going to work I decided to play it safe. I really should have just worn what I wanted to, and I kind of regretted it afterwards, but there is always next time (and like I said it was coooold). I went about my business feeling amazing still. I kind of felt like what Rae is saying in this GIF from My Mad Fat Diary (I say I felt like what she is saying because you can tell she doesn't really believe it, but she is trying too and that's what matters).

And then someone had to go and make the comment "That outfit doesn't really do anything for me." Now, I know they didn't mean it in a harmful way, but this is someone I respect and it really hurt. A lot of horrible things went through my head. First I thought "Maybe I do look awful" and then I checked myself and realised that was ridiculous. Then I thought "Maybe I don't like how I look because you dress like a 13 year old boy" but that was kind of mean (but true and they have admitted this). In the end I realized the person said it because they don't feel comfortable with themselves and they feel the need to comment on others who do feel confident. They are not necessarily conscious of this, but they still do it and it can be hurtful. But now that I realize the comments are coming from a very insecure part of that person and that I shouldn't take it personally. They just need to be taught how to love themselves so they can look awesome everyday just like I do! Maybe I should make them read some of the fat acceptance blogs that helped me on my own journey, share the love so to speak. I will leave you with this quotation from Jes over at the Militant Baker. (Some context, this is from her post Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls..SO I Will)

"Wearing whatever you want is a political statement. Join the revolution. Throw style rules out the window. Wear the tutu. Wear the horizontal stripes. Wear the turquoise skinny jeans. Wear the see-through blouse. Wear the bikini. Wear the sweat pants. Wear the shirt that says "Does this shirt make me look fat?". Wear whatever it is that makes you happy. This is your life."

Coral, Green, Hearts Theme

 What I Wore:
Shirt: Thrifted (Frenchy's)
Sweater: Old Navy
Jeans: Old Navy
Shoes: Ardene
Socks: Ardene
Earrings: Target

Kind of having a mental block as of what to write about today. I am digging the up-do I was sporting that day. It's kind of messy but I like that. Sometimes I like to have themes to my outfits, this one is hearts. It's hard to tell but my earrings are hearts too. I thought they matched the print on my sweater perfectly. Sadly it got colder here after the nice Easter weekend we had and it called for breaking out lots of layers. I don't know if real spring is ever going to come. Apparently at this time last year (and most years in the past) we have been in the double digits, but it is still below freezing most days. Yuck!

I enjoy the colour combination of minty-green and coral in this outfit. I just got these shoes from Ardene's on the weekend and they are super comfortable. I find that their products actually hold up pretty well, and for the price I can't really complain. I have a pair of black oxfords from there that my mum bought me in a 3 pairs for $10 sale and they have lasted for ages. I usually buy my tights from there too because most of the time I can get away with their Large size and they have a great selection. While I was there I spotted these socks in a 5 for $10 section. I thought they were really neat and bought a few pairs in similar styles. The others will probably appear on here soon. I can't wait to pair them with the shoes I picked out from B.A.I.T! I was hemming and hawing for a while but I finally decided on a pair that I have been eyeing for a few months now. I wasn't sure if I should pick something else because those ones were already on sale, but I kept coming back to them and the likelihood that I would buy them myself was slim (shipping to Canada makes things really pricey). I am happy with my final decision  and I can't wait for them to arrive, I already have so many ideas about what to pair them with! Sorry for the slightly disjointed post, I warned you I was unsure of what to write about.