Steamer Dreams

What I Wore:
Cardi: Suzy Shier
Skirt: Thirfted (Out of the Past)
Shoes: c/o B.A.I.T via Cut Out + Keep
Necklace: DIY from Redgate Stitchery (see this post for a close up)

Even with the super bad lens flare I really love the first few of pictures. I really need to get a hood for my lens to prevent those kinds of things from happening. My photography kit is a little lacking, I am very slowly adding things to it (by slowly I mean I have had my camera for three years and just recently got a tripod, so sad). By the time I have all the pieces I will need to buy a new camera body haha! I use a Canon T1i that I actually was able to purchase because I won a gift card for Best Buy from an old job. I love that camera, it definitely gets the job done. I also really love the necklace I am wearing in these pictures. I bought the kit to make it at the Creative Festival in April. I had never done cross stitching so I wanted to start out on something simple. It was so fun making this (although a little confusing reading the pattern at first since I had no idea what I was doing) I definitely want to do some more cross stitching in the future.

Today is going to be awesome because not only is it a holiday but Talize is having a 50% off sale! I have to rush over there and buy all the things! I am really hoping to get a vegetable steamer if possible, those suckers are hard to find. They make cooking broccoli so easy and are also great for making steamed buns and these Chinese sausages that Colin loves. Fingers crossed that I find one there today. What a rambly post. Anyone else have plans for the Civic Holiday?

Pop Art Princess

What I Wore: 

Dress: Purchased from Erin aka Zero Style (ASOS originally)

Shoes: DIY from this post

I kind of feel like I am wearing a comic book in this outfit. Something about the white piping on the dress and the Archie comic shoes makes me feel like I just stepped straight out of those inked pages. I bought this lovely dress from Erin over at Zero Style a few weeks ago and I am so happy that is fit perfectly. I am always a little weary about buying things online because you can never be 100% sure that it is going to fit. So far I have lucked out with all of my online purchases, but you still never know until the item arrives. Anyway, this dress is really cute and I am glad that I talked myself into buying it. The pipping forming the faux peter pan collar is a really nice touch. I also had no idea that it had pockets until I washed it inside out and spotted to pocket bags. I love it when there are hidden pockets in things.

Today we are going down to the Hamilton waterfront to check out the tall ships sailing in. You may remember that last summer Colin and I went to see the tall ships while they were docked in Halifax. Unfortunately last time we didn't get to see them sailing in, so this will be a whole new experience. I hope you all have a wonderful Canada Day weekend (to those of you in Canada anyway, otherwise happy Independence day)!

CreativFestival Spring 2013

Here are some pictures from the CreativFestival, as promised. I have outfit pictures from that day too but I figured that would be way too many pictures in one post so I am going to share these first. The outfit pictures will come later, possibly today maybe tomorrow depending on time.  

8am Bright and early start.

 This is amazing.

 Front View

This sign made me laugh, I haven't seen Baby Bolts before, they were cute. 

Very cool quilt. There were a lot of quilts.

Look at that embroidery!

Free cupcakes from a radio station.

Delicious veggie panini and kettle chips for lunch. 

Heehee, Hooker Alley. This booth was awesome. 

A bike covered in crochet. I told you it was awesome!

 Crochet hot air balloon. 

This looks like something out of Labyrinth.

My haul from the show. The CD was from a seminar on working with stretch wear. That fabric was so cool I couldn't resist. The cross stitch necklace kit was also neat. I have made it already and it was really fun, I think I might get into cross stitching. 

DIY Sailboat Button Broach

1. Step one: assemble supplies! I used from top clockwise: lace, scrap fabric, scissors, chalk pen, button, brooch back, stick-on brooch pin, needle and thread, straight pins, a hot glue gun (not pictured). Optional:  my no mark cutting board.    

2. Measure out how much lace you want and cut it into strips. I figured out that it would take 6 pieces to achieve the look I wanted.

3. Pin all of the lace pieces together. You might need to play with it to get the right shape.

4. Once you are satisfied with everything sew the pieces together by hand. 

5. Measure out the length of your lace pieces, this will be important in the next step.

6. Take your scrap fabric and draw out a rounded triangular shape. I used the measurement from step 5 to figure out how tall to make them. 

7. Cut out your little triangles. I was super lazy and cut them all out at once, which made the shape a little uneven but I decided I liked it that way and left them as is.

8. Position and pin the triangles to the lace. 

9. Hand sew the triangles to the lace section making sure they are secure. 

10. Cut out a small square to cover the center. My button was kind of small so it didn't cover up the stitching when I tested the placement so I decided to add in this detail.  

11. Sew on your button and square at the same time. 

12. Using the hot glue gun attach the lace and fabric section to the metal back. Stick on the  the brooch pin.

13. Wear your brooch and enjoy!!!!

Little Blue Sailboat

What I Wore:

Shirt: Old Navy

Cardi: Thrifted (Talize)

Skirt: Smart Set

Tights: Ardene

Belt: Ardene

Shoes: Blowfish

Brooch: Made By Me (tutorial up later this afternoon)

Like I said in my last post I have been really digging stripes and polka dots lately, although this is a bit more obnoxious combo since the polka dots are huge and they occupy more space than the last set. I have one more post with this combination that will be up later this week, and then I promise that is the last one like this for a while. I made this brooch last weekend and I really intended on posting the tutorial and outfit the week after, but I was in a bit of a slump and didn't feel like doing a lot of blog work (sometimes it takes a lot out of you). Anyway, I got this pin from Colin's grandma's sewing supplies, there was only one, but I really loved it and I couldn't bear to leave without it. I thought about it for a few minutes and then I had what I like to call a 'Eureka!' moment. Why not make a brooch out of it? I even thought of pairing it with the red stripped fabric that I made this dress out of. The only thing that really changed from the initial thought to the actual construction was the lace backing. I was originally thinking of a something along the lines of this but when I was testing it out it didn't really work. Then I saw the blue lace in my stash (which I also got from Colin's grandma) and the colour matched really well and I thought it fit better with the overall look. I got the brooch back and the pin at JoAnn's when I went to the states on January with my friend's from work. I didn't get around to making it until last week, but that's another issue entirely. The next problem came with trying to match it with something in my wardrobe, which was a surprisingly difficult task. I am pretty pleased with how this turned out and I am definitely considering making a few more (I have some more awesome buttons that would be perfect).