victorian florida

it was a nice warm day here today.. right before we leave to visit snow and ice! i call that perfect timing.

i celebrated by wearing my early birthday present - a dress from modcloth! look, no cardigan!

though believe me, i will be packing this and wearing it with multiple layers up north... since i basically have to wear it on my birthday. especially seeing as i'm not getting to go home this christmas and it was a gift from my family.

i really love the murals florida seems to like putting on every available blank wall, and especially this one (though my favoruite is one of an underwater scene, but it's on a busy road and i still don't like people looking at the photo-taking process)
but this is like a little victorian england in florida. and the people are kind of almost creepy. i'm looking at you, little girl who is not looking at me but might at any second.

painted on bricks and door!

it was a good last 2010 day in florida though, not just because of the weather. we went out to eat/drink twice with work peoples (veggie cajun alfredo pasta is amazing, just so you know) and i fiiiiiiinally mailed out my christmas gifts to england. better late than never, eh? i'm super excited for my family to get them though, even if it arrives a tad late (sorry!) because i really like everything i found.

a sneak peak of some more fisheye photos! christmas themed because i seem to have talked about it a lot in this post...uh....do i have a fever?

♥♥♥

i just really hate birds

i hadn't planned on making this an outfit post, but since we got out before the sun started disappearing, we got some really cool shots (thanks to zach!), and so i think they deserve their own post
(and yes, i made another collar. i did warn you though.)

there are a whole lot of lakes here.. unfortunately that means there's also a whole lot of birds. big birds. with scrawny looking snake necks. that make death noises. and do things like this:

which meant most of the time i was doing this:

i just really hate birds!

♥♥♥

oh and i uploaded my first thing to hypeed.com!
you can score it here: (go on, you know you want to)

Score suspended distractions's contribution - fashion magazine by real people

collars galore!

i've been trying to take photos of these guys for ages, but it seems i keep choosing the wrong time of day/place/weather... so these will have to do!

over the summer i visited the liberty store in london, specifically the fabric floor, and fell in love. my mum then bought me some remnants at a craft fair she went to, and her friend sent me some after i came back here! so i was surrounded in the beauty of liberty fabric.... there was just not enough to make anything from. or so i thought.

then it hit me: removable collars!

(the grey actually isn't liberty.... neither is the crocheted one..)

i wore this one with a simple outfit most recently:

the bird fabric is probably my favourite... but fits with least things because it was my first successful one and i was still testing things out. (i did wear it reversed with my halloween costume though)

unless i come up with another moment of genius, i'm probably going to make as many collars as possible until the fabric runs out... watch this space!

♥♥♥

alice in balletland

when i said i'd wear my new buys soon, i didn't really mean the next day. but when i woke up, it was actually sunny and over 70 degrees, so my mood was pretty good =)

i wasn't quite ready to wear it with such a low back, though, so i experimented with cardigans and shrugs and under-shirts. this was my favourite. instantly.

i thought it looked whimsical and dressed the grey jersey up a lot, so i was very excited... it reminds me of something that could easily fit into a costume from alice in wonderland, so i added a blue belt, and my watch necklace to keep it fun... the dress itself reminds me of a ballet dancer, so i thought i'd wear my shoes that look like jazz shoes... that makes sense, right?

only thing left was to frolic in an english garden ~ lucky for me, that's exactly where i am

♥♥♥

excitement!

finally an outfit post =)   (thank my boyfriend for taking the photos and dealing with some random guy from a photo company who either wanted us to have our headshots taken at his office or for us to be models... i still don't know)

though looking at it i kinda feel i've been reading too much of elizabeth from delightfully tacky's blog! loose shirt + cute skirt + comfyness seems to sum her up quite nicely =) the only thing i'm lacking is her beautiful mane of hair, haha, since i have quite the opposite
(but seriously her blog is awesome)


top: h and m
skirt: h and m
necklace: friend's cast off
socks: h and m
shoes: bakers.com
hairclip: gift from my mum, from accessorize
bag: goodwill

but the real excitement is that the snail and the pigeon group has started with its first theme of "by the sea"
(check the new widget ~ too cute)

i've really put lots of effort into making a cute little package to send away, even though i'm flying away later in the week back to england for who know how long (here is where i sigh a lot and make sad puppy-dog faces, though i might try and convince my brother to let me stay with him in london for a little bit... ) of course i'll meet up and have fun times with my friends but i just feel so different there and so much more at home here. i packed so lightly it's unbelievable (especially for me) since i can only envision coming right back haha.
so, with getting this little package set up, i will try to mail it asap, or have someone take care of it ;))) and would love to be back before i even receive one myself (though that's probably pushing it a little too much)
i wish i could post pictures but that would ruin the surprise ;)
and i almost wish i could just keep it! oops!

♥♥♥

bubble hem dress

i've been wanting to hem this h&m dress for a while now, just to make it a little shorter, but then i decided i would like it better if i did something more interesting with it. then i though, since it was so simple to do, and requires minimal sewing skills, i would make a "how to" 

things you need:

step 1:

measure (on another dress/skirt, or have a friend help) how long you want the shortest part of the finished garment to be, and then mark this on the inside with a pencil or chalk

my shortest point was 19

then decide what you want the longest point to be - i did another 3 inches, so mine was 22

decide now where you want the bubbles to be - my choice was made easy because this dress has an even number of hems joining its panels together. if yours doesn't, an easy way to get even spread is to fold the skirt part 4 times in half, and mark each divide, vertically

step 2:

on each horizontal mark, sew a simple loose tack with a double thread, leaving tails on each side for easy removal later.

(this isn't vital, but sure makes the next step a lot easier!)

the back of the tack (on the right side of the dress) should look like this: 

step 3:

now that all the points are marked, fold the hem up at each one so the tack is on the fold:

pin the hem at the top as you go

(now is a good time to see how your dress/ skirt looks and make any adjustments. i didn't take a photo at this point, but if you hold it up with all the pins in, you can see what it will look like finished)

step 4:

hand-sew each pinned part with 4 or 5 stitches

i actually just sewed each point to the hem, but if your thread matches your dress/skirt well enough, it won't matter if your stitches go through to the front, especially if they are small

step 5:

cut out all the marking tacks from earlier

(if you sewed them loosely enough, you might even be able to just pull them out)

step 6:

turn right side out, style, and wear!

♥♥♥

outfit updatessss

just a few outfit photos from the past few days, which i have been putting on chictopia, but very slowly, haha

first missed day:

second missed day (and one after a much-needed h&m visit!) :

third missed day where i wore my fabulous sequined bandeau top (peeking out the back):

and today....

 

with a haircut! aaand colour! super excitinggggg and i feel like it looks just the slightest bit like jean seberg and will be looking to dress like her some time in the future. until then, i will be twirling unnecessarily in this 50s type skirt celebrating the red with my new blonder hair =)))

♥♥♥